A 220-mph Land Cruiser, 86 cup car, monster Tacoma, racy Prius, weird Corolla, and "extreme" minivan round out this year’s offerings. When it comes to big automakers like Toyota , SEMA can often be a smorgasbord of weird and wonderful stuff. This year, for example, Toyota is displaying 30 vehicles, some of which honor the past, while others point to the future or just show how crazy the tuners can get. Six “extreme builds” are featured this year, and four are entered into SEMA’s Battle Of The Builders competition. Let’s take a look at each, below. Make sure you click the images to launch individual galleries of each car, and scroll all the way down for videos of the SEMA creations, too. Twin-Turbo Land Speed Cruiser First of all, the thought of driving a 200-mile-per-hour Land Cruiser is terrifying . That thing can barely handle 80 mph, let alone 200-plus. Nevertheless, a pair of Garrett turbos are slapped onto the 5.7-liter V8 for a huge bump in power, and … [Read more...] about Behold the glory and awfulness of Toyota’s SEMA customs
Upgraded toyota 86
2,000-HP Nissan Qashqai Becomes Fastest SUV In The World: 237.8 MPH
It has dethroned the 230-mph Toyota Land Cruiser. In case you have not heard of Severn Valley Motorsport, it’s a tuning company based in the United Kingdom specialized in upgrading Nissan GT-Rs. Godzilla’s engine was used for a pet project some years ago when the engineers decided to cram it into the engine bay of a first-generation Nissan Qashqai (current model sold in the U.S. as the Rouge Sport ). Thus, the Qashqai-R was born, complete with 1,100 horsepower and just about the same amount of torque. That was back in 2014 when Top Gear magazine wrote an article about the supercar-engined compact crossover, but since then the vehicle has gone through even more upgrades. The tuner says the Qasqhai’s “heavily forged engine” now packs a new turbo kit enabling an incredible output of 2,000 horsepower. Why? SVM wanted to claim the title for the fastest SUV in the world, which up until yesterday was held by Toyota and its bonkers 2,000-hp Land Cruiser with a velocity of 230 … [Read more...] about 2,000-HP Nissan Qashqai Becomes Fastest SUV In The World: 237.8 MPH
2022 VW ID.6 Revealed With Room For Seven And Two Electric Motors
The three-row electric SUV comes in ID.6 X and ID.6 Crozz flavors. Volkswagen's electric offensive is in full swing and the ID.6 represents the largest member of the company's dedicated EV lineup for now. Available exclusively in China, the purely electric SUV is a bigger brother of the global ID.4 , and much like the five-seat-only model, it's available locally in two separate versions. VW's joint venture with FAW will produce the ID.6 Crozz whereas the other joint venture with SAIC will be responsible for the ID.6 X. Mechanically, they're virtually identical, with the most notable changes being represented by the slightly different LED headlights and taillights along with unique bumpers. Both remain fairly similar to the ID.4, with the obvious exception of the larger footprint as denoted by the bigger quarter glass. Gallery: 2022 Volkswagen ID.6 11 Photos … [Read more...] about 2022 VW ID.6 Revealed With Room For Seven And Two Electric Motors
Ghiotto, Smith headline eight-man Ginetta test roster
Smith and Ghiotto will join six other drivers split across the pair of works Team LNT Ginetta G60-LT-P1s at the WEC Prologue test at the Circuit de Catalunya this week. Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson said he had brought in Smith, who first sampled the Ginetta at Paul Ricard earlier this month, for his experience. "Guy has a lot to offer, not just as the 2003 Le Mans winner with Bentley but for the amount of knowledge of sportscar racing he has," Tomlinson told Motorsport.com. Smith, who stepped down from the factory Bentley GT3 squad in May last year, played down the likelihood of him racing the car. "It's not really my plan, but I was curious to see how the cars had moved on," said the 44-year-old, who last raced at prototype with Dyson Racing in the American Le Mans Series in 2013. "Lawrence asked me to have a go, and I thought why not?" #7 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3: Guy Smith Photo by: Alexander Trienitz Tomlinson explained that … [Read more...] about Ghiotto, Smith headline eight-man Ginetta test roster
Mercedes F1’s step forward helped by Bahrain ‘sting’
While Red Bull had the fastest car in Bahrain, Mercedes appears to have the edge at Imola with Valtteri Bottas quickest in both Friday practice sessions. Mercedes technical director James Allison said the team had not taken what happened in Bahrain lightly, even though an aggressive strategy and great defensive driving from Lewis Hamilton helped it win. Reflecting on the work done over the past three weeks, Allison said: "I think it is human nature that when you get stung, you leap around a bit more intensely than you might otherwise. "We certainly love the race and we love the fight, but we don't enjoy feeling second best. "The Red Bull was quicker than us in Bahrain and we have been doing our best to try to move our car forward so that we don't have to suffer that sting any longer than we have to." Allison said the progress shown at Imola was a result of the team having found a much better balance for the W12 rather than it being down to any car upgrades. … [Read more...] about Mercedes F1’s step forward helped by Bahrain ‘sting’