Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of some of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. There’s also just a little opinion of mine because I can. This week:
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Ford’s Eagle Squadron Mustang GT unveiled at Goodwood
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Singer shows off the epic “DLS” Porsche 964 again
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Nissan and Italdesign celebrate 50 years with limited GT-R50
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McLaren announces pricing for 600LT
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BMW prices the M850i
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Concorso Italiano confirms details for 2018 show in Monterey
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What’s your automotive news?
Ford ‘Eagle Squadron’ Mustang GT
With the Goodwood Festival of Speed in full swing, Ford’s mic drop moment was the full unveiling of their annual aviation-themed custom car to benefit the Experimental Aircraft Association’s youth programs. They’ve been doing this for the past ten years now but this one is easily the coolest yet.
This year Ford has chosen to honor the American aviators who volunteered for the Royal Air Force (which also turns 100 this year) in squadrons that became known as “Eagle Squadrons” before America’s involvement in World War II. These were the first Americans to fight over Europe in the war and they did so in the mighty Spitfires. They even operated out of airfields near Goodwood. To celebrate their contributions properly, Ford brought a 2019 Mustang GT, Ford Performance donated the power, and pro drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his RTR team brought the style.
The most striking feature is the painted camouflage which matches the look of the original Eagle Squadron Spitfire. The attention to detail in the paint alone is pretty fantastic. It’s complete with RAF roundels on the doors and hood, the Eagle Squadron emblem on the roof and just behind the front wheels, a tail number painted on the rear quarter panel (which actually belonged to an Eagle Squadron Spitfire), white “nose cone” paint around the grille, and yellow and red accents up front that you’d find on the wing of an RAF Spitfire. This paint work alone makes the car.
Everything else about it is the cherry on top, including the RTR carbon fiber wide-body kit. In addition to the fender flares, it also adds a front chin spoiler, upper grille with RTR’s signature integrated lighting, Gurney lip added to the Performance Pack rear spoiler, front turning vanes, dive planes, rocker splitters, and lower grille diffusers.
And because the stock Mustang’s 460 horsepower just wouldn’t cut it, Ford Performance threw in their supercharger kit which increases the 5.0-liter V8’s output to 700 horsepower and 610 lb.-ft. of torque at 12 psi of boost on 93-octane fuel. The engine is mated to a Tremec 6-speed manual transmission with Ford Performance short shifter, with power delivered to the road via an upgraded heavy-duty rear axle also supplied by Ford Performance.
It rides on an RTR Tactical Performance Suspension Package with in-car adjustable MagneRide dampers, Ford Performance lowering springs, and RTR adjustable sway bars. The fantastic-looking rollers are 20″ RTR Aero 7 two-piece forged wheels which are wrapped around Nitto NT555 tires.
And because no one-off would be complete without a custom interior, Ford fitted Recaro seats with custom leather and Eagle Squadron embroidery and a one-of-one hand-engraved badge made from genuine Spitfire aluminum embedded in the dashboard. Another unique touch is the hand-engraved shift knob made from metal melted down from an F-35 Lightning (probably a prototype) which also carries the Eagle Squadron emblem.
One-off show car or not, it’s a full functional beast that should technically be the fastest Mustang that Ford is selling right now. It ran up the hill at Goodwood with Gittin Jr. behind the wheel yesterday who was accompanied by Royal Air Force veteran Paul Miller, whose father “Dusty” served in Eagle Squadron in 1941 and 1942.
If you’re like most Hooniverse readers and have several hundred grand burning a hole in your pocket, your chance to buy this one-off beast is on July 26 at The Gathering during this year’s EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
Anyways, here’s a picture of the car drifting around a Spitfire.
[Source: Ford]
Singer DLS 911
Singer Vehicle Design unveiled a wonderful 964 project they’ve been working on last November, but today at Goodwood it took its first steps in public before announcing that 75 examples would be sold.
For those who need a refresher (or just want to drool at the specs again), Singer Vehicle Design and Williams Advanced Engineering (that Williams) spent two years on a Dynamics and Lightweight Study (DLS) based on a 964-series Porsche 911. What they came up with is the most advanced air-cooled Porsche ever.
It weighs just 2,180 pounds through the extreme use of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials, is powered by a beautiful 4.0-liter flat six built in collaboration with Hans Mezger with 500 all natural horsepower, and advanced and fully functional aero elements (including the duck tail, which they made work).
It’s an air-cooled 911 from the 80s/90s with the kind of tech and advanced engineering you’d expect to find in the most exclusive modern Porsche, but in a car that qualifies for the antique license plates.
As far as I can tell, nothing has changed about the Singer DLS 964 since I last wrote about it. It’s really just here again because I wanted to post more pictures of it.
