admin – Page 33 – CFIMotorSports.com – The Ultimate Car and Motor Sports Blog

There’s Life-Sized Fake Town Complete With Real Cars In This Mansion’s Basement

If you are like me, you worry about your cars sitting in the garage at night, confused and alone in the dark. They long to feel pavement beneath their tires. But if you’re rich enough to be losing sleep over your cars in storage facing long-term road withdrawal, you are probably rich enough to build them an entire charming village street just to assuage that guilt.

That’s what I’m guessing happened at this aggressively bland behemoth of a home in Potomac, Maryland on offer by Washington Fine Homes. It comes with everything you’d expect a 12,089 square foot home sitting on four acres to have, like seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, a front gate, and this weird copy of a cobblestone town street in the basement, complete with real working classic cars.

One image description notes that there are 15 fake storefronts in this basement. It boggles my mind a bit, the amount of work that went into this glorified parking garage. But these aren’t just any cars. There’s a Citroën 2CV Charleston Edition, a Jaguar XKE Series II or III and an MG TD plus some kind of bike (let me know what it is in the comments!) with a really creepy dummy riding it:

Even in a fake underground street, this massage parlor looks sketchy as hell. Even better than the parlor, is the double feature at the fake movie theater. A classic pairing, really:

The Venn diagram of people who love Mary Poppins and people who love The Exorcist is a perfect circle.

I had a good friend try her best to teach me about the wealthy for a while, but I’m still confused. What is it with rich people finding it charming to put cars where they don’t belong? Much like this condo with the Pagani Zonda R, putting a car inside your house means you can’t really use it as a car anymore, and it takes up a lot of space in your house. It’s like making two hugely expensive objects more inconvenient, all for the hell of it. Man, that’s rich, folks.

The house also comes with a four-car garage above ground, which I hope means there’s even better vehicles out there for actually driving. This may be one of those, ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it,’ situations, but if you’re tempted, Zillow puts the cost of this palace at a cool $4.5 million.

Porsche’s Taycan Launch Hit Hardest By Industry Shutdown

The entire world has suffered immensely under the thumb of a terrible virus, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands of people globally. In the midst of this pandemic, Porsche was trying to launch a new electric car that could portend the future of the brand. The new Taycan has received praise, including from us, for its incredible dynamic abilities and true Porsche feel. It’s the first EV that has truly gotten our blood pumping, as it’s not only quick, but also fantastic to drive.

As a cautionary move, Porsche closed down its factories for 6 weeks from early April to mid May. That timing was crucial for the Taycan, and Porsche’s ability to meet demand has suffered as a result. In a recent conversation with Automotive News, Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer had this to say: “That six-week window was very much reserved for fulfilling the U.S. demand. We had to take thousands of cars out of our sales plan for this year that we will not get into the United States and Canada.”

Deliveries of the new Taycan began here in North America back in December of 2019, and demand has been climbing. Porsche is selling Taycans as quickly as it can stock them, and this delay has caused many buyers to put their names on a wait list of indefinite length. Global demand for the Taycan, particularly the new lower-priced 4S model, has reportedly seen Porsche re-double its annual capacity of the model to 40,000 units. Having driven one, it’s easy to see why. It’s the best car Porsche sells right now. Bar none. And possibly the best new car on the market, period.

“The Taycan is the sports car in the battery-electric vehicle segment right now,” Zellmer continued. “That’s what people aspire for.”

This electric sports car is very important to the Porsche brand, as evidenced by the company shelling out for a super bowl commercial touting the new model this year. If Porsche can make significant in-roads on the electric market that Tesla has nearly single-handedly forged in the United States, it’s got a real winner on its hands.

Personally, I’m waiting on the rear-wheel drive long-range model to come out. Eventually. Hopefully.

You’re probably pretty cool [I mean, you’re reading Jalopnik Dot Com after all] but I am 100 percent

Image: Chevrolet

You’re probably pretty cool [I mean, you’re reading Jalopnik Dot Com after all] but I am 100 percent certain that you will never be as cool as Brigadier General Chuck Yeager driving the C4 Corvette convertible pace car for the Indianapolis 500 cool. There’s no Indy 500 this Sunday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t just look at this picture for three-ish hours and feel just as excited about life. Godspeed into the weekend, folks!

