Lamborghini Miura - ultimate 60ies super car

When Lamborghini presented the Lamborghini Miura in 1966 it was THE sensation. Not only was it ways ahead of the competition from Ferrari (the 275 GTB and the Daytona still had the engine mounted in the front) it was also a century design. Marcello Gandini, working for Bertone, had done a great job. The car was ultra flat and for its time also quite wide. The mid engine developed roughly 350 hp from 4 liters, enough to bring the car to almost 280 km/h for the people being brave enough to try it. In a contemporary test in Hobby people were very pleased by the handling, but 40 years later you would probably rather describe it as adventurous.
The car sold very well, 765 cars were produced and brought money to Lamborghini. Faster versions were produced, i.e. the S, the SV and the Jota.
Miuras have increased in value dramatically over the last 10 years. I remember seeing advertised cars for roughly Euro 200k, today it's rather twice that much for a good one.
It's certainly not a cheap car to own, as mechanically it's fragile and spare parts are sought after. But if you look for THE 60ies super car then this one is the one to have!
In 1986 Bertone celebrated 20 years of Lamborghini Miura at the Geneva Car Show, that's were the second picture is from.

Ferrari F40 versus Porsche 959 - true benchmarks

These are two of the best cars ever produced: Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. Both represent what was doable when they were presented. Both are still attractive today. Both were very expensive when they were sold as new, both are still good value today. The video (in French) lets them shine and sound .. wonderful! Thank goes to LP for pointing me to this great video!

300 - a benchmark in the automotive and other industries

300 could be seen just as any other number. But in many ways it's more. It's a movie for example. But it's also a benchmark for the construction industry. The Eiffel Tower was for quite some time one of the few buildings beating 300 m in terms of height. But this is a blog about cars. 300 km/h top speed was for a long time a benchmark for supercars. In the 60ies car manufacturers started trying to build cars that could go to a 300 km/h top speed. The Lamborghini Miura was one of the first street cars getting close, but only close. Even in the 70ies it was almost impossible to beat 300 km/h. Many claimed to be faster, few were. The Ferrari 512BB for example wasn't able to go faster than 290 km/h and it became quite clear that more than 500 hp were needed to get to such a top speed. Of course the late 80ies, the 90ies and the new century changed the game and with the Bugatti Veyron we have been able to beat the 400 km/h top speed benchmark. Many super and hyper cars of the last years have of course been able to go faster than 300 km/h.
The reason why I am talking about the number 300 is also that with this blog I have been posting 300 blog entries around cars and racing - it's the "work" of basically the last 12 months. I hope you have enjoyed reading them.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition - stereoids on a budget

Chevrolet (GM) just announced the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition. It's a limited production run of the popular Z06 with some improvements coming from the ZR1 (braking, cooling, wheels). It's only available in special colors and probably will be sold out quickly. Part of the improvement package though can also be ordered with regular Z06s. Which brings me to the point that I do actually quite like the Corvette. It represents good things such as lots of power for fairly little money (an entry level Corvette can be yours for a bit more than 50k USD), good looks, lightweight body/chassis design, great sounds and impressive performance. This is combined with acceptable fuel economy. Of course neither the interior design nor the build quality are a global benchmark, but hey, it's okay.
The current Corvette brings supercar performance (Z06) at the price of a normal BMW street car, or it is able to compete with the fastest Ferraris and Lamborghinis at half the price (ZR1). And it has more racing pedigree than most of its competitors, having won its class in Le Mans multiple times.
Even from a collector's point of view it's something to be considered. Old Corvettes (C1, C2 split window Stingrays, C3 Stingrays) fetch high prices, and race versions are sought after. So in many years people will look for well maintained C6 Z06 or ZR1 and thanks to the substantial volume produced there should be enough specialists and good parts availability to keep them running.
I have never owned a Corvette, but had it on my list from time to time. Remember what I said about the Audi RS5? It's the wrong compromise. Rather buy an A4 Avant and a Corvette on top. At the end you will have more performance and driving pleasure AND more practicality for your money, just incorporated in two instead of one car.

