Sunday 21 August 2016

Celebrate 100 Years of BMW with These Z8s

Celebrate 100 Years of BMW with These Z8s

Celebrate 100 Years of BMW with These Z8s

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From classics to exotics, there is plenty to celebrate during 2016 Monterey Car Week, and BMW is throwing its own 100th anniversary party of sorts.

The German automaker is celebrating this milestone with a large display of one of the more unanimously popular cars from its history: the BMW Z8. And some would say there's no better way to do it.

A star attraction in the Bond film: Tomorrow Never Dies, the Z8 is a total bombshell of a car. Designed by Henrik Fisker and inspired by the BMW 507, the car hit the market in 1999 and was sold until 2004.

2016 Monterey Car Week Coverage

Starting at well over $100,000, the Z8 had supercar performance numbers: zero-to-60 in 4.2 seconds with the top speed electronically limited to 155 mph. This was achieved through the use of a M5-derived 4.9-liter V8 that made 400 horsepower. That engine was mounted far back enough in the engine bay to maintain a 50/50 weight distribution. This wasn't a particularly heavy car either, weighing in at around 3,500 pounds.

Only 5,703 Z8s were ever sold and this collection at The Quail has to be one of the biggest gatherings of them. There's easily two dozen U.S.-spec models on display and each in immaculate condition. Take a look through our gallery and try to pick out your favorite.

Discuss this story on our BMW Forum

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Ford Focus RS Owners Get Free Performance Driving School

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Ford is offering a complimentary RS Adrenaline Academy Driving Experience to Focus RS owners.

Offered by Ford and Ford Performance, the complimentary program is being offered to initial owners of 2016 and 2017 Ford Focus RS models, so that owners get a chance to learn firsthand the capabilities of their hot hatch. The program takes place at Utah Motorsports Campus in Grantsville, Utah, and the schedule will be announced later this year.

According to Ford, the RS Adrenaline Academy Driving Experience provides owners with a full immersion into the performance and handling characteristics of the Focus RS, but in a safe environment with professional instruction. The extensive course teaches skills like braking, shifting and cornering techniques, while focusing on the particular dynamics of the Focus RS, like the car's four driving modes.

SEE ALSO: Ford Focus RS Nets $550K at Barrett-Jackson Auction

Providing the Focus RS cars will be the Ford Performance Racing School, with all of them outfitted with full safety equipment. An optional second day of instruction can be had that includes the Ford Mustang GT on the track.

Ford Focus RS owners will still be responsible for the travel and hotel costs, but the American automaker will cover the costs of the driving school in its entirety. The optional day with the Mustang GT, however, costs extra.

"Focus RS combines high levels of torque and horsepower, and all-wheel drive with Dynamic-Torque Vectoring, for a high level of handling, grip and cornering speed," said Henry Ford III, Ford Performance marketing manager. "RS Adrenaline Academy provides an opportunity for drivers to learn the capabilities of their cars on a closed road course with professional instruction and ample course time. This will be an exciting experience, one that owners will never forget!"

Discuss this story on our Ford Focus RS Forum

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Gallery: Mazda Lets Historic Race Cars Shine at Monterey Motorsports Reunion

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If you're a gear head, there's almost nothing cooler than seeing old cars doing what they were built to do: Drive.

And for Mazda, nothing embodies the "Driving Matters" and "Zoom-Zoom" taglines better than letting its historic race cars speed around the automaker's namesake track, the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

As part of Monterey Car Week and the celebrations surrounding Mazda's Millionth MX-5 Miata, the Japanese automaker brought back a fully restored Le Mans 787B race car with 630 horsepower that completed the endurance race in 1989, which happens to be the same year that the Mazda MX-5 Miata debuted. The restoration took two years to complete and, according to Mazda, the race car was taken down to its bare tub and rebuilt piece by piece. Other heritage race cars featured this year include a 1990 787 Group C, 1991 RX-7 IMSA GTO and 1992 RX-792P.

ALSO SEE: First Look: Millionth Mazda MX-5 Miata Kicks Off its Cross-Country Tour in Monterey

Another important car making an appearance in the Mazda tent at the track was the Millionth Miata, which is embarking on a cross-country tour to celebrate that important milestone. MX-5 Miata fans and drivers can sign the roadster and put their mark on an important piece of Mazda history. To see if the Millionth Miata will make a stop on its tour near you, check out our Millionth Miata Celebration Tour Hub. Other cool cars Mazda brought along to the Monterey Motorsports Reunion are an NA Miata, a Cosmo, RX-7, and a GLC.

