Even when Aston Martin was owned by Ford there was never any talk of jamming one of Aston’s exotic V12 engines under the bonnet of a Mustang.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t on the minds of other parties and an independent custom shop went ahead and built a 2005 Ford Mustang ‘Vanquishd’ show car that was shown at the 2006 SEMA aftermarket gathering.

Canadian tuner Western Motorsports was responsible for the engine swap giving this one-of-a-kind Mustang the 6.0-litre V12 engine with 600 horsepower from a 2001 Aston Martin Vanquish. Power is delivered to the wide rear wheels through a 6 speed manual Tremec T-56 transmission.

Other mods include a sensible performance braking system, an upgraded suspension set up, 19-inch lightweight alloy wheels and body mods. (more…)

There’s no replacement for displacement is how the saying always goes and as this crazed story proves, it’s not exactly a new sentiment.

After the end of World War 2 Germany wasn’t allowed to own any military aircrafts which meant there was a huge amount of planes and plane parts laying around idle. So some German locals decided that they could use one of the BMW V12 plane engines to craft a one-of-a-kind racecar. Sounds like a good idea right? Well that BMW V12 aircraft engine was a  a 1925 46.0-litre 12-cylinder unit, to be precise. Not something you’d fit into your average race car, at all.

Understandably there were problems with this bespoke beast, the engine tipped the scales at 510 kg and was huge measuring 1.8 meters long, 1.1 meters tall and 0.87 meters wide. Locating a suitable chassis in post war Germany was difficult but the keen carmakers managed to get hold of a 1908 American LaFrance car that could take the engine’s size and weight. It then took the builders several years to complete the car, which was manufactured in a workshop belonging to the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim and was given the apt name – Brutus.

According to the museum, the engine puts out 500 horsepower at 1,500 rpm, but other sources claim that it can produce 750 hp at 1,700 rpm (but for only one minute). Its fuel consumption is about as bad as it comes with 1 litre being consumed for every kilometer it travels. For this reason Brutus has a huge fuel tank and is said to comfortably cruise at speeds of over 100 km/h at just 800 rpm. (more…)

There’s only one engine that can really compete with the groans of a V8 at full throttle and that’s the screams of an Italian twelve pot. One of the masters of these massive gas sucking monsters is Lamborghini and since the introduction of its 350 GT in 1964, every twelve-cylinder Lamborghini has used a derivative of the same engine. That includes models like the Miura, Espada, Countach, LM002, Diablo, Murcielago and Reventón. But that chapter is now over and the Italian automaker has scrapped that old design and started fresh with a new beast.

Ready for duty in the upcoming Murcielago successor, the 6.5-liter V12 has been designed, developed and produced entirely in-house at the company’s Sant’Agata Bolognese factory. High-tech features include four-valve cylinder heads made from an aluminum-silicon alloy and short stroke and lightweight construction to deliver an output of 700 horsepower (522kW) and 689Nm of torque.

Mated to this new engine, Lamborghini have built a new type of gearbox called the Independent Shifting Rod (ISR) transmission. Making use of dual shifting rods, the ISR can apparently, shift nearly 50 percent faster than other dual-clutch gearboxes, while weighing considerably less.

If you want some technical details on the new Lambo mill, check out the full official press release below. (more…)

A lap around Mt Panorama with Tom Walkinshaw in the TWR Jaguar XJ-S V12 at the James Hardie 1000

Short video of ex- Tom Walkingshaw XJS race car starting and parking in Le Mans circuit pit stop

Tom Walkinshaw in the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar V12 XJS on a qualifying lap around Mt Panorama at the James Hardie 1000