2009 Dodge Viper ACR
A 2009 Dodge Viper ACR has claimed the fastest time ever for a production car around the Nürburgring. The lap of 7:22 is just a few ticks quicker than the
7:26.4 lap set by the
2009 Corvette ZR1. It doesn't come as much of a surprise, since the ACR is the most brutal version of the already-unforgiving Viper, whereas the ZR1 actually
drives well on the road. Nonetheless, the Viper ACR is the new unofficial king of the 'Ring.
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news
Hurray! Another day, another record high price. Oh wait, this is one of those bad records, isn't it? Well, it is still an all time high. How high? How does $3.196 (which is a fancy way of saying $3.20) for a gallon of 87 unleaded strike you? Well friends, that's what it costs nationally as of yesterday, May 21 [Update: American Public Media's
Marketplace reported that the price is actually $3.22 per gallon –
see here]. We've
covered the whys of these highs before, but basically demand is very high and there aren't enough refineries operating in the US. Sticking with that last point, many refineries are not in action due to planned closures. I remember talking with a friend of mine who works for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power during the Enron/rolling blackouts debacle. I asked him why so many power generators were taken off line for "maintenance" right at the start of summer. "To drive up prices — especially since all the repairs have historically been done during the winter." But we're not calling the oil companies greedy. We know this whole "summer driving season" thing is new for 2007.
– Jonny Lieberman
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fistful of dollars
The record for car sold at auction was set earlier this year at the Barrett-Jackson auction out in Scottsdale for a
1966 Shelby Cobra 427 "Super Snake." That car was Carroll Shelby's personal vehicle, demanding top dollar and getting it, with the winning bid hitting $5.5 million. Did we call that the record? Oh wait, that was the
old record. The
new record? That was apparently set over the weekend at Sotheby's where some anonymous Swiss businessman paid $9.275 million for the 1962 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Spyder, chassis number 0808. It's the only 4-liter Testa Rossa built, it also is the last Testa Rossa and the last front-engined sports racing car built by Ferrari. Oh yeah, and this happens to be the same chassis that won the Le Mans in 1962. Ok, so it's got a pedigree, we'll give them that — but are the seats shimmering with Carroll Shelby's butt sweat? Didn't think so. [
Hat tip to Juan!]
– Ray Wert
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custom cars/hot rods
If nothing else, Ultima's approach to supercars — strapping a 720-hp Chevrolet V8 to a frame weighing as much as a sparrow's breakfast — is at least good for breaking speed records. The company's new GTR750 recently added the standing quarter-mile to the list of things it does faster than any other road-legal car. One of the models recently clocked 9.9 seconds at — hold on to your pea soup — 143 mph, clad in road tires. It was at the Santa Pod Raceway at Northamptonshire, Blighty where the FIA approved the speed trial, but it's in Italy where someone who overpaid for a supercar that runs every second Tuesday is weeping.
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Jalopnik
We've been eagerly waiting for this since we first heard the news of the stunning 7:26.4 Nurburgring lap time set by the 2009 Corvette ZR1. Now, we've finally got the footage of the Godzilla-killer in action, ripping up the Nordschleife. But will this silence the skeptics? Either way, the Nissan GT-R had better have something fast in store with the 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V. But enough talk, let's sit back and enjoy the show. Video below the jump.
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9ff gt9
E85-powered Dodge Viper sets speed record with 220.7 mph! [Edmunds Inside Line]
