Audi Cross Cabriolet looks pretty nice and very elegant, as you can see in the picture above, but visitors will not be able to see a fully scale model because there is no real integration of the vehicle with the display itself. If you get there (December 7th to 9th) give us a shout about the new Cross Wire Frame Concept.

If you were expecting a sports car from Opel then how about this blue 2-doors beauty that they’ve created partnering with Kissling Motorsport? The name is Astra OPC Race Camp and I can bet you this bug is fast just by mentioning the supercharged and air-cooled 2.0 liter turbo engine that sports 300hp at 6,300 rpm.

Opel Astra OPC Race Camp is a racing version that comes with a six-speed sequential racing (of course) gearbox, has a nice little wing in the back, Recaro and Dunlop to design the seats and should be available for production early next year so you’d better save some cash if you want to park one of these in front of your garage.

via OPC Blog

As many “petrolheads” would know, one of the most exciting realms of the motoring world is that of exotics. Thorough-bred sports cars are a good subject on which to spend a weekend afternoon – at least, for those amongst us devoted enough to the boundless thrills of touching, viewing and indeed, driving these beasts. With that in mind, our staffer, known to readers as SLD, spent last Saturday afternoon visiting Cape Town’s exotics dealerships.

The car shown above is the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, and the picture was taken at Bloomsbury.

The car shown above is a Ferrari F430 Challenge Stradalle. It uses the same 4,3 Litre V8 as the “standard” F430, but has also been given additional suspension/chassis and wheel tweaks to aid even higher performance and track handling. There are also some weight reductions, and the side windows are sliding units made of a perspex-like material, all again in the interests of weight-saving. The picture was taken at Viglietti Motors.

The Porsche shown above is the 997 911 Carrera 4S, which features a 3.8 Litre “boxer” motor, a term used to describe Porsche’s signature flat-six cylinder layout. Power is slightly up on the Carrera S, and additional features include Porsche’s tried and tested four-wheel-drive system as well as mods to the exhaiust system that lend it an even deeper note. A notable Porsche characteristic is the optimal driving position with pedals slightly offset to the left of the footwell. This allows for fast heel-and-toeing. Picture taken at Bloomsbury.

Astons have always excited true sportscar enthusiasts, and this V8 Vantage was no exception. It features a 283 Kilowatt front-mid-mounted 4,3 V8 (a layout giving a very ideal front to rear weight distribution ratio) that shares characteristics with that which does service in Jaguar’s XK – although in Aston’s application it is hand-built in Cologne, Germany to exacting standards. This car is known to emit some of the best sounds known to the motoring world. The cabin is an ergonomic delight, featuring hand-stitched hides and seemingly infinitely customizable options. An interesting feature of Astons is the tachometer, which dials anticlockwise. Picture taken at 021Auto/Carspot.

The Lamborghini Gallardo in this picture was spotted “basking” in the midday sun, shortly before a staff member fired up the glorious Audi-sourced V10 mill and drove it into the showroom, away from the looming rain showers. Needless to say, this little monster emits a deep baritone note that gives one goosebumps – power is rated at 378 Kilowatts, in addition to the four-wheel-drive system and Magnetti-Marreli E-Gear transmission that give the little fighting bull from Sant’Agata a serious turn of speed. Picture taken at Bloomsbury.

Last but certainly not least, is the Bentley Continental GT. The picture above was taken at Bentley Cape Town. the most powerful of all the cars shown here, it produces 411 Kilowatts from its W12 6Litre powerplant, which features two turbochargers. For such a heavy car, performance is typical Bentley; that is, astounding. Like the Aston Martin, the Bentley is hand-built and this shows in the impeccable quality and feel of fit and finishings. Definitely a gentleman’s grand tourer. Picture taken at Bentley Cape Town.

Wesbank hosted the Ultimate Street car event this past weekend attracking some of SA’s fastest cars. As I strolled into the pit lanes I was put in awe with the selection of quality super cars. A Subaru came past, then a Porsche, a Noble, an Aerial Atom and then an Ultima, and that’s just to name a few of the amazing cars that came past me. Eighty odd cars later I dragged my bottom jaw off the ground and wiped the huge grin off my face and got down to business.

