German Car Scene

Month: July 2011

  • PORSCHE PANAMERA TURBO SETS LAP RECORD AT SHANGHAI CIRCUIT


    Last month, Porsche took the 500 bhp Panamera Turbo to Shanghai’s F1 Circuit, breaking the lap record for a four-door production car. The result was an impressive lap of 2:29.640 min. Here’s the video. (more…)

  • BMW ‘CHECK MY MACHINE’ 1 SERIES COMMERCIAL


    Here’s a pretty neat commercial from BMW that uses its 1 Series as an instrument. Filmed at the BMW plant Regensburg – this is the first music (industrial) film of the BMW Group, and is a collaboration between the BMW Group, Jonas Imbery, Mirko Borsche and The Brainstormclub. The soundtrack was exclusively generated from the noises of the new BMW 1 Series. It’s just missing a few Daft Punk dancers… (more…)

  • G-POWER M3 SK II HITS 333 KM/H


    G-POWER’s amazing M3 SK II blew away all but two of its competitors at the recent Auto Motor und Sport High-Speed Test event in Italy – losing out to cars producing 900hp and 1000hp. Thanks to the company’s €11,500 SK II “Sporty Drive” supercharger kit, its 570 hp e92 M3 test vehicle managed to hit 333.29 km/h (207.10 mph).

    G-POWERS’s Vice President and Technical Director, Christian Stöber, drove the coupe 1,500 km to the event, before taking to the steeply-banked Nardò Ring, and states that – with taller gearing – could have reached 340 km/h (211 mph).

    But it’s not all about top speed, as the acceleration tests proved, returning an impressive 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) figure of 4.4 seconds while the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark appeared in 12.9 seconds.

    [Source: G-POWER]

    (more…)

  • EUROPCAR TO OFFER OPEL’S AMPERA AS RENTAL CAR


    Europcar has teamed up with Opel, and agreed a deal to offer the Ampera plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to its customers, by the end of 2011. Coinciding with the car’s official release, Europcar will make it available to its German customers in November, followed by outlets in Belgium and the Netherlands. The likes of France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK will have to wait until 2012.

    The Ampera’s lithium-ion battery pack feeds a 111 kW/150 hp electric drive unit to deliver between 40 and 80 km of pure electric operation with zero emissions – depending on driving conditions – when fully charged. If driven exclusively in battery mode, it uses no fuel and produces no emissions. For longer journeys, a petrol engine powers a generator that supplies the necessary electricity. This allows the Ampera to travel distances of over 500 km.

    [Source: Opel]

  • EUROTUNER PROJECT BMW M3 VS 1 SERIES M COUPÉ


    Eurotuner recently gatecrashed the launch of BMW’s 1 Series M coupé at Willow Springs Raceway, with its Project M3, to see how it compared with the Baby M. The magazine’s machine, an E90 M3 with Competition Package, has received software tuning from GIAC as well as a titanium exhaust, H&R coilovers, six-piston Brembo front brakes and a host of weight-saving carbon goodies. A full review of the M coupé’s road and track test appears in the August issue. (more…)

  • HITCH A RIDE IN THE MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC CAR


    Witness what it feels like to ride with MINI’s Kris Meeke in the John Cooper Works WRC car on the Goodwood Festival of Speed forest stage and up the Goodwood hill. The forest stage video gives you a great driver’s eye view from the Prodrive-developed machine. (more…)