This past Thursday, the Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid made its driving debut on a closed road in Monterey California, just days prior to its appearance at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
After being shipped over from Germany by plane, engineers handed the keys of the new 918 Spyder Hybrid to Porsche AG Design Chief Michael Mauer. The car drove under its own power which comes from the mid mounted 3.4 liter V8 out of the RS Spyder as well as in all electric mode which powers just the front wheels.
The 918 Spyder prototype combines high-tech racing features and electro-mobility to offer a fascinating range of qualities: An emission level of just 70 grams CO2 per kilometre on fuel consumption of three litres/100 kilometres (equal to 94 mpg imp) truly outstanding even for an ultra-compact city car, on the one hand, combined with the performance of a super sports car and acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just under 3.2 seconds, top speed of 320 km/h (198 mph) plus, and a lap time on the Nordschleife of Nürburgring in less than 7:30 minutes, faster than even the Porsche Carrera GT, on the other.
Visually speaking, the answer to that question is fairly obvious. But there’s more to an aftermarket wheel than simply the good looks. Aftermarket alloy wheels produce a number of performance benefits for your vehicle, starting with reduced unsprung weight compared to steel wheels. What is unsprung weight? Any portion of your vehicle not supported by the suspension system. Without that support, those components get hit with road shock and cornering forces. To combat that, wheels make steering precise and improve “turning in” characteristics.
Aftermarket rims are also lighter than steel rims, which helps reduce the overall weight of your car. Clearly a lighter car handles much easier than one with significant weight to it. In addition, alloy wheels are quite strong. And strong wheels support your tires in the corner.
Finally, alloy wheels are made with metals that conduct heat most excellently. Heat is moved away from the brakes, which reduces brake fade. And often, alloy wheels are designed in a way that allows air to flow away from the brakes a little easier.
Still wonder why aftermarket wheels are so great? Let’s go back to that visual note. ContactWheelTrends.com. You just might find yourself sold on a particular set from one of our manufacturers. A list that includes ISS Forged, HRE, Forgitato, and more. In fact, now is the time to buy—it’s summer blow out sale at WheelTrends.com!
With ISS FORGED having a huge take in the wheel market, ISSFORGED has become part of the WheelTrends.com family. Offer classic designs and finished. Their quality and aspiring Competion to take over the market with clean cut designs and High quality medals, they are nothing but setting an example of competition to the rest of the wheel world.
Strasse Forged with the combination of Style and Quality is reproducing yet another great looking vehicle. They have decided with the turn of just great wheels like the Strasse Forged S8 on a Audi A5, I does a turn over on the overall appearance of thee vehicle following the the curve of the car the S8′s on a 20×9.5 Staggered set this Audi off from the rest out on the Street.
As Social Media is the way to connect in the Wheel and Automotive industry now an days, WheelTrends.com has joined the twitter family.
Find us, Request Us or recommend but if anything Join us in The Twitter community. you you can stay up to date on the Automotive News and New Wheel trends that are happening today.
You can learn alot about the quality of a wheel from the barrel (as well as the normally unseen inside portions which we’ll get into later). Today, let’s talk about a regular barrel vs. a reverse barrel. You might not be able to tell from the pic, but the face design of both wheels in the picture face to the left. The wheel on the left is a performance-oriented, sports wheel. This particular one has a very shallow, regular barrel. The wheel on the right is a luxury-based wheel. This particular one has a deep, reverse barrel. True sports wheels tend to use regular barrels meaning that the well of the wheel tends to be towards the face side of the wheel. Usually, this is meant for better caliper clearance. Luxury wheels tend to use reverse barrels meaning that the well of the wheel tends to be towards the back side of the wheel. Usually, this is done for aesthetic purposes to make the face design look bigger. The width and depth of the well is accurately calculated for maximized balance and strength. Regardless of the well placement, barrels without a well are for the most part, flat and tend to be thicker and heavier. The well of the barrel creates strength, similar to the thought that a piece of paper that is folded as opposed to not being folded, is stronger. So, a barrel with a well is both usually thinner and stronger while a flat barrel tends to be thicker and heavier. And of course, similarly, the barrel constitutes whether the tire should be regular-mounted or reverse-mounted. Pardon the funky pic. WheelTrends.com currently carries a wide variety of wheels that utilize reverse barrel technology, including DPE Wheels, Strasse Forged, and HRE. Just to name a few! Contact Us for details today!
