Batmobile & Toyota F1 Race Car Wallpapers

Last week Panasonic Toyota Racing brought the Batmobile and Bat-Pod vehicles for a demonstration run alongside the Toyota TF108 F1 car at the Silverstone race track. The Batmobile that will be featured in the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight” is around 3m at its widest point, 4.5m long and 1.5m high, weighing in at 2.5 tons. It is equipped with a 340hp 5.7-litre V8 gasoline engine and it has six wheels - two in the front, outfitted with sprint car race tires, and four monster truck tires at the back. Check out the video here or follow the jump for 20 high-res images. -Continued

1000 Subaru Impreza Owners to Pay Tribute to the late Colin McRae

Almost a year has passed since that wretched day on September 15, 2007 when Rally Champion Colin McRae and three more passengers including his five-year old son died in a tragic helicopter accident near his hometown in Scotland.

In order to pay a fitting tribute to Colin McRae, the Subaru community is planning to gather a world record 1,000 Imprezas at Prodrive, the home of Subaru World Rally Team, where Colin spent the most successful years of his rallying career, first winning the British Rally Championship in a Subaru Legacy in 1991 and 1992 and then becoming Britain’s first world rally champion in 1995. -Continued

A convoy of more than 1,000 Imprezas led by McRae’s 1995 World Rally Championship-winning Impreza 555, will leave Colin’s home town of Lanark at 10 am on Saturday 30 August arriving at Prodrive on the same day.

On Sunday August 31, after setting a world record for a gathering of Subarus, the group’s aim is to then set a world record for a parade of Subarus, as all the cars circulate around the 2 mile test track. As a final mark of respect, Subaru owners will park up on the mile-long straight to spell out the name Colin McRae in letters more than 100 feet tall and visible to anyone flying into nearby Birmingham International airport.

The McRae Gathering is only open to Subarus and to take part, all cars must bear the special ‘McRae Gathering’ plate. There is an entry charge of £10 for each car with all proceeds going to the McRaes’ nominated charities.

LusoMotors LM23: Lotus 23b Inspired Track Racer with Honda CBR Engine!

Some of you may recall Ernesto Freitas, the Portuguese designer who created the modern-day Ferrari Dino that actually went into production. Well, Ernesto and his company LusoMotors have returned, this time with the mid-engined LM23 that follows in the footsteps of the classic Lotus 23b track racer of the mid-60’s. The LM23’s design is inspired from the Lotus 23b, and the overall result is pretty neat.

But the LM23 isn’t about looks, it’s about track racing. The LM23 utilizes a space frame chassis made of steel tubing, with double skin aluminium alloy sheets, riveted and glued with inner foam reinforcements. The track racer’s outerskin is made out of fibreglass and carbon fibre components. -Continued

Behind the driver we find the engine bay. We talked to Ernesto and he told us that potential buyers can choose from a variety of car or motorcycle engines all of which deliver power to the rear wheels. Currently, Ernesto is trying out a 150Hp 1.0-liter unit from a Honda CBR1000 matted to a 6 speed sequential gearbox. The specific version (with the high-revving Honda engine) weighs a mere 400 kg or 881 pounds!

According to Ernesto, the possibilities are endless as he can even fit in a turbocharged Subaru boxer engine –that’s something we’d like to drive. Using a special built kit, the original 4WD setup is converted into a 2WD gearbox, delivering power to the rear wheels.

Prices for a complete kit car (without the engine) start from €15,000 (11,500 GBP or $23,600). Depending on the buyer’s needs, LusoMotors can modify the kit car going as far as designing a totally different bodywork.

Link: Lusomotors (email: inquiries@lusomotors.com)

Skoda Fabia Super 2000 to Appear at Rally Bohemia

A prototype version of Skoda’s latest competition vehicle, the Fabia Super 2000 rally car will make its first appearance at the 35th Rally Bohemia on July 4 that will start from the Skoda Auto Museum in Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. The Fabia Super 2000 is fitted with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder naturally-aspirated engine based on the standard 150Hp 2.0. FSI unit matted to a six-speed sequential transmission. The Czech carmaker's rally car also gets a four-wheel drive system and three passive differentials. -Continued

NISMO to Test Tuned Nissan GT-R at Tokachi 24H

Nissan’s official motorsports and performance division, NISMO, will enter a specially-prepped Nissan GT-R into the 15th Tokachi 24-hour race, to be held from July 20th to 21st in Hokkaido. The NISMO GT-R that will be based on the standard production car will be equipped with the newly-developed NISMO tuning parts and competition motor oil jointly developed with MOTUL. The GT-R specific NISMO tuning parts used in the race will be available as accessory options to GT-R customers this summer

Team Director Taro Kumagai said, "This is the first Nissan GT-R to race based on the standard road-car specifications. Our target is to complete the race distance, testing both the performance and reliability of the car. Following its success in Super GT, we know that GT-R fans want to see the car compete in this kind of endurance racing series.” -Continued

Team:
Entrant: NISMO
Entry Name: MOTUL NISMO Racing Team
Vehicle Name: MOTUL NISMO GT-R
Team Director: Taro KUMAGAI
Drivers: Masami KAGEYAMA, Tetsuya TANAKA, and Kazuki

Car Specification:
Base Vehicle: NISSAN GT-R (R35)
Engine: VR38DETT
Displacement: 3799 cc
Max. Power: over 480 ps/6400 rpm
Max. Torque: over 60 kgfm/3200-5200 rpm
Weight: over 1600 kg
Tyres: Bridgestone Racing POTENZA

BMW M5 E60 Turned Into Ultimate Weekend Track Racer!

We’d totally understand it if someone took a mid 90’s BMW M3 E36 with half a million miles and turned it into a nice weekend track racer, but completely gutting out a 2006 BMW M5 E90 -yes, the latest model with the 507Hp V10 powerhouse- is something that doesn’t quite sound right.

The owner of the car says that he was able to remove a total of 600 lbs or about 272kg from the BMW M5’s body – mainly from the interior which now features a roll cage and a set of light weight bucket seats. What do you think about this conversion? Have your say in the comment section. -More pics after the jump

Source: M5Board , Via: Autoblog.nl