What will be the future car tread?

Since the time of the Automobile it went from being a wealthy privilege status symbol to a mainstream source of transportation to do away with the horse and train. It's indepandance helped more folks develop more options and opportunities for themselves and their families however once the car became affordable to the middle class it was only a matter of time when a young buff would want to modify his car and the birth of the aftermarket industry was born.

From the early 1940's to the late 50's was the hotrodding generation were young guys mostly in their late teens to early 30's would often take something like a 57 chevy, a 40's ford roadster and either put a larger engine, supercharge it and even turbo. Cool crazy flat black paint jobs with red and white wheels were often the look to achieve. Flat head V8's and iron blocks set many land speed records during these years and were very successful in motor sports in European racing in which caused world famous car designer "Carroll Shelby" to stand up and take notice.

The 1960's brought us the Muscle car age with the appearance of the Pontiac GTO and Ford Mustang of 1964. Followed by the appearance of the Chevelle in 65, Chevy Nova, Camaro/Firebird, Challanger along with many other soon set the standard of the automotive generation from the early 60's to the late 70's. American muscle was growing very strong at that time with different type's V8's offered in these road warriors that offered performance that are even impressive by today's standard's. Sadly with the oil crisis of 1976 and the later economical issues the muscle car tread ended and the baby boomers by then were fresh out of college typically with a mortgage, a wedding date with a child on the way which meant it was time for more economical cars.

However during the 1980's and 90's we saw the appearance of the sportscar generation starting with the famous 1984 Corvette which thought to be the most advanced car on the road and could even rival the performance of the Lamborghini Countach which also was later proven false. Cars like the Dodge Daytona Turbo, Toyota Supra, and the later Dodge Viper of the 90's soon became the cars to own. Many wanted exotic cars like the Countach, Testarossa and Esprit however during those day's it was tough and very diffcult to attain a Supercar so the best alternative was to spend $45,000 and have a 3000GT VR4 with identical performance to match a Porsche 911 Turbo. As the 1990's progressed so did the aftermarket indistry along with the street racing scene and soon many of these cars started seeing dealership sold tuner cars such as the Corvette Callaway Supernatural, the Mustang Saleen or the Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom. Although very expensive most were very fast more than capable of catching their 200 thousand dollar european counterparts.

With the aftermarket indusitry beginning to grow like never before and kids as young as high scholars buying and modifying honda's it was only a matter of time before the next automotive tread began with the street tuner scene. Mostly consisting of high school to college age many of these kids will take their first car and modify them with turbo's, superchargers, body kits and wild paint jobs. Very similar to the Hotrodding day's from the 1940's however instead of using power from a V8 engine most of them are using 4 cylinder motor's backed by Turbo chargers or Nitrous injection. With the 2001 movie "The Fast and the furious" and the Playstation 1 video game "Gran Turismo 2" we saw the tuner market explode in the early 2000's making the Toyota Supra and Nissan Skyline not only instant modern classics but they very car to own and modify today.

In 2011 it's been over 10 years since the import tuner market has taken off and has had influence even over American made cars like the Chevy Cobalt SS. It continues to grow strong today however like the Muscle car age we yet face another oil crisis that threatens our hobby and with "CAFE" laws in force after 2012 it will make it harder for cars that produce big horsepower to pass admissions or even be street legal.

What does the future Automotive tread and Supercar industry face beyond 2012?

Fuel Economy is going to be the key to survivability here. Emissions would be the secondary issue as they must be low however making any Tuner car, Muscle car or Supercar "Eco Friendly" is simply cutting its balls off. We can't imagine a "Go green Ferrari" or even a Go green Nissan GTR however with cars like the Tesla Roadster being electric and offering performance that rivals almost any gas powered supercar we could only guess thats were the future of tuning will be along with Supercars.

The up and coming "Generation Green" must continue to be the same basic tread since the early 1940's and offer something to it's consumer that has never been offered by previous generation in order to catch our interests for the future and I'm not talking about pimped out smart cars with lambo doors or a $70,000 Aston Martin Cygnet & Colette.

