Le Mans June 11-12, 2011

Live Le Mans coverage in USA:  SpeedTV.com

It's okay that LeMans runs at the same time as our Formula Car Challenge race at Sears Point this weekend. LeMans is a 24 hour race so only insane people watch it from start to finish.

. . . Okay, we admit that we dream of being trackside, in Le Mans, France. . . from start to finish. . . in the rain. . . oh, and we'd like to go there on the Concorde or the Queen Mary (why stop the insanity at just watching the race?)

Queen Elizabeth 2, Concorde, Red Arrows 

For kindred spirits, here's a little Le Mans trivia from the boys at Top Gear: Le Mans 2011: how it works - BBC Top Gear

Camry Crashes into Lotus Dealership

In a case of "Whoops, wrong pedal" WreckedExotics.com reports a 92 year old drove her car into a dealership and into the side of a Lotus Exige ($78,000 USD.)

Inside Ford GT at 235 MPH (380 kph)

http://www.hennesseyperformance.com/

I got my first Ford GT when I was 5 years old. It was 1.5 inches long, ran on a slot track and was called "Pizza Pie" for reasons that only a 5 year old and his brothers would understand.

Ferrari FXX Crash at Laguna Seca

We didn't see this crash while we were at the track this month. It is supposed to be the first recorded crash of a Ferrari FXX (the $1.8 million street version of the Ferrari Enzo racing car.) According to our friends at WreckedExotics.com, it happened during a special "Ferrari Racing Days" event at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca on May 22, 2011. The Ferrari went off the track at Turn 8 "The Corkscrew" and crashed into the tire wall.

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Stolen & Crashed

Wrecked Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport

How is it that a vehicle who's production can be counted on fingers and toes seems to appear in crash photos just about every month? We at Maaco-Fremont think that the same cars must be quickly repaired and crashed again to maintain this kind of frequency. Thankfully owners capable of plunking down 2 million dollars or so for one of these Earth-bound missiles are usually well insured.

This particular Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, according to our buddies at WreckedExotics.com, was stolen in Switzerland along with a Ferrari 599 and a BMW 750iL. They crossed into Germany where they were chased by police and ultimately caught but not until after the Bugatti was crashed into a barrier.

Lamborghini "Turned Turtle"

Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster flipped on its head in Cape Town, South Africa. With a center of gravity about 4" off the ground one has to wonder just how crazily this person was driving to manage to flip the car. No word or injuries (usually a good thing) but since it is (was) a convertible, the end of the drive could not have been pleasant.

Thanks to our buddies at WreckedExotics.com for these photos. Visit them for lots more very expensive destruction.

Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

From AutoBlog, the Lamborghini
Aventador LP700-4 (say that 5 times fast)

See the rest of the article at AutoBlog.com

2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Collision

2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG

From our buddies at WreckedExotics.com comes this photo of a 1-day old, $200K+ Mercedes Benz SLS AMG gullwing in Bosnia. The owner picked-up his car the previous day and was taking it on a high-speed excursion. A tour bus got in the way and the SLS crashed into a Volkswagen.

24 Hours of Dubai 2011

24H Dubai is First Outing for Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Gullwings
Photo by DubaiPhil

Dunlop 24H Dubai GT Endurance Race

LeMans isn't the only 24 hour endurance race out there; 2011 Dunlop 24 Dubai features the great GT cars we love like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Porsche. Mercedes Benz brought their new, gullwing door SLS AMG to the party for their first big race and to their credit, all finished.

Thanks to The Smoking Tire & Tom Morningstar for the video footage of the race.

Burj Dubai, World's Tallest Building

See more great photos of the race by DubaiPhil here: CameraLabs.com

Cheers! 50th Anniversary for E-Type Jaguar

Jaguar E-Type Serie 1 Coupé, photo by Stahlkocher

Another Look at the New McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Car

McLaren MP4-12C

Rare New Film Footage of 1960's LeMans & Sebring Races

Original footage of 1960's LeMans & Sebring races put together by Jonny Shears from 8 mm film that his grandfather shot while managing the OSCA Racing Team. OSCA stood for Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili - Fratelli Maserati SpA, founded by 3 Maserati brothers after they had sold their company.

Collection of 1962 OSCA 1600 GT Zagato #36 photos as seen in film: http://www.flickr.com/photos/osca1600gt/sets/72157625249511840/

Thanks to Axis of Oversteer for alerting us to the gem.

