British

Lately it seems like the hippest new segment into which sportscar makers should be attmepting to break is that of the sedan. Porsche has done it with the Panamera, Lamborghini is considering doing so with a production version of the Estoque, and of course Aston Martin has the hyper-sexy new Rapide. But that seductively stretched DB9 derivative is hardly that iconic British marque’s first dance at the four-door ball. And the most memorable (for reasons of the good and bad varieties) of Aston’s prior saloons is the radical Lagonda of the 1970s and ‘80s. But just how many areas, if any, has the Rapide improved over its decidedly polarizing daddy? Read on and find out.

Performance: The Lagonda used Aston Martin’s 5.3L quad-cam V8 backed by a Chrysler-supplied 3-speed automatic transmission. The most powerful European iterations were rated at 300hp, while U.S. models made do with just 240hp. It reached 60 mph from a standstill in 8.8 seconds, and top speed was in the neighborhood of 140 mph. The Rapide features a 6.0L (technically 5.9L) V12 coupled teamed with a 6-speed automatic with paddle shifters. It’s rated at 470hp, sprints to 60 in 5 seconds flat and maxes out at 184 mph.

For the last decade or so, the term “track day toy” has typically referred to a small, flyweight chassis housing a tiny engine with the power and torque curves of a leaf blower. Cars such as the spindly Ariel Atom, the ageless Caterham 7 and Radical’s platoon of pee-wee LMP racers have all stayed true to this formula and have won critical acclaim and the excitement many buyers worldwide.

But what about buyers who want something even more extreme and purposeful? The Caparo T1 has made oodles of Formula 1 technology and engineering available to the hyper-rich weekend hobbyist, but the decision to make it street legal in countries that aren’t ultra strict about such things as crashworthiness and emissions compliance (read: pretty much everywhere but here) meant there were some substantial compromises that crept into the design. The most significant of those compromises? A passenger seat. But what if designers didn’t have to worry about being road legal, or carrying your wife/mistress/etc.?

Taking delivery of a 510-bhp supercar can be a daunting experience for the novice owner. Facing the opposite direction in oncoming traffic, for example, is an all too common occurrence for the uninitiated. Light poles also seem to have a homing device for high-performance cars. Since most drivers can go ten, twenty, thirty years or more without ever bettering their skill level, handling a car with this much juice may be a stretch. As a progressive car company, Jaguar recognizes this and is doing the responsible thing by offering buyers of the 2010 and 2011 XFR and XKR hellcats formal instruction in a controlled environment with racing heavy-hitters.

The Jaguar R Academy will be making several stops this year throughout the country. The tour began at Homestead Miami Speedway and continued on to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Monticello Motor Club in New York and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, where we had the golden opportunity to participate. The facility was built relatively recently, in 1997, on a massive expanse of land formerly housing a steel mill that provides space for virtually any type of racing configuration inside a large oval track. An auxiliary road course and enough swath of pavement to rival an airfield complete this remarkable venue.

For most mainstream automakers, “entry-level model” is a euphemism for “thrifty, tiny and cheap.” Aston Martin is, of course, not a mainstream automaker, which is why the baby of its model family (at least until the surely-we’re-being-punk’d Toyota-based Cygnet city car drops in Europe and other markets), the V8 Vantage, is best described as “speedy, sexy and cheap-by-our-standards.”

However, for some folks, the 380hp of the pre-facelift V8 Vantage was just not enough, and many of these same folks would have preferred a bit less weight as well. For these people, Aston Martin offered the limited edition 2007 V8 Vantage N400, based on the V8 Vantage N24, a lightly-modified variant which schooled a whole host of more specialized racing machinery in the 2006 Nürburgring 24 Hour race. The British GT builder had no trouble selling every N400 it built, so why not do a sequel?

The Aston Martin DB9 is arguably one of the prettiest cars on the road with its distinctive curves, elegant lines and muscular shape. Recently, it has received an aesthetic refresh. However, there’s always a sense of nervousness when manufacturers update an already magnificent car. There’s that saying: “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” and the DB9 “ain’t broke”. 

Luckily, the new revision has only made it prettier. Although the changes are very subtle and minor, it all comes together when you step back and look at it. With this in mind, there is a new lower grille housing new mesh inserts in the front and the side rocker panels now extend over to the rear wheel arches.

Under BMW’s stewardship, the Mini brand has garnered a reputation for being playful and not taking itself too seriously. The nameplate took that reputation to new heights recently when its president of American operations, Jim McDowell, invited his former employer, Porsche, to race a 911 Carrera S against a Mini Cooper S at Road Atlanta this coming Monday.

Audacious? Most definitely. But Mini was dead serious about wanting to face the storied Stuttgart sports car builder at the track near their U.S. headquarters. Dead serious, that is, while still being cute and clever, as the video past the jump illustrates. What’s the hold up? To paraphrase Jim Morrison, click on through to the other side.

What if you were able to zip to Whole Foods for that forgotten spice, or drop the kids off for Karate practice, or meet your BFF half way across town for a latte-- from the comfort of your living room? And what if you could still be as agile as Dwayne Wade (pre-injury)? Surely I jest, but the 2010 Range Rover Sport Supercharged provides about as much comfort, luxury and convenience as one could ever need in a package that still allows for plenty o' driving thrills. Land Rover revised its entire lineup for 2010 and the Range Rover Sport emerged as the destined-for-greatness offspring of the big-daddy Range Rover and the petite LR4. 

While the 5.0-liter engine is sprinkled across all models along with an updated electrical architecture, the RR Sport gets its predictive adaptive suspension damping, monster brakes and optional 510 hp supercharged V8 from the elder statesman. Most of its underpinnings, including the body-on-frame platform and use of control arms in front and rear (as opposed to the Range Rover setup with struts fore and a multilink system aft), are shared with the LR4. 

The phrase, "Ask and you shall receive" is a nice quote that's rarely true. I asked for a dirt bike starting at age 7 and I'm still waiting. Apparently the nice folks at Aston Martin are a lot more receptive to requests than my cautious parents. When the V12 Vantage made its public debut last year Aston Martin for an inexplicable reason hadn't planned on sending it to the U.S.  The U.S. is admittedly their biggest market, and yet they weren't going to give us their lightest, most powerful car yet. I guess I should have called Dr. Bez's daughter back...

Well after "unprecedented customer requests" Aston Martin's most capable driver's coupe to date is headed our way. Like public television, the 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage is brought to you by you, the viewer.