An American V8 engine has few rivals when it comes to the noise it makes. The only real rival that can match its bombastic rumble is a piston engined fighter plane from WWII. When a supercharger is added on to one of these motors, the resulting noise is especially sinister, due to the mating of the eight-cylinder rumble and the banshee-like wail of the big blower.

The hottest versions of Chevrolet’s Camaro SS and Dodge’s Challenger SRT-8 use naturally aspirated engines to pump out around 422 and 425 horsepower respectively. Ford’s most powerful Mustang, the Shleby GT500, needed to annihilate those figures, and the Blue Oval’s engineers decided to strap a supercharger to an already sizable 5.4L twin-cam V8. The result is 540 horsepower, and you can hear everyone of those ponies featured in this glorious video shot by Ford, showing the 2011 Shelby ‘Stang ripping up and down a closed course, doing what can only be called “acceleration runs.” If you can, turn up your speakers and revel in the glory that is a Ford V8 at full song.

[Source: Autoblog]

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A favorite past time of computer literate car fans is to log on to automotive-related internet forums and criticize the decisions of auto industry types with decades of experience in the field. Everything from marketing campaigns to product choices are questioned, and while this right may be a cornerstone of our free society, often the blather is idiotic and myopic, and the commenter wouldn’t last a day running a real car company.

Now, Fiat is letting you, the customer, make a very small marketing related decision, by letting Facebook users vote on possible emblems (or “branding” as its nauseatingly called by some types) for the upcoming 500 compact car.  There’s no assurance that Fiat will actually choose the one that’s got the most votes, but if you close your eyes and wish really hard, you might just become Sergio Marchionne…

Fiat 500 Owners Board

[Source: Autoblog]

BMW‘s oddball 5-Series GT hatchback/station wagon/SUV thing is not off to a great start in the United States, and BMW executives are blaming the decision to market only the top-of-the-line rear-drive V8 car upon launch as the culprit behind sluggish sales.

“The V-8 was probably not the right car to launch it with,” said Rich Brekus, BMW’s general manager of sales for North America, told Autoweek. An all-wheel drive model will launch in June, while a six-cylinder variant is slated to arrive in the fall. The 5-Series GT is still beating the outgoing 5-Series wagon’s sales numbers, but another executive admitted that BMW was too optimistic about the vehicle’s sales projections.

Autoguide is slated to get a 550GT press vehicle in the near future, and a review should address whether or not the vehicle is worthy of our money. But it’s hard to deny that the 5-Series GT might be a little too much of a niche vehicle, even for those with lots of disposable income.

[Source: Autoweek]

In a move certain to devestate professional sports leagues and record labels everywhere, Lamborghini is recalling 428 Murcielagos from the 2007-2009 model year over concerns of a fuel leak. The Italian sports car maker says that the welds that hold the fuel pump support inside the fuel tank could detach, leading to a fuel leak or a possible fire. Lamborghini says that owners will have the necessary repairs carried out for free, and the company can be contacted at 1-912-409-5634 or 1-508-808-9562.

If the wealthy owners need some “assistance” getting these potentially flammable supercars to and from their dealers, Autoguide staffers are standing by and willing to ferry them from door to door in exchange for a bit of seat time with the cars.

[Source: Top Speed]

The story of Datusn (and later Nissan) in the United States is probably the most fascinating of all the Japanese auto makers . While early Toyota’s and Honda’s were ridiculed for their diminutive size and propensity to rust, Datsun was the first Japanese manufacturer to establish a reputation as a respected car maker. The 240Z sports car showed that it was possible to have European style and performance with perfect reliable and a fraction of the cost, while the 510 brought Alfa Romeo and BMW to its knees in amateur road racing.

Datsun’s hub of popularity has always been in Southern California, and the once-dominant brand is being feted at the San Diego Automotive Museum, in a special exhibit called “Datsun/Nissan: The American Story”. You can expect all your favorite classic Datsun cars to be there, like the 510, the Datsun Roadster (basically a Miata, 30 years before the Miata came out), the legendary Z cars, as well as some more obscure models that are only in the hands of a few collectors.

[Source: Japanese Nostalgic Car]

Even after the legendary McLaren F1 was out of production, McLaren maintained a single showroom on London’s Park Lane. The location was hardly a showroom at all, with a single McLaren F1 located behind a window that faced onto the busy thoroughfare, so passerby’s could gawk in wonderment at the million dollar machine.

With McLaren’s MP4-12C set to launch as a much more accesible vehicle (in relative terms), McLaren found itself in need of a distribution channel, and has been courting a potential sales force for nearly a year. Now, they’ve finally announced where they’ll be slinging their supercars. North America will get 10 outlets, with Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tampa as the U.S. locations, and Toronto as the sole Canadian outlet. Elsewhere, familiar hotspots like Paris, Dubai, Tokyo, London and Milan will get showrooms, as will other financial and cultural capitals scattered around the world. McLaren expects to produce 1,000 cars per year, but has already received pre-orders for over twice that number.

