Villa d'Este Concours
Overlooing the Post-war classes
As the premier European concours, Villa d'Este is a major event on the automotive calendar. Every year the very best cars are selected along with a few eclectic designs that make the concours memorable.
This year there was plenty to celebrate. It was the event's 80th edition and both Bugatti as well as Morgan had centennial displays with debut models. Furthermore Aston Martin bought out a working prototype of the One-77 and Bertone's Mantide was 100% functional.
Standing out from the group were two 1970s prototypes: the Ghia Gilda Streamline X Coupe from Pebble and the green-on-green BMW Spicup. Also on display was one of the nicest Abarths ever manufactured.
Taking top honors, Jon Shirley's 2900 Touring Coupe took all the major awards. It and other fine cars can be seen in this week's superb feature gallery by Dirk de Jager and Nicolas Jeannier from Arthomobiles.fr.
New Supercars from Italy
4 New Veyrons at Villa d'Erba
With the opening of the Villa d'Este Concours in Como, Italy, we have plenty of new supercars to talk about including the complete running version of Bertone's Mantide. It was unveiled a day before the show at Fiat's Balloco proving grounds before arriving at Como.
Bugatti decided to celebrate their 100 year anniversary with four special Veyrons called the Centenaire Edition. These were made to match historic Type 35s and all eight cars were on display exclusively for this show.
Bugatti wasn't the only company celebrating its history. Morgan also released a car for their 100 year celebration. The new Morgan Aero SuperSports is a targa version of the Aero 8 and pays tribute to the classic three-wheeler.
Later this week we will have our feature gallery from Villa with all of the 100 historic cars entered.
International GT Open Starts
hit-to-pass: Easyrace vs Megadrive
A new series to Supercars.net, the International GT Open is hosted by Spanish GT Sport and has a racing calender that extends throughout Europe. Dedicated to GT2 and GT3-spec supercars, these races have a great field of teams including some from FIAGT and ACO.
The 2009 season began at Imola last weekend and we were undoubtedly interested with the Ferrari F430 Scuderia's debut race. Kessel Racing brought two examples and took the most points in the GT3-spec GTS class.
Another peculiarity of the the International GT Open is their own homologation which allows cars such as the Sun-Red SR21. Some might recognize this car as finished version of the Hispano Suiza HS21 released in 2002.
Our Imola gallery features some spectacular photography of last weekend's two races. The season still has rounds at SPA, Donnington Park, Algarve, Valencia, Monza and Catalunya this year.
17 more Supercars
Mantide Debuts in Shanghai
With the Shanghai Motor Show now open we have plenty of new cars to talk about. None is more striking than Stile Bertone's Mantide released this morning. It's based off a Corvette ZR1 chassis and is one of the most spectacular designs released this year.Geely is also at the show with their GT Concept.
On the four-door front, BMW released the restyled 760Li at Shanghai and AMG brought along the S 65 AMG and S 63 AMG performance variants of the S-Class. Surprisingly three more executive sedans were announced: Jaguar's XJ, the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Aston Martin's Rapide. We should also mention the Opel Insignia VXR, Opel Insignia OPC and the FPV F6 E Concept.
Both SMS and Novitec have some exciting news. TuLesto is name of Novitec's new supercar which brings the F430 up to 770 bhp. SMS with Steve Saleen have designed one of the first kits for the 2010 Mustang called the SMS Mustang 460.
On the track, Rocketsports Racing will field the XKR GT2 in ALMS and Volkwagen will debut a variant of their GT4 Scirocco at the ADAC Nurburgring 24 Hours. RM Auctions also announced that a Ferrari 330 P4, better known as the 350 Can-Am, will be sold at their upcoming Leggenda E Passione auction
Top Marques Monaco
Gumpert Apollo Speed & PPI Razor on the floor
Top Marques Monaco is our type of show. Dedicated to custom coachwork and the highest levels of engineering, many incredible supercars are currently on display at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
All the best tuners are present. Gemballa brought out four cars, including Mirage #16 and a new Cayenne-based SUV called the Tornado. Mansory has their carbon-fiber wrapped Veyron and PPI brought out a set of Audi R8-based Razors.
There are some new manufactures at the show like Savage Rivale and their bright orange Roadyacht GTS. This Dutch supercar has some controversial lines and the wildest rear doors at the show. AC Cars is also making a comeback thanks to German company Gullwing GmbH. They are producing entire new series of continuation Cobras.
Some of the very best supercars from Pagani, Koenigsegg, Weissman, Apollo, RUF and Fisker are also present. We strongly encourage you to check out our comprehensive gallery by Loic Kernen which extensively features the a.d. Tramontana R-Edition
FIAGT's Preseason
FIAGT3:Audi LMS, Matech-Ford, Alpina B6
With the test and media days now complete, it is apparent this year's FIAGT season will look much different than 2008's. Many new cars are out in force including teams backed directly by Nissan and Audi. Our newest gallery features all these cars from GT1 down to GT4 around the colorful Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track (HTTT).
The biggest news in GT1 comes from Matech Racing who have made the jump from GT3 to GT1. Working with Ford Motorsports they will directly field a team of Ford GT1s and support an additional car for Belgian team VDS Racing. Nissan will also join the fray with their factory-backed Nissan GT-R, but it will race only four times in 2009.
Matech have been consistent winners in the GT3 class, but this year the Audi R8 LMS might upset its position. Audi have developed their GT3 contender with leading expertise in endurance racing and it will be a great unknown until the first race at Silverstone in May. At that time we will also see Kessel Racing's Ferrari F430 Scuderia.
GT4 has 13 different manufacturers in 2009 with most appearing nearly stock. Maserati hope to change the game with their GranTurismo MC. It will go head-to-head with the Mustang FR500, V8 Vantage N24, BMW M3 and other new cars.
2009 New York Auto Show
SMS Challengers in the front lobby
Today the New York Auto Show opens its doors, revealing multiple debuts and interesting supercars. The first of our world debuts is this NISMO-tuned 370Z which was previewed the night before in Rockfeller Center.
With an official absence of Ferrari, Lamboghini and Rolls-Royce, there is less to see in 2009, but the remaining manufacturers have plenty on display. Take for instance several Geneva show cars like the Bentley Supersports and the Spyker Aileron.
SMS used New York to launch their new Challenger 570 series. The cars weren't completed under the hood, but their twin-scroll supercharger looks great all on its own. Maybach also used the occasion to display what is likely their first 57 Zeppelin.
With other cars like the E63 AMG, Koenigsegg CCXR, Fisker Karma, SLR GT, 911 GT1, the BMW X5M and all of Detroit's cars, our New York gallery is abundant with supercars. Also included is the world's fastest EV supercar.
