Honda Performance Development is the first engine manufacturer to release details of an engine that complies with the ACO’s revised technical regulations that go into effect for the 2011 ALMS/Le Mans season. This new HPD LMP2 engine, based on Honda‘s global V6 engine used in everything from the Accord to the Acura ZDX, is a 2.8-liter twin-turbo that utilizes HPD’s exclusive engine-control system.

This engine is the product of a joint effort between HPD and Honda R&D Americas, Inc. (HRA). Product R&D engineers from HRA’s Raymond, Ohio center worked with HPD race engineers to create a powerful racing engine that meets the new regulations that state that the engine must be production-based and must cost no more than $90,000.

It is expected that this new 2.8-liter turbo V6 will be fitted to Highcroft Racing’s P2 chassis for competition in the American Le Mans series, while in Europe it will be Strakka Racing putting this engine to use in the European Le Mans series. It’s unclear at this point if Highcroft and Strakka will be required to manufacture a new chassis for 2011 or if their existing P2 cars (which are currently powered by a 3.4-liter V8) will be allowed to run the new turbo V6. We’ll let you know as soon as these details become available.

[Source: Honda Performance Development]

The luck just doesn’t seem to be getting any better for Lamborghinis, as another crash has surfaced - this time having absolutely nothing to do with their employees. One would think when you own just one of 10 LP670-4 SV China Edition‘s in the world, you’d be a little more careful with it. Just by looking at the photos, we can tell this bull suffered a seriously unfortunate accident in Beijing earlier this month.

Details are sparse, but what has been documented is that the vehicle was speeding at around 110 mph when the driver lost control. The exotic left the road, struck a group of trees and finally came to a stop a good 100 meters away. Luckily, as crazy as it may seem in populated Beijing, there were no pedestrians on the road and both driver and passenger were unscathed despite not wearing their seatbelts. Another proof that money just can’t buy common sense, driving experience or… well, just a brain.

This year seems to be filled with plenty of celebrity deaths and we can add on to 2010 as the year Lamborghini has really made the news with plenty of destroyed rarities.

[Source: Topspeed]

See the rest of the crash pics after the jump:

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Ugh. We guess it was only a matter of time before it happened, and as much as we wanted to avoid the inevitable, well here it is. Over in Japan some crafty tuner has outfitted the Nissan R35 GT-R front end onto their Skyline R34 Coupe. And while it seems like the overall body flows – with the wider front fenders matching the rear – we’re not a huge fan of the conversion.

The Skyline R34 design is one with sharp edges and carries more of a rectangular style than the curvaceous and bubbly R35 GT-R. The incorporation of the rounded and soft-edged R35 front end just looks out of the place on the sharper edged rear end of the R34. At first glance it’s not a bad product overall, but we’re just finding it sacrilegious to be blending the two generations into one. But hey, the conversion obviously took a lot of work, incorporating the fenders, hood, headlights and front bumper in a way that blended in with the side skirts and the rest of the body. The craftsmanship is there, so we give it an A for execution, but an F for concept.

Let’s hope the days of front end conversions, or headlight conversions or even taillight conversions are behind us. Just too many nightmares of Civic hatchbacks sporting Supra taillights and Integra front ends haunt us. We just know there’s no way we’ll avoid seeing a similar conversion on our soil some time soon. Ugh.

GALLERY: Nissan Skyline R34 with R35 GT-R Front End

[Source: Farm of Minds]

Now if that isn’t a title that makes you want to read the article, we don’t know what is. Amazingly enough, it’s true. A German student caused a major traffic jam in Bavaria, when, in protest (of what, we’ll never know), he ran into the Hells Angels clubhouse, dropped his pants, threw a puppy into the group, then tried to escape by stealing a bulldozer, which he planned to take to Munich. Just stop and process that for a second….

The Bulldozer, which has a maximum speed of about 10 mph, clearly wasn’t fast enough, and the man caused a 3-mile traffic jam near the southern town of Allershausen. He was later arrested at his home, and is being questioned by German officials.

The puppy is fine.

[Source: UK Telegraph]

Pimpin’ ain’t easy, even in the U.S. But what about in Kazakhstan? Unless you’re a mobster, a chauffeur, or a car thief, odds are, you’ll never get to drive a Rolls-Royce Phantom. Most people outside of major cities have never even seen one. That fact may work to mechanic Ruslan Mukanov’s advantage, as he’s simply built himself one on a late model Mercedes 300D chassis.

Using only $3,000 worth of plaster and fiberglass, and many weekends of elbow grease, Mukanov has created his own Rolls Royce Phantom. Sure, it’s got a 3.0-liter diesel engine, not a BMW V12, and the leather is standard 80′s Benz “perforated,” but the suicide doors are functional, the Rolls Royce emblems are real, and Kazakhstani girls are dropping their штанишки left and right.

I gotta say, we’ve seen worse.

Video of Mukanov trying in vain to pull into a snowy driveway after the jump.

[Source: JamesList]

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As Europe struggles to deal with economic uncertainty in wake of the P-I-G-S crisis, General Motor’s European operations has elected to withdraw its application for government Loan Guarantees. According to sources within GM, the process of securing the loan guarantees has become increasingly complex and is taking longer than anticipated. Although some governments had already committed loan guarantees – particularly Spain and the U.K., uncertainty from others, including Germany, at a time when GM has already committed it’s Opel/Vauxhall brands to new programs and technologies, means that the General has decided to withdraw all applications and instead source the money required internally.

