Last weekend was the 15th annual Italian Concours d’ Elegance in Des Moines, WA. The show was full of gorgeous Italian motorcycles and cars which are arguably the most beautiful machines on earth.

The people that attend this exhibit stand firmly south of the Alps in the Italian vs. German design and engineering debate. Germans make marvelous cars and the engineering is perfect, but the Italians do just a little bit more to make them art, and many of the greats were on display. The artistry wasn’t just visual either; Ferraris and Ducatis were making their own music periodically throughout the show.

The show was well attended in the auto category with a large contingent of Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Their smaller cousins were in attendance as well by Fiat and a few shining Alfa Romeos. Somehow the show was even infiltrated by a few pieces of British Iron; a couple of gorgeous Aston Martins looked on. Continue Reading…

Next Month, BMW will invite a selected group of international participants for an exclusive test-drive of the new BMW M3 Coupé at the Nürburgring race track in Germany. The two day event is called “Countdown to BMW M3″ and will be the very first opportunity to experience the new BMW M3 Coupé, at the same time as the world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show is taking place.

The lucky few chosen to participate will have their air and land travel paid for by BMW to come be the first non-officials to drive the brand new M3 on September 19th & 20th. Head over to countdown-to-bmw-m3.com for more information and to register to be selected. There are only a few days left to register, so be sure to sign up quick. Also make sure to check out the preview video of the event below. Continue Reading…

On Saturday I posted another update on some of the cool cars that are going to be at the Chicago Auto Show, but there are so many, I can’t help but post again. Here are a few more of the cars that are going to be there in a couple days:

Mazda Ryuga

The Ryuga expands on the “emotion of motion” concept that debuted with the Nagare, and you can see the elements of flow captured in the car’s sheetmetal. The sweeping lines on the doors, for instance, were inspired by the raked pebbles in a Japanese dry garden. The wheels, as well, feature spokes that twist near the hub, as if the torque of the car’s imaginary flex-fuel engine has twisted them. Finally, the color of the Ryuga is meant to evoke flowing lava, with tones and hue that vary from yellow to blue to red depending on the light.

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I just received my press pass in the mail today for the Chicago Auto Show! Man, this really snuck up on me. I can’t believe the show is only a few days away! With everything ready to go, there are some more cars that will be there that I’m really excited about, and I would like to share a few with you. Please also see my first post on cool cars that will be there.

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I’ve been a pretty big fan of the Saleen Mustangs for a while now, but the 2005-current versions have been anything but exciting, until now. There will only be 25 of these made total. The 25th will be given to the winner of the Great American Run, and the other 24 will be sold only to participants of the Cannonball World event. 11 have already been sold.

“Surprising” specifications are an understatement here. With 600 horsepower, this Mustang can do 0-60 in under four seconds, and has a top speed of 200mph! Whether or not a Mustang can handle the 600 horsepower is a different question. I can’t wait to see the final specs on this beast; they’re bound to be very impressive. Plus it’s really sexy looking. I don’t think they’ll have a problem selling all of these, I don’t care how much they cost. Anyway, if you want to enter the race, it’s $10,000 and there are only 400 spots available. Better hurry!

via GTSpirit

AOL Journals (TheGearShift) just released their list of the 5 coolest cars from the Detroit Auto Show. I agree with the cars, but perhaps not the positions. The Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept I wrote about before should be higher on the list, but all of these are really cool. Check out the list:

Fifth Place:

Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept

Again, I think this should be higher on the list, but at least it’s here. The Advanced Sports Car Concept (or “ASC Concept,”) is Acura’s answer to the discontinued NSX. Rumored to have an all-new V10 engine and an all-new rear-wheel drive system based on Acura’s Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system.

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