I got there at the start of the Top End runs and was in the perfect position to get the results and get some cool pictures. After snapping away I met up with Stevin and moved to the second hair pin on the circuit.

The only problem with Wesbank is it gigantic size, because as soon as the track session was done, we then had to move to the large oval, which is basically on the other side of this huge racing complex and proved to be a nice little journey for Stevin and myself. This allowed us to get a much needed refreshment and also took us to the highlight of the weekend. The Top Secret R34 Skyline GT-R, and yes, it is a legitimate ‘Top Secret’ product straight from the Shop in Japan. Rumor has it that it pushes out 1000HP which will mean that we are know entering international levels in terms of powerful cars. I must say, the few runs it had to show it off were way below what I had anticipated it to do, but you can see that it is hugely powerful and will be nice to see it run and compete with other cars at Phakisa in three weeks time.

In time this will become a great weekend event which draws huge crowds wanting to see the best South Africa have to offer. I cannot wait until the next event where we willl be put in awe again as the weekend past.

To view all of the pictures taken by myself, click here.

The annual Castrol Extreme Auto Show was held over the past few days at the Coca Cola Dome in Northgate. It is one of the biggest gatherings of custom cars, awesome sound installations and car accessories in South Africa and once again, the show went all out. Before I had even walked into the entrance I was greeted with the smell of burning rubber and the loud whistling of a twin turbo’d 350Z being drifted in the parking lot. What a way to start!

The range of cars on display was mind-blowing. I would run out of space if I had to list them all but sports cars, classics, exotics and custom cars were all in abundance. Nissan’s Skyline GTR R34 was there as well as an AC Schnitzer M6 and a Honda NSX. They are three very rare cars and many car enthusiasts (myself included) pulled out their cameras to obtain memories of these automotive legends. A first for any car show was the introduction of Fashion TV’s Motor Catwalk. The idea behind this is that new cars can be launched in conjunction with the latest fashion couture. For most red-blooded males, this was a match made in heaven. Who could turn down a gorgeous young lady standing next to a Lotus Exige?

One of the highlights was the drifting by legendary driver Adam Mathews from USA in a NXGen powered Nissan. Powersliding a 500hp sports car and trying to avoid trees, tyres and concrete blocks is not an easy task yet Adam was still able to wow the crowds.

I would be very suprised if anyone who attended the show didnt go home with ringing ears with the range of sound systems that were being tested. Rockford Fosgate-equipped cars along with Sony’s Xplod Vito bus happily blasted out the tunes throughout the day. If you love your cars then the Castrol Extreme Auto Show is your local version of heaven and the quality of the merchandise could even rival SEMA Custom car show in Las Vegas.

Thanks to Dale for his awesome work and press passes.

The Canal Walk Motor Show was held this past weekend featured the latest releases from auto manufacturers from 2 door supercars to 4 door family sedans. There was a constant buzz in the crowd from the roar of spectacular motor related footage on the big screen and an exciting event line-up consisting of Classic Car Displays, X-Box Challenge, Brian Capper Shows and much more.

Scores of exhibitors showcased the best they had to offer, including new car launches, car accessories, motorbikes, car sound and services car finance.

Supermoto champion Brian Capper, South Africa’s answer to Evil Knevel, thrilled spectators with his Extreme two wheel show. The 25-minute action-packed display of skills got the crowds adrenalin-pumping wondering how he managed to stay on his bike!

Visitors to the event stood a chance of winning a trip to a 2007 European Grand Prix valued at R50,000, plus R10,000 in spending money, as well as a Honda CBR600RR7 Superbike. We didn’t stay long enough to get this scoop but I’m sure a few spectators left smiling! Credit to Evert for snapping the pics.

All the photos here

Almost every wednesday night of the year Wesbank Raceway is packed with people, barring a short break over the christmas period or if the heavens open up. This has been going on for many years and yet no one seems to be getting bored of it. Infact, the exact oposite is happening, the wednesday night scene has never seen so many people with an estimated 5000 strong entrants.

