[Video] Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Heads to the Track

The new racing variant of the GT-R supercar has been captured flying around the track.

Official details of the GT-R Nismo GT3 were released in January after the car entered the Dubai 24-hour endurance race. Although the pictures of the race car were cool, there's nothing better than seeing and hearing it tear around a race track.JRM Racing has thankfully put together a promotional video showing one of its race cars undertaking shakedown tests, which gives us the chance to see the GT-R Nismo GT3 on the move.
It features a 3.8-liter V6 twin-turbo engine based on a standard road car unit, with power going to the rear wheels via a six-speed semi-automatic transmission. Output is rated at 523hp and 451lb-ft of torque.

Designed with road-going customers in mind, the 1,300kg car features "a chassis that inspires confidence," with suspension set-up and driver controls that be adjusted according to driver preferences.Anyone interested in picking one up for a spot of weekend racing or a rapid trip to the country, prices start at 32m yen, which is a smidgen under $390,000.

[Video] Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Heads to the Track

Audi R18 e-tron Hybrid Quattro Racer Announced for Le Mans

Following its world premiere in Munich, Audi’s new R18 will make its racing debut on May 5 before fighting for overall victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Audi has just revealed their new R18 e-tron Quattro racer, a brand new Le Mans prototype that has been in the development stages up until very recently.Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich drove the new Audi R18 onto the stage at last night's world premiere in Munich, electrically and almost silent.The vehicle will be the first LMP1 car that incorporates a diesel hybrid powertrain, which runs in concert with Audi's e-tron Quattro AWD system.

A kinetic energy recovery braking system on the front axle sends electricity into a flywheel accumulator before it is sent back down to the electric motors on the front wheel. This energy can then be retrieved, but only under acceleration above 75mph. Meanwhile, a 503hp V6 TDI powerplant transmits power to the rear wheels.This flywheel hybrid system was developed and manufactured by Williams, who previously supplied similar systems to Porsche racing cars. In fact, its similar to Porsche's flywheel KERS system on the 911 GT3 R Hybrid although it cannot operate on electricity alone and a gasoline engine is used in the rear.

To compensate for the hybrid system's additional weight, a new gearbox with a carbon-fiber composite housing was developed for the R18, a first for endurance racing.Audi Sport also developed the Audi R18 ultra in parallel with the e-tron Quattro, an identical car but without hybrid drive and the lightest Le Mans prototype Audi has ever built.Both cars will be fielded in the Le Mans 24 Hours on 16/17 June, with a dress rehearsal to take place on 5 May at the World Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Audi R18 e-tron Hybrid Quattro Racer Announced for Le Mans

[Video] Aston Martin Returns to Endurance Racing with the New Vantage GTE

This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will see Aston Martin’s return to endurance racing.

Aston Martin has just officially announced their return to FIA World Endurance Championship racing and they are doing so with a new racecar. The Vantage GTE is a stunning and fitting replacement for their Vantage GT2, of which it is based.The new Vantage GTE marks the first time since 2008 that Aston Martin will field a racer in Le Mans racing. Decked out in Gulf Livery, the new Vantage model features upgrades and improvements in the areas of handling, drivetrain, engine and suspension.

Running on a 4.5-liter V8 engine, it features new cylinder heads, valves, camshafts, connecting rods and a racing-spec exhaust. The engine is paired to a six-speed sequential gearbox.

"It's great to be returning to our core motorsport activity; production-based GT racing. It formed the basis for Aston Martin's return to competition when the DBR9 GT1-racer was launched in 2004, and it was in GT racing that we achieved our famous victories at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008," said Aston Martin Lagonda Chairman David Richards.The new Aston Martin Vantage GTE will make its competitive debut in the 12 Hours of Sebring in March before tackling the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Three drivers have been named so far, being Stefan Mucke, Adrian Fernandez and Darren Turner.

[Video] Aston Martin Returns to Endurance Racing with the New Vantage GTE

Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT Race Car from Austech

Austech has released the first official photos of the racing-spec Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT racer.

Austech, the motorsport firm from Australia, has just released the first official photos of their new racecar for International GT racing. The 2012 Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT runs on the South Korean sedan's 5.0-liter V8 engine that will be tuned to either 450hp for Grand Am racing or 550hp for GT3 events.The racecar will be ready to go in multiple GT categories, such as the two listed above along with GTE racing.
Testing for the new racer is set to begin later this year and the Australian firm promises that it will be ready to hit the track in time for the 2013 season.Austech says that the affordable racer will be extra safe, as it carries a bit more weight due to FIA compliancy. They will also provide a support network in the U.S. and Europe for teams that decide to run their racecar.No word on pricing yet for the 2012 Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT racecar, but as it gets closer to completion we will bring you all the details as they come out.

Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT Race Car from Austech

Ferrari’s New Ugly Duckling Might Turn Beautiful with Wins

After a disappointing 2011 season, Ferrari launched the F2012 to challenge for the F1 world title.

Amid heavy snowfall and arctic weather conditions (and probably driven in a red Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 from their hotel to the Ferrari factory) the two Ferrari drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, unveiled the Ferrari F2012.The F2012 is Ferrari's 58th contender for the F1 World Championship. It made its debut in front of a massive world audience who watched the live stream online from Ferrari HQ in Maranello, located in Northern Italy.

A few weeks ago, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo (who missed today's proceedings) said that he prefers a winning car to a beautiful one and that winning turns an ugly car into a beautiful one. Montezemolo knew in advance why he said it and after taking the wraps off the car, Massa described it politely as 'aggressive.' Ferrari's press release appropriately described it as "not aesthetically pleasing."

That description refers to the stepped nose, a result of Ferrari's interpretation of the new technical regulations that requires a lower front-end and a raised back-end.

These changes were made in order to raise the bottom part of the chassis as much as possible for aerodynamics purposes.The car was exposed from all angles as it stood on a rotating platform. When the back of the car was exposed, the diffuser area was blocked from view by a black bulkhead.The 2.4-liter V8 engine is an evolution of the one that powered last year's car. Much effort has gone into improving the engine's installation in the new chassis, so as not to penalize the aerodynamics of the car.

Ferrari engineers worked on improving the engine's performance drop off in order to maintain good characteristics even toward the engine's three race life-cycle.The engine's electronic management has been revised based on the modifications to the rules regarding the use of exhaust gases.The kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) maintains its low central location in the car (a choice also aimed at maximizing safety) and has undergone an update directed mainly at reducing its weight and improving the efficiency of some of its components.
Because of the arctic weather conditions, Ferrari had to cancel not only the media event but more crucially the F2012's first run on the Fiorano track in order to assess the car's system before testing starts in earnest next week in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.There are only 12 days of testing, said team boss Stefano Domenicali, and in this period Ferrari's new ugly duckling will go through the beauty salon and if the treatment proves successful by winning a few races, the F2012 will surely be considered a beautiful car.

The Audi R8 Grand-Am Spends a Day at Daytona

Audi has developed a new R8 for racing in the States.

The Audi R8 Grand-Am has arrived. Audi has raced the R8 in endurance racing and GT3 competition for quite some time now, and the German brand thought it was about time the supercar got its due on the tracks in the U.S.Based on the R8 LMS, the R8 V10 Grand-Am will attempt to make its mark on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, beginning with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The RWD racer will vary from the LMS-spec racecar due to a different set of rules.
The Grand-Am features less downforce, less fuel capacity and no traction control or ABS. It will also be less powerful than the LMS R8, as it had over 500hp and in Grand-Am racing, the V10 will be brought down to 460hp thanks to an ECU revamp and an air restrictor.Two Audi R8 Grand-Am racers will compete at Daytona. APR Motorsports and Onyx Racing will field both cars and during the time trials and qualifying, released plenty of pictures of the new Audi R8 Grand-Am in action. Check out the gallery below to see the new racing-spec supercar in action.

Ford Focus ST-R to Make its Racing Debut at Daytona Grand-Am 200

After a year in development and nearly five months after its public debut at the 64th Frankfurt Motor Show, Ford’s Focus ST-R will make its racing debut this Friday at the Grand-Am 200 that takes place at the Daytona Motor Speedway.
Competing in the Continental Tire Sport Car Challenge ST class, the racing version of the production Focus ST is a fully prepared competition car. It sports a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine, a new suspension specially tuned for track use, updated brakes and an FIA-approved roll cage.
The Blue Oval of course, is keen to stress the similarities between the production car and the racer.
Ford’s global motorsport activities Jost Capito said: “The road-going Focus features best-in-class handling, powertrains and brakes and has helped us develop a global technical specification for teams wanting to race the new Focus cost effectively.”
For the time being, the Focus ST-R is homologated for American and Canadian touring car racing series only and is available to order from Ford’s North American dealers.
However, Ford expects that customer teams will participate in a variety of series worldwide, including endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Racecar Unveiled

The familiar looks of the 2013 Fusion racecar will be a good promotional tool to sell more Ford Fusions.

