Volkswagen Reveals Polo R WRC Racer with 300HP [Video]

After months of rumors and whispers, Volkswagen officially announced that it will enter a factory team to the World Rally Championship starting with the 2013 season. The announcement was made in Italy, where journalists had the chance to take a first look at the car VW will throw in the competition, the 300HP Polo R WRC, shown here as a prototype. Read more »

McLaren's MP4-12C GT3 Racer gets 100HP less than the Street Version [Gallery and Video]

McLaren has announced full technical specifications of its MP4-12C GT3 racing model, which much surprisingly, has 100 horses less than the road car it's based upon. The racer uses the same 3.8-liter twin turbo V8 engine (codenamed M838T), but in a de-tuned state deliver 500 horsepower (down from 600HP) in order to “provide optimum power for a performance-balanced race car,” according to McLaren. Read more »

Yugo…Grale Replicates Lancia’s Iconic Delta HF Integrale [with Video]

If you grew up in the late 1980s or early 1990s and were an avid automotive enthusiast, chances are you fondly remember the great Delta HF Integrale, arguably the last super exciting (from a driver's perspective) Lancia model.

And while Lancia has turned a new page in its history, tending to the needs of customers enamored with fashion catwalks instead of rally courses, there are plenty of drivers out there who cherish the original spirit of the Italian brand. Some, however, have taken their love of Lancia to the extreme turning mundane Yugos, itself a by-product of the Fiat 127, into Integrale replicas.

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New Audi R18 TDI Le Mans Competitor with smaller 3.7-liter V6 Diesel to Receive Racing Debut in Spa

In less than two months time, Audi’s brand new R18 TDI racer -that would be the bug-eyed model pictured on the right, will show us what it’s capable of at the famous 24 hours of Le Mans on June 11/12. But before the prestigious event in France, the brand with the four rings will give the R18 TDI its racing debut at the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Spa in Belgium on Saturday, May 7. Read more »

New Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Debuts as Official Safety Car of DTM Racing Series

Mercedes-Benz and its AMG division continue to serve safety cars to the world of racing, this time with the refreshed C63 AMG sedan that will be used for the 2011 DTM touring car season. The Stuttgart automaker’s latest Safety Car will make its premiere on May 1, 2011, at the opening race of the German Touring Car Masters season at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg. Read more »

F1’s Team Lotus Acquires British Sportscar Maker Caterham

The owners of Formula One Team Lotus announced today the acquisition of lightweight sportscar manufacturer Caterham, for an undisclosed sum from the shareholder consortium led by Corven Ventures.

Based in England, Caterham has made a name for itself for building the Seven, a lightweight two-seater sports car that was designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and who sold the rights of the car to Caterham in 1973.

Team Lotus chiefs Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin said in a statement that the company plans to expand Caterham’s profile and product family while also continuing the development of the Seven.

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VIDEO: The World’s Fastest IRS Corvette Runs ¼ Mile in 7.89 Seconds

A heavily modified 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 [C6] equipped with a turbocharged V8 engine built by IPS Motorsports, recently shattered the quarter mile record for IRS ‘Vettes completing the sprint on the dragstrip in just 7.89 seconds with an exit speed of 180 mph (289 km/h). The record-breaking time was achieved at the 2nd race of the LSX Series in Atlanta. Watch the run through the in-car camera in the videos right after the break. Read more »

Robert Kubica Discharged from Hospital, Still a Long Way Before F1 Return

Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica has left the Santa Corona hospital in Italy where he had spent the last 11 weeks after a scary rally accident. According to a hospital statement, the Polish driver is in good condition and will soon begin rehab. “He will carry on being monitored by the Santa Corona doctors who had him in their care through scheduled appointments," the hospital said in a press statement. Read more »

Real Life Fast Five: What is the Ultimate Heist Vehicle? [Video]

Inspired by a scene from the upcoming Fast Five film or as some fans refer to it, Fast and Furious 5, in which the protagonists try out different cars to find the right one for a risky heist, the folks over from Autotopia set out to test numerous tuned cars on a race track to see which one is best suited for the task.

The cars they chose for the test include the AE Performance Nissan 370Z used in the movie Fast Five; Autotopias’ Ford Cargo Van; DC Motors Mercedes Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series; Gintani BMW X5M; Heintz Ford Mustang GT 5.0; MFEST E60 BMW M5; OE Tuning Mercedes Benz C63 AMG; Airtiger Express Nissan GTR R35; Tesla Motors Roadster Sport and finally, the Team Wu Dodge Charger Police Car.

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New Audi R8 Print Ad: "A Sporty Car Full of History"

Longtime VW Group advertising partner DBB has come up with a new print advertisement for the Audi R8 to highlight the brand’s rich sports car heritage. The print ad, which is the creative work of DDB Barcelona, plays on the tag-line “Audi R8: A sporty car full of history” and shows a cut of the R8 coupe incorporating three racing models from Audi’s past including the Ur-Quattro rally car, and what looks to be the NSU TT and Auto Union Type D. We’ll remind you that NSU and Auto Union merged in 1969 to create what we know today as the Audi brand.

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Toyota Corolla vs Ferrari F430: Can You Guess Who Wins this Race?

Pitting a puny stock Toyota Corolla against a Ferrari F430 and asking which car would win in a straight line race sounds like a joke, right? Well, under any other circumstances, you would be right to take this as a shaggy dog story but this comparo, which was made for a Japanese TV show, has a peculiar twist to it: the race was run in reverse gear… So, now that you know, can you pick the winner? Enjoy the quirky drag race between the Corolla sedan and Maranello’s supercar in the video clip after the break.

