Spyker

Historically, one of the criticisms leveled at Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport franchise has been that it didn’t give much love to the more obscure boutique automakers of the world relative to the big dogs. That’s been rectified with the downloadable Forza Motorsport 3 car pack for the month of May, which features 10 rare, unusual, and oh by the way, scorching fast supercars.

Two of the ten cars – the Devon GTX and the Spada Codatronca TS – are polarizingly-styled coachbuilt specials based on ground-pounding American sports cars (the Dodge Viper and Chevrolet Corvette, respectively). The remaining eight are built from the ground up: the stylish Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85; the wild child Gumpert Apollo S; the twin-turbo and tail-happy Rossion Q1; the BMW M5-powered, neo-Austin-Healey Weismann GT MF5; the thunder from Down Under Joss JT1; the sleek American Mosler MT900S; the pigmy LMP1 racer Radical SR8; and the all-American Veyron-stomper, the SSC Ultimate Aero. How do these monsters look and sound in action? Make like any of these cars at the Nürburgring’s Pflanzgarten corner and jump!

This year, at the 59th Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Spyker Cars unveiled a convertible version of its widely touted second-generation sports car. There are few modern production cars that are as magnificent as the new Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder prototype, a handcrafted roadster with unparalleled workmanship and an aviation-inspired design aesthetic. The Aileron Spyder features an Audi sourced 400 bhp V8 engine generating 354 lb-ft of torque mated with a Getrag manual six-speed gearbox. An optional ZF automatic transmission with paddle shifters is also available.

Alexander Antonov, the owner of exotic Spyker Cars (not to be confused with the the famed guerilla leader from the Russian Civil War), was shot in an assasination attempt while leaving his home last week. A gunman opened fire on Antonov and his bodyguard hitting him 7 times and his bodyguard once. Antonov was shot 5 times in the stomach, once in the chest and lost a finger. His bodyguard was struck in the leg. Both are still in intensive care but expected to live.

A limited edition run of just 24 of Spyker's GT2 LeMans based road cars will be built with production starting imminently. The orange and silver paint job with black powder-coat alloy wheels is sure to draw lots of attention to this exotic supercar. Audi's 4.2L V8 engine, putting out 400HP will serve as the powerplant. Paired with the light weight aluminum body and carbon fibre components such as the rear spoiler, the car will have a good power-to-weight ratio.

A six-speed manual Getrag gearbox will be used to whip the 2 seat mid-engine sportscar around town. The production version will make it's first appearance at the opening of Spyker of Saudi Arabia. For those of you LA (or planning to be) you can check it out at the upcoming auto show in November.

Source: Spyker via Zercustoms.com