Motoring News

I am very much a German car lover, as you may have noticed by the amount of German Car of the week posts so far, but i do have a soft spot for a good Japanese car and that is reflected in this weeks COTW.

This week I have spotted a stunning, high spec Nissan Skyline R32 on Pistonheads and just had to have it as car of the week. I have had a thing for R32 Skylines for a while now, i love the look of a subtly styled R32 and can’t help but appreciate the technology underneath what is now an 18 year old car.

the R32 Skyline was created back in 1989 as a road-going race car designed by Nissan to win. The car was created for the Japan Touring Car Championship in group A, because of this Nissan had to make a full production version for the road and so the Nissan Skyline R32 was born.

The R32 features ATTESA E-TS 4wd system which was well before its time. The system works similarly to the new Golf R32 system as when the front end starts to loose grip an electronic multi-plate clutch feeds more power to the wheels from between 0-50% depending on the slip and lateral G-force. so as you start lose the car you get more 4wd so you gain more grip. The R32 also includes a 4 wheel steer system that delivers small counter steer movement to the rear wheels.

The power plant of the R32 is a twin turbo 2.6 litre 24 valve straight 6 pumping out 280bhp @ 6800rpm. With a weight of 1430kg and 4wd a standard R32 Skyline would see 60mph in only 5.6 second, which is still fast by today’s standards.

The R32 Skyline that i have picked out has seen quite a lot of work and has motor-sport inspired styling traits while still keeping a lot of the original style of the car. The car was built by Top Sercret in Japan and remapped by Tweenie Rob from TR Racing. I won’t list the spec of the car just because it would fill up most of the page, but the bottom line is the car has been built to a very high spec and standard and must be pushing out some very impressive figures. Enjoy the pics…

Nissan Skyline R32

Nissan Skyline R32 Side

Nissan Skyline R32 Rear

Nissan Skyline R32 Engine Bay

As I said on Friday, the Mclaren unveiled their new team and car at the end of last week in preparation of the new formula One season that will kick off in Bahrain on the 12,13,14 March 2010. The new car in certainly no Van, but looks very different to last years car with the air intake carrying on all the way to the rear spoiler and the back of the car looking bigger to incorporate the new bigger fuel tank. I think it looks great and i cannot wait to see all of the cars in action in just under 39 days time. Here is some shots of the new car and of the launch.

Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 car

Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 car

Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 launch

Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 launch Lewis and Jenson

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.

Another week goes by and no posts go up on the blog, I can only apologise for my laziness i have been on holiday in Spain. There has been plenty of news over the last couple of week about pot holes, new car, concept cars and much more, but that’ll have to wait. First comes Car of the Week.

This week I am righting about a type of car that i almost bought a couple of years ago, but instead I bought a VW Corrado G60 and ended up spending around £5k on it after it blew up, but that’s another story all together.

The Audi S2 was the follow on to the hugely successful Audi Quattro rally car of the 80’s, featuring the same style 2.2 20v 5 cylinder engine that made the road going coupes so very distinctive. The S2 can be found with two different engines, the early cars have the 2.2 20v 220bhp 3B version which came with a 5 speed box and the later cars came with a 2.2 20v 230bhp ABY engine with a 6 speed box. The differences between the two version continues to other pieces of trim and performance with the 220bhp 3B cars seeing 60mph 0.2 seconds faster then the more powerful ABY cars with a time of 0-60 in  5.7 seconds.

The car i have picked out is a coupe version of the car, which is slightly quicker then the Avant versions, but I personally think that the estate Avant S2’s are extremely cool. Once again the car is currently for sale on Pistonheads and is very well priced for such a great car.

This S2 is a ABY 1994 car in Emerald Green metallic paint with full black leather interior. The car has done 128k miles but it comes with full Audi service history and has a huge spec list of work done. The work done to the car is impressive and consists of a new race exhaust, H&R lowering springs, Audi S8 wheels, low compression head gasket, SR2 Turbo, Porsche brake upgrade (common mod on these cars) HID headlights and boost gauge. The car is currently running 309bhp but i would say that with some more tweaks to the spec (RS2 intercooler and inlet) with a remap some big power could be achieved quite easily.

The car is currently advertised for £4750, which considering the spec is pretty good.

There are several S2’s on Pistonheads at the moment with varying prices from £2.5k to upwards of £5k. These are rare, fast, underappreciated cars which are very cheap at the moment. If you are in the market for a car between £3k-5k I would seriously advise looking at an Audi S2.

Audi S2 Coupe

Audi S2 Coupe

Audi S2 Coupe Rear