One thing's for sure It will not be easy to innovate a new tread with were things are headed I suppose we could design a fuel cell chassis and build interchangeable body panels to were we can simply design our own cars at the dealership showroom but that won't happen. The bottom line is we have been brought up to think a certain way about our hot rods and supercars and by breaking a tradition may very well put the car hobby back in the closet for a couple of years during this technological transition. When it becomes mainstream in the near future we can only guess that the same way current old school muscle car enthusiasts that view Import cars will soon be Import guys will often look down upon these go green cars.

I hope to look back on this in 15 years from now and see if my wild guess becomes a reality. Stay tuned folks the truth is coming in the near future.

VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media

Bugatti End's production of the veyron.

GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE!


The Veyron comes to an end finally as Bugatti begins on building its new 2+2 coupe which plans on having the same blistering performance as a Veyron.


From the time the Veyron was conivced back in the earily 2000's as a "V-16" Supercar to dominate the Mclaren F1 and the Lamborghini Diablo I knew it would become a classic someday however it will never be in the same level as the big MAC.

Sure it was the car to take the record away from the F1 and CCR in the first place then regain its title of being the fastest street legal car once again from the SSC Aero BUT it will never get the same respect as the Mclaren F1. Had Bugatti invested in a racing program and took this car out to lemans and showed the rest of the world this car is worth the million dollar price and it won it's class perhaps it may have been as respectable. However the Veyron will never gain the respect because of its asking price and lack of hertiage. It's not any different than a Rolls Royce except it's a sporty version of a luxury car but do you really need a 16 cylinder engine with 4 turboes? Not really. Today with 1000+horsepower Vipers, Supra's and even Lamborghini's are now getting into the game of tuning were the performance is very attainable for almost anyone.

Styling is poor. It reminds me of a Beetle of roids. At a million dollars they could have at the very least included some cool swing up doors or something but no they are the exact same conventional doors found on a little 12 thousand dollar Hyundai Accent or any car at that. What your really buying this car is for the engineering masterpeace found behind seats. Sure it may hold the top speed record of being the fastest car to date but I can promise you that will be broken sooner than later.

The Bottom line

The Veyron is a giant june bug and like june bugs that come out during a season this will only be a popular supercar for it's generation. Car's the Mclaren F1 and even the Porsche 911 can brag for many generations about how many race's they've been in and won, not to mention have made history manytimes before. On the other hand the Veyron gets to be a proud part of the Dan Marino Club.

Were's your superbowl victory? but in this case were's your racing hertiage?

VF1Skullangel with acceleration Media.

The 458 is the best Ferrari to date.

Ferrari began looking to replace it's F430 Supercar back in 2009 and what they came up with has been unbelievable! The F458 is without a doubt the best looking ferrari in my opinion since the 355. I haven't been this excited about a Ferrari since the 1990's. They really have lost their ways trying to keep up with the best of Lamborghini's Diablo, then the F/A-22 like Murcielago in the 2000's and a Gallardo which was almost certain to put the prancing horse in second place to the raging bull. Now it appears they have taken a completely different approach.

It's powered by a 4.5 V8 engine making just over 570horsepower and backed by a 7 speed transmission pushing its overall top speed beyond 200mph.

Ferrari did not stop there were they have already invested and built a GT3 version and also have a Challenge model on the way. We can only expect a roadster model to be built next although it wouldn't hurt Ferrari to consider a targa model instead. Either way it currently puts them ahead of everyone else in the secondary supercar class such as the Mclaren 412MP4C, The Replacement Lamborghini Gallardo and porsches 911. For sure this car is going to be a winner in this new generation of supercars.

We can only expect if this is what Ferrari's secondary Supercar looks and performs like today which currently blow's our minds away at acceleration media what does the Enzo replacement have in store for us? Only time will tell but I speculate this will be a future classic!

VF1Skullangel with Acceleration media.

Mercedes Benz SLS AMG The SLR Replacement.

When we typically think of a company like Lexus, Caddillac or Mercedes Benz we can't but think Luxury and Quality. It can't be quite called a Supercar right? Wrong! Over the years companies like Mercedes have been building Masterpeace engines for companies like Isdera, Pagani and even chrsyler's ME412 concept that rivals the Mclaren's Top Speed record of 242mph.

Previously Mclaren and Mercedes benz created the SLR which was retro styled after the 1950's SL500 Gullwing. The SLR proved to be worthy challenger to anything on the road like the Murcielago and Carrera GT with it's 5.4 Supercharged V8 putting out 617 horsepower well within Enzo range. With a much faster plus plus version known as the 722 edition which brought the numbers up from 617 to almost 630 horsepower and the zero to sixty time of 3.2 Seconds. It was the first major front engined supercar from Mercedes since the SL500 gullwing.

