German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

Recently, Prior Design released a "teaser" of their upcoming 6 series bodykit. Now, Prior Design has no real photos of their body kit so they released a rendering. A rendering they have stolen from BimmerBoost and our designer Wild-Speed. Pictures below prove that Prior Design has taken our photos without permission and edited them. Please look at the front and rear of the car as well as the reflection in the windows and the sides to substantiate this. ...

With all the discussion on the CPS offsetting lately, I have been delving deeper into this topic and contacting various tuners to get to the bottom of it. Now, we all know the Procede has had and still has misfire problems and the JB has not had this problem. As I have learned more about the impact of this system I have spoken to a couple tuners who pointed me in the right direction. ...

Weistec has released CNC ported heads for the Mercedes M156 6.2 liter V8 engine. Weistec claims this is the first head solution although we believe MHP had an option available first. Regardless, claim is a 40-50 horse gain on naturally aspirated motors and 70-80 on supercharged motors. No dynos released but flow charts are below. ...

Akrapovic has released their titanium X6 M system. This is a full cat back exhaust that is also full titanium which saves 51 pounds vs. the stock exhaust. Two exhaust tip options are available, carbon and titanium, both measuring 100 mm. Power gains are 11 horsepower. See specs and dyno below. ...

Chevrolet released this video touting how they have to turn down the power in their car to go racing in ALMS against Porsche, BMW, and Ferrari. Yes, the ZR-1 is a powerful car but what is with the cheap shot Chevy? Your ALMS motor is based on the Z06, not the ZR-1. Secondly, didn't BMW beat you last year with less displacement and start off this year winning Sebring in 1st and 2nd? Maybe you need the extra power. ...

The German publication Auto Motor Und Sport has voted Brabus to be the best tuner for the 6th straight year. There be a bit of German bias involved but there is no denying that Brabus is a tuner on a whole different level and truly one of the best. Brabus cars are almost OEM in the way they drive and that is likely due to the close relationship they have with Mercedes. Brabus is the world's largest independent tuner and we congratulate them. ...

HPA will be offering a run of 20 serialized turbo kits for 3.2 liter VR6 motors. This will fit the following applications: 2004 and 2008 R32, 04-05 TT, 08-09 TT, 06-09 A3. The basic package will offer around 400 horsepower but can be configured to over 500 horsepower if desired. The HPA Motorsports 20th Anniverssary turbo package will be priced at $9,999, specs below. ...

Prodigymb took his friends ESS supercharged M3 to the drag strip and ran the first 11 second pass for a manual M3 that we know of turning an 11.9@118 mph. Congratulations for running 11's but the car seems to be down on power and has been from the beginning. This is a VT-2 600 with full exhaust and a higher boost pulley so we don't know why the dyno numbers are not over 500 whp. Regardless, congrats to the parties involved for being the first manual to run 11's. ...

Well you knew after AC Schnitzer it would not be long for Hamann to follow suit. The difference is Hamann dropped the car on their springs which gives it a much more aggressive stance. Three sets of wheels are available for the new 6 series which are pictured below. The quad tips look very nice as well. ...

Hartge has released what they call a lightweight Ultima 23 inch wheel for the X5 and X6. How lightweight? Well, they weigh about 34 pounds which for a 23 inch is not too bad. Not really too great either so not sure why Hartge calls it lightweight. The front wheel is 11x23 fitting a 315/25/23 tire and the rear is a 12x23. It is available and three finishes and also in a 19 inch size for BMW cars and the 19 weighs 26 pounds. ...

The C63 Black Series was spotted testing again. As you can see, it is the sedan being tested. Rumor is that there will be two Black Series versions, a coupe and a sedan. What about the motor? Reports are leaning toward the M156 V8 already in the C63 with a higher state of tune around 510 horsepower but the twin turbo M157 V8 is still a possibility. We hope for the latter but there seems to be a split on which motor it will get. ...

This car seems to be nearing completion. From the last spy pictures you saw, the front fascia seems to have undergone a change. The motor is the same as previously reported with a 4.0 liter turbo V8 shared with the Bentley Continental GT that is putting out 420 horsepower. Official reveal should be soon. ...

Congratulations to Audi. This is pretty cool, seems there is a Motorsport Engine of the year award. An International panel of over 50 judges selected the Audi turbo diesel V10 as the best Engine in Motorsport. This motor is now retired, seeing its last action at the 2011 Sebring 24 Hours. For those unfamiliar with the motor, it is a 5.5 liter twin turbo V12 diesel producing around 700 horsepower and well deserving of this award. Congrats to Audi! ...

After a long focus of power mods on my car, I have been playing some catch up on my cosmetic mods. Carbon fiber mods have always been a favorite of mine because of the combination of weight loss and slick looks of the parts. I added a Duke Dynamics carbon fiber hood recently and I knew a trunk would be following shortly after. I searched for along time to find what I felt was a good mix of price and quality because to be honest, I will not sacrifice quality for price. ...

Ok, so you you all know Tom Coronel finished 2nd in the second race of the season. What you may not know is the guy is pretty funny and he gives an inside look into what racing in the WTCC is like in this vid. The video is subtitled in English and worth checking out, if only to watch the grid girls in action. ...

Audi believed it would win the Sebring 12 hours but things did not exactly go that way. Early in the race, the #1 car suffered two punctures in quick succession. The second car suffered a collision which ended its chances at taking the win (video below). Team racing Boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich stated, "Today we had the performance to get on the highest spot of the podium. But unfortunately we had problems with both cars we could not really influence. The team afterwards simply tried to make the best of it." ...

Mercedes released two new videos of the C63 AMG in action. The first video is a pretty standard overview telling you when the car will be available and the specs. The second video is titled "Driving Pleasure" and is a short little film showing the C63 AMG Coupe going up against a Bike in a friendly race. Click to see the videos. ...

Finishing second in the second race, Dutch BMW racing driver Tom Coronel ended up on the podium during the opening weekend of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). In the first race in Brazil, Coronel finished fourth. In the second race, he had a great start leading much of the way, but finished second behind Alain Menu. The 38-year old Dutch driver, who had his first races with the BMW 320 TC with the new 1.6 litre turbocharged engine, stated, “These are the results that give ROAL Motorsport, BMW and myself the confidence that we need for the races to come. The next event will be at the circuit of Zolder in Belgium next month. These are my home races in this championship.” ...

The Daimler corporation announced today it will provide two million Euros to aid Japan in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake and tsunami. The Chairman of the Daimler managing board Dr. Zetsche stated the following, "The consequences of the earthquake in Japan are still hard to comprehend. This is all the more reason for us to demonstrate our active solidarity with the people affected by making this donation." We want to thank Daimler AG for their generosity. ...