Jaguar concept XJ front

Jaguar has revealed an exciting new concept designed to showcase the potential of its new XJ series. The XJ75 Platinum Concept revealed at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance over the weekend, although a showcar, may well be an example of things to come from the marque.

“The new Jaguar XJ Platinum Concept celebrates Jaguar’s 75th Anniversary, and highlights the uniqueness of the XJ, and more broadly, the increasingly personal nature of luxury cars in today’s market,” says Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director of Jaguar Cars.

“The XJ is thoroughly modern, and captures the innovative and daring character that our founder Sir William Lyons built into every Jaguar. And the design team clearly had some fun making their first one-of-a-kind XJ design concept in that spirit.”

Although not an actual XJR, a new version of Jaguar’s sportiest saloon is expected to be released soon, so this look could be incorporated to a new production model about to roll off the line.

A 470hp Supercharged V8 powers the XJ75, and not the 500hp-plus engine that is used in a production XJR. However, it is equipped with new ground-hugging front, rear and side sills and also features bespoke 22-inch black wheels – all of which could easily foretell the shape of good things come. Inside the car, the black colour scheme is complemented by white air vents, veneers and diamond stitch suede inserts to the seats and headliner, that contrast with the black leather interior.

Jaguar concept XJ rear

Jaguar concept XJ wheels

Renualt DeZir at the Side of the Road in Paris

The DeZir’s power comes from the same size 24 kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack that sits under the Nissan Leaf, and the driving range remains the same 100 miles, though unlike Leaf the pack in the concept is configured for Quick Drop exchanges. The DeZir is propelled by a 110 kilowatt electric motor powering the rear wheels and rocketing the lightweight electric concept to 60 mph in 5 seconds.

Here are some of the shots.

Renualt DeZir Shoing off its Wing Style Doors.

Renualt DeZir Rear

Renualt DeZir Lights

Lamborghini Presa Concept

These images are a concept for a new GT Lamborghini by Mohammad R. Shojaie that might be gracing the forecourts in the near future. The new concept is xalled the Lamborghini Presa and has been designed by Mohamad Monfared, Alireza Sahragard, and Arian Moqbeli in a joint effort to come up with a brand new GT Lambo like never before.

The Presa is the first front engined Lamborghini’s since the Jarama S in 1972. The Presa GT has been designed to take on the crowded front engined V8 GT market where the Ferrari 599 and the Aston Martin DB9 current command.

The concept is clearly a Lamborghini, but special attempts have been made to design the transverse lines in order to distinguish it from other GTs on the market.

When or even whether the Lamborghini Presa will make it to market is unsure. I hope something comes of this cencept because I love it.

Lamborghini Presa Concept Side

Lamborghini Presa Concept Front

Lamborghini Presa Concept Bottom

Original Lancia Stratos

The images below have been circulating the Internet over the last few days with the unfounded labels of photos of the new Stratos.

The photos were originally broken by Italian car blog Italiaspeed and they were taken back in June at Alfa Romeo’s Balocco test track in Italy. Though many have stated that they are the new Stratos, no one really knows exactly what it is as nothing has been confirmed nor denied.

There are of course many rally and Lancia fans across the net that are convinced that the images show the new Stratos sports car which is a continuation on the 2005 concept car that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. You can definitely see why people think that the new spy shots are of a new Stratos though, the lines are very similar to the old legendary Rally car, with a low pointed from nose and an almost identical rear spoiler. The new spy shots have caused quite a stir in rally and lancia circles with all sorts of rumors about the power-plant and drive train.

As for the drive-train and chassis, no one really knows, but the general consensus seems to be that the Stratos will use a Ferrari V8 and a chopped-down Ferrari chassis, though whether these will come from a 360 Challenge Stradale, an F430 or even an F430 Challenge racer is unclear.

An F430 basis seems most sensible, but even though the use of the Balocco facility means the project has Fiat Auto’s implicit approval, it’s unlikely that neither Fiat, Ferrari nor Lancia will have anything more than a tangential involvement with the project.

New Lancia Stratos Spy Shots

Another New Lancia Stratos Spy Shots

After the Veyron was released I shed a tear thinking that this could be the last ‘mad’ uber-car we could every see, with climate change becoming an ever more talked about subject and all of the big car manufactures (wisely) investing their R and D money into researching hydrogen and electric cars I had a feeling that the Veyron may very well be the last of generation.

Oh how wrong i was. As well as Bugatti tweaking the Veyron making it even faster, there is a new kid on the block boasting even crazier power, acceleration and speed figures.

The car in question is the new TranStar Racing Dagger GT which houses a whopping 2000bhp engine. The power is produced by a 572 multifuel (petrol/methanol/hydrogen/ethanol) twin turbo racing engine produced by Nelson Racing Engines. The engine will also produce 2000lb/ft of torque which is delivered to the wheels by a 6 speed gearbox.

