Saturday, May 1, 2010

2020 Minotauro Lamborghini Sports Car Concept

Concept cars never cease to fascinate car enthusiasts. If you claim to be a Lambo fan than this latest sports car concept creation is definitely for you. Andrei Avarvarii, a student at Milan's Scuola Politecnica di Design, with assistance from Lamborghini’s design head Filippo Perini, designed this amazing electric 2020 Lamborghini Minotauro concept.
2020 Lamborghini Minotauro concept
The duo worked to achieve three different goals:
1. Aesthetic goal – Explore soft shapes for a new Lamborghini design language,
2. Technical goal – Redefine the Lamborghini supercar as an electric vehicle and
3. Functional goal: Integrate the new vehicle in the reality of the year 2020.
Designed tasty electric sports car concept Lamborghini, uses four electric motors and power sharing 30% / 70% front to rear. 2020 Lamborghini Concept Minotauro designed by a student getting a master’s degree in Milan Scuola Politecnica in Design, Andrei Avarvarii with the help of Filippo Perini head of Lamborghini Design. Li-Tec A flat-cell batteries in the rear and front of the KERS system will provide power.
A breathtaking beauty on wheels imagined for the year 2020, it mesmerizes you with both its looks and features. The concept creation would utilize four electric motors and split the power 30%/70% front to rear while a Li-Tec flat-cell battery out back and a KERS system in the front provide the power.
The Minotauro has two asynchronous 75-horsepower (56-kW, 76-PS) electric motors at the front that provide 30% of the car’s power, and two 175-horsepower (131-kW, 177-PS) electric motors at the rear. The system runs on a Cerio Li-Tec Flatcell battery, with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System also in place.
The press release goes on to explain the bonus of no big V12 out back: The absence of a big V12 engine in the rear creates enough room for a third passenger in a central position, like the legendary Mclaren F1.  While the driver’s door would be normal, the passenger side’s would be bigger to provide access to the back seat.
What is more, the absence of the powerful V-12 engine in this concept creation makes room for a third passenger. Keeping this in mind, the passenger’s door would be bigger in order to provide access to the back seat. 
But what are sure to appeal to every Lambo fan are the concept’s triangular intakes/exhausts that are not just visually pleasing but serve for battery cooling and act like the tubes of a subwoofer, channeling the sound of the electric motors, placed behind them.
A hi-tech creation, the owners would also be able to upload their own track ghosts to an online community. And if a real racetrack has been / is being covered, the GPS would record car placement / track time, allowing people worldwide to challenge an owner's record.
Guess when it comes to concepts, sky is the limit for the designers.

2010 AC Sports Car Cobra MK VI

The 2010 AC Cobra MK VI is the reincarnation of the AC Cobra, which is arguably the greatest sports car icon. The new AC Cobra gets its design cues from the older model but incorporates modern technology, taking the AC Cobra to the twenty-first century. The 2010 AC Cobra MK VI has a jig-welded round-tube space-frame chassis that is fully triangulated and has a suspension that is derived from the race car.
2010 AC Cobra MK VI
The 2010 Cobra is powered by a Corvette V8 6.2-liter engine that has a horsepower of 437 bhp and 647 bhp for the GT and GTS versions respectively which enables to reach 60 mph within 3.3 seconds. It is also fitted with 4-pot Porsche brake calipers with vented discs. The 2010 Cobra’s aluminum-hybrid body, which is handmade to ensure that it endures forever, has a bigger air-conditioned cabin to guarantee comfort for taller drivers. The interior of the 2010 AC Cobra MK VI is outfitted in the top-quality leather hides and German carpets.
The AC MkVI, a faithful recreation of the ultimate sports car icon - the AC Cobra, is now being produced in Germany for sale in Europe. AC has entered into a long term strategic alliance with Gullwing GmbH in Heyda, Germany. The AC MkVI is being produced in a modern facility and AC is extremely proud of the quality of the finished product which is due to the skills of the craftsmen at the Heyda facility.
"AC is one of the most admired and respected marques in the world," stated Juergen Mohr, CEO of Gullwing GmbH. "Their sports cars ignited a passion that still burns inside enthusiasts today. For over a century, the company has built cars with superb engineering, old world craftsmanship and classic designs. We feel extremely honoured that we can now be part of the future of the brand."
Alan Lubinsky added: "There are two major new features on the AC MkVI. We are especially excited about the new aluminium-hybrid body construction on the AC MkVI. This provides the AC MkVI with a traditional aluminium finish on the bodyshell, together with a strong composite structure. In addition to this, the AC MkVI will have as standard equipment a light weight gullwing hardtop, with coupled to the standard air conditioning, will provide drivers with total all weather motoring.
The AC MkVI is an open-top sports car based on the design of the Le Mans winning AC Cobra with many of the original car's characteristics while incorporating modern technology. The cars are not imitations - they are new generation of AC Cobra incorporating relevant advanced technology. "Every year approximately 1,500 copies of the cars AC built in the 1960s are sold in America," says Alan Lubinsky. 
"Why would anyone buy a replica when they can own an authentic AC roadster that is lighter and better and has been engineered and built to such demanding standards?" Weighing only about 1,025 kg, the lightweight AC MkVI GTS sports car can hit 100 kph in approximately 3.3 seconds. "The AC MkVI is wickedly addictive," says Gullwing's Juergen Mohr.
"One drive in this scorchingly fast sports car creates an adrenalin rush that will last a lifetime. The AC MkVI offers heritage, performance and timeless styling that stirs the soul." The AC chassis has been at the heart of some of the most legendary cars in history. Texan Carroll Shelby imported a number of rolling chassis from AC in the 1960s to build the legendary "Cobras" that dominated international sports car racing. 
The Shelby American team inserted a performance tuned Ford V8 and gearbox into a chassis and body supplied by AC for the North American market. Since then AC has manufactured a car that has been imitated by numerous companies. AC expects to appoint a distribution network in Europe in the coming months to sell and maintain the AC MkVI.

