Category: Other
For about $105,000, you can buy a Corvette ZR-1, and get supercar performance. Or, for about $82,000, you can buy a Corvette Grand Sport, and have Howard Tanner of Redline Motorsports and Dan Carlton of DeNooyer Performance turn it into a ZR1 killer. — the Redline HTR-GS640/SC.
The Grand Sport is already faster than the standard ‘Vette. It features aerodynamic Z06 bodywork, larger 19-inch wheels in the rear and 18-inch wheels in the front, and larger brakes.
The tuners then add an Edelbrock E-Force supercharger with long intake runners, boosting low-end torque, and a new cam and valve springs and chromoly push rods. Then they add a custom Borla exhaust and a new short-throw shifter from MGW. The combination is good for 640 horsepower — 2 more than you get in a ZR1.
DeNooyer even sells the car with a warranty, covering three years or 36,000 miles. And, as a Grand Sport, it’s got that removable roof panel — something no ZR1 can offer.
This may be the first time we’ve ever seen a factory tuned car that’s not just more appealing than the stock model it targets…it’s cheaper, too.
Where do we sign?
Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson got his hands on the new Ferrari 458 Italia. If you’re not familiar with it this is Ferrari’s mid-engined vehicle (4.5L direct inject V8 engine that puts out 562hp) that replaced the outgoing F430. How does it hold up against the high expectations every new Ferrari has? Peep the vid and all will be revealed.
What’s more blasphemous, a four-door, front-engine Porsche or a four-door, front-engine Lamborghini?
Your answer doesn’t matter. The Porsche Panamera has been an unqualified success. Porsche has already sold more sedans than it thought it would this year. And the Italians are watching.
It’s been two years since Lamborghini brought its stunning Estoque concept to the Paris Motor Show, and the automotive press has been lead to believe the proposal to build it was dead for most of those two years. But now, that appears to be changing.
In an interview yesterday, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann told reporters, “A four-door car would be a very feasible approach” for the Raging Bull.
At the Paris show, Lamborghini officials told reporters the Estoque (the word comes from the name of a short sword used in bullfighting) would run on a 5.2-liter V10, with a top speed close to 200 mph, and a $230,000-plus price. All of that, however, is speculative…up to this point, it’s been nothing more than a heart-racing showfloor model and a rumor. But the rumor is back, and with the Panamera outselling expectations, we think it may have legs this time.
If you’re in Los Angeles this weekend, catch a rare L.A. performance from Universal Motown group Pac Div, one of – if not the – best rap trios to come out of the West Coast scene in years.
Not to be outdone by the news of the Chevrolet Volt pricing, Nissan announced that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has purchased 500 of its Leaf battery-powered vehicles. The cars will be available for rent in eight cities next year, and charging stations will be installed at 100 Enterprise rental locations in November, the Associated Press reported.
The Leaf runs 100 miles on a full charge of the lithium-ion battery. Nissan’s first fully electric vehicle will be shipping to first buyers in December. Its base price is $32,780 in the U.S. before the $7,500 tax credit.
Enterprise will make the Leaf available for rent in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, Ariz., Knoxville, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn. and Portland, Ore.
