Our jaws literally dropped when we spotted this car in the Subaru booth here at the Tokyo Motor Show. The concoction of carbon fiber spoilers, wings and widened fenders seen here is the Legacy B4 GT300 racecar that is set to compete in Japan's Super GT series next year. The car actually made its racing debut at Fuji Speedway last month, and even though previous driveline problems prevented this racer from making an even earlier debut, the B4 GT300 managed 300 trouble-free kilometers to finish a respectable 18th place.
As for specs, the Legacy B4 GT300 features a 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer-four that pumps out more than 300 horsepower. With all-wheel drive, a six-speed sequential transmission, and a curb weight of just over 2800 pounds, we imagine it's an absolute blast to pilot around the track.
The 2010 Mazda3 made its motorsports debut this past weekend on its home track, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at the final race of the 2009 SPEED World Challenge season. The car was developed and built by Tri-Point Motorsports, which has been running Mazdas in the series since 2001. The team has raced a trio of Mazda6s for the past few season, even capturing the Touring Car title in 2007 with Jeff Altenburg behind the wheel.
Mazda hasn't released any official details on the car quite yet, but a company representative told us that the race was less about going fast and was more of a "public test" to give the car some much needed track time. In fact, the car was completed just before the race and didn't even get its sponsor decals until the second practice day. Even so, rookie driver Eric Foss managed to qualify in 12th and zoom-zoomed his way to a respectable 11th place in Sunday's race.
One of our favorite forms of racing just wrapped up another season with a typically exciting finale at California's Laguna Seca raceway. Although it doesn't get much press, we love Speed World Challenge because the cars are so much like the ones we drool over in the real world and the drivers are a great mix of gentlemen racers and displaced pros looking to keep their skills sharp if and when they get the call to move up to the show. Some drivers only make it out to one or two races, while others are in it for the championship trophy –but when they do show up, they are driving some impressive machinery.
We just told you about the championship-winning Ford Mustang FR500C, but the list of competitors reads like a fantasy car collection, with drivers campaigning vehicles like the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Dodge Viper, Lamborghini Gallardo, Chevrolet Corvette, Aston Martin DB9, Lotus Exige S, Acura NSX, Cadillac CTS-V, and even a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT. The slightly less exotic Touring Car class features fun cars like the Mazda6, Mazda3 and RX-8, Dodge Neon SRT-4, Acura TSX and Integra Type R, BMW 325 and 328i, Scion tC, Honda Civic Si, Ford Focus, Subaru WRX and Legacy, Lexus IS300, and even a Volkswagen Jetta TDI.
As is the case with most racing these days, the series and event titles are longer than the tracks they race on, but we're willing to type it all out here for those who want to know what happened in the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Championship Presented by Toyo Tires season finishing Applied Computer Solutions Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Bondurant at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. That's quite a mouthful, but there's even more to the story. Follow the jump to read all about this, the final race to determine the championship. You'll find a full report as well as the complete results for the race and the final points standings for all of the drivers and teams that competed in Speed World Challenge this season.
Mitsubishi finally posted pricing information on its new top-of-the-Evolution-ary-chart MR Touring model, and it definitely isn't cheap. A bargain to some maybe, but definitely not cheap. We had first seen this uplevel MR at a local car gathering that seems to attract just about every bit of new enthusiast candy, but back then, they were referring to it as the Limited. Now, it's called the MR Touring and with a base MSRP of $40,990, the top dog Lancer finally cracks the 40K barrier, pushing the definition of "bargain." If you go Sharpie-mad and check every box on the order form, the bottom line might make you think you're actually at an Audi dealer. The full boat 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR Touring would retail for – wait for it – $52,728. Yep, a fifty-plus-thousand-dollar-Lancer. (Editor's note: After checking over the list again, we see that some of the options are indeed redundant. Best we can tell, a Touring would run around $47,000, tops. Still quite a hefty sum though.)
For all those greenbacks, however, you'll get a wonderfully chuckable, largely-aluminum-bodied supersedan with a 291-horsepower turbo four-cylinder, a paddle-shifted dual clutch six-speed transmission, Brembo brakes, 18-inch BBS wheels wrapped in sticky Yokohama Advans, all working through Mitsubishi's Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) all-wheel-drive system to propel you along in any conditions on virtually any surface at alarming speeds. But all of that could be said for the regular Evo as well. So what makes the Touring so dear?
What the Touring adds are creature comforts that make the 40-grand price tag potentially less alarming, turning the car into something that can genuinely be cross-shopped against BMW, Audi, Mercedes and the like with few excuses. It's an Evo for grown-ups.
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Just as wounds from the Pontiac G8 being ripped from us are beginning to scar over, HSV has torn them open anew by revealing version 2.0 of its Commodore-based E Series lineup. It's facelifts all around for the gang of Aussie stoplight brawlers, four of which – The GTS, Maloo R8, ClubSport R8 and ClubSport R8 Tourer – even get the erstwhile Poncho's twin-scoop hood. The more luxurious Senator Signature and long-wheelbase Grange models have smooth hoods and less overall ornamentation. Either one would have made a sublime performance Buick, but oh well...
