Custom-Car's Blog

Nürburgring Wars, Part 2?

Bre — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:22:37 +0000

Two years ago Porsche and Nissan were at it when Porsche questioned the veracity of the 2009 Nissan GT-R’s lap time of 7’29.03″ around the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, a time the 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 could not match! This time around it’s the Dodge Viper ACR taking on the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package. The Dodge Viper ACR had previously held the production car lap record with a lap time of 7’22″ but unlike Porsche, Dodge decided to let the Viper do the talking by reclaiming the record with a time of 7’12.13″!

Here’s the video of the Dodge Viper ACR reclaiming the Nürburgring production car lap record for your enjoyment.

Infiniti Hybrid as fast as a Lamborghini Countach!

Bre — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:08:14 +0000

What’s the world coming to? First we meet an EV super car that clocks 62mph in just 2.8 seconds, now we have a hybrid that’s just as fast as a Lamborghini Countach! The hybrid in question is the 2012 Infiniti M35h, which was driven by Tim Pollard, associate editor of Car Magazine, on a wet drag strip at the Santa Pod Raceway in the UK. The 360 bhp rated Infiniti M35h petrol/electric hybrid car completed the quarter-mile in an average of 13.9031 seconds in both directions, with a best time of 13.8960 seconds! And no, the M35h was stock standard with no modifications!

Sure, the Lamborghini Countach is 30 years old but the time is still quite impressive, especially when you consider that the time is not too far off the 13.6 seconds set by the 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante and the 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera, which are both considered and marketed as performance cars!

What’s the sexiest car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show?

Bre — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:24:13 +0000

What’s the sexiest car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show? No, it’s not the Aston Martin V12 Zagato nor the Jaguar C-X16 Concept! No, not the Alfa Romeo 4C Concept either, though all those cars are quite sexy too! No, it’s a sublime creation from some Croatian engineering boffins and it’s an electric vehicle!

Yeah, I know, an EV. Being a true blue petrol head I haven’t been sold on that or hybrids for that matter, but darn it, I wouldn’t mind driving one of the 88 Rimac Concept_One EV super cars that will be built (hopefully the production version will have a better name )!

Not only has it the esthetic appearance to appeal to a petrol head, it’s also pretty powerful at almost 1,000 bmp! And it’s pretty quick, going from zero to 62mph in just 2.8 seconds! Not bad for an EV, hey? All that power comers from four electric motors with one at each wheel. Each motor has its own inverter and reduction gearbox so each motor can operate completely independently of the others.
The car is the brainchild of Mate Rimac, a young Croatian engineer. It began with Rimac modifying a BMW M3, converting it to an electric vehicle. Then he went racing with it! Seems the future of car modifications may just be field in electrical engineering!

When is a production car not a production car?

Bre — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:31:44 +0000

Lexus has recently set the fastest lap time around the famous Nürburgring for a production car in a limited edition of the Lexus LFA, stopping the clock at 7’14.64″, beating the 7’18.00″ set by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, the 7’19.63″ set by the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and the 7’24.22″ set by the Nissan GT-R.

But there’s a teeny weeny little bit of controversy; you see only 50 units of the special, track tuned, limited edition, V10 powered Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package will be built, while a total of only 500 LFAs will be built! This has prompted some people to question the LFA’s qualification as a “production” car, especially as there are faster street-legal cars around the Nürburgring.

The street-legal, British based Radical SR8 LM, with its high-revving 2.6-Liter V8 engine, lapped the Nürburgring in under seven minutes with a time of 6’48″! But it looks more like a two-seater open cockpit race car than a road car. Indeed, the company’s Website states, with reference to the SR8 RX, that car’s “styling and chassis have been developed to comply with the latest FIA CN class regulations … homologating the SR8 RX for international competition well into the future.”

