The Amazing Secret Rooftop Test Track

via Jalopnik




In 1928, five years after Chrysler's current part-owners Fiat inaugurated their stunning Lingotto plant, Chrysler's Argentine distributors opened a magnificent building to assemble, check, sell... and race cars in Buenos Aires

The district of Palermo Chico in Buenos Aires is emphatically not where you’d expect to discover a automobile factory. Immediately northwest of posh Recoleta, it’s a place of tree-lined avenues, condo towers, men in polo shirts and suede moccasins, ladies eating purposefully small desserts. You could, in fact,  easily walk down Avenida  Figueroa Alcorta and pass the only building with a rooftop check track in South the united states without knowing it.



Palacio Chrysler was built by the company of Argentine entrepreneur Julio Fevre, who had acquired the exclusive right to represent Chrysler in Argentina in 1927 after a decade & a half of importing American cars in to the country. The building was designed by Mario Palanti & occupied a complete city block in what was then a  sparsely built-up area of Buenos Aires. Period photographs show the building tower over townhouses & empty land. The column-lined facade housed an exhibition area, while the back & upper parts of the building were used for administrative offices, workshops, & storage areas.

 But it was the upper deck that stole the show. Equipped with a check track of slightly over a mile long, it was used for testing cars & inviting the high society of Argentina to look at them: the inside of the track had a capacity for 3000 people.

Spy Shots: Lamborghini Murciélago replacement caught wearing only camo

via Autoblog

Lamborghini Murciélago replacement spy shots - Click above for high-res image gallery

We won't necessarily argue with an automaker (especially Lamborghini) unwrapping its new hotness from the inside out. Recently, they received a photograph of the Murciélago replacement's new pushrod suspension - something they were first discovered in the coursework of our talks with the Lamborghini's CEO, Stephan Winkelmann, at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. Now, our intrepid spy photographers have snapped Lamborghni's new flagship, tentatively dubbed Aventador, wearing nothing but swirly camouflage over its newly redesigned body.

The new Lamborghini's beautiful bodywork takes lots of of its cues from the Sesto Elemento concept that debuted at the Paris Motor Show last year. Underneath the sexy exterior is the automaker's new V12 heart of gold, plus they ought to see the completed product in the flesh at this year's Geneva Motor Show in March. In the meantime, continue the striptease for yourself in our high-res gallery below.

Report: Volkswagen Golf MkVII could come by end of 2012

via Autoblog

2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI (MkVI) - Click above for high-res image gallery

The MkVI (sixth-generation) Volkswagen Golf has been around since 2009, and according to a document from Reuters, the next all-new Golf may be approaching sooner than they thought. According to a spokesperson for Volkswagen, the automaker will have the MkVII Golf prepared for public consumption by either the finish of 2012 or beginning of 2013.

Golf generational changes usually occur in much larger intervals, but this rapid introduction for the MkVII is a result of the Volkswagen Group's new cost-savings model architecture called MQB. Different makes and models that share the same underpinnings will be built in a similar manner to save giant percentages of money.

Noble M600 supercar finally enters production

via Autoblog

Noble M600 - Click above for high-res image gallery

We've been speaking about the Noble M600 since roughly 2008. It was officially unveiled in 2009 plus the crew at Top Gear UK even got to check one before the clock ticked 2010. So where'd it go? they don't know, but Noble has eventually popped its head up again with the very first M600 off the factory production line.

thinking about its absence, a quick refresher work on the M600's credentials is in order. This British-built supercar sports a twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter Yamaha V8 with two power levels: Road, Track plus Race. An Adaptable Performance Control switch will vary the V8's output between each level, letting the engine produce 450 brake horsepower, 550 bhp or an absolutely foolish 650 bhp. Couple that with a curb weight of  2,775 pounds, plus you've a great recipe for 0-60 times around two seconds or less plus an estimated top speed of 225 miles per hour. Only one's been built so far, but Noble claims it's orders for a full 50. At £200,000 a pop, the M600 ought to make the company a  penny assuming it doesn't take them a decade to deliver.

Officially Official: BMW announces 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo for U.S.

via Autoblog

BMW's four-cylinder turbocharged engine - Click above for high-res image gallery

 

 

BMW has been teasing us with tiny factoids here and there about its new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and we finally have official confirmation that it will, in fact, be coming to the United States later this year.

This new four-cylinder engine makes use of the same twin-scroll turbo expertise present in the larger N55 3.0-liter engine. maximum power is rated at 240 horsepower at 5,000 rpm, and peak torque - all 260 pound-feet of it - is delivered at 1,250 rpm. By switching to a smaller-displacement, turbocharged, direct-injected engine, we can expect that cars with this new 2.0-liter four will get a healthy bump in fuel economy over the current six-cylinder models.

BMW has yet to point out which models will be getting the new 2.0-liter turbo, but since the automaker specifically mentions that it offers more power and torque than the current naturally aspirated 3.0-liter inline-six, we wouldn't be shocked to learn that all cars with a 28i or 30i at the end of the name will now be powered by this four-pot mill. Earlier reports have suggested that the Z4 sDrive30i will now use four-cylinder power, and we're betting both the 1 and 3 Series, as well as X1, will get the turbo-four treatment. Follow the jump for the official press release

Pagani's All-New V12 Huayra Supercar

via Luxist


After months if not years of speculation and anticipation, niche automaker Pagani has revealed the successor to the Zonda in the type of the Huayra you see here. The name and styling -  the gaping maw at the front - have been the subject of some controversy, but there's no arguing with the performance potential.

Behind those gull-wing doors that swing upwards to gain access to a sumptuously appointed interior of leather, aluminum and carbon fiber sits a 6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine courtesy of Mercedes AMG, producing over 700 horsepower and 740 lb-ft of torque. Coupled with a curb weight of less than 3,000 lbs, and we're taking a look at a top speed in excess of 230 miles per hour.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S

via Luxist




lovers know and love the Aston Martin Vantage, but it's a bit of a curiosity. The smallest automobile in the company's catalog can be had with its smallest engine in the V8 Vantage, or its largest in the V12 Vantage. But now Aston has bridged the gap with the new V8 Vantage S. 

Its 4.7-liter V8 engine has been tuned up to 430 horsepower, mated to a seven-speed sequential transmission. The steering has also been returned, the brakes upgraded and the aerodynamics optimized with new vents and carbon fiber front splitter. As with the existing V8 Vantage but unlike the V12 model, the V8 Vantage S can be had in either coupe or roadster body-styles.