2011 Ferrari 599 GTO Sports Car Concept

The Ferrari 599 GTO is, in fact, the company's fastest ever road car. It is an exclusive limited edition special which, in true Ferrari tradition, is a completely new concept, albeit inspired by a production car. In fact the Ferrari 599 GTO is based on the 599XX, the advanced experimental track car, and can be considered almost a road-going version. The Ferrari 599 GTO is reserved for just 599 clients who seek the maximum expression of high-performance driving. The Ferrari 599 GTO benefits directly from the technological transfer from racing and set a record lap time at Fiorano in 1'24".
2011 Ferrari 599 GTO
The Fiorano lap time provides just one indication of the potential of this car. Just as significant are the technical specifications - 670 hp in a 1495kg car represents a weight-to-power ratio of just 2.23 kg/hp, and ensures a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of just 3.35" as well as a top speed of over 335 km/h.
As is Ferrari's policy, every new Ferrari features new solutions for a road car. Thus the Ferrari 599 GTO is equipped with the latest, second-generation carbon-ceramic brakes which are lighter and offer better performance, new aerodynamic innovations, such as the wheel doughnuts which increase aerodynamic efficiency as well as improve brake cooling, and the Super sport tyres developed by Michelin include a wider front tyre for greater roadholding. The driver-car interface is also new with the adoption of the Virtual Race Engineer (VRE) which provides the driver with instantaneous information on performance.
The GTO (Gran Turismo Omologata) moniker instantly calls to mind two Ferraris that have entered the collective imagination as symbols of performance. After the 1962 250 GTO, which swept the boards in GT racing categories in the 1960s and is now a highly prized collector's car, came the iconic 1984 GTO, which basically invented the entire modern supercar genre.
The web special includes photos, videos and interviews on the new car, while an exclusive preview for a small number of Ferrari clients will be held on April 14th at the Military Academy in Modena. The public debut of the Ferrari 599 GTO will instead be at the Beijing International Motor Show at the end of April.
The Ferrari 599 GTO's engine is directly derived from the 599XX unit implementing, however, the necessary modifications for road-going homologation. It thus complies with Euro 5 and LEV 2 standards. The 5999 cc 65-degree V12 engine punches out 670 CV at 8250 rpm with maximum torque of 620 Nm at 6500 rpm and there is a smooth, constant rush of power all the way to the redline with no loss of flexibility even at medium and low revs. This result was obtained by working on the fluid-dynamics and components to reduce internal friction and by adopting, amongst other things, the 599XX's redesigned crankshaft. The car also has a racing-type intake system with a new manifold with diffuser-type intake geometry and short inlet tracts designed to improve power delivery at high revs and reduce losses. To maximise volumetric efficiency per cylinder, a connection between the two plenums at the front compensates for variations in the volume. This is how the engineers managed to achieve maximum performance at high engine speeds. The engine sound inside the car is carefully controlled to balance the intake sound with the exhaust, which features a 599XX-derived 6-into-1 manifold.
The Ferrari 599 GTO inherits much of the development work - using the same principles as employed in F1 - that went into making the 599XX such an extreme performance car. Reducing weight was a vital objective and the result was the widespread use of composites and components manufactured with technologies more akin to racing specifications. The areas involved include the bodywork and greenhouse (with thinner gauge aluminium and thinner glass), the brakes, transmission and exhaust system. The result is a dry weight of 1495 kg and a weight-to-power ratio of just 2.23 kg/hp, a very significant figure that underlines the GTO's performance potential.
The Ferrari 599 GTO's aerodynamics have benefited significantly from Ferrari engineers' experience in F1 and with the 599XX which allowed downforce to be greatly increased without impacting on drag. Thanks to solutions transferred from the track car to the road-going version, the GTO generates downforce of 144 kg at 200 km/h. The entire car was honed, including the front, the sides, the flat underbody and cooling flows. In the latter instance, the GTO can count on improved ducting to the brake discs and pads, and the adoption of wheel doughnuts - a disc positioned outside the brake disc that ensure that hot air exiting the wheelarch stays as close to the body of the car as possible to reduce drag.
The new CCM2 braking system is lighter and even more consistent in high performance situations. Its consistent coefficient of attrition meant that the ABS could be calibrated to a particularly high performance level, further reducing lap times, thanks to improved deceleration and shorter stopping distances. In fact, the Ferrari 599 GTO boasts an excellent 100 to 0 km/h braking distance of just 32.5 metres. As well as their role in improving aerodynamics, the Formula 1-derived wheel doughnuts also improve braking efficiency by optimising brake cooling.
The car-driver interface was designed to maximise car and driver performance with a layout of the main commands that ensures absolute efficiency and minimum distraction. The Racing manettino also puts the emphasis firmly on sporty, track-specific driving settings by offering the driver full choice with regard to the electronic control parameters. The ICE position on the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano has been replaced by CT-Off (traction control off). The GTO is also fitted with bespoke, longer carbon-fibre F1 paddles for easier use in high-speed driving. In addition the GTO also features the Virtual Race Engineer, a system that monitors the status of the car and gives the driver immediate visibility of vehicle performance.