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Celebrating the Chevy Camaro’s 50th Birthday on Woodward Ave.

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Late August only means one thing in the Detroit area: It's time for the annual Woodward Dream Cruise! Coinciding with this legendary classic car event, Chevrolet is also celebrating the Camaro's 50th birthday.

Chevy's tire-smoking performance machine is now solidly in middle age, but don't think for a second it's gotten fat and slow over the years, quite the contrary. Today's model runs harder, stops sooner and grips better than any one that came before it.

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Introduced for the 1967 model year, Camaro soon became a symbol of vehicular delinquency and youthful exuberance thanks to its muscular engines and aggressive styling. In the five decades since its introduction, this performance car has won legions of fans.

SEE ALSO: Chevy Celebrates the Camaro's 50th Birthday with Special-Edition Model

And whether they drive an unmolested original or a brand-new sixth-generation model, owners are crazy about their Camaros. Tapping into this enthusiasm, Chevrolet hosted several customer-focused events that coincided with Detroit's Dream Cruise. The first one was a rally and car show combination at their Lansing Grand River assembly plant where the car is built, the other was a cruise from downtown Detroit up historic Woodward Avenue.

Hundreds of cars and even more Camaro enthusiasts participated in these gatherings. Check out the above video for more about this legendary Chevy's half-century birthday.

Discuss this story on our Camaro Forum

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2018 Lexus LC 500 Gets Slight Performance Bump

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The new Lexus flagship coupe will have more power than it originally debuted with.

The Lexus LC 500 was introduced at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, powered by a 5.0-liter V8 with 467 horsepower and 389 pound-feet of torque. But now, Lexus LC chief engineer Koji Sato revealed at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance that the coupe will actually have 471 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque when it arrives in dealerships sometime next year. The performance boost comes from improvements to the car's intake and exhaust, said Sato.

2016 Monterey Car Week Coverage

It's not a massive change of any sort, but does push the LC 500 closer to the 500-hp mark. The powerplant will be mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission and it will likely retain the same zero-to-60 time of 4.5 seconds that was first announced when the car debuted.

[Source: Lexus Enthusiast]

Discuss this story on our Lexus LC Forum

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First Look: Millionth Mazda MX-5 Miata Kicks Off its Cross-Country Tour in Monterey

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The Mazda MX-5 Miata changed the motoring world when it arrived 1989, and since then, more than a million MX-5 Miatas have been made, a huge feat by any standard.

To celebrate this milestone, Mazda is taking its Millionth Miata on an epic cross-country road trip, and has just kicked off its tour at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during 2016 Monterey Car Week. The Millionth Miata will be at the Historic Motorsports Reunion all weekend, and will actually end its tour here in October as well. (For a full list of stops, click here).

This Millionth Miata is a right-hand drive Japanese-spec model that rolled off the assembly line in Hiroshima on April 22, 2016. It's powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but MX-5 Miatas sold in North America come with a more powerful 2.0-liter unit. Of course, this model also has a six-speed manual transmission.

ALSO SEE: AutoGuide to Celebrate Millionth Miata Milestone with Exclusive Content Hub

This Millionth Miata will be travelling across the states in tandem with the 15th Miata ever built, a 27-year-old model that debuted at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show. Even though the two roadsters may look wildly different, they adhere to the exact same formula, a huge reason why there have been a million of them.

One of the coolest things about this Millionth Miata is that at each stop on its tour, 240 MX-5 Miata fans and owners will get the chance to sign the car, putting their mark on this historic roadster, which will surely be put in the Mazda museum in California one day.

But why have there been a million Miatas? The little roadster has always been the torchbearer for simple driving joy, and it captures exactly how a sports car should feel: it's light, engaging, fun and uncomplicated, which is really refreshing these days of over-horsepowered, numb computers on wheels.

When you drive an MX-5 Miata, you get this really special sensation that you're connected to the car, and although there are sports car that are faster and more powerful, few are as intimate or as fun.

The car has also always been attainable and proved that you don't have to be rolling in money to afford a fun sports car.

Surely, a million Miatas can't be wrong, and we have no doubts that it will be easy for Mazda to sell a million more.

Discuss this story on our Mazda MX-5 Miata Forum

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