[Source:  TopSpeed]

Hit the jump to read McLaren’s official press release

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Professional drifter Tyler McQuarrie continues to bring a lot of attention to the World Challenge series in his Lotus Exige S race car. After topping the podium with the No. 19 LPL/DRS/Switcars/LCS/Dayco/M&T Lotus Exige S during its first race at Long Beach a few weeks back the car has since received some rewards weight and had its power cut to ensure a competitive field in the mid-level GTS Class.

McQuarrie put on a tremendous display of driving during the two-race weekend at Mosport International Raceway, placing second on both Saturday and Sunday – both times to the No. 35 Torvec/Phoenix/Hawk Chevrolet Corvette driven by John Heinricy (the man who piloted the Cadillac CTS-V to its record setting sub 8-minute Nürburgring time). In both races he was passed by series veteran Peter Cunningham in the No. 43 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX, but managed to take back the position. He even seemed to gain ground on the overall GT leader and racing legend Ron Fellows (on his home track no less). After the race he commented that with the tiny dimensions of the Lotus he was able to tuck in behind the big Corvette.

Lotus fans and fans of motorsports in general will want to check out our gallery of the Exige race car from this weekend’s festivities at Mosport International Raceway. We’ll be sure to provide updates on how the Lotus fares the rest of the season and see if perhaps McQuarrie will graduate to a new Lotus Evora race car to compete in the GT class next year.

GALLERY: LPL/DRS/Switcars/LCS/Dayco/M&T Lotus Exige S

There has been surprisingly little news about the Brass Monkey Nissan GT-R race team competing in the World Challenge series – party because other than their introduction, the cars haven’t generated much excitement themselves. Sure the GT-R is an amazing sports car, even holding a Nürburgring record at one point, but so far the two car effort has been relegated to the back of the pack in the lead GT class.

The GT Class is most certainly where the GT-R belongs, competing alongside Corvettes, Vipers and Porsches – as well as the awesomely capable Volvo S60s – but the development process is a slow one. This weekend the team ran both cars, with a best finish in the first race of a two race weekend being Tony Rivera in the No. 97 car in 10th. While in the second race Rivera managed 12th. Sadly neither finish was on the lead lap, but the potential is obvious with Rivera taking the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start award for moving up two positions on lap one in race one, while in race two he managed to gain five positions off the start.

We had a chance to get up close to the cars during the two-race weekend at Mosport International Raceway and were surprised to see differing levels of development with a carbon fiber trunk lid being used to save weight, while inside much of the factory dash remains intact. Fans of the GT-R and of motorsports will want to check out our gallery below.

GALLERY: Brass Monkey Racing Nissan GT-R

The United Auto Workers is busy inserting itself into the Toyota/Tesla joint venture barely 24 hours after it was even announced. The two companies announced that they would be collaborating on electric vehicles, and Tesla would be taking over the revolutionary (at the time) NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, to build their new Model S sedan.

The NUMMI plant was a groundbreaking venture between Toyota and GM that saw one of the first instances of Japanese management practices and American-style union labor.  Before the collaboration, the Fremont plant was responsible for some of the most notorious horror stories regarding American auto workers, such as on-the-job intoxication and workers putting coke bottles inside vehicles so that the rattling would annoy customers. By the time the plant had closed at the end of 2009, the plant had experienced a 180-degree turnaround, with quality levels on par with Toyota’s best-performing Japanese factories.

4,500 NUMMI employees lost their jobs when the plant was shuttered, and it’s no surprise that the UAW is pushing hard to get the jobs back. An all-American, union made electric car would probably go along way to boost the perception of electric cars in the public eye, but with a pricetag of over $100,00, you can be certain that the amount of tomfoolery and quality defects that Tesla will tolerate is essentially zero.

[Source: Autoblog]

Clash Productions just posted this highly entertaining in-car video on YouTube, featuring world-class Touring and GT racing driver Tom Coronel in the Lammertink Racing Toyo Tires Porsche GT3 Cup car at the start of this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race. We particularly enjoyed the start, where Coronel mixes it up with one of the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA’s as well as a few other Porsches.

Coronel then shows some amazing pace through the higher speed sections of the Ring before being passed by a Ferrari on the impossibly long main straight. But like the crafty veteran he is, Coronel (whose name you may recognize as the driver from the record-setting lap he did around the Ring last year in a Dodge Viper ACR) ducks in behind the Ferrari and slipsteams it down the straight, slingshotting past just before the insanely quick lefthander that leads down the hill towards the GP portion of the circuit.

Back on the GP track near the end of the lap, the Ferrari and the LFA make another appearance as they pass Coronel’s Porsche. The fact that the SP8 class Lexus was able to hang with the quicker SP7 class Porsche GT3 Cup and Ferrari F430 GTC machines says a lot about just how good the LFA really is.

Enjoy the video after the jump.

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