How to build a Lola in 90 Seconds

We're fairly confident engineers at Lola will keep their day jobs and have provided Nick Heidfeld with a car worthy of the wee German's nickname...


(video: Lola/Autohebdo)

"I can do that... in a VAN!"

That phrase was made popular by fraulein Sabine Schmitz on a very amusing episode of Top Gear involving a fat man, a Jaguar a van and a Viper a few years back, on the Iberian peninsula they apparently never got over it!.

Combining possibly the world's most unappealing engine note with abundant GoPro's and the awesome ability to carry it's own spares to the tracks, it's Portugal's own Ford Transit Trophy!

Peugeot 207 vs Downhill Skier Video

From TopGear Italia magazine... Serious spikes on those Pirelli and I don't think Ken Block has done this one yet!
(hat tip to Master...again!)

Why?...

...because they can.



Someone in a comment below had asked, why?....

Jean-Eric Vergne, Scuderia Toro Rosso by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Who said you can't use a Lotus Exige as a rally car?

Not me, I think all rally cars should be RWD only!

Someone also forgot to tell Stefano D'Aste too, which is good because we get this cool video of his considerable car control on your typical rock on one side, cliff on the other tarmac stage in Northern Italy.

(Videofotosport.com  hat tip: Master)

Downforce without wings

Ferrari have been working on it for years: how to create usable levels of downforce without resorting to wings on scaffolding. The first was the 360 Modena which made use of a working diffuser and what was essentially a wing mounter under the rear valance.

With the F12 Berlinetta, Ferrari have achieved a GT car faster on track than their last super car, the no compromise Enzo.   Aero is part of the package and once again Ferrari is leading down a different path than other manufacturers in the segment.   No wings,  the whole car is an aerodynamic device producing downforce from as little as 150 km/h-93mph while having close to Prius levels of drag.

Add engine and vehicle dynamics innovations and the F12 will be the new benchmark.

Because Executive Racecar: what can we tell you about the BMW M5?

What can a bunch of tracktards tell you about the 2013 BMW M5 you don't already know? After all, the latest M5 has been  written about, reviewed, filmed and hooned by the best journalists the world over,  some of them having driven literally dozens of track laps at fancy press junkets.

Axis recently  drove  from BMW headquarters in New Jersey to Daytona Beach in Florida in what was the pace car for the Grand-Am Continental 200.  A whopping 1200 miles over two days, got us pretty intimate with the blue beast.  Along the way we helped BMW USA launch their Instagram presence, we met and showed off the F10 M5 to hardcore bimmer fans  and got to spend a couple of hours on the BMW skid pad at the Performance Center.  Hectic, yes but pretty damn awesome.

A traditional review would make little sense, you've read it all that already by now,  I think it would be more fun to discuss and answer your question about the car.

Let me throw out some conversation starters and points I have not heard discussed enough in reviews I've read.

Why executive race car ?  A solid mounted rear subframe is racy stuff and, as one skewed towards the more automotive hardcore, I love  the crazy idea of it on a road car.  Along with the BMW predictive "magic" differential it makes for some sideways magic when you are feeling hooniganesque.
The prospect of an M3 (and M4 if you choose to believe the rumors) getting the same treatment is VERY exciting.
At the same time, the ride is surprisingly firm for a car in that segment and aimed at an older market.  It rides more like a tuned car more than an executive sedan.  I'm fine with it but I wonder if , for example, Jeremy Clarkson will bitch about it in this Sunday's episode of Top Gear.    In any case a surprising choice by BMW.

Steering: there is a surprising amount of feedback through the wheel,  high frequency feedback especially, another interesting choice from BMW.  Most of the time I'm not sure what people mean by "steering feel" in reviews but I would say you can certainly "feel" a lot though the M5's wheel.

Of course this is NOT a track car, nobody in their right mind will buy this car thinking they will use it that way.  The M5 is in the  executive jet for the road class, like the Panamera Turbo. IN our book the M5 is a better enthusiast choice than the Porsche.  If you are going to drive a 4WD car, you might as well go for the Cayenne Turbo and enjoy awesome performance with more useful room and utility or maybe spend three times more and drive a Ferrari FF, but then you would not have room to carry Johan*.

Your turn.

    

* We gave BMW instructor Johan Schwartz a ride, with all his racing gear including HANS device and two suits, from the BMW Performance Center in Spartansburg South Carolina to Daytona where he was racing in the Grand Am.    That made it four guys and their luggage for about 500 miles, it all fit and we were quite comfortable!