In 2010 it was discontinued however Mercedes was not done with their front engine supercar dominating against Ferrari's 599 and Chevy's Corvette Z06 or the Dodge Viper ACR. They needed a newer and more improved model that was going to take them well into the next generation of Supercars in which that Ferrari, GM and Chrysler all have next generation models on the way also.

Mercedes benz delivered a newer more improved model called the SLS. It's now powered by a 6.2 liter V8 making out 575horses. Now we at acceleration media do not believe for one bit that horsepower alone wins races and with it tipping the scales at just 3,600 pounds it should have an advantage over the new Aston Martin DB9 V12 or the Ferrari 599 Replacement. The SLS AMG is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.7 seconds, and can reach an electronically limited top speed of 197 mph (317 km/h) and smash through the in under 12 seconds at over 125 mph. We don't know for sure how it will hold it's own against the Corvette C7 or the return of the Dodge Viper in 2013 for now we can only speculate on it's overall design which we liked a lot with the gullwing doors and retro styling.

There are plans of a GT3 model for FIA racing, a Roadster, and even an E-cell version for enviroment friendly use. We can expect a 722 follow on model to be more competitive as time passes on and the next generation of supercars settles in but for now this is a car not to be taken lightly at any track meet or show. Anyone driving a new Nissan GTR or Corvette ZR1 may have their work cut out for them against this.

VF1Skullangel with Acceleration media.

Lamborghini Diablo. A Modern day classic.

In 1987 Lamborghini began designing it's replacement for it's legendary Countach which at the time was an icon being in production for quite sometime it was time for a fresh next generation Supercar. With Ferrari working on the F-40 promising to surpass the Countach in both looks, exclusivity and most important Lamborghini needed a Replacement supercar more than capable of delivering signature looks, unbeatable performance and styling. With the help of Lee Iacocca, Chrysler, and Marcello Gandini in 1990 the Lamborghini Diablo was born.

The First generation was a rear wheel drive platform and essentially reused the same engine found in the Countach 25th model but reworked to produce 486 horse power rather than 450 horsepower found in the previous generation. In 1991 Lamborghini had taken the top speed record away from the Ferrari F40's 201mph with a 202mph offical record. The record was held for over a year before the introduction of the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport at 213mph and Jaguar XJ220 at 220mph and the Mclaren F1 and it's blistering top speed of 242mph.

In early 1992 Lamborghini began developing an All wheel drive model of the Lamborghini Diablo which in 1993 became the VT which made use of a viscous center differential. This provided the new nomenclature for the car (VT stands for viscous traction). The new drive train could direct up to 25% of the torque to the front wheels to aid traction during rear wheel slip, thus significantly improving the handling characteristics of the car.

Shortly after the introduction of the Diablo VT was the company's 30th anniversary which they celebrated big with a much improved Diablo 30th SE model and 30th SE Jota. Both were much improved over the standard Diablo with improved handling, brakes gearing while the SE Jota's engine was tuned to over 530 horsepower making it a 215mph road warrior banned from the United States at that time. It was designed with competiting against the Ferrari F50 and Mclaren F1, Even the Dodge Viper. It's rumored that 28 SE Jota's were built but nobody knows for sure while the number of base SE models were about 150. Most of them came in a unique Lamborghini purple color while others were converted to red, black and even yellow.

In 1995 Lamborghini released yet another variant of it's Diablo Super car known as the SV or super veloce model which lacked the all wheel drive system found in the VT model.

The power was increased to 510 horsepower and had much improve aero dynamics including a rear hatch similar to that found in the Diablo SE Jota of 1994. An adjustable rear wing was an option and the "SV" Decals on the sides of the car were also optional. A small limited production run of 20 cars known as the Moterey edition was also available at that time mostly for the united states market.

Shortly afterwords Lamborghini had also launched a Roadster version of their Diablo supercar with a removable carbon fiber roof were it can be stored above the engine bay. Honestly it should have been called the Diablo Targa and not the Diablo Roadster as it was similar to the NSX-T and Corvette C5 with their removable hard tops.

