Car Throttle

Maserati has recently let loose on the most high-performance Gran Turismo model yet, the MC Stradale. It made its first appearance at the Paris Auto Show. It is unique for the fact that in recent years Maserati has put more focus on emphasis on the word "luxury" in performance luxury. MC in the Stradale name stands for Maserati Corsa (Maserati Racing in English). The MC Stradale aims to provide a bridge between the road and track-focused models like the MC Trofeo and the GT4 race car. Maserati says the car features "razor-sharp handling" that it will break "the 300km/h barrier." The engine gets a bump in horsepower from 430 to 450 and Maserati says downforce has been improved without an increase in drag. You can check out the car proving

The deluge of Audi performance variants continues! Enthusiasts are the ones benefitting as new model after model arrives. We aren't ones to complain. The R8 is one of the upper end models in Audi's stable, likely out of our reach - at least for quite sometime. It has been expanded beyond the original V-8 coupe model to include a V-10 Spyder variant. Recently, the V-8 was made available in Spyder variation as well. The hottest model of them all though is the R8 GT, and it just has gotten a price tag. $198,000 - yes, that's almost $200,000, for an Audi. It is an Audi that competes in exotic territory though. It gets the aforementioned V-10 engine, but adds horsepower - up to 560 horsepower from the

Most automotive enthusiasts whose knowledge goes beyond surface level can tell you about the demise of the classic British sports car. Once the mainstay of young people that liked to live fast and die young, it died a protracted death in the late '70's at the hand of it's then-unorthodox replacement: the hot hatch.  Cars like VW's GTI, Peugeot's 205 GTI, and many others offered all of the grip, acceleration, braking, and fun but with many times more utility and reliability.  The most well-known poster child of the British roadster was without a doubt the MGB.  Introduced in 1962, the replacement for the antique MGA quickly became a status symbol and a lifestyle.  When it went out of production in 1980, it was a shadow of

Bentley's new baby, the refashioned Continental GT, was only just revealed online yesterday. While not revolutionary, the Continental GT gets a significant update and a new look. For the full lowdown, check out James' post on just exactly what has been changed. To give us a better taste of the new Continental, Bentley has released this new video of driving footage, showing some of the various design elements of the car coming to life. We like track footage, but hey we'll take what we can get - and it is Bentley, after all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKBtHFZ7bo&feature=player_embedded#at=58

Bentley's Continental GT, introduced in 2003, is still a superstar in my eyes. Of course, in terms of the uppermost echelon of automobiles, it's not just long in the tooth, it's already got one foot in the grave.  For 2011, Bentley is giving the Continental GT a healthy redesign both aesthetically and mechanically, making it both prettier and better suited for today's... unusual economic climate. On the outside, Bentley has tweaked the Conti's now-familiar shape to bring it more in line with the new Mulsanne super-sedan, giving the brand some stylistic linearity.  The rear "haunches" (fenders to us plaebians) are more sharply defined, as is the character line atop the front fender that extends to the front.  The grille is more upright, and the headlights are

Morgan Motor Cars is one of the small, independent manufacturers out there that keeps on chugging along. It has done quite well for itself sticking to a pretty similar formula - its cars have looked similar for years. That changed to a certain degree with the Aer0 8, sold here in the United States. Now, Morgan is branching out even further with the EvaGT. Does the EvaGt Look like any Morgan you have ever seen? No, it didn't to us either. Signifying a big change in approach, Morgan also debuted the vehicle on U.S shores, unusual for the British automaker. Morgan and fuel efficiency may have not always been conjured up in the same sentence - the company's designs aren't exactly aerodynamic. The EvaGT changes all that, and

The Audi R8 5.2 FSI is already one of the most desirable cars on earth. I mean, come on - it's a combination of Lamborghini craziness with Audi civility and beautiful design.  It makes a sound like God playing a trumpet, accelerates like it's just been rear-ended by a runaway dump truck, and will make beautiful four-wheel powerslides with one hand on the wheel.  The interior is immaculate, it's got an external-gated 6 speed, and... well, I could go on for days.  It took up where the NSX left off; offering supercar performance with everyday civility in a perfectly engineered package. And now Audi has seen fit to add a little spice to the recipe, and it looks like it's about to get a little more

2010 is undoubtedly the year of eco-consciousness among automotive companies. I mean, there have been some exciting gas-guzzling debuts (hello, Audi R8 V10 Spider, 2011 Mustang GT500, and Ferrari 458 Italia!) but for the most part the focus of the industry has been on boring things, like diesels and hybrids and, god forbid, diesel-hybrids.  Still, there's a whole heap of fresh metal coming out this year, and there's quite a bit to be excited about.  What upcoming cars are you the most stoked to get your greasy little paws on in 2010? For me, it's a pretty long list.  And atop it is Honda's polarizing CR-Z.  While "Hybrid" and "Sports Coupe" seem to go together like peanut butter and salmon, it's an intriguing concept to me

Hands down, one of my favorite motorsports events has got to be the Texas Mile. In short, it's a balls-to-the-wall test of acceleration and top speed.  You've got a full damn mile to accelerate as hard as you can, and when you're done they give you a slip telling you how fast you crossed the traps at.  It's held in a small town in Texas called Goliad on a mostly-abandoned airstrip, and it's currently in it's seventh year of existance.  Initially only 35 crazies showed up to see how fast their cars could go; this year there were 220 participants with 40 on the waiting list.  Over 1000 runs were made down the air strip over the two-day event, and each of them was epic in

John Hennessey is obviously the modern-day Carroll Shelby. And while Shelby may have one foot in the grave (not two), it's obvious that the Texas-based tuner is stepping up to take over where ol' Shel left off.  For one thing, HPE is perhaps the most reputable tuner when it comes to extracting huge, reliable horsepower out of domestic cars (along with a few foreigners, like HPE's Nissan GT-R "Godzilla".)  They'll sell you a Camaro with a 725bhp tweaked LS9 supercharged V8 out of the ZR-1, and it's such a clean conversion that an OBD scanner will have no problem pulling codes.  Oh, and it's got a warranty.  How about a Cadillac CTS-V that will do 186mph in the standing mile?  Or maybe a 1000+bhp twin-turbocharged