By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Is there such thing as a “practical” exotic that you could run as a driver, or at the very least do something with besides polishing it with a microfiber and driving 20 miles a year to snooty concours shows? For me, practical exotics are the only ones I’m even remotely tempted by–I mean, if it’s so expensive and temperamental that you can’t even drive it to work, what’s the point? I’ve been totally hankering for a Pantera–I’ve always loved the incongruous combo of a thoroughbred-looking Italian car with this burly American-muscle burble coming out of it. The run-of-the-mill Ford 351 is a snap to find parts for, the rear engine compartment offers scads of room for wrenching, and the entire setup seems unfussy and accessible. Yes, I’m sure there are some hassles associated with owning a Pantera, but what do you expect? As exotics go, it seems infinitely doable. My runners-up for practical exotics would be a DeLorean (if that counts as any kind of exotic, it’s got low maintenance costs and great aftermarket infrastructure) or a Ferrari 308 (you can find them in the $20′s, and John from Autosport daily-drives his in the summer and does his oil changes on his lunch break: total rockstar).  What am I missing? What attainable exotic have you had an eye on?

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Neither one of these Japanese heavyweights was made for drag racing, and there’s obviously a huge—like 315K—price difference. It would have been more fun to watch them duke it out on a road course, but this is still an interesting match-up. I got big kick out of the narrator, who said that the LFA’s brakes are “powerful enough to stop the rotation of the earth.” That’s pretty good stuff.

Lexus LFA vs. Nissan GT-R Drag Race

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The Capro T1 might look like something that escaped from an F1 paddock, but it’s actually street-legal, and the blokes from Evo Magazine were crazy enough to take this 575HP beast on a road trip across England. Given the car’s history—the floor fell out when Jeremy Clarkson tested it, a prototype caught fire at 160MPH, a suspension failure a wrecked a journalist, the throttle jammed open at Goodwood—that’s a pretty ballsy move. Of course, if I had the chance to drive this baby, I’d take my chances.

The Capro T1 on Public Roads

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The 599XX is a 700HP, weapons-grade version of the 599GTB, and it drops Modena’s luxury appointments in favor of race-ready features like plastic windows and a roll cage. Ferrari says this run is a record for a “production-based” sports car,  and while it might be technically right, this Cavallino isn’t street-legal and ran the lap shod with slicks. So you can make your own decisions about whether this “record” is that big of a deal, but regardless, this video is sick.

Ferrari 599XX sets new record on the Nurburgring

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The DUB tour kicked off this weekend in Anaheim, and we sent Larry Chen—our number one photographer—to shoot pics and video. Given how crappy the economy is, I was really curious about the level of cars that would be there.  But from the looks of this video, the DUB demographic hasn’t been effected by the downturn at all.

Larry also shot over 300 pics for our Events section. Check them out!

DUB Anaheim 2010

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The other day, I got a press release from Royal Purple touting their new engine note ringtones site, and today I finally got a chance to check it out. They’ve got some pretty sick ones available for download, including the Aston Martin DB 7,  Dodge Viper,  and Ford GT350 Super. Rob would probably go for the Road Runner, and since there isn’t a Ford Escort it’s unclear which Jen would want, but my favorite was the Ferrari 355 GTB. It’s really hard to beat Enzo’s Cavallinos in the music department.

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

At a dealership in Miami, Florida there was a massive flood that cost millions of dollars. Countless exotics and luxury vehicles were destroyed by the salty rush of flood waters. Read more about the soggy folly at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Audi’s e-tron was a smash hit at the LA Auto Show, and nobody had even seen it on the road. But Los Angeles Times automotive critic Dan Neil got to take one for a test drive and feel its 3319lbs of torque. Think we’ll really see these on the road in two years? With only a 100 being released worldwide, the chances of spotting one in the wild is remote, but it’d still be cool…

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

This was my first year at the LA Auto Show, and to be perfectly honest, the crappy economy cast a chilly shadow over the whole scene. Most years, the media peeps are scrambling from press conference to press conference trying to keep up with all the new concepts and debuts, but most of the stuff on the floor in La La Land had dropped in Frankfurt, or even before, so manufacturers simply didn’t have a lot of fresh meat to toss to out. That said, there was still some killer stuff on display. While Audi had dropped its electric e-tron concept back in Frankfurt, the example on the floor here was painted a gorgeous, visible-from-space orange, which had everyone scrambling to get pics, and I absolutely loved, loved, loved Honda’s P-Nut concept (below). And don’t even get me started on the AMG SLS. Mercedes’ new baby is an absolute stunner, and I can’t even imagine how those lines will look when it’s out in the wild, stalking driving appliances. I was also pumped to see the 2011 Fiesta—Ford has a mega hit on its hands here—the CTS Coupe’s production sheet metal, and Porsche’s new Boxster Spyder. Head over to the events section and check out Part One and Part Two of our pics from LA.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Mercedes-Benz’s Gullwing is an iconic symbol of automotive beauty, and while some purists sweat when an automaker revives and updates one of its greatest hits, M-B has been so on point with its styling of late that I think any fears about the Gullwing’s rebirth were completely unfounded. There’s a far better chance that an asteroid is going to extinguish life on earth than there is of Mercedes releasing an ugly vehicle. And while the SLS AMG might have traffic-stopping good looks, its 6.2-liter 32-valve V-8 pumps out a burly 563HP and 479 lb-ft of torque, so this baby will go like a scalded cat—with a jet pack. Unfortunately, my plans to get a walk-around video were thwarted by the fact that the turntable it’s on takes a celestial amount of time to complete a revolution. But there are a ton of photos after the jump. Enjoy.

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