By John Coyle

Editor

The guys from Car-Parazzi just posted this clip of the Batmobile running under its own power at the Beverly Wilshire, and it sounds burly. But what's the deal? Did the Caped Crusader get over-served and have to catch a cab home? If so, I'm sure TMZ will have all the sordid details posted shortly.   

By John Coyle

Editor

Up to this point, most of the news about the new James Bond flick, the unfortunately titled Quantum of Solace, has revolved around accidents on the set. And while 007's Aston Martin does spin a full 360—and perhaps sustain some damage from machine gun fire—in this clip, we're at least spared any shots of crumpled British iron. As someone who loved Casino Royale, I have high hopes for the next installment of the series, and if this clip is any indication, Quantum should be bad ass.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

You might remember my buddy John from the radar/laser diffuser install he did on a Veyron a while back. Well this week he got to work on one of the Eleanors used in the movie Gone in 60 Seconds. He installed a GPS tracking system with remote starter lock-out, alarm, glass break sensors and "some other security functions I will not mention." John, who is used to working on some nice stuff, was pretty impressed with the car:

When looking at cars, one always finds some kind of flaw with any vehicle, somewhere, somehow, but in all honesty, I could not find even one smudge on this car, and the quality and craftsmanship was just about the best I've ever seen. I guess it should be since the price was just shy of a half million bucks.

Was I nervous working on this car? No, not at all. We have worked on tons of very expensive rides, and it's just another day at the office. But it really is a treat to work not only on one of the coolest muscle cars ever built, but one that Nicolas Cage actually drove in the movie.

Be sure to check out his '67 Cuda ride page for all the pics and a full write up!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

USA Today posted some apparent screen shots from the new Fast and Furious film. Included among the subjects is one of the mint Grand Nationals that gets trashed in the film (RIP to the six of them), along with Vin Diesel's mean-looking Chevelle SS, of which we've already seen plenty of illicit footage. And surprise, Paul Walker's going to be driving an R34 Skyline! See the other shots below the jump, and stay tuned for more—now that the stills are starting to trickle out, the official trailer can't be far behind!

Thanks for the heads-up, Jalopnik!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

The first reviews I've read make it sound pretty bad. And the trailer looks pretty weak, too. I wrote last year about how excited I was to see it, but now I think I'll just wait for it to come out on DVD. Maybe I'll just skip it altogether.

From time to time I bore people with a story about how I almost got a Sunbeam Tiger. It was one of those weird situations where they seller wanted to get rid of the car but didn't seem to have a price in mind. This was about twelve years ago, the owner was my boss and I was totally broke. So I just threw out a low ball offer, and I think offended him. Anyway, it was British Racing Green just like Stephen's car below, and I'm still kicking myself. 

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It's got prison warden Joan Allen looking like a total badass, former NASCAR driver Jason Statham looking ripped, and of course a ton of cars armed to the teeth with deadly gadgetry. It's directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, who also directed one and wrote screenplays for all three of the Resident Evil movies, so you know it'll be the perfect blend of apocalyptic and pretty. See the fireworks now!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

At least one of you commenters was curious about the Death Race Dodge Ram, so here's the goods on it. It's a 2004 1500 and will be driven by the character Machine Gun Joe (2 Fast 2 Furious veteran Tyrese Gibson). While the 5.7L hemi and 5-speed automatic are stock, the drivetrain has endured some pretty drastic mods: the truck was converted back to 2wd, a 1-ton dually rear axle was swapped in, and it's running 16-inch dually wheels in the rear and 20's up front. The suspension's also had some tweaking, including Rancho 9000 shocks and Firestone airbags all around. This is a truck that's bound to deliver some thrills when the movie hits the theaters in August.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Ford's got some pretty serious marketing muscle invested in the new Death Race movie, so it's no big surprise that their flagship performance car gets a starring role as the ride of the film's protagonist. It's powered by the supercharged 4.6 and loaded up with goodies from Ford Racing. It has a full race suspension setup by Progress Technologies, including coil-overs and a NASCAR-style adjustable track bar. It's also one of the few cars that gets a brake upgrade, with a full Brembro disc system. I can't wait to see the hero Frankenstein, played by Jason Statham, put this pony through its paces. And speaking of marketing, notice that it's the only one of the Death Race cars with a prominently-displayed manufacturer's emblem? Yeah, that Dodge Ram's hood ornament is a skull.