Hard Rock at the Geneva Car Show - Lamborghini, Pagani, Spyker, Lexus e.a.

Yes, this years Geneva Car Show 2010 was clearly showcasing the latest and best in hybrid and electrical car technology. But, there were some more traditional cars there as well, cars that make the heart of petrolheads speed. Here's a selection:
The Lamborghini LP560-4 Superleggera - faster, lighter, better than its predecessors, if we forget the Balboni version.
The Lexus LFA - too expensive, too late, but still quite impressive
Spyker - with three cars in Geneva. If only a little bit of their spirit will make it into the future Saab limousines, then the buyers will be the winners.
Pagani Zonda - a benchmark for super and hyper cars, even after all this time.
Clearly this is rock solid performance and focused on traditional talents. Good! Cars like this don't really influence the world climate and many of the modern gimmicks only spoil them.

How much acceleration performance do you need?

Over the last 50 years cars got faster and faster. Car buyers in the 50ies or 60ies were okay with an acceleration performance of more than 20 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. In the 70ies it was required to have to be between 10 and 20 seconds, really fast cars could go below 10 seconds. Today however almost any car accelerates in less than 10 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h, even Diesel engine people movers. Sportcars are expected to be substantially below 5 seconds, Supercars below 4 seconds. Most midrange saloon cars can go in 6 to 8 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h today. The latest Volkswagen Polo GTI speeds in less than 7 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h, that's comparable to what a Ferrari 308 GTB could do in the late 70ies. There's a clear correlation between power and acceleration performance, and there's of course also a correlation between the power to weight ratio and the acceleration performance.
But how much of this do you really need? Wouldn't 10 seconds for 0 to 100 km/h be enough for today's traffic conditions? And how much lighter could we build cars, if we could live with let's say 120 hp instead of 200 or 300 hp for a saloon car? Only companies like Aptera, Mindset or other ecocar manufacturers do think along these lines. And it probably fits the demand in the market to go stronger and heavier, but what was first the egg or the chicken?

The three best German Super Cars taking a 1987 perspective: Porsche 959, Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, BMW M1

In 1987 the German car magazine Sport Auto featured an article on the best German Sportscars ever. The three cars they put into the center were the mighty Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, the BMW M1 and the Porsche 959. It must be said that Germany at that time was in an 959 euphoria. Clearly the 959 was an excellent car for its time! Even today its performance is impressive: 0-100 km/h in 3.9 sec, 450 hp, 315 km/h top speed, 3.2 kg/hp. And it was hugely expensive at DM 420'000, well that's at least what people thought. As we know today that kind of price tag is what you can charge for a super or hyper sportscar. Ferrari's answer to the 959, the Ferrari F40, at least came in exactly at the same price point. But if you compare the 959 with the M1, built 7 or 8 years earlier, it must be said that the M1 was at DM 113'000.- inexpensive in comparison. And it was fast too with 0-100 km/h in 5.6 sec and a top speed of 262 km/h. With a lower weight of 1'300 kg it had an acceptable power to weight ratio too with 4.7 kg/hp. And 33 years before the Porsche 959 a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL could be bought at DM 29'000.-. What may sound inexpensive was pretty much unaffordable at that time when a Volkswagen Beetle was probably around DM 1'500.-. But this car reached a mind boggling 250 km/h top speed and accelerated in 9 sec from 0 to 100 km/h while the Beetle could barely reach 100 km/h and you could cook your breakfast eggs in the time it took from 0-100 km/h. Now, one of the questions to ask is of course whether these were the three best German sportscars until 1987. I guess, it's a question of definition. Would you include cars like the Isdera, would the Mercedes C111 count, are street legal race cars like the Porsche 904 GTS or the Porsche Carrera 6 to be included? And what about pre war cars such as the Mercedes SSK? The three shown cars in the article are at least an attractive selection and could all go on any serious car collector's shopping list.

