Audi Make Gallardo Irrelevant... Again.

It's not as if anyone has ever been fooled by the platform sharing between the Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi's R8.The second the R8 hit the market, the Gallardo seemed obsolete, even the Superleggera (at a mere 100lb lighter Semi-leggera may be a better tag) version.
The Audi was slightly slower, but by all accounts, it was a much more finished product, sporting sublimely resolved dynamics, and a much nicer driving environment; it also cost a heap less than the Lambo.

So I was really happy when earlier this year Lamborghini released the Gallardo 560-4. Here was a Gallardo that would put clear water between Lamborghini and Audi. Sure the motor was closely related to the one in the Audi RS6, but at least it made the little Lambo supercar quick and rendered the R8 its lesser brother, at a price. The car has gotten great reviews as well, and did well enough at evo Car of the Year to come second behind Nissan's media darling GTR. So far the only negative comments have concerned the Gallardo's old bugbear, its cermaic/composite brakes; as usual, the brakes are full of power, but sudden, and lacking in feel. Still, it's a good update with lots of extra performance and new, sharper looks. Good job Lamborghini, well done, now let's have a true Superleggera version with sharper dynamics, at least 150-kilos knocked off, and rear-drive.

Not so fast. It seems Audi couldn't resist dumping the Gallardo's new motor into the middle of the R8 to create... the R8 5.2 V10. Oh yes they did! Of course they've made it a little less powerful, and heavier, and slower... and, well that's about it really. It's the same car in almost every respect. Aluminum body over Aluminum space-frame, check. 5.2-liter V10 with direct injection, check. Six-speed manual gearbox, check. And I don't think for a second that anyone is going to care about 2/100s of a horsepower per kilo, which is the power to weight difference, or the two-tenths of a second longer that the R8 takes to reach 60mph. I do however think that the Audi's more advanced DSG transmission may perk some ears, and that its electromagnetically adjustable suspension will garner some attention. Mostly though, I think it's going to be a matter of price; the Gallardo will be selling at a disadvantage of something like $40,000 when the R8 V10 arrives on these shores.

Audi seem to be trying to ram home the sameness of the R8/Gallardo ranges. The press releases for both cars read similarly, and feature studio shots of the car in white. As you can see in the pictures, the angles are strikingly similar as well. This strikes me as odd considering they may want to sell a few of both cars, and I can't help but think that Audi would do well to take a page from Detroit's pony-car book and attempt to emphasize the differences between the two cars in their advertising. Just a thought...

I wonder too where all this is going to go if and when Porsche succeed in taking over a majority stake in VAG. What will happen with Audi playing at Cool Germania, Porsche staying all Rennen Sport, Bugatti keeping its role as the Super-Dupercar manufacturer, and Lamborghin as... as what? What exactly is Lamborghini to do with all those bases covered?

As usual, I have the answer. All VAG has to do is let Lamborghini be Lamborghini. I'm not talking about letting them buy Fiat indicator-stalks or design their own electrical systems. I just think Audi should let them build their own car. Here's an example. When the replacement for the Gallardo/R8 range is released in a few years (if at all), both cars should use the same aluminum platform. But then, use your imagination when it comes to cost cutting. The engines can be from a modular family, but let Lamborghini have a 12 cylinder version with a higher-strung personality. Give the Lambo the purity of rear wheel drive, and a truly stunning interior (seriously, at this point the German car looks more Italian on the inside), and don't let a dutchman design it. In short, let Lamborghini be Italian. Ford actually had great success with this strategy with Aston Martin, taking a marque on the brink of extinction and turning it into one of the most fashionable names in the sports car world.

Rest assured, this situation will come to a head. If Lamborghini are to remain a prestige marque and have an answer to future Ferraris, it will need to be perceived as something other than a re-bodied Audi carrying a 25% price hike. Let's hope VAG come up with a real reason to own Lamborghini; it's be a shame if this marque ceased to be as relevant to enthusiasts now as it once was to ten year old boys with Countach posters on their walls.

