In a month, or so, the Italian company Vygor from Tuscany will be unveiling their new sports car. This yet unnamed machine promises to be very thrilling and exciting, yet nice and smooth as silk! They seem to have got a bit carried away with the whole Italian passion in making sports cars, but if they manage to pull off this trick it’s going to be fantastic. They haven’t released any technical details, the PR is just babbling about emotion. Can’t wait to see it in full.

If you were wondering what would be the perfect modern-day interpretation of a classic British sportscar, wonder no more because Britain’s oldest car magazine Autocar set about answering that.

The recipe for a perfect British sportscar is surprisingly simple. It has to be light, it has to be fast, and it has to be affordable. If it’s a drop-top, then so much the better. Based on these simple rules, Autocar Editor-at-large Steve Sutcliffe dreams up his own ultimate driver’s car for the 21st century.

He calls it the British Sportscars 1 – or ‘BS1’ for short. It is an open-top two-seater, mid-engined, rear-driven car, which is built from a combination of aluminium and steel in a spaceframe chassis and features glassfibre-reinforced plastic and carbon fibre body panels. It weighs less than 1000 kg. For powertrain, Steve says a Volkswagen 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine would suffice, with power output of 250bhp, 350lb ft. It would also have a paddle shift gearbox and no ESP.

The big torque will help the car to hit 60mph from stand still in 4.5 seconds. It does 0-100 mph in 10.0 sec and has a top speed of 147 mph, while returning 66 mpg and 199 g/km CO2.

The absolute best thing about the BS1 is the price, which is £35,000. It really is a perfect sportscar, so we don’t have anything like it in the market today? How hard can it be making a car with this simple specs?

Commenting on his blueprint Steve Sutcliffe said “As the world of cars gets ever more complex and produces machines that are increasingly sophisticated in their design and engineering, there’s still a desire for something at the other end of the scale.  A sports car that’s simple to understand and interact with. And, most of all, dead good fun to drive.”

“It will look low, wide, mean and beautiful, and will be utterly irresistible to its intended audience,” said Steve.

BUFORI Motor Car Company (BMCC) which is a Malaysian firm specializing in luxury vehicles released first renderings and details of their upcoming sports car, Bufori CS, which will hit the Malaysian market, and possibly overseas, next year. CS stands for “Compact Sports”, and that really sums it up introducing the car! It’s a lightweight 2-door coupe, composite body, and a kind of design that screams it’s Asian!

Power of Bufori CS comes from 2.0L turbo-charged engine but the company is reluctant to give any further details and wants to save them for the time of launch probably as a kind of surprise! Of course we shouldn’t under estimate Malaysians, their main car manufacturing firm Proton has a long-established relationship with British sportscar expert Lotus.

Also to prove that the car’s high-end performance and capabilities are so refined that will work flawlessly even under extreme conditions, a racing version of the Bufori CS is also in the works which will debut at 56th Macau Grand Prix on November 19.

“After two years of hard work in designing and developing our new sports car, the BUFORI CS, we are very proud that a racing version of our car has been developed and will have its first public appearance at such a prestigious event as the Macau Grand Prix. We could not have wished for a better occasion. Our intention is to transfer the racing technology to the road version of the BUFORI CS and bring in all the qualities for which BUFORI is renowned” says Felix Haller, General Manager Marketing & Operations of BMCC.

“BMS AXLE have followed a very tight working schedule, in under 10 weeks, to create this race car, and we are looking forward to being a part of this racing event and making history with BUFORI, the first Malaysian sportscar to run at the Macau GT Cup” says Joe Lim, the BMS Team Principal and Managing Director of Bufori Sales & Marketing (BSM), the global Distributor of Bufori vehicles. “This race marks the beginning of a new era for BUFORI. With the BUFORI CS, the company is expanding its portfolio to purist, modern styled sports cars, with the usual uncompromised BUFORI quality.” he adds.

Although Jaguar has a habit of making a great production-ready concept and then throwing the whole project away, but even rumors about a new sportscar by the British firm is exciting! This time the word on the streets is that Jaguar is working on an affordable two-seater sporty roadster to rival Porsche Boxter, Mercedes SLK, BMW Z4 and Nissan 370Z.

As you see here, the car’s been rendered according to what AutoExpress Insider says about it! The whole car is inspired by the XF and features the same sort of head and taillights, with a grille similar to the XK model. Actually, Jaguar’s head designer Ian Callum made history by drawing the XF because since then every new Jag follows the same form. The best example in this case is the 2010 Jaguar XJ which looks almost identical to the XF.

The new C-Type will be made of aluminum to be light and agile, exactly the qualities you need to make a proper sportscar, and as for engines, the current range seem to be good enough to be in service for another decade! That include the AJ133 5.0 liter V8 and the 3.0 liter V6 available in petrol and diesel versions. And because it has to be trendy, it’ll come with a six-speed gearbox with paddle shifters.

It’s all very well and under TATA ownership, Jaguar for sure has enough money to put it into production. So Jaguar… JUST BUILD IT!

