BTCC 2012

British Touring Cars Championship could possibly be the best racing series around, just let me explain. First let's take a quick look at the cars and their technical regulations. BTCC's cars are based on two types of regulations -

WTCC/S2000 spec:
 - based on a production model, normally aspirated 2-liter engine, 6-speed sequential gearbox, no electronic driver aids and a maximum price of €168,000

NGTC (New Generation Touring Car) spec:
- 300+ bhp turbocharged 2-liter engine, slightly wider tyres, maximum price of £125,000 (including engine) ... the rest is basically the same as S2000
- these regulations were specifically made for BTCC

This year there are lots of NGTC cars, in 2011 there was only Frank Wrathall's Toyota Avensis, team Dynojet. You should be getting one of BTCC's big advantages - the variety of cars on the grid is very wide. You can have rear wheel drive, front wheel drive, turbocharged, N/A, hatchback, saloon,... It's basically up to you as long as it meets the regulations. There are literally 11 different cars at the moment, if you've ever heard of DTM (German touring car championship), there are only Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Honda Yuasa Racing Team - Honda Civic

Then there's the atmosphere, all the drivers are very friendly, they take it more as a pastime than a job. There are only 2 manufacturer teams (Honda and MG) and lots of private racing teams racing just for joy. If you take Formula 1, there's really no pleasure for the drivers at all, they are under constant pressure, have to make their sponsors happy at every corner and so on... 

Dynojet - Toyota Avensis

And last but not least - the crashes! Oh yeah, BTCC resembles destruction derby more then often. These guys aren't afraid to hit you in order to get in front of you. But if they do, they don't get punished by the marshalls, it's just a custom here.

Ok, so what's it all about? 23 cars, 7000bhp, lots of crashes, breathtaking maneuvers and a brilliant atmosphere. So tune in next weekend - Donigton Park is gonna smell like rubber! (in case you don't have itv, all the races can be found on youtube, you just have to search)

Official info - http://www.btcc.net

Keating TKR

SSC Ultimate Aero TT

Do you remember the first generation of hypercars? The first one was Köenigsegg CCR, a completely bonkers beast from Sweden producing 800 horsepower and maxing out at 241 mph. But then came Volkswagen and said they wanted to produce the fastest production car, not with 800 hp, nor with one thousand, it had to be 1001! So they ressurected Bugatti and made the Veyron, possibly the best piece of engineering out there. It was a bit faster (254 mph), thus they succeeded in the quest of producing the fastest car. Not for long though - Shelby decided it has to be the US to make the fastest one. Few months later they made the SSC Ultimate Aero TT which was 2 miles an hour faster than the Veyron. And it took Bugatti 3 years to strike back with Veyron SS, capable of 267 mph. Are you trying to say there was no faster car then the SSC Ultimate Aero for 3 years? Of course not, there was one... And this is the story of one completely forgotten car.

Keating TKR

Once upon a time there was one man who had a dream - to build his own car. His name was Anthony Keating, the owner of Keating Supercars. He had a foolish idea to make a car so fast it will outrun all the hypercars and still run smoothly at 260 mph. They were capable of building such a chassis, but there was no engine that powerful. So Anthony called his friends in the US - Nelson Racing Engines. I'll definitely write another story about NRE, because they deserve it. Let's just say for now that they make engines so powerful, that I just simply can't believe it. Anthony used one of NRE's 427 TT Hot Rod Series engine, producing... wait for it... here it comes... one thousand and seven hundred horsepower! 1700 hp!!! Oh my god!

Keating TKR at El Mirage dry lake

The car was finished and ready to be tested, so they took it to El Mirage dry lake to make a run. They knew it was fast, so the staff from the Guiness Book of World Records was invited. It did 260.1 mph... That doesn't sound that much faster than the SSC, but keep in mind it ran out of track, there was still so much more power left in the engine, it could easilly do a few more miles an hour. I am just speechless, once more I have found a car that almost nobody knew of and it was the fastest production car ever made. And sorry for the big pause on my blog - Skyrim stole my soul :-(

Ready to have some fun?

What's the best recipe for a car that makes you smile? It's very simple - engine in the front, manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Seriously, there's nothing better than this, even the mid-engined supercars aren't that much fun. And who would know better than Japanese?

