I previously posted about a car powered by a motorcycle engine, so what about motorcycles powered by car engines? I am sure you remember the Dodge Tomahawk powered by the Dodge Viper’s V10 engine. The German boys over at HMS Sportsbikes have built a monster dragster bike powered by a BMW V12 engine. Click here to read the rest of HMS V12 Dragster Bike
Best Motoring pitches the 2 liter VTEC superstar Honda S2000 against two other Hondas with similiar displacements. Going up against it is a Honda Accord Euro R with a 2.2 liter H22A engine, and a Honda Civic EK9 powered by a hybrid engine which combines a B20 2.0 liter block from a Honda Stepwagon with a B16 VTEC head from a Civic Type R to create a 2.0 liter VTEC hybrid. So now we have three powerful Honda engines (the S2000’s F20C, the EK9’s B20 hybrid and the Accord’s H22A) in 3 different Honda cars. The exciting race is after the jump! Click here to read the rest of Best Motoring - 2 liter VTEC Challenge
Peter Bee, a Smart car enthusiast wanted somemore power out of his little Smart ForTwo. The original Mitsubishi engine in the Smart ForTwo made about 60hp, and through some tweaking he managed to get this up to 100hp. But it wasn’t enough for him.
He approached Z Cars, a kit car company specialising in putting motorcycle engines into cars. Z Cars had put Yamaha R1 engines into Mini Coopers. They seemed like the right people for the job. He also approached Phil Seton of Seton Racing, who provided a personally tweaked Suzuki GSXR1000 engine (stuff like Yoshimura exhausts, etc) which made a maximum of 180hp, screaming all the way up to 13,500rpm. The engine was mounted at the rear of the car. The result was called the Smartuki, a mash of the names Smart and Suzuki of course.
The Smartuki goes from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds, does the 400 meter dash in 12.4 seconds and tops out at 213km/h. There are two videos of this monster after the jump. The pocket rocket sounds like an F1 car on the track… enjoy!
Click here to read the rest of Smartuki - Smart ForTwo with Suzuki GSXR1000 superbike engine
After the launch of the new E90 BMW 3-series (and E91 BMW 3-series station wagon) which has been on Malaysian roads for quite some time now, BMW has finally revealed the 2-door version of the E90 sedan, the E92 BMW 3-Series Coupe. Along with the new bodyshape, BMW also launches it’s first twin-turbo petrol engine in a production car for the BMW 335i SE Coupe. Click here to read the rest of BMW 3 Series Coupe - BMW 335i
Click here to read the rest of Syed Zainal: 100 days in the hot seat
It’s been a little over 100 days since Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, a former Perodua executive was appointed as the Managing Director of Proton Holdings Bhd after a long search for a new chief executive to replace Tengku Mahaleel whose contract was not renewed.
Proton is making plans to manufacture low-end Lotus cars in Malaysia in late 2007 or 2008, and both Lotus and Proton management have agreed with this plan.
The companies are currently identifying the specifications for the car, the pltform to work with and the target market. Lotus cars are priced between RM300,000 to RM400,000, but this new low-end Lotus car would be priced around the RM100,000 range. If this plan works out, this would be truly “my first Lotus” for alot of people who want to experience Lotus engineering and power through lightness concept.
It could be a lower-end sports car than the very basic Lotus Elise, or could be something else out of the Lotsu norm like the Lotus APX.
Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox)
Volkswagen’s Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) is the world’s first dual-clutch automated manual gearbox in a production car. This provides the driver the ease-of-drive of a car equipped with an automatic transmission, but the efficiency and flexibility of a manual transmission.
Naza’s R&D Team has developed this special Sports Concept version of the Naza Sutera. From what I can see from this photo sent in by reader Xefron, it’s clad in some nice black paint as well as a sporty bodykit which includes a rear roof spoiler.
I personally do not like hatchbacks roofs that curve down the way the Naza Sutera’s does (I prefer an angle closer to 90 degrees but the Sutera’s curve is more of 60 degrees?), but the addition of the roof spoiler has improved the rear’s look. The Sports Concept also uses sports rims that look like Ray’s Wheels Volk Racing TE37 wheels at first glance to me. This 6-spoke wheel design has been very popular with car enthusiasts lately. It is said that if the public gives good response to this sporty concept, it will be produced by Naza as an additional model to the current two model lineup.
The car also has a horizontal red and white stripe which reminds me alot of Proton’s Race Rally Research stripe and Nissan’s Nismo stripe.
For more information on the newly launched Naza Sutera 1.1 liter, please check out my previous post 2006 Naza Sutera 1.1 Manual.
[ UPDATE: The Naza Sutera is now known as the Naza Forza. Click the link for a test drive report. ]
Naza has launched it’s new car, the Naza Sutera on Saturday, 22nd April 2006. It’s launch coincides with the launch of Naza’s new RM1.3 billion in Bertam, Kepala Batas. The Naza Sutera is a 1.1 liter small car focusing on economy and is based on a little Chinese car called the Hafei Lobo. Naza developed the Naza Sutera with an investment of RM200 million.
Naza will be launching it’s new Naza Sutera (Naza NX-01) tomorrow in Bertam, Penang. The Naza Sutera will be Naza’s first foray into the national mini car market, currently dominated by the Proton Savvy and the Perodua Myvi. Naza also sells the Kia Picanto but that’s not really the same price range and it is considered an import car. Click here to read the rest of Naza Sutera (Naza NX-01) to be launched tomorrow