Renderings: Beyond Form

British sportscar maker Ariel has released more details about their new version of the face shredding Atom. And they’ve gone berserk with it! A big V8 with 500 hp in a car which weighs next to nothing is a recipe for chaos! Yes yes there are big wings back and front and you get adjustable traction control, but with power to weight ratio of 1000hp per tonne and 0-60 time of 2.5 second and 0-100 in just six seconds, it’ll be a bit of a handful anyway. Bit of a handful , but huge fun nevertheless!!

Ariel’s Press Release:

Ariel announce the latest version of the Atom – the Ariel Atom 500, powered by a small V8 engine. With over 500bhp in a 500kilo package the Atom 500 will boast one of the highest power to weight ratios ever for a production car, ever. At over 1000bhp per tonne the Atom 500 will be the ultimate statement in performance and is destined to be made in a limited edition.

The V8 powered Atom is the first of some exciting developments from Ariel due to be released though 2008 and builds on the growing reputation that the company has for putting the passion back into driving and producing cars that are fun to drive as well as fast both on and off the track.

The 500 started life as a one off special project with RS Developments in 2007 and features the Russell Savory designed 2.4 litre V8 engine coupled to a 6 speed sequential Sadev gearbox. Developing over 500bhp at 10,000rpm the supercharged engine features all alloy construction, 5 valves per cylinder and a dry sump. The gearbox will have flatshift capability, a paddle gearchange with manual override as well as launch and traction controls.

Recognisable by the twin rear intakes for intercoolers the Atom 500 will feature a unique colour scheme for chassis, wheels and bodywork combined with carbon fibre panels and carbon fibre aerofoils. Other features will include chromemoly aerofoil wishbones, integrated function steering wheel, Alcon 4 pot caliper brakes and Dymag magnesium wheels.

Said Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel, ‘This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce. For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car. We also use this sort of project to explore the possibilities of how we can improve our standard cars. The Honda engined production cars already combine all the elements that we want in an Atom and by pushing the envelope to these sorts of extremes we can further improve the breed’.

The Atom 500 will be produced in Somerset at the new Ariel factory with the first car available from Spring this year. Prices have not yet been finalised but Ariel’s commitment to performance for value will ensure that the Atom 500 is competitive in cost as well as performance.

With the standard Atom 300 already achieving sub 3 second times to 60mph and sub 7 second times to 100mph, the 500 will take this one stage further with record breaking production car possibilities.

The new generation of Nissan 370Z sportscar made a big fuzz when it was launched and now comes the roadster version which will debut at this year’s New York Motor Show. The drop-top 370Z is powered by the same 327 hp V6 engine.

Like its predecessor it features a folding fabric roof which is electric, and also has a glass rear screen. With the roof gone, engineers had to stiffen up the car in places and as you know that would add weight, a lot of it. But as we know from the old 350Z roadster, that wouldn’t spoil the ride and handling.The roadster comes with a stiffer setup so it will have a more sublime ride, focusing on the cruiser side of the car rather than the sport side. So it’ll be more comfi than the hardtop, but the coupe would remain the choice for someone who seeks thrill with an affordable nicely proportioned package. However if the added weight made the car a bit slow for your taste you can wait for the Nismo edition to come out!

Nissan 370Z roadster will go on sale in 2009, expect a price tag of around 4 grand more than the coupe.

source: Auto Express

Official teaser:

German Sportscar maker Wiesmann announced a new version of their roadster with a 4.0 liter V8 engine which belongs to BMW M3 E92 and develops 420 hp and 400 Nm of torque. The new lizard can be had with either a manual 6-speed  or bimmer’s new 7-speed dual clutch auto, which might be more sophisticated but nothing can replace the joy of manual shifting in a powerful sportscar. The GT MF4-S starts at 128,800 euros while the previous version with 367 hp is still available for 119,800 euros. Wiesmann also had presented an extreme version of the car with M5′s V10 at 2007 frankfurt Autoshow.

Mitsubishi is developing their very own EV in form of a small sportscar which will debut at this year’s Geneva Autoshow in March. Mitsu says their idea of EV is different than other mainstream manufacturers because they are going to make a proper sportscar with zero emission. Fine, but maybe they still have not heard of Tesla!

Blending its sporting heritage with leading expertise in the development of the EV, Mitsubishi Motors is providing a clear new look on the world, in more ways than one. The clear removable top of the i MiEV SPORT AIR Concept will be premiered at the forthcoming 2009 Geneva Motor Show.

Taking a step beyond being merely ‘green’, this all-electric zero CO2 emission sports concept builds upon the fundamentals of the EV by marrying:

• the powerful acceleration and high torque inherent to electric motors,
• the safe driving dynamics that stem from i MiEV’s lithium-ion battery pack located within its long wheelbase and the low centre of gravity.

The i MiEV SPORT AIR is a new-age “pocket rocket” and signals the direction in which the Mitsubishi sports EV may take in the future.

When you see spy pictures of a sportscar secretly going around Nurburging you know something hot’s coming. This time Porsche test drivers have been spotted with this stripped-out Cayman which according to rumors is a light-weight hardcore version of the Cayman. Possibly named Clubsport, the track-ready car has lost some weight than the normal Cayman through a stripped-out interior, lightweight body panels, a plastic rear window, forged alloy wheels, and carbon-ceramic brakes.Word is that the car will be on sale as soon as October this year. Also a one-make race series for specially for this car is expected. As for pricing, £4k premium over the £44k Cayman S looks likely.