ULTIMATE AERO BEATS BUGATTI VEYRON

SSC’s Ultimate Aero has received a power boost for 2009. Having been the world’s fastest car for the past year, the Ultimate Aero is about to get even more powerful with a power upgrade which takes the supercar to 960kW, 40kW short of producing the world’s first 1000kiloWatt production car. If you can imagine a small power station that can run a few households, you can imagine what kind of power this thing has.

SSC say the car will now be able to reach a top speed of 435km/h, beating the Bugatti Veyron’s record velocity of 407km/h by several football fields’ worth of distance.

To know all this you could just glance at the centre console where an Azentek PC base Infotainment unit will give you loads of information such as tyre pressure, temperature and the like. Carbon fibre is found all over the car in order to keep its weight down to a bare minimum.

520KW HENNESSEY GT-R BREAKS LOOSE

The Nissan GT-R is one the world’s most celebrated performance cars of any kind. Dubbed Godzilla because of its insane credentials on and off the race track, the GT-R was always going to be tuned by the aftermarket crowd. One of these tuners is American outfit Hennessey Performance, a Texas-based company whose best-known work is in tuning Dodge Vipers to insanity.

Hennessey can now turn an ordinary (by supercar standards anyway) GT-R’s 353kW and 588Nm into something touching on the likes of McLaren SLR, Ferrari Enzo and Porsche Carrera GT. There are two tuning packages offered, the first called Godzilla 600 being a mild 450kW, 773Nm. The second one, Godzilla 700, gives owners 522kW under the right foot, to do with it as they please. Mind you, the engine is still the same 3.8-litre twin turbo V6.

By upgrading the air induction system, making alterations to the electronic boost control, exhaust system and intercooler, Hennessey shows how much more power can be wrought from the GT-R. Mind you, any of these changes on their own is probably guaranteed to throw the factory warranty out the window. If this doesn’t faze you at all then prepare to part with some US$14 500 for the package to be installed in your GT-R for Godzilla 600, and US$24 500 for the Godzilla 700 option.

Of course you’d still be expected to pay the estimated R35 000 monthly installment.

MORE VOLVO S60 CONCEPT

Frankly I was quite disappointed when the production Volvo C30 came out. For a car billed as the youthful side of Volvo, it ended up being yet another bland blend of Swedish charm with conservative design. Pity because the Volvo Safety Concept Car on which it is based was kinda revolutionary.

Which brings us to the S60 concept you see pictured above. This is one of the freshest, most interesting concepts to come out this year, from anyone. It depicts what Volvo sees as the look of their next S60, or something very close to it. The new S60 is due out in 2009.

I’ve actually met Volvo’s chief designer Steve Mattin and his perspective is to try and keep Volvo’s traditional buyers while attracting new, younger clients to the brand. Hence the C30. With the S60 Volvo aims more at the 3 Series/ C-Class market than 5 Series/ E-Class, so it will be a sportier car. The concept has a roof made almost entirely of glass for a panoramic view, while that floating centre stack plays an even more prominent role.

An honest plea to Mattin and his bosses: please keep at least 95% of this concept’s looks for the real thing. It looks absolutely stunning as it is, but concepts hardly ever mimic the final product’s design.

WRC LOSES SUBARU

Slightly disturbing news today coming out of the rally world is that Subaru is pulling out of the 2009 World Rally Championship. According to Fuji Heavy Industries, the company that owns most of the Subaru brand (Toyota owns a significant share in Subaru too, about 17%), WRC has become too expensive to partake in during these harsh trading times. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

It was Honda that pulled out of Formula One just last week. Now Subaru leaves the WRC.

The guy who runs F1 Bernie Ecclestone has said Honda’s exit from the sport is not a big deal compared to if someone like Ferrari or McLaren for instance, decided to leave.

But for Subaru to make this announcement is like a bishop who decides to leave a church. Subaru’s cars, especially the Impreza range, has been associated with the WRC for an extremely long time, in fact these cars are developed in conjunction with the team that runs Subaru’s WRC outfit.

So this is a major loss for motor racing then. I’m just crossing my fingers that no other automaker announces something similar. Well apart from Suzuki which competes in the junior WRC.

2010 FORD MUSTANG ALBUM

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Mzansi may not be getting the new Ford Mustang, but that doesn’t stop us from looking at pictures of one of Detroit’s foremost automotive icons. The 2010 Ford Mustang is powered by two engine variants, a V6 and a V8. Enjoy!