Pop-up EV charging hubs deemed a success in UK trial

A trial of pop-up EV charging stations in the United Kingdom has proven successful, showing a possible way to expand urban charging infrastructure without adding clutter.

A British company called Urban Electric announced the trial last year, placing prototype pop-up charging “hubs” along streets in Oxford, England.

Activated by an app, the 7-kilowatt charging hubs retract into the street when not in use, freeing up space.

Urban Electric hopes to provide at-home charging for people who don’t have driveways or garages, and park their cars on the street. That’s the case for 43% of UK households, according to the company.

The charging hubs were designed for overnight charging, where cars are parked for 12 hours or more on residential streets, Urban Electric said last month in a press release.

Urban Electric pop-up street-side charging hubs in Britain

In a post-trail survey conducted by the Oxford City Council, respondents scored the pop-up charging stations 4.3 out of 5 when asked if they would recommend them to friends and family.

The desire to accommodate electric-car charging in urban areas, without cluttering city streets with standalone charging stations and cables, has led to tests of outlets in street lamps and cable boxes as well.

Mobile charging systems, such as those from FreeWire, can help fill in urban charging needs where siting and building might be too complicated or expensive. FreeWire’s system can work with existing infrastructure with the help of a battery buffer.

It really takes video to understand how elegant this system is, so watch the Fully Charged segment on this, pasted below, if you haven’t already. Solutions like these can help cities avoid becoming charging deserts, providing the necessary infrastructure to support greater use of electric cars by residents who may not currently have a place to charge them.

[embedded content]

Do you agree with Goodwood’s ‘50s favorites?

The BMW 507 is among the best non-Ferraris of the 1950s according to Goodwood Road & Racing | Goodwood photos

A challenge for you from Goodwood Road & Racing in England: The good folks from Goodwood have compiled a list of “The best Fifties sportscars that aren’t Ferrari 250s.”

The challenge is to see if you agree and, if not, to share your opinion through the “Comments” section below.

So what non-Ferraris did Goodwood select? Here they are:

1951 Lancia Aurelia GT — “Mike Hawthorn, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jean Behra. When drivers like these choose a particular car as their own personal transport – and free of the restrictions of sponsors – then you know it is something special,” Goodwood notes.

“Named, in Lancia’s fashion, after a Roman road, the Aurelia used the world’s first production V6-engine, an all-alloy jewel designed under the auspices of legendary engineer Vittorio Jano mated to an innovative transaxle which combined the gearbox, clutch, diff and in-board drum brakes in one unit. The Aurelia was also the first car to be fitted as standard with radial-ply tires.

Add in a Ghia-designed and Pininfarinia-built fastback body and you have what Goodwood adds is the first “Grand Touring” car.

1953 Porsche 550 — “Ferdinand Porsche revisited the mid-engined layout he had pioneered with the Auto Union Grands Prix cars of the 1930s for the first post-war sports racing car to be called a Porsche. The engine, regardless of where it was situated, was quite something: all-alloy, air-cooled, four-cylinder boxer with double overhead camshafts, twin carbs and dual ignition it produced 110PS.

“Introduced in 1953, it won its classes at Le Mans and the Carrera Panamerica that year, the latter victory leading to Porsches carrying the ‘Carrera’ badge to this day.”

RELATED: 1962 Ferrari 250 ‘Polizia’ car is for sale

1953 Austin Healey 100 — “If the Porsche 356 was the sportscar birthed from the Volkswagen Beetle then the Healey 100 applied the same approach to the Austin A90 Atlantic, a bulbous two-door which tried, unsuccessfully, to apply American styling ideas to British-sized cars. Former Monte Carlo Rally winner Donald Healey had been producing high-end hand-built cars under his own name since just after the war but wanted to make something cheap enough to win mass-market appeal. Hitting on the A90 as the donor car, Healey designed the rakish 100 (has any sportscar worn two-tone paint better than the ‘Big Healeys’) around its mechanicals.

