An old nemesis is making a return to Australia’s V8 Supercar series. From 1990 through 1992, the Nissan Skyline GT-R dominated the Australian Touring Car Championship series, running rings around Holden and Ford V8′s. During the 1991 Bathurst 1000, the GT-R even set a top-speed record that could not be matched for nine years. Finally, in 1992, Australia’s racing body charged a weight penalty and a boost pressure reduction in an attempt to level the playing field. However, that failed to slow the GT-R down as it continued to dominate its last season before new rules that required V8 powerplants banned the GT-R’s entry.

After a decade, the Nissan GT-R once again returns to the stage under the the Supercar V8′s Car of the Future program, a new project encouraging a wider variety of automakers to join the series. What’s more, Mark Skaife, the man behind the Car of the Future program, was a former GT-R racer that won many of Nissan’s victories in Australia during the early ’90s.

In order to meet the current V8 Supercar regulations, Nissan’s race car will be forced to use a generic rear-wheel-drive, V8 drivetrain. Despite the fact that it will not be an authentic GT-R racing alongside the fire breathing Aussie V8s, we do look forward to seeing more and more automakers following Nissan’s example to freshen up the Bathurst grid. So far, four GT-R’s under Kelly Racing will be participating in the 2013 season.

Watch video of the announcement below:

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When you’re the Chief Instructor of the Nürburgring Driving Academy, you probably know the track fairly well and get to indulge yourself in some… let’s call them company perks. Andy Gülden is said instructor and braved -16 degrees Celsius weather to take a Nürburgring Formula Race Car for a “casual” drive.

The epic video shows the Formula Race Car along the icy and snowy Nürburgring Nordschleife and Grand Prix track and promotes the Driving Academy out in the Green Hell. And hey, who can’t help but to think Hell finally froze over after seeing this video?

Watch the video after the jump.

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For decades, the recipe for a supercar had always been about stuffing a fire-breathing V12 engine in the middle. Some super cars receive the occasional quad-turbo W16, V10, and supercharged or turbocharged v8, but these all build upon pretty much the same idea. What many car enthusiasts have actually been wondering ever since they witnessed the Batmobile for the first time is whether jet engines could be fitted into cars in real life.

Finally, Jaguar answers the question with not one, but two jet engines. The Jaguar C-X75 concept was first unveiled in 2010 at the Paris Auto Show, boasting a twin-turbine power plant tucked within a sleek shell reminiscent of the Jaguar XJ220. However, when Jaguar announced the C-X75 would make it to production last year, the twin-turbine was replaced with a more conservative hybrid drivetrain mated to a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Despite the fact that the power train will be co-developed with Williams F1, the C-X75 isn’t the same without rockets.

Now, Jaguar has revealed that while 250 examples of the C-X75 will be powered by the hybrid turbo-4, an extremely limited quantity of C-X75 supercars will receive the micro-turbines as envisioned from the original concept. These jet engines are produced by the Bladon Jets Engineering Centre in Coventry, which is based very close to Jaguar’s headquarters and is even partially owned by parent company Tata.

Driving the rear wheels, the turbines are expected to produce an extra 95-hp each. Requiring no cooling or lubricant systems like a traditional internal combustion engine, the micro-turbines are also light and easy to package.

While exact numbers are unknown, the C-X75 is expected to meet all supercar requirements, including acceleration to 60 mph in 3 seconds and a top speed exceeding 200 mph.

GALLERY: Jaguar C-X75

[Source: Auto Express]

Driving down the boulevard in their Italian supercars, wealthy but genuine car enthusiasts face the difficult challenge of separating themselves from the typical playboys in fast cars. To solve this first world problem, HRE performance wheels proposed that there is no better way to add a touch of class to an exotic than by installing performance wheels with vintage flair.

Introducing the new Vintage Series, HRE wheels recreated three iconic designs from the brand’s 34-year history, each of which range from 18- to 20-inches, and are completely re-engineered as 3-piece forged wheels from quality aerospace-grade forged alloy. What’s more, each wheel is hand-finished in order to meet customer’s specifications for their modern exotic.

HRE provided a press gallery to showcase its new wheels installed upon the successors of the same automobiles that once wore the originals. The German racing car roots of the “501″ wheels are instantly recognizable, as its mesh lace design suits the latest viper green Porsche 991 ducktail nicely.  The five-porthole “454″ is a modern take on the wheels from the sensational Lamborghini Diablo and are just as striking to look at when fitted to the new Aventador. Finally, the pentagram design “505″ is a proper ode to the Ferrari F40, although pairing the set of wheels to a Ferrari 458 Spider is slightly clashing.

HRE Wheels President Alan Peltier said, “The process of recreating vintage designs that captured the style and essence of the originals was very exciting and challenging for all of us at HRE. These designs take us all back to the ’70′s and ’80′s when we were kids falling in love with exotics for the first time and truly becoming car lovers. Capturing all the character and magic of these designs, while ensuring they fit modern super cars and met our current engineering standards, made the project tougher than simply creating replicas of the original cast wheels. We found inspiration in those original designs but created wheels that reflect the HRE of today; wheels that are truly inspired.”

Wealthy automotive connoisseurs, rejoice!

GALLERY: HRE Vintage Series

[Source: Autoblog]

Formula 1 is the epitome of motorsport glamor and fortune and the pinnacle of automotive engineering, technology and innovation. However, if an  F1 car doesn’t have what it takes to win, then apparently it isn’t worth anything at all. Yet amid the unforgiving reality of competition, Kevin Anthony, a 47-year-old resident of Brighton, England realized that a team’s loss could be his gain.

