BMW X5 Driving force Coaching in Namibia, Africa - Safari, Thus Good

Though we have a tendency to pull onto the highway away up from Windhoek, Namibia, the first car which passes the taxi is the legal red Honda S2000. My taxi driver scrupulously obeys the speed prohibit, plus we're soon passed after added, about that duration by a black BMW M3 convertible. Then a closer M3 convertible is going past. The dueling M3s tend to be soon forced to slow down as a crowd of baboons crosses the highway. BMWs negotiating a baboon chicane: Welcome to Africa! I constructed a mindful decision to bypass finding out something concerning Namibia prior to coming back these, therefore the Bimmers and the ultimate primates are both a surprise. Generally you wish to have to organize for a visit by finding out up as to your destination, less than the simplest way mostly does one purchase a big gamble to head to a location about which you suffer from zero preconceptions? Therefore here is what I carry out be familiar allowing for about Namibia: It possesses on the west coast of Africa, the subsequent country up from South Africa. Its currency is the Namibian dollar, which explains currently known because the NAD, and one U.S. dollar equals an
spectacular 7.5 NADs. Ultimately, BMW holds its X5 Driver Training program readily available. The overall factor is the explanation that i am in a awfully taxi in Africa listening to a local-dialect talk-radio display that sounds sort of a ping-pong match overdubbed together with a lip-smacking competition. The X5 Driver Training program is BMW's approach of showcasing the X5's off-road talents, which is to claim that it's BMW's way of showcasing therefore the X5 has a bunch of off-road abilities. Journeys are held several times a year and are open to any or all one who has more or fewer $5500 and a keen desire to spend regarding week abusing X5s in Africa. Once i arrive at our base camp, the Okapuka Ranch, I attain that I am the go back on one to arrive and therefore attain last dibs selecting a vehicle. Whereas there are simply a V-8-powered X5s and twin-turbo-diesel X5s, I wind up with a single-turbo diesel. Boo. Neatly, how briskly are you in a position to also go in Africa, anyway? I suppose that the single-turbo's 235 hp ought to be acceptable. But you are aware what they assert about assumptions: once you suppose, you ultimately get stuck throughout the sand dunes in Namib-Naukluft National Park for the reason why that your single-turbo X5 can now not pull second gear uphill with the tires aired down. But that is obtaining ahead of the story. Once we gather 'round the battlewagons the next morning, I locate that our cluster is divided between ten or so adventure-minded German tourists and the four American citizens of Team Automobile.
Photographer John Roe and that i are joined by video producer John Jones his production assistant, Kerry. Jones and Kerry have a fascinating professional dynamic, owing to the undeniable indisputable reality that they are already married. Over the course of the week, our route is enough to take u. s. from Okapuka west to the ocean, then north and inland in a broad loop that would at last return back us to our place to begin. My right-hand-drive X5 has Fourteen,000 kilometers on the odometer, and I ask yourself Frank Isenberg, head of the BMW Driver Training programs, how long it has been in Africa. "Three years," he replies. All of these SUVs have been on this tour of duty because the revised X5 rolled out. Parking sensors dangle uselessly from bumpers. Rocker panels have been rocked. A crack meanders across my BMW's windshield.
Inside, the iDrive screen flashes a succession of alarming messages - "4x4 system and DSC failed!" "No warnings from Park Distance Management." "Active guidance inactive." Does that cause it just "steering"? "We've programmed the screen to demonstrate you both and every potential error message," says Isenberg. He is joking, the majority of likely. Isenberg is in charge of the BMW crew, but the guide/Sherpa/fixer for the group at large is a fellow named Tim, a.k.a. Crazy Timmy. His circle of relatives owns the Okapuka Ranch, and his dad appearance as if Ernest Hemingway. Tim never wears shoes and casually tells stories about riding sharks.
Do not let your girlfriend meet Crazy Timmy if you ever again need her or her to assume that you are cool. We exit the ranch and head for the east/west thoroughfare that will take us to the Atlantic. Nowadays is a distance drive, a couple hundred miles. The line is empty of traffic, so our string of X5s has no problem maintaining a very simple Eighty to Ninety mph. Which would possibly be uninteresting except for the fact that there isn't any pavement. Nonetheless doing 90 mph on dirt virtually appears reasonable until we drop back to a dry riverbed and launch of the it favor a Baja trophy truck dropped into a Bouncy Castle. Even once we are not checking out the boundaries of its bump stops, the X5 squirms and floats on the loose gravel, dancing between the trench and the oncoming lane. That it takes constant corrections to drive this speedy, but it looks additionally fantastically entertaining. At one purpose I hit One hundred five mph, and I reflect that perhaps it is a great thing that I did not get my hands on one of the V-8 automobiles. As we drive, the landscape adjustments from desert to a serrated ridge of occasional mountains, and then suddenly to lush grassy plains.
