Just found out how much I like cars...not that much it seems, give me the brunette!

Ferrari F12 Speciale

My second favourite Ferrari of recent times is getting the "speciale" treatment..yes please!

The sublime Jaguar CX-75

This is one hyper car that does not want to be forgotten, see it make its film debut in SPECTRE on November 6th 2015.

Coming to a newsagents near you!

#1 Juan Manuel Fangio
















Born: 24th June 1911
Nationality: Argentine
Teams: Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes, Ferrari
Died: 17th July 1995
Fact: 18th July 1948 Juan Manuel Fangio makes Formula 
One debut

3rd August 1989 - 17th July 2015

A supercar manufacturer on my Doorstep!

I like to support and give encouragement to up-and-coming super/hyper car manufacturers, why not? Today's minnows could be our next Paganis and McLarens of tomorrow? Sin cars are a German sports car manufacturer who are in the headlines recently for their new R1 sports car. Flicking through the net I was unaware that the Sin R1 is being developed in conjunction with Daventry-based firm "Proformance", a distributor of raw materials for the motorsport industry and now essentially the UK arm of Sin cars. Wow, I currently live in Daventry and did not know I have this new and exciting sports car manufacturer on my doorstep! 

Tomorrow morning before the gym I am going to take a visit to these guys and find out what they are all about. It seems the "Hyper Cars" blog is now doing factory tours and reporting! In addition the Sin R1 Prototype production has been based in Bulgaria but the finished car will be manufactured in Germany.

It looks good, how does it drive? Hopefully Proformance will give me a test drive tomorrow before "Autocar" get involved? 

http://proformancemetals.co.uk/

http://sincars.co.uk/ 
(in construction?)

The world is a better place with Mr. Koenigsegg!

Koenigsegg Wants to Expand and Build ‘Normal’ Cars under new Sub-Brand

'Normal' is the most fluid word in the English dictionary it means so many things to so many different people except that it is word that is highly negative, why? It constrains and conforms people to certain beliefs on what should be, we don't need this word, again you ask why? Well, because exceptional things in life don't conform to a norm they are usually born in an environment that has no constraints or rules that enables them to flourish, they are in essence "special" and it does not necessarily mean cars (a girl?) but as this is a hyper car blog I'll stick to cars. People like Christian von Koenigsegg and Horacio Pagani don't conform to norms they test the boundaries of what is possible with flamboyance, passion and flare. The world is a better place without "normal", so this is what Mr. Koenigsegg calls a normal car although it could never be but great! 

Metal Gearbox So-Good

Apologies, the 458 Italia after-shock is going to continue for some time! I see that Magna have purchased German transmission giant Getrag for around $1.9 billion. A great buy, I have a Getrag gearbox in my Focus ST (mk2) and it has taken some brutal punishment over the years. One of the greatest gearboxes I have ever had the pleasure of using is a Getrag, however, this Geterag is a 7-speed  dual-clutch gearbox, encased in the beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia. The shifts are so sharp and smooth it is mesmerising! Drive one and see.

The legends in LEGO.

I think it was a few weeks back(?), there was a program on TV called "The Secret World of Lego". I remember playing with this stuff when I was a kid but today it is officially the most profitable toy maker in the world a total phenomenon.  Did you know that Lego manufacture a "hyper car" set with a McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and a Porsche 918? The set also includes a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 race car, a pair of Porsche 911 race cars with a start-finish line scene, a Ferrari F14T Formula 1 car with a transport truck, and a McLaren MP4-29 with a pit stop scene! One for the grand kids?

I think Lego got the order slightly wrong, the Ferrari would pip the Porsche to second no problem!

**NEW** - I thought that the "Hyper Cars" blog needed some overdue freshening up, some new content, new themes for a regular post. This is the first of a series of "Top Gear Flash Back", where I will post a randomly selected item from one of the 176 episodes (the CHM years). This is kind of a tribute to the best series in the world..."and on that bomb shell" 

Episode 81 - "Driving Heaven"

Dame Helen Mirren - Golf Gti W12

Alfa Romeo is Back
...but for some, they never really went away.

I always listen to my dedicated, well educated, knowledgeable auto-bloggers and thought I must write an article on Alfa Romeo. However, I have been tentative, I don't want to write any old trash about their new models, there are loads of sites doing that, I want to write something meaningful on what Alfa Romeo means to me and why they are such a prestigious company. There is a slight problem because I have never owned an Alfa which is automotive heresy in the eyes of Clarkson, Hammond and May. All that I know is that it is a very special marque maybe more special than Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Lamborghini? The reason being, well I think it is a culmination of many things, a great automotive marque does not just produce good looking cars year in year out it has to have two special things and by exploring each one in detail I will hopefully produce a meaningful article? An article that once read will help you (the reader) read future Alfa Romeo articles in a different way?

