A one-of-a-kind 2011 Corvette Z06; built by Chevrolet to celebrate the car’s first appearance and inaugural victory at Le Mans back in June 1960, will be auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson’s Westworld collector car auction on January 21st, with all proceeds going to the National Corvette Museum, located in Bowling Green Kentucky.

Outwardly, the Z06 looks similar to any other, but incorporates a number of unique features, including special Arctic White paint and blue racing stripes to commemorate the original winning 1960 #3 Cunningham Corvette racer, Competition Gray headlamp pockets, blue brake calipers,  ZR1 style rear spoiler, black carbon front splitter and rocker panels, carbon fiber fenders and floor pans and special 50th anniversary Le Mans emblems.

Hardcore ‘Vette enthusiasts will probably recognize the car as the same one driven by Ron Fellows at the ‘Legends of Le Mans’ event at Laguna Seca last year. The car was accompanied  on the track by the 1960 Le Mans winner, along with the 1967 Bob Bondurant/Dick Guldstrand; 1973 BF Goodrich and C6.R Corvette racers.

All proceeds from the Barret-Jackson auction of this car will be used in development of the National Corvette Museum’s  planned 500 acre motorsports park, which will incorporate road courses, a karting track, skidpad, autocross course and a drag strip.

[Source: Autoweek]

The bills are starting to trickle in from the holidays and you’re all out of cash – so now’s the time to spring the most and least expensive cars to insure in 2011 (we know, we’re good like that).

Insure.com has just released their annual list of the most expensive cars to insure, as well as the ones that won’t break your budget, based on a study commissioned from Quadrant Information Services. This survey takes into account six top U.S. insurance carriers and offers us a list of 40 vehicles that take top spots in each category.

The most expensive vehicle to insure in 2011 is the Mercedes SL65 AMG roadster that boasts an average annual national premium of $3,629.11 (that’s the price if you’ve been a squeaky clean driver with no speeding tickets or previous car insurance claims). On the bottom of the list is the Chrysler Town & Country LX that comes in at a much more affordable annual national premium of $1,091.80.

So why is the Town & Country only a third of what the SL65 AMG comes in at? “Family vehicles driven by soccer moms aren’t as likely to get into crashes as flashier sporty models,” says Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Highway Loss Data Institute.”Soccer-mom vehicles are driven by people who are generally not driving aggressively, aren’t speeding and often aren’t driving during peak commuting hours.”

You can check out the list of the top 10 most and least expensive cars to insure after the jump.

[Source: Insure.com]
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The Chevrolet Corvette is not only the longest running sportscar in America (it has been in non-stop production since 1953), but with prices starting at $48,950 it is also one of the most affordable performance machines on the market today.

A lot of people who can afford a new Corvette, have not been in and around a purpose built performance machine like this before, which even in base trim produces a mighty 430-hp. So to better equip these new customers with skills to handle such a high performance car, Chevrolet is now offering free driver training to all new Corvette buyers.

The program – which was previously only offered to ZR1 customers, will be held at the Bob Bondurant school in Phoenix, AZ and the Ron Fellows school at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch outside Las Vegas.

The offer is for a limited time, so if you’re in the market for a new Corvette and want to get the best out of owning such a car, we suggest you hurry over to your local dealer now.

Known for their tuning prowess and expertise in building Lamborghini race cars, Reiter Engineering has just made another huge splash with their Gallardo LP600+ GT3 race car. The LP600+ ushers in 600-hp at 8000 rpm out of its 5.2L V10 powerplant while weighing in at a scant 2,623-lbs.

With a price tag just a tad over $375,000, Reiter Engineering’s Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ is most certainly not for everybody.

In addition to its race-inspired aesthetics, the LP600+ features a new exhaust system, the suspension has been overhauled based on Reiter’s Murcielago R-GT while the brakes are from AP. The cockpit screams race car with a complete switch panel in the center console and paddle shifters to access the modified gear ratios.

The Lp600+ comes equipped with 18×11-inch lightweight magnesium wheels in the front while the rear sports a wider 18×12.5-inch pairing. Reiter Engineering has also fine-tuned the aerodynamics with a front splitter featuring double under-floor diffusers and a high down force rear racing wing.

GALLERY: Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+

[Source: Jon Sibal]

Honda‘s CR-Z certainly made a huge splash out at SEMA this year and Japanese tuners have been embracing hybrid-tuning for quite a while now, with plenty of modified Insights and Priuses roaming the streets of Japan. So it’s no surprise that even more have jumped on Honda’s CR-Z and Noblesse now has launched one of the most stylish kits available.

Adding plenty of style to the CR-Z, Noblesse modifications center around a full aero kit. It features brand new front and rear aprons, a pair of side skirts, a rear diffuser and an impressive rear spoiler – perhaps a little overkill for the hybrid. To complement the kit, Noblesse also offers a lightweight carbon fiber hood option, custom wheels and a sport exhaust system.

GALLERY: Noblesse Honda CR-Z

Check out a video of Noblesse’s CR-Z out on the track after the jump.

[Source: Carscoop]

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Having a little fun in their own backyard, Lotus has lent out a brand new Evora to the UK Police Force, more specifically the Central Motorway Police Group. Lotus’ hot new sports car features the traditional British Police flair on the exterior, including neon yellow accents contrasted by a dark, rich blue.

The themed Evora was introduced at this week’s Autosport International Show, and upon the show’s closing the keys will be handed over to West Midland’s police force who will put the Evora to the test for two weeks.

