Aston Martin V-12 Vantage

Aston Martin unveiled the production version of its most potent and focused car at Geneva. This new car combines the V-8 Vantage's compact 2-seat dimensions with the power of the company's 5.9-liter V-12—to the tune of 510 bhp and 420 lb.-ft. of torque. Aston is predicting a 190 mph top speed, along with 0–62 mph (100 km/h) dispatched in a scant 4.2 seconds.
Although the V-12 engine weighs 220 lb. more than the standard car's V-8, carbon-ceramic brakes, lighter forged aluminium wheels, lightweight inner rear quarter panels and optional lightweight seats have resulted in the overall curb weight that's only 110 lb. heavier than its V-8 sibling's. And the weight distribution is near perfect, at 51/49 front/rear.

"More" has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as Aston only expects to build 300–500 examples a year at its Gaydon factory. Deliveries will begin this fall.

In A meanwhile,Aston Martin will return to the Nurburgring for the fourth year in a row to compete in the 24-hour endurance race. This year the new V12 Vantage will be joining the yellow V8 Vantage - nicknamed 'Rose' - on the grid.

The ADAC Nurburgring 24-hour race attracts a variety of entrants from factory backed teams (including Aston Martin, VW and Audi) to private entries in anything from Porsche 911 GT3s and BMW M3 GTS to more modest machinery. The strangest entry in last year's race was probably the Opel Astra Caravan, which finished ahead of a Lamborghini Gallardo!

This year Aston Martin will enter a V12 Vantage, driven by Chief Executive Dr Ulrich Bez along with members of Aston's engineering team. The car is described as being 'near standard specification', which means about 510bhp from a 6.0-litre V12. Changes include reduced weight, which necessitates re-tuned suspension and Pirelli has provided slick tyres for the race.

The 2009 Caparo T1

Even this supercar had been involved in a fiery incident with a Fifth Gear host, scared the Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson and is generally completely impractical, the 575hp (429kW) Caparo T1 still exudes a sort of animal magnetism.

The 1000hp/tonne power-to-weight ratio doesn’t hurt the experience. That’s roughly double the ratio of the Bugatti Veyron, and enough to rocket the car to 60mph (96km/h) in less than 2.5 seconds, and on to 100mph (160km/h) in under 5. But perhaps the most impressive stats of the Caparo T1 are the lateral and braking force figures: up to three times the force of gravity throws the driver left, right and forward.This supercar full details on the 2009 version of the car have yet to be released, but Caparo has revealed five new levels of specification will be available. The entry-level variant is a stripped-down race track-only version, while a Race Extreme variant gets upgraded electronics, the most powerful engine package fully carbon brakes and super-lightweight magnesium wheels.

Source: Motor Authority

Volkswagen Golf R20T

Volkswagen first hinted at a new high-performance version of the Scirocco coupe when it revealed the GT24 race concept back at the Austrian Wörthersee Tour tuning show in May, but in what form the car will finally come to production is still up in the air. A report from AutoExpress suggests that the Volkswagen brand has finally succumbed to pressures by canning the 3.2-litre naturally aspirated V6 in favour of its trusted 2.0-litre turbo. This move applies to the range-topping Golf which is not the GTI but the R32. What's more is that the name R32 will disappear along with the engine to which it referred. Instead the car will likely be called the R20T and its chief rivals will be the Ford Focus RS, VW Group cousin the Audi S3 and the Subaru Impreza STI.

According to CAR, the new R20T will go on sale in Europe in early 2010 and will closely match the styling of the GT24 race concept. Key features likely lifted from the concept include the aggressively styled bumper with larger intakes and unique fog lights, as well as the slightly wider fenders and lower ride height.

By tweaking the 2.0-litre's ECU about 270bhp (201kW) can be extracted, which is similar to the Audi S3's power output of 265bhp from the same engine. A high-performance Scirocco R20T is also expected to use the same engine. The car will not only have more power than the current V6's 250bhp (186kW) but also weigh less as a result of the smaller engine. Thus improved performance overall and fewer C02 emissions can be expected. Whether a 4WD system or FWD will be used remains to be seen. However two gearboxes will be mated to whichever system is chosen, these being the 6-speed manual and DSG.

Styling is likely to be similar to that of the GTI and include LED daytime running lights, a sportier front bumper, flared wheel arches, and an underbody diffuser. The twin pipes located at the rear bumper centre remain in place but because the V6 is no more a similar sound will be engineered.

GT-R Updated Launch Control

Nissan had updated the software that governs the GT-R’s launch control and was instructing all of its dealers to reprogram every vehicle in dealer inventory that had yet to be sold with the new software in a bid to keep additional transmissions from grenading.

The changes to the new software including limit the maximum RPM that the car will sustain with the VDC switched off to around 3,500, a big reduction from the 4,500 limit of the old programming. Additionally, the software update adds a new, safer form of launch control that allows takeoffs at 3,000 RPM while the VDC remains active.

We have some good news to share with Godzilla owners that are contemplating whether or not to have their cars updated with the new software. A bone-stock GT-R with the reprogramming has been timed at 11.34 @ 194.5km/h with an excellent -1.69-second 0-100 time. That result compares rather favorably with quarter-mile runs recorded by cars with the initial launch control programming.