Valet Parking Crashes Ferrari 599 GTO

A Ferrari 599 GTO owner was likely nonplussed when he learned that a valet parking attendant smashed his $500,000 supercar into a storefront in Rome. The valet claims he got confused and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, unleashing all 670 of 6.0-liter V12's horsepower. He also told police he was befuddled by the car's paddle-shift-operated transmission, but you don't need to be Sebastian Vettel to know how this stuff works. Even Volkswagen Golfs have paddles behind the wheel these days.

The owner was waiting at the Hotel Exedra with his wife and had driven from the Netherlands to attend a Ferrari Owner's Club meeting in the town Anzio, just south of Rome. Only 599 examples of the 599 GT0 were ever built. Now there appears to be one fewer, because this looks like a write-off.

Continue reading to learn more about the Ferrari 599 GTO.

Valet Parking Crashes Ferrari 599 GTO originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 3 April 2015 18:00 EST.

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SCG003 Smashes Nurburgring Lap Record

It was just a few days ago when Glickenhaus' new SCG 003 supercar hit the Nurburgring track for its first ever race of the year. Unfortunately for the Hollywood entrepreneur, both his cars got black-flagged for being too loud. As ludicrous as that may sound, the SCG 003 wouldn't have finished the race anyway, as the VLN event was stopped a few laps later when a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 crashed into a group of spectators, killing one. A case of bad luck? Of course, but the American team just returned to share some amazing news. As it turns out, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus didn't leave the 'Ring after the race, but scheduled a few runs in an attempt to set a new track record. And so it did, as the supercar needed only 6:42 to lap the Nordschleife.

The big announcement came via the company's Instagram account, and although there's no video to back the claim yet, the SCG 033's time is mind-boggling. The American supercar not only smashed the Zonda R's 6:47-minute benchmark, but also demolished the Radical SR8 LM's 6:48-minute lap, the official record for production, street-legal vehicles as of 2015.

Making things that much more amazing is that the SCG 003 is now the fourth-fastest vehicle, be it road-legal, track-only or race car, to ever lap the Nordschleife. The all-time (racing) lap record sits at 6:11.13, as established by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 during qualifying for the 1983 1,000km of Nurburgring.

Continue reading to learn more.

SCG003 Smashes Nurburgring Lap Record originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 3 April 2015 19:00 EST.

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Vmax Stealth Attracts Epic Cars

Vmax 200 events were created so that people could get a chance to top out their sportscars, supercars, and hypercars and race against each other on an empty airplane runway for bragging rights of having the fastest cars. Naturally, the Vmax200 has attracted the fastest, most expensive cars itching to race each other and thankfully these crazy drag races are filmed for all of the internet to witness. The most recent event, Vmax Stealth, was held on March 28^th, 2015 at the Dunsfold airfield, most popularly known as the Top Gear Test Track. There is only one word that can describe the day: Epic.

Last year, the Vmax200 was acquired by the Auto Vivendi group, which gave members of the super exclusive club access to the Vmax events. Among the long list of amazing cars that showed up to the Vmax Stealth were a LaFerrari, a Bugatti Veyron, 3 Koenigseggs, a McLaren P1, 2 Porsche 918 Spyders, and a Ferrari Enzo. Conditions were not ideal, as the day was typical damp British weather accompanied by some moderate winds. Videos of the cars drag racing each other two at a time made for some very exciting competition. Many of these cars have never raced each other, so the results were genuinely interesting, especially because there were some upsets where the underdog won. The damp runway meant that AWD cars had the starting line advantage.

I won't give away the results for the races. You can check them out below, and remember to turn up your speakers for these glorious exhaust notes!

Lamborghini Huracan vs. Porsche 918 Spyder

LaFerrari vs. Bugatti Veyron

Various Cars @ Vmax Stealth

Vmax Stealth Parade

McLaren 570S Debuts Before NY Auto Show

McLaren was set to debut their new Sport Series next week at the New York Auto Show, however images and details were released of the car early. Dubbed the 570S, a select few were invited for an early sneak peek and some pictures of the car in the metal were leaked onto the internet. The 570S has its eyes set on the 911 Turbo, so will this be the car to finally knock Porsche off it's throne?

The new "baby" McLaren has many styling cues that mimic it's older brothers, the 650S and the P1, yet distinctive in it's own right. While retaining the mid-engine layout and carbon fiber tub, the 570S is quite a lot smaller than it's pricier siblings. Starting from the front, the headlights have keeps the logo-esque swoosh, but contains a different light cluster. The front fascia is styled to flow air into the large openings in the side and onto the brakes. Moving onto the side, there is a large naca duct style air intake feeding into the engine. Finally at the rear, the P1's thin LED taillights surround air vents which get rid of hot air in the engine bay.

In terms of performance, the 570S should essentially be looked at as a detuned 650S. Using the now familiar twin turbocharged 3.8L V8, in this case, as the name suggests, the engine is tuned to produce 570 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. This is enough to propel the 570S from 0-100 km/h in a scant 3.2 seconds, accelerating to 200 km/h in 9.5 seconds and eventually onto it's top speed of 328 km/h. The McLaren 570S is supposed to be the entry-level car from the company, and at $180,000 USD, it's not cheap. However, if you look at it as a detuned 650S, its a performance bargain. The 570S is priced to compete with the Porsche 911 Turbo and both have similar performance figures as well. It will be interesting to see the first comparison tests to see which of the cars the critics prefer.

McLaren will officially debut the 570S to the public at the New York International Auto Show, which runs April 3-12, 2015 at the Jarvis Center.

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Porsche Panamera Edition unveiled with cosmetic tweaks and extra equipment

2016 Porsche Panamera Edition

Will be sold globally

Porsche has prepared a special version of the Panamera
entitled "Edition" which will be sold globally in different configurations.

The four-door sportscar can be visually distinguished thanks
to high-glossy black trim strips on the side windows and body-colored door
handles when configured with the optional Porsche Entry & Drive. All cars
get 19-inch Panamera Turbo II alloy wheels featuring a colored Porsche crest on
the wheel hub covers.

Other goodies include bi-xenon headlights with Porsche
Dynamic Light System (PDLS), Park Assist, Porsche Active Suspension Management
(PASM), along with Park Assist (with reversing camera) and Power Steering Plus.

Inside the cabin it benefits from bi-color part-leather upholstery
with a Black-Luxor Beige finish and the Porsche crest embossed on the
headrests. There's also a Sport Design steering wheel and special door sill
plates featuring "Edition" lettering. Porsche has also added bespoke floor mats
and a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system working together with a
585-watt 14-speaker Bose surround system.

It will be offered in Panamera, Panamera 4 and Panamera
Diesel versions available across the world, except for the diesel variant which
won't be commercialized in China. The special edition is scheduled to on sale
in June, with pricing in Germany kicking off at 86,490 for the standard model,
88,275 for the diesel and 91,131 for the all-wheel drive version.