The most extreme looker of the bunch is the range-topping HSV GTS (front and center), which rocks a vicious Fu-Manchu blackout treatment on its new front fascia. All of the cars get new wheels, LED running lights, and new treatments out back as well. Every HSV machine also has an LS3 V8 pumping out 317 kW (425 hp), except the GTS – its LS3 makes 325 kW (435 hp). To further drive home the point, 317 or 325 badging is prominently displayed on the back of the GTS, Maloo, and the two ClubSports so that other drivers have a better understanding of why their doors just got blown off. The Corvette's new launch control system is on every manual gearbox-equipped car, and a manual is standard equipment on all of them but the Grange, which is only sold with a six-speed auto. Finally, new "SV Enhanced" options such as upgraded wheels, bi-modal exhaust, and, in the case of the GTS, 6-pot front brakes let drivers trick things out even further.
It's basically a massive laundry list of good stuff we'll probably never ever see in the U.S. now that GM leadership has put a bullet into the whole North American Zeta sedan idea once and for all. Obviously, this rots. Follow the jump for the official HSV press release and have a gander at the new cars in the gallery below. The photos are all labeled so you know which car is which. That way you'll know precisely what it is that we're missing out on.
Race cars are usually designed one of two ways. Either a company's engineers take an existing road car and adapt it towards racing (as with most touring, GT racing and rally cars, for example) or they start with a clean sheet of paper and design a race car from the ground up (as they do for Formula One and Le Mans prototypes). Ginetta appears to be taking a different approach, however. The British sportscar manufacturer has announced the development of a new product, dubbed G40, to slot below the G50 in its road car lineup – but there's a competition-spec model planned right from the start.
Few details have been released on the G40's specifications, but Ginetta does say that it will be powered by a 1.8-liter Ford Zetec inline-four and should weigh in at about 850 kg (1874 pounds), pack two seats and exceed FIA regulations for crashworthiness.
On the track, the G40 will be used in the Ginetta Junior Championship – a British one-make racing series for racers between the ages of 14 and 17, currently campaigned with purpose-built Ginetta Juniors in support races for the British Touring Car Championship. The G40 could also be made ready for GT4 racing as well.
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My my, this is embarrassing. During a full course yellow, Jonathan Adam is all set to get interviewed when KA-BLAMO! – the fire suppression system in his WTCC BTCC BMW 320si goes haywire, dousing him with loads of sticky goop. It isn't immediately clear if Adam inadvertently triggered the safety system himself, or if the foamy shower was visited upon him thanks to a mechanical defect.
One of the featured groups of cars for Pebble Beach were a number of influential Ferrari models, and perhaps none were more so than the 166 MM Barchetta. Nicknamed the "Little Boat," the 166 MM was one of Enzo's very first race cars, and it put Ferrari on the map both as a race team and as a manufacturer.
The 166 MM featured a 2.00liter V12 underneath its long bonnet that produced 140 horsepower and 117 lb-ft torque. However, at just over 1400 pounds, it was quite formidable on the track. The 166 MM scored historic victories at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans and at the 1949 Mille Miglia (which gave it its name). Just 25 were produced in the late 1940s, and as only Pebble Beach can do, ten examples were on display on the 18th fairway.
Most F1 drivers fall off the map once they leave the pinnacle of motorsports, but they have to go somewhere. In Johnny Herbert's case, that somewhere has been sportscar racing. The former Grand Prix and Le Mans winner retired from Formula One in 2000 after driving for such teams as Benetton, Lotus, Sauber and Jaguar. He's since raced for Aston Martin and Audi at Le Mans and in the American Le Mans Series, but after the Speedcar Series that he won last year shut down, the accomplished pilot was left without a ride. According to sources, Herbert will shortly announce his move to the British Touring Car Championship with Team Dynamics, the outfit that won the series titles in 2005 and 2006. Johnny showed up at Goodwood this year to drive up the hill in one of the team's Honda Civic touring cars (pictured at right), fueling speculation of his selection to replace James Thompson, who is increasing his activities in the World Touring Car Championship as well as Denmark's and the V8 Supercars series in Australia. Herbert could be in Thompson's seat as early as the Silverstone BTCC race later this month in advance of a full-time drive for next season.
If the Hyundai Elantra Touring is singing your song, the music just got quite a bit better. The Korean automaker has announced a price reduction on the 2010 base model to the tune of $1,800. The 2009 Elantra Touring, a compact five-door hatchback, sat in showrooms with a base price of $18,520 (all prices include the $720 shipping charge) while the 2010 model rolls in wearing a much more pleasing $16,715 sticker this fall. The 2010 model will also be available in three trim levels: GLS with a 5-speed manual ($16,715), GLS with a 4-speed automatic ($17,915), and SE with a 5-speed manual ($19,715). All models hum along with the same 2.0-liter, inline 4-cylinder engine (rated at 138 hp and 136 lb-ft of torque) sending power to the front wheels. The base GLS models are fitted with standard stability control and a 172-watt sound system with Satellite Radio and iPod/USB jacks. For its extra C-notes, the SE model turns up the music with a standard sunroof, heated front seats, B&M Racing short-throw shifter, and 17-inch alloy wheels with more aggressive tires. We've reviewed a 2009 Elantra Touring with the automatic and found it way too soft to be a fun daily commuter. Hyundai then loaned us a model with the 5-speed manual, 17-inch wheels and short-throw shifter, which you'll soon be able to read about in an updated review. Short story: If you care about how your car drives, go for the SE with the larger wheels.