Check-out Jonny Shears automotive and fashion photography: http://www.jshearsphotography.co.uk/

1991 Dodge Viper at Maaco Fremont

2001 Dodge Viper RT/10 that was hit by some debris on the freeway. The carbon fiber hood was damaged and the driver's mirror destroyed. Maaco Fremont repaired the hood, replaced the mirror and painted the entire car with a high quality base coat/clear coat.

Disastrous Start to Le Mans Series--Massive Crash

Race officials bungled the start of the Le Mans Series season opener at Paul Ricard HTTT (High Tech Test Track) in Le Castellet, France. The green lights came on above the starting line but the pace car stayed in front of the pole cars. Racers in back accelerated at the same time racers in front hit the brakes. Result: chaos, huge crash, destroyed cars, red-faced officials.



Thanks to Axis of Oversteer for the breaking news.

Lamborghini Estoque Wagon Concept

Lamborghini Estoque Wagon concept by DieselStation

Someone who goes by the tag "Diesel Station" (see http://www.dieselstation.com/) has photoshopped the Lamborghini Estoque concept to create a wagon. We like! This would be the real successor to the 1968-1978 Lamborghini Espada that I have lusted after for 40 years. Lamborghini, build it!

Quirky, beautiful & brilliant Lamborghini Espada

Lamborghini Espada made from 1968 to 1978

Lamborghini Espada--the supercar that can haul groceries. . . very quickly

Autocar's Ultimate Road Trip: Portugal to England in McLaren's MP4-12C

2011 McLaren MP4-12c, Photo by KevinRachel2010

Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe drives the MP4-12C from the bottom of Portugal back to England (over 2000 km or 1250 miles.) Given the choice between a Ferrari 458 and the MP4-12c, Sutcliffe will take the McLaren and proclaims it the best car he has ever driven. We just wish it was as drop dead gorgeous as the F1.

1998 McLaren F1 vs 2011 McLaren MP4-12C

1996 McLaren F1 in the Ralph Lauren Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Sfoskett

How does McLaren's encore stack up? Autocar gets its hands on an original McLaren F1 and road tests it along side the new McLaren MP4-12C (we think the new car's name needs a few more letters, numbers and a decimal point or three.) The F1 wasn't designed as a race car. It had room for passengers and several luggage compartments. It was a very good sports car. So good that it beat purpose-built race cars in 1995 to win the 24 Hours of LeMans. 20 years after its debut, it still gives the best of Ferrari, Bugatti, Pagani, SSC, Saleen, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini and Porsche a run for their money, beating most of them.

The new car looks similar but a bit more generic. It's heavier and has similar horsepower to the old car. It's lost a passenger seat (it still has 2. . . the old car was a 3 seater!) Like the old car, the new car is easy to drive and comfortable--unusual characteristics in the supercar class.

Maybe the Lamborghini Wasn't As Reliable as his Geely Emgrand?

Uh. . . hard to understand what is happening in this video beyond the obvious. . . there are a bunch of guys beating the snot out of a Lamborghini Gallardo.

According to Jalopnik.com, and GTSpirit.com, the owner of the Lamborghini is from Qingdao, China and was upset at the reliability of the Gallardo and the service he received from Lamborghini in China. He bought the car 6 months ago for the equivalent of $600K-700K (USD.) Apparently it stopped running and the local Lamborghini service center had a difficult time diagnosing the problem.

Reliability should not be high on the list of wants for Lamborghini owners. Same goes for Ferrari and any other supercar you can name. We'd love to feel some empathy for the owner. Maybe if he could donate $700K to us we could better understand his pain. In the mean time, we recommend he try China's Geely luxury brand called "Emgrand," example below.

Geely Emgrand EC8 Luxury Sedan

Ferrari 458 Italia Totaled by Football/Soccer Star Louis Saha

Football/soccer star Louis Saha lost control of his 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia after he passed another car while exiting a tunnel on a busy road in England. The crash was at nearly the same spot where former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo also crashed a Ferrari in 2009. Saha barreled into fence on the driver's side of the car. Amazingly, he escaped without injury. The £170K ($275K USD) Ferrari was not so lucky. Saha currently plays forward for Everton in the English Premier League and also for the French National Team.

Thanks to WreckedExotics.com for keeping us up to date on very expensive crashes.

McLaren’s new GT3 car revealed - BBC Top Gear

From our buddies at Top Gear, here's the latest on McLaren's efforts to top the greatest supercar ever built, the 240 mph, 1992 McLaren F1 (apologies to Bugatti and others but we still prefer the original, naturally aspirated McLaren.)

McLaren’s new GT3 car revealed - BBC Top Gear