Home / Posts tagged 'Alfa Romeo'

• Gran Turismo 6 is Playstation 3-Bound This Holiday Season [w/ Videos]

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 15 May 2013

  

  After a gestation so lengthy that Axl Rose was quoted as saying “What the hell is taking Kazunori and crew so long?”, Gran Turismo 5 finally arrived in November of 2010. And while it was without question a tremendous game with gorgeous graphics and a mammoth car list, it felt, in many respects, rushed. Hard to believe when you consider it came out almost six years after Gran Turismo 4, but things like a new-but-half-baked damage model, continued use of angry appliance exhaust sounds, woeful under-utilizations of the WRC, NASCAR and Top Gear licenses and, perhaps most aggravating of all, many times more “Standard Cars” (i.e. models ported from GT4 and the Gran Turismo title for the PSP) than “Premium Cars” (i.e. brand new car models built from many thousands more polygons and featuring fully-modeled interiors) left many longtime fans of the franchise feeling underwhelmed, if not out-and-out cheated.

  So you can imagine our skepticism when we heard rumors that the father of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi, and his team at Polyphony Digital would not only be revealing Gran Turismo 6 sooner rather than later, but also bring it to market by the end of the 2013 calendar year. Well, following a massive press event (which also served to celebrate the series’ 15^th anniversary) at England’s Silverstone Circuit earlier today, we can report there’s more than a little truth to those rumors. More than a little truth, and some gorgeous, gorgeous visuals.

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• Totally Radical Racing: Formula 1 and Rally in the 1980s [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 4 April 2013

  

  Although most motorsports historians like to wax poetic (or not-so-poetic) about the barnstorming between-the-World-Wars era, or the glamorous 1950s, the 1980s was a damn good period for racing in its own right. Advancements in design and engineering led to major advances in speed and safety, and increased manufacturer and sponsor involvement – not to mention improved and expanded TV coverage – increased awareness of the sport exponentially. Oh, and the fact that rule makers still gave manufacturers and constructors a long leash with regard to creativity certainly didn’t hurt.

  With this in mind, Finnish YouTuber Antti Kalhola made this video tribute to this remarkable decade. Yes, we wish there were clips from series besides Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship (namely Indy car and IMSA/Group C sports cars), but we’re guessing F1 and WRC were the only two series from which Antti had suitable footage to work. Besides, no one can begrudge him choosing a track from Jan Hammer (Specifically “Crockett’s Theme” from Miami Vice.). No one!

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• When Skynet Met NASCAR: DTM’s Class 1 Era [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 14 March 2013

  

  About a month ago, we showed you a video tribute to the golden age of the German Touring Car Championship (DTM). It was a period where modified but still-production based BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and others went door handle to door handle in front of an enthusiastic worldwide audience. However, beginning with the 1994 season, series organizers fully implemented the FIA’s Class 1 touring car regulations and, if you ask us, the results were just as magical (but in a different sort of way).

  Unlike the earlier Group A touring cars, the Class 1 models merely looked like their street legal Alfa Romeo 155, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Opel Calibra counterparts. Underneath, they were pure racing cars with naturally-aspirated 2.5L V6s that revved to well over 12,000 rpm, sequential transmissions and, in the case of the Alfas and Opels, all-wheel drive. And if that wasn’t enough, they were crammed full of cutting edge tech, most of which had, ironically, been banned from Formula 1 with the start of the 1994 season. Gizmos like ABS, traction control, active suspension, four-wheel steering, active aerodynamics and even active ballast became the norm. Naturally, costs exploded, particularly after the series went global in 1996 under the name ITC. Manufacturers lost interest, and the FIA was under pressure to keep it from outshining F1 (much like it had been with the World Sportscar Championship in 1992), so the plug was pulled at the end of ’96. But while this series that was equal parts NASCAR, Can-Am and Formula 1 (with a sprinkling of BattleBots thrown in for good measure) may be gone, it sure as Scheiße ain’t forgotten.

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• Too Many Alfa Romeos? No Such Thing [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 6 March 2013

  

  Lots of things are fun to collect: Stamps, coins, comic books, and vinyl records all spring readily to our mind. But what if you have substantially more funding and space for collecting? Well, in our situation we would collect cars (What, did you expect us to say something like pianos or taxidermy?). We wouldn’t really adhere to any particular brand or genre, just stuff that we like.

  Manuel Leon Minassian has collected cars from multiple manufacturers, but the bulk of his fleet comes from Alfa Romeo. And to hear him tell it in this video from our friends at Petrolicious, he buys Alfas like the rest of us buy tacos. (Mmmm…tacos…) Happily, he takes them out and drives them (at least the ones that are operational), rather than locking them away to prevent stone chips or exposure to UV rays. After all, you can’t really look into the soul of an Italian car when it’s sitting still and turned off.