Subaru BRZ concept

Subaru have anounced the BRZ concept - it has everything you need plus some extras like a massive rear spoiler. It will produce around 300bhp and you know it will be brilliant just by looking at it. Jeez, I love it so much. They are planning on getting it into production in the summer, I just hope it won't change a bit from the concept version... actually, they have to put gold alloys on it! Just do it, Subaru, for me, please!!!

Toyota FT-86

Do you remember all the sporty Toyotas? The almighty Supra, Cellica and my favourite Corolla AE86... Well, they have finally decided to build a new sportscar - FT-86. It's very much like the Subaru I mentioned earlier, although it's a bit less powerful (around 200bhp) and lighter. And it will be cheap - 25.000€ is a bargain of the century.

Nissan GT-R 2012

Oh, I almost forget to show you the new Nissan GT-R 2012. This is different kind of fun, it's just out of this world. It has more power than those two coupés combined and more technology on the board than a space shuttle. This year they've tweaked up the engine to produce 550bhp (that's 20 more than last year's model) and reduce the 0-100km/h time from 3 seconds to 2.8! Two point eight seconds... It's actually faster done than said. I'm just worried what the 2013 version will have under the bonnet, I guess it will spin the Earth backwards!

New Mini and 208

Bad timing, I was about to show you some more tuned cars from SEMA, but I just couldn't overlook these two cars. Mini Roadster - the first new Mini that actually makes sense to me and Peugeot 208 - probably the best car they've made for the past ten years.

Mini Roadster

Let's start with the Mini, I love the original one - small, agile and ridiculously fast in rally spec. I wasn't that psyched about the new Mini from Germany - it's big, heavy and expensive. People who buy them pay just for the badge... Sure, it's cute and if you need a shopping bag and have that kind of money, there's no problem. So why does the Roadster make sense all of a sudden? Because it has only 2 seats - never in the history of the new Mini has an adult sat in the back and felt comfortable at the same time. You can squeeze your kids in there, but if you are a real man you don't want to be seen with your family in the Mini. Now you can take only one person - your gf/bf or just a friend and look cool as hell! It also has a bigger boot so it is more suitable as a shopping bag as well.

Peugeot 208

And why is the Peugeot 208 the best car they've made for a decade? Because it's light - that's basically it. It weighs 975 kg in the lightest spec (smallest engine). All modern cars have this problem, they are just too heavy. They have to be safe and carmakers just add more and more material in the deformation zone for the car to withstand EuroNCAP test with dignity. Peugeot have gone the other way - make a smaller car, simplify, loose weight. Tiny engines - both diesel and petrol with amazing fuel consumption (e-HDi with start-stop system gets 3.4 l/100km) and more space for passangers and bigger boot than it's predecessor (even though it's 7 centimeters shorter than the 207). I am speechless...

This is SEMA!

Today starts the biggest international tuning show - SEMA in Las Vegas. I'll be reviewing some of the coolest cars you can see there. Before it even started some pics of heavily modified Toyota iQs (basically a shopping cart with some alloys and seats) were posted on the web. Once again the Japanese have proved they are the maddest bunch around, just watch this:

iQ-RS Evasive

Toyota iQ-RS Evasive - nitrous injection, air suspension, racing seats, rollcage, 17" Advan Racing rims and uprated Wilwood brakes. These are the qualities we want from a shopping cart... Or maybe they aren't, but I can't help it, this car is just somehow awesome and I would definitely ride this to my local shopping centre just to see the looks on everyone's faces.

iQ-RX Sibal

   Or if you aren't that much into racing and don't like to waste time getting over the rollcage and fastening yourself into the racing harnesses, you can have a street version of iQ - RX Sibal. It comes with a custom grey metalic paint with a bit of a bronze pearlescent effect, 18" HRE rims (oh my god!). You get the same Nitrous Express powered engine and Air Runner suspension as the RS.

iQ-MR Tatso

Not enough? Here you go - the most radical modification of iQ by Tatso - the iQ-MR. A mid-engined rear-wheel drive piece of motoring excellence, you get a pure striped-out racer with 16" Axis wheels. And you know there will be a day when this car pulls out next to you at the lights and embarasses the sh*t out of you. Well done, Japan, you've done it again!

