24 at Daytona
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / BMW Riley
Eariler today Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Graham Rahal and Joey Hand won the 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona for Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored a resounding 1-2 victory with their TELMEX/Target-sponsored BMW Rileys.
With five Daytona Prototypes on the lead lap and multiple safety car sessions, the top spots were consistently grouped together. In the end Scott Pruett was 2.46 seconds ahead of stablemate Scott Dixon in the #2 car and the third-placed Action Express Racing Porsche Riley was only .585 seconds behind.
Porsche's semi-factory teams won the GT class outright with TRG winning the class. Primary competition came from the tube-frame Mazda RX-8s, of which the best finisher was four laps down.
Scottsdale Auctions
Saleen S7 Twin Turbo 'Competition' at Gooding
Last weekend, nearly 100 million dollars exchanged hands for collector cars in Scottsdale Arizona. Among four major auction houses, Gooding & Company took the top spot by selling a Ferrari FXX for $2,090,000 USD.
The FXX was part of the Benny Caiola collection which Gooding had on offer and it included an array of modern supercars not typically seen in one sale. We now have current prices for an F50, US-Spec F40, Maserati MC12 and a 599 HGTE amongst others.
Also taking advantage of the Scottsdale boom was RM Auctions which sold Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta 0024M for $1,870,000. Both sales are photographed for us by Daniel Vaughan of conceptcarz.com. Almost all the interesting lots are included with prices realized.
Pagani Huayra
Pagani Huayra
Today, images and information that were exclusive to print media surfaced online and we can now present the Pagani Huayra.
Similar in design to the Zonda, the Huayra uses a Mercedes-sourced engine which has been developed in cooperation with AMG. It's wrapped in an entirely new chassis which is shorter and made with some of the same techniques as the Zonda R. Naturally, Pagani's immaculate carbon-fibre weave is everywhere.
Somewhat of a smiler, the Huayra isn't an agressive design, but one that is thoroughly modern. It makes extensive use of active aerodynamics including movable front air extractors on the hood and active spoiler winglets on the rear deck.
2011 Rallye Monte-Carlo
Bryan Bouffier wins the Monte
With a total time of 3 hours and 32 minutes, Bryan Bouffier won the 100th Rallye Monte-Carlo driving his Peugeot 207 S2000 Evolution.
The entire race was decided on SS8 when snow at the top of Col de Gaudissart caught out many entrants on intermediate tires by surprise. Such was the case for Juho Hänninen who was leading in his factory Škoda Fabia S2000 until he lost 2 minutes on this run. Even though he spun twice, Bryan Bouffier won the stage on snow tires.
Aside from the S2000 front runners, a large part of the entry list was filled with 2WD and N-Spec cars. Among these, Florian Gonan was fastest in his Subaru Impreza. Not far behind was Michael Burri in the Citroën DS3 R3. These and more can be seen in our feature gallery which has the first 15 finishers in order.
Ferrari Four
Ferrari's new Ferrari Four or simply FF
Today, Ferrari made one of their most daring moves in recent history by revealing the FF. It's a four wheel drive, four-seat fastback that immediately brings to mind the BMW Z3 Coupe and Porsche Panamera, but with Pininfarina details.
With its 6.3-litre V12 and dual-clutch transmission, Ferrari are calling the design a revolution in 4WD technology. It's certainly offering much more than the BMW and Porsche we compare it to.
With it's controversial styling, Ferrari will reveal the FF and any production plans at the upcoming 2011 Geneva Motor Show.
2011 Tokyo Auto Salon
2011 Veilside 4509GTR
The week, the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) is exhibiting domestic (JDM) aftermarket upgrades at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. Thus, all manner of modified supercars are on display including the Veilside 4509GTR which won the concept car category outright.
Many major manufacturers take part in the TAS. For instance this year NIMSO released an SP1 version of the Nissan GT-R known simply as the RC. Honda also had the TS-1X concept to promote their new line of performance accessories called Honda Access.
Our gallery from Tokyo was photographed by Anthony Carbone of Madwhips.com. If you like what you see, more images are available over there.