“The design impressed Austin boss Leonard Lord and a deal was done to jointly build the Austin-Healey 100, the number referring to its ability to reach the magic ton with its 2.6-liter four-cylinder engine and three-speed with overdrive manual gearbox. The bodies were produced and trimmed by Jensen Motors.”

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing — “Car dealers don’t often get a say in how the models they sell get developed but US luxury car importer Max Hoffmann had a hand in more than one car on this list, as well as others such as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider and Porsche 356 Speedster. Hoffman suggested to Mercedes-Benz that a road going version of its Le Mans and Carrera Panamerica winning W194 racer, would be a hit with well-heeled Americans.

RELATED: Jay Leno hits the strata in Alfa Romeo Montreal ‘supercar’

“The 300SL (for ‘Super Light’) used the same construction techniques as the racer, albeit mainly in steel rather than aluminum, and it was the tube frame underneath the body panels that, due to its high sides, necessitated the iconic gullwing doors. The road car used the same 3.0-liter overhead cam straight-six as the W194, canted over at 50-degrees for a low bonnet line.”

1956 BMW 507 — “Here is another Hoffman-inspired entry which the dealer persuaded BMW to build because he wanted a cheaper convertible to sell alongside the 300SL cabriolet. Hoffman envisaged the car being half the price of the Mercedes and selling in the thousands, so BMW designed it around as many existing components as possible, including a chassis adapted from the BMW 502 saloon and its 3.2-liter V8, which with twin-carburetors produced 150 HP.

“The body was the work of Albrecht von Goertz (who later designed a grand piano for Steinway & Sons) at the insistence of Hoffman, a friend of his. The result was undoubtedly pleasing but proved to be a challenge to build, each one being hand formed from aluminum and no two cars being identical, to the extent where a hardtop from one example will not fit another correctly. This also meant the price almost doubled, leading to only 252 being sold, nearly bankrupting BMW.”

1957 Jaguar XKSS — “Another racer turned road car in the vein of the 300SL Gullwing, the Jaguar XKSS was conceived as a way to make use of unused chassis from the D-Type competition program, recouping their development cost. A fairly thinly veiled adaptation of the D-type, the XKSS gained a passenger door, windscreen and side screens but lost the D-type’s glorious fin along the rear bodywork and the divider in-between the driver and passenger areas. A properly trimmed cabin and rudimentary convertible top added a modicum of refinement while bumpers and larger Jaguar XK140 rear lights helped increase safety.

RELATED: 1965 Pontiac Hurst GeeTO Tiger special edition going to auction

“In total, 25 cars were planned but on February 12, 1957, a fire at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory destroyed nine of the cars, although two were later created using existing D-types. Most of the remaining 16 were sold in America, including one to actor Steve McQueen, who referred to it as ‘The Green Rat’.”

1958 Lotus Elite — “Is there any car company that is able to do so much with such seemingly humble components as Lotus? Case in point; the Lotus Elite was powered by a 1.2-liter Coventry Climax engine originally usually used as a water pump on fire engine. With it, the Elite won its class at Le Mans six times.

“Unveiled in 1957, the Elite was the first production car to feature a fiberglass monocoque forming the body and load-bearing structures of the car (with a steel windscreen hope and subframe for mounting the engine). As a result, the car weighed just 500 kilograms, helping it to two Index of Thermal Efficiency wins at Le Mans as well.”

Porsche Is Making Online Shopping For A Pre-Owned Car Even Easier

In light of recent dealership closing virus events, Porsche is fast-tracking an effort to sell its cars digitally. There is growing consumer demand for an ability to do as much of the car purchase process online as possible, for obvious reasons. While recent efforts have been focused on new car sales, Porsche Cars North America has this week launched a new vehicle search platform for pre-owned and certified pre-owned Porsches. They are suitably calling this new platform “Porsche Finder”.