Mysterious french hypercar

Today I came across some hot news on France's latest atempt in hypercar industry - the Genty Akylone. Sounds familiar? No? Well, that's probably because nobody has ever heard of them. Let's take a look at this car that literally came out of nowhere (I'll get to this later).

Genty Akylone

It's a V8-powered (what a surprise!) RWD beast made of some unspecified lightweight material (1100 kilos is impressive) producing 1014 bhp and is capable of doing 0-100 km/h in 2.7 seconds. Its top speed is 354 km/h, that's not bad at all. And it looks just right...

Akylone's rear end

They would like to show the production-ready car next year and make a very limited series of just 15 cars. The price is unknown, although they claim to tell the big number to their customers. Ok, so we have another nice and fast car here, what's the catch then? It's made by a company none has ever heard of in a middle of a forest where are no industrial buildings and last but not least - it's only a computer rendered model. Way to go, France!

And the interior

Arrinera - Polish supercar

I've got something special for you today - Poland's first take in supercar industry. Arrinera is a Polish car maker funded by Fenix Automotive (founded by Lee Noble, former owner of Noble)... have I lost you? I'm sorry, but that's just how it is in a nutshell. Let's talk about the car, it's a RWD mid-engined two-seater made from carbon-kevlar composite. The chassis is made from steel, but it's very rigid and light as Lee Noble is a man that really knows how to make a proper car. So you can expect really good handling, the performance is also good - powered by Corvette's LS9 and supercharged for some extra oomph, now producing 650 hp. 0-100 km/h takes just 3.2 seconds and it maxes out at 340 km/h, which is quite respectable. Ok, so the figures sound good, but what about the looks? Well, if you enjoyed your meal and don't want to see it again in the bathroom, you should stop reading now.

Are you really brave enough to see it? Fine, here it goes... But remember I warned you!

Arrinera supercar

I'm sorry, but this is just Lambo design, they even stole the door mechanism. And you think this is the only thing they've borrowed? Oh hell no, headlamps look like the ones on Noble, engine cover is based on Porsche Carrera GT and orange leather interior? I'm sorry, but that was only cool in Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in grey metallic paint, it's just disgusting in this car. Let's get to the rear end:

...and from the back

Just how many times has the designer seen Transformers? You think the taillights are cool? Nope, this was taken from Nissan Pulsar, the vents look like Lamborghini Reventon's and the tailpipe? It's inappropriate - you've got a V8 under the bonnet, let it breathe! And there's a bonus - from the side it looks like a DeLorean DMC-12. That's just it, I think they've crossed a big line here. I'm off to empty my stomach...

GT-R madness!

I was just browsing Nissan 200sx car owners forum (if you still don't know I own one myself) and came across some really interesting ad - a chance to drive my dream car Nissan GT-R for an amazing price of 40€. My mind was completely blown, I ordered one ride in a blink of an eye. I just hope this works out, it has to! I am so psyched right now I can't even write :D

   Let's calm down and let me give you some figures on GT-R. Nissan have built this car specifically to beat the almighty Porsche 911 Turbo round the Nürburgring and they have succeeded. It's got a twin-turbocharged V6 (VR38DETT for you Nissan fans) producing 478 hp and 588 torques. Don't expect some oldschool driving, this is a computer on four wheels but in a good way. Four wheel drive, launch control, control unit that checks just the right amount of torque goes to each wheel 100 times per second, flappy paddle gearbox and much more. But the thing I love the most about GT-R is it's looks, you really don't expect this car to do 0-100 km/h in 3.5 second and thus completely humiliating you on the lights! I will definitely write a post about GT-R's history some time in the future, once I taste the sweetness of the cherry on Nissan's cake of motoring excellence.

Nissan GT-R

You vs. Universe

Don't worry, I haven't gone mad, this isn't about philosophy. You and Universe are Volvo's latest concepts and I'm keen to introduce them. Let's start with the older one - Volvo Universe, introduced earlier this year in Shanghai. It brings out completely new design using some classic lines from Volvo archives. I love it, the front grill looks very funky as well as the headlamps... This isn't a description you would expect for a Volvo design. And the bonnet is just somehow awesome. I'm not so sure about the rear lights though, they are a bit 'Jaguarish'.

