Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Today is a good day. Today, Jaguar has announced plans to build a limited run of its stunning C-X75 supercar in conjunction with the Williams F1 team.

Official: Jaguar C-X75 to be built

Sensational 200mph four-wheel-drive electric supercar gets green light. Jets from concept sadly absent
Jaguar C-X75
You'll no doubt remember the Jag. It premiered at the Paris motor show last year as a proper surprise debut, packing four electric motors - one on each wheel giving it four-wheel-drive - and jet engines to supplement the car's range and make it ridiculously cool.
Sadly, Jaguar tells us the production version will drop the jets and instead pack a ‘highly-boosted' four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor on each axle. The fiery canons of goodness might make it into a later section of the production run though, as parent company Tata has a big stake in Bladon Jets. No word on power output but expect it to hover near 800bhp, possibly more, housed in that lovely 1,350kg body, complete with a carbon-fibre chassis.
1,350kg, by the way, is lighter than a Ford Focus.
Williams will provide a helpful hand in aerodynamics, carbon composite manufacture and hybrid technologies, and Jag promises a direct tech transfer between motorsport and road-going production cars.
Key stats are 0-60mph in less than three seconds, 0-100mph in under six and a 200mph top speed. Jag plans to build around 250 C-X75s that will hit the UK in a couple of years.
Why is Jag building this ballistic car? Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar Brand Director tells us: "The C-X75 received an incredible reception as a concept car. There is a clear business case for this exclusive halo model. No other vehicle will better signify Jaguar's renewed confidence and excellence in technological innovation than this."
No doubt you're dancing around the room in your underwear, praising the gods of speed. Well, you might want to sit down for the next part. It'll cost somewhere between £700,000 and £900,000. Ahem.
It'll be British built and forecasted emissions sit at less than 99g/km of CO2, no doubt keeping sandal-wearing hippies slightly less displeased. Get ready for a war,Porsche 918 Spyder. It really is a good day. Your thoughts, please.
UPDATE: And as if by magic, here is the original Jag concept which has just turned up outside our office. It's going to be on the One Show tonight (Friday 6 May), alongside Hammond. BBC1, 7pm.

First tuned Lambo Aventador


We've barely caught our breath, what with giving you an epic 2,070bhp triple test of three Aventadors in this month's TopGear magazine (out tomorrow). But look at this, someone's only gone and modified one.
Oakley Design has decided that Lamborghini hasn't given its new Aventador enough go, and has announced a tuning programme pushing the Lambo's power to 760bhp and 550lb ft of torque.
A remapped ECU, larger airbox, titanium exhaust, wider rear tyres and a host of carbon fibre goodies will appear. For ‘hardcore clients', Oakley is also offering a rear-wheel-drive-only Aventador, removing the front diff and associated gubbins to save 85kg. You may require medication.
Just five are being built with three of them already sold...

RM Auctions' Villa d'Este sale


You want to sell your family. Maybe even your house. Sell it all and find some money, because this weekend sees RM Auctions hit the Villa d'Este concourse, and they're bringing along some rather fine machinery to tempt lots of moneyed types.
Like a prototype Ford GT40 works roadster, raced, binned, left for dead and then restored to Ferrari-baiting magnificence. Or a Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, which, if we're not mistaken, is the dictionary definition of ‘lust'. Or the likely headline sale of the show, the Bugatti Type 57, replete with a supercharged 3.3-litre straight-eight and that delightful baby-vomit paintjob. Or the first prototype of the Lancia Stratos HF Zero, above, a car Top Gear rather admires.
The auction kicks off on 21 May and we've got a full preview for you to ogle. Have a click through and then, once you've calmed yourself, find money. Lots of it.

Honda CR-Z Mugen breaks cover


Eco motoring's just got sexier. Or less unsexy. Either way - meet the Mugen-tuned Honda CR-Z in the picture above.
It's a one-off prototype from Honda's go-to tuners, Mugen. And we dearly hope it gets put into production.
Its superchargerising and spanner work with the IMA hybrid system means power from the 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine's boosted from 113bhp to nearly 200bhp and 181lb ft of torque. And it's lighter, too: Mugen detached 50kg from the chassis, replaced the bonnet with a carbon-fibre one and bolted on lightweight Mugen alloys.
The reckoning? Honda claims it reaches 60 in a similar time to the Civic Type R (6.6 seconds - RIP) but can still manage more than 50mpg in eco mode. It does drop to mid-30mpg when you deploy full-fat Mugen mode, but we'll let it off.

We've thoroughly enjoyed the bog-standard CR-Z on long-term loan to Top Gear HQ, firm ride aside. Can you think of a potentially cooler factory hybrid, TopGear.commers?
source: http://www.topgear.com/

First tuned Lambo Aventador


We've barely caught our breath, what with giving you an epic 2,070bhp triple test of three Aventadors in this month's TopGear magazine (out tomorrow). But look at this, someone's only gone and modified one.
Oakley Design has decided that Lamborghini hasn't given its new Aventador enough go, and has announced a tuning programme pushing the Lambo's power to 760bhp and 550lb ft of torque.
A remapped ECU, larger airbox, titanium exhaust, wider rear tyres and a host of carbon fibre goodies will appear. For ‘hardcore clients', Oakley is also offering a rear-wheel-drive-only Aventador, removing the front diff and associated gubbins to save 85kg. You may require medication.
Just five are being built with three of them already sold...