Dubai 24
Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz
The 24 Hours of Dubai marked the first sports car race of the season which was won by team Need for Speed in their BMW Z4 GT3. They were followed by the AF Corse Ferrari and Black Falcon Mercedes SLS which were only 3 laps behind.
This sixth annual running of the Dubai 24 was eligible for all race cars at the GT2 level or lower. Many entrants fielded GT3-level cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG which debuted at this race.
Our gallery shows the wide breadth of the 85 entrants including teams from many cup and national series. Every entrant was subject to a balance of performance which equalized the individual classes.
NAIAS 2011
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-CELL
With the second day now over at the North American International Auto show (NAIAS), we can present our gallery.
2011 was thin on supercars, but Mercerdes-Benz surprised everyone by showing the SLS AMG E-CELL for the first time. Almost every manufacturer had an electric vehicle on their stand, but most were far more reserved than the bright yellow E-CELL.
Untypical for Detroit were two new economy cars which will probably become prolific on the roads of North America: Hyundai unveiled their Veloster, a chiseled coupe which has a direct injection engine with an available manual or Hyundai's new dual-clutch gearbox! Chevrolet responded with their Sonic, a small compact that looks like a mini Malibu and will replace the Aveo.
In the basement of Cobo and near the end of our gallery are some more obscure startups such as the Li-ion Inizio, Venturi America and Mach 7 Motor Sports Falcon. Have a look for yourself.
Porsche's 918 RSR Opens NAIAS
Porsche 918 RSR ‘Racing Lab’
At 6:30 this morning, Porsche unveiled the Porsche 918 RSR ‘Racing Lab’ as the first official release of the 2011 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).
This car is the next logical step forward with Porsche's hybrid racecars. Hybrid technology is being accepted at the top level of LMP1 motor sport, so it makes sense for Porsche to take this direction with the 918. Newly appointed as Chief Engineer at Porsche, Wolfgang Hatz now has the opportunity to make this car as successful as the legendary 917.
Most journalists at Detroit probably had no idea where the concept version would potentially race, but if we were betting, our money would be on the upcoming 24 Hours Nürburgring which has room for experimental cars in the E1-XP class.
Motor Sport 2011
Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 at Daytona
This weekend the sports car season officially started at Daytona with a practice week called the Roar Before the Rolex 24. It offered the first opportunity to see many of the cars in the Grand-Am series that will contest the 2011 season. Most of the Daytona Prototypes look familiar from last year while the GT category will pit the Porsche GT3, Camaro GT.R, Ferrari F430 and Mazda RX-8 GT in direct competition
Riley Technologies have prepared many of the cars in the Grand Am series, and this year they announced plans to offer an LMP2 racer called the Mk XXV in both coupe and spyder configuration. For SCCA, Cadillac have released the CTS-V Coupe SCCA Race Car and Retier have updated their Lamborghini now called the Gallardo LP600+ for FIA GT3.
On the eve of the North American International Auto Show, Porsche are going to launch an Hybrid Coupe version of their 918 concept which will pay homage to the 917. This might be a real contender in 2012.
Scottsdale Preview
1999 F333 SP to be sold by Gooding
One of the main weekends on the automotive calender in January is taken by the Scottsdale auctions in Arizona. This year Gooding & Company have announced they will offer the extraordinary Benny Caiola collection. Among all the modern Ferraris he owned, we would most like the drive the Ferrari F333 SP you see here.
Barrett-Jackson started the Scottsdale trend in 1971 and they have been a leader in American heavy metal. Take for instance this 1970 Berger Camaro SS/RS which is unique among its kind. They have over 1000 cars on offer which is a tremendous amount and many will be sold live on the Speed channel.
RM Auctions typically have a healthy selection of European cars in Arizona, but this year two American prototypes caught our attention. The first is this 1964 Dodge Hemi Charger Concept Car which was the first Dodge Charger. Next we found a unique Cadillac Eldorado Seville Prototype that had the 1958 four-headlight treatment almost two years in advance. Later this month we will feature all the top results from Scottsdale which ends on January 23rd. If you will be in the area let us know.
