On the Sebring International Raceway in Florida/USA the GTE race car from Weissach completed another successful test on Thursday. The successor to the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR will be run exclusively by the Porsche AG Team Manthey works squad at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The vehicle celebrates its race debut on April 14 at the WEC season-opener in Silverstone.
“We are very pleased with how the testing has gone so far.”
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It looks like Mercedes-Benz are about to go official with the new Mercedes CLA after it has been spotted in LA undergoing filming.
Under the hood will be a 1.8 litre four-cylinder engine which is rated at 210hp, and will be connected to the A-Class Mercedes front-wheel Architecture with its seven speed dual clutch gearbox.
The chassis is also being utilised in the Mercedes-Benz GLA which is the crossover version of the A-Class and has been recently spied, along with the AMG version which is also beginning to lose its camouflage.
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These are the first officially sanctioned photographs of the AMG A45 Production Prototype.
As we previously reported on the CLA prototype spyshots the engineering team have managed to extor 350 hp (261 kW) and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) from the use of development parts from the use of Formula 1 technology developed in England. The power will be sent to all four wheels via an AMG servo actuated seven-speed dual clutch sports transmission.
The chassis has been obviously tweaked to handle the additional power and comes with new hydraulic steering rack mated to a revised version of the MacPherson front and multi-link rear suspension, along with AMG uprated brake calipers and larger rotors.
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This industry test week at the Nurburgring has certainly has a supercar feel to it, with the Mercedes SLS Black Edition and the Audi R8 GT spied turning laps at the “Green Hell.” That supercar trend continues today as Lexus engineers have just begun testing what looks to be an even MORE track-focused version of the LFA!
Initially, this manufacturer-plated test car looked a lot like the LF-A Nurburgring Edition, but a closer look reveals the changes. Its actually the third version of the AD-Special Edition models that was started with the AD-A in blue and then followed by the green AD-B. This one is called AD-X and the color settings reminds of the classic Porsche 911 Carrera RS. With the other AD-prototypes to be said to be one-offs we suspect that this one will sadly also be a one-off. But we can always hope.
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Here are the latest spyshot’s of the upcoming flagship version of the SLS dubbed the unmistakable AMG SLS Black-Series.
The Black Series has been spotted several times. But today we got it with the front totally without cammo and sporting a very large fixed wing.
And only the day after the new family of the AMG Black Series, caught fire on the Nordschleife while testing.
Initial reports this was simply an engine fire but after completing nearly a full lap, It looks like this could be from the rear brakes.
The driver escaped without any injuries,but the prototype has died a warriors death and gone up in flames.
The wide arches which are shrouding the tyres have more aggressive nature, and housing larger tyres than the standard SLS, rumored with a weight reduction of around 45 kg, and rumor has it that this will only be available as the gullwing.
The huge scoops on the front hint of the use of forced induction but this is unlikely the case, as the naturally aspirated 6.2 liter v-8 is hinted to have a few more tricks up its elongated sleeve and perhaps will be an engineered increased capacity of 6.4 along with improvements in weight and updated gearbox it is likely to exceed 600hp.
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On September 18th, The product engineering team from Porsche have been testing the upcoming 918 Spyder on the “Nürburgring-Nordschleife”, Even though the Porsche 918 Spyder prototype is far from final form it turned in a remarkable best time of just 07:14 minutes for the 20.6 km long circuit.
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The production version of Volkswagens XL1 has been spotted during hot weather testing today and we are happy to show you some photos of the 313-mpg car.
Powering the XL1 is a compact 800 cc TDI two-cylinder common rail diesel engine developing 48 PS. It’s linked to an electric motor producing 27 PS, resulting in a total of 75 PS – a modest output yet more than enough when the low kerb weight (795 kg) of the vehicle is taken into account.
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Well here is another auction for a more recent Le Mans racer, this time its the 2001 Bentley Speed 8 and has the following racing pedigree.
• First Team Bentley to finish on the podium at Le Mans in 71 years
• Third Place at 2001 24 Hour of Le Mans
• Last raced at Road America in 2007
The inspiration for the successful Bentley Speed 8 program belongs to Dr. Ferdinand Piech, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who designed the Audi’s “Auto Union” Grand Prix cars in the 1930s.
As chairman of Volkswagen, Piech directed the acquisition of Bentley in June 1998, but he had been the guiding force on the Porsche 917 program, which had won Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Piech also worked on the formidable Audi Quattro rally car and thought that Audi should enter sports car racing.
In 1998, Piech commissioned Italian contractor Dallara to build a sports racer to use the Audi 3.6-liter turbocharged V-8, mid-mounted in a carbon fiber tub. The car became the Audi R8 roadster, which would enjoy a spectacular competition record, losing only 16 races in which it was entered, between 2000 and 2006.
Piech decided that Bentley’s racing heritage should be revived and it should have a parallel course to Audi, competing in the closed LMP GTP class at Le Mans, while Audi would contest the LMP 900 open division. The Audi R8C Coupe would evolve into the Bentley EXP Speed 8 Coupe, the car which is on offer today.
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