Then there is the Audi V8 powered Gumpert Apollo that clocked a time of 7’11.57″. The Apollo is another low production, street-legal, track-ready car. And that does sound a lot like the Lexus LFA!
Should these cars be considered production cars, making the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package only the fourth fastest production car around Nürburgring (the Radical SR8 clocked a time of 6’55″ in 2005)? That would make the Nissan GT-R pretty slow!

Anyway, here’s the official video of the LFA’s lap:

Anyone for some Advanced Driving lessons?

Bre — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:43:43 +0000

So you’ve just boosted the horsepower under your hood and got your beast to pump out 1,000 bhp! Having a problem putting that power down? Even if it’s not up there at 500 bhp, you still got a responsibility to other road users to drive responsibly. Or at least, that’s how I feel.

For me, one of the ways to learn responsibility is to know how to handle your car. The good people at Mercedes-Benz AMG are offering and advanced driving course to anyone who’s interested. They’ve also released a 10 part advanced driving video series on YouTube!

The 10 part video series is presented by Tommy Kendall with each video being between three or four minutes long. They’re well worth the watch so here they are:

1: The Basics

2: Braking

3: Slalom

4: Oversteer & Understeer

5: Line Technique

6: ESP

7: Drifting

8: Lead Follow

9: Racecraft

10: Hot Laps

[Source: Mercedes Benz]

Porsche to return to Le Mans

Bre — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:56:19 +0000

Porsche have been the most successful car manufacturer at the 24 hours of Le Mans, notching up sixteen overall victories since the 1970s! However, the last of those victories were more than a decade ago with 1998 being the last year Porsche tasted the spoils of victory when Laurent Aïello, Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli won in a Porsche 911 GT1. After 1999 Porsche, along with most of the other manufacturers withdrew from sports car racing due to rising costs. This allowed Audi, as practically the last manufacturer to field a team to notched up ten wins from 2000 until this year’s race, making it the second most successful manufacturer.

Porsche’s run of success began in 1970 with the #23 Porsche 917 of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood. The #23 Porsche 917 was powered by a 4.5-Liter flat-12 engine. In 1971 Porsche would taste victory again with the #22 Porsche 917 of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep. However, it was from 1976 that Porsche dominated Le Mans winning ten of next twelve years with some of the best race cars ever built, such as the 2.1-Liter turbocharged flat-6 powered Porsche 936 and its successor, the 2.6-Liter turbocharged flat-6 powered Porsche 956!

Since 1998 Porsche has tasted victory at Le Mans but in the lower classes, however, as of 2014 Porsche will return to Le Mans to challenge for overall victory with a new LMP1 car!

Fiat Abarth to make WRC return?

Ian — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:07:06 +0000

Looks like things are hotting up at the World Rally Championship (WRC)! We’ve seen Mini make a reasonable return to rallying recently, and we’ve also received confirmation that Volkswagen (VW) are to return to the WRC in 2013 with the VW Polo R. Now we’re hearing rumors that Fiat’s resurrection of the Abarth badge will be more than just a performance badge with the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth also slated to enter the WRC in 2013 or 2014! Not that the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth has shied away from the dirt tracks; in fact the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth has been having a very successful campaign in the European Rally Championship (ERC), having won the Driver’s Championship in 2006, 2009 and 2010! It will also mark the return of the Fiat Abarth to the WRC since the early 1980s when the Fiat Group switched from the Fiat 131 Abarth to the Lancia Delta.

