Nother CarGuy

This is our first proper look at the upcoming next-generation Corvette, as a test car showed up at the Nurburgring without wearing the black covers previously applied. The car remains covered in full-body wrap but it’s the first time we get to see a lot of design details of the mid-engined Corvette. Where do we start? The front end appears really sharp and aggressive, with the bumpers giving us a Lamborghini vibe while the headlights seem to adopt a curvy L-shape that follows the lines of the bonnet. The highlight on the sides is of course that massive air scoops for the engine bay while it appears there are a few character lines present for a more muscular shape. It looks clean and dynamic, but with the camo on it’s risky to jump on conclusions. The rear end tries to throw us off with the use of Camaro taillights instead of the finished items. The rear window over the engine is accompanied by two sets of air outlets while underneath the lights there’s also anoth...

The fourth Lamborghini Aventador SVJ teaser shows the supercar bravely attacking the Nurburgring in a timed lap, and revealing another “best”: the “aerodynamic efficiency”. Equipped with the Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA), or active aerodynamics in plain English, the supercar appears to have shattered the Nurburgring lap record of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. In a report published and removed by AMS, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ is said to have lapped the German track in 6:44.95. That’s some 2+ seconds quicker than the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which did it in 6 minutes and 47.3 seconds last fall. In turn, the German supercar stole the crown from the Lamborghini Huracan Performante’s head, which ran the 20.6km (12.8mi) long course in 6:52.01 six months earlier. Before taking sides, remember that both Lamborghini and Porsche are part of the Volkswagen Group, so this is basically an internal feud, one that led to the development of some of the hottest supercars over the yea...

Lamborghini has confirmed that the upcoming hardcore Aventador will be called SVJ, signaling the return of the iconic Jota name. The Italian car maker released a short video showing the very same test car we’ve seen before being driven flat out at the Nurburgring, under the title “Aventador SVJ meets the Nurburgring”. It’s been reported before that the Italian car maker has already broken the production car lap record set by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS with the Aventador SVJ, which allegedly posted a 6min 45sec lap time, two seconds quicker than the Porsche. Lamborghini has proven the Aventador’s speed around the German track before, with the SV version posting a really impressive 6:59. It was Lamborghini’s fastest model around the Green Hell, up until the Huracan Performante showed up, which lapped the track in 6:52. The new limited version of the Lamborghini Aventador will get a much more aggressive bodywork that’s fitted with an active aero agenda, which played a key role i...

After giving us the first pieces of the Kodiaq RS puzzle earlier in the week, Skoda has now brought it forward once more, revealing a record-breaking lap around the Nurburgring. In the hands of none other than Sabine Schmitz, the only woman to have won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, the Skoda Kodiaq has become the fastest 7-seat SUV to have lapped the track. It took the ‘Ring Queen 9 minutes and 29.84 seconds to complete the 20.8km (12.9mi) long course and its 73 turns. The record was achieved on May 18, and judging by the video shared by Czech automaker, Schmitz had a lot of fun in unleashing the Kodiaq RS on what is one of the most demanding circuits in the world. “The car looks sporty and the drive is sporty. I thought a seven-seater would not be so easy to handle, especially on a demanding circuit like the Nordschleife, but I have great feelings about it. It drives well. I’m really impressed”, said Sabine Schmitz. For this successful attempt, Skoda wanted to make...

Earlier this week, it was reported that the new Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS had lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in under 7 minutes. Now, we have official conformation as well as the video to prove it. The 6:56.4 minute time was set by Porsche works driver Kevin Estre, who shared the wheel with development driver Lars Kern. The new 911 GT3 RS now joins the 918 Spyder and 911 GT2 RS as the third production Porsche with a notarized lap time of under 7 seconds at the Nordschleife. “No other Porsche model gets as close to racing as the new GT3 RS. Many innovative ideas from top-level motorsport were transferred; for example, from the 911 GT3 R. This is what our philosophy for GT models is about: Highest technology must be fascinating but tangible. In this regard there is no harder test for our ideas than the Nordschleife,” stated Porsche’s VP of motorsport and GT cars, Frank Steffen Walliser. Estre started his record lap at 11:40 AM in ideal driving conditions, with a 14-degree Cel...

Porsche's 2018 911 GT2 RS is not only the most powerful 911 ever, but also the fastest one on the Nurburgring. Moreover, it's also the fastest rear-wheel drive production car to have lapped the famous German track, after it managed to cover the 20.6km (12.8-mile) run in just 6 minutes and 47.3 seconds. Thanks to this impressive achievement, the supercar proved that it's just 1.4 seconds slower on the Nurburgring than the electric NextEV Nio EP9, and faster than the Radical SR8LM, Lamborghini Huracan Performante, and basically all other high-performance machines. "At the start of the development process, we set ourselves a lap time target for the GT2 RS of less than 7 minutes and 5 seconds", said Porsche's Motorsport and GT Cars Vice President, Frank-Steffen Walliser. "The credit for beating this target by 17.7 seconds goes to our development engineers, mechanics and drivers, who demonstrated an exceptionally strong team performance." For t...

