Daily Archives: February 16, 2016
Aston Martin Vulcan Lands and Wows Everyone
You may want to change your laptop and phone wallpapers now with the Aston Martin Vulcan as it lands to wow just about every living thing on the planet.
But, of course, if you’re one of the 24 lucky customers who managed to shell out £1.8 million for Aston’s 820 bhp, 7.0-liter V12-engined ode to the tracks, then you’ll get a firsthand experience on how to maneuver the Vulcan.
Hold still, though, the company just doesn’t hand you over the keys to this kind of powerful machine. It teaches you to fall into it by tutoring you how to handle the Aston martin V12 Vantage S and the Vantage GT4 racer first.
The first set of customers has undergone the same process, the company said, which took place at Abu Dhabi’s Formula One circuit. Each driver was given a passenger-side instruction to learn each lap. They were tested day and night to experience the car in different conditions.
The Aston Martin Vulcan is basically a high-end machine created for thrill-seeking billionaires. And although it is prudent to talk about the car’s oil system, it is also worth noting that the Vulcan has a plug-and-play lubrication system, making it possible to do a full oil change in 10 seconds.
Fraser Dunn, chief engineer of Aston’s Aston’s Q Advanced Operations Center in Wellingsbourne, England, said that Castrol’s Nexcel system was used in the Vulcan. The system is a box that includes both oil and filter elements to effective act as reservoir for a dry-sump lubrication system.
It allows the machine to offer a mess-free oil change by simply removing a Nexcel unit and putting in a new one. The system cuts maintenance times, especially since a car like this can be stored for extended periods between runs in the tracks.
Only 24 of these track-exclusive machines were released to adventure-lover billionaires, so seeing one on a track is a sure way to get your blood pumping.
Source: TopGear
1961 Ferrari 250 GT Heads to Amelia Island for Auction
If you or know someone who can easily sign a check for $16 million to get their hands on a “celebrity car,” so to speak, then throw this little bit of information to them: the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider is up for sale at the Amelia Island auction in Florida next month.
According to CarAndDriver, only 56 units of this car have been made. Only 37 of them have been fitted with those sought-after covered headlights. This particular machine has exchanged ownership three times since it was constructed and sold 55 years ago.
Industrial designer Gianfranco Frattini was the first one to own the Ferrari. While under his care, it was featured in the film “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” with Hollywood actress Sophia Loren in 1963.
In June 1978, it was bought by its second owner Terzo Dalia, and then passed on to its third owner in 1985. This is the first time it will be up for public sale, and the first time it is being offered outside Italy.
This short-wheelbase model of the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT is based on its previous long-wheelbase version. The auto features a number of upgrades such as a timeless coachwork by Scaglietti, a more nimble chassis and four-wheel disc brakes. With Scaglietti behind the design, it’s no wonder one look at the Ferrari can render an exquisite reaction.
Gooding & Company, which has been tapped to represent the car publicly, said this is Ferrari’s prettiest car and the exquisite bodywork hides an even more impressive machine. The company expects the car to go up to about $16 to $17 million on March 11 when the auction opens its doors.
Based on the records at Sports Car Market, having a selling price of $16 million would put this in the range of California Spiders—the current record is at $18.6 million paid for the Baillon barnfind in Paris a year ago.