iCypher(Joel Chan)

The Ford Capri is by no means a unknown car. Back in its day, it was an affordable, stylish coupe, with a spec and trim level for most, or if not all buyers. From rough-n-tough 4-pots to silky-smooth V6s, there was an engine choice for everybody. Though it declined sales-wise quite heavily throughout Europe in its final generation, brought on by the onslaught of Hot Hatches, it was still a desirable car. Hell, that sentiment stands even today.

Ah yes, we return back to Leicestershire(Pronounced ‘Lester’, again, very oddly), and to Noble Automotive. I’ve covered one of their products the M12 already, and fellow writer PN K has covered the M600 , but its now time to cover a lesser known Noble: The M15.

The first few questions you’re probably asking about this car likely includes: ‘What even is this?’, ‘Why does it resemble a 935 and not a 911’, and most likely ‘ Why would anyone buy this thing?! ‘. Well, curious readers, the answers to the first two questions I may or may not have, but the answer to the last I can only infer and give my opinion.

The Renault 5 Turbo changed the formula for a good Hot Hatch. I don’t need to tell you that. But after that…Nobody seemed to follow it. The only people who really followed it were, the makers themselves. The Paris Motor Show, held once every two years, is kinda a special place for Manufacturers, in the same way that Monaco is for the F1 Calendar. For a French constructor celebrating its 100th anniversary, though, the Show usually takes on an altogether different dimension, as was the case for Renault in 1998.

‘Terrifyingly Fast.’ There really is no other way to describe it. The 9ff GT9 is a car that’s all about numbers, and what kind of numbers? I’ll tell you. 0-60 mph? 4.2 seconds(3.1 in VMAX form). 0- 186 , 17.6 seconds, or nearly a Second quicker than a Veyron. And from 120-186? How much quicker was it than a Bugatti Bloody Veyron? 2.6 seconds. In Chris Harris’ Own Words: ‘I’ve driven a Veyron before. That’s not possible. It’s not possible for a machine to be that much quicker!’ Top speed? In VMAX form, a breath-taking 271.54 MPH.

I come clean with this. Not much is known about this, and even fewer have been made(more on that later), but I’d thought I’d cover something I doubt anyone here really knows about. I present to you, the Koenig Specials 930 ‘Road Runner’. Koenig-Specials…You might have heard of them before. If you don’t know their exploits, well, I’ll tell you. A firm in Munich, they’ve tuned cars like the Ferrari 512BB and F50, along with Testarossas. But they don’t ‘just’ play with Italy’s Prancing Horse…They’ve played with others, including Porsche’s 911, Jaguar XJS, and Mercedes S-class.

‘A Luxo-Barge going racing? Surely, the maniacs who thought this was a good idea….Are absolute Maniacs, right?’ One might think as they read this title. Well, yes, I’d agree with you…But then you go over the name ‘AMG’, a name that is associated with Mercedes’ Tuning Arm who have a propensity of making run-of-the-mill cars….Not so run-of-the-mill. Also denoting that they have a few screws loose.

211 mph. An impressive figure for any car today, but Three decades ago? A road car achieving that kind of speed was barely believable. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t till March 1987 that any road-legal car was claimed to have surpassed the 200 mph Milestone. That car was the Ferrari F40, and that 201 mph top speed made it the fastest car in the world . But it wouldn’t hold onto that record for long… Its now 30 years since the Ruf CTR made its Grand Entrance into the world of Fame, and what better way to celebrate this by covering that car.

So, the F50. We all know this car. The one that was so overshadowed by its predecessor the F40 that Ferrari, back then, didn’t allow Journalists to test the F40 and F50 side-by-side, since it was slower. That said, it was overshadowed for another few reasons, One: It was terrifically ugly, definitely by both Normal and Ferrari standards, and Two: It was slower. Though looking at the Papers alone would tell you that.

I know, I know. This thing isn’t the best looking thing, and might make you gouge your eyes out and drop them in Eye Bleach or something, but bear with me: This is Not something that was styled by a Blind Man and then cobbled together from bits found in the Dustbins of nearby manufacturers. The Noble M12 was the second attempt by Noble Automotive, the same people from Leicester(Pronounced Lester) that now bring you the M600, a car made with bits from the Industrial Revolution, but somehow able to match higher-luxury supercars, to well….Make a car for the Drivers’ among us, I suppose.

Look at it. Name a car that looks quite as good as the F1 does. I dare you. (No, wait, don’t do that) What car, with such a high top speed, is quite as exclusive, quite as good looking as the F1? The RUF CTR2 was a tad ugly, and so was the F40, the CTR Yellowbird looked…Well, like a 911, and the 959? Looked like a 911 which had been flattened by a rolling pin. The Veyron that later trumped the F1? Looked about as ugly as a Pig.

So, the Lotus Exige 270e Tri-Fuel. What is it? Its basically a design study to see what happens when we use Synthetic Fuels in the future. By Lotus. Or, to give you Lotus’s Press Writing, ‘part of Lotus’ research to understand the complex combustion process involved in running on mixtures of alcohol fuels and gasoline, which will be important for a successful transition from today’s fuels to the sustainable, synthetic fuels of the future.’ Lets remember that this was 2006, first. And as usual, people were fantasizing about the future. Because it was possible. And still is.