Ostriches mingle near the road. The sky is so crazily pure blue that I prevent to go on a photograph, fully cognizant of the ridiculousness of what I'm doing - we even have a sky, once all, at home. Yes, but somehow, it never looks like this. A couple hundred clicks into our drive, we pull over at Vogelfederberg, a massive, turtle-shaped hunk of rock that casts a mighty shadow over the encompassing desert. A lot to my satisfied surprise, cold beer is produced. This is continue to the glory of traveling with Germans - they are definitely necessarily in effect. And this, I need to say, is a mighty fine place to get pleasure from a chilly beverage. I climb an escarpment and gaze out over the desert while sipping my Tafel Lager. It's about 7000 miles from here to long island city, and it feels even farther. After an acceptable decompression period, we're summoned back into the SUVs, but we're not getting on the road just yet. That enormous rock over yonder? We're gonna climb it. Not on foot, mind you. With the X5s. Which, because you can know, don't have any low-range gearing. Or locking differentials. Or any of the stuff that you simply would like to be forced when you're about to scale the sheer stand of a twenty-story slab of geology. As I point the front tires up the base of the rock, I believe like I'm on a roller coaster clack-clack-clacking its way up to its peak - intellectually, I know that this ought to be safe, but my inner ear begs me to abort mission. Sorry, instinct for self-preservation. You have been overruled. The trail up the rock begins steep and straight, but about halfway up it jogs right before continuing to the summit. And while I'm confident that the X5 is no longer journeying to flip over backward like a Jeep CJ5 at Moab, turning perpendicular to the slope is a distinctive proposition. I wince as I flip left to head back up the hill as the X5's left front wheel lifts off the rock, clawing uselessly for an instant before the traction control sends power over to the downhill aspect. Safe at the summit, Kerry, riding in the back seat, asks, "Can I open my eyes now?" I chuckle and act like I used to be not terrified. The next morning, we upward push early and board a boat to take us out in pursuit of dolphins and seals. Our captain is living up to the international sea-dog stereotype by telling dirty jokes and possessing nine and a half fingers. At Pelican Point, we discover a couple of seals. A few one thousand of them. One jumps on the back of the boat and begs for a few fish from Captain WhoopsieHands. Around the corner from the seal orgy, the X5s wait on the beach, covered up with his or her headlights pointed out to ocean. After lunch on the beach, we pile into the vehicles and determined off for the dunes several miles south along the coast. To become there, we caravan along next to the water, the fleet of X5s zigzagging across the sand at Fifty mph. I've wanted to drive fast on a beach ever since I saw the outlet scene of The Goonies, so this is pure amusing.
The the majority of effective hindrances are the occasional dead seals half-buried in the sand - Namibian speed bumps. You might imagine you know everything about the BMW X5 by now, but did you know the simplest way the suspension soaks up seal cadavers? Lovely well, I will tell you. Eventually we head inland, toward the dunes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. We're slightly a quarter mile in when one of our drivers, too ginger with the throttle, buries his tires and sinks to the rocker panels. Rookie mistake, I believe, until I, too, get stuck climbing a steep dune. I back down and check out again in a decrease gear, exploding over the apex of the dune in a shower of excellent sand. This earns me a reprimand from the BMW guys, who are a smidge sensitive right now about overcooking it on the dunes. On the last tour, a couple weeks ago, a Russian were given a small touch throttle-happy out here and inadvertently kicked off his own non-public X5 Games, losing serious points for failing to execute his front flip off the high of a sand mountain. He and his girlfriend walked away, but the truck isn't always much of a driver. The X5, with tires aired down, proves amazingly capable of dune-running. Shifting manually and keeping the revs up is a tough lesson to notice out, but not as troublesome as "roll up the windows before you rip donuts in sand dunes." And "don't observe petroleum-jelly South African sunblock before jumping off a sand cliff." I spend the remainder of the twenty-four hours dressed in sand sleeves and 80-grit underpants. Back on pavement, I'm searching forward to reaching the hotel and having a shower, but Namibia's Ministry of Safety and security has different concepts. I crest an increase in the road to detect a cop leveling his laser gun, and he flags three of us to drag over. He tells me that I used to be doing 95 kph in an 80-kph zone - which began, by the way, about five feet from where he was standing. Great. I sit down in the X5 and sweetness what the penalty is for dashing in Namibia. A hundred bucks? Five hundred bucks? Three of my better goats and a month in the salt mines? I do not know, but I'm anxious about how long it's taking to scribble my price tag. They doubtless have to learn which salt mine has an opening. When a moment officer finally produces the ticket - by which point the second two speeders have gotten bored and driven away - I see why it took so long. Namibian police officers practically need Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ghost of Johnnie Cochran just to write a speeding citation. Scrawled on the ticket is the charge of "Contravening Sec. 7b(2) ii/W/17b(i).76(4).Eighty-six.89&1001./W schedule 2 of R77R Aet 22/99.v/W reg." Or, as it's also known, fifteen over the speed limit. Fine: about $15. During some downtime the next day, I wander into a neighborhood museum to learn about the history of the context. Inside, I find an exhibit sponsored by the giant mining corporate Rossing. The exhibit is all about how great it is to mine uranium. A placard on the wall reads: "Employees functioning in radiation designation spaces provide urine samples frequently, which are analyzed for traces of uranium." As I'm brooding about the wondrously safe lifetime of a Namibian uranium miner, photographer John Roe walks past and pauses at a photo in the radiation-safety exhibit. "Are the ones jars of piss?" he asks. Indeed they are. Rossing does not be expecting you to take their word