In My Opinion 8/3/12

First IMO in a while.

Aight, first of all, lemme get this straight. I'm in India. I should be uploading photos and describing the traffic rules and cars here and crap. But my Internet connection is slow. So none of that is gonna happen 'till I get back to the US on August 11th. Second of all, ICB is due for its FIRST SUPERCAR ROAD TEST. Yup. My uncle owns an Audi R8, so you can bet that I'll be taking photos and videos and exploding of pure joy once I sit in that car.

But all that happens later. Right now, I need to vent a little bit on TDKR, The Dark Knight Rises. Most of you have seen it (and if you haven't, I have a good mindset to hit you), so I'm going to mention the briefly seen car Mr. Wayne uses: the Lambo Aventador. And yes it is in black (-ish grey).

You may also remember the Murcielago that he drove/wrecked in The Dark Knight. 

And this brings me to my point. The area of automobiles is where Nolan failed.

FIRSTLY, neither of these cars are batlike whatsoever. They're made to imitate jetplanes, not blind, flying, black things with wings on them.

SECONDLY, Bruce Wayne is supposed to be a billionare. While these cars are expensive, nevertheless they are not suited for the job of the crime-fighting playboy. He does stand out like a sore thumb in a Lambo, but I think, and bear with me here, that he doesn't stand out enough. Seriously, he owns the Tumbler, the most badass car-tank ever, and some Batcycle which just pops out of the damn tank when Batman feels like it.

"So AV, what car should he own then??"

Simple. The most chisled, craziest, most ridiculous cars on the market. Let's start with... The Zenvo ST1.

En premier, it even looks like a Bat. LOOK AT THAT EVIL FACE. 

The Zenvo has a Turbo-Supercharged 7 liter V8 which roars out an astonishing 1,250 bhp and 1,050 lb-ft of torque. And it only weighs 1,370 kg!! No surprise that the 0-60mph time is less than 3 seconds.

"Well, maybe the car for Bruce isn't a limited production hypercar." 

Fine. Then he should look at a concept. How about the Alpine-Renault A110-50? Sure, it doesn't come in black (yet), but it looks futuristic and fitting enough for a playboy who, if he actually existed, could've bought the entire Renault company. 

"Specs?"

Well, it's a concept right now, so there's bound to be no correlation between the pre-production and production version. It is, however, named in the honor of the 50th anniversary of the original Alpine-Renault A110. 

"Are you kidding me? He'd never drive that! Give us something realistic!!" 

Jeez, okay. My final idea for Mr. Wayne's car. And it's not a race car. It's not a super-limited production vehicle. It's not a concept. It's readily purchasable (by playboy billionares) and is fitting for the role. Can any of you guess? 

"Audi R8?" 

Mm.. no. Shmexy, but no. 

"Ferrari F12 berlinetta?" 

Dear lord, that is a pretty car.... but wrong again.

"Jaguar C-X75?" 

You kidding me? Bruce Wayne in this?? 

"Well man, what the heck is it??" 

It's this. Anyone know what it is? 

 

Yup, it's the BAC Mono. A single-seater, no-nonsense, F1-style road racer. Imagine Mr. Wayne weaving through traffic, flying past citizens in order to save Gotham from the clutches of evil... And he would be able to do it fast. 

The Mono has a 2.3 liter, 285 bhp four cylinder donated by Cosworth. It goes 0-60 in sub-3-seconds and tops 170 mph. Plenty for ol' Bats. 

"Impressive... anything else that would lead Mr. Wayne to this?" 

Of course! It won an award from the billionare playboy-oriented magazine GQ. So it must be worth a shot for Bruce Wayne! 

That's my rant of the day. If Bruce Wayne needs a new ride, buy a BAC Mono. Although, it would be a good idea to buy the Zenvo and Alpine-Renault as well :) . 

Signing off, see you all next time! 

AV

In my Opinion (6/27/12)

Am I the only one who thinks that a lot of the new cars being released are looking pretty futuristic? It's almost as if car companies are starting to release their concepts, not toned-down, calmer production versions....