Gino Rosato, Director of Corporate Operations at Lotus comments: “Lotus is proud to take part in this and similar initiatives to help create a safer road culture for our customers and other road users. We believe that you do not have to compromise fun for speed and to that effect we build sportscars that are fun to drive within legal limits! We will be working with Officers from CMPG to teach them how to get the best from the Lotus Evora at our test track to ensure that any high-speed activity is as safe and effective as possible.”

PC Steven Rounds from, CMPG said: “The Lotus is a visually stunning machine which offers us the opportunity to engage with the public, reinforce and promote the life-saving messages of road safety.”

GALLERY: Lotus Evora UK Police Car

[Source: Carscoop]

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After a buildup that lasted a year, BMW finally revealed it’s new 1 Series M Coupe at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, giving us our first chance for an up-close look at the latest M machine.

Using the company’s twin-turbo 3.0-liter straight-six, the 1M Coupe makes 340-hp and 332 ft-lbs of torque, plus an overboost function helps deliver an extra 37 ft-lbs. Using a six-speed manual transmission (the only one available), the 1M Coupe can hit 60-mph in just 4.7 seconds – meaning that if BMW does decide to also offer the car with a dual-clutch transmission, that number would easily be 4.5.

Pushing the M Drive button improves throttle response, while the M Dynamic Mode button limits the traction and stability control.

And while the engine numbers aren’t astonishing, there’s far more to the 1M Coupe than straight power, with the car weighing 77 lbs less than a 135i and several hundred pounds less than an M3. Handling is also improved with wider fenders to house the new 19-inch wheels with 245/35/19 tires up front and 265/35/19 tires in the rear. The actual track of the car has also been widened considerably, with the rear track 1.8-inches wider than stock and the front track 2.8-inches wider that stock.

Outside the sports coupe does take the M3 style a step further with a more edgy design and quad exhaust pipes, while the interior is typical M with sports seats, a thick steering wheel with M colored stitching and a few other accent pieces.

There is one down side to this new model, however, and that’s the price with BMW stickering the sports car with a hefty $47,010 tag.

General Motors’ T800 series of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs, with specific reference to 1999-03 models of Chevy Silverado, Avalance, Suburban and Tahoe, as well as their GMC counterparts, Sierra and Yukon, have been subjected to an investigation regarding rusted brake lines.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in a filling posted last week, has said it has upgraded its original investigation to an ‘engineering analysis’ covering the affected vehicles, following concerns regarding its preliminary findings.

Said findings included no fewer than 26 separate complaints of brake line corrosion which have resulted in vehicle accidents since the agency first began looking into the problem last year.

GM, in a statement last year, said that even if a brake line rusted through, one of these trucks should still be able to stop safely.

In the course of its investigation, NHTSA initially targeted 6 million vehicles, but later reduced this 1.8 million when it decided that only vehicles being driven in rust belt states (where the roads are salted in winter) are adversely affected.

Said states comprise Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

Considering NHTSA’s recent spate of recalls, we have to think an official recall notice is coming soon.

[Source: New York Times]

It’s often referred to as the ‘City of Lights,’ but it seems that France’s capital is taking a somewhat less enlightened approach when it comes to motorists.

Government officials in Paris are proposing a series of regulations that would try to ban, or at least, heavily inconvenience owners of said vehicles and what is termed older, high polluting diesel cars and trucks that enter the city center.

However, actual details of the plan, including the specific types of targeting, the areas and hours of zone enforcement, along with fees and charges, have still yet to be determined.

Given the current high profile the issue of pollution enjoys, relative to perceived environmental concerns, vehicle emissions and cars with large engines or physically larger dimensions have been a frequent political target for law makers in Europe.

However, trying to enforce such laws can prove highly complex, if not impossible, since vehicle usage is generally a more accurate purveyor of true emissions output, rather than the type or size of vehicle.

However, during a broadcast with French Radio Station RTL last year, the deputy mayor of Paris, Denis Beaupain, went as far as stating; “I’m sorry, but in a city, having a sport utility vehicle makes no sense. Sell it and buy a vehicle more compatible with city life.”

Others are taking a more balanced view. Francois Roudier, vice president for communications at the Paris based CCFA (Comite des Constructeurs Francais) said, in reference to banning certain types of vehicles, especially old diesels; categorizing what constitutes such vehicles is “very hard to define.”  M. Roudier also says such programs are inherently politically motivated and often unfair; they simply end up hurting poorer members of society who can’t afford to purchase new cars.

French automakers have stated they are willing to discuss the proposals with lawmakers though admit that at present, specifics are still to vague for serious comment.

Paris currently has some of the worst traffic jams in Europe, with drivers losing up to 70 hours of time a year in gridlock, but in France as a whole, small diesel cars predominate the auto market by a wide margin, whereas genuine SUVs represent a very small fraction of total vehicles sales (largely because of existing tax regulations and high MSRP costs).

Therefore, such a ban as proposed by the city government, even if it does materialize, is likely to have very little effect on reducing pollution.

[Source: The New York Times]

Chrome on a car is cool when you’re talking about a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 race car. Less so when you’re talking about a Toyota Prius.

Still, when we spotted this IS.ME-tuned Prius at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon we had to snap a few pics to share, so you too can gawk at this visual train wreck. While it’s not exactly the same as butchering, say, a Porsche GT3, we never like to see an automobile get trashed and so it’s nice to know that this is just a wrap.

Much more permanent modifications have, however, been made on the inside, with some ultra-red leather seats. The work is actually high-quality, but it’s hard to get over the excessive use of red. It even has matching red seatbelts.

See more of the amazing and amazingly bad vehicles of the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon here.

GALLERY: Chrome IS.ME Prius