Romeo Ferraris 500 Stradale

The first photos of Romeo Ferraris Cinquone Stradale hit the web on Saturday giving us a taste of the limited production model.

We're still waiting for the Italians to share the full details but in a previous email, Romeo Ferraris told us that its over-the-top Fiat 500 Abarth will be an "extreme" street-legal version of its racing model powered by a highly modified 1.4-liter turbo engine delivering 300-horsepower.

The photos reveal that the car gets a wide body kit with blistered wheel arches and massive hood air vents, a rear diffuser with centrally mounted tail pipes, a surprisingly small roof spoiler and new wheels.

The interior is clearly inspired from the world of racing mixing leather and alcantara surfaces with carbon-fibre trim, while the Italian mini also loses the rear seat bench and gains a pair of bucket seats up front and a racing-spec roll cage.

Story References: Romeo Ferraris via Autoblog.nl

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Infiniti M35h sets Guinness World Record for Fastest Accelerating Full Hybrid, Lamborghini Countach Owners Beware

On August 23, the new Infiniti M35h sped into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's fastest accelerating full hybrid model.

The record-breaking feat took place at UK’s Santa Pod drag strip, with the 364HP luxury sedan, driven by CAR magazine journalist Tim Pollard, setting an average 0-400 m (quarter-mile) time of 13.9031 seconds and a passing speed of over 160 km/h (100 mph).

“The Infiniti M35h proves that hybrids can be fast as well as frugal,” said Pollard. “At Santa Pod you could feel the instant torque of the electric motor away from the standstill – the car just leapt of the line. I tried changing gears manually, but it was fastest in automatic.”

Infiniti claims that its new hybrid sedan, which just went on sale in Europe, can challenge not only supercars of the past like the Lamborghini Countach, but even contemporary sports cars like Porsches, Ferraris and Aston Martins.

The M35h was a standard production model combining a 305HP 3.5-liter gasoline V6 to a 50kW (68HP) electric motor. Despite its 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 5.5 seconds the M35h has an average fuel consumption of 7.0 lt/100 km (33.6 US mpg) and emits 162 g/km of CO2.

Quarter Mile Times from Zerotosixtytimes:

· 1982 Lamborghini Countach S: 13.9 seconds
· 1998 BMW M3: 13.8 seconds
· 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante: 13.6 seconds
· 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera: 13.6 seconds
· 1966 Shelby Cobra: 13.5 seconds
· 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO: 13.5 seconds

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U.S. to Miss Out on Street Legal SLS AMG GT3, Perhaps Even the E-Cell, But will get the Black Series

If the standard SLS AMG with its 6.3-liter engine and 571-horses is not hot enough for you, you’ll be happy to learn that Mercedes-Benz has told Motor Trend that the company will launch not one, but two hotter versions of its supercar.

“We absolutely have to do a Black Series SLS AMG”, said Tobias Moers who is a member of the board of directors and head of vehicle development at AMG. Although he declined to provide further details, judging from recent Black Series versions such as the C 63 Coupe, we can expect more power and, of course, an impressive aero-kit and race-inspired interior.

The Black Series, however, will look tame compared to the road-legal version of the SLS AMG GT3 racer, which will be created to homologate it for Europe.

Unfortunately, it won't be heading over to this side of the Atlantic due to the massive cost of re-certifying it for the States. “AMG does not make money losing projects. We can’t afford to,” said Moers.

The 2013 SLS E-Cell electric version may be another SLS that may not cross the Atlantic. Mercedes hasn’t yet ruled out bringing the 525HP pure electric supercar to the US, but once again, the company officials are contemplating whether or not the sales volume will justify the cost of the re-certification.

Story Source: Motor Trend

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