Since going fast on public roads is both stupid and dangerous, not to mention illegal, more people are turning towards track days for their speed thrills. This has increased the demand for track-day specials like the Caterham 500 and the Ariel Atom. Now there will be a new kid on the block, fighting for your attention.

It’s called the Mono and it’s from Britain’s newest car company, Briggs Automotive Company (BAC), and from the looks of this first product, they mean business. The Mono is a single-seater sportscar that weighs just 1,188 lbs. and is powered by a Cosworth developed 2.3-liter engine. Max output is 280 hp at 7700 rpm and 207 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential gearbox, same as the ones used in F3 race cars.

As you could imagine, its performance numbers are quite impressive. 0-60 mph takes just 2.8 seconds, while top speed is quoted at 170 mph.

BAC hopes to sell around 50 examples of the Mono this year, with prices starting at $108,600. That is certainly not cheap, so only time will tell how the buying public will respond to this latest track attack vehicle.

If you own a 2010 model Jaguar XF sedan or XK sports car, this would be of interest to you. Jaguar North America has just issued a recall which affects 6085 vehicles, over a potential corrosion problem with the power steering system.

In a statement filed with the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), Jaguar said that the zinc-nickel plating on the steering lines may not provide corrosion protection. As a result, power steering fluid could leak onto electrical connections or hot pipes, and this can cause the vehicle to catch fire.

The recall affects models built between June 27, 2009 to March 10, 2010. Jaguar will begin servicing this recall from April 11, 2011. Contact your local dealer for more information.

[Source: Carscoop]

First came the Aston Martin Vanquish S in 2005, followed by the DBS in 2008, and now for 2011 we are blessed by the arrival of the V8 Vantage S. Could this already ultra sexy machine get even sexier? Yes it can.

While the visual changes to the Vantage S might be subtle, but they work beautifully. It gets a new nose job thanks to a new bumper which features a larger air intake, new wider side sills and a revised rear bumper plus those gorgeous new 19-inch “V” spoke alloy wheels.

But there is more to this new “S” than meets the eye. Under the skin it gets retuned springs and dampers, and new ratios for the power steering system. Sounds tempting already.

But wait there’s more. You also get a newly massaged engine which now develops 430-hp and 361 lb ft of torque, a slight increase over the regular Vantage model. The biggest change is with a device that spends its life changing gears, the gearbox. The Vantage S is the first Aston product to benefit from the new 7-speed gearbox. It’s called SportShift II, and it has shorter gear ratios plus the transmission shifts about 20% quicker than the previous system, so the car will be quicker than before, although Aston has not mentioned any performance data yet. More importantly for owners, it’s certain to be much smoother than the current box.

Plus, with greater speed comes better braking also thanks to larger diameter front brakes.

The Vantage S is available now, so if you needed one more reason to ask your boss for a big promotion, this might just be it.

GALLERY: Aston Martin V8 Vantage S

Lotus, a company best known for producing great sports cars like the Elise and the iconic Esprit, is about to head into a whole new direction.

While it will continue building sports cars, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has announced that in October, 2013 the company will produce its City Car, which was shown as a concept at the recent Paris Auto Show.

This new car will be jointly developed by Lotus and its parent company Proton, along with a mystery OEM car company. Bahar went on to say that “We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sporty one.”

No exact specification details are known at the moment, however the City Car concept had a 1.2-liter, 3-cylinder engine with hybrid drive technology.

While Lotus will continue its sports cars side of the business, which in the next few years will launch models like the all new Elise, Elan and Esprit, Bahar said that in order for the company to become profitable, it needs to expand its business portfolio.

Bahar told CAR magazine that “Over the past 15 years, Proton has had no profit at all from Lotus. They decided to sell it or give it another chance.”

Let’s hope their new business plan works and enable them to stay in the business of making exciting cars for years to come.

[Source: CAR]

After officially revealing its MP4-12C exotic several months back, McLaren Automotive has now announced estimated performance numbers and they’re as shockingly amazing as the rest of the car. The British sports car maker and Formula 1 team claims a 0-60 mph time of less than 3.0 seconds. The elapsed time to 124-mph (200 km/h) is set at under 10 seconds.

How does the car achieve such an astonishingly low time. Well, its a combination of light weight and horsepower. McLaren has already released that the MP4-12C’s twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 makes 600-hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque and will come with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. No curb weight numbers are yet available, but a dry weight (without fluids) is set at 2,860 lbs – meaning it should still only to out at 3,200 lbs total. Much of this has to do with the car’s ultra-light carbon monocoque chassis.

In terms of acceleration, the MP4-12C (according to McLaren, of course) is faster than the Corvette ZR1, Ferrari F430 Scuderia and Porsche GT2.

But how does it handle? See after the jump for video of McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button driving the MP4-12C on the track.

Watch out Ferrari.

[Source: Car & Driver]

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Aston Martin is preparing to launch the One-77, its first ever supercar, next year and the British automaker is so impressed with the car’s initial performance that it sent out a press release to give an update on the project. Just this week the 7.3-liter V12-powered monster began high speed testing at “a top secret proving ground in southern Europe.”

During the first set of runs, the One-77 not only managed 200-mph, but blew past it to record a speed of 220.007 mph. That’s 354.86 km/h in Euro (or Canadian) speak.

Aston has said it will continue testing and its likely the new supercar will exceed the 220-mph mark. Helping it achieve those impressive numbers is an engine rated at around 750-hp, as well as special air ducts at the front of the car that close off at speed to reduce lift.

We’re even more excited to see what the One-77 might be able to do on Germany’s famed Nürburgring, as the combination of power and the One-77′s light weight carbon fiber monocoque chassis (like the one in the McLaren MP4-12C or Lexus LFA) should give it a huge advantage over standard street cars.

As the name suggests, just 77 versions of the car will be built with an asking price of close to $2 million.

GALLERY: Aston Martin One-77 High Speed Testing

GALLERY: Aston Martin One-77 at Pebble Beach

Official release after the jump:

Continue Reading…

Aston Martin has just released a selection of photos of its Cygnet mini-car concept, giving us the first real look at what this luxury econo-box will be like. Officially still a concept, the Cygnet is expected to go on sale next year in the U.K. and is based on the Toyota iQ mini-car.

Sold exclusively to current Aston Martin owners and then offered to new car buyers, it will be available late in 2010. Aston Martin plans to retrofit the cars at its facility in Gaydon in the U.K., after receiving the basic vehicles from Toyota.

From the new photos the car gets a typical Aston Martin grill, which honestly doesn’t look a ridiculous as we might have expected. It also gets some aggressive hood vents, some larger Aston Martin-style wheels, some fender vents, Aston’s signature door handles and some LED taillights.

Inside it’s seriously luxurious with plenty of leather, as well as some high-tech goodies.

Under the hood we expect to find Toyota’s 99-hp 1.3-liter 4-cylinder engine.

Aston Martin expects to sell from 1,000 to 2,000 units of the car but insists the decision to sell the Cygnet has more to do with offering well-heeled owners a practical city car, rather than to help the large-engined British automaker to meet increasingly strict corporate emissions regulations.

GALLERY: Aston Martin Cygnet

[Source: AutoCar]