By David

aka Highspeedhijinks

We've been hearing bits and pieces about the new reincarnation of the B-movie classic Death Race 2000, but the more I hear, the less I see what it has to do with the original other than name. The original Death Race 2000 was interesting right from the tagline: "In The Year 2000, Hit And Run Driving Is No Longer A Felony. It's The National Sport!" In a post-apocalyptic world, America is now ruled by a dictator known simply as the President who has created a deadly cross-country race for his amusement. The point of the race is to finish with the most points, awarded for the running down of unsuspecting pedestrians. The favored driver, known as Frankenstein (David Carradine), has grown to hate the President and plans to take him out along with anyone who gets in his car's path. Little does he know that a rebel group bent on ending the race has placed one of their own as his navigator and are planning to take him out before he gets to the President. All of this while competitors like "Machine Gun Joe" (Sylvester Stallone) are out to get him.

This movie offers non-stop B-movie thrills, and it doesn't get any better than the toothy, tusky Death Race cars, based upon actual hulks of the era and obscured with themed sculpture. If you can't get your fill of clips and quotes here, then you should definitely take the time to Netflix it or track it down at the local video store.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I had a chance to look over some of the rides that'll be featured in the upcoming Death Race remake, and whoa, talk about custom bodywork! All of the cars have had an extra couple of thousand pounds of box steel grafted onto the bodywork, and many are running functional artillery. This Jag has its original V12 and 4-speed automatic, and has all the standard stunt-car modifications: cage, fuel cell, battery relocated, racing seats. To support all the extra weight of the armor cladding, the suspension was beefed up with KYB adjustable gas shocks, Eibach springs and custom sway bars—but the Jag still runs factory brakes! You'd think they'd want a little more stopping power, but all the vehicles in the film are going to end up pretty trashed anyway, so I guess the filmmakers figure it's no big deal if the Jag goes in the fence. Stay tuned for more.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Deathrace is going to be one of the seriously hot action films of the summer, and one that gearheads are going to want to check out. It's a remake of the darkly hilarious 1975 cult favorite Deathrace 2000, which featured godawfully armor-plated beaters in an epic race across the desert, the object being to cause as much gory pedestrian mayhem en route to the finish line as possible. The revised version looks to be a little more civilized, with cars battling it out on closed racetrack within an industrial-futuristic prison complex. The stakes are still high (the prize the condemned inmates are battling for is their freedom) and there's plenty of heavy artillery to spice up the race sequences—the cars are both armoured and armed to the teeth, and in the sequence I saw being filmed during my visit to the set in Montreal, contestants were blasting each other's cars with hood-mounted machine guns. The film won't hit theaters until August 22, but in the meantime, check out all the just-released pics from the set below the jump!

By David

aka Highspeedhijinks

In the name of art and excitement, the director of 007's latest adventure Quantum of Solace decided that wrecking another Aston Martin DBS was that the best way to climax his opening credit chase. This makes three cars now destroyed, for those who are keeping track. At least this one was intentional. The scene has Bond being chased by two Alpha Romeos through the windy roads of the Italian Alps. Taking a quick look through the pictures that Jalopnik provided gives me the feeling that Bond wins this chase, though barely. Bond wrecked the DBS in Casino Royale within minutes of hopping into that car as well. Maybe he should cut back on the martinis if he's going to be doing so much slick driving.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Another batch of on-set photos from the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious has surfaced. While some are a little blurry, they offer glimpses of some pretty sweet rides, including this tough Econoline with surfboards on the roof. And is that a badass surfin' hearse I spy with my little eye? You can also see the gull-winged Volvo C30 with the audio system by Benchmark Motoring that Sean photographed at SEMA in 2006. The set spy wrote that the night scene involved both a beach party and a drag race—see all the pics below the jump, and click here to review what various other spies have seen of the movie so far!

Source: FXhome via beyondhollywood.