Dubai Buyer Grabs first P1

The first McLaren P1 , a Dh5.1 million supercar that can go from 0 to 100kph in only 2.8 seconds, will be handed over to its owner in Dubai at the end of the week.

So if you see it on the road be sure to take a photo, as it is one of only 375 made and the first of a handful to be released.

To most, McLaren is a racing name that is mentioned on grands prix weekends but has little relevance to the roads we all drive on.

The Dh1m McLaren 12C, launched in 2011 was recently joined by a 12C Spyder with a retractable roof. They are rarely seen on the UAE’s roads.

McLaren believes that with the launch of the P1, the desire for its cars is about to grow.

“The P1 has two competitors, two manufacturers that use electric and petrol technology: one is Ferrari, one is Porsche,” says Ian Gorsuch, McLaren’s regional director.

“By the end of this year 15 P1s will be in the region but when the run is finished about 40 will be here.

“We produce about 1,300 to 1,400 12Cs every year, of which we deliver about 140 here. So it’s about 10 per cent for both cars.”

Exclusivity is what sets the McLaren marque apart and the company believes a “halo” effect from having a car that even the super-rich would find difficult to afford will pay dividends.

“Obviously, having the car driven by the right kind of people carries kudos and is immensely important, but if we force it and lose the exclusivity then we have lost what McLaren stands for,” Mr Gorsuch said.

“The P1 is such an incredible car that people will naturally buy a McLaren 12C because it is part of the family, and it makes that exclusive club just that little bit more exclusive.

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Dubai Buyer Grabs first P1

Chinese to get Longer Mercedes-Benz

One of the secrets to the success of Mercedes-Benz is their ability to give the market what it wants.  This is a great example which explains how “Mercedes-Benz set to launch a long-wheelbase version of the 2015 C-class in China, according to a report from Reuters . The brand will follow examples set by Audi and BMW, who already offer long-wheelbase versions of their A4 and 3-series sedans for the Chinese market.

Unlike customers of sports sedans in Europe and North America, the Chinese market has a propensity to prefer to be driven. The brutal congestion in the metropolitan areas of the country means that executives spend hours in traffic, and they’d prefer to use that time working or stretching their legs.

The long-wheelbase C-class will have more rear-seat legroom than an E-class. Informed by feedback from its Chinese customers, Daimler has paid special attention to the build quality and materials in its rear-seat space for that market. Entertainment for back-seat passengers will be offered, too, as well as power outlets and headphone jacks.

The long-wheelbase C-class will be produced in China and won’t be exported to any other markets. Its launch is expected for the second half of 2014, and will be part of a massive push from Mercedes to catch up to Audi and BMW in China, who have a considerably stronger presence there.”

Source: caranddriver.com

Chinese to get Longer Mercedes-Benz

First Retail 2015 Ford Mustang Coupe to go at Auction

Usually, an auction gives buyers an opportunity to grab a bargain. But that’s not the case when the item for sale is the very first of the new model Mustang.

“As seems to be the new trend, the rights to the first production example of a hot new car

seem to be up for grabs at auction, with proceeds to benefit a charitable organization. Such was the case with the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the first production model won by Rick Hendrick of Hendrick 

Motorsports, at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $1.05 million. While we don’t know how much the first 2015 Ford Mustang Coupe will go for, we do know the rights to have the first retail model off the line in Flat Rock will be up for grabs at Barrett Jackson’s January 18 auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. “

Image Source

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First Retail 2015 Ford Mustang Coupe to go at Auction

Davos to Stelvio via Bormio, Switzerland/Italy

Etched precariously through the peaks of the eastern Alps, this dizzying zigzag road built in the early 19th century is a hard-core workout for the very best of drivers and automobiles. The 60 hairpin turns transport you 9,042 feet up the mountains in 90 miles. The heady views are mostly yours alone.

 

Overall height is 2757 meters and is famous for “the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alp, and It has been described as the best driving road in the world.

 

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Davos to Stelvio via Bormio, Switzerland/Italy

The Mt Hood Scenic Driveway

The Mount Hood Scenic Byway starts in “The City of Roses”, Portland Oregon on the US north Pacific coast.

The Byway’s route includes parts of present-day U.S. Route 26 and Oregon Route 35 and the historic Barlow Road through the Mount Hood Corridor. Enjoy the clean air, the stunning countryside and the majestic presence of Mt Hood.

The Mt Hood Scenic Driveway

North Shore Scenic Drive, Highway 61

The North Shore Scenic Drive is a destination unto itself. It begins in Duluth, Minnesota and follows the northeastern edge of Lake Superior for 154 unspoiled miles to Grand Portage.