The amazing figures don’t stop with the power, the Dagger GT is set to rocket to 60 in only 1.5 seconds and complete a quarter mile in a staggering 6.7seconds. The top speed is as equally as mad as the other figures surrounding this car, with the Dagger GT being able to reach 300mph, nearly 40mph more then the new Veyron’s record.

As you could expect the Dagger GT is constructed using a mixture of strong but light materials including high-strength 4130 Chromoly Steel for the chassis and carbon fibre for the exterior body work.

Unlike the Veyron the Dagger GT is almost cheap, priced at $450,000. Though with only 5 units planned for 2011 and 10 units planned for 2012 you better get your orders in fast if you want one.

The car looks great in the pictures, but i have my doubts about how ‘good’ it will actually be. All supercars are built to be fast, but the Ferrari’s and Bugatti’s of this world are also comfortable and refined at the same time. With a race spec engine and a super light body I can’t really see the Dagger GT offering the same package. Also, with an engine as finely tuned as the Nelson Racing multifuel engine in the Dagger I doubt you will be able to many miles before you have to pay for a pricey overhaul. Though I guess if you can afford it as a toy you can afford the bills.

Here are some photos.

Dagger GT Rear

Dagger GT Rear Quarter

Dagger GT Front

Dagger GT Front Quarter

]]> http://www.motoring-news.co.uk/2010/07/05/2000bhp-transtar-racing-dagger-gt/390/feed 0 http://www.motoring-news.co.uk/2010/06/30/porsche-intelligent-performance-hybrid/372 http://www.motoring-news.co.uk/2010/06/30/porsche-intelligent-performance-hybrid/372#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:05:07 +0000 admin http://www.motoring-news.co.uk/?p=372

That’s right, the title has ‘Porsche’ and ‘hybrid’ in it together. To be honest, Porsche have been playing around with the hybrid car idea for a while and have been looking to release a hybrid version of the Cayenne 4×4 to try and please those who want a massive Porsche but don’t want to feel like they are harming mother nature… Silly i know.

The Cayenne is not the focus for this post though. I wanted to write about another part of Porsche that is using the idea of adding an electric engine to a car to increase the performance instead of just replacing the petrol engine.

Porsche Intelligent Performance have taken a step back and looked at the whole hybrid car package from another angle. Instead of having the electric motor power the same wheels as the petrol engine and having it take over at low speeds they have decided to do something very different. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid was developed by Porsche Intelligent Performance to do one thing, Go Fast. The car sets about this by using a normal 911 GT3 engine, mounted in the normal place, powering the rear wheels but the car also includes an electric motor, mounted in the center of the car (for weight distribution) and powering the front wheels. The electric motor only comes in when a special button is pressed by the driver to give him that little extra power he/she needs to overtake or power out of a corner. When the electric motor is not being used it get recharged by the turning of the front wheels.

The car is fully focused on performance and racing, so you can forgive the fact that there is no saving of petrol to be found in the 911 GT3 R Hybrid. To test the new hybrid Porsche Intelligent Performance decided to throw the car in at the deep-end and enter it into the Nürburgring 24hr race. Known as one of the most demanding endurance races in the world the Porsche 911 GT3 hybrid ended up retiring after 22 hours and 15 minutes with engine damage after leading its class. Wolfgang Dürheimer, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG, gives an outlook to the future: “The 911 GT3 R Hybrid has proven that highest performance and a unique efficiency don’t exclude each other. The vehicle shows the technological path to racing in the future.”.

I can see the idea behind the Porsche 911 GT3 hybrid catching on in the future. You could say that McLaren have already been using something similar in last seasons F1 car, but with mixed results. Anyway, here are a couple of videos of the 911 GT3 hybrid in action at the ring.

Today Mclaren are set to launch their new look F1 team with the 2010 car. I am sure there is no one out there that doesn’t know that last years F1 World Champion Jenson Button will be joining the team for the 2010 season, but i am looking forward to seeing the new car and the awkward body language between the two British World champs.

This season is shaping up to be one of the most interesting seasons for a very long time, with last years championship winning and constructors winning team being bought out in the off season by Mercedes and michael schumacher joining the fray once again. The most interesting change for the 2010 season is the new rule of no fuel stops. It sounds simple, but with out fueling stops to help pass the car in front drivers will be forced to try and pass each other on the track (or so the theory goes). This isn’t a new idea, the sport has had the no refueling rule in place before. We all know that F1 rules and regulations are like fashion trends, they seem to just go round in a circle, with what was fashionable in the 60′s coming back in fashion again now.I am not complaining though, should make for a good season.I might even make it across to Europe this year for the France or even Spain GP, for now I will just have to enjoy the amusing rivalry between Lewis and Jenson.

Here is a link to the Autocar article, and the video of the test drive is below.

At no point was he using that phone. Honest, guv.

I have found this youtube video showing the poor Veyron’s last moments… How on earth did they do that?