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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 19 May '19
We drive the Toyota Supra, Bugatti Chiron Sport and Porsche 911 Speedster
Horacio Pagani: the big interview
"It’s a sunny April lunchtime at the Pagani factory just outside Modena, in northern Italy. I’m waiting in Horacio Pagani’s glass-walled office, ogling his scale models of the Gulf Porsche 917, various Paganis, and replicas of Jorge Lorenzo’s, Lewis Hamilton’s and Ayrton Senna’s racing helmets."
Advertisement - Page continues belowSomeone’s stuffed a tuned Supra engine into a classic Mercedes
"It is, in short, a classic Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC (rolling alongside a rather lovely 190E, we might add, because fwiends), decked out with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo engine from a Mark IV Toyota Supra. That’s the fabled 2JZ engine. Made famous by some film, we can’t remember the name."
It's time to waste hours on the Ferrari F8 Tributo configurator
"If the Ferrari F8 Tributo occupies a slot in your lottery-win garage, we have good news. Ferrari has launched a configurator for its (not quite) brand-new mid-engined model, letting mere mortals not possessing of the £200,000-plus required to buy one have a play around with different colour, wheel and trim options. "
Advertisement - Page continues belowVideo: this Chinese safety car is the opposite of safe
"We all have bad days at work. But this is a really bad day at work. In a Chinese Touring Car Championship race at the weekend, the safety car driver managed to wipe out the two leading racers after bizarrely sweeping out of the pitlane with seemingly no awareness of where in the world they were."
The ten oddest things about Citroen’s 19_19 Concept
"Did you know Citroen made a helicopter in the 1970s? Neither did we, but the rotary-powered anomaly helped feed the design of the 19_19. Note just how much of it is made of glass, especially the frontal area which would normally be draped in grilles and bumpers."
This Mountune VW Golf R does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds
"Through a new company - ‘m52’ - Mountune and fifteen52 will start by offering induction and calibration packages for fast Golfs. A ‘Stage 1’ power upgrade for a MK7 Golf R costs £795 and increases power to 360bhp. Not a massive increase, you might think, but combined with a recalibrated DSG gearbox and better launch control, the 0-60mph time comes all the way down to just 3.7 seconds. Blimey."
Formula E's new safety car is a weird BMW i8 speedster
"BMW doesn’t use the word itself, but what you’re looking at is effectively an i8 speedster, with a chopped-down windscreen reminiscent of those fitted to Porsche Speedsters of days gone by. Other mods include a front splitter and massive rear wing for better aero, twin roll hoops should the sky suddenly get all green and muddy, a light bar and ceramic brakes. BMW claims the centre of gravity is 15mm lower than the production car’s."
Advertisement - Page continues belowHyundai and Rimac are teaming up to build fast EVs
"Turns out everyone wants a piece of Rimac. Not least Hyundai and Kia, which have today announced they’re investing a not-insignificant €80 million in the Croatian EV hypercar maker and supplier to the likes of Aston Martin and Koenignegg. The aim? The formation of a 'technical partnership' that will see the companies 'collaborate on two high-performance electric vehicles by 2020'. Hell. Yes."
Review: Toyota Supra
"A thoroughly capable all-round coupe. But not a purebred Toyota"
Advertisement - Page continues belowSix cars ready to fight the new Toyota Supra
"Join us as TG crunches the £50k sports car death match numbers..."
Everything you need to know about Aston's new 'Goldfinger' DB5s
"The last gadget we were given a look at was the smoke screen. Easy, when you’ve got all the space in the world and a lot of electricity to work with, but less so when you have to package the same effect into an Aston Martin. The little metal box takes a few seconds to warm up, but then a long press of the button delivers a thick cloud of white smoke that would certainly derail any pursuing baddies."
Review: Mercedes-Benz EQC
"Comfy, refined and reassuringly normal car-ish. But it's also hamstrung by not being a bespoke EV"
Porsche 911 Speedster review: hardcore 991 swansong driven
"The new 992-generation Porsche 911 may currently be melting our expectations of how well-rounded a sports car can be, but the outgoing 991-gen hasn’t quite retired yet. This 911 Speedster is its spectacular send-off, a roofless, rear-engined Porsche with motorsport nous coursing through its veins."
The new Mini Clubman JCW has 302bhp
"Power is up by a healthy 74bhp to 302bhp, and torque by 74lb-ft to 332lb-ft, thanks to a new 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine that will also appear in the next BMW M135i. In both the Clubman and Countryman it powers all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox with an integrated diff lock."
Forgotten supercar-maker De Tomaso is back in business
"The team behind Apollo and the outrageous IE bought the rights to the defunct Argentine-Italian supercar-maker back in 2014, and since then has been working on the brand’s revival. Yep, that means there’s a new car coming."
Keanu Reeves loves driving and we love Keanu Reeves
"Keanu Reeves is John Wick, returning for the third instalment in a ludicrously entertaining and incredibly physical action trilogy. As John Wick 3 – Parabellum hits cinemas, we sat down with Reeves (“Top Gear,” he coos on our arrival) and John Wick director Chad Stahelski, and pondered… is Reeves a real-life petrolhead?"
This is the McLaren GT
"If McLaren has nailed the usability thing, this new car will be sitting pretty. Look at the cars McLaren says are rivals: the Aston Martin DB11, the Ferrari Portofino, the Porsche 911 Turbo S, the faster and more focused strains of Bentley Continental. All of those are significantly heavier and so more compromised as sports cars. And, oddly enough, they have a lot less bootspace than this new McLaren. So that’s Woking’s pitch: more usefulness than the others, and more sportiness too."
This is the new Audi A4*
"*Kinda. A4 gets a pretty major facelift to keep pace with new 3 Series"
Gallery: the first-ever Porsche is up for sale
"This, people of the Internet, is genesis. What’s considered by many to be the very first and “most historically significant” Porsche - the third of three and sole surviving Type 64. It’s going up for auction in August in Monterey, where it will sell for untold millions."
Hennessey might do a Venom F5 Roadster
"As production of the F5 Coupe begins, John Hennessey has confirmed a roadster version of his 1,600bhp-plus, allegedly-300mph hypercar could follow in 2021."
Bugatti Chiron Sport review: track-friendly speed machine tested
"At last year’s Geneva motor show, Bugatti announced the Chiron Sport – a more track-focused iteration of the Chiron. Following a last-minute call from the factory – sometimes you have to pinch yourself – that’s what we’re here to drive on road and track."
TG drag races: NSX vs Litchfield GT-R
Time for a Japanese battle royale as the Honda NSX takes on the Nissan GT-R. But not any GT-R. Godzilla has hit the gym and got swole thanks to Litchfield. But who will win? There’s only one way to find out…
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