Yet again, Pagani pulls off another masterpiece. And they’re going to do it only 4 more times for this particular limited edition Pagani Zonda Cinque. Apparently, the projects inception was caused by a buyer in Hong Kong with a pallette for high end iron, or in this case a unique blend of titanium and carbon fibre.
All 5 have already been sold for somewhere north of 1 Million each, and unlike most cars, these appreciate over time, unless of course, they crash. And though this ride is street legal, an un-experienced driver is sure to get into trouble. This rocket ship has a 678 hp Mercedes Benz AMG engine and weighs less than 2700 lbs. That’s the equivelant of 1 pony for every 3.9 lbs! That’s like sticking an ICBM on the top of a roller skate.
Our hats are off to Pagani once again for making such a sexy vehicle. Hopefully one day we’ll get to do a little video in one of these. But until then, we can always dream.
Full Press Release after the jump…
At the FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix at Circuit de Nevers, Felipe Massa of Ferrari pulled off a victory over his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. But that’s not the really interesting (and controversial) event of the weekend. Rather, it was what could be construed as the ongoing persecution of McLaren at the hands of the FIA.
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here for a quickie overview on the car that I’ve been seeing all over the place lately… and I happen to like. Hit the jump for the full story!
For those that don’t follow NHRA drag racing - Scott Kalitta was one of the most well known names in drag racing and had a career as a professional driver that spanned over twenty years. He first started racing in the 1980’s and made a name for himself as he started winning funny car competitions as well as setting a speed record at one point. Kalitta would go on to become the Top Fuel Season Champion for years 1994 and 1995.
His accident at Old Bridge Raceway was due to an explosion in the engine section of his funny car (it blows off the bodywork), as he was blasting down the drag strip at approximately 300 miles per hour. From the video it looks as if he deployed his parachute immediately after the fire starts but the parachute appeared to be damaged (it spins wildly out of control) from the explosion as it does not slow his car down nearly enough. His car then hits the barrier at the end of the dragstrip and shoots upwards resulting in another larger explosion.
Engine explosions like the one Kalitta’s car went through are not uncommon in this level of drag racing - the extreme levels of boost at high RPM combined with high performance fueling can be a volatile combination that results in the engine blowing a hole in its case and igniting the fuel or oil. NHRA Drivers always wear flame retardant suits and helmets and are able to slow the car down or slide it into the side wall almost every time this happens. The details of Kalitta’s incident are still unclear and are still under investigation, it is possible that he was knocked unconscious from the initial engine detonation and thus was unable to slow the car down.
Alright we have all seen the several fuel additives in local gas stations and automotive shops, but do they actually work? Read the rest of this entry »
The Golf GT TSI looks relatively pedestrian, merely sporting different wheels and front bumper cover from the GTi Version. However, the motor that the TSI uses is anything from ordinary. While oem turbocharged motors are nothing new (neither are oem supercharged engines), the TSI is both supercharged and turbocharged! This setup is affectionatelly called twincharging and it not a new concept by a long shot - twincharging was used on the Lancia S4 back in the 1980’s.
Benefits of a twincharged setup seem obvious - midrange to top end power form a good sized turbocharger without the pesky lag that is usually associated with these size turbos. A supercharger (usually roots type) provides the boost from the low range which also helps spool up the turbo faster. After the turbocharger starts providing the boost, the supercharger unit is kept under control by a clutch pack on the pully (similar to AC compressors and some engine fans). Using this technology, Volkswagen manages to squeeze out 170 horsepower out of a 1.4 liter engine.
Twincharging has some obvious downfalls though - turbo setups are hard enough to work with sometimes, good luck working on a Mazda FD RX7’s or Nissan 300ZX twin turbo. Adding a supercharger to the equation will only compound difficulty when time comes to service the twincharged engine. However, the benefits seem to far outweigh the downfalls so we all hope to see twincharging being used in more performance oriented applications in the future!
Once again it is Thursday and time for the newest installment of Muscle Car of the Week. It is my goal to give all the WRTV faithful a look at some vintage cars that people don’t normally hear about instead of the usual Hemi Cuda’s and big block Chevelle’s. The last two weeks we have taken a look at some heavy hitters from General Motors, so for this week I have decided to see what the Bowtie Bunch has to offer in terms of flat out performance. That brings us to the chosen car for this week: the 1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS LS6.
Seriously, suck on it…
…at least that’s probably what you’ll be doing when gas prices inevitably go up even higher.
And here it is, the latest security technology from Glasstek; a thief approaches and BAM, the car shoots thousands of shards of glass straight at the would be assailant. Or not…
An artist by the name of Luca Pancrazzi decided it would be a good idea to take a perfectly good Maserati Quattroporte and glue 1,700 lbs of shattered glass to it. The effect is actually quite cool looking, but ultimately pointless. You could have used a buick to achieve the same effect, but no, let’s do it to one of italy’s finest automobiles that costs around $100k. Perhaps there’s more to this story than meets the eye. We’re guessing a Maserati might have run over his first born child while it was in a stroller crossing the street. One could only guess at this after stumbling upon the display in front of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. The name of the piece is “Pedestrian Pulverizer.”
So WebRiders, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Next time you’re in Russia, always look both ways before crossing the street.
More pics after the jump…
Our spies caught up with the next gen 1 series mule and snapped some tasty photos for ya’ll to enjoy. One of the biggest changes to the one series will be a focus on more rear passenger space. From these photos you can already see a wider stance and more spacious rear seat room.
We’ve also heard rumors about changes to the tech inside the 1 series. We’re hoping they get a new iDrive system. Never the less, Europeans should expect a plethora of options from the next one series to include: hatchback, coupe, 4 door, awd, and convertible.
Click here to see the 2010 BMW 1 Series Spy Photos
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