Earlier this month, the 2013 Fusion was presented at the Detroit Motor Show and the new look has been carried over to the race car variant."We wanted the Fusion to be the car that helped return 'stock car' to NASCAR," said Jamie Allison, Ford Racing director. "I think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. It is going to reengage them with the sport and make the sport better because there is just something natural about seeing racecars that look like cars in their driveways."
For too long racecars haven't looked like the cars they are meant to be based on, and it's good to see Ford bringing some identity back to the series.Ford's designers spent a year designing the car, focusing on bringing the 'overall proportion' of the racecar in line with the production version, with an instantly recognizable grille, and brand & design cues on the car's profile. It's hoped the racecar's familiar looks will help increase the Fusion's appeal to the public.The 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Car racecar will spend a year undergoing testing and development before it takes it maiden voyage at the 2013 Daytona 500.

Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Officially Revealed

Fully FIA-compliant, the GT-R NISMO GT3 is eligible to compete in numerous GT3 events and is priced at 298,000 Euros. 

Having been displayed earlier this month at the UK's Autosport International alongside the GT1 Nissan GT-R that won the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship, Nissan has officially released details about the GT-R NISMO GT3, which is available to purchase for €298,000. NISMO and JR Motorsports (JRM) have been developing it and following a series of tests including three competitive outings, the car's performance and durability has been proven to meet GT3 racing standards.
Most recently, the car was an official Nissan Europe entry in the Dubai 24-hour race where it only managed to complete 73 laps of the intended 628, finishing in 70th position.The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 features a 3.8-liter V6 twin-turbo engine based on a standard road car unit, rated at 523hp and 451lb-ft of torque. Power is delivered to the rear wheels via a six-speed semi-automatic transmission.Designed with road-going customers in mind, the 1,300kg car features "a chassis that inspires confidence," with suspension set-up and driver controls that be adjusted according to driver preferences.

[Video] GReddy Nissan GT-R 35RX Speed Tested at Fuji Speedway

A finely-tuned GT-R looking as good as it performs showcases its potential as part of a special high speed test.

The majestic Mount Fuji looms large over the Fuji Speedway as a GReddy Racing Nissan GT-R adorned in stunning Art Factory livery gets pushed to the limit for an R&D Top Speed Challenge.

Thanks to a GReddy twin-turbocharged 4.3-liter engine rated at 1232hp, an intercooler, cooler kit, cooling pan, high-flow intake manifold, GReddy exhaust system, as well as a BenSopra wide-body aerodynamics kit, the race-ready GT-R was capable of 200mph and beyond.

The Finn who Accidentally Cheated his Way into Winning the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally: A True Story