for it about these urine samples - they have got got photographic evidence they had like to percentage. I walk to a higher room and obtain, in a tumbler case, a trio of dog skulls on display. In the present search, I purchase a postcard of a grader driving down a dust road. It reads: "Namibia Road Repairs." Urine samples, dog skulls, road maintenance - have I discussed that the playground out of doors comprises an authentic whaling harpoon gun painted in the identical festive colours as the playground equipment? Museums, in general, are pretty boring, but this one pushes all the buttons for situations that I think are fantastic. But the road beckons. Our destination today, the White Lady Lodge, nestled in the shadow of a towering rock formation miles from the closest sign of civilization, suddenly unearths itself. We drive around a corner, the X5 slewing sideways in the sand, and there is a occasional sprawl of buildings surrounding a lush lawn and a couple of swimming pools. It's Tafel previous point. Later, the African workers performs a few conventional songs. Well, they're not all totally traditional. One is known as "Toyota Cressida." Tonight, the dinner table offers a kind of barbecue sauce known as Monkey Gland, in addition to a towering bottle of Jagermeister that the Germans have bequeathed to Roe as a birthday present. It's great, after a tedious day, to sit back with a little Jager and a few Monkey Gland and concentrate to songs about the Toyota Cressida. Early the next morning, our bleary-eyed group jumps in the back of a Mitsubishi truck to go search for elephants. Our guide is a wizened ancient man who hates elephants. Or perhaps he likes them, but he's afraid of them. At any rate, he's got a lot of reports about elephants attempting to stomp him, breaking the water pipes for the lodge, and generally acting like genuine ruffians. After two hours of searching, we find our game. An elephant crosses the riverbed ahead of us and ambles into the bushes.
Elephant Ahab lighting a cigarette and says, "That one in general travels alone, so we probably will not see others." I'm satisfied to have seen an elephant in the wild and not been stomped by it. Back in the BMW, I even have a recent appreciation for the X5's amenities. Mainly, the air-conditioning, which I essentially should not get too hooked up to, because we are definitely going to drive up a dry riverbed to succeed in our next stop, the Ai Aiba Lodge. You can either get to Ai Aiba or have air-conditioning, but on this sweltering day, you cannot have both. The riverbed is loose sand, and maintaining progress specifies a significant foot. The V-8s and the twin-turbo diesels aren't working too hard, but I'm pushing my Bimmer to the limit to back up. And it isn't taking part in the state of affairs. If you contemplate a worst-case hot-weather state of affairs, this is it: driving for two hours at full throttle in deep sand on a 95-degree day with the underside of the SUV covered by an exhaust- heat-trapping skid plate. The X5, to its credit, doesn't overheat. But it goes into survival mode, that suggests that first it kills its air-conditioning to trimmed back emphasis on the engine. We open the windows. Then the X5 cuts power until our top speed is Twenty mph. We fall in the dust. But we build it out of the river and back onto the road with all vehicles intact. The Germans yell at one another over the CB radio (angrily or triumphantly - it's hard to tell). The Ai Aiba Lodge, I'm happy to discover, is one of the most beautiful places on the face of the planet. The bar and restaurant are sheltered beneath an enormous thatched roof, the entire thing hard against red rocks that jut abruptly out of the plains. There is a swimming pool ringed by palm trees, and beyond that: Africa, probably as it's looked for the past 10,000 years. We're staying at Ai Aiba for two nights, so the next day is a little little bit of a break from driving. We still venture out rock-bashing around the grounds of the lodge, and I cut a tire on one of the jagged rocks littering the trail. Timmy and one of the BMW guys, Marc, amendment the tire in less in comparison to three minutes, all while constructing air-wrench noises. We stop next to have a appear at some ancient rock paintings, and I ask Timmy what lives in the holes that are everywhere you look on the desert floor. "Rats, snakes, and scorpions," he replies. This inspires me to shape a game called "Rat, Snake, Scorpion" that works like Rock, Paper, Scissors. You have to act out each animal (and, if you desire to play at home - the rat eats the scorpion, the snake eats the rat, and the scorpion stings the snake). Rat, Snake, Scorpion, it turns out, is even more enjoyable after a few Tafels. On the final day, we head back to Okapuka, stopping at one of Namibia's few wineries for lunch and a tour. By now everyone's got a major case of the sillies, as evidenced by a lunchtime experiment to discover whether or not it is literally hot enough to fry an egg. When BMW guys are letting individuals crack an egg onto the hood of an X5 to see if it will cook (and it does, slowly), you know that a little mental frazzling is environment in. Nevertheless, I'm unhappy when I park for the last time at the ranch. The trusty X5, whose solely modifications were that full skid plate and non-run-flat tires, bashed along on beaches and dunes and riverbeds and triple-digit dirt roads and rocky trails for a week without a complaints. As a car guy, I enjoy a trip where a vehicle is place to its intended make use of - off-roading in a Jeep; hitting the track in a Porsche - but it are often even more entertaining to take a car out of its component. And that is the reward of BMW's Namibia program.
Even though you remain in posh lodgings and eat the finest schnitzel, each day is essentially an extended lesson in driving improvisation - employing what you have got to form it where you are going. And, with a
bit of success, back home to the ranch.