Highway 61 draws a paved line between the world’s largest freshwater lake and dramatic bedrock formations covered with boreal forest. It guides you past waterfalls, rugged cliffs, the backdrop of the Sawtooth Mountains, and beaches of rocks tumbled smooth by this inland sea.

The star attraction, though, is the Big Lake herself. Depending on her mood, she greets you with sparkling azure waves, rolling walls of whitecaps, glassy stillness, power that emanates seemingly from earth’s center. Spend a little time here, and you’ll understand how she rules life along the shore.

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North Shore Scenic Drive, Highway 61

Friendship Highway, Tibet

If the thought of impending death and lugging around crampons bothers you, you can still get to Everest Base Camp without the aid of Sherpas and a rope. The Friendship Highway links the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the camp at Rongbuk. Along the four-day journey, you’ll climb out of the plateau surrounding the capital through tiny villages, monasteries, turquoise lakes and giant peaks before finishing up staring at the north face of Mount Everest.

The Facts: You’ll have the chance to see five of the world’s highest peaks: Everest, Shishapangma,

Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu.

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Friendship Highway, Tibet

The New Zealand Southern Alps

The Southern Alps is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand’s South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the island’s western side.

The roads and highways that traverse the length and breadth of the island and the ranges offer some of the most amazing drives on the planet.

Take the Forgotten World Highway for example, which meanders through some of the countryside where The Lord of the Rings was filmed. It’s the closest thing to travelling back in time that you’ll experience.

 

In truth, there are some stretches of road on New Zealand’s South Island that defy description. The scenery is unfailingly spectacular, and there’s nothing like it anywhere in the world. Where else can you drive through snow-capped mountains in the morning, and be taking afternoon tea on the beach?

 

The New Zealand Southern Alps

The Great Ocean Road

The 150-mile single- carriageway route stretches between the towns of Torquay and Warrnamboolon the southern Australian state of Victoria. It takes in all the major tourist attractions along the way, including the 12 Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks in the Southern Ocean. There’s rainforests, beaches and cliff drops to marvel.

It’s difficult to believe that as you drive west with The Great Southern Ocean just a few metres away on your left side, that the continent of Antarctica lies beyond the horizon.

Conde Nast travel magazine rates the Great Ocean Road as one of the top 20 journeys of a lifetime while Frommer’s guide puts it in the top 10 road trips on the planet.

Image Source: Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0″

The Great Ocean Road

Awesome Drives

The question is often pondered; “Which came first the chicken or the egg?” Similarly, we may wonder; “Which came first the car or the road?”

Here’s an even deeper question. What IS a road and when does it stop being a “means to an end”, and become something much more?

Answer: when it becomes a thing of joy to drive upon!

Here then, is a collection of some of the top drives in the world (in no particular order)…roads that are works of art! Yes, a road IS a work of art, or at least it becomes a work of art when combined with natural scenery (oceans, mountains), and engineering excellence (ie, tunnels, bridges)

To begin, we’re going “Down Under” to Australia and New Zealand, and we’ll start with Sea Cliff Bridge (recently featured on our Facebook Page ).

Sea Cliff Bridge

Award-winning, off-shore and parallel-to-coast Sea Cliff Bridge forms part of the Grand Pacific Drive and is located on scenicLawrence Hargrave Drive, 60 kms south from Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia.

The Bridge provides road, pedestrian and cycleway access along its entire length (665 metres, and spectacular views. Like the Bridge, Grand Pacific Drive never loses sight of the sea. It hugs the coast between the high battlements of the Illawarra Escarpment, looming like the great wall of a lost world, and the vastness of the Tasman Sea, an ocean view so wide you can see the curve of the Earth.

Looking south, the “Coast with the Most” is scalloped with bays, and world class surf beaches all the way to Wollongong and the magnificent South Coast of New South Wales.

Awesome Drives

Hear the Roar of the Lamborghini Huracán

Read the article and check the video for the first sounds from the new Lambo.

“The Lamborghini Gallardo reign has come to an end after being in production for little over a decade, the final evolution LP570-4 Squadra Corse was a limited edition model to conclude 10 years of being an icon on the super car market … the successor has some serious work cut out for herself trying to fill the shoes of a car that managed to sell 14,022 units in total.

On December 20. 2013 Automobili Lamborghini SpA finally published official renders on their new luxury super sports car … the Huracán LP610-4 was unveiled as a high detail render showing either a yellow or a white version … actual photos weren’t available from the press site at that time, but all the details about this new benchmark could be found in the accompanying press release.

