Author: webmaster

If there’s one thing you cannot take away from the Audi R8, it’s the car’s looks. The R8 is a work of art, and if you read my “about me” page, you know I have a passion for cars. The sleek lines, bold colour and glass covers for the engine bay are but some of the aesthetics the car possesses.

You will be mistaken to think that this stops on the outside; the R8 is a performance beast. In fact, it won the 2016 world performance car award.

Closer look

The R8 was made for the thrill of speed. Armed with a 5.2-liter V10 engine the car generates up to 610 hp. Purists will be delighted to know that the R8’s engine is naturally aspirated. With all that power under the hood, it was only right that Audi should fit state-of-the-art gadgetry, without cluttering the dash. The Audi R8 has Google Earth for navigation, and a Bang and Olufsen sound system for entertainment.

The Audi R8 is offered in two options. The first is the v10 option where power is capped at 540 hp while the second is the V10 Plus option with a 610 hp engine. Prices start at $162,900 for the V10 option, making this one of the most affordable supercars in the world.

The World Rally Championship has produced absolute legends behind the wheel. The 13 events that make up the WRC have tested the best drivers on natural terrain, unlike racing drivers who have specially prepared tracks.

The dynamics of the WRC are drastically different from track events because of the surface. For example, cars move from a tarmac to gravel to ice.

There are many legends in the WRC; here are two of the best WRC drivers.

• Sebastian Loeb

Among WRC drivers, Sebastian is a god. The Frenchman has won 9 drivers’ championships. He also holds the record for the most wins a row, having won all 9 of his titles in a row between 2004 and 2012. Loeb won all his titles with Citroen, making Citroen the car that has won most titles.

• TommiMäkinen

The Finnish driver has won four championships. Like Loeb, he won all four in a row, between 1996 and 1999. For all his wins, Tommi drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. He is now retired and lives with his two children and wife.

In the upcoming championships, we are going to be on the lookout for whoever is driving the Audi R8 rally car as it looks like it’s going to leave the competition in the dust.

The P1 is the toast of hybrid supercars. It is perhaps the closest a supercar has come to green technology in the drivetrain. The McLaren P1 has a gas engine, and an electric motor. The first production run was between 2012 and 2015. There has been no subsequent production run.

As a result, there are only 375 units in the whole world, with 26 percent of those being in Europe and 34 percent in the US. The only other car McLaren produced under its supercars program is the P1 GTR which is a track car that can only be purchased by owners of the original P1, by invitation.

Peek Under the Hood

The rear-wheel driven McLaren P1 has 3.8-liter engine aspirated through 2 turbos. The electric motor is an ECU. The two combine to output 904 bhp, making this a pretty powerful machine. The P1 can reach up to 218 mph. Power is transmitted through a 7-speed dual clutch system. The P1 retails at upwards of $1.35 million; however, clients paid an average of $1.6 because of custom features they requested.

The P1 remains the crème of hybrids, and its exclusive ownership model means only a few people will ever own one. That fact doesn’t worry rally drivers, though, because the best WRC drivers would still opt for a Lancia.

There are legends of every sport, but more often than not they are people. In motorsport, people like Michael Schumacher are absolute legends. This being no ordinary sport, the WRC has a legendary car, the Lancia Delta.

The Italian car achieved what no car has managed to in WRC. Lancia Delta-the classic rally car, went through three generations of manufacturing before the company exited the rally championship sport. In between them, the cars won a total of 46 championships, with a record six titles in a row.

The Delta brought great success to the drivers. It earned the drivers’ titles for four consecutive years between 1987 and 1991.

Crème of the Crop

What the McLaren P1 is for its class, the Lancia Delta is for rally cars. Lancia is hugely successful, and the Lancia Delta Integrale model takes the crown. This ladies and gentlemen, was the greatest racing car ever to grace the WRC.

The 4WD Delta was a driver’s dream. At 2.0 litres, the engine doesn’t seem much to write home about today but in the 80s that was a big engine. With its wide wheels, the Integrale was able to handle the power coming down the transmission from the 185 bhp engine in the hood.

Racing games are one of the best ways to relax and kick back. The problem is, there are so many car racing games out there to choose from. Choosing the best among all can be an arduous task, but personally, I look for ones that feature a Lancia Delta – the classic rally car.

AssettoCorsa

This game doesn’t have my favourite car, but it is quickly proving to be one of the top racing games we have tried. The 2017 version has new vehicles from the Porsche pack. The driving experience is perhaps the most realistic we have seen in a game yet. AssettoCorsa has crisp graphics for visual pleasure. The only weakness is that the multiplayer option does feel a little out of touch.

F1 2016

The official Formula 1 game is another of the best car games according to me. The game was developed by Codemasters, a company which is praised for its attention to suggestions from gamers. The 2016 version has manual starts and a safety car, making the gaming experience truly like a real Fomrula1 race.

Other notable games include Project Cars: Game of the year Edition and Drive Club.

The V8 Supercars Championship Series is Australia’s biggest motorsport, and among the most followed sports in the country. The series was started in the year 1960 as a single race championship. Back then the name was Australian Touring Car Championship. This single event championship went on for eight years before a series model was adopted.