Volvo Universe

Volvo You, unveiled at IAA Frankfurt, looks very simmilar, but it's a completely different car. It's design is affected by Geely's purchase of Volvo. It's a bit less funky, but still very good looking. I absolutely love the name - can you imagine the conversation? 'What's your ride? .. You. .. Me?!'

Volvo You

And if you still find the Volvo design a bit conservative, just look at the interior... Volvo, safe and slick :-)

 Volvo You - interior

P.S. you can follow me on Facebook (using the Like button in the right column)

My mum's FIAT

I'd like to devote today's post to my mum's Fiat Stilo 1.2 (2002). We've had this car for five years, it never let us down and worked hard. Until last week - one of the ignition coils broke down, I checked all the spark plugs and I did not know how this car was still working... I've seen a lot of spark plugs, but these were just the worst. Anyway, we ordered some new plugs and an ignition coil. I swapped them earlier, is what I would said if the idiot at the store gave me the right plugs... Damn, at least the coil works, so the engine runs on all four pots again! Hurray! I'm gonna beat the hell out of him tommorow, get the right plugs and change them.

  I absolutely love the car, it's just an honest piece of Italian engineering. We've imported it from Germany (it had done 70.000 km, currently 98.000 km) for about 8.000€, it has A/C, 6 airbags, 6-speed manual gearbox and electric windows, that's basically it. And it's a 3-door version, because it looks the best. We use it as our family work horse, it has a tow bar for our trailer and a lot of scratches over the years. The biggest scratch comes from an avalanche, my mum parked the car under a high roof covered in snow and as it begun to melt, the whole lot fell on our poor car. It broke the windshield and we lost the rear window wiper as well. I've had a lot of fun in this car, especially in the winter drifting like mad on local carpark (using handbrake as it is front wheel drive).

In case you don't know what the Fiat looks like, here are some photos:

Fiat Stilo

And here's one of the engine that was taken today. Notice the redneck air filter - yep, it's a stocking! I need the car today, so I made this temporary solution, because I'm a lazy person and I don't want to take off all the plastic covers and the original air-box tommorow as well.

The engine... :D

Fisker Automotive

Today I found out there is an electric car you might actually consider buying! My world was totally crushed, I was always a bit skeptical about the whole 'electric-powered vehicle for everyday use' thing. Why? It's very simple - you wake up in the morning, have a coffee and comute to work. Let's say it's about 100 kilometers away, you jump into your electric car, because you want to save the environment... And the battery dies somewhere in the middle of your journey. You pull out the cord and recharge your car, 10 hours later it's fully charged and you can finally get to work... Or turn around and go home tell your wife you've been fired. Your choice.

   So what is this miraculous car? Let me introduce you the manufacturer first - Fisker Automotive. Founded in 2007 in California by Henrik Fisker (designer responsible for iconic cars such as Aston Martin DB9 and BMW Z8), the company decided to produce luxurious hybrid cars (aiming at Porsche and BMW customers). First one was Fisker Karma, powered by a combination of an electric engine and 2-litre turbocharged four-pot. The combined range is 480 km (80 km on batteries, 400 km), it produces 400 bhp and nearly a thousand torques. For the same money as Porsche Panamera... Brilliant!

Fisker Karma

They have unveiled a new model in Frankfurt - the Fisker Surf. It's a shooting brake (like the new Ferrari FF) and if you found Karma's design stunning, just wait until you see this one! Power output is slightly better, it produces less CO2 than Toyota Prius and the range is unchanged. Here it goes:

Fisker Surf

I am speechless! I just hope all future electric cars look this good...

IAA Frankfurt 2011

It's that time of the year again - one of the biggest car shows takes place in Frankfurt am Mein (Germany). The 64th IAA (International Automobil-Ausstellung) starts tommorow September 13 and ends 12 days later - September 25. There are 90 new cars/concepts, let me introduce the most important ones.

   Aston Martin will show their street racer - V12 Zagato, an amazing piece of Italian design (tribute to the original Zagato from 60's) powered by the 380 kW V12 engine from Vantage. I want one so bad!

