ALL AUTOCARS

Shelby GT500
This is the first time in 35 years that a legit Ford Shelby has been produced. This car is going on sale soon and on 91 octane fuel with it's 8.4:1 compression ratio, the Shelby will blip out 500hp and 480 lb.-ft. of torque. The 07 Shelby is powered by a 5409cc dohc supercharged V8 engine, and will zip from 0 - 60 MPH in 4.7 seconds, o - 100 in 10.7 and the 1/4 mile in 13.1 seconds. Not bad for $41,325 US.

Get this..... Shelby are also producing 500 Ford Mustang Shelby GT-H (H for Hertz). The cars will be only available to rent through Hertz in USA for $100 per day.... Another collectors item in the works. The GT-H will be powered by a 4.6 V8 with 325 Hp, which is a 25hp increase over the standard 4.6 Mustang.

Shelby GT-H (photo courtesy of Shelby)

It looks like Alan Gibbs has pulled another cool vehicle out of his hat. London based Gibbs Technologies is about to release the Quadski...It is a 4wd farm bike that also doubles as a jet ski. It will do 72kph on land and will take you across water for about 2 hours. No talk on price yet, but bring it on Alan.

NZ Herald story here

It seems that 7 times F1 world champion Michael Schumacher has caused controversy upon messing up the qualifying, by having a bizarre virtually impossible crash, while in poll position for tomorrows race in Monaco.

It seems that both Alonso and Webber were behind Schumacher on flying laps that were quicker than him when Schumacher made a sudden move and stalled on the track without damaging his car. This brought out the yellow flags and the flying laps by the others were not valid. Therefore Michael Schumacher held onto pole.

Jacques Villeneuve has lashed out at Schumacher mentioning that anyone who would have such lack of control of his F1 car to get in such a position does not deserve a F1 superlicense. Jacques said that he wouldn't even expect that sort of driving from Ide who was recently dropped from Super Agri and had his super license taken away. Michael Schumacher has been known to pull dodgy tactics in the past......

DO you think Michael purposely caused the incident? I wouldn't be surprised.



UPDATE: Naughty Schumacher sent to back of the grid. News here

This is a great looking car that could well me made alongside the 2008 Camaro. I would guess that if it is released, it may well have some movie companies thinking about writing another Smokey and the Bandit movie.

I expect at least 400 hp and 0-60 in 5.3 or less.

Photo from autospies.

The new BMW 3 series coupe is about to be released. The flagship coupe at this stage before the 414 hp M3 is released, will be the twin-turbo direct injection 335i with inline six-cylinder engine and 306 hp and 300 lb-ft +/- of torque. BMW's magnificant xDrive all-wheel drive system will available for the first time as an option on the coupe.

The power and torque of the twin turbo 335i result in outstanding performance. The 335i Coupe accelerates from 0 – 60 mph in just 5.3 seconds, or 0-100kph in about 5.5. Top speed is 150 mph, when equipped with sport package.

I expect to see this new BMW 3 series coupe on these shore in September. I expect it to be a great seller for BMW.... I simply love turbo cars. Audi has dropped them, Mercedes uses a few of them, but it looks like BMW is making the investment in turbo's and I hope that there are more to come.

Sourced from autospies.com and bmwusa.com

Over the past three decades Brazil has worked to create a viable alternative to gasoline. With its sugarcane-based fuel, the nation may become energy independent this year. Brazil’s ethanol program, which originated in the 1970s in response to the uncertainties of the oil market, has enjoyed intermittent success. Still, many Brazilians are driving “flexible fuel” cars that run on either ethanol or gasoline and allow the consumer to fill up with whichever option is cheaper – often ethanol. Countries with large fuel bills such as India and China are following Brazil’s progress closely.

The US is taking small steps towards the use of ethanol, but its process, relying on corn, is lengthier and more expensive. In addition, countries such as Japan and Sweden are importing ethanol from Brazil to help fulfill their environmental obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Running cars on carbohydrates instead of fossil fuels may not be a new idea, and ethanol has drawbacks such as high water content can damage engine parts over the long term, and ethanol burns at a higher temp to conventional oil based petrolium therefore creating starting problems in the morning if the temp is cool. The thing is that ethanol offers an attractive alternative as oil prices climb, and it is possible to make the stuff from pretty much anything that you can brew alcohol out of.

New Zealand / USA does not grow sugarcane to my knowledge, therefore the corn option seems to be the best bet although sugarcane based Ethanol is more potent than corn based ethanol. Brazil has got to the point now that they can get about 6000 liters of ethanol from 2.5 acres of land. When they started in 1975 with their project that was at 2500 liters. Brazil is the world leader in this technology. I think that they are going to reap their rewards from now on as the really have everything covered from spending money in their own country to power their vehicles, to excess power generation created by the ethanol plants which in turn sell the power to the local grid..... All very self sufficient.

I think that NZ should take advantage of Brazils knowledge and start producing Ethanol in NZ to subsidise our dependence on international oil. The other option is to do as Sweden and Japan is doing and importing Brazilian Ethanol for the time being until an infastructure can be created. It is not going to be difficult to get flex fuel vehicles produced for the NZ market, and hey.... It is green and good for the environment.

Time that someone within the governement looks into this.

Mercedes-AMG presented the E 63 AMG for the first time at the New York International Auto Show today. Powered by the new, naturally aspirated AMG V8-engine, which develops a maximum output of 378 kW/514 hp and a maximum torque of 630 newton metres from a displacement of 6.3 litres, the E 63 AMG is the most powerful E-Class of all time.
This car / beast is available as a stationwagon and a sedan.

The 6.3 litre engine was developed completely independently by AMG, this hot V8 engine is the world’s only power unit to combine the high revving concept with a large displacement so they say. The result is around 20 percent more torque than from comparable engines in this output class. In line with Mercedes AMG tradition, the new powerpack is hand-built in the AMG engine workshops on the "one man, one engine" principle. Thus equipped, the E 63 AMG Saloon accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds (Stationwagon: 4.6 s). The maximum speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h, although I am sure you could get over 300kph out of her if there was not limiter.

This will be a smoking hot vehicle. I just hope that the electronics don't ruin the drive.