9ff Answer The Question No One Asked.

Well, we've been seeing 9ff's new darling, the little GT9-R in photos for a while. Now though, a video has surfaced. It's not long, but it is the first time we've gotten to see the car in motion, or hear it run. The wail it will undoubtedly produce as it tears its way to 7000rpm will have to wait, what we get here are parking lot maneuvers and a lot of off-idle rumble. Still, it looks fab in its Veritech-ish paint job and bubble-top, and sounds suitably businesslike. Crucially, it also shows that 9ff have figured out how to keep the engine cool without all that exposed radiator nonsense that so uglied the rear of the earlier GT9 prototypes.



Business is exactly what this car is about. Essentially it's a Porsche 997 GT-3 that's been chopped in half just aft of the doors, and had its rear replaced with a braced sub-frame which is stiffer, lighter, and allows the engine to be carried amid-ships rather than slung out back. That engine is 9ff's own 4-liter version of Porsche's traditional flat-six producing a scarce believable 1120bhp in a car weighing at 70kg less than the original. If that sounds a lot like RUF's CTR-3, and Porsche's own 911-GT1, well, it is, but as this car is not bound by any racing regulations, it promises to be much faster than Zuffenhausen's 90s racer. Expect 0-60mph to take less than three seconds, top speed to be over 250mph, while the price is likely to be expressible only using higher maths.

In the mean time, here's a pretty picture.

Sigh...

Pretty, isn't it...

Well, At Least My Guy Won The Election...

I'm a little chagrined at the moment. Two nights ago, Barack Obama succeeded in doing something I didn't think I'd live to see, and I'm only 32. I couldn't be happier at the outcome of the national election, and yet I'm filled with disappointment in another area of my life. I can take some solace in the fact that 2008's F1 title race went down to the last corner, of the last lap of the last race. It's almost certainly the closest finish in F1 history, and it didn't go my way.

I'm not a fan of Lewis Hamilton. I'm a fan of a bunch of guys who will never be champion, but even excluding the likes of Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard I'm still never happy to see Hamilton win. It may be that I've been poisoned by all the commentators who've been busy crowning Hamilton the greatest driver ever since a week after he showed up on the circuit. Certainly the man's accomplishments speak to a degree of talent, but his attitude, and his tactics leave me a little nonplussed. I'm not ready to have the sport I love revolutionized by a driver who cannot overtake without driving into the side of his opponent. Also, I'd like to see what he's capable of doing with a mid-field car, instead of one of Ron Dennis' specially prepared Lewis-mobiles.

And so I found myself hoping to watch balding, baby-faced Felipe Massa come out on top this year. In the absence of anyone interesting to root for, I chose the guy with a chance against Hamilton and Dennis. I had reason to be hopeful too because Massa showed great form all year, and an ability to tame Ferrari's notoriously tricky F2008 that team mate and 2007 champ Kimi Raikkonen never seemed to master for a whole race. Massa deserved to be champion just as much as Hamilton, maybe more as most of Massa's missteps this year came ion the form of mechanical failure, whereas Hamilton managed to crash himself out of a couple races. But by mid season, it wasn't Massa I really wanted to win.

I've also never been a real fan of Fernando Alonso. He's never really had the attitude I like to see in a champion, the self confidence that would border on smug if it weren't so obviously a statement of fact. It's a nebulous idea that can take many forms. From the quiet assurance of Jim Clark, to the instructional tone of Jackie Stewart, to the aristocratic demeanor of Alain Prost. Senna was my favorite in this respect. I'm not a fan who labels Senna "the greatest ever" in full ignorance of his record, but he was my favorite. I think it has more to do with growing up in a certain period than it does with Senna's actual ability. Alonso always seemed to have half the idea down. He won two championships on the trot, and was established as a farce to be reckoned with at the age of 25, but his attitude seemed mostly bluster, without the passion to back it up... could I have been more wrong?