From bits and pieces of obsolete Formula 1 components found on eBay, Anthony is building his very own race car. So far, he has purchased a damaged tub for about $5,000 produced by team BAR for the 2001 season. With a basic structure, Anthony then bought an engine cover from BMW Williams, a nose from Force India, Lucky Strike racing livery and whatever else he could muster to create his Frankencar. To date, he has spent approximately $10,000 on his project.

He enjoyed purchasing memorabilia like spark plugs from grand prix cars before staring his current project, but realized after a while that “in buying parts, I have met quite a few people who raced Formula 1 cars and were selling their old ‘rubbish’ off. That made my realize that if I bought the right ‘rubbish’, I too could have what they had and fulfill a dream that until then was out of reach, namely having my own Formula 1 car.”

Currently, Anthony believes the project is near 65 percent complete and expects to have a rolling chassis by next year. As for an engine, he’s keeping an eye out for the perfect Formula Renault or Formula Ford powerplant.

[Source: New York Times]

It appears as though Honda won’t let Toyota hog the spotlight in the GT300 class of the Super GT racing series.

Joining the Prius Hybrid race car will be a Honda CR-Z developed with M-TEC Co., Ltd. and will be campaigned by Team Mugen. The hybrid racer won’t, however, be competing until Round 4 of the Super GT Series.

Unfortunately not a lot of details have been released by Honda, other than confirmation that the race car will be a reality and will have a hybrid racing system. The development driver for the project will be Hideki Mutoh, who is known for competing in the IndyCar Series and the GT500 class of Super GT. We’re guessing it will be some time before photos of the finished project surface considering Round 4 of the Super GT 2012 schedule isn’t until July 30th, 2012.

GALLERY: Honda CR-Z GT300 Race Car

[Source: Jon Sibal]

Increasing motorsports exposure, Honda announced its plans to enter its newly redesigned European 2012 Honda Civic into the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).

According to Honda CEO Takanobu Ito, this entry entails creating an all-new engine developed specifically for touring car competition. “We have made a decision to enter into the WTCC with the European Civic. We will develop a totally new engine for this project and we are all excited about starting this new challenge.” Developed alongside Mugen and J.A.S. Motorsport, Honda’s new engine is a racing 1.6 liter, direct-injection, turbo 4-cylinder engine designed within FIA Super 2000 regulations.

Racing as a two car-team managed by J.A.S. Motorsport, the inaugural rounds for the new Civic will be held when the WTCC arrives to Asia, namely races in Japan, China, and Macau. Honda also intends to compete in every race in the 2013 season.

GALLERY: WTCC 2012 Honda Civic

Toyota racing announced today that the TS030 hybrid powered race car will compete in the World Endurance Championship races.

Originally Toyota racing had planned on entering selected races on the World Endurance Championship circuit, but citing unexpected changes faced by the championship has now announced they will be a full-time entrant. This means that the debut of the TS030 will be on May 5th at the Six Hours of Spa Francorchamps.

For the 24 hours of Le Mans race, the regular driver line-up of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazui Nakajima has been confirmed, but the second set of drivers has yet to be determined.

“The circumstances for the championship changed suddenly in recent weeks and Toyota Racing considers it important to work together with the FIA and ACO to establish a successful future for endurance racing. We have done everything we can to show our support and we look forward to an exciting season, including the opportunity to race two cars at Le Mans,” said Toyota racing team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita.

See video of the Toyota Hybrid race car below:

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The German-based Kodewa team will be campaigning a pair of Lola LMP2 Coupes in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Lola LMP2 race cars are designed and built in Huntingdon UK and will be powered by an engine provided by the Lotus Group.

The Lola B12/80 LMP2 Coupes will sport a traditional black and gold livery, which was first made famous back in the 1970′s. The famous color scheme will be a nice contrast to the classic blue and orange Gulf Oil scheme that will be seen on the other Lola LMP2 cars this season.

“We have had a very successful winter at Lola with eight LMP cars having been ordered. We believe that new entries in sports cars are recognising the technical capabilities and iconic brand of Lola. It is pleasing that Kodewa, sponsored by Lotus, has chosen Lola to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 hours, this year,” said Martin Birrane, Executive Chairman of Lola.

Lola has experienced great success recently taking the 2011 Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series manufacturers titles. Lola was also the first gasoline-powered LMP car to finish last years Le Mans 24 Hours. We’ll see the new race cars in action at the first race of the 2012 season at the Sebring 12 Hours race on March 17th.

Folks once scoffed at the idea of a hybrid race car, but with Toyota announcing its TS030 Hybrid car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Porsche already well on the hybrid race car bandwagon, it might not be too much of a stretch to believe these rumors that the Ferrari-powered, Pininfarina-designed P4/5 Competizione is going green.

Reports from Europe are coming in that the GT prototype is looking to make a return to the Nürburgring VLN series with a hybrid powertrain. It appears that the hybrid system will be provided by Magneti Marelli and will be similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that was developed for Scuderia Ferrari in F1.

We’re sure the primary source of power will still come from the 4.0L V8 powerplant, but the addition of an electric motor will definitely help the P4/5 Competizione compete on the Nürburgring where reliability is sometimes more important than power.

[Source: Autoblog.nl]