Look at it. Beautiful, isn’t it? To me, this Embodies what the ‘70’s was, in terms of Car Design: The Era of the Wedge-shape. Of course, it wasn’t all Smooth-Sailing back then, the Oil/Energy Crisis had hit rather hard, forcing numerous, bigger manufacturers to make more economical cars, with the smaller companies, essentially left hanging. Then, in the mid-70’s, The Left were revolting, there were riots as close as Bologna, where a man was shot.

So, the Megane R26, or as it’s Actually called, and no, I genuinely am not making this up, the Renaultsport Megane 230 F1 Team R26, what do you need to know about it? Well, first, its basically a Older Version of today’s RS 265…Cup, whatever, and secondly, was made in commemoration of The Renault F1 Team being the overall champions for the 2006 Season of Formula One, with Alonso taking the Drivers’, and Renault the Constructors.

So, today, I cover this little thing, the Lotus Elan M100. What I think was Britain’s Combatant against the NA Miata. I have a bit of a soft spot for this car, if I had to pick between this and a MX-5, I’d go with this. Not only does it look unique, you also never see it on the roads, so, you’ll be delighted to know that you’ll be the only one driving that car. Anyway, enough with that, and on with the car.

Okay, the Renault 5 Turbo. What happens when Renault takes their dear old 5 Alpine(Also called the Gordini, named after Amedee Gordini, a French tuner with rather strong ties with Renault), hands it to, well, Alpine, and asks them to make it fast on a rally stage? This happens. The Hot Hatch, from Hell, bringing with it speed and noise, and the ability to leave a Golf GTI miles behind. And maybe the slight tendency to spin. I mean, when your wheelbase is nearly as short as a Stratos’, and with 80’s Turbo Technology being what it was, you can just tell what would happen.

Firstly, yes, I’m sorry I’ve left you hanging with nothing to read since that Evora post, yes, I’ll try to make it up to you guys, but come on, let me have some rest too. This isn’t terribly easy, after all. I’m human like you, and I need my off-days too….

Now, some backstory to how I know of this car. I had a book, called the ‘World Car Guide’ 2000, and flipping through those pages, I saw scores of cars on sale in 2000, from the E36 3-Series, Bristol Blenheim, the old Seat Leon, to the Uglier-Than-It-Is-Now, Daihatsu Terios, stuff like the Ferrari 550M and 456M GT, the Pre-Facelift NSX, the DC2 Integra, and the S2000, the FD, and then the Maserati 3200 GT and Quattroporte. But as I read to Page 125, I saw the Venturi.

Ah, the Aston Martin DB7……..Oh how I dislike this thing, with looks Annoyingly similar to the Fisker Karma, which came well after the DB7’s end, and then based on a car which was, at the time of the DB7’s release, 21 years old, otherwise known as the Jaguar XJS, making it, more or less, about as modern as what a XJS could be when compared to say, the F-Type, but still, could be worse, I suppose. Anyway, enough with my hate, on with the car.

So, it seems to be Aston Week over in my head here, apparently, having just covered the Vantage(1977) 1-2 days ago(Depends on when you read this), and the 2005 Vantage a few months ago, which I’ll revisit soon, don’t worry. Anyway, today I cover this——The Aston Martin Virage…..Or, at least, its original name was, since it then became the Vantage(Definitely not the first, nor the last time we’d see this moniker), or the V8 Coupe. God knows why they wanted to change the name, but come on Aston, the car looks the same on the outside, What The Hell was wrong with just sticking to ‘Virage’?!

Allow me to let you in on a bit of a secret, when I first started writing the ‘Heroes Of Racing’ Series, with the MG Metro 6R4 being the first entry, I had always told myself that I would, One Day, write about the Ford GT40, a Ford born out of the most infamous grudge in the History Of Motoring, a Ford built to teach Ferrari a Lesson, and a Ford which surpassed all expectations, after being plagued by problems, and really did teach Ferrari a lesson.

Today, on the ‘Full-Length’ Articles, I cover this—-The Ferrari 288 GTO. It’s not very often I cover a Ferrari, and this will be a first..I originally wanted to park this under the ‘Heroes Of Racing’ series, but seeing as it never raced, or won a race, I couldn’t park it there. Anyway, on with the car.

Now, today on the ‘Heroes Of Racing’ series, we will be covering the Audi Quattro. Yes, its another Group B car, and its the Third one I’ve covered….But anyway, the quattro was first shown to the world at the 1980 Geneva Motorshow, and production would apparently continue all the way into 1991. Everyone who watched Group B will remember this car, Flames coming out of the exhausts, Turbocharger and Inline-Five screaming, yeah, you get the idea. But here’s some background information.The word ‘quattro’ is derived from the Italian word for “four”.

Yes, today we’re covering the Ford, Escort RS Cosworth.A car was designed to qualify as a Group A car in the WRC, in which it would compete in from 1993 to 1998. It was available from ‘92 to ‘98 in VERY limited numbers. And by the time it came out, the Whale-Tail was back, Wilder Than Ever Before.