Last season at Mclaren Alonso came in as the defending WDC and went home third, behind Hamilton. All season long Mclaren had been involved in a scandals and back room politics as Ron Dennis' "no team orders" policy came up against a desire to watch his protege succeed in his rookie year. Quite apart from the scandal with the Ferrari documents (in which Alonso may have had a part) the team had managed to center itself around its junior driver, at the expense of the champion on whom they'd spent a small fortune. It was not a stellar year for either Mclaren or Alonso, and they went their separate ways with a touch of bitterness. this year he was back at Renault, and thus was a non-starter as far as the championship went. I'll not mince words here, the car that Renault produced was a dud, a flop, a mobile chicane... it was almost a Honda. I started to think that 2008 could be the beginning of the end for the two-time champ.

And then something happened, Fernando drove the wheels off the car. It never finished that high, not at the beginning of the season anyway, and Fernando could be heard at the end of races whining about the cars lack of ability. But on track, he was showing the way home to a lot of better seated drivers in a way that made his complaining sound less like whining, and more like the facts of the matter. It's been a long time since I've watched a driver put in a better overall performance, especially in a car that didn't deserve the effort. All this effort on his part made the team listen, made them build a car worth going out and driving. The result was victory at Singapore and in Japan. Next year the rules change, and very little of this years development will be carried over. very little is certain in F1 anyway, but the new aerodynamic rules make the field wide open.

But with Alonso at Renault, I finally have someone I can hope wins instead of just rooting against Hamilton.

New Cars: Mexico To Build Super Car Italians Won't Build...

The Mastreta MXT is notable for being light weight, small, quick, and -relatively- cheap. It's also notable for being the first native born car from Mexico. It's a small sports car, though because it weighs only 900kg its performance is more super than sports, with 0-60mph taking under 5-seconds. It's not slow flat-out either, though 150mph is merely fast-hatch territory anymore. It may not be cute exactly, but its aggressive stance and chunky proportions aren't without appeal, but the way the front and rear halves come together at the roof needs attention.

If all this is beginning to sound just a bit like a Lotus Elise, you're really not that far off, at least in concept; and indeed, the MXT shares the little Lotus' features of a bonded aluminum chassis, and fibreglass body. It does without the Lotus' extreme take on the subject though, with an air conditioned, leather-trimmed cockpit. Add in its Ford Duratec power plant, and, too me, it reminds more of an Italian sports car of yore, the De Tomaso Vallelunga. And that can only be a good thing.

Ok, so I'm hoping that the new car does without the Vallelunga's ear-splitting noise levels, or it's flaky build quality. But if the car turns out to be half the handling paragon the littlest De Tomaso was, then Mexico will have done itself proud, especially as this is the kind of car for which Italy used to be famous, but which has been washed away in the past three decades beneath a wave of ever faster super cars.

Not a ton is known about the MXT at the moment, except that it will have 240bhp from a turbo-charged version of Ford's 2.0-liter Duratec four-cylinder, and that it should go at least as well as the company claims if that weight target is met. Should handle nicely too with manual rack and pinion, and double-wishbones at each corner.

Production will be limited as well with a mere 150 vehicles produced in the first year, with 80 of those being RHD. The price in Britain is expected to be around £40,000. Of course, US customers won't get the car at all as there are no current plans to certify it for sale in the market. I am though, really excited for this car, but I'm a bit concerned that the person shooting the video of the car testing could be bothered/afford to use a tripod... Still, it's a great start, and who knows, it may lead other sports car manufacturers in the right direction. Definitely one on which to keep an eye.

Nine Minutes Of (Someone Else's) Stupid Fun.

There's a legend about Japan, propagated by that movie about oversteering through the Japanese capital in a manner both fast and perhaps furious. The legend states that if you're car can progress at a rate faster than the Japanese mandated 111mph limit for production cars, the police won't bother to chase you while you're speeding. I have no idea if this is true.

