Part of our coverage of the LA Auto Show brought us a first hand look at the highly modified Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 due out in 2013. It sports a brand new grille, LED lighting, and aggressive chin splitter up front. Under the hood, the Mustang holds a 5.8-liter more efficient TVS 2300 supercharger that produces an incredible 650 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque. Ford focused on making it more efficient with their all-new fuel delivery module and injector combination.
Greg Windler
DMC Lamborghini Gallardo for the ski slopes
Professional freeskier and alpine ski racer Jon Olson had his latest Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 customized for the ski slopes by DMC. Most skiers would never choose an exotic sports car for these conditions, but Jon thinks different. At first he did this with a Lamborghini Murcielago LP670 Superveloce holding a ski-box on top, however once the new Aventador was released, he sold that Murci and jumped on the waiting list.
SchwabenFolia Wiesmann MF5 V10 Roadster
SchwabenFolia is a new tuning company jumping onto the scene with their custom Wiesmann MF5 V10 Roadster called the Black Bat. It is an impressive tuning project featuring several styling improvements and performance upgrades. The Wiesmann MF5 comes powered by BMW’s performance engine of the year, the S85B50. It is a 5.0-liter V10 producing 507PS and 520Nm of torque at its optimal rpm levels. While the powerplant has it all, the exterior received a matte black foil wrap and modifications for a more aggressive look.
Senner Tuning Opel Astra
Senner Tuning has released their latest take on the Opel Astra that received some new styling and performance modifications for the 1.4-liter turbo petrol engine. Senner started off with a new BMC sport air filter, sport exhaust system and wrapped them together with a revised ECU. This allows the custom Opel Astra to produce 165 horsepower and 250 Nm of torque. Quite an increase from the stock 140 HP and 200 Nm of torque. On the exterior of the small sporty hatch is a styling kit comprised of a matte black Steinmetz front grille, new front lip, side skirts, rear diffuser, and roof spoiler.
RENNtech Mercedes SLR McLaren
A slew of tuning companies showed up to resurrect this Mercedes SLR McLaren and turn it into one of the world’s fastest. The package uses body parts from Mansory, with tuners RENNtech, Exotics Boutique, Platinum Motorsport, and MACarbon bringing it all together. The kit on the exterior of the SLR is called the Renovatio from Mansory, and the supercharger comes courtesy of RENNtech. The transmission was also upgraded by RENNtech to handle all the extra power.
D3 Cadillac CTS-V Le Monstre
Cadillac seems to be getting serious about designing cars to appeal to the younger generation with all these tuned Cadillac CTS-V cars showing up on the market. Tuning companies worldwide are digging in the potential these cars hold, and to their surprise, putting out some nice packages with significant power upgrades. At the SEMA Show this week in the Toyo Tires booth, The D3 Group has this Cadillac CTS-V Coupe on display. It holds a highly modified 6.2-liter LSA V8 that has been bored out to 7.0-liters, and they say it produces around 1,001 horsepower and 1,000 lb-ft of torque.
Jet Powered Speed Racing Video by Degree
Here is our video of the month featuring Bear Grylls and brought to us by the Degree Men Adrenaline Lab. This unique video covers the jet powered speed racing world and mad man himself, Paul Stender. He owns several of these jet powered cars and it is his passion. The school bus you see here has over 42,000 HORSEPOWER. Yes that horsepower number is correct, and equal to around 247 average cars. Waste of fuel you say? Definitely, but the speeds that you can obtain on the ground in these jet powered cars is insane. How fast you ask?
Nasty Chrome Wrapped Range Rover
Put on your sunglasses, this car receives the our award for the worst looking Range Rover on the streets. Other tuners like Project Kahn and Mansory have had success with the popular Range Rover SUV, but this particular one is a good example of what happens when you go too far. A little too much chrome wrap you say? The chrome wrapping of cars became popular last year all around the world, and still seems to be holding its popularity today.
New Ford Focus, Fiesta, and Mustang tuning kits
Here we have the latest video from Ford, who have announced plans to introduce ten new tuned cars at the upcoming SEMA Show. Starting off is a new Ford Focus with Roush Stage 3 tuning. It will feature a new induction system with a supercharger and dual exhaust. On the exterior is a matte finish along with a front lip spoiler and unique graphics. If that doesn’t suite you, Ford will have plenty of high modified Focus models on display. Six others to be exact, including one of the jobs being performed by Capaldi Racing.
Forced Fed makes Lotus Elise even lighter
If the Lotus Elise isn’t light enough for you, then look into having it tuned and cut up by Forced Fed in New York. This model is currently for sale in California, and has been converted into a track star with a ton of new parts totaling more than what the car is currently worth. To go along with the weight reduction, an Eaton supercharger, Alcon brakes, and Quaife differential have been installed on the Lotus Elise to boost the overall performance.
VATH Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG
The tuners at VATH have released an elegant kit for the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG luxury sports car. If you think this car lacks some power, then turn to the German tuning firm who has boosted output from 525 horsepower and 700 Nm of torque, to a mind blowing 660 HP and 990 Nm of torque. The result of the Mercedes tuning is a new sprint time from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.9 seconds, 200 km/h in 12.0 seconds, and a new top speed of 325 km/h or 202 mph.
Prior Design BMW 3-Series receives M3 Styling
Prior Design has been a busy tuning company recently, releasing several new packages for the BMW 3-Series cars. When compared to the performance of the BMW M3, the 3-Series models can definitely use some help. That’s when Prior Design comes to play with their new aerodynamic wide body kit designed to add some features of the M3 to the simple 3-Series. Why owners wouldn’t trade in their BMW 3-Series and spend a little extra on a real M3 beats me.