The CARburetor

new Maserati GT

2007-02-20T14:24:00.000+01:00

Maserati announced, that they are building a new GT . Designed by Pininfarina, the Gran-Turismo will be powered by a 405 hp 4,2 litre V8, and will have a new ZF 6-speed gearbox (now also available for the Quattroporte). Weight distribution is supposed to be 49/51 front/rear, quite an achievement in a front engined car.

Jaguar XKR GT3 and some NASCAR

2007-02-19T13:57:00.000+01:00

A british firm called Apex Motorsport has prepared the Jaguar XKR for FIA GT3 racing. This is not a factory program however. The car has a 4,2 litre supercharged V8, and a modified aluminium bodywork (so not much change comparing to the stock XKR). Further details will be revealed at the FIA GT3 official track tests (first of which takes place at Monza on February 22).

The NASCAR season has started with the Daytona 500. The race was won by Kevin Harvick, who passed Mark Martin on the last lap. Jeff Gordon took 3rd and the top rookie was avid Ragan, who finnished 5th. The race featured many accidents, but noone was seriously hurt. Former Formula One driver, Juan-Pablo Montoya was 19th, and rather unhappy, with such a start of the season.

hybrid news

2007-02-16T14:48:00.000+01:00

Toyota confirmed that they'll build a third generation of the Prius late 2008 or early 2009. The car is supposed to be even more enviromentally friendly and slightly faster. Still, I don't see, why can't they make a diesel hybrid? Peugeot and Citroen showed prototypes of the 307 and C4 with 1,6HDi hybrid engines and those consumed 2,5 - 3,0 litres of fuel per 100km. And even a non hybrid diesel now usually needs less fuel than the Prius.

To anyone reading this: there might be no news for the next few days, as I am having problems with my Internet connection

some news

2007-02-14T13:18:00.000+01:00

Bumped into some news today, so here they are:

In 2008 we'll see the new VW Golf. It'll feature some new design, but there shouldn;t be any big revolutions in terms of technology. Most engines will remain the same, some will get a bit more power, the 3,2 litre V6 in the R32 model will be replaced by a 3,6 litre V6 (same as in the upcomming Passat R36) with something about 300HP, and the fastest Golf will now be called the R36. The new Golf is said to be cheaper than the present model.

In 2009 Opel will start building the fourth generation of the Astra, but before that, the present Astra will be sold as a 4-door sedan, but only in Eastern Europe. It'll have most of the engines from the hatchback, however, the turbocharged 1,6 and 2,0 petrol engines have not been confirmed yet (Personally, I doubt they'll confirm them).

That's it for now.

New Aston Martin special edition

2007-02-13T14:54:00.000+01:00

There's going to be a special edition of the Aston Martin Vanquish, it's going to be called the Aston Martin Vanquish S Ultimate Edition. Only 40 will be made, all painted in black, and with some interior modifications (rather minor ones: special leather, and chrome detailing). Sadly there won't be any performance boost. The price is the same as in the normal Vanquish S (£182,095) . Both the special edition, and the normal Vanquish will now have an option of a six speed manual gearbox (seems like a good idea, the automatic one is said to be rather unreliable).

supercars from Mercedes and BMW

2007-02-12T13:04:00.000+01:00

This is not yet fully confirmed, but I've read in a German newspaper, that Mercedes wants to launch a mid-engined V8 supercar somwhere around 2009-2010. the V8 they'll use might be something close, to the one used in the 63AMG cars (i.e the E 63AMG ). The car is supposed to challenge the Porsche 911 and the Audi R8. chassis design is suppposed to be done with the help of McLaren. Should be interesting to see, what this is going to turn out.
Also the same newspaper stated, that BMW is launching a new model called M10. This should arrive in 2010, and will have an about 550HP V10 engine in the front, powering the rear wheels (same engine as in the M5, and M6, only slightly tuned to produce more power). Still, I don't think that would to convince me to buy it, if it looks like the BMWs, that are already in production. Sadly, the last good looking BMW was the M1, but that was a long time ago (well, the 850 wasn't ugly too, but I personally consider it rather dull).

Start your engines!

2007-02-11T20:15:00.000+01:00

Alright, welcome my first blog, it's going to be about cars, my biggest hobby, I'm planning to update it quite often with news from the world of cars. So to make this quick, heres the first one:

Ford has announced, that it's launching the new Super Duty pick-up. The car will feature the following petrol engines: a 5.4 litre V8, and a 6.8 litre V10, and a 6.4-litre V8 turbodiesel (from what I know, the top F-450 will only be offered with this one). prices start at about 23000 dollars, and end at 60000 dollars. As much as I'd like to drive one, I'd never import one to Europe, and especially Poland (where I live), why? Try driving around here in a nearly 2.5 metre wide pick-up and you'll know the answer. But I guess Americans will like it anyway. Still, I don't see, how can a rather unsophisticated vehicle like this help Ford get out of their financial problems.