Touring Superleggra is Back
Produced with Belgian Talent
Thankfully the Villa d'Este Concours has given us two new supercars in two days. BMW's secret unveiling from yesterday made Touring Superleggra's more public debut refreshing.
The new company wants to rejoin the leading design houses and make a triumphant return. Carrozzeria Touring was an old coachbuilder established in 1926. Their superleggra body work was applied to some of the most famous cars such as the Ferrari 166 Barchetta and Aston Martin's DB4.
To launch the brand, Boranni helped finance the new car to showcase a new thoroughly modern wire wheel. Called the A8GCS, it's a rebodied Maserati Gransport Coupe with an extremely low weight of 1150 kg (2536 lbs). The prototype was revealed today without a working interior. Dirk de Jager was available to photograph the cover coming off the project for the first time.
New M1 Concept revealled at Villa d'Este
New M1 beside the orginal and 1972 Turbo Concept
At the Villa d'Este Concours, BMW ignited passion for its heritage by reincarnating the seminal M1. The new design was shown at a private party over the weekend to generate interest in the program. We were among the fortunate few to get a first look at this new supercar.
Shown alongside an original car as well as the 1972 Turbo Concept, the new M1 is a good direction for BMW. Gone are the flame-surfaces of BMW's past, instead replaced by more purposeful and muscular lines.
Matteo TT Stucchi has been diligently capturing everything from the Villa d'Este Concours over the last three days. The culmination of his work, and others, will be revealed later. For now we take an in-depth look at BMW's new toy and we can also offer a stunning highlight gallery of this week's activities. If you think these shots are good, you should see the rest of Matteo's work on Swisscarsightings.com.
Top Marques Monaco
Weber shows off their first two-tone paint scheme.
Every now and then an event meshes so well with Supercars.net we almost don't need to describe it. Such is the case with Top Marques Monaco which brings out our favorite type of car: the ultra rare.
This year many new companies, including some Monegasque marques, brought out entirely new cars. Of them, the SpadaConcept Codatronca is the most known. From there we descend into esoteric names like the Weber Sportscar, Virango Coupe, Concept Climax Roadster and Lynx Roadster.
Both Tesla and Fisker, who are embattled in a lawsuit, used Top Marques to give the Europeans a first look at their EV supercars. Some of the typical Monaco sights were also out in force like Gemballa, Pagani, and Koenigsegg.
Today-before the show even opens-we have an available gallery by Loic Kernen that gives us a good look at the show floor. We hope to have even more details after he visits the show again tomorrow.
Alpina Returns to Racing, Villa d'Este Preview
Good for 550 BHP.
Along with the proven breadth of last weekend's FIA GT3 race, we get news today that the series is still expanding. Alpina have announced their return to racing and they will bring a supercharged six-series in 2009. This means there is a chance that Alpina might face competition from the M3.
The Villa d'Este Concours is upcoming this weekend and we expect many great photos to start rolling in. One of our favorite picks from this year will be the Ferrari 206 Competizione. This car recently went into private hands and is expected to be seen at many major events this year.
Historic coachbuilder Touring Superleggra is back and will be revived at the show. Up to two cars may debut, the first being a wagon version of the Maserati Quattroporte called the Bellagio Fastback. Other concepts will include the Morgan LifeCar and Bentley GTZ.
Within the next few days we hope to have an impressive gallery from the picturesque 16th century hotel and gardens.
Silverstone's Supercar Showdown
KTM made a race debut at Silverstone
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin, Morgan, Jaguar, Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and Ascari. Remarkably, all these marques raced in a single class at Silverstone over the weekend. This phenomenal diversity was only possible in the GT3 sports car racing series that just began.
While the GT1 and GT2 classes remain at the top of the schedule, fierce competition in GT3 might be the spark that reignites interest in sports car racing. At Silverstone, the Swiss-built Matech Ford GT helped Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan win both 1-hour races.
The weekend's honors were reserved for the historic RAC Tourist Trophy which was raced over two damp hours. Sharp and Wendlinger made every Brit proud by piloting their Aston Marin DBR9 to victory. Wendlinger managed to overcome his early spin and took advantage of the MC12's slow performance in the wet. A late and questionable pace lap meant that the top five positions were only seconds apart at the end. GT2 went to Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni in their AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT.
Throughout the murky weekend and with limited visibility, our photographer Ilya Holt was track side to capture all that Supercar Showdown had to offer. His gallery gives us a thorough study of all the classes and their competitors.
