Australian Car Advice | News Blog

Read more…

Is it a four door coupe? Is it a follow up to the highly acclaimed Reventon? Your guess is as good as ours.

Expect to see the see the car officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show next month.

Hide It

Read more…

Watch for the casual launch and manual shifts which indicates that this machine is easily capable of dipping deep into the 9 second zone, and remember to turn up the volume. The official time for the ¼ mile sprint was 10.2 seconds at 248km/h (155mph).

Hide It

Read more…

On Father’s Day, however, Steve Jones attributed his win to his dad.

“[I want to] thank my dad for everything he did for me, my old man is the reason I wanted this for so long. He passed away when I was 17 and I’ve done this for him, I’ve given him what he wanted!”

Jones also commented that time in the car was critical to his success.

“It was a learning curve for us, the car is so new and I didn’t know what to do it is so electrical. I learnt the car, every hour I spent in the car I learnt how to drive it and we just became stronger and stronger, it was so good!”

“I don’t know who to thank; all the people here that helped me come here and get what I’ve wanted for so long.”

Gentleman Jim Richards was gracious in defeat.

“Young Steve’s done a fantastic job, he’s definitely got a bright future and we’re really rapt that he’s won”, said Richards. “We would have liked to have won but we didn’t so very, very happy for him.”

Click here to see the results.

Photos courtesy Paul Brockbank - Antilag.com

Hide It

Read more…

The team at the Supercar Club offer members a variety of cars to drive throughout the year, ranging from city runabouts like the HUMMER H2, right through to earth shaking supercars like the Ford GT. After paying a once off joining fee and an annual fee, members are entitled to a certain number of days behind the wheel of the exotics of their choice – the number of days varying with each membership level.

Sitting on the Supercar Club’s fleet at any given point are cars such as the Audi R8, Ferrari F430 and F430 Spider, one of only two right-hand drive Ford GTs in the world, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and DB9, Porsche 911 Turbo and GT2, Lotus Exige S and even an Aerial Atom - amongst others.

This unique program runs out of Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast. The Supercar Club has plans to expand to Perth by years end and Adelaide early next year (2009).

Members book their desired vehicles through an online portion of the Supercar Club’s website which gives priority to early birds. Members have the ability to book 30-days in advance and have the ability to use a limited number of wildcards to book cars up to 12-months in advance for special occasions.

Although you may have heard of many exotic car rental companies operating throughout Australia, but the Supercar Club is unique as it owns every car on its fleet. Those exotic car rental companies generally rent out privately owned cars and can’t guarantee availability as the actual owner of the vehicle has the final say.

The Supercar Club recently launched an initiative allowing Australian members to own a share of a truly exclusive hypercar – the Bugatti Veyron. This exclusive experience is still in the development stage and will finally depend on a minimum number of acceptances.

The idea behind the Bugatti deal is to allow Australian members time behind the wheel of the Veyron. Although the car can’t be driven on Australian roads, members will be given the opportunity to access about one month in total behind the wheel overseas. After driving the Bugatti Veyron myself earlier this year, there is simply nothing that compares in terms of the driving experience and pleasure.

Once the car is sold at the end of its use, members receive a return on their investment – certainly not too bad for a person with around $200,000 in expendable income.

After joining the Supercar Club, members are put through a driving course to help them cope with the size and driveability of a supercar. One of the club’s major repair costs comes from scratched wheels – no wrecked cars to speak of yet, touch wood!

Also on the cards are track days at major racing circuits with the club’s cars. These days will give members a unique opportunity to throw some exotic machinery around the race track in an environment where they can exploit the cars full potential. Instead of owning just the one vehicle and taking it to track days, members will be able to drive a whole range of supercars under controlled conditions.

Some manufacturers were initially threatened by the Supercar Club’s presence in Australia, but soon realised it was a benefit rather than a detriment. Members are able to sample a wide variety of cars and will likely purchase the car that really polarises them. After driving machinery like the Audi S5 and several Lamborghinis, it takes a proper drive to cement the decision to purchase such a car.

A cap of five members to one car means that new cars are added frequently to meet member demands. Prospective members will be happy to hear that it’s a democracy at the Supercar Club. Members are given the chance to vote at frequent meetings and share the decision about the next vehicles entering the fleet.

Members are the ones who ultimately choose the car they’re after, opposed to the big wigs and bean counters of the operation.

