So then, it’s a new year, but it’s also the dawn of a new decade (Admittedly, it has been for almost two months now, but a series of articles like this takes some time). So we decided to look back into the last decade and talk about some of the big events which happened. It was undoubtedly a great decade for cars, so there’s plenty of stuff to get through. There were also some bad moments though, and we’ll be discussing those as well over the next week or so with a series of articles.
Time has come to announce our winner for the Supercar of the Year trophy from 2009. This and the upcoming Car of the Year award are the most prestigious ones we’ve done so far. We had plenty of nominees in this category as 2009 was a brilliant year for supercars and it really was tough to choose the winner.
However, we’ve argued and argued until we found a worthy winner. And that winner, our 2009 Supercar of the Year is:
Martin Winterkorn - VW Group CEO
The biggest car producer in the world, Volkswagen, has announced that it has no more interest in expanding, therefore buying other brands. After purchasing a 19.9% stake in Suzuki and a 49.9% stake in Porsche in the last months, VW’s CEO Martin Winterkorn said that he has no more intentions of acquiring stakes in other brands.
Here’s the next batch of Car of the Year nominees. Executive Car of the Year and Supercar of the Year are up.
So imagine you’re a millionaire. You’re looking for a high-end supercar, like the Veyron. You find that everything in that class is a bit slow though. So, of course, you commission someone to build something even better.
That’s exactly what’s happened here. Tuning company Underground Racing was commissioned by a customer named Jonah to build a twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardo. The result? 1500hp at the wheels (Though it does require the use of VP C16 racing fuel). Compare that to the 1287hp the Shelby Supercars Ultimate Aero has at the crank, and you begin to realize just how fast this thing is. You may also bring up the Keating TKR as an argument, which has 1800hp at the crank. Now, there’s no official figure on the brake horsepower for this, but considering the drivetrain loss for AWD cars is about 25%, this should put out around 1875bhp, 75 more than the Keating. Admittedly, this is only an estimate, but there’s 75bhp of leeway before the Keating has the advantage, so I reckon this puts out more power.
The owner, Jonah, managed to clear the quarter mile in this in less than 10 seconds at a speed of over 160mph, and keep in mind that he isn’t a professional racing driver, hasn’t been to the drag strip in over a decade, and this was the first time he drove the car. Give a proper driver some time to practice in it, and I reckon this could clear the quarter mile in less than 9 seconds. Compare that to the Shelby Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo, which did the quarter mile in 9.90 seconds at 144mph with a proper driver in it, and you yet again see the sheer madness of this car.
Besides this insane engine, there have been some other changes. It’s got new wheels and new tires, the rear lights have been tinted, and a spoiler has been added. This may have come with the original car though, as it looks a bit like the Superleggera spoiler, so maybe the base car was a Superleggera. By the looks of the pictures, the car has also been lowered slightly. Details are a bit sparse, so I don’t know whether or not they modified the suspension, though I’d sure hope they did, as 1500whp with suspension intended for about 500bhp is insanity.
The engine is hooked up to a six-speed transmission of some sort. As far I can tell from the video below (Official video released by Underground Racing), the twin-turbo kit is now available for anyone who owns a Gallardo.
Source: WorldCarFans
The R8 V10 is Audi's current range topping supercar, but this could change
Reports are saying that Audi may be working on a new range-topping supercar, something even faster than the R8 V10.
The car would use the same platform as the upcoming replacement to the Lamborghini Murcielago, known as the Jota. Unlike the Jota though, which will be using a V12, the Audi will use a V10 developing around 600hp.
This platform is expected to be based on the platform of the R8, but heavily modified. The car will have plenty of carbon fibre bits to keep the weight down, and a dual-clutch transmission for very quick shifting.
The name used may be the R10. This would be fitting, as the R8 used the name of the old R8 race car, and with the R10 TDI now out of racing, or at least out of Audi’s team, this would follow that same naming pattern.
This R10 will be longer and wider than the R8. Since the underpinnings will be from the Murcielago replacement, expect something about as big as the Murcielago. The car will come with Audi’s quattro AWD system as standard.
It is said that prototypes are already going around the Nurburgring disguised as Lamborghinis, but the car won’t be released until at least 2012.
Source: MotorAuthority
With the Lamborghini Murcielago now dead, Lamborghini is working on a successor, known as the Jota. Rumours indicate that they’re also working on a range topping model known as the Urus.
The Urus will be built to compete with Ferrari’s upcoming Enzo successor, called the FX70. It will use a modified version of the Jota’s chassis, which is made of carbon-fibre. The body will be made completely out of carbon fibre and will have active aerodynamics. The engine will be the same one to be used in the Jota, a 6.0L V12, but while the Jota’s will have around 700hp, the Urus’ will be pumped up to an impressive 800hp. These kind of specs mean that the Urus may be able to finish the 0-100kph sprint in under 3 seconds. That’s a figure very few cars out there are capable of.
These specs probably mean an enormous price tag as well. Carbon fibre body, carbon fibre chassis and an enormous 800hp engine aren’t exactly cheap parts. The Jota is expected to debut some time next year, which the Urus should make its debut the year after, and go on sale in 2012.
Source: WorldCarFans
The Murcielago LP640 has been tuned by the folks at JB Design. It’s called the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 JB-R, and first impressions aren’t all that great. It just doesn’t seem to look very good to me.