Boutique supercars from small manufacturers are common. But every now and then one catches our eye.
Like this Minerva J.M Brabazon – a hybrid Belgian Supercar that has the Bugatti Veyron firmly in its sights.
Boasting a predicted top speed of over 400km/h, the Minerva could become one of the world’s fastest cars.
If it’s built, that is.
Currently firmly in the ‘planning’ stage, the images you see here are shots of the concept, with a working model yet to be built.
Still, if Minerva is to be believed, the Brabazon could be a supercar killer.
Tipped to use a V12 engine and twin-electric hybrid system, Minerva – which is one of Belgium’s oldest car makers – plans to give the Brabazon a lightweight kevlar body, carbonfibre monoque, regenerative brakes and a limited slip differential.
Nice.
In a stroke of design genius or supercar butchery an English Ferrari owner has covered his $600,000 599 in…velvet.
Spotted on the streets of London, the custom velvet wrap is said to have cost the owner $7600.
But don’t think the Ferrari is the first supercar to get this treatment. A velvet-covered Porsche Panamera also appeared in London a few months ago.
Since then social media has exploded, with many highly critical of the ‘smooth treatment.’
And frankly, we have to agree. Is this proof money doesn’t buy taste?
Volvo has announced plans to create a car that will automatically avoid collisions with kangaroos.
The new technology, which already exists in Sweden, will mean future Volvo cars will autonomously detect stray wildlife and brake to avoid a collision.
The cutting-edge system will react three times faster than human intervention, according to Volvo, and could help to drastically reduce the number of animal related accidents.
Already able to detect cows and horses in Europe, the technology is essentially an extension of existing pedestrian detection systems.
Volvo plans to study the movements of kangaroos to tailor the system to Australian conditions.
At high speeds, Volvo says the system will automatically slow the car to speeds slower than 70km/h should it detect an animal.
After first alerting the driver by applying the brakes, the car will then predict the path of the animal to reduce the impact or avoid it all together.
Volvo says at high speeds the system will reduce the likelihood of an animal breaking through a car’s A-pillar or entering the cabin through the windscreen.
The system is just one part of a host of new technologies created by Volvo to achieve its goal of zero deaths or serious injuries in its cars by 2020.
Thunderbirds are go! Well sort of…
The Mustang you see here is a special ‘Thunderbirds Edition’, built as a tribute to the U.S Air Force, not the well-known 1960s sci-fi TV show.
As American as a cheeseburger wearing cowboy boots, the one-off Mustang is designed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the U.S Air Force’s Thunderbird fighter planes.
Set to be auctioned off at an air show next month, Ford will donate all of the proceeds to Air Force development programs.
Yee-Haa!
Ever thought of robbing a bank? Well now’s the time because this is what you’ll want to spend your money on.
Yes, the actual underwater Lotus Esprit from the 1977 Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me has come up for auction, with its price tag tipped to be well into the millions.
One of film’s most iconic cars, Bond’s Lotus Esprit is one of the super spy’s most recognisable cars – lagging behind only the Aston Martin DB5 in the popularity stakes.
Known as ‘Wet nellie’ on the film’s set, the Lotus cost the film over $100,000 to build – the equivalent of $500,000 in today’s money.
Naturally you’ll be wanting to know how much you’ll need to steal to buy the Lotus. Well no official numbers exist, but if the DB5 is any guide, it sold for $3.8 million a few years ago.
Maybe rob two banks?
Twenty four years after it took back to back wins with Ari Vatanen and Robby Unser, Peugeot is once again the king of Pikes Peak.
Tackling the iconic hill climb with its new 208 T16 and nine-time WRC champ Sebastien Loeb, the French brand has absolutely decimated the course record to win this year’s event.
Loeb was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, completing his record-breaking run in a time of 8:13.878 – more than a minute and a half quicker than the existing course record of 9:46.164.
In an age when motorsport records are broken by tenths of a second, you can begin to appreciate the scale of Loeb’s achievement.
Loeb beat home second place getter, and last year’s winner, Rhys Millen who could only manage a time of 9:02.740, while French driver Jean-Philippe Dayraut finished third.
With the end of the week fast approaching, we thought it time to recap the biggest motoring stories of the past seven days.