I was looking through some car magazines from 2009 the other day, and I noticed that many concepts looked nothing like the production cars that were released.

Then I flipped through to late 2011, and I see concepts for the new Acura NSX and I thought, "Wow, looks pretty choppy... doubt they'll ever put it on sale when it looks like that". Then a few months later, the NSX is being prepped for production! It looks like a car I could've drawn in my English binder in 6th grade!

I mean, three years ago, I would've immediately said, "No. That'll never make it to production" and it wouldn't have. Now though, these futuristic concepts are coming alive. Remember those movies from the 80s that said we'd be driving high-tech, speed-tronic, futurelike cars? Maybe they were right... 

Like for example, this Bertone prototype. Designed in the 70s, it mirrors today's new Bertone concept, the Nuccio. 

Now, I could easily say that this car will never make it to production, but with the trend I'm seeing, it might actually. 

But this pattern isn't just applicable to high-end luxury/sports cars. Some new economy-priced cars are like this too. Take a look at the next few cars. Order: 2013 Ford Fusion, 2012 Citroen DS3, DS4, and DS5, 2013 Toyota/Scion FR-S, 2013 Peugeot 208, 2012 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale. 

And if you're still not convinced that new cars look future-ish, then you're wrong. Plain and simple. 

See you all next time!
AV

The News

Well a lot's happened since we last posted. 


One of which is the ephemeral victories of the F1 drivers this season so far. Seven drivers in seven races, never happened before. The Grand Prix of Europe is this coming weekend. Who will be our next winner? Personally, Sergio Perez is my new favorite driver. 


Now REAL car news! Aston Martin has released details on its new VANQUISH. Yup, the name is back, and the car looks great. One of the prettiest AMs I've ever seen. 

Engine includes a 5.9 litre V12 which produces 565 bhp and 457 torques. So it's quite.... what's the word? Slow? No, of course not.. Tank-ish?  Nope.. Quick? Yes that's it!! IT'S QUICK! 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) of 4.1 sec and a top speed of a hair-raising 183 mph. So it passes Mr. J Bond's test of required speed... 


But does it pass the sleekness/coolness test? I'll let you answer that... I mean just look at it! 

I can't move on to the next point without comparing this to the future Porsche 911 GT2.. they may stack up pretty well eventually. I'm just sad it can't match the new Ferrari F12 like the old Vanquish competed with the 575 Maranello... 

Moving on... Le Mans (If you've never heard of it, it's pronounced "La Mahs", the Le is quite short). Took place last weekend in France, and lasted the traditional 24 hours. Audi took its 11th win in a row (you may have seen our picture on our Facebook page) with its R18 e-tron Quattro. It's the first hybrid car to ever win the 24 Heures du Mans. Congrats to the German team for dominating the French race much like Germans dominated France during WW2. 

More car news, Dodge's new Viper is being released soon. Looks good. Actually no. It looks bad. Bad as in evil. If this thing auditioned to be a villain's car, it would win. Imagine it in black.... 

Here's a rundown: 640 bhp, 600 lb-ft of torque, an 8.4 litre aluminium-block overhead-valve V10 coupled with a purist six-speed manual transmission. The interior is now luxurious, quite unlike Vipers of old, and it's competition will be the upcoming Acura/Honda NSX and the soon-to-come remake of the Lotus Esprit.

Speaking of Lotus, the CEO of the company was released after a complaint was filed against him. 

I could comment on how futuristic new cars are starting to look, but I'll save for my In My Opinion this Friday. 

Anything I've missed? Oh, a classic 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $35 million. Thats $35,000,000. It's now the single most expensive car in the world... ( #1percenters) 

I think that's all for today. Stay with us! More to come, especially from Shree who is travelling around in India, a country I will be visiting July! 

See you all next time! 

AV

A Visual Tribute to Carroll Shelby

So on Thursday, American legend Carroll Shelby passed away at 89. Instead of a lecture about his magnificence, we're just putting up some cars he made that we love. R.I.P. Mr. Shelby. 

