2007 Lotus 2-Eleven

BY DAVE VANDERWERP,

In a fad that appears to be gaining traction, Lotus unveiled a more-powerful, roofless track-day version of its already extreme Exige S two-seat sports car.

Lotus says its new track treat was “designed with the most serious of track-day enthusiasts in mind.” That seems a bit of an understatement, and a description that applies equally well to the company’s regular-production Exige S, a car that’s already too much for some of our staff.

At any rate, the 220-hp supercharged-and-intercooled 1.8-liter engine from the Exige S has been cranked to 252 horsepower in the 2-Eleven. That additional power goes even further with new, ultralight bodywork that contributes to a claimed 600-pound decrease in weight over the 2060-pound Exige S on which the 2-Eleven is based. The 2-Eleven’s power-to-weight ratio of 5.9 pounds per horsepower eclipses that of a Corvette Z06 and approaches that of a 1960s Formula 1 car, according to Lotus. The six-speed manual from the Exige S remains.

To make the most of available grip, the 2-Eleven sports even more extreme Yokohama A048R tires in the same 195/50R-16 front and 225/45R-17 rear sizes as on the Exige S. Upgraded Pagid pads grip the same 11.3-inch cross-drilled rotors front and rear. Adjustable dampers and an adjustable front anti-roll bar (part of the Exige S’s track pack) round out the chassis tweaks.

Lotus claims the 2-Eleven will now blast to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, which is a 0.3-second improvement over the last Exige S we tested.

Two 2-Elevens will be on sale—one of which will be able to be licensed for public-road use—in the U.K. in April, with prices starting at just over $78,000.

Will we get the 2-Eleven here? Not bloody likely.

Lamborghini Reventón

Lamborghini’s new jetfighter-inspired supercar has finally broken cover and we can now reveal that the €1 million supercar will be called the ‘Reventón.’ The car will be manufactured in a limited run of just 20 copies and is powered by a 650hp 6.5L V12 engine. Peak torque stands at 660Nm and drive is sent through the permanent Viscous Traction AWD system via Lamborghini’s e-gear transmission. As in the original Murciélago LP640, the Reventon accelerates from 0-100 km/h in just 3.4 seconds and has a maximum speed of over 340km/h.

Though based on the Murciélago LP640, the new Reventón features a new body and an army green interior. Carbon-fiber is used extensively for the body with the panels glued and riveted to a chassis, which blends both composite materials and steel in its construction. The front is characterized by the acute angle of the central ‘arrow’ nose cone, which is flanked by the forward-facing air intakes.

The engine hood is made from glass laminate and features a marked arrow angle. Other unique details include the fuel-cap, which is milled from a solid aluminum block. Up front, the Reventón uses seven LED for the daytime running lights and another nine for the indicators.

2008 Bugatti 16.4 Veyron

BY CSABA CSERE,

When you're ripping along at 253 mph, your mind is not drifting aimlessly. Your senses are cranked up to full volume to detect any hint of impending catastrophe in the maelstrom of wind rush, tire thrum, mechanical thrash, and exhaust roar that surrounds you.















Is that slight shift in the whistling wind caused by a body panel coming loose? Does that vague vibration signal a tire starting to delaminate? Does that subtle new mechanical whine presage a failing bearing that's about to lock up the powertrain?

No such problem developed on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, because it is not a half-baked aftermarket or boutique road burner. It is a production car developed and tested to the standards of Volkswagen, Bugatti's parent company. With a top speed of 253 mph, it is also the fastest production car ever built.
















Production, of course, is a relative term. In the case of the Veyron, Bugatti plans to build only about 50 cars a year at a price of €1 million, which is about $1,250,000 as this is written. To this rarefied market Bugatti has brought an unusual level of sophistication and engineering necessitated by the promise of 1001 metric horsepower (or 987 American horses) and a top speed of 252 mph, a pledge from former VW boss Ferdinand Piëch when he unveiled the production-intent Veyron at the 2001 Geneva auto show.

Achieving 1000 horsepower in a racing engine is one thing, but to do so in a reliable, refined, durable, and emissions-legal configuration is much harder. The energizer in the Veyron is a WR16 displacing 7998cc and turbocharged with 15.8 psi of boost. You can think of it as two Passat WR8 engines put together and pumped up by four turbos.














But the Bugatti engine has more cylinders, more displacement, more power per liter, and more output overall than any other engine in the WR family tree. When I ask Bugatti development boss Wolfgang Schreiber to explain how the same engine can be rated at 1001 SAE net horsepower at 6000 rpm for the U.S. but only 987 horsepower (1001 PS) for Europe, he laughs, saying, "The production engines are all putting out between 1020 and 1040 PS—enough to cover both promises."