Every car from one of the 192 U.S. based Porsche dealers will be loaded up to the Porsche Finder system, allowing customers from all over the country to search dealer inventory. The new platform includes optimized search filters for model and generation, vehicle equipment and packages, pricing options, dealer inventory search without zip code, in addition to an expanded selection of interior and exterior vehicle colors (including cabriolet roof colors).

It’s truly easy to use!

“Now is the time to put our foot on the accelerator to make the Porsche digital experience as stellar as our cars,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of PCNA. “Providing seamless access to our products is a top priority in our existing e-commerce strategy, with the goal of creating a one-stop shop for new and pre-owned vehicle search and purchase, which will follow down the road. For now, the new Porsche Finder platform for pre-owned vehicles will enhance the customer experience and greatly benefit our dealer partners.”

To use the new Porsche Finder, just go to finder.porsche.com to find your next pre-owned Porsche.

This Early Formula Drift Porsche 993 Is Shredding Tires In My Dreams

I didn’t expect when I went to sleep last night to wake up with a nostalgia for 2008, but somehow—thanks to this incredible Porsche drift car—that’s exactly what happened. Back then I was still in college and was consuming possibly even more automotive media than I do now, and I was absolutely enamored with Formula Drift and Tyler McQuarrie’s JIC-Magic Hankook Porsche 993 GT2 drift car. Last night it was doing delicate pirouettes in my dreams.

This all started a few days ago when pro-drifter-turned-2019-IMSA-GS-Champion Tyler McQuarrie posted about his old Porsche on Instagram. He was prompted to do so because an account called Porsche Club Russia ripped a Speedhunters video off of YouTube and posted it to IG. It’s weird how the world works, we’re all intertwined. The actions of a Russian content aggregator clickfarm trickled down to affect my dreams last night and inspired this here post.

McQuarrie never won a round of the Formula D in this car, but he knew from the outset that it could have been a real contender. Unfortunately the turbocharged 3.8-liter flat six slung out back kept eating valve springs through the season. If it didn’t eat its engine, the Porsche was fast and easily dialed, taking a podium at the revered Englishtown round that year. Because it had a ton of weight slung out back the team installed a massive fuel cell which they could fill or empty depending on how McQuarrie wanted the car to handle. That’s genius, if I’m quite honest.

In the Instagram thread Tyler mentions that this video was the first time he’d ever driven the car, and knew it had potential. Allegedly the car was built from a real Porsche 993 GT2. In 2008 that was just a used race car from two generations of 911 ago, and could be had for relatively little money. These days a 993 GT2 can bring close to a million dollars.

Sadly the JIC-Magic car was lost to time and was probably restored back to whatever it was before it began drifting. It’s likely sitting in some private Porsche collection somewhere in a climate controlled bubble, dreaming, just like me, of its former 315mm section width Hankook-melting glory.

It’s a shame that it’s gone, but it will always be remembered.

1980 BMW 316 – Kevve Raekelboom

In 1975, BMW introduced what could eventually become one of the most iconic sports sedans ever – the 3 Series. With the E21 (talking about its chassis code), BMW created a worthy successor to theis in fact eight years older than he or she is – a 1980 BMW 316. The professional photographer from Belgium, who took these photos and many others on our website, purchased the auto in 2010. Following a particularly inspiring trip to SEMA in Vegas, he began working on what could be one of several cleanest E21s we’ve seen.

Perhaps most impressive about Kevve’s creation is it’s custom AccuAir air suspension setup, which had been built and installed having an E30 as the 3D blueprint by Kean Suspensions.

If they rolled off the factory assembly line, dean Upholstery took around the interior, perfectly matching Kevve’s aftermarket Bride seats to appear as.he aims to keep in pristine condition. The Belgian country roads are apparently less stretched-tire friendly as he hoped. We were, however, impressed to listen to that in 2011, Kevve drove the car 795 miles to Worthersee in Austria without the issues!

