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Author: Olly

McLaren Artura, BMW X7, Ford designer’s own GT: This Week’s Top Photos

McLaren this week confirmed that its next supercar will be called an Artura. Prototypes are currently testing and the debut is set for the first half of 2021.

2020 Chevrolet Corvette convertible

If you can’t quite afford a supercar like the Artura, you don’t have to miss out on all the fun as Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette delivers up a similar experience for much less money. This week we took the car’s convertible body style for a spin.

2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo

Another vehicle we tested was the new Mazda 2.5 Turbo. Despite the turbocharger, this is no Mazdaspeed 3. Rather, it’s a powerful, mature, compact car that is well-mannered and moves like a premium offering.

2023 BMW X7 spy shots – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

The BMW X7 will be updated to match the radical new look pegged for the next-generation 7-Series. Spy shots of a prototype reveal a completely new front-end design for the full-size SUV.

2022 Audi Q4 E-Tron spy shots – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

Another vehicle we spied was a new compact SUV with battery-electric power from Audi to be called a Q4 Sportback E-Tron. It’s the coupe-like version of the upcoming Audi Q4 E-Tron SUV, and both are due on sale next year.

2017 Ford GT owned by Moray Callum (photo by Canepa)

The personal Ford GT owned by the man who oversaw the design of the car, Moray Callum, Ford’s vice president of design and brother to fellow automotive designer Ian Callum, is up for sale. It’s listed for sale at Canepa at an undisclosed price.

Bugatti Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel”

Remember the Legend editions of the Veyron built to honor key people from Bugatti’s past? Well, the French marque returned this week with a new Legend edition of the Chiron honoring Bugatti racing drivers from early last century who also pushed the limits in the skies.

Ducati Diavel 1260 Lamborghini

Lamborghini and Ducati have collaborated for the first time. Their first endeavor together is a Ducati Diavel 1260 motorcycle inspired by the Lamborghini Sian supercar.

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November 28, 2020
1990 Nissan NPT-90 IMSA GTP race car for sale

The IMSA GTP class produced some of the best racing to ever grace United States road courses. It featured powerful cars and fierce competition among many well-funded, factory-backed teams. This 1990 Nissan NPT-90 was one of the most formidable GTP cars in the class’ later years.

Offered for sale by race-car restorer Canepa, this car is the first of six NPT-90 chassis built. The NPT-90 was the second-generation Nissan GTP car, and it benefited from much greater factory support than its predecessor.

Don Devendorf’s Electramotive team raced the Nissan-powered GTP-ZXT from 1984 to 1990. Geoff Brabham won the 1988 driver’s title in the GTP-ZXT, but lacked the funding to develop the car into a consistent race winner. With more direct involvement from Nissan, Electramotive was reorganized as Nissan Performance Technology Incorporated (NPTI). Nissan’s largesse brought expanded engineering and fabrication facilities in Vista, California, at which legendary designer Trevor Harris created the new NPT-90.

Wearing the doorstop-like bodywork characteristic of prototype race cars of the time, the GTP-90 is powered by a mid-mounted twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 that makes more than 950 horsepower. That power is managed by a Hewland 5-speed manual transmission.

1990 Nissan NPT-90 (Photo by Canepa)

The car offered for sale—chassis 01—began racing in the middle of the 1990 season and continued through the end of 1992. The car racked up two wins, nine 2nd-place finishes, and five 3rd-place finishes during that time. It was driven by Brabham, along with Chip Robinson, Bob Earl, and Derek Daly, according to Canepa. Nissan won the IMSA constructors’ championship in 1990 and 1991, losing out to Toyota in 1992. The GTP class was scrapped at the end of the following season.

Canepa claims chassis 01 is well preserved in its 1992 as-raced condition, with most of its original components.

The NPT-90 marked the high point for Nissan in prototype sports car racing. Multiple attempts to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1990s failed, as did a later campaign in 2015 with the ill-fated GT-R LM NISMO.

Canepa doesn’t list a price for this piece of racing history, but you can believe the buyer will pay handsomely for it.

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November 27, 2020
TOYOTA GR YARIS NURBURGRING LAP BTG 7:56

A stock Toyota GR Yaris has just lapped the Nurburgring in 7:56 (BTG) on Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres in 6 degrees Celsius conditions and that’s mightily impressive.

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Just when you thought the applause for the new Toyota GR Yaris couldn’t get any louder, it suddenly does. While this may not be any official Nürburgring lap as YouTuber Captain Gasrank completes the tourist layout of the Nürburgring, otherwise known as Bridge To Gantry (BTG). This misses out the stretch between the last gantry and the first bridge. As a result, the lap totals 19.1km opposed to a full lap distance of 20.832km, which equates to around 20-30 seconds faster.

However, factor in that this was during a tourist track day, the Toyota GR Yaris was running on a Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyre, and finally conditions of just 6 degrees Celsius, you start to appreciate the engineering feat Toyota has managed to create with its 4WD system. Bravo. Oh, and this is a completely stock car, no track-based modifications.

What is the new Toyota GR Yaris?

The new Toyota GR Yaris is Toyota’s first genuine all-wheel drive sports car and its first homologation model for World Rally Championship competition since the end of production of the Celica GT-Four in 1999. Well, it would have been, had Toyota not canned the competition car in mid-2020. However, the car was still engineered for that reason, so think of it still has a homologation special.

The WRC-skilled team of designers and engineers at Tommi Mäkinen Racing focused on perfecting the aerodynamics, weight distribution and light weight of the new car – the three qualities essential to achieving the best performance and drivability.

The body is made from lightweight materials including carbon fibre and aluminium to deliver a 1280kg kerb weight. Couple that with the all-new 1.6-litre turbo engine that produces 257bhp and 267lb ft of torque and Toyota says the GR Yaris will sprint from 0-62mph in 5.5 seconds and go on to a top speed of 143mph.

The GR Yaris’s performance is supported by a new GR-Four all-wheel drive system designed to optimise drive power to each wheel, while also being simple and lightweight. The distribution of torque between the front and rear axles is governed by a high-response coupling and has, in theory, the ability to send 100% of the torque to either the front or rear wheels. As an option in the Circuit Pack, two Torsen limited-slip differentials manage the split between the left and right-side wheels to give natural and direct car control.

That track pack also includes 18-inch lightweight forged wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres, while the standard model gets Dunlop SP Sport MAXX050; both measure 225/40R18

The driver can adjust four-wheel drive performance to suit their preference or the driving situation using a 4WD mode dial switch. In normal mode the base front/rear torque distribution is 60:40; in Sport mode the balance shifts to the rear, with 30:70 distribution to achieve a fun-to-drive quality on winding roads and circuits; and in Track mode the base setting is 50:50 for fast, competitive driving on circuits or special stages. In each mode, the torque balance will automatically adjust in response to the driver’s inputs, vehicle behaviour and road or track conditions.

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November 26, 2020