1963 Cobra that Shelby took to win the 1963 US Road Racing Championship. 

Shelby decided the 4.7L (289 in^3) engine was too small. So he put in a 7L (427 in^3) engine. So, lo and behold the classic Shelby Cobra 427... If you love muscle cars, this is the king.

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe; which Shelby took victory at the Sebring 24hr race. It was only the second race it was in.
Mr. Ferrari was pissed off.

 

The absolutely classic and memorable Shelby Mustang GT 350. Undoubtedly one of my Top 10 Cars. 

 

This is the Ford Mk IV GT40. It may have only raced in the 12hrs of Sebring and 24hrs of Le Mans, but it is regarded as the only American car to ever win the Le Mans. Only 6 were built. I was blessed with the opportunity to see this car in person at the Henry Ford museum. It's an amazing car, definitely one of my Top 10 Racing Cars.


The final car that Mr. Shelby oversaw: this years Cobra GT500. It is the most powerful, fastest, and simply best car ever to be made by Shelby. It features cues similar to that of the Cobras of old.

Well, Mr. Shelby, you've made some amazing cars over the years. As a friend said, "your name will be remembered with the likes of Harley Earl, Wilhelm Maybach, and Karl Benz, some of the greatest men to ever design vehicles. 

Let's hope to see more of Shelby in different motorsports. Maybe, if they come back to F1, they can give back some of that American pride that we haven't had since the '60s. Until then, we'll continue to watch Shelby's influence. 

See you all next time!

AV

One of the Greats

In 1984, a man from Brasil became a Formula 1 driver. He went on for 10 years, capturing 65 pole positions, 80 podium finishes, and 41 victories. The result of all this, at the very end, was both tragic and eye-opening.

Today, he is considered the greatest man ever to drive a car on Earth.

Ayrton Senna was no ordinary man. Born on March 21st, 1960, he started go-karting at the age of 4, entered karting competitions at 13, and won his first championship at 17. Seven years later, after racing in single-seat racing series such as the Formula Ford and Formula 3 championships, he signed contracts with the Toleman F1 team. 

In his sixth race in his career at the Monaco Grand Prix, he made a deep impression on the world. The track was soaking wet and pouring with rain. The race leader, Alain Prost, was 15 seconds ahead of Senna, who'd worked his way up into second place after starting in 13th. Senna (a rookie mind you) was catching Prost at nearly 3 seconds a lap; 5 laps, and he would be able to overtake for the lead. However, the weather became so bad that the race was halted, and Senna, who could've easily won the race had it gone for another few laps, came in a second which stunned the world. Important considering he was driving in a car that was generally not competitive and IT WAS HIS SIXTH RACE. 

Senna moved to the Lotus F1 the next year, and stayed there until he was signed to McLaren in 1988. He won his first race in 1985, at Portugal. Surprise, surprise: it was raining there too. There's a reason Senna is called the wet weather god. 

When Senna moved to McLaren, he became the teammate of at-that-time two time World Champion Alain Prost. That year, he won the World Championship over Prost, which became the basis of their legendary duel over the next few seasons. 

The 1989 was one filled with the rivalry between Senna and Prost. By the second-to-last race of the season at the Japan GP, Prost was in a position to win the championship if Senna didn't finish. Senna needed to win the race in order to stay in contention. On lap 46 out of 53, Senna dove in to overtake at the final corner, but the two came together. Prost's car stalled, but Senna, with his engine running, was pushed onto the escape road and rejoined the track to win the race. After a long talk with the stewards and President of the FIA, Senna was disqualified, fined $100,000, and received a 6-month license suspension. Prost won the championship. 

A year later, the rivalry continued, but Prost had moved to Ferrari. At the Japan GP one year after the 1989 incident, the situation was opposite.This time, Senna was in a position that he would win the championship if Prost didn't finish, and Prost needed to stay in contention. When the race started and the cars came to the first corner, Senna dove in for the corner with Prost on the outside, only to ram into him and result in both driving off the track. Senna won the championship. 