First Look: 2011 Mini Countryman

An afternoon after footage began leaking onto the Internet, Mini officially released knowledge on its new Countryman -- its first foray back to the crossover field. Though we tend to reported yesterday, the Countryman closely resembles the remainder from the Mini number, less than incorporates a bunch of cues which permit it to appear somewhat rugged. The angled front fascia, whole allowing for the taller front bumper plus modified headlamps, closely resembles the Beachcomber concept shown at about that year's Detroit auto display. In contrast to that show automobile, however, the Countryman sports a traditional hardtop, four full-sized doors, and a one-piece rear hatch. Inside, the Countryman continues to resemble alternative contemporary Minis. The speedometer -- together together with a hot information display -- could be placed right during the center of the instrument panel.
Mini's Center Rail concept, first seen in the 2008 Crossover concept, permits for versatile configurations of storage bins and other clip-in accessories in the first and 2nd rows. This, after every one, mandates four bucket seats, but a three-passenger rear bench is reportedly a no-cost decision. We've got however to detect the finalized unharness on the U.S.-spec Countryman, but it has safe to surmise that powertrain offerings is sufficient to reflect the ones of alternative Mini models. The revised 122-hp, 1.6-liter I-4 are going to be employed in the Cooper Countryman, whereas the hot 184-hp, turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4 will power the Cooper S Countryman. In Europe, a six-speed manual is customary apparatus, while a six-speed automatic is optional. Also optional is the legal recent "ALL4" all-wheel-drive system. In ordinary stipulations, the system splits power evenly between the front and back wheels, but can transfer all power to the back wheels ought to the fronts begin to slide. Cooper S Countrymans equipped with the ALL4 system also receive run-flat tires as standard equipment. Mini plans on officially launching the Countryman at the 2010 Geneva motor show, and staging its U.S. premiere at this year's New york auto show. Additionally though the crossover is going on sale in Europe return September, it will not achieve U.S. dealers until February of
2011.

Spyker prepping two new models for MWC?

Looks like Spyker's enjoying its little foray into the cellphone biz with new rumors flying that there'll be two all-new models graced with the Dutch automaker's name at MWC later this month. There's a boring midrange slider that looks like it fell out of a trash can in Samsung's design lab, but the more interesting of the two is the pictured EG200 -- an ultra-slim slider featuring a touchpad in place of the traditional d-pad. Not a lot of specs to go on at this point, but we can apparently expect a 2 megapixel cam on this one when it launches -- and if it's any consolation, we can guarantee it'll be a few bucks less than a street-legal C8.

