Limited edition Lexus LFA unveiled before 2011 Geneva Show

A $375,000 supercar, of which only 500 will be built, not exclusive enough for you? Good news: the petrolheads over at the Lexus skunkworks have honed a special lightweight, track day version of their already awesome LFA for you. Only 50 will be made and christened “Nürburgring Package”. These special, limited edition cars are tuned to deliver exceptionally fast track times and sport large aeordynamic aids to keep downforce and consequently cornering speed high. To compensate there’s an extra 10bhp to push that huge wing through the air, supplemented by a 100kg weight reduction that sees acceleration maintained and, no doubt, braking distance reduced. To keep the connection with the Nürburgring going, buyers will be given free tuition and a years pass for the Nordschleife – this car is, after all, built to celebrate class victories there.

Here’s a Yellowwheels totally exclusive video of the car being unloaded for the photoshoot. You won’t see this anywhere else!

That massive carbon wing is fixed in position, unlike the standard car’s retractable one. There’s a huge front dam/tray that reduces effective ground clearance beyond the 10mm ride height lowering. Subtle chin winglets help channel air where it’s wanted, whilst at the rear, just over the tail-lights, Lexus have added small flaps. Inside, a liberal dose of carbon fibre and Alcantara replaces the standard leather. The Geneva Motor Show will be the car’s first public appearance on 3rd March.



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Winning render by Team Belgium

Results of the Autemo World Champs

Back last January we were intrigued by a very special new service offered by Australia based website Autemo.com . They gather artists from around the globe whose calling in life is to transform ordinary car images into extraordinary renditions. They don’t take prisoners in this game; if you want just a wheel change, they’ll be hankering to do a full body swop. A subtle lip spoiler? Nah, fire breathing tailpipes and outrageous slats, vents, not to mention assault helicopters plus strafing SWAT team, is more their battlefield. This transformation is what they term a “chop”.

Main attraction for the artists is to join like minded people, show off their skills and earn some money in the process. Ultimate ambition, though, is to end up designing cars for manufacturers and body modders. Autemo funnels work to their flock by being the meeting point for industry and artists.

With 1760 artists vying for attention, Autemo organised a world rendering challenge to sort the men from the, errrr, lesser photoshop-men. National pride was at stake too as members were sorted into teams by country. 4 rounds, plus quarter, semis and final would decide which of 35 participating countries prevailed. Judging was ultra democratic, with the entire community eligible to vote for each round.


Worthy winning entries based on Lotus Elise

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Vauxhall VRX8 - yellow and horny!

Order your VRX8 Supersaloon now

Thinking of beatling down to the land of OZ to sample GM’s latest fire-breathing V8 monster? No need, as Vauxhall have sailed their yellow submarine across the sea to these hallowed shores. Sporting gills of gargantuan proportions and LED crested slats up front, Vauxhall call the black grille a “Shockwave”. We’re not sure what the rear black paneling below the “Superflow” spoiler is called, surf-wave? Once you’ve wrenched your eyes off the Hot Wheels rims you might want to peek inside for some visual relief.

Step down the conning tower into the sub’s command centre, where there’s plenty of space to have all your friends on board, and it’s all military black and grey with sonar dash display, and hang on – a trio of supplementary analogue instruments – depth gauge, oxygen mix and dive angle no doubt. Better hand you over to Vauxhall’s spec sheet before this submariner’s analogy sinks…Full speed ahead Mr Parker.



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New BMW 1 Series M Coupe

BMW 1 Series Coupe M

Valencia orange M car completes BMW’s über-sports lineup

1 Series: you’ve been tangoed! BMW’s baby coupe storms into the picture ripe and ready to be peeled and juiced. While squeezing a laudable 227 bhp per tonne out of it’s fruity 3.0 litre engine. More tangerine than navel orange, it sits at the bottom of the M range, but has to call itself 1 Series M Coupe to distinguish it from the original M car, the M1. That M1 was a mid-engined supercar, but such is progress, that it is out-performed by this shopping car on steroids. And it’s those steroids that make this car desirable: without the wide arches, extra spoilers and hot engine the 1 Series looks a bit plain Jane.



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coffee on the go in yer JCB

How about a digger that makes the tea? JCB do one!

When we featured a JCB loader to ferry a crazy guy around Trafalgar Square last year, we thought to ourselves “what’s really missing is some in flight coffee.” Well, not really…But, lo and behold, JCB must have been listening and have spawned the world’s first digger with an on board coffee maker. Spooky timing, as we’ve just kitted out the YW office with a Nespresso machine. We’re not up to speed with how JCB’s machine works, but it produces hot water and presumably sports some kind of filter arrangement for the coffee brewing. If your tipple is tea then just use the hot water and a good old bag of burnt leaves.
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MINI and BMW electric kids cars - with adult helmet to show scale

Great gift idea: buy the kids their own electric cars

With Christmas knocking on our doors next month we thought it was time to consider what the kiddies out there might want to find around the tree. iPad, no – too young, Playstation – nah, too annoying. Electric car – yeah, just the ticket for a few laps of the tree and drive!

Bring on the nice people at BMW and MINI who lent us some samples to play with. First up is a gorgeous electric MINI Cooper S convertible miniature; yours for a mere 249 Euros from www.mini.com/shop or 129 Euros in pedal car form. This deep metallic blue micro car is aimed at the 3-5 year old in your litter, comes with electric rechargeable pack and not much else. Unfortunately our particular sample got damaged en route, note to Santa: pack your sleigh a bit better pleeeeze. So ignore the crack on the rear left of the car, it certainly didn’t stop us bringing you this extreme car test.



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