Videos: Ferrari 458 Italia Crashes, Tractor Comes to the Rescue

The bashed up 599 GTO we showed you yesterday wasn’t the only Ferrari to bite the dust at this past weekend's Trofeo Ferrari Club Italia event at the Vallelunga racetrack near Rome.

The same fate awaited this red 458 Italia when its driver apparently lost control of the exotic supercar in a corner sending it straight onto the protective barriers. In a somewhat unfitting end for the Ferrari, a tractor had to be called in to carry away the car. Watch the incident unfold in the video after the jump.

Read more »

Caterham Logos to Appear on Team Lotus’ F1 Cars

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. In 1973, Caterham, which was founded in the 1960s as a Lotus dealer, acquired the rights to build the Seven from Lotus. Now, Team Lotus has purchased Caterham Cars through a holding company, part owned by Malaysian Tony Fernandes. Read more »

Monster Toyota Celica Beats F1 Cars and Everything Else at Goodwood Recording the Fastest Hill Climb Time

Over the past weeks we’ve been bombarding you with news about exotic cars such as the Aston Martin Zagato V12 that would participate at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The event took place this past weekend and the spectators gathered to marvel at every car enthusiasts dream garage.

But they also came to watch more than 200 production, tuned and racing models including recent Formula 1 cars, race against the clock in the famous 1.6 mile hill-climb. However, much to everybody’s surprise, the winner was not an F1 car but a tuned, 800+ horsepower Toyota Celica that recorded a time of just 48.07 seconds.

Read more »

Mark Higgins to Race Subaru Cosworth Impreza STI CS400 Against Supercars at Pageant of Power

Subaru will take on a wide array of supercars including the Ariel Atom V8, Lamborghini LP570-4 Performante, McLaren MP4-12C and Noble M600 at this month’s Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, which is billed as “the UK’s biggest celebration of power and speed”.

The Japanese company will compete in the race with its limited-edition Cosworth Impreza STI CS400, driven by none other than Mark Higgins, the former British Rally Champion who recently set the production road car lap record for the Isle of Man TT circuit in an Impreza WRX STI

Read more »

Williams and Renault Reunite in Formula 1

A legendary alliance is reforming in Formula 1: Williams and Renault Sport have decided to cooperate once again for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, when the rules stipulate V8 engines, and an option to continue in 2014 when the new turbocharged V6s are introduced. Read more »

Porsche to Return to Le Mans in 2014 with Brand New LMP1 Racer

Porsche, the most successful marque ever in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has announced its return in 2014 to the world’s most famous endurance race. Porsche has won at Le Mans a record 16 times, and aims for the top spot with its works entry in the top LMP1 category. Read more »

Revised McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Racer to Debut at Goodwood

The MP4-12C GT3, McLaren’s first race car outside of Formula 1 since the legendary F1 GTR, will make its debut in front of the public at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Based on the new MP4-12C, the GT3 will appear in a revised form after McLaren’s team further honed the supercar. Read more »

Aussie V8 Supercar Series Coming to America in 2013

The thundering sounds of Australia’s V8-powered racecars will soon be heard in the U.S.A. as Texas Governor Rick Perry and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, announced today a five-year agreement to bring the famed Australian V8 Supercar series to the new Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas beginning in 2013.

"The addition of V8 Supercars into our lineup at Circuit of The Americas will add to what we already know will be a rich and exhilarating fan experience," said Steve Sexton, President of Circuit of The Americas.

Read more »

Aston Martin to Bring the V12 Zagato to the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Only a few weeks after making its public debut at the Villa D’Este Concours and winning the design award for concept cars and prorotypes, Aston Martin’s new V12 Zagato raced at the Nurburgring 24-hour race. Now, the British automaker is bringing the stunning model, which was created by the two companies to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary DB4GT Zagato, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Read more »

VIDEOS: “Monster” Tajima Breaks 10 Min Record at Pikes Peak with 910-hp Suzuki SX4

Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima has broken his own record at this year’s Pikes Peak Hill Climb, completing the 12.42-mile (19.9 km) “Race to the Clouds” in just 9:51.278, demolishing the 10:1.408 time he set four years ago.

“Monster” Tajima, who has being racing at Pikes Peak every year since 1988, accomplished this extraordinary feat driving an extremely modified Suzuki SX4 with 910-horses. Second fastest was Rhys Millen in the modified Hyundai PM580, with a time of 10:09.242.

Read more »

Mazda’s Legendary 787B Le-Mans Winner to Race at Goodwood

It’s been 20 years already, yet it feels like yesterday when Mazda in 1991 became the first, and to date, the only Japanese manufacturer to win the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The weapon of choice was the rotary-engine-powered 787B, which sported a carbonfibre body, an output of 700 PS and a 210 mph (338 km/h) top speed. Read more »

VIDEO: Lexus LF-A Nurburgring Edition Laps the Nordschleife in 7:22.85

A Carscoop reader from Japan tipped us off about this video showing the new Lexus LF-A Nurburgring Edition (or at least that’s what the Youtube poster claims we’re seeing here) lapping the famous Nordschleife circuit in 7 minutes and 22.85 seconds. The poster videotaped the run from a video screen set beside the LF-A Nurburgring Edition.

