Fresh off today's rumors from Autocar that the McLaren P1 destroyed the 'Ring to the tune of six minutes and 30+ seconds. If this is true, it would put the McLaren P1 into a class of its own, beating the recent awesome time by the Porsche 918 Spyder. We decided to review the McLaren P1 and summarize what we've heard to date. Perhaps the best summary thus far came from Jeremy Clarkson, who said ""The P1 is a car that runs silently when you're in town and then rips your face off when you aren't"

The Ferrari 458 Speciale is one awesome car. With a 4.5-liter V-8 that makes slightly insance 597 horsepower at its 9000-rpm peak you know performance won't be an issue. Some awesome technology has gone into this car. Engine changes like 14.0:1 compression ratio, revised combustion chambers, new pistons, shorter intake runners, reshaped intake ports, and higher lift on the exhaust and intake valves, along with a new carbon-fiber manifold and airbox all help boost power. The 458 also went on a diet and had shed some 200 pounds. 

The Speciale shifts faster, goes faster in a straight line and laps Fiorano track quicker than the standard 458 Italia. turns in quicker, and stops shorter. Thanks to an additional 35 horsepower and 200 fewer pounds, it is swifter than the car on which it’s based, in a straight line and around a track. Read our full 458 Special review. 

For its $22,195 base price, you’re getting a vehicle essentially identical to the European version, from the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder to the autobahn-firm suspension tune to the single-spec Bridgestone Potenza RE050A summer tires. Well, there is one major difference: The Euro ST will only be a three-door hatchback, whereas the American ST will come only in five-door form. The spunky little ST is more important for what it says about Ford than what it does for the company’s bottom line. It proves that Ford isn’t without a soul, that somewhere inside that giant transnational monolith that pays the bills with pickup-truck sales, there are people who actually care about small cars

The biggest misconception about the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series is that it's simply a higher-performing version of the SLS GT - a closer look, or better yet, a few hot laps on a high-speed racing circuit, reveals that is anything but the case.

The engine mapping, crankshaft, connecting rods, valvetrain, intake, exhaust and cooling are all modified and the engine's redline bumps up from 7,200 to 8,000 rpm, which pushes output of the hand-built 6.3-liter V8 to 622 horsepower. The power steering receives a new ratio, a coilover AMG Adaptive Performance suspension is installed along with underbody braces, the track is widened, two-piece carbon-ceramic brakes replace iron rotors at each corner and a lightweight titanium exhaust is fitted beneath. The AMG Speedshift seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox is modified and an electronically controlled AMG rear differential lock ensures the power goes to the pavement. 

In terms of performance, nothing has been left untouched by the AMG engineers, and the car's performance is nothing short of spectacular. Brilliant engineers who were tasked with creating this uncompromising devil. It is one of my favorites.

Read any review of the Corvette and you'll see the same list of compliments and complaints: great performance, terrible interior, or some variation thereof. 

The Corvette now features an aluminum frame, not just the higher-performance models. Instead of two uniformly thick, hydroformed rails, the chassis is now made up of five sections using hydroformed aluminum, cast aluminum, and extruded aluminum, with each section tailored to its purpose in strength and stiffness. 

Providing the go power is the latest update to Chevrolet's famous small-block V-8. Resurrecting the LT1 moniker, the updated engine displaces 6.2 liters and pumps out at least 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque. The improvements in peak power are modest, but Chevy says the power curves are greatly improved, with the new engine producing as much torque between 1000 and 4000 rpm as did the 7.0-liter V-8 in the Z06. 

The first roadster from Jaguar in 40 years, the 2014 F-Type was worth the wait. Thisconvertible is a thrilling blend of style, performance and luxury. 

Featuring V-6 and V-8 power, the F-type debuts first as a roadster, but a coupe will soon follow. (Jaguar’s new turbo four-cylinder—essentially a Ford EcoBoost unit—doesn’t make the U.S. options sheet.) Both engines are supercharged, and the six is available in two strengths. The base F-type has 340 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque; the F-type S boasts 380 hp and 339 lb-ft. The top model is the V-8 S, which packs 495 hp and 460 lb-ft in its eight-pot ammo box.

The V-6 S has a mechanical limited-slip differential. The top-of-the-line car gets an electronically controlled diff that actuates a multiplate clutch, depending on available grip. The brakes are progressively stronger as you climb the ladder, with the base car fitted with 13.9-inch front discs and 12.8-inch rears, the V-6 S upgrading to 15-inch discs at the front, and the V-8 S teaming the 15-inchers with 14.8-inch rear platters. 

Ok, so you have a cool $1 million burning a hole in your pocket and you really want to add a cool, shiny new sports car to your garage 2014. We have a list of the new ultimate sports cars from the ultimate car manufacturers. These are the new offerings that will define the supercar wars for the next decade. Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche and Lamborghini are all represented. 