[ Via: Engadgetmobile ]
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Spyker C8 Video

Spyker courts European investors

If you're a regular reader here on Autoblog, it should come as no surprise that Spyker is in deep financial trouble. The exotic Dutch carmaker was forced to sell off its F1 team, cancel the production of the C12 Zagato supercar and even mortgage its own name.Never content to go quietly into the night, however, Spyker is on a campaign to raise funds. The latest endeavor has been to court European investors, but negotiations with Lichtenstein-based ACI recently fell through after an initial agreement was signed. According to reports, Spyker is now in negotiations with Snoras Group, a Lithuanian bank, to fund and potentially acquire stake in the Dutch automaker. Spyker says it has a few other possibilities on tap, and hopefully one of them will come through to rescue the company and its beautifully quirky automobiles.  

2009 Spyker C8 Laviollete LM85 - Spyker's Even More Extreme GT2-Derived C8

 

 

 

 

 

 Released to the public at the LA Auto Show, the 2009 Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85 will see a super-limited production run of only 24 units. The Spyker C8 edition is designed to commemorate Spyker's success in Le Mans racing, and a select few Spyker fans will get a piece of automotive history.The C8 Laviolette LM85 carries the same Audi-sourced 4.2 liter engine as other recent C8 models, and the exterior and interior are familiar though upgraded with even greater use of weight saving materials than before. The chassis is manufactured entirely from aluminum, and the little details that set the C8 Laviolette LM85 apart, like black powder-coated alloy wheels and even the option of left or right hand drive based on what is most familiar to the customer's home nation.The C8's iconic, and iconoclastic, shape is loved by some and simply confuses many others. But Spyker's fans are rabid, and a curb weight of only 2800 should ensure the C8 Laviolette LM85 retains Lotus-esque handling characteristics.But all the fancy exterior and interior features do not change the fact that this is still basically a kit car, with the engine coming from Audi and most key components being crate items. But, street legal speed and real head-turning Spyker styling are worth the price of admission, whatever that base price ends up being once it is announced by Spyker. Read on for all the official details, direct from the automaker. 

Spyker C8 Aileron to Make US Debut at Pebble Beach

Spyker C8 Aileron   

Spyker C8 Aileron

Spyker will once again grace the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with its presence making it the eighth consecutive appearance at the show, since it's rebirth in 2000. This year the specialist marque will bring the Spyker C8 Aileron, an all aluminium concept that previews the second generation C-line sports car.The long wheel base model is making its first appearance on US soil, under the hood is a powerful 4.2 litre V8 producing 400 BHP position in the middle of the car giving the model superb weight distribution. The C8 Aileron is set to go into full production by the end of the year.Joining the LWB C8 Aileron at the show will be the C8 Spyder and a C8 Laviolette.

Spyker Adds Thrust to C8

 

 

 

 

Skeptics may be wondering about the direction that Spyker is taking after last year’s sale of its F1 team that had cost them more than $100 million. But as the press conference progressed, it became clear that the Dutch company is far from dead. After an audio montage of fighter jet noises and scanner traffic, Spyker launched its second-generation C-line sports car called the C8 Aileron. It’s a thing of beauty and it’s not a car for the weak at heart. With 400 bhp and 354 lb-ft of torque coming from an Audi 4.2-liter V8, the premium sports car can be mated to a 6-speed Getrag manual or a 6-speed automatic ZF gearbox — a Spyker first.  But where the automaker was going with the introduction might have been a hint to the aviation-inspired design cues. In the previous generation, the propeller design was consistently applied to many elements of their cars including the Aeroblade wheels. But just as the propeller engine was succeeded by the turbine engine, so has the design of this car. Gone are the Aeroblade wheels and in are turbine engine-shaped wheels called the “Rotorblade.” An air intake resides on top of the roof, the signature polished aluminum air inlets are now turbine engine-shaped scoops and the glass jet brighten-inspired canopy has been extended to reduce drag. The radiator opening was enlarged and the V-shaped mesh is angled forward to give the car a more aggressive stance. At the rear, the diffuser has been redesigned and the taillights are now LED units. Other improvements include a more rigid aluminum space frame and a longer wheelbase. Although there may not be any F1 races anytime soon, Spyker does have new financial backing from a Lithuanian bank. In 2008 and 2009, the Spyker Squadron factory GT2 team will compete in both the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans. If the mad scramble of journalists shoving their way to the Spyker stand for a press kit is any indication of how well they did with the C8 Aileron, it may be a sign of good things to come.

