A roundup of automotive news - good, bad and just plain weird: Gas is past the $1.50 mark per litre. Emissions concerns and climate change worries rule the headlines. Auto manufacturers everywhere are turning to small displacement engines, electric power, and hybridization.
Well, perhaps not everywhere: here's Dodge with a 600-plus-horsepower, supercharged version of the Challenger. It's called the Hellcat, and good grief.
Essentially built according to the muscle car bible writ in the late 1960s, the Hellcat takes the Challenger's already potent Hemi 6.2-litre V-8 from 485 h.p. and pumps it past 600 horses, getting the power to the wheels through either a six-speed manual or an eightspeed transmission. It's worth noting here that the eight-speed is fairly incredible: in the gargantuan SRT Cherokee, with its whacking great V-8 and titanic curb weight, your humble author managed to hit 10.2 litres/100 kilometres on the highway. Not bad.
But nobody's going to commute in a Hellcat except, perhaps, super villains. You get widened 20-inch alloys with sticky Pirelli rubber that'll soon evaporate into smoke. The Hellcat also has some neat tricks, like boredout headlights with airchannels to help keep that supercharger cooled.
No, it's not very sensitive, and no, it's probably not going to out-handle the trackfocused versions of the
Camaro and Mustang. Even so, it's the kind of machine where you'd be happy to take transit all week, just to get up early and go for a Sunday blast.
NISSAN UPDATES NISMO 370Z No more power, but updated looks and the availability of a seven speed automatic transmission: that's the word on the newly released redesign for Nissan's sportiest version of its Z-car. If you can't quite stretch to a GT-R, this 350 h.p. coupe now at least gives you most of the looks of Godzilla.
Nismo (Nissan Motorsports) has an interesting history of vehicles, most of which never quite made it to our side of the pond. However, Nissan's been showing off any number of hot compacts at auto shows, and now has Nismo versions of the Juke, the Z, and the GTR available in Canadian showrooms.
What would I most like to see next? The Nismo Micra. There's precedent here, as Nissan once built a "Superturbo" Micra for rally homologation. Not only that, but they also currently build a Nismo version of their March sub-compact, which is essentially identical to the Micra.
That car, in Nismo's format, gets a bump in power to approximately 115 h.p., sport-tuned suspension, and a few aerodynamic tweaks. In today's world of stringent speed limits and highpriced fuel, this is the backroad bumblebee you really want. Considering how well the relaunched Micra is doing critically, a sport-tuned version would be simply great.
MILLION-DOLLAR MERCEDES 300SL There wasn't a dry
eye in the Mercedes fanbase this week as an iconic Gullwing flapped its angelic doors and soared off to join the automotive choir invisible. A number of 300SLs took part in this year's Mille Miglia, a historic rally that runs through winding
rural roads in Italy. Originally banned for being far too dangerous, the Mille is now possibly the premier historic rally in the world.
The 300SL, for its part, is possibly the
premier historic Mercedes-Benz, apart from racing specials like Stirling Moss' 300 SLR. It's simply gorgeous, with those immediately recognizable gullwing doors, and smooth straight-six power. Built
starting in the 1950s, it was a high-water mark for classic Mercedes styling, grand touring smoothness and extremely rapid pace.
Unfortunately, for this particular example, the curvy roads of the Mille proved to be host to a speeding BMW 1-
Series. Et tu BMW? The wreck of the car will only drive up values, but thankfully no one was seriously hurt.
Even with the loss, the important thing here is that the car was out on the road, as it should be, rather than locked away in a museum.
SIR JACK BRABHAM PASSES AWAY If renewed interest in Formula One racing of the 1950s and 1960s has shown us anything, it's that the sport was extremely dangerous. It was a crucible of speed, fuel, and flame,
and many drivers didn't survive. One champion did, however: the Australian John Arthur Brabham. Born just outside Sydney, he cut his teeth in dirt-track racing, giving him a style tending towards lots of sliding and opposite lock. Sir Brabham went
on to win three F1 championships, starting his roll with a stunning win at Monaco in 1959. Founding his own team in 1961, he eventually led it to victory in 1966, becoming the first man to clinch a championship in a car he designed.
He received a knighthood for services to motor sport in 1978, and continued to drive and race the cars bearing his name in historic events until about a decade ago. He died in Australia last week, at the age of 88.
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