For Australia, Mark Webber’s decision to retire from Formula 1 probably heads the list, but for petrol heads there’s plenty of new car action including the all-new Mazda 3, Porsche 911 and a boutique supercar from Monaco.
The Le Mans 24 Hours also gets a look in, as do lightning fast electric cars.
One of film’s most iconic cars, the Ferrari 250 GT Spyder from Ferris Bueller, could be yours.
The red Ferrari replica, which was infamously destroyed in the film, is being put up for auction.
Of course, what you’re buying isn’t actually a Ferrari. One of three replicas built for the film, the Ferrari is actually a bespoke racer built buy an Indy Car fabricator.
Featuring a steel tube-frame chassis with a solid rear axle and independent front suspension, the ‘Ferrari’ uses a bored 7.0-litre Ford V8 with forged pistons.
It’s an impressive piece of kit, with the 1200kg Spyder churning out 373kW.
No word on official pricing, but it goes under the hammer on August 17.
What you’re looking at is officially the world’s fastest electric car – at least until Nissan’s new Le Mans car runs next year.
Called the Drayson B12 69/EV the electric Le Mans prototype completed an official speed run in England overnight, clocking a top speed of 328.6km/h.
That mark smashed the previous record, set by Battery Box General Electric in 1974, by 47km/h.
Completing two runs down a three kilometre track to secure an average speed, the car’s owner Lord Paul Drayson piloted the bespoke 634kW racer.
“It is not the outright speed of 204.185mph that is most impressive about this record,” he said. “But the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000kg electric vehicle on a short runway over a measured mile.”
On-a-roll Land Rover is hoping lightning will strike twice with its second-generation Range Rover Sport.
Out in November and priced from $102,800 for the 3.0 TDV6 SE, the newcomer is $2400 exxier than its eight-year old predecessor, but hits back with Evoque-inspired styling designed to lure fresh buyers in.
A $3700 seven-seat option will also be introduced, significantly broadening the appeal of Land Rover’s BMW X5 fighter.
Brandishing a radical aluminium structure dubbed Premium Lightweight Architecture (PLA) adopted from its recently released Range Rover Vogue big brother, the L494 Sport sheds over 420kg, for significantly lower fuel bills, reduced emissions, and improved road manners compared to the preceding steel body-on-frame version.
Initially four engines will be made available – a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel in two states of tune (190kW/600Nm TDV6 and 215kW/600Nm SDV6), a 250kW 3.0-litre supercharged V6 petrol, and a 375kW/625Nm 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol.
The latter is capable of catapulting the Sport to 100km/h in just 5.3 seconds (versus 7.2s for the supercharged V6), on the way to a 250km/h top speed. Seven seaters are limited to a 225km/h v-max.
In all instances, torque is channelled to all four wheels via a new eight-speed automatic transmission, though the entry TDV6 SE eschews the two-speed transfer case with low-range option for a lighter single-speed unit with a Torsen differential.
A diesel hybrid will surface next year, promising to better the 7.3 litres per 100km average achieved by the TDV6.
Also due in the near future – as part of Jaguar Land Rover’s $A4.5 billion annual investment in future product – will be the replacement for the ageing Discovery, as well as a coupe-like SUV crossover to rival the BMW’s upcoming X4, while the as-yet unnamed Freelander replacement is expected to use an all-new platform shared with sister company Jaguar.
Whether the latter spawns the long-awaited sub-XF model is unknown, although Jaguar global brand director Adrian Hallmark hinted that it could be an Audi Q5-style SUV rather than a BMW 3 Series-mould sedan.
For Jaguar, the sub-XF luxury market offers the potential to more than double volume over the next few years.
“For us to grow we’ve tot to be globally more relevant,” he said, adding that annual SUV sales worldwide will hit 24 million units by 2020.
With the failure of the X-Type from last decade still fresh, Hallmark believes that Jaguar can only be successful when it innovates rather than follows.
L494 Range Rover Sport pricing
TDV6 SE $102,800
SDV6 SE $113,600
SDV6 HSE $125,800
SDV6 Autobiography $145,500
S/C V6 HSE $123,100
S/C V8 HSE Dynamic $161,600
S/C V8 Autobiography Dynamic $182,400