[ Via: Classic Driver ]
[ Tag: boats, etc, maarten de bruijn, MaartenDeBruijn, silvestris, speedboat, spyker ]

Ridemakerz Model Cars - Pratt & Miller Introduces Eco Corvettes

At their facility in New Hudson, Michigan, Pratt & Miller (the engineering team behind the AMLS Corvette program) introduced eco-friendly editions of their famed C6R and C6RS Chevrolet Corvettes. Jumping on the green bandwagon, the new models are smaller and lighter than the company's current race and street editions.Now for the details; these all-new eco-friendly Vettes are powered by either high-torque electric motors or the forearm muscles of the driver. (Did we have you going for just a second?)Yup, these are toy Corvettes manufactured by Ridemakerz, a company that uses a Build-A-Bear process that lets kids actually "build" model cars that they can have fun with after the build is complete.The two new Corvettes, one that features "Jake" the Corvette Racing mascot (the skull), can be built at Ridemakerz stores in nine states. Models can also be ordered on-line and then assembled at home (www.Ridemakerz.com).At the debut of the new Corvettes at Pratt & Miller's race shop, Ridemakerz 's CEO Founder Larry Andreini told us, "The new C6R and C6RS tap into American's general love of cars and their particular passion for America's sports car, the Chevy Corvette. We're excited to make these models available so that kids, parents, and any car enthusiasts can all build and trick out their ultimate model Corvette. Fathers and sons should especially be fired up about these Pratt & Miller Corvettes because of their racing record and awesome style. These cars are something they can build and enjoy together."OK Dad, now you know what to get your kid for Christmas. Build two and you can upset the wife by racing through the living room.Ron Fellows, long-time Corvette race driver, was also on hand to help launch the new cars. He didn't seem to mind that the cars were electric as he raced the assembled media and demonstrated that he was as fast when controlling his car via a joystick as he is when he is behind a full-sized wheel.The event also gave Ridemakerz the chance to do something good in Detroit ... a town that could use a break these days. The company has two stores in Detroit, and to help celebrate the new C6R and C6RS, Ridemakerz contributed $2,500 to Mitch Albom's charity, The Dream Fund at the College of Creative Studies. (Albom is a Detroit-based, nationally syndicated radio talk show host and sports reporter.) Additional funds were donated based on the sales of model cars at the company's two Detroit stores.Albom noted, "Kids everywhere love cars, but even more so in Detroit. These cars and the Ridemakerz experience will get kids and a lot of dads I know excited. I'm glad to have Ridemakerz as part of the team that supports The Dream Fund."

[ Via: Automobilemag ]
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U.S. Manufacturers to Slash Funding - NASCAR Racing News

Not only is NASCAR the most popular form of racing in America, it's probably more popular than all of its rivals put together. It's got more fans, more sponsors, more money, and more credibility. It's also got a tragic flaw - a well-deserved reputation for being the most arrogant sanctioning body in the country. And its long-overdue comeuppance is on the way.After a decade as America's most-ballyhooed sports-marketing marvel, the bloom is coming off the NASCAR rose. Its fan base is aging. Attendance is plummeting. Television ratings are off significantly from historic highs. Licensing revenue is down. Sponsors are walking. Operating costs are skyrocketing. So despite the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR is looking more and more like yesterday's news."NASCAR's model is resisting change rather than embracing it," says a longtime motorsports media and marketing maven who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. "In an age that celebrates individuality, it's a mass-market, homogenized product featuring cars that are nothing more than parity appliances. It's stuck in a time warp, and it seems old all of a sudden - a twentieth-century sport in the twenty-first century."To a certain degree, NASCAR is a victim of its own success. So much money has flowed into the Sprint Cup series that top drivers now earn as much as it cost to run an entire program ten years ago, and annual car budgets are running as high as $25 million. With the economy tanking, sponsors are hard to find. Thus, Carl Edwards, a perennial front-runner with the Roush Fenway juggernaut, has raced with Office Depot, Claritin, Aflac, AAA, and Dish Network on his hood at different Cup events this year. In the meantime, the truck series is losing Craftsman as its title sponsor, and NASCAR hasn't been able to land a replacement.The latest body blow is the news that American automobile manufacturers intend to slash their NASCAR funding. With the Big Three hemorrhaging money, cuts are inevitable. But there's a bigger issue. For the first time, automakers are seriously asking themselves why they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a series that promotes drivers rather than cars and showcases carbureted pushrod V-8s in massive, one-size-fits-all chassis clothed in generic bodywork with minimal connection to products sold in dealer showrooms."We don't feel we have enough identity in the cars," says Ford Racing spokeman Kevin Kennedy. "Also, we would like NASCAR to consider changes that would make the technology more relevant. We'd like them to consider alternative fuels, for example. We'd like them to look at smaller [engine] displacement. But NASCAR understands our concerns, and they're thinking of ways to create more rivalries between manufacturers."

