McClaren F1 Up In Smoke

Wow, I can't believe I missed this because I was in Santa Rosa yesterday, and I was two blocks down from where it had happened. Read here for the full story ---> PressDemocrat

Mercedes-Benz Reveals SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S

As the era of the Mercedes McLaren SLR winds down to its conclusion sometime in 2009, Mercedes-Benz is releasing what may be the ultimate example of the breed. The SLR 722 S Roadster picks up where the 722 coupe left off dropping the 650-hp supercharged 5.5L V8 into the open top body shell. With a top speed of 220.6 mph, this may be the fastest open top production car ever built. And unlike the first generation Dodge Viper, Mercedes has devised a soft top that can withstand sustained 200 mph+ top speeds. Mercedes has tapped into McLaren's F1 experience to create the fully carbon-fiber body that can provide the structural integrity needed at those speeds. The semi-automatic top just needs to be unlatched from the windshield header manually before the rest of the process is handled by the electrical actuators. The vehicle dynamics are also aided by dropping the suspension by 10 mm at each end of the car and recalibrating the spring and damper rates. Only 150 examples of the 722 S Roadster will be made available starting Jan. 1 2009.

Source: Auto Blog

Lebanon Frem F1 Supercar to be Revealed at the 2009 Detroit Show

A supercar from Lebanon? and it’s premiering in the U.S.?! Welcome to the global market. Of course you never heard about it. Unless you know David Frem, a Lebanese student at American University of Science and Technology, who is the proud designer.

Frem wants to compete with models from Ferrari, and he’s off to a slow start. The Frem F1 is built with a 2.0-liter 16v four-cylinder engine sourced from Volkswagen and a transmission from Audi. This combination should be good for a top speed around 125 mph. But it does come with some nice luxury options like xenon lights, reverse parking camera, navigation system and a glass roof. The fiberglass body is only 10 cm off the ground for better stability and traction.

Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 Race Car

The Porsche RS Spyder was designed and built specifically to compete in the the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans and Le Mans racing series, where it falls under the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class. Sponsored teams include the Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder, and the Porsche race car continues to notch up wins, both class wins and overall wins, in endurance racing series around the world. As per LMP2 regulations, the Porsche RS Spyder has an engine displacement of just under 3.4 Liters, and runs on 10 percent bioethanol fuel.

The German-sourced race car has had great success in the American Le Mans racing series, taking home more wins in the LMP2 class in recent years than any other competitor. According to official American Le Mans racing series documentation, Porsche is the only manufacturer with an entry in the series which can claim that their Porsche RS Spyder Le Mans cars are built on the same assembly line as the Porsche German sports cars offered to the buying public.

Far from being just about bragging rights and drumming up interest, the Le Mans endurance racing series the Porsche RS Spyder competes in are about testing new technologies which hope to trickle down into Porsche, and other competitors' parent companies, consumer model lines.

Because the LMP2 Porsche Spyder competes in the prototype class, rather than the GT classes, Porsche is not required to produce RS Spyder-spec cars for road use, as is the case with BMW's M3 GT2 endurance racing cars or Porsche's own 911 GT3 Cup Car, for example. Still, prototype endurance racing is an exciting sport, which gives automakers a chance to try out their newest technologies on the world stage.

Source: R-SportsCars

1995 McLaren F1

The fastest car in the world before the Bugatti or the Ultimate Aero, the McLaren F1 carries BMW's s70 engine. Heavily tuned by the European F1 team, no superchargers, no forced induction. Just pure horsepower, the McLaren is a classic to remember, it held the world record for fastest car for the longest time, until finally beaten by Bugatti. And only does it do good in speed but also does good on the track.

Engine
Power bhp: 680
Torque lb-ft: 520
Red Line at RPM: 8500
Type: V12

Performance
Acceleration 0-60 mph: 3 Seconds
Top Speed: 225 mph