When Top Gear was granted an audience with the 903bhp hyper-hybrid, the most anticipated car of the decade, there was only one man for the job. The man never lost for words even in the face of the car that proudly boasts to be ‘the best driver’s car in the world on road or track’. It's fair to say he was a little impressed.

“We’ve seen fast cars before,” says JC. “There have been Koenigseggs and Paganis, and the Ferrari F12 doesn’t exactly hang about. But we have never encountered anything quite like the P1. This takes our perception of speed to a new level.”

Let loose on Belgium’s Spa circuit, Clarkson pushed the P1 right to its 0-62mph-in-2.8-seconds, 217mph-top-speed limits. And his own.

“Remember to forget all you think you know when you press the accelerator,” he says. “Because what happens when you do isn’t real. It’s from a world of sci-fi and monsters and fear. It makes everything else look like the past...”

Ferrari's new LaFerrari supercar is always an occasion. 

The core of Ferrari's 6,262cc V12 is the F12 Berlinetta's engine that has been reworked internally to generate 789 horsepower at 9,000 rpm: 250 rpm before the limiter. With all that power, the car can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in well under three seconds and keep on going all the way to a 205 mile per hour top speed.

For a carmaker like Ferrari, a brand built around providing the ultimate in performance, creating a worthy hybrid car was a particular challenge.

Ferrari uses four types of carbon-fiber thread to make the LaFerrari's tub, and it produces the chassis in-house at its F1 team's autoclave. It promises the tub will have 27 percent more torsional stiffness than the Enzo plus 22 percent more longitudinal stiffness.

The Veneno Roadster is meant to showcase Lamborghini's knack for crafting carbon-fiber. The lightweight material is used in the chassis, body, disc brakes, and interior.

Lightweight carbon-fiber is used throughout this extreme Italian supercar, from the chassis, to the body, and even the wheels and brakes. The carbon-fiber ring around the car’s custom alloy wheels has a performance-tuned function. It acts as a turbine, to help feed cool air to the Veneno’s powerful carbon ceramic brakes.


The Veneno—named after "one of the strongest and most aggressive fighting bulls ever," as Lamborghini informs us—presents the perfect way to celebrate the companies 50 year anniversary.

The fissured skin of the Veneno hides the Aventador's carbon-fiber monocoque, plus aluminum front and rear subframes. A pushrod suspension with horizontal spring-damper units betrays its racing aspirations. The interior is largely carried over from the Aventador and is clad in carbon fiber. The Veneno is fitted with Pirelli P Zero tires on 20-inch wheels up front and 22-inch wheels in the rear. Center-locking hubs allow for quicker changes—and they look great.

Power comes from the incredible L539 6.5-liter V-12 engine, upgraded here to produce 740 horsepower. The extra power—the Aventador packs 691 horses—was found by enlarging the air intakes, allowing for higher revs, and modifying the existing exhaust system. Power is channeled to all four wheels through the seven-speed, single-clutch automated ISR transmission, an ultra-quick unit that shifts with all the subtlety of a club strike when you select the track-ready "Corsa" setting. Top speed rises to a lofty 221 mph.

The 918 Spyder is built on a carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) monocoque that is interlocked with a CFRP unit carrier. This provides great stability with lightweight construction, and also provides plenty of protection for the folks in its cabin.

Just in front of the rear wheels, Porsche fitted the engine’s main air intakes. These massive canyons in the rear fenders should be more than up to the responsibility of feeding life-giving O2 to the V-8 monster residing under the chicken-wire-style cage on the rear of the 918 Spyder.

On the backside of the 918 Spyder, there’s a massive dual-pedestal spoiler to add a little extra downforce. The one styling cue that the 918 Spyder takes from the rest of the Porsche lineup is its taillights. If you look close enough at the 918’s taillights, you may even see the soul of the 911 still floating around in them. Just below these taillights rest a pair of air vents, which we can only chock up as heat extractors, as there is no way they can be designed to take in air.

The 918 Spyder reveals its close links to motorsport in a variety of ways. It has been designed, developed and produced by Porsche engineers who build race cars, in cooperation with series production specialists. A great deal of insight gained from the development of Porsche race cars for the 24 hours race in Le Mans in 2014 is thus integrated into the 918 Spyder – and vice versa. The structural concept of the 918 Spyder with a rolling chassis as its basis – a basic vehicle that can be driven even without a body – is race car tradition at Porsche.


The Porsche 918 Spyder also has the potential to break many records. The current lap time for the North Loop of the Nürburgring is 7:14 minutes. The 918 Spyder prototype was therefore approximately 20 seconds quicker than the Porsche Carrera GT. More test drives on the Nürburgring North Loop will follow. An even more important factor is that the 918 Spyder surpasses previous models and competitors by far in its efficiency as well. As a plug-in hybrid vehicle, it systematically combines the dynamic performance of a racing machine with low fuel consumption. To sum it up: maximum driving fun with minimal fuel consumption.