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German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News
Published on 07-23-2011 02:54 AM
We know the Audi Q6 coming. One of the reasons that Audi will be opening a USA plant is due to the Q6. The car will likely share the Cayenne platform which it will borrow heavily from. Audi simply is not content sitting around and allowing BMW to have the market all to itself with the X6 in the "coupe" style SUV segment. We will be seeing many more models like this from Audi and even possibly a Q4 as they continue their determined march toward taking the top luxury sport from BMW. ...Published on 07-22-2011 03:59 AM
BMW announced it will offer a $550 performance edition option for the E90 3 series a few weeks ago. The E82 135i will be getting this same package which only makes sense. The same BMW performance software is available for the 135i just like the 335i. Along with the power gain of 20 horses on the N55 turbo six cylinder, black kidney grills come with the package as well along with some badges. It is also available as a retrofit for N55 cars. ...Published on 07-22-2011 03:19 AM
Yes, the Mercedes SLS roadster is one hot ride. Here is a bit of a refresher from the official reveal. The car has the same drivetrain as the coupe with the exact same transmission and motor, no changes. The folding soft top adds only a 40 kilogram weight penalty. Mercedes juxtaposes the coupe against the convertible in the video for some very cool footage, hard to decide which one to like more.
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Published on 07-22-2011 03:04 AM
This is rather interesting. Schumacher has been criticized heavily in his comeback as he is not performing as expected and outperformed routinely by 26 year old teammate Nico Rosberg. Schumacher is under contract for 3 years total which means he has another year if he wants it. The comments from Mercedes GP president Ross Brawn are a bit troubling though as he stated, "He has a three-year contract with Mercedes, and we are very happy with him. But if he feels that he doesn't want to do it anymore, then we need to talk about it. You can't force somebody to do something." We have no idea where those comments came from but perhaps Schumacher has lost some heart? Something definitely isn't right at Mercedes GP as Brawn also stated, "Perhaps the situation would be a little easier for Michael if he had a teammate who was not so incredibly strong. But both can learn many things from each other, and everyone is up to the challenge.”
...Published on 07-22-2011 02:45 AM
EPL (European Performance Labs) in conjunction with Heffner performance has released a HPFP (high pressure fuel pump) upgrade for Audi R8 4.2 V8. As you should know, the R8 4.2 is direct injected. Direct injected cars have some difficulty upgrading their fueling but EPL has figured out a solution for the R8. EPL ECU tuning combined with two upgraded fuel pumps allow the Heffner R8 V8 twin turbo to now hit 8.5 psi no longer being fuel starved. This provided an additional 50 horsepower at the wheels. ...Published on 07-21-2011 02:00 PM
Call it whatever you want, but Porsche Design has created one nice smoking apparatus. Porsche Design does a lot of varied things from luggage, to watches, to shoes, to clothing; quite a diverse lineup. We did not realize how diverse until they released this pipe. The device is two feet tall and uses aluminum and tecflex which is a long flexible material (plastic). Unfortunately, this is only available at the Porsche Design store in London at first but will spread to other stores later. Somebody at Porsche had to be smoking something when they came up with this. ...Published on 07-21-2011 06:53 AM
Well, the rumors about the new naturally aspirated 5.5 liter were true. The SLK55 will be getting an M157 5.5 liter variant but it will be missing the twin turbos. Bummer? We think so, but we all know the reason for it. The SLK with the twin turbo V8 would have simply stomped everything else in the lineup silly so this move is really to protect the other cars. A detuned twin turbo motor that could be uncorked similar to how the detuned C63 can be opened up with a tune is what we would want but this should still be a good amount of power. ...Published on 07-21-2011 05:40 AM
Well, the low 11 second runs keep coming from upgraded turbo N54's which means 10's are just around the corner. First, congratulations to OldBooster who did this run on the upgraged turbo only, no nitrous. It is also important to note that this run was done in pretty poor conditions as it was hot out. Track temps were around 110 and humidity was 90+. Mods on the car are a dual CM10 meth setup, JB4 running map 6, drag radials, and of course the Rob Beck upgraded turbos. Will be great to see what happens in cooler weather.
...Published on 07-21-2011 02:44 AM
We know Protomotive does some great work modifying 911 turbos. We saw one absolutely destroy a Switzer R911 not too long ago. Well, these dyno sheets should show you why some of the Protomotive cars are so strong. These sheets were sent to us from overseas and we agreed to black out the name on the sheets to protect the owners privacy. The car is a 3.8 liter 997 Turbo that was run by Todd K on the dyno in 5th gear with the torque slightly lowered since 4th gear was exceeding the dyno torque limiter. The pump gas dyno is at 1.1-1.2 bar putting down 748 at the wheels and the very impressive race gas pull shows 1132 AWHP at 2.0 bar which is not even max boost. This is a stupid amount of power, VERY impressive. ...Published on 07-21-2011 12:13 AM
You should know by now the A5 got a facelift. It isn't coming to the USA yet (it will eventually) only to Europe first but that should not stop us from getting an idea of all the changes. This video does a good overview highlighting all the changes showing an angle of the previous model and then the same angle with the facelifted model. The new design is definitely a step up all the way around. ...Published on 07-20-2011 07:31 AM
Always good to see these kind of comparison videos. We like real world, head to head, results. The camera car is a 2011 C63 AMG that has Gintani headers and OE Tuning Stage 2 ECU tune. The other C63 features MBH headers and an ASGC Stage 2 tune. Both cars are on 91 octane pump gas. There are several runs mostly from low speeds. The runs all have the OE Tuning car pulling quite hard. We aren't sure why the disparity is quite so large but great to see a real world comparison.
