SEMA Preview
Specter Corvette to debut at SEMA
A little less than a week away, the SEMA show in Vegas will have lots of everything. We start this preview with the potent Specter Corvette from Michigan. With over 800 bhp on tap it was an easy choice to pick. Another equally impressive car which should be at SEMA is Hennessey's 725 bhp Camaro known as the HPE700.
Ford have paid some serious money to have almost 20 new cars at SEMA. Highlights include the carton fiber Vaughn Gittin Jr. Mustang, Saleen's all new S281 base model, Steeda's Q350 Mustang, a 500bhp FSWerks Focus and the badass Mobsteel Taurus SHO. Chevrolet will likely have a similar amount of cars but we only have their teaser video for now.
Mopar will bring a Dodge Challenger named after the 1320 ft of the quarter mile. Hyundai has enlisted Rhys Millen Racing to create a mid-engine Genesis called the RM460. Lexus have created a drop-top IS 350.
We finish with a new project known as the Rally Fighter. It's part of a collaborative project from Local Motors which was designed and engineered online. The new off-road vehicle looks like it would be a welcome addition to Halo 4.
FIA GT1 ends at Zolder
The Old Faces of GT1
All the FIA GT Championships finished at Zolder last weekend. It marked the very last race for current GT1-spec cars. This means the championship-winning Vitaphone Maserati MC12 will be replaced by a new breed of cars including the Nissan GT-R next year. Our gallery from Zolder will become one of the last to include legendary cars like the Maser and Corvette C6R.
This year GT2 was basically a Ferrari parade except for the Prospeed Competition Porsche RSR which was greatly helped by Emmanuel Collard. The whole class was Ferraris and Porsches except for the odd time when Drayson Racing brought out the Aston Martin Vantage GT2.
We've tried to keep up with the large GT3 field. While there is no GT3 Manufacturer's Championship, the new Audi LMS did help Christopher Mies and Christopher Haase take the Driver's trophy. Team honors went to Hexis Racing, basically Aston Martin's quazi factory team. Since the inception of GT3 in 2007, no one team has been able to stand out over multiple years.
2009 Tokyo Motor Show
Lexus Present Their Wares
Launching several interesting concepts and the Lexus LFA supercar, Toyota stole the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. For this reason they are at the forefront of our official gallery. Honda was no slouch either. They displayed three personal mobility devices and had a press conference introduced by ASIMO.
Another company which took the event seriously was Nissan. Their most daring design was the Qazana, a concept crossover with some Salvador Dali-inspired lines. They also launched the Leaf, the world's first mass-production EV car. Furthermore, president and CEO Carlos Ghosn also came on stage in a curiously thin concept called the Land Glider.
Smaller releases included the 2009 Suzusho Supasse V, Lotus Exige Stealth/Scura and the Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo LWB. These and more can be found in this week's feature gallery.
Lexus LFA from Tokyo
Expensive Supra Replacement?
After waiting nearly five years, the Lexus LFA is finally official. It will debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in a number of hours for the international press. No doubt, it will be compared to the Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari F458 and McLaren MP4-12C. Some people might call this Toyota's first supercar, but that title really belongs to the 1999 GT1 which was homologated as a road car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans or, if we step back even further, the Toyota 200GT of 1967 .
For the last two years we've seen Lexus daringly race prototype versions of the LFA at the Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race. Two cars entered the event and were slow compared to the factory Porsches and Audi. This was part of a long development process which began nearly 10 years ago in 2000.
The first LF-A Concept appeared at the 2005 Detroit Motor Show and it sketched out the basic idea for the design. It includes a carbon fiber chassis with a front-mounted V10 engine powering the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transaxle. Now nine year's after development began we have a better understanding of why the LFA costs $350,000 USD.
Veritas Old and New
The Menacing Veritas III
Last year Vermot AG announced that they had bought the rights to the defunct Veritas project and would sell the RS III as a functional supercar. They completed a prototype, but not until today did we have the first images of the final version including its specification list and price of 342,000 euros.
Like the classic Veritas, the new RS III has a BMW powerplant, specifically the V10 hooked up to a 7-speed SMG transmission. Vermot AG says they can make each car to suit their customer's needs including race-ready modifications.
Furthermore, last July it was announced that a coupe variant was going to be offered. This wouldn't be the first however, since the C90 Coupe was created by Sphon in 1949.
Morgan's Centennial
Morgan's most elegant, the Drophead Coupe
One of the only companies still in family hands is Morgan. This year they celebrated their 100th anniversary and events like Pebble Beach featured the very best examples. Our tribute starts off with a runabout H.F.S. Morgan first piloted in 1909. From it, a lineup of three-wheelers were produced, leading to proper cars in the postwar period.
In 1962, Morgan's finest moment came at Le Mans. A model known as the Super Sports was registered 'TOK258' and won its class. This helped cars like rare and refined +4 Drophead Coupe sell in greater numbers.
This year Morgan achieved another tremendous victory at the opening round of the GT3 Championship. The new Aero 8 SuperSports won both weekend's races and the feat was compared to the Le Mans win 46 years earlier.
Some of the rarest Morgans appeared at Pebble Beach this year including this race version known as the SLR. It has an evocative body designed by Chris Lawrence, but the antiquated body-on-chassis setup made it somewhat uncompetitive.
FIAGT at Paul Ricard
Start of the GT3 race
Last weekend's FIAGT races featured the penultimate rounds of the GT1, GT2 and GT3 championships. Each class was full of supercars including the introduction of United Autosports, the first American team which will field a Audi R8 LMS.
Saturday's GT3 race featured a spectacular multi-car crash on a high speed section of the track. As you can see in this youtube video, the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 went spinning out of control and became the first wrecked R8 of the series.
The weekend also held the final round of Lamborghini's Trofeo races which included teams from Automobili Lamborghini and Reiter Engineering. This was the sixth and last stop in the series, giving Petri Corse the 2009 Championship. These plus more can be found in this week's gallery by Dirk de Jager.
Tokyo Preview #1
Toyota FT-86 Concept
With the bi-annual Tokyo Motor Show less than one month away, now is a good time to look ahead. The most anticipated supercar launch is Lexus' LF-A which will hopefully appear in production form. In 2007, the Nissan GTR filled this spot and interest in it hasn't subsided since.
This year will undoubtedly be saturated by alternative propulsion systems by all the major Japanese brands. Due to battery power constraints many of these will be compact but we expect to see progress on some larger mid-size concepts as well.
Toyota will launch the FT-86 Concept, a small sports car that's made in collaboration with Subaru. It's a modern tribute to the classic AE86 Corolla, but features Subaru's boxer engine. Honda's response will be a preproduction version of the CR-Z.
We also have Subaru's Hybrid Tourer Concept which adds new DNA into Subaru's styling and huge gullwing doors. Alongside this will be a lightweight version of the Impreza called the Carbon edition. On the other end of the spectrum is Mazda's 2009 Mazda Kiyora which showcases Mazda's new SKY-G 1.3 direct-injection engine. Honda's main concept will be the Skydeck, a concept car with both scissor and sliding doors.
