This past Saturday the Minnesota Viper Club gathered at Waconia Dodge to show off their toys. My friend Ross was on hand to report on the mayhem. At least 2o Vipers showed up (probably more he lost count) and most were unique. Vipers are a unique type of beast, brash and unforgiving they will bite you and leave the venom so you will never forget. Everything from a chromed out engine bay to a custom painted interior nothing was too out there. A few were up front about the fact that they tracked the cars regularly, which is as it should be. Enjoy the mini gallery and drool at the V10 awesomeness.
Many car people knew that Acura was planning on resurrecting the NSX for 2011. That was the plan until the drop in both the economy and the auto industry. The car was well into development with what seemed to be a production ready (almost) body and interior. Spy shots showed a front engine long hood short deck stance. Rumors were a revised version of SH-AWD was going to send the power to all four wheels. We also heard that the vehicle would be powered by a 5.5 liter V10 putting out 500-550 hp while using iVTEC. Reliable sources said an aggressive cylinder deactivation mode would help obtain decent fuel economy. This was supposed to be a super car to put a halo around Acura. Similar in concept to the recently debuted Lexus LFA. In fact, the new NSX would have been competition for the LFA. No pricing was ever announced or leaked but I would assume the price tag would have been under that of the LFA’s $375,000 price.
Spy Shot of the 2011 NSX at the Nurburgring
I for one always like both the first and second generation NSX’s. It brought something new to the table. Showing super car manufactures and buyers, that you can have a high performance car that is still reliable. This was somewhat of a revolutionary concept. The mid-mount V6 was also unique. This was not the fastest car. Nor was it the most expensive car. It was a unique car from a company that was out to prove themselves.
Spy Shot of the 2011 NSX at the Nurburgring
As I mentioned earlier the NSX replacement was in the final stages of preparation for an unveiling. Sources say the dream is dead and the NSX replacement will not be coming. While I completely believe this I wish it were not true. Competition in the marketplace is a good thing. While I have a feeling the 2011 NSX would be vastly different (front engine and all wheel drive vs mid-engine and rear wheel drive), the reliability attribute would still probably be there.
Below is a video recorded of the 2011 NSX prototype in in final testing stages driving around the Nurburgring.
Lexus has been teasing us with the LF-A concept for years in the auto show circuit. One year it was even a convertible version. It is finally time for the car to come to fruition. On October 21 Lexus will announce details on the production intent LF-A. Rurmors say that the production name end up as the LF-L though LF-A could still stick. Recently the car has been sighted testing on the Nurburgring in what is believed to be final production trim. The cars in the below pictures are barely wearing camouflage. Many rumors have been pegged the price anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000. This will be the first super car from Lexus and the competition is stiff. Sitting in the class with Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, Aston Martin’s, among others, means this car better deliver especially after this much time in development. Other rumors have mentioned the chassis which might be made of carbon fiber which would keep the weight hopefully under 3,500 pounds. It has been recently confirmed that it will be powered by a all new in house developed V10 pushing around 550 hp to the rear wheels. The transmission will probably be similar to the one in Nissan’s GT-R, a dual clutch automatic. The benefit of such a transmission is it can shift faster than a human could. That said it takes out some of the engagement of driving a sports car in this writers opinion. Recently a video was taken of the car leaving a gas station in Germany outside the Nurburgring. When the driver pulled out of the gas station he wasted no time in dipping into the the power and taking off. The crackle of the V10 is seriously reminiscent of a F1 car. See the video below. More details to come after the 21st until then I leave you with this video crank up your speakers because this is the first you’ll truly hear the crackle of Toyota/Lexus’s first super car V10!
This past Saturday the Minnesota Viper Club gathered at Waconia Dodge to show off their toys. My friend Ross was on hand to report on the mayhem. At least 2o Vipers showed up (probably more he lost count) and most were unique. Vipers are a unique type of beast, brash and unforgiving they will bite you and leave the venom so you will never forget. Everything from a chromed out engine bay to a custom painted interior nothing was too out there. A few were up front about the fact that they tracked the cars regularly, which is as it should be. Enjoy the mini gallery and drool at the V10 awesomeness.
