Spyker to build lightweight race-derived C8 LM 85

Take your exotic sports car and put it in a room with its racing counterpart. Put on some R&B, dim the lights and wait nine months. It's a winning formula that has worked for some of the world's best automakers and resulted in such stunning performance vehicles as the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Aston Martin DBS and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, to name just a few. Now Spyker is getting ready to cue up the Barry White with the upcoming LM 85.Named for the starting position of the Spyker C8 GTR2 racer at Le Mans, the LM 85 will be the latest race-derived, hardcore exotic sportscar. It will be based on the short-wheelbase C8 Laviolette, but lightened and tightened. Power could be as high as 450 horses, while the suspension is expected to be stiffened and weight removed to get a 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) figure near 3.8 seconds and top speed bumping the 300 km/h (186 mph) mark. Only a highly symbolic 24 examples are expected to be built in an effort to bring the niche Dutch automaker back from the brink.

[ Via: Motor Authority ]
[ Tag: lm 85,Lm85,spyker,spyker c8,spyker c8 laviolette,spyker c8 lm 85,SpykerC8,SpykerC8Laviolette,SpykerC8Lm85 ]

Spyker CEO steps down, F1 team could be on the block

Well, that was short-lived. Spyker announced yesterday that after the negative publicity surrounding the exotic automaker's credit worthiness, combined with its aim of staying afloat in the future, it may consider selling a portion, and possibly all, of its Formula One team.
Spyker's CEO, Michiel Mol, is currently contemplating buying the team, and as such, will be stepping down in order to avoid a conflict of interest. The company's vice-chairman, Hans Hugenholtz, will be taking the reigns as the acting CEO until a replacement for Mol is found.
The move comes as Spyker works to refinance its operational expenses, and although the automaker isn't keen on releasing all the details of the restructuring, you can find more information at their website, here.

[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: f1,formula 1,formula one,Formula1,FormulaOne,hans hugenholtz,HansHugenholtz,michiel mol,MichielMol,spyker ]