[Source: Singer Vehicle Design via Autoblog]
Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign
Nissan and Italdesign have come together for the first time to produce a super limited run of a GT-R like no other. The GT-R50 by Italdesign is stunning way to celebrate 50 years of Italdesign and 50 years of the GT-R (next year, technically). 50 hand-built examples will be made, and to prove it can be driven as hard as a real GT-R, it made its dynamic debut yesterday at Goodwood with Gran Turismo Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez behind the wheel.
It starts life as a brand-new GT-R Nismo but Italdesign developed, engineered, and built it into a stunning museum piece of a car. Key design features include a pronounced power bulge on the hood, stretched LED headlights, a lowered roofline, and prominent “samurai blade” cooling outlets behind the front wheels. A large, adjustable rear wing, mounted with two uprights, completes the overall look. The exterior is finished in a Liquid Kinetic Gray color, with distinctive Energetic Sigma Gold anniversary accents.
Inside, there’s two different carbon finishes used for dashboard and center console trim, custom upholstery on carbon-backed bucket seats, and a racing digital gauge cluster.
Combining precision craftsmanship with brute force is a reworked version of the familiar twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6. Nismo was able to squeeze out 710 horsepower and 575 lb.-ft. of torque which was probably easy to achieve given how well these engines react to mods. A revised Bilstein suspension damping system and bigger Brembo brakes help handle the extra power.
Nissan says that series inquiries may be directed to www.gt-r50.nissan, so definitely don’t spam their inbox with “I’m an Instagram influencer and entrepreneur and I can give your business/hotel/product so much exposure”.
[Source: Nissan]
McLaren prices 600LT
Hey remember the 600 Long Tail that doesn’t actually have a long tail? The lighter, sharper, and more powerful Sports Series has just been priced at $240,000 and can easily jump to over $275,000 when you add one of two clubsport packages. Order books are open now and its 12-month production run starts in October.
[Source: McLaren]
BMW 8 Series priced
The first of the newly revived 8 Series Coupes to hit the market is the well-equipped M850i xDrive, which by that name alone means it’s a sportier model (but not quite at full on M levels) with a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 and all-wheel drive. There will surely be an 8 Series or two that fit below that with other engines, but for now this is the only way to get an 8 Series. To give you an idea of what to expect from their new flagship model range, the new M850i Xbox has just been given an MSRP of $112,895. It arrives in US showrooms in December.
[Source: BMW]
Concorso Italiano Announces Featured Cars for 2018
Monterey Car Week is fast approaching and one of the biggest and most popular shows of the week has just announced some juicy details. In its 33rd year, Concorso Italiano will return to the greens of the Black Horse Golf Course on Saturday, August, 25th 2018 to celebrate Italian style and design-forward fashion, cuisine, wine, art, music and above all else, legendary cars and motorcycles.
They’ll have ten featured classes this year and are expecting nearly 1,000 cars from collections around the world in attendance. Some of the noteworthy examples they’ve confirmed are detailed below (in their own words).
· 2017 Ferrari F-12 TDF: Ferrari designed this model to pay homage to the Tour de France, the legendary endurance road race that Ferrari dominated in the 1950s and 1960s.The F-12 TDF is the ultimate expression of the concept of an extreme road car that is equally at home on the road as it is on the track. Only 799 have been built (ed’s note: and probably half of those will be at the show).
· 1951 Siata Gran Sport Spyder: Based on the Fiat 1400, the Gran Sport Spyder was crafted extremely carefully, and was one of the largest models offered by Siata. It was known in the United States as the “little Ferrari” due to its incredible speed. Due to its age and the number built, this example is incredibly rare.
· 1952 O.S.C.A. MT4: O.S.C.A., an Italian manufacturer of racing and sports cars, was established 1947 by the Maserati brothers. In their day, the MT4 model cars were exceptionally expensive but extraordinarily fast. Only 72 were built.
· 1966 Bizzarrini P538: This is a very rare rear-engined race car launched in the mid-1960s by Scuderia Bizzarrini. Five-speed manual transaxles were used in this car, with gearing specific to the race for which each car was constructed. This was the first V8-powered car to debut at Le Mans.
· 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO: This vehicle was designed for the legendary Group B racing circuit and is one of the top Ferraris ever created. It is a rear-engined, five speed manual that boasts a 400 horsepower twin-turbo 2.9-liter V8 engine. Only 272 were made.
General admission is priced at $180 while VIP tickets with some exclusive perks go for $495. Amongst all the awesomeness that is Monterey Car Week, Concorso Italiano is once again proving why they’re always one of the highlights.
[Source: Concorso Italiano]
What’s your automotive news?
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
[Image © 2018 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]