Mercedes C111 Wankel - 300 km/h in 1970

The car was a sensation, maybe that's not even the full story. 300 km/h was a lot, most people drove a Volkswagen Beetle at that time, with 30 HP from a four cylinder boxer engine, not 350 HP from a Wankel engine. The Mercedes C111 was the first German supercar after the 300 SL Gullwing. And it was quite revolutionary. Wankel engine, 1'240 kg, 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds - that was lighter and quicker than the Lamborghini Miura, the car that was to be beaten at that time. It probably was also the first fiberglass car built by Mercedes. And the first mid engine car as well. It was a race car for the road. 50 cars Mercedes wanted to build, some even said 500. The price would have been around DM 60'000, 10-15 of what a Beetle or Kadett was. The energy crisis changed these plans.
The car was never produced and it's only the prototypes that are left. Too bad, the car must have been damned good. At least when you believe what the journalists at "hobby" wrote in No 7 1970. They drove C111/70. If you compare this engineering highlight with the McLaren SLR or even the new AMG Mercedes SLS then you really wonder where all this creativity and innovation spirit has gone.

Motoring in 2000-2009 - what will we remember in 20-30 years?

The Decade 2000 to 2009 was influenced by a rapidly increasing oil price towards the end of the period (for example the ratio between the highest and the lowest price per barrel was 5-6, peak was reached in 2008), by the inconvenient truth of a changing climate and global warming, by terrorism, tsunamis and hurricanes. Towards the end of the decade the whole world suffered from the consequences of the financial crisis and a global recession. At the same time the digitization of the world has continued and we couldn't imagine a life without mobile connectivity, Internet and flat screens.

So what where the motoring highlights of the years 2000 to 2009?

A Decade of Extremes
Super and Hyper Cars got faster and faster. The climax has been reached with the Bugatti Veyron, a car that really showcases what is feasible today. Whether anybody needs 1001 HP and 400 km/h top speed is another question.

The reinvention of the cheap car
Tata introduced the Nano, a really cheap car. But already before Renault has proven with the Dacia that there is a market for cheaper cars.

Supercar performance on a budget
When Nissan announced the GTR it was an instant success. Fast laps on the Nurburgring also helped to establish the image of a supercar on a budget. And the interior is designed for the PS3 generation. Four seats even make the car suitable for a small family.

The Hybrid Decade
With the Toyota Prius a new technology became both fashionable and consumer-ready, the hybrid car. While the Prius may neither have been pretty nor ecological it was sold very successfully thanks to Holywood and a brilliant marketing and it certainly proved that people can be motivated to save fuel.

Retro retro
The new Mini is a success, but the Fiat 500 was even more loved by the crowd thanks to its affordability and the really cute design. Revitalizing the Abarth brand at the top end of the 500 has also proven to be a clever move.

Electrical cars that actually are attractive
Tesla built a Roadster on top of a Lotus Elise chassis and loaded thousands of laptop batteries. Despite some getting quite hot this cars proved that performance and electricity don’t need to be opposites in the motoring context. Since the Tesla many manufacturers (i.e. Audi, Mercedes) and tuners (i.e. RUF) have followed and presented electrical sportscars.

In a next post I will talk about the ones that didn’t make it and why I think that from a motoring perspective the 2000 to 2009 decade was a disappointment after all.

Ferrari 512 BB - design icon and supercar

The Ferrari 512 BB and its predecessor 365 GT 4 BB were true design icons. Despite being very much behind Lamborghini adopting the mid engine scheme the car was quite a success. "BB" stands for Berlinetta Boxer but the engine actually wasn't a boxer design but a V-12 with an angle of 180 degrees. Ferrari built 387 365 GT4 BBs, recognizable because of the six exhaust pipes, 929 512 BBs and 1'007 BBIs between 1973 and 1981/82. Power output was always claimed to be around 340/360 HP depending on the way measured and the honesty.
What made the car special was the fact that you basically could unfold it (see second picture). For a 70ies sportscar the BB was quite heavy with more than 1'500 kg. And it felt like this. Best driving speed was in the range between 130 and 200 km/h and on the highway. This was clearly not a car built for the race track of the alps. The seating position was quite okay and even the visibility was quite good for a mid engine car. The engine of course was spectacular and so was the noise it produced, especially the carburetor versions 365 GT4 BB and 512 BB. Fuel consumption was impressive and you knew very soon why the petrol tank was so large. I loved the sound and the look of the car, but didn't fully enjoy the driving. That's why I sold it and swapped it against a 246 GT which clearly was a much more engaging car to drive. But the design of the 512 BB was really spot on, thanks to Pininfarina.

