Fifth Gear decided to fuel the motorcycle vs. car battle with the best that KTM has to offer. Tiff Needell drives the X-Bow while German Superbike champion, Martin Bauer, races him on KTM’s fastest street bike, the RC8R.
Harry Metcalfe of evo magazine gets a chance to spend a day with Aston Martin’s current ultimate expression of the car, the One-77. We haven’t really seen too many of the details of the One-77 because Aston Martin didn’t let any reporters drive it since the entire production run was only 77 units; so this video is a bit of a treat. The One-77 is powered by a 650 horsepower naturally aspirated 7.3 liter V12 that starts out as the standard Aston Martin 6.0 liter bored out with special cylinder liners. Metcalfe says the variable valve timing and lighter flywheel give the engine a completely different attitude than the standard engine making the One-77 an edgy high rpm horsepower car. We also get a view of the beautiful carbon fiber enclosed engine bay and the pushrod suspension at all four corners. It’s another intimate look at one of the most exquisite cars in existence.
The comparison between the BMW M5 and M6 was one that I thought wasn’t going to be very interesting going into this video by Car and Driver’s European Correspondent, Jethro Bovingdon. The M5 and M6 share the same drivetrain and running gear, but the M6 is a two door coupe instead of a four door sedan (saloon car). Furthermore, the M5 is almost $20,000 cheaper than the M6. Can the M6 be that much better than the already very competent and fast M5? It turns out the M6 is a touch faster in a drag race but ends up being significantly faster around a track thanks to better turn in and a lower center of gravity. The combination of heavy weight with lots of turbo power, balance and grip draws the analogy of the M6 being called the rear-wheel drive version of the GT-R. Ultimately the M6 is a hard car to justify on paper, but Jethro seems to think the car is worth the premium from behind the wheel.
Motor Trend’s Carlos Lago gets to take a crack at the all-new 2013 SRT Viper GTS. The results are no huge surprise as the latest car “doesn’t betray what made Viper iconic and legendary.” That’s another way of saying it’s still a ridiculous and scary superhero caricature of a car. SRT has given the Viper more power and a lighter weight but at the same time have made an effort to improve the chassis balance so that you can at least entertain the thought of approaching the car’s limits. Watch the video to see all the details of the new car including a lap around Laguna Seca in race mode with Randy Pobst. After that, check out the article on Motor Trend’s website comparing the new Viper with the Corvette ZR-1 to see who makes the best American performance car that costs over $100,000.
Csaba Csere of CAR and DRIVER got to tag along with the CEO and Head of Development of AMG as they worked on the new 2014 E63 AMG. The E-Series is receiving a pretty extensive mid-cycle refresh next year with the E63 AMG getting the most drastic changes. Not only was this a preview of what was to come on the new car, we also get an inside look at AMG’s history and the way they work. The new car is moving to all wheel drive with a performance variant of the Mercedes-Benz 4matic system. Instead of adapting the regular 4matic E-series systems, the AMG guys specified their own 30/70 front/rear torque split and custom front suspension geometry. They have the freedom to change whatever they need to achieve a balanced performance chassis that can also be daily driven. You can see what they’re doing is working in the shots of the car hustling through the course at El Toro airfield. The new E63 AMG is definitely going to mix it up in the sport luxury category when it goes on sale late next year.