Aston Martin V12 Zagato

Ferrari have cut the roof off their 458 Italia - resulting in a hardtop convertible supercar called Spider. They really did their best, it's only 50 kilos heavier than the standart 458 and it takes 14 seconds to put the roof up. But they still haven't convinced me their design is better than Lamborghini's...

Ferrari 458 Spider: Italia

Mercedes-Benz did the same thing as Ferrari, took their SLS AMG and made it a Roadster. It has the same performance as the original SLS, it's 40 kilos heavier and the softtop folds in 11 seconds. Well done, Merc! And they ditched the silly "gullwing" door, well done indeed!

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster and Coupé

And finally the new Porsche 911, 991 generation. I personally am not a big fan of current Porsche design, but I have to admit they did a pretty good job this time. Let's see who wins the epic battle Turbo vs. Nissan GT-R this year!

Porsche 911 (991)

I recommend you to visit the IAA, it's one hell of a show! Or if you are less lucky just stay tuned, I'll review some more cars later.

Agera R - the best of Sweden

If you ever wondered which hypercar is the most hyper, Koenigsegg's got an answer - Agera R. Let me show you some figures to prove my point. This beast has, and there is no other way of saying it, 1115 horsepower (using bioethanol E85) and over 1200 torques! All of them powering the 345/30 R20 rear tires, 345!!! Those tires are so wide you could park another car on them. But wait, Bugatti have made an 8-liter W16 engine to produce those figures, how could Koenigsegg make such an engine? Well, they started from scratch, this one is powered by Koenigsegg's own alluminium twin-turbocharged 5-liter V8. And here's some more - Agera R just set some new records:

• 0-300 km/h = 14.53 s
• 0-200 mph = 17.68 s
• 300-0 km/h = 6.66 s
• 200-0 mph = 7.28 s
• 0-300-0 km/h = 21.19 s
• 0-200-0 mph = 24.96 s

Would you just look at this sweet design.

I'm telling you - if this car was any faster, it would travel in time! You get basically the same performance as Bugatti Veyron SS (0-100 km/h is 0.4 second slower - 2.9s), stunning looks, more fun and it costs half the price of an SS. So this is the car to buy if you've got 1 million euros. Or is it?

   If you are the type of a person that loves the smell of a proper V8 in the morning, eats tires and drinks petrol, you should consider buying something a bit crazier, something even faster, something American. Hennessey have gone completely mad - they've used Lotus Exige's bodywork, pumped it up a little bit, ditched the 1.8-liter engine and put some Corvette engine back in. And turbocharged it, a lot! Thus the Venom GT was born. The V8 now produces up to 1200 horsepower!!! In a car that weighs just a bit over 1000 kilos. Top speed of this car is 440 km/h, oh my god! They are only making ten GTs, so you better hurry up and prepare one million dollars as well.

Venom GT - the craziest car around

Anyway, I'd like to apologize for not updating my blog during this week, I had an all-week-long houseparty. So I'm resuming to my usual 2 posts per 3 days :-)

Nürburgring record

Earlier this year Peugeot set a new electric car record around the Nürburgring. 9m 1.338s was almost a minute faster than previous record holder, Peugeot used their high-performance EX1 Concept electric car, a 340bhp all wheel drive beast. But the 'Ring demands some serious competition and to hold a lap record there is very prestigious.

 

Peugeot EX1 Concept

It didn't take long to beat that record again - by Toyota. About a week ago they let their own high-performance electric car TMG EV P001 (this really sounds like a kitchen appliance) lap the 'Ring and it did it in 7m 47.794s! This Radical-based 375bhp racer wiped the previous record so hard Peugeot's executives shed a tear...

Toyota TMG EV P001

To put this time in perspective, let me show you some other cars that lapped the 'Ring in 7m 47s - Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 and Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. And here are some other amazing lap times:

• production vehicles - Radical SR8 LM - 6m 48s
• non-series vehicles - Pagani Zonda R - 6m 47.5s (fastest road-legal car)

And the absolute record holder Porsche 956 at 6m 11.13s driven by Stefan Bellof in 1983. I will definitely come back to this legendary car later, it deserves it!