Lexus LF-A - have we really waited for this?

Lexus has announced the new Lexus LF-A just recently and it has been covered extensively all over the world. This is a 375'000 Euro supercar with a high revving V10, 560 HP, 1'450 kg weight and impressive performance and road handling (we assume).
It took them 11 years to develop it and the first cars only get shipped in a year or so.
While the car looks impressive (although the design almost looks like a retro modern car) and there's certainly a lot of technology and engineering going into this car, I really wonder whether we have waited for this.
Some of my readers may remember my post on the Connaught D-Type GT V10. Yes, you see Tim Bishop, the Chief Engineer at the steering wheel on the picture here. Well, the team around Tim developed something that I would reckon is more creative at probably a small fraction of the project cost of the Lexus LF-A. There are similarities though. Both cars have a V10 in the front, though the engine in the Connaught is much more in the center of the car, basically between the driver and the co-driver. Both try to to build a lightweight car. The Connaught is 850 kg while the Lexus weighs 1'450 kg. While the performance of the Connaught may be a bit less impressive due to the smaller engine and "only" 300 HP, they achieved to actually seat four people and still have a boot. And what is most intriguing for me, the Connaught has a built-in hybrid module (kind of a KERS) while Lexus, the mother of the hybrid technology, doesn't. Last, but not least, the sticker price for the Connaught is 100'000 GBP, while the price tag for the Lexus LF-A is supposed to be more than 3 times of this.
So, this brings me back to the point, that most of today's supercars and this includes the Lexus LF-A lack creativity and are just evolutions of concepts from the 80ies and 90ies.

60 years of car testing history and stories - what a wealth of information

What a wealth of information, what great stories! I just received my copy of the "Chronik des Automobils". It basically is a collection of articles (or mostly pieces of them) from Auto Motor und Sport (German car magazine) since 1946 in six books, each covering 10 years. I love old car magazine articles. I have a collection of magazines covering now 30 years on my own. But having the best articles summarized in six books is absolutely fabulous. Examples?
In 1951 the Dyna Veritas had 32 HP, was 116 km/h fast and had to be fed with 7.4 liter per 100 km. The DKW Monza of 1958 was faster with 135 km/h, accelerated in 21.9 s from 0-100 km/h and could be driven with 10 liters per 100 km. Only 20 years later the Porsche Turbo 3.3 took 5.4 s to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, reached 261 km/h, but took 23 liters from the gas station for every 100 km driven. And another 20 years later the BMW M5 was pretty much as fast as the Porsche 20 years earlier, but could seat 5 people and "only" drank 14.8 liters per 100 km. And in 1994 AMS tested the awesome McLaren F1 with 3.4 s for 0-100 km/, 370 km/h top speed and 18.6 liters fuel consumption for 100 km. People say the internet will replace magazines, newspapers and books. I believe there's a good argument having compilations like these six books in print.
For people interested, it's on amazon.de.

Challenging the tire dimensions found at today's cars - shouldn't we go back?

One thing that has changed a lot over the last years when you look at supercars are the tire dimensions. As an example I take the Ferrari 512 BB that featured a fat Michelin 215/70 VR 15 tire. Now compare it to the tires that are mounted to the rear wheels of a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, P305/35R20. What a difference. And even regular street cars today are equipped with these huge and "flat" tires! It's not even so clear whether this really helps the balance of the car that much. Certainly, if the tire doesn't "walk" that much then the driveability improves. But at the same time the comfort decreases and the wheels get heavier because you compensate air with aluminum. There's no return to more "normal" tire dimensions though as people think these wide wheels are cool. But we pay the price, be it in destroyed rims when parking to close or when we have to replace these wide wheels as they cost a fortune.
Now one additional thought: look at the formula one cars or other race cars. Do they have tires with similar dimensions as modern cars? No, they haven't. From a ratio width/height they actually look much more like the tires from the 512 BB, designed 25-30 years ago. Interesting, isn't it?