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• 2013 Geneva Motor Show: The Top 20 Debuts

  In Featured / By Tom Anderson / 5 March 2013

  

  More than a few people think supercars are an endangered species. All the concerns about flaunting wealth inequality and using lots of gas are just some of the forces conspiring to make these most athletic of automobiles less and less desirable for both builders and buyers. So we can look forward to a future with fewer tarmac-melting monsters and more plug-in kumbaya cracker boxes, right?

  Not so fast, kemosabe. If the lineup of world debuts at this year’s Geneva Motor Show is any indication, we may be entering a new golden age of 200+ mph hypercars. The difference this time around is many of them are a bit more responsible, with overdrive (and occasionally double overdrive) 7-speed transmissions and hybrid assist. Of course, these aren’t the only automotive stars in the lakeside Swiss municipality. Here are the 20 premieres that really stir our hot chocolate.

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• Cave of Wonders: Bangkok’s @Speed Garage [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 26 February 2013

  

  Ever had a project that gradually escalated into something that was much nicer (read: more time, effort and expense invested) than what you had originally planned? That’s what seems to have happened with A-Thummanoon Pornrojanagoon’s garage. The Bangkok resident (who is known to his friends by the exponentially-simpler moniker A) initially just wanted a place to store his collection of vehicles and parts. But as you can see in this video, it became something far greater by the time he was through.

  The shelving for wheels and other parts, the windows and tall ceilings are certainly garage mahal material. And the vehicles that occupy the space – which include a couple of vintage Mercedes-Benz sedans, an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, and a gaggle of JDM legends led by a first-gen “Hakosuka” Nissan Skyline GT-R – certainly reinforce the building’s petrolhead Valhalla status. But as A is quick to point out, the thing that (a la the Dude’s rug) really ties the room together is the sense of community he and his car-guy friends have. Whether they’re wrenching or just hanging out, A and his associates use @Speed Garage as a place to celebrate their most significant common bond, and each other. Kinda makes the physical objects inside seem less significant, huh?

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• The Golden Age of DTM Racing [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 11 February 2013

  

  Some of the most exciting racing (and coolest racecars) on earth in the late 1980s and early 1990s occurred in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, literally German Touring Car Championship). Cars like the original E30-based BMW M3, the Cosworth-massaged 16-valve Mercedes-Benz 190E, and the fat-and-happy Audi V8 Quattro were just some of the tasty tintops that did battle on such storied venues as the Hockenheimring, the Nürburgring (including the mighty Nordschleife), and the AVUS.

  Aptly-named YouTuber DTMEnthusiast captures the go-go spirit of this remarkable era in racing in this fantastic six-minute, one-second production. The soundtrack selection’s lyrics may be unintelligible to the average Amerikaner (The approximate translation of the title and chorus is “Damn Long Time Ago.”), but it’s an absolutely perfect accompaniment to the slow-motion kerb-hopping, powersliding and champagne spraying. If watching this doesn’t make you immediately start trolling eBay, Craigslist and all the rest for a roadgoing BMW, Audi or Mercedes-Benz DTM homologation model to call your own(All three were sold new in the U.S. at one point or another.), consult your doctor immediately, because you might be dead.

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• The Top 10 Gearhead Documentaries of All Time

  In Lists / By Tom Anderson / 19 October 2012

  

  Last summer, we compiled a list of 25 movies that should be required viewing for car buffs. We hope you’ve been able to watch at least some of the movies we named since then, because we’re about to tell you about 10 more movies you’ll want to put on your “must watch” list.

  You see, we pointed out in the intro of last year’s article that we were excluding documentary and non-fiction works. We did that for two reasons: One, to leave more room for fiction movies and two, to avoid being accused of favoring one genre over another. Now, the documentaries finally get their turn in the spotlight. However, since there’s one motorcycle-centric flick on the following list, we’re calling them gearhead (as opposed to car nut) documentaries. Here they are.

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• The Top 20 Coolest Taxis in the World

  In Lists / By Tom Anderson / 24 August 2012

  

  Long before the advent of the internal combustion engine, someone came up with the idea of using a wheeled vehicle to carry people to where they wanted to go in exchange for money or some other form of payment. But if you ask us, it wasn’t until the dawn of the automobile and its first use as wheels-for-hire that the taxi truly came of age. Today, motorized cabs are pretty much a part of the scenery in every major city on earth.

  Unfortunately, the vast majority of taxis are based on plain, unexciting vehicles possessing as much soul as a washing machine filled with soybeans. However, if you want your fare to buy some flair, there are some decidedly enticing options out there. Not convinced? Check out these 20 cool cabs and get back to us.

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• Cars and Coffee Irvine: The Automotive Melting Pot

  In Car Events / By Jason Kwon / 9 March 2012

  

  I had the pleasure of driving down to Irvine for the Cars and Coffee meet on a warm, sunny Saturday morning 2 weeks ago. If you didn't already know, Cars and Coffee is an informal meet that takes place at Mazda’s HQ parking lot every week, where gearheads from all walks of life come together to have a drink of coffee and enjoy automotive culture. You can find about any type of vehicle in the meet; muscle, Italian, motorcycles, Le Mans racers, imports, and even concept cars! Did I mention it was free?

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