We get spy shots of unreleased cars on a fairly regular basis here at MT, but spy shots of ultra-fast, ultra-expensive supercars are a bit more rare. Getting two on the same day is virtually unheard of, but here we are. Enthusiasts have captured both the Ferrari 599 GTO and the Hennessey Venom GT ahead of their official debuts.
The Ferrari comes to us by way of French auto enthusiast site Caradisiac, which somehow got its hands on a few pictures of the all-new and as-of-yet unannounced Ferrari 599 GTO. A street-tuned version of the Ferrari 599 FXX track car, the GTO is believed to offer over 700 horsepower and hit 60 mph in just over 3 seconds on its way to a top speed well above 200 mph. Though the first leaked image seemed dubious, these ones appear legit and the pricing sheet that slipped out yesterday backs them up. In case you were wondering, the GTO is expected
The Hennessey Venom GT, on the other hand, we’ve been following for a while. We first caught wind that the project was back on track in August of last year, and Hennessey has been feeding our curiosity with sketches and teaser pictures ever since. Now, the $600,000, 1000-plus horsepower, Lotus-based supercar has been caught by a sharp-eyed English chap just ahead of its unveiling. The matte-black monster was caught completely uncovered sitting in front of a warehouse in Britain sporting a fresh spray of muddy water from recent testing. This is our first look at the completed car, and it conjures up images of a Porsche Carrera GT crossed with a Lotus Exige.
The Hennessey is expected to debut Tuesday, March 30, and we’ll have all the information and pictures for you right here, so stay tuned. The Ferrari is rumored to be debuting a week later on April 7, so we’ll keep on top of it and bring you all the latest as it breaks.
Along comes the Spyder
Given the propensity of supercars to lose their tops, a drop-top version of the Audi R8 was almost inevitable. But it wasn’t the original V-8-powered R8 4.2 that lost its top, but rather the new R8 5.2, which is powered by a 518-hp, 391-lb-ft 5.2-liter V-10 mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed R tronic sequential transmission. 0-62 mph is achieved in just 4.1 seconds, top speed sits at 195 mph. The car features the R8 5.2 coupe’s LED head and taillight fixtures. Its nose wears the distinct two tier gills inside each lower front intake rather than the triple set adorning the 4.2. Also distinguishing its V-10 trim are twin oval tail pipes, a more sculpted under diffuser, and unique 19-in. wheels. As expected, the Spyder loses the prominent side blades found on the hard top R8s.
Thanks to the use of a cloth soft-top, which can be opened or closed at speeds up to 31 mph, the Spyder puts on minimal pounds. The top itself weighs just 66 lbs and the car as a whole is said to weigh just 13 lbs more than the coupe despite additional reinforcements in the sills, A-pillar, center tunnel, rear wall, and floor pan to improve chassis rigidity.
The R8 Spyder will go on sale in Germany in the first quarter of 2010 at a price of 156,400 euros ($230,581). Audi has not yet announced an on-sale date or pricing for the U.S.
Toyota may need to rethink its sports car plans. According to survey results that just came to light in Japan, the Honda CR-Z generated far greater interest among the media and the public at October’s 2009 Tokyo Motor Show than Toyota’s FT-86 Concept. One of the main reasons given was that the CR-Z is ready for the market and will land in showrooms in Japan by February 2010, while the FT-86 won’t appear until late 2011 and potentially will have a revised design.