The supreme goal for the E21 is a trip to SEMA to let his creation shine under the lights on the famous Las Vegas Strip. His plans include swapping in a built motor and modifying the rear fenders to supportunder, skirts and panelsis a motor swap

Interior

custom carbon-fiber dash, leather Bride seats with carbon backs, Sparco harnesses

Thanks

Concept 983 club, Kean Suspensions, Dieter

Best Ways to Road Trip Around the Country Easily and Cheaply

One of the American dreams is to hit the dusty highways and get to know this little plot of Earth we call “home.” Most Americans have visited alarmingly little of this country and that’s too bad: there’s so much to see and so much to do, so many little nuances of this land that every American should expose himself and herself too before it’s too late. And we’re not talking about one of those retirement bus trips where you get on board and see the country though the bus windows and as a horde of sheep being shepherded by border collies through the gift shop. No – it’s time to take to the highways and see the country. Here are some tips to doing this.

Couch Surfing

Any fool can roll into a township and find a motel or even a B&B. You may think you’re saving money and maintaining comfort, but one of the best ways to see the land is to make friends with people who actually live there. If you use a crowd sourcing lodging site like Couch Surfing, or do an Air B&B where the residents are resident, then you’ll have a chance to make actual personal connections with the people in the town you happen to be in. At the very least you can talk to someone local, and at best you can have a new friend to show you all the spots that are actually worth seeing as opposed to what some website tells you.

Get a Comfortable Road Tested Car

Your means of road tripping is of the utmost importance too. You don’t want to be in something that has a chance of breaking down, so if you need a new car, go ahead and get yourself one before the big road trip. At a place like Valencia Nissan you can get a good used car or even a great deal on a brand new car. We recommend getting something low miles that is a few model years old so you’ll know it’s ready to hit the pavement. Make sure it has nice and cold A/C for that long run across the 10 in New Mexico and Arizona! Look at the road tripping options you have here at www.downtownnissan.com.

Always Bring Snacks and Water

Something that adds up quick is stopping a few times a day for snacks and water. You’ll want to get a nice water bottle that you can reuse and fill it up at the soda fountains across the land. Most rest stops have a soda fountain with the water tab, and if you’re in a place that doesn’t have that, most Subways actually have that feature. And snacks add up too, so don’t miss the opportunity to go to a CostCo or store like that and stock up on all the trail mixes and beef jerky you’ll need for those final hours of the long haul. Nothing makes a long haul longer quite like stopping for a snack every hour or so.

Top 10 Nissan Skyline GT-R Features

The Nissan Skyline is one of the most well-known and desired cars to ever emerge from the land of the rising sun. May it be the inline-six RB26 or perhaps the VR38 V6, tuners all over the world are still choosing the GT-R as his or her vehicle for time attacks, drag racing, and other competitive motorsports. Just recently the AMS Alpha Omega R35 had become the first GT-R to break into the 7s in the quarter mile.

With a nickname like Godzilla, the Nissan Skyline GT-R rivals supercars many times its cost. Its emblem serves as a badge of honor that carries rich racing heritage. With that in mind we put together a topSoon after purchasing the car, he stripped it down completely to distinguish-weld the chassis, opting to not run a ‘cage. The lack of a roll cage in a build of this caliber may seem odd, however you notice such a minimalist approach using this car in its entirety.””

Why we love it: “”You gotta love Takaku’s minimalist approach. He kept all of his interior panels intact with no roll cage, but still launched a serious track contender.””to seize Third Place in the all-wheel-drive class in the Option Speed Max time-attack event using a best lap of 1’46″”484.””

Why we love it: “”With 850 horsepower this yellow Skyline floats similar to a stings and butterflywith a Nismo short block, with NRS boring it out to 87mm, creating a final displacement of 2.66 liters. With 2.7-, 2.8-, and also 3.-liter versions of bored stroker kits available, we asked why Morita didn’t take advantage of them. The Osaka native explained that he wanted a car that achieved balance.””””

Why we love it: “”””This R32 strays away from the typical cookie cutter weight reducing techniques and uses ballstic-grade Kevlar as opposed to carbon fiber. The material is roughly $50 per square foot. Consider its frontbumper and fender, side skirts, diffuser, grille and hood and GT wing are made fromor even a dust-covered garage queen.””