[ Via: Automobilemag ]
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LA 2008: Our Orange Crush is the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85The Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, which we'll call "Tiger," is officially out and about. Spyker has released more images of the Audi-engined, 400-hp, 6-speed manual Le Mans-inspired road car, and to our eyes it could be the best looking Spyker we've seen. The blacked-out mirrors do it a lot of favors and don't remind us any more of carry handles, and it has even retained 19-inch wheels secured with one lug nut and will apparently get you a combined 15 mpg on the EPA cycle. Not bad for a leathered up race car. Check out the press release after the jump and the galleries of high-res shots in our galleries below.

[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: c8, c8 laviolette, c8 laviolette lm85, C8Laviolette, C8LavioletteLm85, coupes, la 2008, la auto show, la auto show 2008, La2008, LaAutoShow, LaAutoShow2008, sports cars, SportsCars, spyker, spyker c8 laviolette, spyker c8 laviolette lm85, SpykerC8Laviolette, SpykerC8LavioletteLm85 ]

Spyker D12 finally gets green light for production

You would think that with the economy in shambles and public opinion mounting against high-powered SUVs, the idea of creating a $300k exotic super-sport-utility would be a non-starter. You would think, but you'd be wrong, as the latest reports indicate that troubled Dutch niche automaker Spyker has finally given the green for its D12 Peking-to-Paris SSUV.The concept, which was designed by Michiel van den Brink (the same guy behind the 599 GTO project, among others), initially made its debut at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, with a pre-production version bowing the following year. Power was initially tipped to come from a VW Group-sourced 500-hp W12 engine, but later reports suggested a switch to American V8 muscle (likely from GM or Ford). Development, meanwhile, may benefit from Lotus engineering input. Previous reports also suggested the D12 would hit production sometime next year, and indicated pricing now pegs the sticker at £186k, approximately $295,000 at today's rates. In order to remain viable, Spyker will need to bring the model to the American market, but the price is sure to be adjusted closer to $200k, still making it the most expensive and most exotic production SUV known to man.

[ Via: Autocar ]
[ Tag: exotic suv, ExoticSuv, spyker, spyker d12, spyker d12 peking to paris, spyker d12 ssuv, spyker suv, SpykerD12, SpykerD12PekingToParis, SpykerD12Ssuv, SpykerSuv ]

Spyker officially reveals Le Mans-inspired C8 Laviolette LM85

It's been a winning formula for Ferrari: build a road car, then build a race version of that road car, and finally build a road version of the race car. Spyker has decided to try out the formula for itself and officially announced it will be building a road car inspired by its GT2R race car that is in turn based off the C8 Laviolette production car. Named the C8 Laviolette LM85, the Le Mans-inspired Dutch supercar features Audi's 4.2-liter V8 producing 400 horsepower, a 6-speed manual transmission, paint scheme from the GT2R race car, and an interior covered in black leather and alcantara. Other features include a carbon fiber rear spoiler, black powder coated alloy wheels and 6-piston brakes from AP Racing. The car will be on display at the LA Auto Show in November, so we will be sure to bring you additional photos. For now, check out the small gallery below, as well as a gallery of the GT2R race car. More information on the C8 Laviolette LM85 can be found in the press release after the jump.

[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: LA Auto Show, LaAutoShow, Spyker, Spyker C8 Laviolette, Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, SpykerC8Laviolette, SpykerC8LavioletteLm85 ]

VIDEO: Spkyer's Adrian Sutil goes airborne

When practice for the Canadian GP wrapped up yesterday, Fernando Alonso had set the pace for the rest of the competitors, and after today's runs, it looks like Lewis Hamilton has secured his first pole. What caught our attention, though, was a video posted over at the Axis of Oversteer, showing Adrian Sutil, pilot of the Spyker F1 car, paying tribute to the marque's heritage of flight during Friday qualifying.
We're not going to make any comments about talent; we'll just let the video after the jump speak for itself. The Canadian GP begins tomorrow at 1 PM EST.