How about a little bit more creativity when engineering your next supercar?

Looking at the recent announcements of new supercars arriving (i.e. Ferrari 458, McLaren MP4 12C, etc.) I wonder whether their designers and engineers do not lack a bit of creativity. Of course they add power and improve handling and overall performance with each new car, but compared to what is happening in the compact and economy car segment, these are baby steps. Look at the Nissan Land Glider for example, isn't this impressive? I would really appreciate if Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati or Aston Martin would come up with a truly creative approach on how to combine performance, handling, usability and economy in a next generation supercar.

Honda NSX - did Honda succeed in building a supercar?

When Honda introduced the NSX in 1989/1991 this was their first attempt to compete with the performance car and supercar league. Direct competitors were the Ferrari 348 and the Porsche 911 (964). From a pricepoint it probably was in between these rivals. The NSX had an all-alluminium chassis, suspension and body. The engine was a 3.0 liter V6 VTEC, delivering roughly 270 HP. What Honda tried to achieve was to find the perfect compromise between usability, driveability and performance. So they even had to change the design to fit a bigger boot (on the cost of the design/shape) and to allow so for more luggage space. Compared to other supercars it was quite easy to enter the car and the interior was quite spacious. The performance was comparable to the NSX peers, but to drive fast the engine needed to be revved. The handling was very good for a mid-engined car, also thanks to the contributions of Ayrton Senna. The car was built for durability, maintenance costs were low compared to its competitors. So, basically what had been produced was a supercar with the low maintenance characteristics of a Honda Civic - well almost at least. The interior was a bit "plush" and instruments and dashboard maybe were not really up to the standard. But it clearly was a good car. Honda sold about 18'000 of them and they also made some appearances in racing, for example in the 24 hours race on the Nurburgring. It could have been even more successful if the economical conditions at the time of the launch would have been better.
I actually owned two NSX, a black and a red one, both built 1991. The black wasn't as good as I had hoped, but this was more because of the specific vehicle than the car as such. The second one proved to be very good, but finally I sold it because better and more beautiful cars came along. But I still consider this car as one of the best 90ies compromises between convenience and performance.

We need a new Yardstick for Supercars

For centuries the benchmark for Supercars was acceleration from 0-100 km/h or horsepower to weight ratio. Given today's problems with mother earth and more and more restrictions on public roads we probably should think about a new way to measure Supercars. Here's what I propose:
Let's take kg/PS (weight to horsepower) and CO2 g/km and build an index, called SCPI (supercar performance index) based on these two standard measures. Cars that score well, have both a low weight at high engine performance and low fuel consumption at the same time. It's no surprise that light cars do better. The winner here is the KTM X-Bow. I agree that this is a very "basic" car and probably not more than a toy. Number 2 is already more usable and can even be driven every day. The Artega brings everything you need for both track and traffic jam. And on place 4 we have a Porsche which seems to make sense too. None of the usual suspects in the supercar field though makes the top of the list. It's because these cars are way too heavy and therefore are quite inefficient in terms of fuel consumption.

Why the new McLaren MP4-12C is not a must-have

McLaren just has announced its brand new sportscar McLaren MP4-12C to be sold from 2011 onwards.
While the expected performance of this car is certainly impressive (3.8 liter engine with 600 HP and less than 4 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h), the design isn't. It sort of looks like a smoothened Lamborghini Gallardo. Compared to the McLaren F1, that was really exceptional with its three seats and staggering performance compared to anything else, the new MP4-12C is far less exciting, being in the same league with cars like the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, the Ferrari 458 or the latest versions of the Lamborghini Gallardo. Which is okay, but these cars are on sale today and you don't need to wait until 2011. From a car coming in 2011 I would expect much more, both on the performance and the design front. Again, what I would really dream of is a 300-400 HP car with 800-900 kg and the fuel efficiency of a Smart. Now, this is a challenge, isn't it?

The new Ferrari 458 Italia - this is how a super car should look like!