“”A complete-fledged tuning shop must take into account the affect one modification has got to another no matter how trivial or unrelated they can seem. The perfect example is once a car is modified to accelerate quicker, it ought to be counteracted with an approach to have the car decelerate equivalently-unless it’s a drag machine packing a chute in the rear.””

Why we love it: A GT-R with a Nismo Z-Tune aero package is straight flexin.””, although “”A Nissan Skyline GT-R is one thing””Made from 1995-1998, the R33 chassis-coded Nissan Skyline GT-R was actually a technological marvel. Packed with a twin-turbocharged inline-six engine capable of pushing quad-digit horsepower numbers, the R33 also brought the ATTESA-ETS all-wheel-drive system and Super HICAS four-wheel steering.””

“”””Rated for 1,000PS of total output, the T51R turbo will be the ticket that Lai punched to enter the industry of 709 wheel hp.””””

Why we love it: “”A legal Skyline in the Usa is pretty rare. Wen Lai managed to acquire a Nissan R33 imported and makeThe truth is, running in close proximity to 700 hp, the Skyline GT-R has never been as easy to tune as today, as part development continues at what appears like an unseen rate.

“”And let’s discuss its performance on those Japanese open highways Kitabayashi-san referred to. He confirms this R34 has seen at the very least 340 km/h out there-just over 211 mph.””

Why we love it: “” While we don’t advocate street racing, a 211mph run using the Wangan (Japan’s Bayshore Route) is fairlyone thousand awhp. You realize, like a boss would. Achieving that horsepower number required taking the already amazingly engineered VR38DETTs to your whole other level entirely.””

“”Greddy TD06 turbochargers were modified to circulate in the one thousand-plus all-wheel horsepower range without having to sacrifice response.””

Why we love it: “”SP Engineering did a fantastic job building this GT-R with a sexy Tommy Kaira Ebrezza-R Aero Kit combined with Top Secret Gold paint. It’s not simply a pretty looking GT-R, underneath thea lovely wet carbon Black Bison body kit by Wald was chosen to grace the exterior.””

“”A rough estimate on value of each car would be about $250,000. Yes, each. That’s half a million dollars in one order. Like a boss.””

Why we like it: “”Another GT-R out of the two featured has the equivalent amount of mods, but rocks a Wald Black Bison body kit, which easily runs around $12,500. Let that sink in. Just for the kit alone. That doesn’t include paint or installation. What’s the costtoo quickly!

Article excerpt: “”This is the car that legends are made of. It is quite possibly the most viewed Japanese car online and the no-brainer choice on Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport. It’s a record holder in a country full of record breakers. This is basically the Mine’s R34 Skyline GT-R.””

“”At full boil, the R34 sounds menacing. But it really doesn’t sound irritating. That’s because Mine’s makes a problem of building cars that are genuinely streetable.””

Why we love it: “”The Mine’s R34 really needs no introduction. Hardly any cars can certainly make drift king Keiichi Tsuchiya utter ‘It’s too fast! ‘ But this kind of car managed to do so. As opposed to big horsepower numbers, Mine’s focused on engine response. But the interior is street friendly; no jungle gym roll cage, no racing bucket seats. It’s quite possibly the greatestalong with a need to make an announcement in the aftermarket-tuning world that he or she loves a whole lot.””

“”It took years of work, but it wasn’t only the rear-wheel-drive transformation that Blitz did. The VR38DETT was stripped down and rebuilt with forged internals, which included CP pistons and Carillo H-section connecting rods.””

Why we like it: “”You saw this one coming. The Ben Sopra GT-R has become the most aggressive variant you’ll ever see around the streets. Not just is the aero unique, the engine drivetrain will make any GT-R purist go insane. Previously belonging to Blitz, it absolutely was converted to a RWD platform and designed for 1,000 hp. What’s more exciting is that he has a lot more projects that will be likely to blow our minds.”, though ueda- San definitely made his mark in the aftermarket-tuning world””

Full article: Ben Sopra Nissan GT-R