Oh man, I’m pretty sure several generations of gearheads (original fans are now dads these days) can relate with this whole Speed Racer (Mach GoGoGo in Japan) thing. Unless of course, you never thought of such a car as cool, then you might have dreamed of driving one when you were a kid watching Speed Racer on TV.

Since Matrix-men Larry and Andy Wachovsky decided to remake the series to a live-action-with-animation-effects movie (coming this May), it’s inevitable for them to recreate a replica of the fabled Mach 5 - the star-car of the series. They they freaking did. A running replica and even has some of the snazzy Mach 5 features.

The car supposedly sports an 8.0-liter quad sequential turbocharged V12 dishing out a Veyron-shaming 1700 bhp at 8000 rpm sending the power to the rear wheels wrapped in Yokohama tires made of a revolutionary material. It does naught to sixty in just 2.7 seconds. Believable? Hehe. These are surely made-for-movie specs and the actual car was suspended by a crane and effects in the film were mostly CG.

Remember that back in 2002, production versions of the Mach 5 replicas were built using 2001 Corvette Chassis and only has 345 horsepower.

Source: Road and Track

This is actually a leaked feature since Volkswagen wanted to keep this under wraps until next week in the Geneva Motor Show. Or maybe it’s really part of their ploy. At least we all get to see a glimpse of the new Volkswagen Scirocco. Mind you that the last time we saw a production Scirocco was way back 1992 with a hint of this one two years ago with the IROC concept.

The production model has a few changes from the concept with the loss of the grille design in favor of horizontal lines that are reminiscent of the old Scirocco look. Also made are a few tweaks with the taillights and larger side mirrors but the concept is largely unchanged.

We still don’t have the final details on the production version but if the initial news carries through, the Scirocco will have to engine options - a twincharged straight-4 dishing out 168 hp , and the 200 hp 2.0T FSI engine found in the Passat.

Source: Motor Trend

The Ariel Atom has been the epitome of a stripped-down, budget performance track car. But with the X-Bow breathing down its neck, the guys from Ariel suddenly drops this bomb - they’re giving the car 200 more horses that would probably disintegrate Jeremy Clarkson’s face. The new Atom will be dubbed as the Ariel Atom 500.

The current Atom sports a 2.0L Honda Type R supercharged 300 hp engine that propels the lightweight car from naught to sixty in just three seconds. Imaging what an RS Performance 2.4-liter V8 dishing out the power of 500 horses do to the Ariel’s 1000-lb frame. Just imagining this scares me.

Ariel Director Simon Saunders has this to say:

‘This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce. For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car. We also use this sort of project to explore the possibilities of how we can improve our standard cars. The Honda engined production cars already combine all the elements that we want in an Atom and by pushing the envelope to these sorts of extremes we can further improve the breed’.

Interesting? An “interesting project?” Good God, this is not interesting. This is insane. And I like it.

Source: Motive

Get ready for an Italian attack next month in the Geneva Motor Show. Pininfarina will be showcasing its new Sintesi concept and you have to hand it to the Italians, they are still master designers. Yet another exquisite design with this one.

The bad thing is that we don’t have any decent press release that share a bit more technical detail regarding the car. As with my philosophy, I’m more of the performance kind of guy and some numbers on this machine definitely wouldn’t hurt. But I guess we’ll just have to ogle the car for now.

Design-wise, it’s nothing less than you’d expect from an Italian-designed car. The car itself is very sleek. How sleek is sleek? Just check that windshield. It’s almost horizontal. And it’s interesting to see that it creates that “internal framing” effect with the window-within-window design. It also has that Lambo scissor doors but with the front door swinging front and the rear door swinging rear. To contrast its sleek lines, the car features sharp and angular front vent and fascia.

Source: Winding Road

Lamborghini will not rest on its laurels. After giving us a look of the exquisitely designed Lamborghini Reventon, we now have news that a new Lambo will be on the stands at the Geneva Motor Show next month. It’s the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4.