2010 Sportec SP580 Porsche 997 Turbo Facelift - Porsche Sports Car

The new Sportec 997 Turbo SP580 tuning kit is now available for the Porsche 997. Engineers from Sportec have boosted power from 500 PS (368 kW / 493 hp) to 580 PS (572 hp / 427 kW). If those numbers sound familiar, it is because the Swiss tuning firm developed a package that provided the same horsepower on the last SP580. However, the torque rating is reduced on this model, but is the same as the standard Porsche 997 turbo facelift.
Sportec SP580 Porsche 997 Turbo Facelift
Now, the new model sprints to 100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds, and to 200 km/h in 10.3 seconds. Top speed on the car is 323 km/h. The sprint times are faster than the old SP580, but the previous model topped out at 338 km/h (210 mph).
New forged 20-inch wheels have been developed for the car.  However, the aero kit with front spoiler, big rear wing, and side skirts seems to be carried over from the pre-facelift kit.
With the new SP580 Sportec is once more prowling in the stomping ground of the super sports car. True to the sporty understatement Sportec the Porsche 997 turbo is a real leopard in wolf's clothing - this is ensured by the full 580 PS and powerful 650 Nm torque that can be had at just 1.950-5.000 revs.
Thus equipped the Sportec SP580 achieves the standard spring from 0 to 100 km/h in only 3.2 seconds. The occupants of the SP580 are catapulted from 0 to 200 km/h in a breathtaking 10.3 seconds. Only at 323 km/h does the revolution limiter put an end to this flush of speed.
Externally only the powerful Sportec Mono7 forged 20 inch wheels and the completely new aerodynamic package that holds true to the Sportec Motto "more substance, less style", suggest that beholder isn't looking at a mass production vehicle from Zuffenhausen. An aerodynamically optimised front spoiler, discrete side skirts along with a larger tail plane - as an option also to be had in carbon - both technically and optically complete the SP580. And if that wasn't enough the exterior mirrors and the air intakes can be had in matt carbon.
The aluminium pedals and foot supports as well as the bucket seats are all further signs of its sportiness. And for those who like it a little sportier there is a lowering set that brings the chassis around 20 millimetres nearer to the tarmac. For use on the race track Sportec offers a special PASM compatible super sports suspension that can be individually adjusted to suit every purpose and all race track conditions.

