Last week, Renault upped the ante for front-wheel drive models by setting a new lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with its more powerful Mégane Renaultsport Trophy. The 265-horsepower strong special edition posted a lap time of 8 minutes and 7.97 seconds in the hands of Renault test driver Laurent Hurgon, smashing the previous record for a front-wheel drive model held by the older generation Mégane RS R26.R by nine seconds. Buckle up, sit tight and enjoy the record run in the video after the break.
Roughly the same time when the Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition used the highly specialized Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle for an epic Antarctic crossing, Toyota also sent a fleet of four Hilux pickup trucks to the South Pole, as part of an expedition carried out by the members of the Indian National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).
British fans are getting ready for their National Motorsport Week, and two UK-based Formula 1 teams are each giving two members of the public the unique opportunity to join their pit crews for a day. Mercedes Petronas GP will randomly select two winners from those who will enter an online competition. The window of opportunity opens today, Monday 20 June, and will close at midnight on Thursday 23 June.
The all-new 2012 BMW M5 sports sedan will be making its first public appearance at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place in the UK between July 1 and 3, the German automaker announced today. The most powerful production version of the M5 series to date comes with a high-revving 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 pumping out 560hp from 5,750-7,000rpm and 680Nm [501.5 lb-ft] of torque from 1,500rpm. It goes on sale this fall.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Renault’s iconic 4, the French firm’s first front-wheel drive family car that was introduced in 1961 and remained in production until 1992. Not surprisingly, the automaker and enthusiasts of the car alike are planning several events over the year to commemorate the Renault 4’s golden birthday. Aside from launching a design competition for the creation of a modern-day Renault 4, the automaker is also lending a helping hand to a team of four French enthusiasts who will attempt to set a new record at the Bonneville Speed Week, which takes place in northwestern Utah from August 13 to 20.
A Mercedes-Benz driver has smashed the world record for the longest car drift at a company event in Surrey, UK. Mauro Calo, who works at the Mercedes-Benz World venue providing driving experiences to guests and entertaining crowds with precision driving skills, powerslided a C63 AMG sports sedan for a distance of 2,308 metres or 1.44 miles, beating the previous record by 394 metres or a quarter of a mile.
One very lucky person will have the opportunity to enjoy a ride in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place at the estate of Lord March on the 1st - 3rd July this year.
Is an impressive run around the Hockenheim Circuit enough to crown a car the fastest of its kind? Well, according to BMW Group tuning specialist AC Schnitzer, the answer to the above question is yes. The German company raced its John Cooper Works MINI-based Eagle Concept car at the Hockenheim Circuit recording a lap time of 1:13,341 minutes. AC Schnitzer says the Eagle beat several thoroughbred sports cars such as the Ferrari California (1:13,5 minutes) and the Porsche 911 Turbo (1:14,6 minutes), and was left behind only by specially tuned or hardcore models like the KTM X-Bow and the BMW M3 Kompressor.
Cadillac is getting ready to return to the fabulous world of motorsports with its new CTS-V Coupe race car. Following the two-door model's world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show last week, the race-prepped CTS-V Coupe hit the track for the first time on Monday driven by Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim, for tests at Sebring International Raceway.GM's luxury car division had pulled out of racing before the U.S. government bailed out the company in 2009. More specifically, the last time Cadillac competed was in 2007 in the Sports Car Club of America World Challenge GT series. Now, the company will reenter the series, beginning with the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 25-27. Hit the jump for a comprehensive gallery.
The Blue Oval’s rally team is reaching out to its fans through Facebook and asking them to choose a unique roof artwork the Fiesta RS WRCs driven by Jari-Matti Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen and Khalid Al Qassimi at next month’s Rally Finland, which runs from July 28-30, 2011. “Up until now the Ford Abu Dhabi Team Fiesta RS WRCs have simply featured the Ford logo,” said Will May, Motorsport Marketing Manager for Ford of Europe. “So we’re inviting our Facebook followers to vote for one of several designs we’ve developed under one theme – which is ‘the food that fuels you’."
