Remember when Fiat bought into Chrysler, and there was all that speculation about which models, if an, Fiat would be bringing over to America. More than a few people, me included, were hoping that Fiat would bring in their new 500. A great competitor to BMW’s MINI, for one thing, and it also looked to be a stout performer, given its diminutive proportions.
Turns out Fiat IS bringing the 500 to these shores, and not just any 500, but the sporty 500 Abarth version.
To pay homage to the Ferrari F430, German tuners Novitec Rosso took a 430 Scuderia and made it into quite a beast. The Ferrari 430 Scuderia, with its 510 horsepower V8, was no slouch in stock form. Novitec, however, added two superchargers to the engine which pushes the 4.3-liter powerhouse to an incredible 747 hp (hence the name.)
The conversion wasn’t as simple as bolting on a coupe of blowers, though. As you might imagine, it took some extra engineering to coax out those extra 237 ponies. Each cylinder bank in the Novitec Edizione 747 has its own intercooler, which feature their own dedicated water-cooling system. The system’s radiator is placed behind specially created central air ducts in the front apron. Novitec also created a new underbody for the 430 Scuderia, which feature an integrated air deflector, routing the air through a larger custom intake manifold. Continue Reading…
German tuners Manhart Racing got tired of BMW not offering the M3 as a Touring model (wagon,) so they decided to create one themselves. They took the standard 3-series wagon (not available in the States,) and added their own body work, consisting of a front apron, front side panels, side skirts, and the “powerdome” hood from the M3 sedan, then designed their own M3-style rear apron and widened the rear wheel-arches.
Naturally, the standard 4.0-liter, 420 horsepower V8 engine wasn’t good enough, so they upgraded it to the 5.0-liter powerplant from the M5 that produces 500 hp. Still not satisfied, Manhart tuned the ECU and exhaust so the V10 would produce an impressive 550 hp. That power is kept in check by a 7-speed SMG gearbox, also taken from the M5. Continue Reading…
Miss out on your chance to pick up a Ferrari FXX? German tuning firm Edo Competition’s got your back. It may not be identical to the FXX, but it’s clearly what they’re going for in their latest iteration of the Enzo. Plus, I’m sure it’s cheaper than the $1.9 million FXX asking price, and you can drive it on the street!
So what Edo did was take a stock Ferrari Enzo at 660 horsepower, and bore out the cylinders from 6.0 to 6.3-liters (just like the FXX.) They added new camshafts, valve springs, connecting rods, and cylinder heads to the engine. New high-flow headers, catalytic converters, and mufflers were added on the exhaust side, and a new air intake system allows for better breathing. These changes allow the engine to produce 180 more horsepower than the stock Enzo, now up to 840 hp. The FXX “only” gets 800. Continue Reading…
Brabus isn’t messing around when it comes to making ultra-powerful modified cars, mainly from Mercedes. Just a few days after we heard about the Brabus SV12, they give us the E V12 - an ultra-powerful version of the Mercedes E-Class. So powerful in fact, they’re calling it “The World’s Most Powerful High-Performance Sedan.” I don’t doubt that for a minute, considering the specs.
The Brabus E V12 is powered by a twin-turbo V12 engine producing 788 horsepower and 1,047 lb-ft of torque. This is enough for a 0-62 mph time of only 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of over 230 mph (electronically limited to 217 mph.) For a sedan, that’s insanely fast. Hell, for anything, that’s insanely fast. The 6.3-liter V12 engine - called the SV12 R Biturbo 800 - was created by Brabus specifically for this car. Although the engine produces an insane 1,047 lb-ft of torque, that number is limited to 811 lb-ft in the car, surely to save to tires from complete destruction at every stop light. Continue Reading…
Manhart Racing, yet another German tuning firm, found that the current iteration of BMW’s M3 just wasn’t good enough, so they decided to upgrade it. OK, fair enough. That’s what tuning firms are there to do, but to the guys at Manhart Racing the concept of “enough” meant cramming a 5 liter V10 into the M3.
If German tuning firms keep going at this rate, by sometime in 2012, we’ll see the biggest AMG blown V12 crammed into a VW Polo.
Manhart calls their BMW M3 E92 5.0 V10 SMG a “Porsche Chaser”, and just reading over the press release I think that might be a bit of an understatement. The existing M3 is anything but underpowered nor is it underperforming. The M3 is, however, not really the sort of car that you could run with a Porsche 997 Turbo, even if the current M3 has a 420-HP-V8 under the hood.