60 Years of Lotus, Caterham's Seven R500 Superlight
Caterham's fastest offering!
This year Lotus celebrates 60 years and several events are being planned around the world. One of them will reveal Project Eagle, a platform that will land at the British Motor Show later this year. It might support several different cars.
Probably the most well known of all Lotus models is the Seven which began its humble production as a kit car in 1957. This simple design made a seminal impression in the industry, so much so, it is still in production today.
The newest Seven comes to us from Caterham who bought the rights from Lotus back in the 70s. Their Seven R500 Superlight is one of the quickest cars, offering a 0-to-sixty acceleration of just 2.88 seconds. That makes it the 15th fastest on Supercars.net.
Mercedes-Benz @ Goodwood & Tuning News
1908 Benz headed to Goodwood
Still months away, Goodwood cars are starting to be announced for the upcoming event. The first of these comes from Mercedes-Benz who will bring out some very early Grand Prix cars from their museum.
As a match set, two white 120 HP Rennwagons will make a Goodwood sprint. One came from Benz and the other Mercedes before the two companies finally merged in 1926. 100 years ago, the 1908 Benz was a competitor in the French Grand Prix.
While production car news has nearly halted, we have three interesting supercars from the tuning world. speedART have been the first to modify the Porsche GT2 and their new exhaust system raises the game to 650 bhp.
Even more outrageous is the Premier4509 Murcielago. This company is a new subsidiary of Veilside from Japan and have limited their mods to body bits. For something complete more sane, Abt have finally fitted their supercharger to the R32 and created a 370bhp Golf.
Alfa 33s and the Louwmann Collection
Our favorite 33 joins the Collection
One museum we always go back to is the Louwman Collection in the Netherlands. It's one of the world's greatest private collections and is unique by being open to the public.
Started by his father, Evert Louwman is continually expanding and improving the collection. His recent acquisition of the Rosso Bianco Museum and subsequent sale of many great cars has received much attention. Included were a complete series of Alfa 33s which are now the newest exhibit at the Museum. We examined the earliest of these to better understand the 33's origins.
The rest of museum is far too great to summarize in any detail. There's a row of Le Mans winners, a Duesenberg SJ LaGrande, a complete Toyota and Spyker section as well as a Bugatti Bugatti Type 50 Semi-Profilee.
Having only one car to single out, an unusual choice would be a replica of the first skiff body. This is the 1912 Panhard et Levassor X19 which was assisted by Labourdette himself to get every detail right.
The rest of the Museum can be seen in our consolidated gallery which uses shots from 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008. Taken by Dirk de Jager, Sebas de Graauw and Richard Owen, this is probably the ultimate collection of photos from the space. Visiting information can be found on the collection's website.
Festivals of Speed
Pur Sang spotted in Florida
Hosting a modern supercar event can be tricky. Having a copy of every new model is practically required, so something special is needed to capture people's attention. Last week, this is where the St. Petersburg Festivals of Speed excelled.
The show managed to get the only Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang. We were told this is the prototype and has a specification that is unique. At the show, it was wearing standard wheels and a painted front fascia. We can only assume this might be for some upcoming testing.
A second highlight was Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722 GT chassis #2. This is the same car that appeared at the AMG party in New York and it will be shipped back to Europe for testing. This specific car appears as a more definitive version compared to the prototype we first featured last year.
Also at the show were copies of the McLaren F1, Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLK GTR #1. These, plus more can be seen in our brilliant gallery by Alex Marks.
Techno Classica Essen
Backs Off & Jacked Up, Essen's Best Display
Techno Classica is the largest classic car show in the world. It brings together all aspects of the classic car industry under a million square feet of indoor space. Held in Essen, many of the German manufacturers take the show very seriously and bring out the best from their collections.
For 2008, Porsche brought out their single most desirable car: the only magnesium-framed 917 to win LeMans. To pay tribute to this car, we have updated the 917 K page with some exceptional photos.
Another car which caught our attention was a peculiar Horch Coupe which we have never seen in person or photograph. The owner was kind enough to sit down and explain how he acquired Berndt Rosemeyer's old Stromlinien Coupe. The story can be found here.
The rest of Techno Classica is in our feature gallery by Dirk de Jager. One of his favorite cars was a completely unrestored Ferrari 275 GTB. Pained in a golden hue of Oro Chiaro, this car is also one of the few to have an aluminum alloy body.