Mazda 787B goes back to Le Mans

Ian — Sat, 21 May 2011 18:02:10 +0000

Twenty years ago Mazda became the first and, as yet, only Japanese car manufacturer to win the 24 hours of Le Mans when Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot took victory in a 2.6-liter, 4-rotor, wankel powered Mazda 787B. The Mazda 787B was by no means a race favorite yet both Mazda 787B race cars, as well as the older Mazda 787 entry, managed to finish in the top 10! That after having qualified 12th, 17th and 24th, and having to start seven grid places lower when the new 3.5-liter cars were given the top grid positions. However, the reliability and fuel economy of the Mazda 787B cars meant they could treat the race as a sprint race and by night fall the #55 Mazda 787B was placed third but soon moved up into second place when the Mercedes-Benz C11 of Michael Schumacher, Fritz Kreutzpointner and Karl Wendlinger had to pit having suffered transmission problems. Then with two hours to go the #55 car took the lead after the Mercedes-Benz C11 of Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jochen Mass and Alain Ferté suffered mechanical problems and was forced to retire! The second Mazda 787B driven by Dave Kennedy, Stefan Johansson and Maurizio Sandro Sala finished 6th while the Mazda 787 driven by Pierre Dieudonné, Takashi Yorino and Yojiro Terada finished 8th. Unfortunately, the Mazda 787B would not participate at another 24 hours of Le Mans as the rotary engine was banned the following season in favor of the 3.5-Liter engine.

This year, however, the carefully restored Mazda 787B #55 car with its 700 bhp rotary engine will be back at Le Mans where it will participate in Driver’s Parade through the Le Mans City center on Friday June 10 and will open the 79th annual race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans on Saturday June 11. Also in attendance will be Johnny Herbert, who completed the race in 1991 to take victory, as well as David Kennedy and Pierre Dieudonné.

Mini returns to Rallying

Bre — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:23:25 +0000

Earlier this week, Mini made it’s debut appearance in the 2011 World Rally Championship (WRC)! In July last year BMW announced that the Prodrive developed Mini Countryman with a BMW Motorsport 1.6-Liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine would compete in selected events at this year’s WRC before competing the full championship from 2012 onwards. Prodrive has been working on the MINI Countryman WRC since early 2009 and has significant experience in Rallying, having run the Rothmans Porsche Rally Team in Regional and National rally events in 1984, and the Rothmans Motul BMW team in the WRC in 1987. Their greatest success was with Subaru with whom they won the 1995 Manufacturers’ World Rally Championship and the Driver’s Championship with the late Colin McRae! Prodrive helped Subaru to the Manufacturer’s Championship in 1996 and 1997 and also secured the 2001 Drivers Championship with the late Richard Burns and the 2003 Drivers Championship with Petter Solberg.

Mini had its rally success in the 1960s before the advent of the WRC when the Austin Mini Cooper S won the legendary Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Rather ironic as the Monte Carlo has not been a WRC event for the past two years! It will. however, return in 2012. The Mini showed great promise, with Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo posting competitive times, Meeke even posting a third fastest time on stage two. However, while Sordo managed to finish in a creditable 6th place, Meeke was forced to retire after the second stage due to mechanical problems. The Mini WRC Team chose not to restart Meeke’s car.

Hopefully things go better for the team on their next rally, which is scheduled to be the Finnish Rally on July 28-30.

Rhys Millen’s Hyundai Veloster rallycross challenger

Bre — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:10:14 +0000

Hyundai’s new Veloster barely made its debut at the recent Detroit Auto Show a month ago but a race ready version is to make its debut tomorrow at the Chicago Auto Show! The rally car has been developed by Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) and will compete in the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship at the hands of Rhys Millen with Red Bull providing the sponsorship.

The stock version of the Hyundai Veloster is powered by a 1.6-Liter engine that produces a maximum of 138 bhp at 6,300 RPM and 123 lb.-ft of torque at 4,850 RPM. But this has been swapped out for a turbocharged 2.0-Liter four-cylinder engine that has been modified to produce 500 bhp and 600 lb.-ft of torque! The engine is mated to an X-Trac six-speed sequential transmission that transmits the power to all four wheels. The rally car has also been lightened considerably by stripping out the unnecessary creature comforts and replacing the metal body panels with carbon/Kevlar so it should really go!

We can’t wait for the stage times with the first round in the US Rallycross Championship scheduled to take place on March 26-27 at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California. See you there!