Oddly enough, the first image that came to mind when I witnessed the Urban Whip was the Power Wheels Barbie Cadillac Escalade®, which is strange considering I've never seen nor heard of a Power Wheels Barbie Cadillac Escalade®. I just figured if there was one, this is probably what it would look like. For curiosity's sake, I then went to the Toys "R" Us website, and lo-and-behold...
I was invited to the Nelson Ledges Raceway in Ohio to test-drive SPI’s latest projects: the Porsche 997 GT2 and Nissan GT-R. Initial laps were treated as a warm-up both for the machines and me, but my pace quickened as I began to rein in all 800 hp from these retuned sports cars.
670 whp on 93 octane with 200-cell catalytic converters in place, and a super-smooth curve that gives the car a "Jekyll and Hyde" duality of smooth cruising and easy driving around-town, followed up by Veyron-baiting performance when the nanny-controls are off and the pedals hit the metals.
What’s a tuning company to do when manufacturers such as Audi take their high performance sports cars – in this case the Audi TT – and make it better? The Audi TTS is Audi’s tuned version of the TT. Think that was enough? Of course not! Audi then came out with the TT RS – a turbocharged 340 hp version of the sports car. This is normally tuning company territory.
Do you have a brand new stock Nissan GT-R on order, or maybe just took delivery? Then “Garage Defend” might have just what you need…specialized in Nissan Sportscars (and a couple others), this very professional dealer told Nihon Car about their latest “beast” based on the Almighty R35 GTR.
Based on the incredible Porsche 911 GT3, the Prior Design 911 PD3 features a complete body kit which was designed with aerodynamics in mind from the beginning. A new carbon-flex fiberglass composite was developed for use in this car, showing itself in the spoiler blade, inlets, rear diffuser, and rest of the added kit. Prior Design decided to keep the stock GT3 rear wing, stating that it was “judged to be sound” by the PD team.
PPI, another German Audi tuner, has taken some of their best parts developed for the Audi R8 and rolled it all into one. They call it the PPI RAZOR GTR, and it’s mean. The result of this is an R8 with 580hp, and about 443 ft-lbs of torque. Their main objective here was to optimize the power-to-weight ratio of the R8, so they’ve also lightened the car by 551 lbs. This allows the Razor GTR to run from 0 to 62mph in 3.7 seconds, and reach a top speed of 206 mph.
German tuner MTM has taken Audi’s R8 to the next level. Not only have they added the eye-catching (or eye-bleeding) Kermit-the-Frog-green from the Porsche GT3 RS, they’ve increased engine output to an incredible 560 horsepower - higher than the 520hp 5.2-liter V10 promised in the R8 5.2 FSI Quattro coming soon.
HAMANN, a German tuner long associated with BMW and all things efficient, Teutonic and powerful (although they never say why their name is in all caps like that), has just released the details on their latest working over of BMW’s 7 series flagship. HAMANN calls it ” Individualisation on the highest level”, but if you want it shortened to just three words it would be “Power. Power. Power.”
German tuning shop Imsa released a set of technological enhancements and design improvements for the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 late last year. They recently published photos to feed the masses. To some, the stock version of the 640hp supercar wasn’t advanced enough, Imsa has created a set of features designed to perfect engine tuning and reduce drag.
When it comes to professional tuning of high-rev’n exotic cars, Dyno-Comp brings our expertiseto the Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari 430, and the Ferrari 599 GTB.
Just tuned, was the classic 360 Modena.
+20 Wheel HP @ 9000 RPM
+18 Wheel TQ @ 6500 RPM
See attached video clip.
Hyundai’s new Genesis Coupe already gets everything right, but it just keeps getting better for tuners. Their latest announcement says they will be releasing a Genesis Coupe R-Spec, which is basically a blank slate for tuners and racers to go to town, or leave as-is. The R-Spec starts off by getting rid of a few of the standard, non-essentials: Bluetooth, auto headlights, cruise control, trip computer, chrome interior accents and steering wheel audio controls.
The Australian tuning scene is squirming with Japanese beauties, many of them old school examples. However few are as clean, extreme and versatile as Daniel Eisel's RX-3 which not only realises 680hp but is also street legal!
Checkout this sick Supercharged Audi R8 by MTM video. That engine sounds AMAZING due to the MTM exhaust valves which regulate the exhaust note. 0-60mph (100km/h) in 3.9 seconds (versus stock: 4.9 seconds). This car was tested it up to top speed 301 km/h on Autobahn.
RENNTECH's new $3995 performance PKG1 for the 05-08 SLK 350 boosts the output of the 268 hp V6 to over 300 hp. That's 40 horsepower for under $4000!
This level of performance and torque comes from new RENNTECH headers and a RENNTECH ECU upgrade, which also raises the car's top speed from the factory-limited 155 mph to over 170 mph. As the copy above states: this package will change the way you look at Mercedes' 350 series cars.
The German tuner H&R designed a new chassis and suspension for the yet superlight Ariel Atom which makes it even lighter. The chassis is created thanks to the help of Sven Heidfeld, brother from Niki. We know we couldn’t expect something unbelievable from this, but only a loss of 2,8 kilos isn’t really worth it, but that our point of view.
The most striking feature of the Urban Whip is what is doesn’t have - a roof. Although the original brief required the design to retain the structural integrity of the GLK, the aggressive look of the custom-made wide-body kit - which was developed in cooperation with RoBrady Design - made the roadster temptation difficult to resist.
There was absolutely no doubt in the mind of Professor Bodo Buschmann, President of Mercedes customization specialist BRABUS, “Even in the face of the extreme rework that characterizes the vehicles at SEMA, we were going to stick firmly to our principles and go for a more practicable solution
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