Now that’s a lot of numbers but it’s actually a designation for the car’s output of 560 PS (552 horses) and the 4 corresponds to the full-time four-wheel drive. Power will come from a 5.2L V10 engine that, aside from delivering 552 hp, dishes out 390lb-ft of torque. The engine can be mated to either a manual or an e-gear sequential transmission.

The engine in the new Gallardo is large by 0.2L than the current one as this car will replace the standard Gallardo coupe which hit the markets back in 2003. We just have to suffice with a sketchy sketch until Lambo releases the official images by next week.

Source: Leftlane News

Not even more than a month has passed and yet auto manufacturers are planning what they’d be showcasing in next year’s Detroit Motor Show. Toyota will be presenting two dedicated hybrid models - one for Toyota and one under the Lexus badge.

Now Toyota has been really keen on creating a new product to offer under its badge and it will most likely be the Mark III Prius. However, what’s interesting in this news is a wagon-like vehicle based on the Prius platform that will be marketed under the Lexus badge. Some might have already seen the Toyota A-BAT concept - a truck hybrid.

These are really interesting developments in Toyota’s side. The Prius has turned out to be a very successful line for those who are keen on going green. Now they’re expanding the product line. While I have reservations on why they need to market their hybrids with different badges, we’ll just have to see how this eventually turns out.

Source: Motor Trend

Mercedes will be unloading a lot of stuff on us come next month at the Geneva Motor Show. They’ll be showcasing not just one or two new models. They’ll be showing us five new ones. Those that will be on the stands: the new SL, SLK, CLC, CLS and CL. Now that’s a lot of new cars.

No doubt that it’s the new SL that would be the highlight for Mercedes. A new entry-level SL 280. It’s got a 231hp 6-cylinder engine that propels the car from 0-62 in 7.8 seconds. Pretty respectable especially since this is an entry-level car.

Another car to be shown is the new SLK (which technically debuted in Detroit last month), making its European debut. The new SLK sports a new front and rear design and sports a more poerful V6 SLK 350 engine. Joining it is the new CLC Sports Coupe which is a total redesign, offering performance upgrades for handling, an uprated engine that now dishes out 184hp and fuel-efficiency bump of 10.8%.

The last two would be a CLS 280 with a facelifted front fascia that sports a few tweaks inside and is now powered by a 3.0L V6 producing 231 horses. Finally, we will get to see the CL500 4MATIC that features a 388 hp V8 engine.

Source: Mercedes

Fifth Gear’s Jason Plato takes the Nissan GT-R out for a spin. I think it’s the first time on TV that the GT-R has been test driven courtesy of British TV. The verdict? “It’s a great bit of metal, this car.”

Yesterday, we had a look at the MINI John Cooper Works and Clubman cars. MINI fans are sure to be delighted that there will be very sporty versions of the car in the market. Imagine 200+ hp pulling something as light as the MINI. The result? 0-60 in 6.5 seconds. Some coupes can’t even get to that range. Anyway, here’s a video featuring these two releases from MINI.

We’ve had a string of paint job press releases from Aston Martin with the DBS a few months ago. If you’d ask me, paint jobs do not really demand a five or six-paragraph long press release but hey, it’s Aston Martin and their cars definitely deserve some look whenever they decide to give them a spiffy new color.

This time, it’s the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS in a swanky Mako Blue paint. Mako came from the Mako shark which is the most agile shark known to man. “Mako” is also the Maori word for “Blue Lightning.” I don’t know about the Vantage RS, as it isn’t the most agile car out there but I have to give props to Aston Martin. The paint job is exquisite.

Uhm, okay. So probably the V12 Vantage RS is the quickest Aston around, powered by a 600 bhp 6.0L V12. It goes from 0-60 in sub-4 seconds and hits a staggering 200 mph.

Source: Aston Martin