They’re a funny bunch over in Sweden. Perhaps it’s the weather or the cold climate but they aren’t afraid of doing things a little bit different.

Putting a Ferrari 360 Spider up against a Volvo big-rig truck in a drag race isn’t exactly normal. But at the recently held Mantorp Trucking Festival in Sweden, that exactly how things went down. On the surface this race seems like an obvious miss match but the truck involved isn’t your average long distance hauler. Called the Mean Green hybrid racing truck this Volvo VN comes packing a 16-litre twin-turbo engine that pumps out 1,900 horsepower and is further boosted up by a 200 hp electric motor. As for the Ferrari – it looks pretty stock. (more…)

While sports car racing is a rarity on NZ racetracks that could change in the future with a recent announcement out of Europe. There’s been an important reconnection between the two superpowers of sports car motorsport, the ACO (which does Le Mans and its related Series) and the FIA (which does almost everything else). With these two juggernauts working together, GT Racing is on the verge of achieving a more global appeal.

The main GT racing series was once called the FIA GT Championship but was then split into the GT1 World Championship, GT3 European Championship and GT4 European Cup. From next year the classes are set to rejoin once again, with the announcement a replacement racing series – the new FIA GT World Championship.

Instead of having a variety of cars competing in different classes, the FIA is working to level the performance of existing cars to have them all racing for a single prize. As a result, organisers are expecting a much larger grid that will include a wide range of fine machinery. Teams will represent Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini and Nissan, which are all expected to continue on from the current GT1 series. There are also talks with Mercedes-Benz, Alpina and Chevrolet teams bring them into the new series. (more…)

Grudge matches are settled on the drag strip between car-proud gents all the time and usually it wouldn’t make for great news, but this one is a little different.

A no-nonsense, classic American muscle car finished in full chrome up against the latest thoroughbred Italian supercar in a straight up quarter mile race. That doesn’t exactly happen every day, but what could make this furious fixture even more tense? A $400,000 personal wager, that’s what.

The story is that a pair of cashed-up mates over in the States got into a good ole ‘my car’s quicker than yours’ debate which ultimately led to the dragstrip. Dan Bilzerian, owner of the fully pimped and highly modified 1965 427 Shelby Cobra, placed a bet that his American muscle car can beat his friend Tom Goldstein’s brand spankers 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia in a quarter mile race. It was a big call, Ferrari don’t exactly make slow cars and the 458 came with some handy tech like a launch control system and lightning fast transmission.

Earlier this month, these two big kids took their respective rides down to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway racetrack and put their money where their mouth is.

Check out the video below to see how it went down. It’s intense. (more…)

It hasn’t been an easy road for the Dodge Viper supercar recently. When the last model rolled off the assembly line back in July, there were only loose rumors about the possibility of a new generation. It was a few months later that new information leaked about a possible successor, which was to share a platform with the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, much to the dismay of hardcore Viper fans.

Now, according to The Detroit News, Chrysler has confirmed that next year the world will get it’s first look at the new 2013 Viper and it won’t be based on Alfa’s supercar.

“There won’t be a part of the car that remains untouched,”Dodge CEO Ralph Gilles said, and would apparently not rule out the potential for a brand-new V10 engine.

“Where the cabin is, relative to the wheels, is unique” said Gilles. “The Viper cabin is very rearward and the hood is very long. Few cars in the industry are designed with those proportions anymore” he added.

Late last year, Gilles confirmed that the new Viper would draw on the Alfa-owned Ferrari brand’s knowledge, but would not use any of its technology. “They really know sports cars. We just want some advice,” Gilles said at the time. “Ferrari is Ferrari, Viper is Viper. Please don’t go there.”

Mr. Gilles also added that the 2013 Viper will be “a more forgiving car to drive and accessible to more people”.

The previous generation Viper was an unforgiving machine, without any real electronic assistance it quickly scorned anyone who treated it with disrespect. While this has given the supercar a hardcore appeal a more drivable Viper is not such a bad idea.

How far Dodge plans to dilute the sports car’s aggro nature is not known for now. But Chrysler will be looking to keep a fine balance between the ingredients.

There’s been a lot of rather unique land speed records coming out of the Bonneville Salt Flats recently. We saw American nutter Bobby Cleveland reclaim his lawnmower LSR (read news) but this is just as good. The tuning team at P4 by Norwood, an American Ferrari shop, are laying claim to the title of the World’s Fastest Ferrari with a record run of 275.4 mph (443kph) averaged over two sprinting runs. By using a stock-bodied 1985 288 GTO, owner Steve Trafton managed to achieve not only the title of world’s fastest Ferrari, but the world’s fastest sports car (AA/BFMS) at the same time. He also resisted the urge to grow a moustache and wear a Hawaiian shirt. Trafton’s special Prancing Horse beat out the previous record holder by 5kph.

To achieve this amazing feat, Thrafton skipped using a high-dollar Italian mill for this car’s powerplant. Taking its place is a 540 cubic-inch big block General Motors V8 shoe-horned into that slinky body. Two Borg Warner 80-mm turbos help out by shoving a full 17 pounds of boost into the deep eight-pot head. Thrafton was coy about exactly how much power the Italian-American car is laying down, but it will definitely be enough to make a grown man scream for his mother.

Check out the video of the record setting run below. (more…)

This is a video shot in California. Blue Ferrari vs Dodge Viper.

The Father’s Day Ferrari show in Hartford, Conneticut. One Ferrari loses it on the turn and a father dives to save his kids. The cops aren’t far behind

Silhouette S40 Ferrari F40 replica built in New Zealand, seen here at Pukekohe Park Raceway, south of Auckland, New Zealand