The engine's torque peak is equally mighty at 922 pound-feet, developed between 2200 and 5500 rpm. The four small turbos minimize throttle lag, and the 9.3:1 compression ratio ensures reasonable torque even before boost develops.

All that twist required a dedicated transmission. The Veyron gets a King Kong seven-speed version of VW's twin-clutch gearbox, called DSG. Like the DSG available in the Audi TT, it operates with an automatic mode or a full manual mode via paddle shifters. Because gearchanges occur with one clutch disengaging as the other engages, shifts are uniformly smooth and swift.

With about as much engine output as two Corvette Z06 V-8s, it's no surprise that Bugatti engineers decided to go with all-wheel drive. We don't have many details about the driveline, but the front-to-rear torque split is automatically adjusted to suit dynamic conditions and can range from 100 to 0 percent at either end.

An engine—particularly a turbocharged one—that develops four-digit power throws off more heat than a dozen pizza ovens. Consequently, in the nose of the Veyron are three coolant radiators, one heat exchanger for the twin air-to-liquid intercoolers, and two air-conditioning condensers. There are also transmission and differential oil coolers on the right side and a large engine-oil cooler in the left-side air intake. To help heat escape from the engine compartment, the big WR16 sits in the open, enclosed by no cover of any kind. This powertrain propels the 4300-pound Veyron as effortlessly and gracefully as Tiger Woods belts a 300-yard drive.

















My experience with the car took place at Ehra-Lessien in Germany, Volkswagen's test track and high-speed theme park not far from VW headquarters in Wolfsburg. At least it will soon become a theme park because Bugatti plans to let Veyron owners bring their cars to this 13.0-mile circuit to explore the top speed of their cars. In addition to finding out how fast the Veyron can go, I was a guinea pig for this ultimate high-speed thrill ride.

2008 Nissan Skyline GTR

Japanese automakers are notoriously tightlipped about future products, but the veil of secrecy over the next-generation Nissan Skyline GT-R has been nothing short of amazing. Thus, at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, there was a huge air of expectancy and a real buzz on the Nissan stand prior to the introduction of the Nissan GT-R Proto. In Japan, the Skyline is gearhead manna, so the car had been written about, talked about, and fantasized about for months leading up to the show.

The Proto didn't disappoint. Although hardly a car at all-there is no running gear and no interior-it is the second big clue as to what the upcoming, 2008 model Skyline will look like, following the GT-R Concept that was seen at the same show four years ago. The Proto packs real power and presence while still managing to be quintessentially and unmistakably Japanese.

The show car rides on 255/40R-20 Bridgestone tires up front, with 285/35R-20s at the rear. It looks bigger and broader than the R34 Skyline GT-R, the last of the straight-six-powered, twin-turbo four-wheel-drive GT-Rs made between 1989 and 2002. Although the R34 fueled the modern GT-R cult, it was derived, like all Skylines, from a sedan. The new GT-R will be the first to stand alone as a model in its own right.

It will also be the first time that Nissan has officially imported the Skyline into the United States, so the company needs the car to live up to the hype that has been built around it. The Skyline GT-R, as well as being a star of video games, was hugely successful in racing and was a one-time holder of the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for production cars, a feat which has become a sort of holy grail for performance-car manufacturers.
To that end, the rumor mill in Japan says that the production GT-R will have a front-mounted, twin-turbo, 3.8-liter V-6 engine that's a development of the 350Z's unit. Nissan's original plan to do a V-8 has been axed because the engine is too big and heavy to provide the dynamic balance the engineers want. The V-6 will reputedly produce 450 hp and 370 lb-ft of torque. The power will be sent to all four wheels via a seven-speed transmission. The all-wheel-drive system will feature a development of the GT-R's famed, torque-sensing, electronic ATTESA E-TS, matched to four-wheel steering.

We've heard that the 2008 GT-R will be an inch shorter, an inch lower, and three inches wider than today's G35 coupe, thus putting a much broader footprint on the road. One reason for this latest GT-R taking so long to reach fruition has been the decision to base the car off a totally new platform, likely the successor to the FM platform that underpins the Nissan 350Z and the Infiniti G35 and FX35/45. Nissan is apparently aiming for a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.8 seconds, with a top speed north of 180 mph.

One thing is for sure, though. The GT-R is going to look great, and Nissan is confident that it will be a rival to the Porsche 911 Turbo, for the same sort of money as a Porsche 911 Carrera. There's some debate inside the company whether it will be called a Nissan-which makes sense, bearing in mind the heritage-or an Infiniti, which also has merit, in light of this being the most expensive car Nissan will have sold in America. Whatever it's called, we reckon that, if it has the kind of searing performance and soul of the last generation, it will be worth its rumored $70,000 or so asking price.