Looking at the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 it is clear the cameo covered prototype that has been captured over the last few weeks didn’t hide any surprises, still wouldn’t mind seeing the special wheels from those test cars to make it as an option on the production Huracán.

Performance on the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 comes from a 5.2 liter V10 engine derived from the outgoing Gallardo (which had the same displacement by the way) but with an increase up to 610hp at 8,250rpm, torque is now 560N at 6,500rpm while overall weight is only 1,422kg … this boils down to an acceleration to 100km/h from a standstill in only 3.2 seconds and going up to 200Km/h in 9.9 seconds … just under the 10 seconds marker.

Taking into account the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 is built around an hybrid chassis using an integrated structure of carbon fiber and aluminum elements in an effort to create a lightweight design the results are indeed impressive with a power to weight ratio of only 2.33Kg/Hp … which helps to reach a combined fuel consumption figure of 12.5 liter/100Km with 290g/km CO2 emissions from a V10 engine that fully complies with stringent EU6 regulations.

When you see the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 in your rear view mirror you will immediately know a Raging Bull is about to pass you, the by now famous ‘Y’ shaped driving lights on the car are recognizable from afar, but the Huracán is also the first production super car with full LED headlights … in fact every light on this new Baby Lamborghini is a state-of-the-art LED unit.

And the technology continues inside the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 with an LCD display on the dashboard to provide all the necessary information, a 12.3 inch color TFT panel can show the rpm, navigation, audio, infotainment … you name it … the ‘pilot’ can even customize the display to a certain degree.

Remember the Hexagon Project … the series of videos showing a few people traveling to Sant’Agata to try and capture a glimpse of the new Lamborghini Creature car … well we now know where the ‘hexagon’ name came from: the interior of the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 shows a lot of hexagon design … remember the Marzal, that was Marcello Gandini’s first Lamborghini with a lot of hexagon elements, the first series Espada had an hexagon styled dasboard pod by the way.

The dashboard inside the Huracán has hexagon air vents while the pod around the display looks loosely like that too, but take a look at that impressive central console … it is almost floating … which gives a nice, airy feel about it, naturally the red flap hides the  Start/Stop’ button as seen on the teaser page, while a control for the hand brake is positioned between the seats, further up on the central console are controls for various settings and dials.

The newly designed steering wheel gets two large gear change levers behind it while several controls are located on the horizontal spokes, similar to the Aventador steering wheels in fact. One new feature only seen on the Huracán is that red switch at the bottom of the steering wheels … the control for the ‘driving dynamics selector’ … goes from STRADA over SPORT to hard core CORSA.

Naturally leather and alcantara can be ordered inside the new Huracán with various shades to choose from combined with contrasting stitching to offer various individualization possibilities … I’m sure we’ll be seeing some clear carbon fiber inside the production models in the end.

Power from the V10 engine inside the Huracán is put onto the road through a 7-speed LDF transmission … in detail a double clutch system called Lamborghini Doppia Frizione, while the four wheel drive system is back, fully electronically controlled in this case. Changing the driving dynamics mode not only influences the stiffness of the suspension but also the timing on the gearbox, engine response, exhaust sound, the four wheel drive parameters and the stability control.

Carbon Ceramic brakes are standard fitment on the Lamborghini Huracán while the ‘Lamborghini Dynamic Steering’ system (a variable ratio steering system) is an option, just like an innovative magneto-rheologic damper control for the suspension … sounds very interesting.

Production of the Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 has already begon at the factory in Sant’Agatha on a production line that has been completely renewed just for this new model … during January 2014 the car will be shown to VIP during ‘invitation only’ events all over the world before the general public will be able to admire the Huracán at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show in March.”

Source

Hear the Roar of the Lamborghini Huracán

Excitable First Impressions of 2015 Mustang.

The Spanish are passionate people.  Even if you don’t understand the language, you’ll get the general drift…he’s excited!. And why not? 

“The 2015 Ford Mustang created quite a stir when it was revealed around the world, especially in those areas that never got the pony car via official channel until now. Basically every continent but North America.

But we still have to keep our shirts on, as there’s plenty of stuff Ford needs to unveil about the Mustang and we still have to wait for the iconic vehicle to reach its target markets. Some of you probably got to see it in person at various events, while very few lucky people got to inspect it up close and personal.

We’ve yet to touch the car and we’re envious of people who already did that, especially the Spanish-speaking fellow you’re about to see below, who got an 11-minute tete-a-tete with the sixth-generation Mustang.

The good thing is that this video provides us with a thorough walkaround of the car. The bad side is that the whole footage is in Spanish, and we’ve missed one too many Spanish classes lately. One thing is certain though, the 2015 Mustang is mas importantes!”

