By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

There were a whole bunch of signs warning the guys from Motor Mavens not to bring cameras into the warehouse where Lexus is storing its new LF-A before the LA Auto Show. Good thing they didn’t care and came equipped with recording gear anyway. Bravo, gentlemen!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Toyota’s efforts in Formula 1 may have ended, but the final run of their F1 cars sure didn’t hold up the rest of the action during the Toyota Motorsports Festival. Joining the race versions of the LFA, Toyota had a nice surprise for everyone, in the form of a production version of the LF-A, sporting a rather catching shade of matte black. Next to the race cars it sounded much quieter and refined, but it didn’t look any slower when it shot past the main straight.  Continue reading at Speedhunters.

—By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Even discounting the hardware in the Giovanna Wheels booth—which was so dark I couldn’t get decent shots of anything—there were plenty of killer exotics at SEMA this year. As you can imagine, a car has to be pretty special to get attention here, because while a stock Lambo or Ferrari might turn tons of heads on the street, in this sea of insane customization, a machine has to be pretty special to stand out—regardless of its pedigree. All of these machines jumped out at me, but only one of them can win the exotics category. So what should it be, Pagani’s Zonda R, Gumpert’s Apollo, Devon’s GTX, Underground Racing’s twin-turbo Gallardo or Lexus’ LF-A? Vote now!

[slideshow id=3458764513857185131&w=426&h=320]

[polldaddy poll="2263559"]

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The quality of this video kind of  sucks, toward the end, some dude driving a Ferrari California in Sofia, Bulgari screws up and slams into a bulldozer. Oops.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

According to the Galveston Daily News, the driver was distracted by a low-flying pelican, dropped his cell phone, and drove into the lake. What a jackass. Apparently, the quad-turbo W16 ran for 15 minutes before it died, which seems like long enough to make sure every vital engine component got trashed, and begs the question as to why the owner didn’t kill it on his way out of the cabin. Hey, at least it wasn’t an Enzo—they still make Veyrons. Watch the clip below to see this 1.6 million dollar machine getting towed out of the drink. via VWVortex.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

After getting to see it in person at SEMA, I have to say I think Ferrari screwed the pooch with the back end of the California. With the top up it looks decent… but topless it’s just a fail. Tough to say, but true. The 458 Italia though, looks stunning. Damn. Autocar has the scoop on all the sexy little exterior touches, and got to take the new Cavallino it for a spin. RIP the gated shift…

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Basically, Gumpert’s Apollo is a race car for the road. It sports a round-tube, chrome-moly chassis, a carbon monocoque, and a 650HP twin-turbo Audi-derived V8 mated to an F1-derived, sequential six-speed transmission. That’s a recipe for incredible performance, and back in August, it set the production car record at the Nürburgring, when it lapped the notoriously difficult course in a blistering 7:11:57. So I figured one of these babies would have been been placed a little more prominently. Hell, I missed it the first few times I walked through the main hall! But while I was disappointed to see that it was shoe-horned into this tiny little space—no room for a walk-around video, I’m afraid—I was still pumped to get to see one in person. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Gumpert Apollo: Too Much Car For a Tiny Booth" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

There are few things in life I love more than exotic cars, and they aren’t things I can mention here. But as funny as it sounds, at a show life SEMA, your garden variety Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Aston Martins don’t really pop like they do back in the real world. Pagani’s Zonda R, on the other hand, stands out like a nun in a strip club. The presence this car has simply can’t be underestimated… It looks less like a race car than it does a manifestation of technology from a hostile alien race, and it out Batmobiles any Batmobile in history. Ever. Just getting to stand next to this car gave me butterflies. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "The Pagani Zonda R Makes Me Dizzy" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Almost exactly a year ago, we got tipped off that Underground Racing had built a twin turbo Gallardo, and CarDomain members went predictably bonkers over it. Well, Heffner Performance has upped the ante, and gone ahead and mounted a twin screw system to the Murcielago. Here’s a quote from the company regarding the set-up:

After several long months of development we have completed our twin turbo Murcielago. As of August 2009 we have tuned the car up to 1 bar of boost which resulted in just over 1100 at the wheels. For now we are playing around with the car at various boost levels and documenting the differences in performance with our trusty V Box. In 90 degree heat the car pulled off a 5.10 second 60-130 at around 950 RWHP. For reference a stock 580 horsepower Murcielago takes around 9.5 seconds to make the leap from 60 to 130.  With a little more boost it will dip into the 4 second range for sure.

While I realize some people think this kind of power is absolutely ridiculous, if I had the coin, I’d definitely hand my Raging Bull over to Heffner for a steroid injection. Listen to it scream on the dyno below, and head over to StreetFire for some in-car footage of the beast accelerating on the freeway.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

As soon as I saw the photos of Ferrari’s new 458 Italia, I started wondering when we would see the first one wrecked. I even pitched the idea of putting a countdown clock on the CarDomain homepage, and calling it “Ferrari 458 Italia Death Watch,” and while everyone here liked the idea, we never got around to doing it. But the guys over at Wrecked Exotics actually got their asses in gear, and are offering $500 to the person who guesses the date of the first crash. Now, the new cavallino isn’t scheduled to go on sale until next summer, but Ferrari will be testing the car until then, so one will almost certainly get wrecked before the public gets their hands on it. I don’t know whether a picture of it burning will count, but I would imagine so. Head over to Wrecked Exotics for all the info on this sweet contest.