The Lamborghini Centenario was launched at Geneva Motor Show to celebrate the centenary of the birth of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini. Only 20 coupé and 20 roadster versions of the Centenario will be produced at a cost of 1.75 million euros. If you wanted one, too late. The 40 cars are already sold. The Centenario’s naturally aspirated V12 produces 759 bhp and powers from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds. With a top speed of more than 217 mph, it is the most powerful engine produced by Lamborghini to date. As with all recent Lamborghinis, the car will be four wheel drive. To…
Author: Chris Andrews
When supercars were surpassed by a new breed of outrageous machines, the hypercar phrase was coined. However, it seems like the sole premise of the new Bugatti Chiron is to render the hypercar tag redundant. The numbers are incredible: 1500 metric horse power (1480 in old fashioned bhp), 1600 nm of torque and a top speed that is limited to 261 mph. Welcome to the world’s fastest production car. This incredible performance is he result of the legendary eight-litre W16 engine, that has been newly developed by Bugatti. To achieve a power boost of 25% over the previous incarnation, almost every component has…
If you thought that the Bond had he best Aston Martin unveiled in recent years, think again. The company finally lifted the lid on the all-new DB11 at the Geneva Motor Show. The car showcases a fresh, distinctive design, which is still unmistakably Aston Martin. Built upon a new lighter, stronger, and more space efficient bonded aluminium structure, the DB11 is the most powerful DB in the history of the marque. Perhaps even more significant, is that it is the first wholly new model since the introduction of the DB9 in 2003. Like every Aston Martin, the heart of the DB11…
Porsche took the wraps off the new 911 R at the Geneva Motor Show, unveiling the most hotly anticipated variant in a generation. On paper, the 911 R sounds like a mishmash of parts from the rest of the range. But crucially, these are the best bits. Porsche have taken the 4.0 naturally aspirated flat-six from the hardcore GT3 RS, added a trick, manual gearbox (no flappy paddles here) and somehow made it the lightest model in the line-up. This really is a 911 for the purist. The race-inspired engine produces 493bhp at 8250rpm, whilst 339lb ft of torque is produced…
The annual motorsport opus that is Autosport International delivered it’s usual array of car launches, big announcements and classic racing machinery. Visitors to were able to enjoy a host of different stands, attractions and performances and witness several big hitters from the world of speed being interviewed on the Autosport Stage. Former World Rally Championship holder Ari Vatanen reminisced about his long career in the sport and discussed his son Max’s campaign in the British Rally Championship this year, alongside Elfyn Evans in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta. Three-time FIA World Champion Petter Solberg enthralled crowds with his view on the…
The life and career of Irish rally legend Bertie Fisher is to be celebrated in a new book, which will be launched in March. ‘King Fisher’ was written by rally enthusiast and photographer, Fergus McAnallen with support from the Fisher family and aims to chronicle the fascinating story of the four time Irish Tarmac Champion. Fergus said “Bertie was a hero to me and it was an honour and a privilege to be able to put this book together. It took many years of research but the end result is packed with hundreds of handpicked images from dozens of archives,…
We take a look of the world of motoring this week and see Renault Raided, Petrol being cheaper than bottled water and an unlikely Top Gear challenger from ITV. Renault gets raided We learned that police raided Renault’s headquaters, the Renault Technical Centre in Lardy (no laughing at the back) and the Technocentre in Guyancourt, last week, in a move understood to be in connection to the Volkswagen emissions scandal. When the news leaked out, the French manufacturer said that investigators wanted to check the equipment used at its factories. Almost €5bn was wiped off the carmaker’s stock market value,…
Sileveanorra, that mighty forest in the hills of North Antrim, reverberated with the sound of rally cars once again, as crews took to the stages for the Carey Cleaning Machines Icebreaker Rally. The Mid-Antrim Motor Club event attracted a small, but high quality field to this early season opener. Philip Morrow headed the entry list, making a return to rallying in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, after an absence of just over a year. The opening stage, Beaghs, was a relatively short and gentle introduction to the car killing havoc that would follow. Morrow’s lack of seat time appeared to…
UK car sales hit an all time high during 2015 according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders today. Over 2.6m new cars were sold last year as buyers took advantage of cheap finance deals and attractive prices underpinned by the weak Euro. Registrations of petrol cars were up by 8.4% whilst sales of diesel cars grew by 3% during 2015. Interestingly, both fuel types now have an equal 48% share of the market. Demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles continues to boom, as registrations increased by 40% on the previous year. Plug-in hybrids experienced phenomenal growth,…
BBC shocked motorsports fans today by announcing that it would be terminating their agreement to show Formula 1 three years early. The Corporation needs to make £35m of savings from their sports budget, which has led to F1 coverage being culled immediately by Director of Sport, Barbara Slater. But the BBC’s loss has been Channel 4’s gain. The station swooped to pick up the rights and become the new home of F1 on free-to-air television. The deal is set to last three years and Channel 4 will broadcast 10 races live, including practice and qualifying sessions. Crucially, the broadcaster has…
German car manufacturer Volkswagen saw UK car sales plummet by 20% in the last month, as a result of the diesel emissions scandal. The latest sales figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show a sharp reversal in fortunes for VW, who had been enjoying a sustained period of growth prior to November. Audi was the only marque in the Volkswagen Group which didn’t suffer from the dieselgate scandal, despite also using engines with the so-called “defeat device”. Sales of Audis grew by 7%, whilst Skoda dropped by nearly 11% and SEAT saw a 24% decline…
The internet is awash with supercar comparison videos. A quick delve into YouTube brings up an endless list films, all using the same formula. Moody, high definition panning shots, switching to a close up of exotica racing into view. Chris Harris remains the undisputed master of the genre. Often copied, but yet to be beaten. His recent episode, where he thrashed a McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918, clocked up a million views in less than a week. However, a new pretender is gathering momentum. Los Angeles-based Alejandro Salomon appears to have unlimited access to supercars. In the past…