According to the person who shot the clip, Lexus raced the car just before this past weekend’s 24-hour Nurburgring endurance race kicked off.

Read more »

F1: Sebastian Vettel takes his 6th Win in Valencia

Sebastian Vettel is on a roll and no one seems able to stop him and his Red Bull from adding a second Formula 1 championship to their trophy list. This was confirmed once again today in the European Grand Prix in Valencia, in the eighth race of the 2011, where Vettel took his sixth win of the season. The German world champion started from the pole position and was never challenged during the race as he cruised to another win.

The only driver to even come close was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who started from fourth place and, like his team-mate Felipe Massa, made a terrific start. Alonso had a fight with the Red Bull of Mark Webber who, despite starting from the front row, eventually lost out to the Spaniard who finished the race second, more than 10 seconds behind Vettel.

Read more »

F1 to Adopt Turbo 1.6-Litre V6s, not 4-Cylinders, from 2014

It seems that Formula 1’s rules that were supposed to take effect from the 2013 season are being scrapped before they are even imposed. Those regulations called for the replacement of today’s 2.4 V8 motors by 4-cylinder turbocharged 1.6 liter units, a proposal that had being strongly opposed by certain teams such as Ferrari.

Now the sports’ governing body, the FIA, has offered an alternative: 1.6-liter turbocharged V6s with hybrid Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), with the implementation of the new rules being pushed back one year, to 2014.

Read more »

BMW Faces Problems at 24h Nürburgring Qualifier, M3 GT No7 Crashes

The first qualifying session for the 24 hours of Nürburgring did not go exactly as planned for Team BMW Motorsport, as the number 7 M3 GT driven by Dirk Muller crashed in the Karussell two hours into the session. Prior to that, the car was 8th overall, with Dirk Werner lapping the Nordschleife at 8:32.302. Read more »

New Video Footage of Subaru Impreza WRX STI’s Record Run at the Isle of Man TT

After seeing the growing the attention and interest on Mark Higgins' record lap time -and not to mention, a very close call with a wall during the practice runs- in a U.S. specification 2011 Impreza WRX STI 305HP at the historic Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, Subaru’s American arm issued a new video of the event.

The former British Rally Champion achieved speeds of up to 162 MPH (260 km/h) and a lap time of 19 minutes 37 seconds over the 37-mile track, which runs through several small towns with trees, stone walls, and buildings and includes more than 200 corners.

Read more »

2012 Corvette Z06 Smashes Previous Model’s ‘Ring Time by 20 Seconds [with Video]

As promised, GM released the Nürburgring lap time of its modestly tweaked for the 2012 model year, Corvette Z06. The most important change for the 2012 model is the available competition-orientated Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure tires, which helped the Z06 turn around the ‘Ring in just 7:22.68.

The lap time is 20 seconds faster than the previous-best Z06 lap time, recorded in 2005, and just 3 seconds behind the 638-horsepower 2012 ZR1, a video of which you can see in our previous posting here.

However, GM noted that in 2005, the Z06 was timed from a standing start instead of the rolling start technique used on the latest Z06 and ZR1 models.

Read more »

New MINI JCW Coupe Racer to Debut at 24h of Nurburgring

Well, that was quick. Just three days after unveiling the MINI Coupe, the firm’s first-ever two-seater coupe model, and even though its flagship version won’t be available to the public before autumn, the company presented the MINI John Cooper Works Coupe Endurance (yes, that’s quite a mouthful, so we’ll just call it JCW) racer.

And, what’s more, its public debut will be in one of the most demanding endurance races of the world, the Nürburgring 24 hours at the legendary Nordschleife, the place which Jackie Stewart has famously christened “the Green Hell”.

The MINI JCW Endurance is powered by a tuned version of the standard 4-cylinder, 1.6-litre engine that features a twin-scroll turbocharger as well as direct injection.

Read more »

Comical Fail: Formula SAE Car Falls Off a Tilt Table

There are fails and there are fails. What you’re about to see in the following video after the break, is one of those fails that will probably make you laugh.

A single-seat Formula SAE racing car was on the tilt-table when the strap holding it on the platform came off (according to the person that filmed the video, it wasn’t connected securely in the first place) resulting in the vehicle falling off to the ground.

Read more »

Nissan to Claim Two Oddball Speed Records at Goodwood Festival

Without doubt, one of the highlights of this year’s edition of the famous Goodwood hill climb will be Nissan’s participation. And no, we’re not talking about the Sumo Power GT team’s GT1 race-winning Nissan GT-R, but for the Juke small crossover and the Leaf EV.

You see, the Japanese company has set its sights on claiming two special records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that takes place in Britain on 1-3 July with the aforementioned models.

Read more »