Audi has scored the pole position, its first since 2006 and sixth in total, in the qualifying session for the 79th endurance race of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Benoit Treluyer set a time of 3m 25.738s to claim the pole position, followed by his team-mate, Romain Dumas, who was only 0.061 seconds behind.
Subaru has managed to break the long-standing lap record for a production vehicle at the Isle of Man TT circuit set 21 years ago on June 6, 1990, by the late Tony Pond in a Rover 827 Vitesse, with a production-spec Subaru Impreza WRX STI saloon driven by former British Rally Champion Mark Higgins.
With the help of the Volkswagen Group, Skoda has turned out to be quite an important player in the automotive industry. The Czech automaker delivered more than 760,000 cars last year and aims to double its annual sales to 1.5 million by 2018. But it’s not only about sales as Skoda’s German parent company is also planning to further boost the Czech brand’s image. In celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the vRS (in the UK, simply RS for the rest of Europe) performance badge, Skoda will compete in the famous Bonneville Speed Week in August (13-20) with a specially modified Octavia vRS saloon. Skoda’s goal is to break the magic 200mph (320+ km/h) barrier for the first time in the company’s history.
No matter how talented you are, it takes a lot of guts and an extra dose of craziness to attempt what you are about to see in the video clip after the break, because it’s one thing going around a Ford Pinto in circles and another when the car in question is a Bugatti Veyron priced close to $2 million. The man behind this feat (if you can call it that) is 25-year-old pro drifter Derek "Buttsy" Butler from Ireland. Buttsy performed the…gutsy drift stunt around the exotic 1,001-horsepower supercar in a heavily modified Toyota Supra during this year’s Gumball 3000.
A fun track day at the Toronto Motorsports Park near the town of Cayuga in Ontario, Canada, almost turned tragic for both the driver and many of the spectators gathered behind the safety wall when an older generation Subaru Impreza WRX flipped over after exiting a corner. 
From the video, it looks like the driver of the Impreza took the corner wider and faster than he was ready for and as a result crashed into, or rather ran over, the safety haystack near the wall, which acted as a launching ramp lifting the car into the air only inches away from the spectators. The car then landed on its rooftop several feet away. According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the Subaru, who was wearing a helmet, was shaken but...not stirred. But enough talking already. Follow the break to watch both the incident as it happened and the aftermath.
The latest news from Honda’s motorsport front is that the Japanese company will campaign a CR-Z hybrid racecar at the second annual Le Mans Vers Le Futur (literally translates to ‘Le Mans to the Future’), which is a support event for the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Nissan will also participate in the exhibition, which is devoted to showcasing the Le Mans racing cars of the future, with the pure-electric Leaf Nismo RC concept.
The Renault Group is upping the ante for Dacia with its decision to enter the Romanian brand’s Duster crossover in the famous Pikes Peak international hill climb that will take place this year on June 26 in Colorado, USA. The purpose built racecar was spotted over the weekend testing at the Magny-Cours motor racing circuit located in France.
The imposing fleet of 50 Jaguar E-Type models isn’t the only attraction to arrive today at London’s Canary Wharf for the free-to-visit Motorexpo as Disney and its Pixar studio sent two real life characters from the upcoming Cars 2 movie, which is set to hit UK theaters in 3D on July 22. The full-size film-star cars are the Lightning McQueen racer and the Finn McMissile Aston Martin, voiced in the movie by actors Owen Wilson and Michael Caine respectively.
An Atlanta magician’s trick stunt at the Atlanta Motor Speedway last Thursday went dreadfully wrong nearly costing him his life. Michael Anthony Mooney, who goes by the stage name of Moodini, was performing one of his tricks between races whereby he chained his wrists to a car and wore a black bag over his head. Moodini was supposed to escape from the cuffs before the race car could pull away down the track.
With the development of the new Caterham-Lola SP/300 R now complete, the British carmaker is ready to give potential owners their first taste of the prototype-racing car on the tarmac. The dates on which racing drivers and trackday enthusiasts alike can get behind the steering wheel of Caterham’s 300bhp, 180mph (289 km/h) sports prototype are:-Saturday, August 27 at Donington Park-Wednesday, September 7 at Donington Park-Thursday, September 15 at Snetterton-Wednesday, September 21 at Donington Park