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Insane, Tire-Shredding Suzuki Might Boy Mini Ute with LS1-V8 [Video]

Come on, admit it, tire-smoking burnouts are a blast to watch. Even more so when the vehicle in question is a Japanese kei car stuffed with a GM-sourced LS1 V8. Enter the world of the Curupt, a wildly modified Suzuki Might Boy that comes to us from the land of Down Under.

Largely unknown to most of the world, the Suzuki Mighty Boy is a toy-sized pickup truck-style model from the glorious 1980s that was sold in Japan as well as Australia and Cyprus between 1985 and 1988. Despite its promising name, the fact that it was based on the Giugiaro-designed Suzuki Curve kei car meant the Mighty Boy was anything but ‘mighty’ as power came from a puny 0.5-liter three-cylinder engine delivering around 28 ponies.

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Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR Shatters Corvette ZR1’s Record at Miller Motorsports Park [with Video]

The Dodge Viper SRT10 American Club Racer (ACR) broke the production car lap record at Miller Motorsports Park, dipping below the 2-minute mark for the first time ever at the 3.048-mile Outer Course configuration. Dodge driver Kuno Wittmer stopped the clock at 1:59.995, beating the previous record held by Jan Magnussen in a Corvette ZR1 by almost four seconds (2:03.86).

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Hennessey's HPE1000 Escalade Cracks 60 in 3.3 Sec, bests Nissan's GT-R [with Video]

The concept of turning SUVs into pavement-pounding, drag-racing, supercar-shredding monster rods never ceases to amaze me, and by that I mean my jaw is on the floor and I'm completely boggled. I love me some automobiles (and vehicular transportation in general), but there's something about a nigh-three ton box on wheels and oodles of GO that seems...weird.

However, if monster rods - or high performance in general - are your cup of Starbucks soy latte, then Hennessey has got you covered (as if you didn't know that already, what with their cray-cray 1,000+ horsepower Vipers from way back when). Below, for your viewing pleasure, is video of a 2011 Cadillac Escalade drag racing a 2011 R35 GT-R and beating it.

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European Union Asks Formula 1 to go Electric

In 2006, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth brought global warming to the forefront of the world’s consciousness. Regardless of what end of the spectrum you stand on this issue, you have to admit that it’s real, it’s bad and if we don’t do anything it’s only going to get worse. To me and many others, it’s that simple.

So naturally we’re targeting the obvious culprits: Big Mining, Big Agriculture and Big Automotive. We’re also encouraging the average man and woman to use less and be environmentally responsible. So what about the world’s biggest and most prestigious automotive racing category: Formula 1? What are they doing to stem the tide of global warming?

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Czech Designer Imagines a Skoda WRC Racecar Based on the Vision D Concept

Skoda is a brand with a long tradition in motorsports and this has inspired Czech designer Pavel Hruby to draw a study of a modern Skoda world rally car. Hruby took inspiration from the Skoda Vision D Concept shown by the Czech brand at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

The VW Group’s subsidiary was not involved in any way in this project, with the sketch having been commissioned by Czech Magazine AutoDesign&Styling. The Skoda Vision WRC project shows Hruby's ideas of what a new rally model from the Czech automaker could look like. Based on the new design language launched by the Vision D concept, the rally car features the new corporate grille, underlined by a massive air intake in the lower part of the bumper.

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2011 Dodge Avenger gets in Rally Guise, but for what? [with Video]

Joining the Mopar ’11 Charger special at the New York International Auto Show next week will be the new Dodge Avenger rally car that heralds the first collaboration in the brand’s newly announced relationship with Fiat Group subsidiary and aftermarket parts specialist, Magneti Marelli. The rally-prepped Avenger was built in cooperation with Chrysler’s in-house tuner Mopar, and while fully functional, there’s no word if the car will actually enter any sort of competition.

“This is a purpose-built vehicle with collaborative parts from Magneti Marelli and Mopar,” said Dino Maggioni, CEO of Magneti Marelli Aftermarket. “We selected Magneti Marelli and Mopar parts, adapted them to the Dodge Avenger and made them unique. The result is a fascinating blend of these two iconic brands.”

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Aston Martin’s New Vantage GT3 Racer to Replace DBRS9

To the delight of most motorsport fans, Aston Martin's racing division has thrown the covers off its latest creation, the all-new Vantage GT3 racer, which will be ready for competition in 2012. Based on the V12 Vantage road car, the GT3 model will take the place of the DBRS9 after a five-year long career that began in 2006 at Le Mans, and which has since seen a total of 26 chassis built cars that were raced to numerous victories in national and international series across the world. Read more »

Oops Moment: Vitantonio Liuzzi Runs over F1 Marshal [Video]

The Formula 1 Grand Prix held in Malaysia last weekend gave spectators a pretty eventful race, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel winning again, but one of the most memorable moments took place on Friday, during the final practice session. Hispania Racing Team driver Vitantonio Liuzzi had to stop the car outside the track because of technical problems, so he exited the single seater and went to the pits. The race marshals took over from there and started pushing the car to a safe location.

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MINI Officially Launches WRC Team, Unveils Countryman Racers

MINI's preparations for the brand's imminent return to the World Rally Championship have culminated with the official launch of the team less than a month ahead of its first WRC event, the Rally d'Italia Sardegna (May 5 - 8). At the company's plant in Oxford, England, the MINI WRC Team unveiled its two MINI John Cooper Works WRC cars, the driver/co-driver lineup and its plans for 2011.

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