Watching today’s World Rally Championship cars sliding at insane speeds on tarmac, gravel and snow, you marvel at the driving skills of the drivers. And rightly so: Formula 1 may be the king of motorsports, but it’s a two-hour sprint, while rallying is more akin to a three-day marathon. Even so, while mustering the today's beasts amid strong competition is quite a feat, it is a piece of cake compared to what rally drivers had to face three or four decades ago.
“We did one 36-hour section non-stop, leaving from Monte Carlo and back again”, tells Sympatico.ca Autos, one of the “Flying Finns” of the 1960s and 1970s, Rauno Aaltonen. “The 100 best competitors started the next day at around 5 or 6 p.m. on the Mountain Circuit.”
Makes today’s short rally stages with the teams’ motorhomes, service points and helicopters flying overhead seem like an entirely different world –which, in fact, it is.
Aaltonen, aka “the rally professor”, won the European Rally Championship in 1965 and finished second an amazing six times at the most demanding event of the World Championship Calendar, the Safari Rally.
His most amazing feat, however, came in 1967, when he won the Monte Carlo Rally – in a Mini! “It was David vs Goliath”, says the 73-year old Aaltonen. “Ahh, it was fantastic! The spectators in Monte Carlo were there with their hearts”, he adds.
In 1962, Aaltonen crashed his Mini at Monte Carlo: “I was stuck in the burning car”, he remembers. “I could see pastel colors, you know, and I was hearing classical music. Then I could hear my co-driver calling me to climb out, but the seatbelts were already melted, so I had to wiggle out.”
Yet, despite his narrow escape from a burning Mini, he wasn’t deterred one bit and returned. It was, as many refer to it today, rallying’s golden era. Aaltonen knew that the diminutive Mini had quite a disadvantage compared to the much more powerful cars of his competitors.
If the words “Mountain Circuit” don’t ring a bell, then maybe the famous Col de Turini special stage does. “We run it twice, both directions. It’s very difficult: cliffs, rocks, narrow roads…”
“We arrived at the beginning of the real stage leading by 12 seconds”, says Aaaltonen. “Vic Elford was second in a Porsche 911, but he was in front of the road, starting ahead. We listened to that six-cylinder, the feeling of power! He disappeared down the road.”
The details are etched in his memory: “It was our turn. The man with the flag counts down from 10, but he stops at four. There’s an accident on the hill, the ambulance rushes up.
“Then a snowstorm starts. You could see the snowflakes floating down. In theory, it could be beautiful. For us, it was hell. The spikes in our tires don’t work in the snow and we couldn’t see the road – everything was white.”
Today, the marshals cancel special stages for less serious incidents. Back then, the show just went on and the countdown resumed.
“First gear. Wheelspin. 8,000 rpm, hardly moving. Second gear. Wheelspin. We couldn’t get any grip”, he recounts. “Henry Liddon, my co-driver from Bristol, England, has a dry sense of humor. He says when we get to the top of the hill, ‘two and a half minutes down’. No way – but in rally, you never give up.”
What Aaltonen, and Liddon for that matter, didn't know is that this joke would become reality in the most spectacular way.
“We drove back down the mountain really fast: third gear, 140 km/h. The spikes were working better now. Suddenly, under the snow there was a patch of ice. We started sliding, rocks on the inside of the turn, cliffs on the outside. I saw that there are these concrete blocks that would be safe to hit: they would stop the car from going over.”
Any sane man would have done the same. Going down a cliff at the Col de Turini is something you simply don’t want to do even if they paid you a million dollars.
Aaltonen wasn’t paid that much, but he made an almost suicidal decision: “You never give up. So I aimed between the concrete blocks. I knew it wasn’t a sheer drop, maybe 45 degrees and with trees.”
Ah, no problem there, then…
“We were flying in the air”, says the (literally, at that point) Flying Finn. “It looked like we were in a fairytale. These boulders looked like giants.”
Amazingly, the Mini and its crew survived the drop: “We landed on soft snow between trees and huge boulders. This was purely good luck, as one cannot steer the car while air-born. Had we already left the road, there was no point in stopping, as the Mini would instantly sink deep.”
He admits that they had no idea where they were going.
“Once we had found a road and noticed it was the special stage, we understood how lucky we had been. Nobody could purposely find that kind of route between the trees and boulders – yet, in fact, it shortened the route.”
The accident worked to Aaltonen’s advantage: “We won by five seconds. It was a huge shortcut. That was not skill, it was good luck”, he concedes. “I told my co-driver to shut-up his mouth and don’t tell anything.” It’s something Aaltonen revealed only after 20 years.
So, did Aaltonen really cheat? Technically, maybe, but in reality he didn’t do it on purpose: no one would risk his life and dare dive down that cliff, snow or no snow, just to gain a few seconds.
Maybe it was pure luck. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was a rare case of the universe conspiring to help David beat Goliath and give rally fans something to talk about for many years to come...

The Oldest Mercedes 300SL in Existence

In amongst some of the latest cars to come off the production line, this 300 SL was one of the first. 

To make it to the ripe old age of 60 is a respectable achievement for anybody and even more so for a car. Many classics are left to rot or sent to the crusher after being pillaged for any reusable parts, but every now and again, one survives.The second-ever 300SL from 1952 is such an example. As the first model was destroyed, chassis number 194 010 00002/52 is thus the oldest 300SL in existence and has been painstakingly restored to its original condition to celebrate the series' 60th anniversary.

On June 1951, Mercedes' bosses decided to take part in the 1952 Le Mans endurance race and ordered the development of the 300 SL Super-Light, later changed to simply the 300 SL. The W 194 was the company's first racing car since the end of World War II.Head of Mercedes passenger car testing Rudolg Uhlenhaut developed a special frame weighing just 50kg and the bodyshell was made from aluminum and magnesium. The 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine was from the 300 saloon but the car's most discerning characteristic was the gullwing doors that were widened to make access easier during racing.Tuned by Mercedes engineers, output was rated at 170hp and the engine was angled 50-degrees to the left and fitted with a dry sump. Combined with a low weight of just over a ton the SL managed a top speed of 143mph, impressive for its day.Ten cars were constructed for the 1952 racing season with the W 194 going on to form the basis of the W198 production 300 SL that has lived on for six decades and spawned six generations, the most recent of which just made its world premiere at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.