German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

Congratulations to Audi for winning the second race of the 2013 DTM season which took place at Brand Hatch in the UK. Audi started the race in a strong position with four cars qualifying in the top five spots. Winning the race is nice but Audi is still in last place in the manufacturer standings with BMW remaining in first due to a strong performance taking second, third, fourth, and fifth place spots to pick up a good amount of points. ...

The world horsepower record for the E9X M3 S65 V8 currently stands at 773 wheel horsepower and belongs to Gintani as well as BimmerBoost.com, just do not expect it to stand for very long. At Bimmerfest 2013 Gintani had the BimmerBoost.com project E92 M3 on display. They worked tirelessly to get the car ready for the event and took it to the dyno the night before. On MS109 race gas and 18.5 pounds of boost the car was able to hit 773 wheel horsepower with the completely stock DCT transmission slipping at 7250 rpm. ...

The new batch of turbo motors from AMG make a lot of torque and those turbos combined with fairly large displacement produce quite a bit of heat. The factory cooling system features a water-air intercooler for this reason to keep temps down but the OEM Mercedes-Benz design has the intercooler system tied into engine coolant system. Not hard to see how this is not the most efficient setup possible and how the cooling system can become overwhelmed. ...

A couple weeks ago an article was posted on PorscheBoost showing a stock 997.2 Turbo S going 10.6@129.8 in the 1/4 mile. Absolutely incredible performance out of a stock car. In case anyone thought that run was a fluke here is a video showing another 997.2 Turbo S at the drag strip this one going 10.71@127.73. This just confirms the Turbo S on street tires is a car that is just short of mid 10 second performance making it a stoplight terror. ...

I attended Bimmerfest 2013 and this was my first time at Bimmerfest. Why you ask? Well, because Tim who owns BimmerFest banned me from the BimmerFest forum once I started BimmerBoost. Well, bygones are bygones (plus BimmerBoost is too big to try to freeze out now) and this year BimmerFest invited BimmerBoost to attend as a VIP Media Sponsor. I accepted the invitation and drove down to the Rose Bowl to check it out. I am glad I did and I simply have to admit the event is phenomenal. ...

This is an interesting development and one that really makes one scratch their head. Porsche obviously has demonstrated hybrid technology can work and work extremely well in sports cars with their 918 Spyder hybrid supercar. A company spokesperson at the recent Panamera Hybrid technology workshop stated Porsche developed a new hybrid module that combines the electric motor and clutches in one unit is capable of fitting in all Porsche models including the 911. ...

Here is a graph from Eurocharged showing three different dyno runs from a 2005 Mercedes-Benz R230 SL65 AMG. The runs show stock, then flashed with the Eurocharged Stage 1 software, and then flashed with the more aggressive Eurocharged Stage 2 software. The baseline for the SL65 shows 374 wheel horsepower meaning this is a very, very conservative reading Mustang dyno. On a Dynojet the car shows about 520 rear wheel horsepower stock so this is a heartbreaker dyno. ...

The current Audi Q7 is a solid SUV but also pretty heavy with the diesel and V8 (which has now been replaced with a lighter 3.0 TFSI) versions coming in at about 5500 pounds. Audi has shown a lot of emphasis on as of late on lightweight materials showing they are very aware their vehicles used to be the heaviest in the segment. That is changing and Audi is quite serious about it going so far as to shave 800 pound from the Q7 for the next generation Q7 model. ...

Interesting drag race here with opponents that do not usually square off against one another. It's basically bike versus go-kart versus rally car. The bike being the S1000RR HP4 version which is 31 pounds lighter than the standard S1000RR. The Ariel Atom 500 V8 has a 500 horsepower 3.0 liter V8 engine which makes for an insane power to weight ratio in the 1213 pound car. Last but not least is a 600 horsepower all wheel drive Citroen Rallycross car. ...