What I do know is that this limit is of very little concern to owners of stock versions of Mazda's AZ1 because in stock form its little 660cc, 64bhp 3-cylinder will struggle to propel it anywhere near that speed. What we have here is a little different. It's sort of an open secret that these cars are capable of far more given to proper provocation and that power levels as high as 120bhp are possible. Now, I'm not saying that this car is tuned that high, but it's clearly faster than a stock AZ1.

It's a long video, but it made me laugh when I found it, and I thought I'd share it with you. Not a lot happens, it's just a car going down a Japanese expressway in the early hours of June 6th 1999... and listening to an amusing collection of soft-rock. The two times that the car sits at a light for 30 seconds or so while the driver listens to Hall & Oates' Maneater is either a fascinating glimpse into life in Japan in the late Twentieth Century, or the worst television show ever.

I'm not sure what's going on at the end there, though I think that gauge at the top has logged his top-speed of 192kph. Let's just be glad he turns the stero down before the Bonnie Tyler really kicks in.

Cause To Celebrate, If You're Very Rich That Is.

The article in evo. didn't start out well. Harry Metcalf had gone to Italy to see what the deal was with Ferrari's new California model. It's a car that has a lot of people worried because it looks, on the surface, to be a major step in the dumbing-down of the sports car. I myself have raised serious reservations in this very blog, and while I found some of them to be overturned by the article, it seemed to raise as many issues as it addressed. Harry liked the look of the car upon seeing it in the metal, and likened it less to a convertible, than to a coupe that has a folding roof.

The engineers at Ferrari had encouraging things to say as well, telling Metcalf that keeping the new car fun to drive was a high priority, giving a good account of their reasoning on giving the car a dual-clutch transmission. They also showed Harry the extent to which they went in keeping weight off the new car, which included structural use of Magnesium. They even went as far as to admit that many Ferrari's of late haven't done a good enough job of transmitting their voice to the cabin, and showed the steps they'd taken to correct the situation. All very encouraging.

But then they go to the exhaust. It's not the fact that the exhaust has been tuned to keep some of its racket from permeating the cockpit with the roof down, that's fine with me. It's that the exhaust outlets stacked under the rear bumper in their now familiar fashion, aren't real. The real pipes are placed deep inside the dummies, and are much smaller. It's not that I'm criticizing Ferrari for making smaller exhausts if that was what was needed for the car to function as desired, it's the jewelry aspect of the fakes with which I take issue. the car was designed from the start as a car that could reasonably be taken on weekend trips and a quiet exhaust on the highway is desirable for that kind of car, but this fakery just smacks of boulevard posing.

Then there's the matter of weight. I'm not going to beat around the bush, the car is too heavy, and a pure hardtop version can't arrive soon enough. I think that most of the ridiculous 1700kg/3750lb that the car carries can be put down to that folding hard-top, and the extra bracing necessary for an open car. I'm sure Ferrari can make the car go, stop, and turn well enough despite this handicap, but it would have been better if they'd just ditched the nifty roof, and given drivers more purity.

There are a couple bright spots though, and they're not exactly little ones. The first is that Ferrari are planning an HGTC performance package for the car, which should enable it to hold it's own in track days, and which is somewhat unexpected given the market for the car. The second is still that engine. I have no doubt that Ferrari's first direct-injection power plant is going to be a belter, with great torque across the rev-range. The third though, is the best. Despite all previous statements, Ferrari are going to make available, a conventional manual gearbox for the car. This really is a great thing to hear as Ferrari's abandonment of the conventional manual was a blow to performance car fans everywhere, and had me scared of the potential trickle-down effect that might consign the clutch pedal to the history books.

Now all Ferrari have to do is bolt the roof one tight, and get rid of 300lbs of useless servos...