Formula 1 - Australian Grand Prix 2011

Picture taken from AutoblogThe highly anticipated new season of Formula 1 (is any season not highly anticipated?) kicked off early this morning at 17:00 in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. Yeah, time zones are weird like that. Dominant pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel stormed off the grid, got round the first corner unmolested and proceeded to run away from the rest of the grid like he was being chased by dogs. There wasn't any first corner crashing...

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Supercar Saturday - Prancing Donkey

The Ferrari Ferrari-FourAh, Ferrari. The most famous car company in the world. They've been in Formula 1 ever since its beginnings (with varying levels of success over the years), they've been making Sports GTs and supercars for more than 60 years, including some of the most iconic sports cars in history. The 250 GTO, the 365 GTB/4 "Daytona", the Testarossa, the F40, the F355, the Enzo (named after the company's dead founder), the list goes on and...

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Tommy Kaira ZZII - Reborn?

Image from goodcar.cn (link below)On Sunday, I posted a write-up on the wonderful-yet-tragically-miscarried Tommy Kaira ZZII, which first appeared in 2000, never to make production. After a bit of googling, it would appear that it might be undergoing something of a rebirth. A Chinese website says something about a "long awaited Tommy Kaira 'Resurrection Programme'". I can't read Chinese, and of course the Google translation is a little loose. Here...

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Muscle Car Monday

This is Muscle Car Monday, formerly known as Small Block Tuesday. Every Monday will see a different muscle car with a brief history and some juicy pics. Let's start with one of the best: the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona.It was one of the four "Aero Warriors" of 1969-1971, based on the road-going Dodge Charger but designed for stock car racing, featuring a pointed nose and a frankly preposterous rear wing - designed, apparently, by NASA - as well as...

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Supercar Sunday - Skyline Meets F40

This weekend doesn't see a brand new supercar, but rather one that should be: the Tommy Kaira ZZII (Zed Zed Two). I bought this car in Gran Turismo 5 yesterday in the Online Dealership (for around Cr.160,000, if I remember rightly). It weighs 1000kg despite All-Wheel-Drive and produces 550 horsepower. It sounds like my dream car, in fact, and it drives wonderfully with a considerate right foot and minor suspension adjustments (height-adjustable suspension...

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Supercar Saturday!!

The Widow Maker's evil-er twin.This Saturday, it's time to run inside and lock all the doors... because a GT2 is here.The Porsche 911 has been available in many iterations over the years, ranging from cabriolet and Targa-tops to turbocharged and track-spec versions, with the most extreme version being the GT2. First appearing in 993 guise, the twin-turbocharged GT2 was originally made to homologate the FIA GT2-class racing version of the ordinary...

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Carlsson C25 Royale - A Guilty Pleasure

This used to be a Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMGBy all accounts, I should hate this car for being a heavily modified version of a perfectly brilliant supercar (of sorts). It's got unpainted sections of carbon fibre, a huge power increase, stupid LED lights in the bumper, immense gloss-black wheels, a stupid name and all the Mercedes badges removed and replaced by those of some tuning company...So why on Earth am I strangely attracted to it?This...

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Small Block Tuesday!!

This week we round off the Big 3 with a Chrysler HEMI. So-called because of its Hemispherical combustion chamber, this engine has powered pretty much every fast Dodge you can think of, but this particular one is the 6.4-litre unit, the latest version which first featured in the updated Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 ("392" because 6.4 litres is 392 cubic inches). Fitting really, as the 6.4 is an updated 6.1. Featuring such features of the modern age as...

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Old People Need Electric Cars

2012 Fisker Karma. For young, rich, sexy people.A lot of new electric cars are marketed as being cool in a green way, with the likes of Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive making sexy and sporty cars aimed at the trendy rich guy with an "eco conscience". Whilst these cars give plug-in motoring a poster child or two (and A-listers something much nicer to drive than a pious Prius), that is not the right way for electric cars to be...

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Supercar Sunday!

Missed another one! Never mind, it's still alliteration. So is Lexus LFA. Sort of.V10 tuned by Yamaha. They make musical instruments, you know. And bikes.This particular beast is the first limited-run-within-a-limited-run Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package. Similar to the "normal" LFA, except with carbon fibre skirting, winglets at the front, to match the winglets over the tail lights, new wheels and a large fixed rear wing. All in carbon fibre to save...

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Small Block Tues-- er, Wednesday...

Yeah, I missed it. Oh well. This time it's the saviour and holy grail of British hot rodders everywhere - in England, at least - The Rover V8.It's actually from GM, known in a previous life as the Buick 215. Rover bought the rights off them in 1963 and used it for 35 years, as did MG, TVR, Westfield, Land Rover, Triumph, UK companies making AC Cobra replicas and custom cars, just everyone. It was also the lightest road car V8 ever at 144kg (318lb)....

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