McLaren is expanding as a sports car manufacturer and seemingly plans to add a third model. McLaren currently builds the MP4-12C which is slotted against the 458 Italia and has a ballistic hybrid supercar called the P1 coming that will compete in the highest end of the supercar sectors likely directly rivaling the Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid supercar. It seems McLaren is not done going to head to head with Porsche and plans to take the battle to the "entry level" realm with a car to rival the Porsche 911. ...

So the "successor" to the E82 1-Series in the USA will be the F22 2-Series. Yes, the new 1-Series hatback will not be coming over to the USA so the 2-Series coupe will fill that void as the spiritual successor. This car will compete with the Mercedes-Benz CLA as well as the Audi A3 sedan. The M235i version you see here will likely share the exact same drivetrain as the F10 M135i which means a 320 horsepower N55 3.0 liter turbocharged and direct injected inline-6. ...

Here is the 'M-Sport' edition of the new F12/F13 6-Series which serves to further dilute the M brand name. What this 6-Series vehicle edition consists of is a car equipped with the already optional M-Sport package which offers M designed body pieces, 19 inch wheels, black painted calipers, black 'Shadow Line' gloss trim, and LED foglamps. Inside the car gets a bunch of M badges including on the steering wheel and door sills. ...

After what seemed like years upon years of teasers and spyphotos Mercedes-Benz finally officially revealed the new W222 generation S-Class sedan. Was the car worth the wait? Definitely, an absolutely beautiful modern design that remains elegant and is not overdone. Inside, outside, the styling is just about perfect and is modern while at the same time reminding us it is a Mercedes-Benz. Great work Mercedes and you certainly are justified in showing pride calling this, "the best automobile in the world." ...

Say hello to the future, officially introducing the Porsche 918 Spyder. There has been speculation on the final output and exactly what Porsche would get out of the 4.6 liter V8 engine but that has now all been put to rest. Porsche managed to squeeze an incredible 133 horsepower per liter out of the 4.6 liter V8 (the highest per liter output of any Porsche production naturally aspirated motor) for a total of 608 horsepower spinning to an incredible 9,150 rpm. ...

This is a bit of a perplexing run video. What we have here is two cars claimed to be stock, A C6 Z06 and the new F10 M5. The two cars do several runs from a roll on the highway from speeds of 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). The Z06 is just over 1000 pounds lighter than the F10 M5. It does not give up a ton horsepower wise showing around ~450 wheel horsepower stock versus the F10 M5 which sits at about ~60 wheel horsepower more. ...

APR announced back in February they would be upgrading their 4.2 FSI supercharger kits to a Stage III offering which would feature the Eaton TVS 1740 blower. This is a seemingly larger supercharger than what they were previously using although still a roots setup. APR previously did not have a supercharger application for the R8 4.2 V8 but with their development on the RS4 and RS5 4.2 V8's they seem to want to tackle the R8 as well. ...

The Porsche failed takeover bid of Volkswagen continues to have more negative ramifications. Porsche already was facing lawsuits of over $3 billion but now that number is rising to over $5 billion as an additional 25 hedge funds in Germany have brought suits against Porsche. As word of this got out, Porsche stock fell 3.7% and is likely to tumble more. Suits were originally brought against Porsche in the USA but the hedge funds agreed to pursue this in Germany instead. ...

Tuners are pushing a lot of power out of the twin turbo M157 AMG V8. When launching AMG cars equipped with this motor on the strip all that torque has to go somewhere and it can overwhelm the stock driveline namely the OEM axles when some sticky rubber is used. Weistec fortunately has W212 E63 AMG and C218 CLS63 AMG owners covered with their upgraded axles which are capable of handling over 1000+ horsepower and repeated drag strip launches. ...

The damn Japanese wonder robot does it again in a comparison against the new facelifted R8 but at least this time it's a fair comparison done by MotorTrend with a stock R8 versus a stock GTR unlike what Chris Harris recently did. Ok, so no tuner special GTR upsetting the balance but that does not matter as the GTR still comes out on top. It manages to do so not only in the 1/4 mile sprint but also around the roadcourse with quite the margin of victory. ...