I just came across the new Ferrari 458 Italia replacing the 430. Now, I didn't really expect something that would make me check my bank account. But honestly, if this thing drives as good as it looks, then I need to start my eBanking application quickly. Wow!
It's very fast with roughly 570 hp and less than 4 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. And it's fairly fuel efficient, at least if you compare it with other Ferraris before.
It's clearly much more attractive then the California and it sets a high bar for Lamborghini when they have to replace the Galliardo. It's clearly a Ferrari again that looks good in "rosso". And it will make many people dream. That's exactly what a super car should be about. Performance, great looking and attractive to possess. Let's see how long the waiting list becomes.

The V10 Hybrid Connaught D-Type GT

Car manufacturers have been trying to convince us that modern sports cars need to have a curb weight of almost two tons, need to be wide and long, thirsty and very very expensive. What looks like a law of nature isn't though!
In Wales (UK) a small company is building a sports car that weighs roughly 850 kg, and is with its V10 2 liter engine very economical thanks to a hybrid modul and the overall construction of the car. And it even carries 4 people with a serious amount of luggage. Where else could you find something like this?
What Tim Bishop and his boys at Connaught Motor Company are able to achieve is really impressive! Have a look at a video on youtube that introduces the car and highlights some of its features. It's very lightweight, as said, roughly 850 kg. That's 500 kg less than a Lotus Evora! It still has been constructed with crash tests in mind and the CAD/CAE tools used are the same as the ones used by the large manufacturers. The masterpiece is the front-mid-mounted V10 with a 22.5 degree angle between the two banks of cylinders. The engine is so small that it can be fitted where normally the transmission would be, resulting into a 50:50 kg distribution for the car. Thanks to a hybrid module energy is consumed in small bits giving a CO2 efficiency second to none in the same category. Yes, it's sort of a green car (not just the paint!). Everything has been constructed with ecology in mind, craddle to grave as Tim calls it. What is also highly impressive is the fact that this cars summons 40-50 years of car engineering and takes the best ideas from these years. You find things in this car that were pioneered in Reliants or Tatras, there's more tradition in this car than in any Aston Martin I would guess.
So here's a potential super car with a price tag of roughly 120'000-130'000 Euros, developed with a budget that was a fraction of what the biggies like Porsche, Jaguar or Maserati spend to come up with cars that are far less innovative than this one. Let's hope Tim Bishop and his great team will be able to lead this project to success and influence the motor car industry with it.
P.S. If you believe you heard the name before, yes, Connuaught built racing (and street) cars in the fifties with quite some success. So, there's even more tradition to this ....

Is a Super Car a super car?

The term "Super Car" probably was coined in the 80ies. Lamborhini Miura, Ferrari Daytona and BB, Porsche Turbo and others really defined the benchmark of what was possible. And we had fairly empty streets, much less speed limits and the regular car for most people was a VW Golf, Open Kadett or Renault R5, barely able to go beyond 160 km/h. So Supercars really were super. But how is it today? What can you really do with cars producing 600+ HP and going faster than 300 km/h? Where do we want to leverage these impressive performance figures and the ecquisit handling? Any Golf GTI does 200 km/h, even a family estate car like the BMW 330i produces 272 HP, which is substantially more than a Ferrari 308 GTB in the 80ies. So wouldn't it be time for Engineers to do something better than adding more power and more weight to the so called Supercar? Ferrari announced that they want to change the direction and produce lighter and smaller cars in the future, however the new Ferrari California with a heavy top construction is not a good evolution in this sense. Maybe the Artega GT is a more modern Super Car? Maybe, at least it's less heavy than most others. In my eyes the next generation Super Car should have the following characteristics:

• Effective both on the track and on regular roads
• Great looks
• Impressive sound (specifically towards the driver)
  
• Doing at least 250 km/h and 0-100 in less than 6 seconds while still consuming less gasoline than most family cars

There's not much to choose from today, Lotus had a good grip on this, but even the Elise almost added 300 kg over the last 10 years. I remember that my own Elise Mk1 with alluminium disk brakes was moving less than 700 kg of weight, while the latest versions are closer to 925 kg.