Tuning failure

Today I visited a local tuning show to test my car in an 1/8 mile drag race. As I am not very skilled, my times weren't that good, the best one was 10.09... But it was enough to beat some Honda Civics, Integras and VW GTis. But I really wanted to push it below 10 sec. So there I was, the fourth run - great start, no wheelspin, ideal gearchanges, everything was looking good. But then i noticed a big cloud of smoke coming from my exhaust. I stopped and some dude ran towards my with a fire extinguisher, I told him it's definitely not on fire. The look on his face - disappointment. Later I discovered that the head gasket was blown and the smoke was actually water streaming onto the pistons and evaporating rapidly. A friend of mine towed me back home, what a shame! I'll keep this one brief, because I'm really pissed right now...

Here are some photos:

My car on the start

And some crazy wheelie in a Fiat 500

BMW recalls 120k cars

Have you worked hard and finally decided to buy a decent car? Yes! So you pay a visit tou your local car dealership and for some unknown reasons it's a BMW dealership. But which one should I buy? There are so many models... You finally decide to go for a 5 series and because the petrol prices went through the roof recently you buy a diesel one. What a smart choice... or is it? One day a telephone wakes you up in the morning and it's a BMW employee histerically screaming your car is dangerous and in some rare cases it can even burn you to death. Oh hell no, I should have bought an Audi or a Mercedes instead, runs through your mind. Yes, you really should have... But that's not the point.

   It seems lately the car manufacturers really mess up. BMW now recalls 120k cars because of a fuel filter malfunction and it's not just the 5 series, it's actually 1, 5, 7, X3, X5 and X6! You think this is the only case?

• GM recalled 1.5 million cars because of a screenwasher malfunction (fire possible)
• GM recalled 250k cars because the seat belts weren't working properly (death possible)
• GM recalled 100k Cadillac CTS's, the airbag didn't work (death possible) ...Jeez, GM, do something about it! 
• Toyota recalled 100k Priuses (every single car of the first generation) - steering and transmission issue

   And the big one: Toyota recalled 14 million!! cars over the last two years, no biggie, just the gas pedal jammed flatout from time to time. This could lead to some serious performance! Or, you know, a nearby tree.

  I mean how could this even happen? Apparently they just don't test the cars properly to discover some serious issues. Shame on you! And you would think that Toyota's and BMW's build quality and reliability were bulletproof.

Whopping design!

To stop my eyes from bleeding every single time I look at my blog, I decided to do some design improvements. I've also changed the name of my blog, because writing about everything that comes to mind isn't somehow satisfactory enough. So what does the World on four wheels stand for? Well, you can expect some fresh information about anything that moves fast and has some wheels on it! I'm a big petrolhead, I really am. Anytime something interesting happens in the motoring world, I will be there to summarize it and share it with you, guys.

   Just what do you mean by that? I'm thinking some reports from car shows, reviews of the newest models, commentating on concept cars, even doing some mini-series on car legends, or a brief history of some famous brands. Maybe some tutorials, the possibilites really are endless. So hold on, because I'm gonna dip your head in petrol!

Any feedback on the new design or theme is as always appreciated.

Roadtrip

Yesterday me and my mate went for an epic roadtrip throughout the country (just kidding, it was like 120km). I've got a Nissan 200sx and he's got Skoda Octavia, which is on of the most common cars in Czech Republic. My car got some sporty tuning, so the suspension is quite hard and the ride isn't that comfortable, especially on local roads. But it's fast! :D

   We decided to go for a swim in a nearby dam and visit a famous hill climb track called Ecce Homo. As we climbed the hill like pros, we stumbled upon a race that was going on there as well. We had to turn around and come back later. Time to go for a swim, it took us an hour or so to find a place suitable for swimming, but in the end we found the best one. Nothing better than a swim in some cold water on these summer days! Anyway, we chilled there for entire afternoon and then went back.

I decided to have another go on that hill climb, but from the opposite direction. Here's some footage:

 

Sorry for slightly bad camera angle, I used the redneck style camera - taped my phone to the rearview mirror :D And it somehow looks very slow, but trust me when you're sitting there, it's pretty damn fast! It was my second attempt on that track, so I really didn't know the corners, but I tried to go as fast as my car and brain let me. And cooked the brakes doing so, the last few corners I had literally no brakes at all! :D

I hope you enjoy the footage, although it might have been much better. Rev up!