[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: adrian sutil,AdrianSutil,f1,formula 1,formula one,Formula1,FormulaOne,spyker ]

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 ]

Spyker F1's wealthy new owner injecting India into F1

Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker has staved off bankruptcy by offloading its F1 team for a cool 80 million Euros ($110 million USD). That's the kind of pocket change that new owner Vijay Mallya loses in his car seats every year. Mallya, currently ranked the world's 664th richest man by Forbes, owns Kingfisher Airlines and the popular Indian beer of the same name, but is most famous in F1 circles for hosting lavish parties aboard his 311' yacht "Indian Empress" over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.This marks the first time an Indian individual or company has taken such a prominent role in international motorsport, though rumored Jaguar and Land Rover buyer Tata has sponsored Spyker's predecessor Jordan in the past, and currently backs Williams F1. Both the Tata and Mallya families will now be lobbying Bernie Ecclestone hard to get a race around the streets of New Delhi on the F1 calendar within the next few years.

[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: f1,kingfisher,mallya,spyker ]

Pebble Beach Week 2007: Spyker Zagato makes California appearance

The Concept Lawn at Pebble Beach always manages to host a few surprises. Last year we saw the Glickenhaus one-off P4/5, a Ferrari Enzo rebodied by Pininfarina as an homage to the legendary P3/4 racecars of the '60s. This year we saw the unveiling of the new Callaway Speedster and the official showing of the new Aston Martin DBS, but there were some other cool cars there as well -- cars that may be somewhat familiar from other shows but that many folks haven't seen in person. This year's visitors were treated to up-close glimpses of the new Maserati GranTurismo, Lincoln MKR, Chrysler Nassau, Lexus LF-A and IS-F, Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive, Dodge Demon, Giugiaro Mustang, Bentley Brooklands, Jeep Trailhawk, Cadillac Cien and CTS-V.

But few save the first two drew as much attention as the Spyker Zagato. That's the limited edition run of 24 special closed coupes we first saw in Geneva. It's at once more contemporary than other Spykers and simultaneously more retro. Kind of made us think of the Flash Gordon show -- A retro look at the future. It taks some classic auto styling cues and adds a fair bit of SLR and Zonda in for good measure. It's quite a looker, and a mover too by the sound of it. A derivative of Spyker's flagship C12 model, the Zagato uses a version of VAG's 6.0L W12 putting out 500 hp, or 650 with the optional supercharger. Because of its light weight (3,086 lbs.), the C12 Zagato should be good for a 0-60 mph sprint of 3.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 193 mph.

[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: PebbleBeach,spyker,Spyker Zagato,SpykerZagato,zagato ]

Spyker C12 Zagato delayed

The Spyker C12 Zagato, introduced during the same burst of fanfare that followed Spyker's acquisition of an F1 team, has been put on hold. Only 24 are slated to be made, and only for existing Spyker customers, but Spyker simply doesn't have the production capacity at the moment. Right now, the company has enough to deal with getting its backlog of current and coming models made, at the same time working to shore up its finances. According to the Auto Telegraaf, the company will be posting a large loss this year, the F1 team is having trouble with sponsors, and company shareholders are bickering. Not that we would necessarily spend $700K on one, but we would think it a shame if the C12 Zagato was crushed by market forces.
[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: c12,production,spyker,zagato ]

Spyker loses 72.075 million euros in 2007

For such a small manufacturer of specialty vehicles, Spyker hemorrhaged a huge amount of money last year; 72.075 million euros ($113.07 million at current exchange rates), to be exact. Part of this loss was due to the sale of its Formula 1 operations, but their car-selling business managed to cost them a few million more. Money was so tight that the Dutch supercar company only managed to assemble 26 cars last year -- only two in the final quarter, despite the waiting list for their wares.

Good news is on the horizon, though, as Spyker has received a cash-infusion from Snoras Group, a Lithuanian bank (and now the largest shareholder in the company), and is again up-to-speed on automobile production. The long-wheelbase C8 Aileron, along with its new automatic transmission, is scheduled to go on sale in the third quarter of this year, while their D8 Peking-to-Paris will follow in 2009. Additionally, their racing team, Spyker Squadron, will continue its GT aspirations, though Formula 1 has obviously been abandoned. So, Spyker fans, look forward to a less-tumultuous year in 2008... we're pretty sure that it couldn't be any worse than the last.
[ Via: Autoblog (Spyker) ]
[ Tag: spyker,spyker c8,spyker c8 aileron,spyker cars,spyker d12,spyker d12 peking,spyker d12 peking-to...,spyker d12 ssuv,spyker d12 suv,spyker d8,spyker d8 peking to paris,spyker squadron,spyker-cars,spyker-d8-peking-to-paris,spyker-f1,spyker-squadron,spykerc8,SpykerC8Aileron,SpykerCars,SpykerD12,SpykerD12Peking,SpykerD12Peking-to...,SpykerD12Ssuv,SpykerD12Suv,SpykerD8,SpykerD8PekingToParis,SpykerSquadron ]