Source: http://www.autoevolution.com/

Excitable First Impressions of 2015 Mustang.

Top Picks for 2013

It’s not only the season to be jolly, it’s also a period where the pundits come out with their winners lists…the best of the best for the year just gone.

At Car Advice, the testing crew had differing opinions as to which cars deserved the Gongs. The Editor-in-chief, Jez Spinks gives the top prize to the BMW i3.

“Will electric cars ever be bought by the masses rather than a minority mix of wealthy early adopters or government fleet buyers? We’re still many a year away from the former scenario, but the BMW i3 (above) is one of the most convincing examples of the breed yet. Characteristically linear and near-silent motoring marries with the kind of futuristically detailed exterior design and luxurious, eco-inspired avant garde interior that makes this electric car feel more special than others of its kind and almost justifies its elevated price tag (from $60,000 estimated). If you venture out of the city, your smartphone can link up with a BMW super-computer that will show you public transport details and options in case you’re battery charge isn’t going to get you to your destination. And if you’re one to get anxious about range limitations, then the i3 is also available with an optional ‘range extender’ that uses a two-cylinder bike engine to help recharging on the go.”

Source: http://www.caradvice.com.au/

Top Picks for 2013

Rare Ferrari 599 SA Aperta for Sale.

Who deserves it if you don’t, right.  Start counting your pennies.

With just 80 units produced, the 2011 Ferrari 599 SA Aperta is one of the most exclusive Ferraris ever produced. Featuring the powertrain from the screaming Ferrari 599 GTO, the SA Aperta combines that raw power with the luxury of being able drop the top. This example is up for sale in the UK, and unlike the white example for sale in the USA, this car is finished in a much more traditional shade of Rosso.

Under the hood, the Ferrari 599 SA Aperta features a 661 hp front-mounted V12 engine. When combined with a peak torque output of 460lb-ft at 6500 rpm, the Ferrari 599 SA Aperta can sprint from a standstill to 100 km/h in around 3.6 seconds. The SA Aperta then won’t stop accelerating until it reaches its top speed of 325 km/h (202 mph).

This car has covered just 83 miles in the past year and is guaranteed to become a classic collectors car in the near future! How much is it? Well you’ll have to be a serious buyer to find out. Check out the full advertisement here.

Source: http://www.gtspirit.com

 

Rare Ferrari 599 SA Aperta for Sale.

Is this the same Santa?

This article from the New Zealand Herald shows that Santa does exist after all, but is he the same one the puts potatoes in your Christmas stocking?

“Things have picked up for the super-rich and they’re splashing out on flash cars. Luxury cars with eye-watering price tags are on Christmas shopping lists for New Zealand’s uber-rich.

Well-heeled drivers have splashed out $1.5 million each for three “hypercars” at New Zealand’s first McLaren dealership since it opened this month. Auckland businessman Grant Baker this week went one better – ordering a top-of-the-range Ferrari costing $2.2m. Baker – director of  nvestment firm Business Bakery and a former co-owner of 42 Below with Geoff Ross – won’t see his black LaFerrari model until next Christmas.

“Only 500 are being made and you have to be invited to buy one,” he said. “It is a lot of money, but it will be worth even more straight after I get it – not that I’m buying it to sell. I have owned a few Ferraris but this is my dream car.” Luke Neuberger from McLaren’s Grey Lynn showroom in Auckland revealed the firm, led by Sir Colin Giltrap, had been swamped with inquiries about high-end vehicles. He confirmed that three of the top-end McLaren P1 models had already been sold and would be delivered to big-spending customers within weeks.

Neuberger said several other MP4-12C coupe and spider models – costing between $380,000 and $500,000 – had also been ordered. ”We have been overwhelmed with interest in the cars and McLaren’s New Zealand story,” he said. “This, combined with a competitive price structure, has resulted in several orders, including three sales of the P1 models, which cost around $1.5m each. ”We are already well ahead of what was expected and are very pleased with the response.”

About 3,500 luxury McLaren cars are made each year. Countries are allocated limited numbers for sale, but Neuberger declined to say how many of the British-made vehicles will be imported for Kiwis. Just 375 of the flagship McLaren P1 will roll off the production line. The hypercar has a 903hp hybrid gas-electric engine and is capable of a top speed of 449km/h. It can rocket from 0-100km/h in under three seconds.

The car can also be driven solely in electric mode for inner-city use.

The McLaren P1 comes with a variety of colour and trim options as well as visible carbon fibre in the cabin.”

Is this the same Santa?

Test Post from Prestige and Sports Auto

Test Post from Prestige and Sports Auto http://www.prestigeandsportsauto.com