Supercars

Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg, in conjunction with NLV Solar of Switzerland, is showing its full scale four-seater NLV Quant at the 2009 Geneva Salon. Producing 512hp with maximum torque of 715Nm, the Quant runs 0–100 km/h in 5.2 seconds and hits a top speed of 275 km/h. The all-electric car is powered through a combination of what it has dubbed a Flow Accumulator Energy Storage (FAES), which charges to full capacity in 20 minutes, and solar energy supplied via a thin layer photovoltaic coating over the car. The combined solar/FAES offer a claimed range in excess of 500km. Read More

It seems almost every brand from the automotive industry’s past is ripe for revival – no matter how long ago cars bearing the name last rolled off the production line. The latest candidate is Frazer-Nash, a British sports and racing car maker whose roots date back to the 1920s – but which last made a car in the late 1950s. The company doing the reviving is none other than Italdesign-Giugiaro, and the new Frazer-Nash is a radical hybrid electric car, the fastest of its type in the world. Read More

Last week we ran the news that New Zealand-based Hulme Supercars had demonstrated a 600 bhp two-seat CanAm version of the lightweight carbon fibre machine at the New Zealand round of the A1GP series. A subsequent conversation with Hulme MD Jock Freemantle has revealed the news that a Hulme Spyder will follow the CanAm with a supercharged 640 bhp Chevrolet LS9 engine as used in the ZR1. The initially-announced F1 car will now be third in the development queue. Read More

January 8, 2009 What's the land-speed record for an electric eight-wheeler? It seems we're soon going to find out. A team of electron-heads at Japan's Keio University have built two of these oddly-shaped supercars, powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and an 80 horsepower electric motor for each wheel. Top speed is expected to be in excess of 230mph, with 0-60 times around 4 seconds already recorded. Power's not an issue, then... What about range? The Eliica's claimed 200 miles per charge puts it right at the pointy end of the field. While each of the prototypes has cost around US$320,000, the team plans to produce 200 units with the right backing. Read More

Nissan has made a series of subtle tweaks to the performance, paint work and pricing of its flagship GT-R sports car ahead of its introduction into the European market in 2009. The European spec GT-R's hand-built 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo engine gets a slight power boost of around one percent thanks to some electronic fine tuning along with a new, lighter pearl white exterior colour and Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres fitted as standard. Read More

Audi's new incarnation of its flagship R8 supercar will hit showrooms in 2009 sporting subtle exterior refinements including re-shaped side sills, wider cooling vents, all-LED headlamps, chrome-finished grille and 10-spoke "Y design" alloy wheels, but by far the biggest change lies beneath the surface - namely two more cylinders. The introduction of a 5.2-liter, 525 hp, V10 engine delivers significantly greater performance compared with the original 4.2 liter V8 production model released in 2006 - zero to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds (compared with 4.6 seconds), a top speed of 196.35 mph (up from 187 mph) and almost 25% more maximum torque at 530 Nm - giving it the mantle of the fastest ever road-going Audi and putting it within arms length of elite company like the Porsche 911 GT2. Read More

British lightweight sportscar manufacturer Caterham has released details of a new addition to its ‘Superlight’ family. The new Superlight R300 is an update the previous R300, which was originally launched in 2002 and fitted with a Rover engine. The new model offers chassis developments and increased engine performance that see the R300 go from 0-to-60mph in 4.5 seconds courtesy of a new 2.0-litre Ford Duratec engine, tuned by Caterham Powertrain (CPT) to deliver 175bhp. The latest 515kg interpretation of Colin Chapman’s ‘lightweight minimalist’ philosophy balances power and chassis to deliver an impressive 339bhp-per-tonne. Read More

Mercedes-Benz has announced a new limited edition version of the SLR McLaren Roadster supercar with the promise of breathtaking power and performance characteristics above that of its stunning predecessor. Improved dynamic suspension tuning and aerodynamics combined with a hand-built, supercharged, 5.5-liter Mercedes-AMG V8 engine that delivers 478 kW/650 hp (up from 460kW) give the new variant a top speed of 335 kmh with acceleration from 0 to 100 kmh in 3.7 seconds and 0-200 kmh 10.6 seconds. Why "722"? The number is a reference to the SLR racing models from the 1950s from which the two-seater cabriolet draws inspiration - Stirling Moss and his co-driver Dennis Jenkinson carried this number when they drove to victory in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR at the classic Mille Miglia long-distance race in 1955. Read More

August 19, 2008 Packing over 1000 horsepower after its GT1000 twin turbo upgrade, and with an eye-watering measured top speed of 235.4mph (378kph) that it can reach in less than 2 miles of straight road, this 2005 Ford GT has been given the full treatment by the high-velocity tuning gods at Hennessey Performance Engineering. Now it's up for sale on eBay - for the price of a small house. Read More