Exotics|Supercars

Mercedes-Benz’s SL65 AMG Black Series is, let’s face it, already 58 kinds of bat guano. With 670hp, 738 lb.-ft of torque, flared fenders to accommodate larger rolling stock and a fixed roof to improve chassis rigidity, it’s the automotive equivalent of someone who really should be fitted for a straitjacket. But what if that’s not bonkers enough for you? What if you want the automotive equivalent of someone who ought to be strapped in bed and on a slow drip of heavy sedatives?

German tuner MKB may just have something that fits the bill in the form of the P1000. This little number is based on the aforementioned SL65 AMG Black Series, but has been fitted with some enhancements that up the lunacy quotient. The most attention-getting of these upgrades, naturally, lie under the big white hood, and pump the 6.0L twin-turbo V12 up to a just-this-side-of-adequate 1,015hp. How’d they get that kind of number? Make like the readouts on the dyno and jump!

The Ferrari California is, like any model to emerge from the Maranello plant since, say, the shiver-worthy 348, a brilliant car. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that the latest “starter Ferrari” was practically born to be purchased by rodent-sized-canine-owning celebrities who neither know nor care about the car’s thousands of engineering man-hours or the storied marque’s extensive competition record both past and present. (“Fernando Alonso? He’s, like, an opera singer, right?”)

This pre-installed stigma is bad juju for types of true enthusiasts who would buy this car. You know, the folks who wake up at stupid o’clock in the morning to watch Formula 1 live on Speed and can appreciate technology like the direct-injected 4.3L V8 and available 7-speed double-clutch transmission, because the gearhead of lesser means who sees them cruising down the street will tend to assume the person behind the wheel thinks "Imola" is the name of a meat-borne pathogen and merely bought a California because it’s a convertible and it has a back seat on which to place the pet carrier of Aphrodite, their Mexican Hairless.

A few weeks ago we caught our first glimpse of Ferrari’s newest V8 powered spec racer, the 458 Challenge. We licked our chops at its reduced weight, firmer suspension and tweaked electronic driver aids relative to the street version and how all those changes would add to the car’s ferociousness. But numbers can only tell us so much; visuals do a much better job of conveying how quick (or slow) something is.

How convenient, then, that some intrepid car spies recently managed to catch some 458 Challenge test mules hot lapping Ferrari’s Fiorano private test track. A cursory glance at how fast they move through the scenery indicates these prototypes are quite fast. Like, a scant two-tenths of a second slower than the FXX fast. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is something of a disappointment. Whether this is a function of background noise, distance from the mic or whatever, it just doesn’t…well…watch the video after the jump and you’ll hear what we mean.

Nicholas Cage's Ferrari Enzo 

You know that game we all like to play where we ask our friends "if you could buy any car in the world, what would it be?" Well, celebrities don't have to play that game... they live it. After they're done buying their dream car they typically buy their second dream car followed by their 3rd dream car which they let their assistants use to buy groceries and stuff from Best Buy. So just in case you needed another reason to hate celebrities, here's 20 more.

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.?

It’s hard to believe that, less than 15 years ago, most car buffs had never heard of Horacio Pagani. But when he unleashed the first supercar bearing his name (the angular, Mercedes-Benz V12 powered Zonda C12) upon the world in 1999, most petrolheads (and more than a few non-petrolheads) became accutely aware of the Argentinean designer and his work. Now, the last lines of the original Zonda’s chapter in Pagani history are being written, but not before one last bombshell.

You see, there’s an anonymous U.S.-based supercar collector who wanted a Zonda that is uniquely his (Rumor has it he will keep the car in Switzerland, since the Zonda is not street legal over here.). The result of his consultations with Mr. Pagani and his team is rendered here before us, wearing the name Zonda HH. No, we don’t know what the extra letters stand for either (Hugh Hefner? Hubba Hubba? Hyperventilating Hippopotami?).

The Cobra is, much to Carroll Shelby’s chagrin, the most copied car in the world. The mixture of the famous shape and a steroidal American V8 creating a ridiculous power to weight ratio is a time tested formula that, although no longer much of a match for the world’s best, still provides heaping helpings of ear-to-ear grins (with the occasional side of soiled undergarments). But it’s worth noting that the fundamental shape and structure of the Cobra (and many of its imitators) are based upon the British AC Ace, a car that dates back to 1951.

Fitting, then, that AC Cars has teamed with American firm ICONIC Motors to help them launch their vision of a Cobra for the 21st century. Called the ICONIC AC Roadster, this new breed of beast features a state-of-the art chassis (with a carbon fiber passenger compartment and pushrod front suspension) cloaked in body formed from aircraft-grade aluminum and styled to look like a Cobra with more contemporary styling front and rear, though at least one member of the globe-spanning peanut gallery that is the Internet says the new nose reminds him of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man from Ghostbusters. Moving on…

Ever since the 355 Challenge of the late ‘90s, Ferrari has been producing lightly-modified, track-only versions of each of its mid-engine V8 models and putting on one-make series in which they can compete. No points for guessing, then, that Maranello’s newest “budget” model – the 458 Italia – would spawn the competition version seen above.

Taking a cue from its predecessors in that it's named the 458 Challenge, this latest rich-boy track toy reatains the street version’s direct-injected 4.5L V8, producing the same 570hp. However, it has less mass to schlep around thanks to weight-saving bits like Lexan windows and carbon fiber body panels. Reprogramming the paddle-shift dual-clutch transmission and tweaking the gear ratios relative to the standard car gives it even more scoot.