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Published on 07-20-2011 06:14 AM
Most Americans do not realize that BMW did in fact produce an E30 M3 convertible. They produced 786 to be exact, none of which were imported to the USA. Yes, BMW has been screwing their American fans over for some time now, not just a recent pattern with the CSL, GTS, and CRT. Regardless, this original car imported to California is up on Ebay and already up to just under $40,000 with 4 days left. If you have ever wanted an original E30 M3 Cabrio, now is your chance.
...Published on 07-20-2011 02:21 AM
Eibach has released their "pro-kit" lowering springs for the new 6 series convertible. These lower the car by 30 millimeters. The springs are TUV certified and Eibach claims they use the same material for these springs as they do for the springs they make used in Formula 1. Spacers are also available in a variety of sizes. If you are wondering why the convertible is getting springs before the coupe, it is because the coupe (F12) is not yet for sale in the USA. ...Published on 07-19-2011 03:42 PM
Hopefully you remember the Audi R8 V12 TDI concept. If not, here is a quick refresher. Audi put a 6.0 liter twin turbo V12 in the R8 as a link to its R10 Le Mans race car. They never built it, but it seems someone has attempted to do the swap themselves. Or at least that is how it appeared. These pictures were posted around the web but turns out it was just a big hoax. Kind of mean to play with enthusiasts that way. Oh well, we can keep dreaming but at least this has gotten people thinking about an R8 with a big diesel again.
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Published on 07-19-2011 01:41 PM
This is a new video from Porsche showing the 991 undergoing hot weather testing in South Africa. There are a few shots of the new 991 turbo included as well. By now, everyone know the car will have a 7 speed manual, be lighter, and offer up to 15% fuel economy savings while being more powerful. Ancitipation for this car is definitely growing and Porsche is doing a good job building up the suspense for the official reveal. Check out the video an don't be surprised when it makes you feel like you want one. ...Published on 07-19-2011 03:43 AM
Now, to begin we just want to say we would paint the pieces and not leave the car like this. But, what this scheme does for us is show off pretty well the pieces that Renntech changes with their widebody C63 kit. Yes, it's aggressive but not overboard. The carbon pieces really make the car look mean and flow well. This car has the rear diffuser in carbon fiber along with the front and rear widebody pieces. RennTech states the widebody package starts at $3,750 but realistically you are looking at $15k to replicate this with the full array of widebody pieces. ...Published on 07-18-2011 07:49 AM
Remember the story we brought you about the 15 finalists who would compete to win a real life Mercedes SLS AMG? Well, the contest is over and a 24 year old Spanish student by the name of Marco Calvo was the winner. The 15 competitors were under the instruction of former DTM driver Bern Schneider as well was David Coulthard (former Mercedes F1 driver and current DTM driver). Marco beat out the other 14 drivers and gets to take home an SLS AMG. Kids, lesson to learn is don't listen to your parents when they say playing video games does not pay off. ...Published on 07-18-2011 07:02 AM
With BMW set to enter the DTM fray with their M3 Audi is responding by preparing their A5 concept race car. The car is known internally as the 'R17' race car. It will feature a high-strength carbon-fiber monocoque combined with a steel tube cage. There will be other changes for 2012 to meet new regulations such as a larger rear wing and other aerodynamics changes. The 4.0 liter V8 and 6-speed transmission will be lifted from the A4 unchanged. This car will race in the 2012 season and will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September. ...Published on 07-18-2011 04:16 AM
Chevy continues their dominance in the WTCC in their FWD Chevy Cruze winning both Race 1 and Race 2 to take a large lead in the manufacturer's championship. Tom Coronel did well taking the pole for Race 2 but finished in 4th place in both races. He picked up some great points. The racing was interesting as you can see in the video but when the rain came down the FWD's had an advantage according to Tom. Regardless, Chevy seems to be running away with this series. ...Published on 07-18-2011 01:42 AM
The Cayman R in stock form is fairly potent putting out 330 horsepower from a 3.4 liter motor with 12.5:1 compression. That is just under 100 horsepower per liter from a fairly small and high strung naturally aspirated motor. Squeezing out more power is not easy but EVOMS was able to get gains of 16 horsepower and 14 pound-feet of torque at peak. Through the curve, they were able to pick up 20 horsepower in the mid range. ...
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