If you would like a car that looks almost ordinary, but that is as fast as many supercars, buy the BMW M5. Yes, on the outside, this is an ordinary European sedan – but under the hood is a 500 bhp V-10 engine that you might imagine came from a sports-racing car! Will it do 180 mph? No, it could, but it won’t because BMW uses a limiter to prevent you going faster than 155 mph on all its hot cars. Actually, BMW says it will do over 190 mph without the limiter in operation.

The BMW M5 is powered by a very advanced 5.0 liter V-10 engine, ad fits neatly into the standard engine compartment. This is a very special engine, being built in small numbers and at high cost by BMW’s M Center. It’s a 90-degree V-10, which means that it won’t be quite as smooth as some – in theory, at any rate.

ADVANCED 500 BHP V10 ENGINE

Maximum power is 500 bhp at 7,700 rpm – a real screamer this – while the maximum torque of 380 lb ft is produced at 6,100 rpm. Boy, you’re really going to keep this revving if you want to use all that power. Still, when it’s just mooching along at 4,000 rpm, this amazing unit produces quite a chunk of power.

Needless to say, it has all the features you’d expect in a supercar engine, such as a stiff aluminum block, twin overhead camshafts per bank of cylinders and and narrow 4-valve heads. BMW uses its variable valve timing system, and drives the inlet camshafts on each bank by chain, with a gear drive to the exhaust camshaft, a system pioneered by Toyota to save space.

SEVEN-SPEED SEQUENTIAL GEARBOX

Coupled to this marvel of a power plant, which would seem more at home in a slinky coupe, is a seven-speed sequential gearbox. This is the latest development of the BMW sporty semi-automatic. BMW claims it’s the first seven-speed box of its type. Mercedes-Benz has a seven-speed automatic, and Audi has a CVT with seven stages, but these are not quite the same.

Why all these seven-speed boxes? Well, for maximum acceleration, and so that you have the right gear coming out of any corner, the more gears the better. When you’ve got that many gears, the shift pattern gets pretty complicated with a manual box, so they’re going for either automatics or semi-automatics.

To go with the powerful power train are bigger brakes than standard, wider wheels and tires, and stiffer suspension. The handling is surprisingly good for such an ordinary-looking car.

HOT PERFORMER, QUIET LOOKS

The result of putting this engine in the BMW 5 Series is very hot acceleration for such a big car: 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, and 0-125 mph in 15.6 seconds.

Will people pay over $100,000 or so for a 500 bhp sedan? You bet they will. There are a lot of people out there that want supercar performance, but don’t’ want to have to struggle to get in and out of the car. They also want to travel with plenty of luggage, and have room in the trunk for two sets of golf clubs – and more.

And they’ll get a real kick from burning off cheeky guys in sports cars who get in the way. Cars that are much faster than they look, which we used to call Q cars, have quite a market. What’s it like to drive? Well, at normal speeds, the car is very quiet, and you would not know how power you had. In fact, there is a switch on the steering wheel which limits power to 400 bhp. To get the full 500 bhp, you need to press that.

So, most of the time you’ll drive with 400 bhp, and the problem is that the engine does not have a lot of power until you get to 5,000 rpm, an the power keeps coming in until you get to 8,000 rpm. You need deserted roads to use that power, but the car works pretty well in traffic and normal commuting. Not quite so good in everyday use is the gearbox. It does not have a torque converter, so it can be quite jerky when you shift up.

Designed to win races, the Maserati MC12 is actually sold as a road car, albeit it a very impractical one. Still what do you expect with a 620 bhp exotic car? The car looks just like the sports racing car that it is. To be fair, it is a real two-seater while the cars that race at Le Mans are more like single-seaters.

Only 25 MC12s were built initially, and quite a few were used for racing. Actually, when they heard about Maserati building the MC12 for the GTA championship (ooops, sorry for sale as a road car, was the official line, I think) some of the other companies threatened to withdraw as they thought the presence of the MC12 on the starting grid would make a farce of the whole series.

Although the Maserati MC12, is a true exotic car, it is based on the Ferrari Enzo. The whole idea was to upgrade Maserati’s image following a checkered history. The glory of the 50s, when Maserati was a regular winner of Grand Prix, got lost in the mire of an economic downturn, when the company took the wrong turn more than once.

As Ferrari and Maserati are both part of the Fiat Group, and were in fact in the same sub-group, it made sense to modify the Enzo to get Maserati back as a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati have been put in different sub-groups, so this sort of collaboration is not expected in the future.

V-12 from Ferrari with 622 bhp

The Maserati MC12 looks completeley different from the Enzo, though,, with a long nose and very long tail. Where the Enzo is angular, the MC12 is curved. It has a carbon fiber body structure with steel sub-frames front and rear. Power comes from a 6.0 liter V-12 developing 622 bhp @ 7,500 rpm, and 480 lb ft (652 Nm) torque @ 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be sure. It is coupled to a semi-automatic six-speed sequential gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.

Suspension is by double wishbones, with inboard spring and damper units acting through pushrods. These are mounted horizontally as on the Enzo. The dampers have variable rates. Quite a car, but not as extreme as the Bugatti Veyron or the latest Saleen S7.

Following the racing success of the MC12, Maserati is now to build a more extreme version - the MC12 Corsa. The MC12 Corsa has a massively uprated Enzo V-12 engine giving about 750bhp. You can get this for about $1.3 million - or £700,000 or Euros 1 million depending where you live.

But this is not a road car, nor will you be able to race it in any official categories – so this is a trackday special at a huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12 Corsas a year.