In response to the announcement, Nick Reilly, President of GM Europe and Chairman of Opel/Vauxhall’s management board had this to say. “We appreciate the support indicated by certain governments, especially the U.K. and Spain, but we need to move on. The decision of the German government last week was disappointing and means the conclusion for these guarantees are likely months away. We cannot afford to have uncertain funding plans and time consuming, complex negotiations at this time, when we need to keep investing in new products and technologies. To be clear, our funding needs have not changed and we are grateful to the decision and support of our parent company which will allow us to move forward in this very competitive industry.”

Prior to the announcement the U.K. government had already stated it would commit 330 million Euros (approximately $407 million) worth of Loan Guarantees and the Spanish government a similar amount, this out of a total of 1.8 billion Euros (approx $2.21 billion) requested  from across Europe. However with the German government seeking to enter new negotiations, GM has pulled the plug on external funding.

Instead, it will forge ahead with the 11 billion Euro investment plan into future products that was announced back in Februrary. This includes the new Opel/Vauxhall Astra and Meriva, plus the Ampera plug in hybrid, scheduled to be released next year (shown).

[Source: Spiegel Online]

Audi is certain to develop a high-performance version of its new A1 model in a bid to compete with the JCW-tuned MINI Cooper. So with production all but confirmed, the only questions remaining are: what engine will it have and will it be AWD?

In an interview with the folks at PistonHeads during the European A1 launch, the car’s product boss, Lars Adler, admitted that engines currently in use in the A3 could be made to fit under the hood of the A1. He also acknowledged that the A3′s AWD system could be adapted to the A1 – but not as easily.

There are serious doubts that a high-powered S1 or RS1 would use AWD, due to the added weight and the fact that none of the competing vehicles use it. As for the engines, a 200ish horsepower 2.0T engine would certainly make the A1 a blast to drive. Currently the most potent engine offered is a 1.4 TSI with 121-hp and 147 ft-lbs of torque. Another strong possibility for the A1 is the new Polo GTIs engine, a 1.4-liter TSI Twincharger (supercharged and turbocharged) which makes 178-hp.

[Source: PistonHeads]

Jaguar will build a production version of the 523-hp Goodwood Special XKR that debuted at last years Goodwood Festival of Speed. Jaguar managing director Mike O’Driscoll confirmed the plans in an interview with PistonHeads.com, commenting that the new model would essentially be a production version of the one-off show car.

Power will come from a modified version of the XKR’s 5.0-liter supercharged engine, likely making the same 523-hp and 516 ft-lbs of torque as the concept. Top speed is rated at 186-mph and to prove the car is no slouch in the corners either, Jag has admitted a test mule just ran the Nürburgring in under 8 minutes. (Hopefully quite a bit less)

There’s no word on when the production model would debut, but we bet Goodwood would be the perfect venue, with the annual Festival of Speed set to kick off in early July.

GALLERY: Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special

[Source: PistonHeads via InsideLine]

These are the first shots of Hyundai‘s secretive Pikes Peak race car, the Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) Hyundai Genesis PM580. The photos were taken by pro drifter Dai Yoshihara when the car was out testing recently at the El Toro airforce base

Designed to run the Unlimited Class at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the PM580 is basically a Le Mans-style prototype racer — with all-wheel-drive and at least 650 horsepower from a 4.1-liter turbocharged Hyundai LAmbda engine.

Hyundai and Rhys Millen are gunning for the record currently held by Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, who ran a 10:01.41 on the 12.42-mile course in an extremely modified Suzuki back in 2007. Tajima’s time bested the standing world’ record of 10:04.06, set in 1994 by Rhys’ father Rod Millen.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb, which takes place annually on Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado, starts at an elevation of 9,300 feet and finishes at an elevation of 14,110 feet – where the air is so think drivers’ reaction times begin to slow and their race car engines lose 30 percent of their power. Drivers drift around 156 corners, nearly missing guard rails and trees, while avoiding cliffs with 2,000-foot drop-offs.

Rhys Millen Racing will officially debut the car on April 19th, with this year’s event taking place on June 27th.

GALLERY: RMR Hyundai Genesis PM580

[Source: Dai Yoshihara]

See videos of the RMR Hyundai Genesis PM580 after the jump:

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Bloomington Gold is billed as America’s premier all-Corvette show and indeed to have your car win a Gold award at this event, is to be recognized as having achieved the highest standards in Corvette restoration in the world. The 38th running of Bloomington Gold will take place on June 25-26th at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois, just west of Chicago.

Alongside the show, Mecum Auctions will be hosting an on-site event, with more than 400 Corvettes of various years scheduled to cross the auction block. Given the high standard of cars that attend the show, those Corvettes for sale promise to included some top quality restored, original and highly desirable examples such as a selection of Mid-Year Sting Rays, Indianapolis Pace Cars and rare L88s.

A very special car slated for display at the auction but not up for grabs (it’s scheduled to be auctioned at Mecum’s Monterey event in August), is a L88 427 powered ‘67 Corvette Roadster, once owned by racer Tony DeLorenzo Jr. (son of Legendary General Motors Public Relations supremo Anthony DeLorenzo). The car, which has real SCCA racing pedigree (it was campaigned from 1967-82), has been restored and awarded Bloomington Gold certification. It is also believed to be the earliest Regular Production Order L88 in existence.

[Source: Mecum Auctions]