As Jaguar’s all-electric E-Pace crossover edges closer to its world premiere on July 13, the British marque has detailed the extensive testing regime undertaken during development of the model. In the past 25 months, Jaguar has tested over 150 E-Pace prototypes all around the world, from regions where temperatures dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius and deserts in the Middle East where 48 degrees Celsius was recorded. In between all of this, the E-Pace was tested in the high altitudes of Chinese provinces, completed over 400 laps of the Nurburgring and was taken to its performance limits at Nardo. All up, the E-Pace has been tested for over 120,000 hours in preparation for hitting the market. “Our team of world class engineers and dynamics specialists have meticulously tuned and developed a true Jaguar. Months of intense testing on roads and tracks around the world have delivered a compact performance SUV that is true to Jaguar’s performance DNA,” said chief E-Pace product eng...

Mercedes-AMG is celebrating its 50th anniversary at the Nürburgring 24-hour race by unveiling the new GT3 Edition 50. Based on the Mercedes-AMG GT3 race car, the Edition 50 features a bespoke gray paint job with contrasting black stripes on the hood. The model also has "50 Years AMG" badging on the doors, seating harnesses, and hood. Since the car was designed for racing, it has an aggressive carbon fiber body kit that includes new bumpers, revised side skirts, and ventilated front fenders. The GT3 also has carbon fiber flics, a rear diffuser, and a massive rear wing. The changes continue in the cabin as drivers will a carbon fiber racing seat, a roll cage, and a small steering wheel. There's also race-specific switchgear and a digital instrument cluster. Power is provided by an AMG-tuned 6.3-liter V8 engine which is connected to a six-speed sequential racing transmission. Mercedes didn't have much else to say about the car but noted it celebrates ...

BMW has dropped a new teaser of its upcoming M4 GT4 race car before the vehicle makes its debut at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring. The car won’t compete competitively at the race and instead use the event as its first official test. Piloting BMW’s private racing car will be Dirk Adorf, Ricky Collard, Jorg Weidinger and journalist Jethro Bovingdon. The German automaker revealed a camouflaged prototype of the racer late last year and in the teaser image above and the video below, shows the M4 GT4 with its race-spec livery which incorporates the famed colors of BMW’s M division. A large wing also takes pride of place at the rear of the car. Designed as the replacement to the M3 GT4, the race-spec M4 will be evaluated by the FIA this weekend to determine how its performance will be balanced against its competitors. It will then become available for privateer teams and eligible to race in series’ including the British GT Championship, Continental SportsCar Challenge, Blancp...

The Lamborghini Huracan Performante's Nürburgring lap record has fallen as the NIO EP9 has lapped the Nordschleife in an impressive 6 minutes and 45.90 seconds. The lap beats the time posted by the Huracan Performante by a little over six seconds and is a significant improvement over the EP9's previous lap time of 7 minutes and 5.12 seconds. In a statement acknowledging the company's achievement, NIO's Gerry Hughes said "The EP9’s new lap record is 19.22 seconds faster than its previous lap time. This is a fabulous achievement for NIO and I am very proud of the team that has worked tirelessly to achieve this accolade." As a refresher, the EP9 is a high-performance electric vehicle with four electrics motor that produce a combined output of 1,360 PS (1,342 hp). This enables the car to accelerate from 0-200 km/h (0-124 mph) in 7.1 seconds before hitting a top speed of 313 km/h (194mph). If that wasn't impressive enough, the EP9 has a range of 427 km...

The mighty Lamborghini Aventador continues to prepare for its mid-life facelift with our spies spotting a prototype doing laps on the Nurburgring.  Unlike  our previous scoop earlier this year  where we caught a Roadster during some hot-weather testing in Spain, the test car we have here is the coupe version. Lamborghini’s flagship is set to gain a reworked aero agenda, including new front and rear bumpers with different air intakes and a bigger, more prominent rear diffuser to help it produce more downforce, improving this way the overall performance of the mid-engined supercar.  Expect to see similar updates on the suspension to match the new aerodynamic features of the updated Aventador. As for the powertrain,  the massive 6.5-litre V12 engine  will probably benefit from the addition of a few more ponies, with 20 to 30hp more than the current car’s 690hp figure.  The cabin will also be updated with the latest tech features, including new graphi...

After the introductions of the base sixth-gen Camaros and recently, the high-po ZL1s, what’s missing from Chevy’s renewed pony car range is the  more extreme Z/28  replacement, and we think this is it.  To be precise, we believe that this bad-ass Camaro tester with the huge rear wing that we spied lapping the Nürburgring today is the Trans Am Camaro Z/28 that General Motors product chief Mark Reuss hinted at last year.  Chevy’s original Trans Am car from the late 1960s was a special version of the Z/28 with a unique 302 cubic inch (approx. 5.0-liters) small-block V8 developed specifically to homologate the new Camaro for SCCA’s popular Trans-Am road-racing series. Only 602 examples were built in 1967.  Speaking to  Autonews  last year, Reuss said that Chevy is studying a rebirth of the car. "We're looking at the original formulas of the Trans Am homologation of the Z/28," he said . "Why was the 302 engine so special? So, the formula may change a lit...