The most exciting high performance American sports car in history is returning in a new form. After a 40-year absence, Carroll Shelby and the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT) have joined forces once again. The ultimate goal was to produce an undisputed reincarnation of the classic and most sought after Shelby Mustangs from the Sixties. The achieved goal far surpassed any expectations, including Shelby’s. Combining the awesome tradition of past Shelby Cobras with modern aerodynamics and performance, this beauty can be touted as no less than an instant performance classic. As anyone who knows Mustangs will tell you, anything with Shelby’s name on it requires a look under the hood and a quick check on the performance statistics. As a living legend in racing circles, Shelby knows more than anyone about big-block performance and eye-catching, heart-racing design: Not only was he the designer of the original Mustang Shelby GT500 classic, he was also the senior advisor on the special team that developed the 550 horsepower Ford GT.

The 2007 Shelby Mustang delivers over 450 horsepower, some, including Shelby himself, say as much as 475 horsepower. With a cast iron block, supercharged at 8.5 pounds per square inch of boost, the 2007 Shelby is the most stalwart production Mustang ever built. In comparison with the wildly popular 1967 Shelby GT500, the 2007 version produces nearly 100 more horsepower with nearly 100 less cubic inches. Besides delivering extraordinary power, it produces more than twice the fuel economy and 300 times less emissions. Four valves per cylinder and a double overhead cam means optimum efficiency in air and fuel ignition. The electronic fuel injection system is a top quality returnless and sequential force feeder. The cast-aluminum intake manifold compliments the equilibrium of the air/fuel system with an air-to-water inter-cooler. Just as the original Shelby GT500 was the next level up to big-block power from the GT350, the new Shelby Cobra GT500 is a giant leap up from the 4.6-liter engine used in the previous generation Cobras. Ford’s 5.4-liter “MOD” (short for modular) V-8 delivers unrivaled and exceptional power. The 32-valve engine and screw-type supercharger delivers the ultimate in performance driving experience.

This super-car is standard equipped with a six-speed performance gearbox that helps deliver an evenly distributed torque curve and optimum power via precise gearing ratio. The heavy-duty transmission is more than adequate to handle the enormous power transfer to the rubber on the road. It has been tested and proven in track competition as well as day-to-day street driving. In the 2005 Mustang FR500C, this racing chassis and suspension rose to the occasion by clinching the Grand-Am Cup series. Needless to say, this makes the 2007 Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 the best handling high performance vehicle on the road today.

The upgraded chassis and suspension features improvements in many components including shocks, stabilizer bars and spring rates. The independent front suspension boasts genuine MacPherson struts and reverse type lower control arms. It also boasts large 34-mm tubular stabilizers. The three-link solid axle rear suspension is equipped with a Panhard rod for precise rear axle action with coil springs and a 24-mm solid stabilizer bar. The brakes are some of the largest ever designed for a performance vehicle. They feature four wheel power discs: Brembo 14-inch vented, crossed drilled with four-piston calipers up front and thirteen inch vented, crossed drilled with two piston calipers on the back wheels. This combination has set itself apart from the rest of the field as great power requires great control. The 2007 Shelby Cobra features very large wheels: 19 by 9 1/2 inch machined aluminum, which accommodate P255/45R19 racing performance tires.

The Cobra emblems and LeMans racing stripes are Shelby’s signature touches. The gauge face arrangement, console layout and the rest of the interior design creates waves of nostalgia that sweep over the driver. Again, tradition meets modern technology as the light-emitting diode (LED) instrument panel can be adjusted through the MyColor™ color-configurable instrument panel to create more than 125 unique color options for personalized gauges. The tachometer stands out as at least as important as the speedometer. All in all, the design creates a very strong connection with the performance enthusiast whatever age they may be.

Early forecasts of the demand for the 2007 Shelby Mustangs are astonishing. A high profile production car of this pedigree should undoubtedly be priced far out of the reach of most enthusiasts. Thankfully, this is not the case. The MSRP is predicted to be under $40,000. One of the best ways to make sure you will be driving a new Cobra is to plan early. Find out which dealers will be offering Shelby’s new creation, and when it will happen. I can guarantee you the showrooms will be packed wall-to-wall for this one.

The best way to plan for the unveiling is to get on the Internet and visit car finder services (http://www.carfinderservice.com/model/2007-Ford-Shelby-Cobra) These kinds of services can absolutely guarantee you will get your Shelby Mustang at the most rock bottom pricing possible. You can input a description of what you are looking for with your zip code. A trusted in-network dealer will then contact you personally to talk about your request and how to fulfill it. They can also answer any questions you might have. If it is not available locally, you will receive a call offering you information on where the vehicle matching your request is available.

The 2007 Shelby Mustang GT500 is here. It has made a dramatic and grand entrance into the American performance vehicle scene and it arrives with the earmark of royalty and dominance which is rightfully its place. The bar has been set very high with this one. It is, indeed, the new benchmark of excellence.

The BMW M6 is the most sophisticated and powerful BMW 6 Series Coupé ever. A seven-speed sequential manual gearbox and a superior chassis and suspension compliments its engine.With almost 500 horsepower available, BMW claims the M6 will hit 60 mph in under 4.6 seconds, and it will run to 205 mph without the traditional 155-mph speed limiter. The new M6 also uses BMW’s new third-generation seven speed Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG) with Drivelogic. Driving dynamics, motoring comfort and generous space inside redefines the new BMW series. [PRWEB May 14, 2005]

See also: Steve Thomas BMW