Senna won his third championship in 1991 (Prost had no wins, and was sacked from Ferrari after criticizing the team). Over the next two seasons, Senna's luck descended. In 1993, his McLaren was suddenly dwarfed by the power of the Williams F1 team's new traction and stability control systems. The season was dominated by the strength of machine over the skill of man. Senna, a pure driver, was at a disadvantage. 

But don't get me wrong. Some of Senna's best moments came from 1993. At Donington Park GP, the race was started under wet weather. Senna was immediately overtaken and moved down to 5th position. Overtaking each person in front one at a time at each corner, Senna moved from fifth to first in ONE lap. 

ONE. 

At the end of the 1993 season, it was decided that Senna would leave McLaren and move to the Williams team. 

This would be a mistake. The FIA banned all the technological equipment that was used in the last season. The glorious Williams car became an uncontrollable monster. Senna had a very difficult time dealing with it, and he was clearly not in touch with the car. 

On the morning of April 29th, the practice for the Grand Prix of San Marino began. That day, rookie Rubens Barrichello (yes, Mr. Barrichello was once a rookie after all these years) had a terrible accident. He obviously survived, but was injured. The next day during qualifying, Austrian racer Roland Ratzenberger collided into a wall at full speed. Qualifying was halted, and Ratzenberger was taken to the hospital. He died later that day. 

Senna contemplated whether or not to race. After deciding to go on with it, he started the race in pole position. Other crashes quickly brought the yellow flag, and at the restart on the 6th lap, Senna had a lead over second place Michael Schumacher (he's still racing, just so you know). As he approached the Tamburello corner, he veered straight off the track and into the wall at 200 mph. 

The right side of the car was ripped off. The suspension bracket slammed into his head and left him brain-dead. He was extracted from the car, and an on-site tracheotomy was performed. 

Ayrton Senna was pronounced dead soon later. The world had lost a great. Brasil declared three days of mourning in his honor. 

I love Senna. He was an amazing, incredible, unbelievable person. I have no more to say.

Long live Ayrton Senna. 

AV

Happy Birthday to One of Our Favorites

Well, it's been a while since we've posted, but don't worry! We're still here!

So, this year marks the 25th anniversary of one of ICB's favorite cars: the Ferrari F40. A car from the amazing era of automobiles that changed the world.

It was quick. The F40 was the first car to reach 200 mph (320 km/h). It went from 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and 0-200 km/h in 11. Set as competition for the Porsche 959 (which was also a record setter) and the '88 Lambo Countach, it was a simple car. It was so simple that if I don't tell you why it was simple, you just wouldn't simply believe. 

The body was made of Kevlar, carbon fibre, and aluminum, and carpets, door handles, or a radio weren't available (the door handles were string, in case you were wondering). It was the first car to be made from entirely carbon fibre. The paint was so thin you could see the weave of the carbon under it. Under the plastic glass was a mid-mounted twin-turbo, 2.9 liter V8 engine that made 478 horsepower, a lot for a car that only weighs 1,100 kg (2,400 lbs). Not only were the numbers fantastic, but the SOUND OF IT.

French racing driver Jacques Lafitte taking the F40 Le Mans (LM) edition for a spin 

The car was in a class of its own. It was essentially like fitting a V8 to a go-kart. There was no traction control or stability control, so it was a pure car. The steering wheel was alive and sharp in the corners, and the rear tires were absolutely massive. Imagine driving this car in the rain. *Good thoughts....* 

To be perfectly honest, as I'm writing this post, I can't think of what else to write. This car is just SO amazing it's too much for my words. I can't describe my love for this car. When asked to describe this engineering masterpiece, I just say, "It's the greatest car the world has ever seen." 

I literally cannot say more. I know I've missed SO much, but the sheer epicness of this car can't be summarized into a pokey little blog on the internet. 

I don't know about you, but as a car fan, it's very difficult to have a favorite car. There's always a moment when a car that you really like is replaced by another, and everything improves. There are the cars which are amazing but imperfect, others not so good but have their points. I have many cars that I like, but there's just a handful that are close to my heart. Writing this post makes me realize that my favorite car isn't a modern or computerized European speed box, but this one. The one and the only F40. 

See you all next time! 

AV