Autos

It seems like ages ago when I wrote my first article for Unfinished Man on the Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid concept car; yesterday at the Detroit Auto Show, Porsche unveiled the race version of that car.

Dubbed the Porsche 918 RSR, the car combines the design and technology from the 918 Spyder and Porsche’s 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car.  The end result is a sweet looking race car that has 767 combined horsepower; 562 of these horses are produced by the gasoline powered 6.2 liter V8 engines that revs up to an incredible 10,300 rpm- the sound of this engine should be orgasm inducing.  The gasoline engine powers the rear wheels while the front wheels each get a 75 kilowatt (102 hp) electric engine that is powered by a flywheel accumulator sitting where the passenger seat would be. It stores energy provided by braking, like the KERS system in Formula One.  When fully charged, the driver has access to the additional horsepower at the push of a button for eight seconds, kind of like a nice shot of Nitrous.

With the debut of the BMW Vision ConnectedDrive Concept at the Geneva Auto Show in March, BMW is aiming at developing an advanced social network on one slick set of wheels.

The exterior boasts a design between a stealth fighter plane with its sharp angles and a classic roadster accompanied by a long bonnet and shortened windshield.

The roadster’s interior is accented in fibre optic lighting in what can only be described as an optical symphony. A three-dimensional Heads-Up Display fuses virtual content with the road for the driver that delivers up to the second data from environmental conditions, locations, and even mood.

We were expecting the new for 2012 BMW 1 Series to be making its debut this year but didn’t think we’ll see it this soon.  It was supposed be shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September but a German website called Motor Traffic somehow got their hands on the pictures and some specs on the 2012 BMW 1 Series 5-door.

The current BMW 1 Series is an okay looking car (I’m feeling very generous today) but the 2012 model shown here makes the previous generation car look really good.  The 2012 BMW 1 Series 5-door looks very bloated and a bit bigger, I guess I’ll have to see it in person; maybe it doesn’t look as good in pictures?

Over the last two decades, China has become an economic powerhouse thanks in part to a great number of manufacturers setting up factories in China and producing most of the world’s goods.  With all this economic activity, money is flowing into China and there are a large number of wealthy people that are willing to spend on luxury items.  Many of these factory owners, CEO’s, and upper management love to spend their money on luxury automobiles such as Bentley and others.  But merely having a Bentley is not enough, these guys need something special to set them apart from their neighbors.

Seeing the demand, Bentley decided to produce a special edition car only for the Chinese market.  Bentley has teamed with up British high-end furniture makers Linley to produce an ultra-luxurious Bentley Continental Flying Spur.

Since it was first introduced in 1963, the Porsche 911 has had many design changes but to the average Joe it still looks like the same car.  True car fans know the car’s design has evolved over the year and has gotten better with age like a fine wine (we’ll pretend the 996 was never produced).  However, there are some people that want their modern Porsche to look like the original but with a lot more power and creature comforts; we have a solution for those people thanks to Swedish car designer Bo Zoland (we wrote an article on his custom 1955 Thunderbird here).

Bo Zoland has teamed up with Custom Concepts from Holland to create a 1960’s 911 inspired body kit for the Porsche 911 997 (2005 to 2011).  The kit is still a work in progress project but is pretty close to being completed.  It includes an all-new front bumper that has new turn signals and vents and a duct-tail wing in the back that makes the car look very retro. 

I’m a huge fan of small cars; most of them are lightweight which makes them super fun to throw around in corners.  The small cars available in North America do have one major problem, lack of power, I did own a Cooper S but the 175 HP didn’t seem enough.  There is a new small car on the market that takes care of that problem, the car is the Audi A1 Quattro and it comes with 256 ponies, unfortunately it won’t be sold in North America, so we’re back at square one…