To win the championship, drivers would have to win several races. This meant that drivers who had trouble in one race could make up in another and potentially win despite not winning all stages. The name Australian Touring Car Championship stuck until 1999 when it changed into the Shell Championship Challenge. That changed again in 2003 when the series was renamed, the V8 Supercars Championship Series, a name that was shortened to V8 Supercars Championship in 2011.

V8

The V8 in the name comes from a strict requirement for all participating cars that stipulated all cars must be of a similar engine build. The only acceptable cars were 5.0-liter engine driven cars with natural aspiration and V8 engines. For a long time, the only cars that qualified were Ford and Holden cars. These two manufacturers had a race battle that endured from 1995 to 2012.

Commercial appeal

The V8 Supercars Championship Series has a huge following with attendance for races being about 100,000. There are wildly popular series stages like the Clipsal 500 which attracts crowds of over 250,000 spectators. The series has also inspired the best car games according to me.

The world’s fastest car at the moment is the Hennessey Venom GT. This American supercar carries a V8 engine with a displacement of 7 litres. The car is made in Texas, and it is probably one of the most promising cars to show up at the V8 Supercars Championship Series. As of today, only eight units have been sold. The company is relatively small, but the engineers are highly accomplished motoring professionals.

Dissection

The Hennessey Venom GT is a lightweight car with a big engine. The initial concept was creating a car with the profile of a Lotus Elise and putting a 1000+ hp engine in it. Hennessey had tinkered with these modifications in cars with the aim of creating a supercar of his dreams. At first, he wanted to use a Chrysler V10 engine but later went with the Chevy V8 engine.

The results are phenomenal. The outside is mostly carbon fibre, and the inside is raw power. The Hennessy Venom GT did 270 mph, which is a world record. The car is super exclusive, and prices are north of 1.2 million dollars. You wouldn’t expect to pay less for a car faster than the Buggati.

There’s a dilemma that every petrol head faces; the cars you can afford don’t go fast enough; the really fast cars are way out your financial ability. If only Ferraris didn’t cost that much! The Holy Grail for those initiated into the cult of petrol and speed is a fast car that is affordable.

Here are some fast cars that you can afford with savings and financial discipline. For the sake of clarity, we’ll define affordable as anything under $25,000.

Your Best Options

At $24,150, the Mustang is an affordable object of desire. Packing a V6 engine with a respectable 3.7-liter displacement, the Mustang is an absolute bargain. The vehicle is a 6-speed manual transmission and looks every inch the 300 horsepower it packs. Mustang is a strong brand associated with strength and masculinity, as well.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI comes with a 2.0-liter engine, generating 210 horsepower. The GTI is turbocharged and easy to maintain. This car will set you back $24,990.

Another good GT is the Hennessey Venom GT. While the Venom is considerably more expensive than the Golf, it is much faster as well. If you are looking for a real car that you can enjoy for years to come, this is probably one of your best bets.

With a little investment in research, it is easy to find fast cars you can afford. Other suggestions include the Mini Cooper S which is famed for its superb handling and go-kart driving experience and the Kia Forte Koup.

NASCAR brings raw and live entertainment to racing enthusiasts. Their events are ranked some of the most watched on TV. In the US, NASCAR comes only second to the NFL for viewership. NASCAR races are also the recipients of the highest sponsorship from Fortune 500 companies. With this much success, one wonders why the cars in Nascar seem to look the same. Are they?

The Anatomy of a NASCAR

Three street legal car brands are common in Nascar; Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, and Chevrolet SS. The thing, though, is that NASCAR cars do not share a lot with their street-legal counterparts. For one thing, races are won by the best-tuned vehicles.

As such, the car might be a Camry on the outside, but the engine will more often than not be a 300+ horsepower, naturally aspirated V-8 engine. While there may be a lot of fast cars you can afford, these are probably not them.

The cars in Nascar have accurately tuned ignitions managed through a computer system. The engines are designed to work at high temperatures and speeds. The supporting systems such as coolants and oil pumps are adjusted accordingly. Nascar car engines are closely monitored because success depends on their performance. The main differentiator among drivers, therefore, is the engineering of the engine.

Super cars used to be the preserve of large well-funded traditional manufacturers. Even then, they used to build them using outsourced parts, making the makers more of assemblers than producers. Changes in technology have allowed new players to enter the high-end car market, and one of the successes from this new generation of car makers is Koenigsegg founder Christian von Koenigsegg.

Koenigsegg employs less than 140 people, which is unlike traditional manufacturers who have well over 1000 employees. The Swedish manufacturer was able to get authentication for his cars, and that was the start of Koenigsegg – The Swedish supercars.

Models

There is a total of 17 Koenigsegg cars, starting from the CC made in 1996 as the prototype to the Agera Final built in 2016. The manufacturer makes every major component in-house and all cars retail for over $1 million. The most popular Koenigsegg is the Regera which was first produced in 2015 and has sold 80 units to date. The Regera has a top speed of 246 mph, and can easily compete with the cars in Nascar. The other popular Koenigsegg is the Agera R produced from 2012 to 2014, which sold 18 units.

Koenigsegg – The Swedish supercars are made for the ultra-rich. You might want to know that the factory is located in a hanger on a functional airstrip so that clients can land in their private jets.