That’s not to say Toyota will scrap its edgy rear-drive FT-86. Far from it. Co-developed with Subaru, the FT-86 will employ a Subaru platform, 2.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine with revised Toyota head unit, and a six-speed manual gearbox from the Impreza. It will also have a Subaru twin brother — albeit wearing a slightly different body.
The survey results also show that there is a definite and growing market interest in hybrid sports cars along the lines of the CR-Z. Interestingly, Toyota has had one on the drawing board for some time. Spotted circling Germany’s Nurburgring way back in 2005, draped in heavy black camouflage, was a hybrid prototype employing a widened MR2 platform.
At the time, the MR2 prototype was powered by a mid-mounted, 3.3-liter V-6 hybrid driving the rear wheels and electric motors propelling the fronts. And at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show, Toyota collaborated with ItalDesign to create the Alessandro Volta concept car, powered by a 3.3-liter hybrid and said to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 4 seconds. While Toyota dropped the MR2 in 2007 (the car was also known in Japan as the MR-S), rumors of its revival have been heating up recently, with a hybrid version reportedly heading the list.
A rear drive, hybrid-powered sports car with MR2 roots would fit in perfectly with what new Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has been saying of late. “We want to design cars with more exciting exteriors and handling,” he stressed at a recent gathering of Japan’s Car of the Year jurors.
To help it tap into what the market really wants, the world’s biggest carmaker will create Toyota Marketing Japan Ltd in January next year. No doubt topping the division’s to do list will be developing a plan for a CR-Z fighter combining solid performance, high fuel economy and low emissions — all wrapped up in a excitingly styled body. Calling it MR2 — a name familiar to enthusiasts around the world — would seem to be a solid fit, although Prius Coupe could also be a possibility. We should know much more as 2010 unfolds.
With a car like the Bentley Continental GT, it’s not difficult to predict the evolution of the species. White hot expensive coupe starts proliferating in Beverly Hills until seemingly everyone in town has one. Naturally a convertible comes next (GTC), and then go fast versions of each body style (GT Speed, GTC Speed). Finally, there’s the super duper exclusive variant (Supersports), with the latest in evolutionary line being the 2011 Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible seen here.
As you probably can guess, the spec sheet for a Supersports Convertible isn’t very different from its Supersports coupe sibling. The massaged version of Bentley’s W-12 engine still features twin turbos and puts down an awesome 621 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, which catapults the car from 0-60 mph in 3.9 sec all the way up to 202 mph. With 198 fewer pounds to lug around, it’s no surprise that the Supersports drop top is considerably faster than the GTC Speed. Don’t forget this W-12 is E85-compatible and the computers will allow you to burn any combination of E85 and gasoline with no change in performance.
Rear track width increases nearly two inches in order to keep its huge 275/35 ZR20 Pirelli tires in better contact with the road during hard driving and lightweight alloy wheels save 5.5 pounds at each corner. Further reduction to the car’s rotating mass comes from the carbon-ceramic brakes that shed another 44 pounds.
Don’t expect massive visual changes on the Supersports Convertible. Bentley didn’t waste time on components that don’t improve performance. The few changes that distinguish the Supersports from its slightly less venerable siblings include a smoked steel finish on the radiator, lower grille, and hood vents finished with a new physical vapor deposition (PVD) process that deposits vaporized metal on stainless steel surfaces. Bentley claims the Supersports is the first automotive application of PVD, which has been used to finish items like luxury watches in the past.
Inside, Bentley’s traditional wood trim is replaced with carbon fiber pieces and swaths of Alcantara fabric. Perhaps our favorite feature in the Supersports is the delightfully simple front seats. Sparco buckets save approximately 100 pounds over the regular Bentley seats and wear handsome diamond-quilted Alcantara accents.
If this sounds like the ultimate Continental to you, head to your local Bentley dealer soon. Continental Supersports Convertibles should begin arriving in showrooms this July and we’re betting there’s already a healthy waiting list developing down at the Beverly Hills Bentley dealership.