It is the perfect place to take your turbocharged, nitrous filled, free flowed car to have a few runs, test out a few settings and even sit down to a nice cold beer and talk about cars all night (Just remember not to drink and drive). Once you have had enough of the hundreds of cars literally running up and down the drag strip you can go enjoy one of the many numerous activities that happen at the super motorsport complex.

Drifting, Spinning and the Skidpan are some of the other activities you can participate in and will keep you entertained every week for hours on end. So get down to Wesbank Raceway every wednesday and absorb the sound of dump valves, free flows and screeching tires. For me, the biggest problem I have with wednesday nights is that I have to wake up the next morning to go to work.

The car had to be strapped down to make sure it didn’t jump off the dyno! The Nissan 350z which unfortunately came last in the six cylinder category did not fail to disappoint with it’s devilish sexy looks and ran a pleasing 303 kw’s. Another one of the attractions were Zoopedup Mpumulanga car club who made the three hour trip to Jozi to attend their neighboring teams event! All the dyno classes were highly contested with Sherwin Sing taking the six cylinder naturally aspirated class in his e46 M3 pushing a respectable 180 Kws on the wheels and 266 NM of torque. Another class which was battled out till the end was the four cylinder class for Nos, Turbo’d or supercharged cars. Here most cars push over or close to 200+ kws. Prian Subban in his Opel Superboss turbo took top honors getting 292 Kws and a whopping 498 Nm of torque. For all the results and pics log onto www.zoopedup.com

More pics here and here

The 24th of March saw some top racing at Kyalami from various classes of car ranging from Shelby Can Ams right up to the Altech Porsche Challenge Unlimited. The weather played a big part in the day’s proceedings as the constant threat of rain made tyre choices very difficult. This was not really a problem for the slower classes but for the faster cars, driving skills were tested to the limit.

There were 8 classes of car and 2 classes of bike racing on Saturday as well as an exclusive demonstration of Michael Schumacher’s Benetton Formula One car by legendary local driver, Gary Formato. The sound of an F1 car going down the straight is something every car fanatic should hear… Shelby Can Ams are a unique class of car. They are powered by the Nissan 3.5 V6 which is thrown into a tiny Le-Mans styled body. These cars are quite quick on the straights but their real strength lies in their braking and cornering abilities.

The Formula Ford is another class of car and has a steep history behind it. It started in England in 1967 and still continues through to this day. The principle is all about driver skill as the engines are equal. The field taking part in this competition is very wide with even a young lady, Tamsin Pepper, taking part. Tamsin is 16 and is more than able to keep up with the more senior drivers. Watch out for her in the coming years.

Porsche Challenge is what I came to see and this is where the men are separated from the boys. You will see the likes of Porsches, Ferraris, Lotus and TVRs taking part. There are two classes racing, Class A and Class B. Class A features Porsche 911s with turbo engines and Class B features normally aspirated Ferraris and Porsches. One Class A Porsche 911 driven by Vernon Bricknell has around 700hp and sounds absolutely phenominal. Ear-plugs are seriously recommended. Each gearshift from this Porsche resulted in a backfire that made children cry! Toby Venter (who is head of Porsche South Africa) drives a Class B 996GT3 Porsche is so quick that he is posting Class A times and he has half the horse power compared to the Class A’s. The Ferraris attracted the most attention with their four cars but were sadly outgunned by the more powerful Porsches.

One of the best things about these races is that anyone is allowed into the pits even during the races. You as a spectator can visit each team’s garage and chat to the drivers and crews. This makes for a fantastic experience and one will actually feel a part of the race, not just a normal spectator. Its about time that local racing had more support. Its very competitive and well worth attending. The next race at Kyalami featuring the Porsches will be in September. In the meantime one can watch the production cars (BMW, Audi, Nissan) in July. And guys, even if the cars don’t do it for you, just go for a look and a chat to the promotion girls.

DavidT