Category: Tuning
Legendary tuner Carroll Shelby is nearing retirement age. And a man like that doesn’t fade into the night.
No, a man like that leaves you with your jaw hanging open. It’s just how the world works.
He might, for instance, build a Mustang with four figures in the power number. That’s the rumor, as California blog Mustangs Daily reports it. They claim that Shelby is working on a 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbo Shelby GT500. It will use Shelby’s custom 5.4-liter V8, and all of the boost engineering can muster from a pair of turbos. An automatic with paddle shifters would reportedly be an option, but anyone in their right mind would surely buy the six-speed, short-throw stick and row their own way to heaven in this rocket.
Other features would include wider bodywork, a ten-point roll cage and dual-fuel system for the track, huge custom brakes with six-piston calipers from Baer, and 20-inch Alcoa wheels.
It’s almost enough to make the story of Carroll Shelby’s retirement believable. Almost.
There is a part of us that will always believe a man like that doesn’t stop building cars. He just goes on building them in a secret garage buried in a mountain somewhere, knowing they’re too perfect to share with mankind.
We’ve covered the Arash AF-10 before, but the story continues to grow. In fact, it has grown from its original 550 horsepower, to about 1200 horsepower. Now, this is not your average fisherman story, where 3 inches becomes 3 feet by the end of the third week. No, Arash is hell-bent on matching the horsepower configuration of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, so they can justify its $2 million price tag ($2.03 U.S. to be exact).
Tuner cars are put out with all sorts of themes. High-power editions that boost stock cars to ridiculous levels of torque. Audio specials where the stereo components are more impressive than the mechanicals. Stunning cars that are mostly about looks.
But an Apple car?
That’s what Brabus just did. The Brabus iBusiness Mercedes-Benz S-Class appears to be aimed at Steve Job’s ego.
Oh, it’s still a Brabus product. A twin-turbo V12 putting out 750 horsepower, routed through a five-speed auto (you need your hands free for gadgets), a custom limited-slip diff, etc. Brabus says it will do 211 mph, or zero to sixty in four seconds.
It’s also luxurious, with custom leather and Alcantara.
But this thing’s reason for being, clearly, is to show off what Apple can do. It comes with a pair of built-in iPads, multimedia screens in the back of the front seats, a 64GB iPod Touch, and a massive 15.2-inch Mac display hanging from the headliner. The iPads aren’t just typical iPads…they control everything from the sound system to the nav.
It all routs through a single Mac Mini mounted in the trunk.
Price not yet announced.
The Coyote 5.0-liter V8 engine offered for the Ford Mustang is quickly becoming a tuner favorite. And it should be. Few mills offer the combination of grunt, growl and power the 5.0 puts out stoplight-to-stoplight. But not ever Mustang owner will settle for stock.
Roush is the latest one to get into the upgrade game. For $5,999, they are offering the ROUSHcharger, a versionof the TVS2300 supercharger Roush put on its P51A Mustang last year.
According to Roush, it bumps the Coyote up to 550 horsepower even without additional upgrades — and anyone who knows what they’re doing is going to swap out the fuel pump and exhaust if they’re installing this. Professional installation, the manufacturer says, is mandatory.
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?
