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. I just throw in a little opinion of mine because I can. This week:

• McLaren selling off a factory-fresh F1

• Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport priced under $70K

• Volkswagen claims Nürburgring front-wheel-drive lap record

• Toyota actually builds a real [one-off] 86 Shooting Brake

• RM Sotheby’s to auction off awesome Ford performance collection

• What’s your automotive news?

McLaren Special Operations selling pristine ’98 F1

McLaren may have stopped building the legendary F1 nearly twenty years ago, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still buy one in practically brand-new condition. McLaren Special Operations (MSO) is putting a concours-quality F1 up for sale in what’s likely the only time you can still buy an old car from the factory. The car has been under the professional care of the MSO Heritage division, which branched from the same team that oversaw F1 servicing since the day it launched. So it’s about as pristine as any F1 will ever be.
This example is one of the last road-going F1s ever built and was one of six built in the final year of production. Only 64 roadcars were built in total. This particular car, stamped as chassis number 69 (the F1 VIN range includes race cars, presumably), has less than 2,800 miles under it and comes with everything it did from the factory. The fitted luggage (naturally), manuals, aluminum titanium tool kits, correctly numbered LM Edition of the Driving Ambition McLaren F1 book, and even the exact owner’s watch presented on delivery.

The car itself is presented in Carbon Black and is complemented by a stealth finish to the seventeen-inch center-locking magnesium wheels. The central driving seat is finished in black and red contrasting leather while the two passenger seats are upholstered in Alcantara.
And of course, the majestic, racing-derived, and ethereal 6.1-liter V12 fitted in the gold-lined engine bay still develops the same 627 horsepower that helped it hit a record 242.8 mph. To this day it’s still the fastest naturally-aspirated car in the world.

In short, the McLaren F1 is magnificent and probably the finest example is up for sale. This news also broke last week just a few hours after the last news recap ran but I’m including this anyway because the McLaren F1 is awesome and I wanted to talk about it.
[Source: McLaren]

2017 Corvette Grand Sport starts at $66,445

Borrowed from the Grand Sport landing page

It’s been covered a few times on this site already, but I promise this is maybe the last update on the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport you’ll have to hear for, like, at least a couple months. This is the update we’ve really been waiting on though…
The track-bred Corvette Grand Sport will start at $66,445 as a coupe and $70,445 as a convertible (yes, it’s available as both). They both go on sale this summer, just in time for track day season.
Even in standard form, this Corvette has a lot of bite. It has the same 460 horsepower LT1 as the standard Stingray, but that’s about all that’s left unchanged. Chevrolet threw in every performance option they could to make this a perfect fit for track day enthusiasts. It comes standard with a more aggressive aero package which produces actual downforce, enhanced cooling, an electronic limited-slip differential, Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, Brembo brakes, and a seven-speed manual transmission with active rev-matching (which I’m pretty sure you can turn off) or an optional eight-speed automatic.
You can get more of those performance options with the available Z07 package, the cost of which is not yet known. That adds Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, carbon ceramic-matrix brakes, and probably some other things too.
A collector’s edition will also go on sale later in the year for those looking to turn a highly capable track weapon into an investment. The pricing on that hasn’t been announced yet. Don’t worry, you’ll hear more about it if pricing drops during a slow news week when I’m desperate to fill space.
[Source: Chevrolet]

Golf GTI Clubsport S sets ‘ring record

Nürburgring lap times have been hotly contested ever since manufacturers began exploiting the nearly thirteen-mile-long track as an effective proving ground. Few records have changed hands as often recently as the emerging front-wheel-drive record, which up until now has been held by the new Euro-spec Honda Civic Type R which stole it from Renualt who stole it from Seat the year before.
That record has now changed hands again for the fourth time in two years. With a time of 7:49.21, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S is now the fastest FWD car around the ‘ring by 1.43 seconds. That time was set by Benny Leuchter, a professional racer out of Germany.
As for the car, it’s technically a GTI but has more power and grip than the Golf R which would normally sit above it in the family tree. The GTI Clubsport S still runs with the EA888 turbo-four but gets to play with 306 horsepower and 280 lb.-ft. of torque, more than any road-legal production Golf. It weights just a tick under 3,000 pounds, rides on a reworked suspension, and claws to the ground with a torque-sensing limited-slip differential and Michelin Club Sport 2 semi-slick tires. It’s certifiably awesome. It’s also not on sale in America.
[Source: Volkswagen via Autoweek]

Toyota 86 Shooting Brake concept

Let today be known as the day that the automotive blogosphere collectively lost its mind. It’s not uncommon for someone to fire up photoshop and see what a certain car would look like as a shooting brake. Everything from the C7 Corvette to the BMW M2 has gotten that kind of treatment, but today, Toyota did that in real life. They’ve actually built a shooting brake version of the 86 sports car. This is only a one-off concept, but it’s the kind of concept that we approve of.

Conceived by Toyota Australia and hand-built in Japan, this 86 Shooting Brake takes what was a great little sports car and turns it into a more practical but equally fun three-door. If produced (and that’s a big ‘if’), it would theoretically provide buyers with a “classy option” for a second car; one that’s as capable of hauling gear for a weekend away as it would be on a fun road. As Brad Cramb, Toyota Autralia’s divisional manager of national marketing, put it best, “it’s a car you could buy with your head and your heart”.
It started as a 1/4 scale clay model presented to Toyota 86 global chief engineer Tetsuya Tada and ended with a real-life concept. It’s purely an internal design study and there are no plans for production, but they’re still interested in the public’s reaction. The project managers at least would love to see it become a reality so that has to count for something.
[Source: Toyota Australia via Autoblog because their media site refused to believe I exist]

RM Sotheby’s auctioning off six awesome Fords

This year’s Monterey Car Week festivities are already shaping up to be spectacular. Other than the car shows and the racing, collector car auctions are another big part of the week-long celebration of fine motoring, which is why RM Sotheby’s is already hyping up one of the collections they’re rolling across the auction block. Six fine examples of classic Ford performance cars are going up for sale at RM Sotheby’s auction which runs from August 19-20 in Monterey, CA.
These six cars are part of the Jim Click Ford Performance Collection. Jim Click is a dealer network owner turned classic car collector and runs at various historic motorsport reunions as Jim Click Racing. He’s the kind of guy who insists on driving these cars the way they were meant to be driven, so while they’re technically collector cars going up at a collector car auction, these cars are well used.
Headlining the collection is the 1964 Shelby 289 Competition Cobra CSX 2473, one of the most successful racing Cobras of all time. Equally spectacular is the 1966 Ford GT40 Mk 1, chassis number P1061, one of just 31 Mk 1 road cars. Both of these cars have seen many miles of racing even back in their heyday and have an estimated value of $2,200,000 – $2,600,000 and $3,750,000 – $4,250,000, respectively.
The rest of the collection is rounded out by a 1964 Shelby 289 Cobra that was restored as a vintage race car, a pair of Kar Kraft Ford Mustang Boss 302 Trans Am Race Cars (years ’69 and ’70), and a 1966 Shelby GT350.
[Source: RM Sotheby’s via Autoblog]

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 © 2016 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]