According to the Supercar Club, New South Wales members are around 39-years old, on average,  and evenly split between business owners and employees. Victoria is somewhat different though with the average age lingering around 47-years old, while about 97 per cent run their own business, indicating entrepreneurial skills are directly related to hot cars … sort of!

Although the general income of members is in the vicinity of $300,000 a year, there is a high school teacher who has recently joined the exclusive club. It’s certainly not a bad way to con students into school work!

Boys, if you have access to your Dad’s black Amex, pop it back in his wallet. The minimum joining age is 30 – although the Supercar Club is willing to make exceptions after prior approval from their insurers.

The most popular cars on the fleet are the Ferrari F430, Ferrari 360, Audi R8 and Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Victoria is also hung on Aston Martins, with the V8 Vantage and DB9 Volante striking a chord with southern state members. With the recent addition of a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, this could soon change!

The general feel of the place is that members are key and are treated with the utmost respect. In the Supercar Club it doesn’t matter how much you earn or who you are, or even whether you are part of a chess club. Everyone is on the same level and shares the one passion – fast cars.

To find out more information about the Supercar Club, please visit http://www.supercarclub.com.au. You can also call the club on 1300 798 900. If you are interested in Bugatti Veyron ownership, follow this link.

Hide It

Read more…

The supercar was set down on the rooftop of the Lingotto building as part of the conference entitled “Lamborghini and speed – A project in record time”.

The conference showcased the timescale, design and production capabilites of Lamborghini in developing the Reventon - all of which have been sold.

Click here to read our Lamborghini reviews.

Source: CarScoop

Hide It

Read more…

As Government pressure persuades manufacturers to improve the efficiency of their cars, Lamborghini prefers to invest in the social acceptance of its super sports cars - and rightly so.

Winkelmann explains that Lamborghini sells very few cars compared to most other manufacturers and that its customers drive less than 8,000km each year meaning fuel consumption is a relatively low priority.

In total, Lamborghini sold just 2,604 of its super cars worldwide - a drop in the ocean compared to most manufacturers - even ultra-exclusive, ultra-luxury brand Bentley shifted more than 10,000 of its cars for 2007.

Regardless, Lamborghini’s latest LP560-4 for example is hardly outrageous in regards to fuel consumption - its 412kW 5.2-litre V10 engine using a comparatively low 14-litres per 100kms on the European combined cycle - slightly less than a V8 Falcon or Commodore.

“It’s not just about how a car accelerates and reaches its top speed but also how it sounds. We will never reach the emissions that are asked for.”

In the same interview with AutomotiveNews, Winkelmann also rejected any rumours of a third model line to the Lamborghini stable despite the company’s recent USD$73.8 million profit.

“Our situation is better, but that does not change our attitude. We have to stay focused. It’s not just about factory capacity but that we only have 150 engineers in our R&D department who are already going full-speed.”

Hide It

Read more…

But it’s not all just for show, the kit improves the aerodynamics of the Gallardo and directs air flow over the engine and brakes more efficiently.

The custom panels are made from a combination of carbon-fibre and FRP, which are actually too small for panels such as the rear diffuser in raw form.

Premier4509 actually employ a technician whose sole task is to line up the individual weave of separate pieces of carbon-fibre to ensure a flawless finish.

In the past, the tuning house has also produced a widebody kit for the Bentley Continental GT and a similar rendition of the Gallardo kit for the Murcielago.

Hide It

Read more…

We finally landed in Bologna and after Anthony’s butchering of the Italian language, we managed to source a taxi to a Hotel which was barely 500m away from the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata.

This small country town is covered in Lamborghini posters and you could tell the town is proud of its heritage, as it should be. Despite what some say, Audi’s ownership of Lamborghini is the best thing that has happened to the company.

It still has that Italian soul and passion, but now it comes with German reliability. Utopia does exist.

Next page…

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Hide It

Read more…

Revisions to the Gallardo’s V10 engine raised maximum power to 388kW at 8000rpm and 510Nm, whilst a 70kg weight reduction meant it could accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 3.8 seconds.

The Lamborghini LP560-4 Gallardo produces 412kW and 539Nm from its larger 5.2-litre V10 engine, out pacing the lightweight Superleggera in the sprint to 100km/h by 0.1 seconds.

CarAdvice will be bringing you a full review of not only the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera but also the stunning Gallardo Spyder in the coming week.

Hide It