Rams Eye The Track Guy

Whenever I hear of an outlandish 911 build, I always wonder what hardcore 911 would think. In my experience, they tend to love tradition and preserving the 911 legacy. This car breaks two of the holy trinity of classic 911's; rear engined, flat-six, and air-cooled. It is still rear engined but it uses a V6, water-cooled engine. But I can't imagine a single 911 fan being upset about this.

You see, this isn't just any water-cooled V6 engine. It is a Formula 1 twin-turbocharged 1.5 litre V6 out of a McLaren MP4/3 F1 car. Further preserving the Porsche-ness of this build, the engine was built by a partnership formed between Porsche and TAG to provide engines for McLaren F1 team. Porsche was responsible for the technical burden of design and engineering and TAG financed the effort and stuck its name on the engine as "TAG turbo" since McLaren didn't want Porsche's name on their F1 car.

Lanzante first revealed the car in October last year shortly after the annu…

Ford has been promoting its EcoBoost engine options for quite some time now, replacing larger engines with smaller, turbocharged EcoBoost engines in all of its offerings. The Mustang wasn't safe in the 6th Generation redesign (code named S550) when it debuted in 2014 for the 2015 model year. It gained a turbocharged 2.3 litre 4 cylinder EcoBoost engine making 310 hp.

The previous base engine, a 3.7 litre V6 making 305 hp was down-rated to 300 hp to create a larger gap and position the EcoBoost firmly as a mid-range engine. But since the refresh for 2018, the V6 has been dropped all together, leaving the Mustang lineup with only two engine options, the 4 cylinder EcoBoost with 310 hp and the upgraded 5.0 litre V8 making 460 hp. But It seems like Ford may be ready to insert another option in the 150 hp valley between those two options as a mid-range engine.


Hagerty recently discovered a document filed by Ford to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US a…

Cadillac sedans aren't dead after all, as evident by the brand new CT5 just revealed this morning ahead of its formal debut at the upcoming New York Auto Show. The reveal was done using "a social media campaign designed to stimulate the senses using autonomous sensory meridian response, also known as ASMR."... whatever that means.
Cadillac says that the videos are meant to trigger a physical response such as a spine-tingling sensation, which is great I guess if you're into that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the video seems to very light on detail, but at least some critical bits are revealed.


Design

For starters, the current newest sedan in Cadillac's lineup is the CT6, which looks ancient now next to the CT5. I'm a big Cadillac fan - which shocks most people considering that I am a Mustang guy. But I like what they have been doing, particularly their V-series models. I also liked their "Arts & Science" design language and was worried that whate…

And by 'Watch', I really mean listen. The M4 may be a bit quicker and lighter and the Alfa has a Ferrari-derived engine... but how can you argue with the bark of a twin-turbo AMG V8? Just listen to it! For comparison, especially since Sport Auto tend to be a bit slower than manufacturer tests, the M4 GTS did it in 7:37 when tested by the same Sport Auto driver, Christian Gebhardt. Although to be fair, the M4 GTS is a track-special and was on much stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, so it would actually be a lot closer to the AMG with similar tires. The absolutely magnificent 981 Cayman GT4 did it in 7:42 on the same PIlot Sport Cup 2 tires and the same driver. The AMG's time is actually a very respectable time for something that isn't pretending to be a race car. And it's the last old guard in its segment still firing on 8 cylinders.


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The last iteration of the Shelby GT500 that debuted in 2012 as a 2013 model year had 663 hp and a claimed top speed of over 200 mph. While some publications tried and failed to replicate the top speed claim, you knew that somewhere under specific conditions, Ford probably was able to crack 200 mph. If you were expecting the new one with "over 700 hp" to also crack 200 mph (I was), you'd be wrong.

Ford is going to equip the new Shelby GT500 with a 180 mph governor, meaning the GT500 will be electronically limited with a top speed of 180 mph. That is, at least until someone fiddles with it like they do with BMW's and remove the 155 mph limiter. Thankfully, it appears that top speed has been sacrificed at the altar of track performance.


A More Balanced Pony Car

A Ford spokesman told me that "Ford Performance engineers and professional drivers have found the sweet spot to make the all-new Shelby GT500 as fast as possible at both road courses and the drag strip."…

At its first ever visit to Sebring International Raceway for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) 1000 Miles of Sebring, Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) set a new lap record on Test Day #1. Mike Conway in the #7 TS050 Hybrid LM P1 car had a best lap time of 1:41.211. Like Brabham's BT62 Bathurst lap record a few weeks ago, the lap time is unofficial because it wasn't set during a competitive session, but it is a verified clocked time. But this is a test session for the WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring so this is likely in race spec unlike the Brabham's BT62 lap time that was set during demonstration laps. Porsche's LM P1 car, the 919 Hybrid, famously obliterated the Nurburgring lap record last summer in 2018 with a lap time of 5:19.55.

Before the test, Mike Conway said: "Going into Sebring my expectations are high. We would like to keep up the good run of form we have had in #7, which means continuing to score well and win more races. Sebring is going to be a challenging one…

I appreciate the entire spectrum of car motorsports; the state-of-the-art and sophisticated F1 side and the horsepower crazed, high speed 200 mph madness of NASCAR, along with everything else in between. But nothing - absolutely nothing - gets me more excited in motorsports than a race car that's closely tied to a production, road-going version. And that's why I LOVE a lot of factory turn-key race cars like the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport.

The 911 (991.2) GT2 RS Clubsport was built to meet SRO Motorsport Group's new GT2 racing series. SRO is a company specializing in the promotion and organisation of motorsport series. They mainly focus on GT racing, with some of the series they promote include the Blancpain GT Series, GT4 European Series, and others. It recently acquired the GT2 trademark and announced last year the new GT2 series. The class is intended to offer a new opportunity to amateur racing (assuming you have a lot of funds) and feature ‘true supercars’ with horsepower r…