2010 Ariel Atom 500 V8 - Ariel Sports Car

Ariel announce the latest version of the Atom - the Ariel Atom 500, powered by a small V8 engine. With over 500bhp in a 500kilo package the Atom 500 will boast one of the highest power to weight ratios ever for a production car, ever. At over 1000bhp per tonne the Atom 500 will be the ultimate statement in performance and is destined to be made in a limited edition.
Ariel Atom 500 V8
The V8 powered Atom is the first of some exciting developments from Ariel due to be released though 2008 and builds on the growing reputation that the company has for putting the passion back into driving and producing sports cars that are fun to drive as well as fast both on and off the track.
The Ariel Atom 500 V8 project first began back in 2007 as a special model created in conjunction with RS Developments. The car features the same RS (Russell Savory) designed supercharged, 2.4 litre V8 engine connected to a 6 speed sequential Sadev gearbox driving the rear wheels. The gearbox has power-on shift capability, paddle gearchange with manual override as well as launch and traction control.
The Ariel Atom 500 V8 is identifiable from the standard Atom by the twin rear intakes for intercoolers and unique anodized gold color scheme for the chassis and wheels and carbon fibre panels and carbon fibre aerofoils. Other features include chromemoly aerofoil wishbones, multi-function steering wheel, Alcon 4 piston caliper brakes and lightweight Dymag magnesium wheels.
Said Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel, 'This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce. For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car. 
We also use this sort of project to explore the possibilities of how we can improve our standard cars. The Honda engined production cars already combine all the elements that we want in an Atom and by pushing the envelope to these sorts of extremes we can further improve the breed'.
Prices have not yet been released, but the first customer’s Ariel Atom 500 V8 will be built in spring. Ariel Director Simon Saunders said: ‘The Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car.’
With the standard Atom 300 already achieving sub 3 second times to 60mph and sub 7 second times to 100mph, the 500 will take this one stage further with record breaking production car possibilities.

2010 AF-10 Arash Sports Car

Arash Motor Company was born out of a passion for cars, the allure of beauty and the thrill of driving the seemingly end less acceleration of a thoroughbred engine. The engine, or better still, the soul of the AF10 is designed to withstand the punishment of motor racing and we’re sure it will excite even the most accomplished of drivers.
2010 AF-10 Arash
The superlative handling of a chassis designed by leaders in their field combined with extraordinarily forceful braking performance will make you question whether the tyres will still be intact when you climb out. The AF10 seduces and excites on every level with it’s distinctive silhouette and exceptional performance.
Design of the Arash AF10 began in 2005 with styling sketches and renderings. Gradually the design evolved into computer models and aerodynamic CFD mesh models. Finally the finished car was revealed in October 2008.
Powering the Arash AF10 is a GM sourced, mid-mounted, 7.0 litre, V8 which produces 550 bhp @ 6,000 rpm. This is connected to a Grazianno 6-speed manual transmission driving the rear wheels. This drivetrain allows the AF10 to reach 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and go on to a 204 mph top speed.
The Arash AF10 features a full carbon and steel frame chassis with steel front and rear crash structures and cradles. Covering the chassis is an all carbon fiber body with honeycomb and nomex sandwiches to achieve weight reductions and add rigidity.
The aerodynamic body of the Arash AF10 includes unusual features like the radical front wing which is separated from the main body, and prominent air intake side pods. These features have been influences by Le Mans and F1 race cars, however they also perform specific functions for the overall performance of the car. Split radiators have been used at the front and Oil radiators are positioned in the side pods.
The modular carbon chassis of the Arash AF10 is super light and super strong. This structure is made up of 13 parts assembled into a jig and bonded at temperature.
An estimated 25 Arash AF10 cars will be manufactured per year with a small number being delivered to the US market.
About Arash Cars:
Arash Cars was established in March 2006 and has been working on the AF10 ever since. The styling drawings were made in March 2005 by Arash Farboud Designs and have since been converted into computer models and aerodynamic cfd mesh models.
The company is located in Sawston on the outskirts of Cambridge. Most testing will be conducted at Millbrooke proving grounds 20 miles away from the company. The facility in Sawston Cambridge is equipped with a styling studio, painting booth, carbon lamination room, parts despatch area, carbon curing autoclave oven and polished epoxy floored car assembly stations. A board room and administration offices are also located at the site.
Arash Cars have designed a traditionally shaped badge with an eagle emblem. The background colour is solid black and the foreground eagle is in gold. The 'Arash' emblem is in flame orange.