The Power and The beauty

Where to start? Well, there are two distinct aspects to an auto marque that makes it great, these two aspects have many different connotations in life itself because they exist at two completely different ends of the spectrum but provide a balance, they are the ying and yang, one cannot exist without the other. One is acquired by hard work over a significant period of time, the other is literally a random event to some extent, if you understand how it is acquired but together they create greatness.  They are the Power and the Beauty.

The Power

A great marque has to have a rich motorsport bloodline, its “power”  and what you are about to read is remarkable.  Alfa Romeo has an unbelievable  motorsport heritage that most people do not even realise and one that contributes hugely to this special Italian automaker. What you have to understand is that you cannot buy a great motorsport past it has to be earnt over a long period of time. Individual, repetitive events performed by drivers like Nino Franchini and Giuseppe Campari driving cars built by the engineering brilliance of Giuseppe Merosi to put Mr.Ferrari himself into 2nd place is a phenomenal achievement. Now are you warming up to Alfa Romeo? Well, just in case you need a little more convincing, Alfa Romeo has also participated in formula one, the pinnacle of motorsport as both a constructor and as an engine supplier. As a constructor it made cars for the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio (in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio won while driving an Alfetta 159) and Riccardo Patrese. As an engine supplier it has powered McLaren and Brabham, okay not to great success but nonetheless the range of motorsport engineering talent is immense.  In addition the famous Scuderia Ferrari a company well known today for its formula one success with the likes of Schumacher was originally set-up to race Alfa Romeo’s like the Alfa Romeo 2900 Scuderia-Ferrari, a 3.8 supercharged monster.  Alfa Romeo within motorsport (“The Power”) has achieved many great things and now we are starting to understand why this marque means so much but it is still not enough to call it a great marque.

 

The Beauty

Beauty can mean so many things to so many different people, it also has many opposites to “power”. It can be achieved in an instant, a random event? It can divide opinion, it is subjective and it’s certainly not as clear as crossing the finish line in the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia or Le Mans. Therefore, this is the part that I write that sums up Alfa Romeo to me and it focuses on individual words that not only describe Alfa Romeo’s but what I think describes the people that drive them. 

The Alfa Romeo beauty is individual but not dramatic, it does not mean to grab you and force you to look at it, it does not need to. It is intriguing, It has “flow”, no interruptions, you know it is different, unique you probably don’t know what the marque is but you want to? An Alfa Romeo really has true style, why, because it is born from the country that invented style. I’ve heard Alfa Romeo's described as “pretty” but surely this is a word that cannot describe such a masculine object but you can with an Alfa Romeo, they are pretty, they do have style and that is what makes it a thing of beauty.

The Power and the Beauty…Alfa Romeo, not just a great marque but a very special marque a marque that can exist as both Power and Beauty at the same time the perfect balance.   

Back...and what better way to come back!
Ferrari 458 Italia- So good I want one!

On the 10th July 2015 I found out the joy of driving a car and I owe it all to the Ferrari 458. 5 Laps of the Long Marston airfield is enough to leave a big smile on your face when hurtling around in a car that Jeremy Clarkson likes to call epic, it is simply that good. From the engine note to the gear box, to the looks it hits all the right notes and it makes you want one so much. I think the astonishing thing is that a car that has over 500bhp could be used as an everyday car, sure you can't put the weekend's shopping in the back with the kids but the wife can always buy a Porsche Cayenne for that. The 458 makes you feel like Ayrton Senna and Paul Newman all in one go, the moment you walk up to the car everyone is looking at you, you open the door and get in, you press the "engine start" button and you know you are in something special because the 458 is something special it really is.

I drove the Mclaren MP4-12C in March 2014 and felt astonished by its brilliance but I felt that I needed to drive the 458 in order to understand the reviews myself. I have an obvious bias towards McLaren, it's my favourite automotive OEM in the world but I like to adhere to the truth, it's what sets apart from the monkey wrenches of this world that write poor reviews because they cannot tell the truth. How many times does  "AutoBribe" write a good review about the "cat" in the Midlands when it's not deserved?

Let's move on, I don't want this piece to end in other way than highlighting the fact that Ferrari have created a masterpiece even more so than the "LaFerrari". Why? Because creating a masterpiece is not about how much money you spend or how fast it goes or how big something is, it's about getting every little piece of the end product right no matter what it is. The Ferrari 458 Italia does this and more and I don't have to spend £1 million, it literally reaches into your soul and makes you fall in love with it and how many cars can do that? 

The Ferrari 458, Ferrari's finest masterpiece?