In 1999 Lamborghini also began developing it's second generation VT model which had a much improved face lift, the engine was tuned to a higher out put while the exterior of the car no longer had pop up headlights. The Diablo SV, Roadster also received this same treatment.

Later that year Lamborghini had developed a follow on special edition Supercar which would later become the Diablo GT which was delivered from the Diablo GTR race car. It was the fastest Lamborghini ever produced which over 585 horsepower from it's reworked 5.7 liter V-12 to now 6.0 liters. The Suspension, brakes and gearing were all tuned making it far superior to anything else on the road at that time minus the Mclaren F1. It was a $300,000 supercar only avaliable in the European market. Today however some have imported them to different country's including the United State's, Japan and Korea and retailing for nearly three times as much the original asking price. Only 80 of them were ever built and sold.

As the time of YK2 passed it was time for Lamborghini to start thinking about the future and a replacement for it's Diablo Supercar. They went out with a Bang in 2000 with the introduction of the 6.0 VT and 6.0 SE both were redesigned after Audi took over the company and now the 6.0 liter V12 engine became standard now. With a reworked body, suspension, brakes and interior and a price tag of $250,000 the Diablo VT was again the most dominat supercar of 2001 besting the Ferrari 575, Porsche's 911 Turbo and the Dodge Viper ACR. Production of the Lamborghini Diablo ended in early 2001 and began development of the Lamborghini Murcielago which was a totally new and improved supercar using all of the modern technologies found in Ferrari such as the Paddle shifter system, a new much improved All Wheel Drive System was also introduced and a new 6.2 Liter V12 making the Murcielago far ahead of anything else as of 2002.

Today the Lamborghini Diablo is considered a classic by Acceleration Media standards. Had the Mclaren F1 not existed the legend of the Countach may have carried over to the Diablo and would have made it the most dominant supercar of the 1990's however we can say it placed a solid second place behind the F1 supercar for it's much intended success being it was the only production Lamborghini at the time and having greater success than most companies that offered multiple cars. Lamborghini had plans of releasing the "Cala" a smaller V-10 version to compete with the Ferrari F355, Porsche 996 and the Dodge Viper RT-10 and Corvette C5 and that sadly never happened.

We can't discount the fact it had difficult competitors but today we look back and we can say this car delivered. It can hold it's own against almost anything even in today's standards it's still faster than most modern day Corvette's, Viper's, even most tuner cars will have a tough time racing against one. With prices beginning to drop below 100 grand for a used early 90's Diablo 2WD model we can expect this to become one hell of a bang for the buck deal. The Downside however to owning a Diablo is the maintenance and insurance costing telephone numbers. But for those who can afford them now they will still have a supercar today that is capable of running good numbers at any track meet and will under cut the price of most modern day supercars and sportscars. If anyone would have owned these cars brand new at the time It must have felt great being king of the road.


VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media.

European exotic supremacy THREATENED

European exotic cars have been known to be the fastest, the better built and the most exotic looking sport scars to ever hit the market and that's because of the quality and engineering that goes into these super cars is what keeps them on top of the line since the late 1960's

However for the first time the reign of European exotic car supremacy is in jeopardy. Over the past several decade's countries like the United States and Japan have both followed the technological advances and the engineering aspect of these Super cars especially during the years of the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarosaa. The overwhelming success of the Mclaren F1 at lemans highlighted the inherent inabilities of rival super cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette and the Toyota Supra. Since then there has been a global revolution to modernize the super car. At the heart of this threat is the transmission. Both the united states and Japan have developed state of the art transmissions giving super cars like the Nissan GTR the ability to perform as precise as the mighty bugatti veyron.

Other area's include weight reduction which results in better power to weight ratio. You can see this in the numbers found on the Corvette ZR1 and Dodge Viper ACR being able to maintain speeds with such super cars like the Pagani Zonda at the nuringberg ring surpassing the legacy super car likes of the Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche. Today they are being out matched by the lesser more expensive super cars built by GM, Dodge and Ford. America is at the forefront of advanced with their Corvette, Viper and Ford GT replacement. Japan also is developing with a follow on Nissan GTR, Lexus LFA and a possible return of the Toyota Supra. With a bang for the buck goal and over time they will continue to over take as the technology improves and the aftermarket builds Tuner specials.


In top speed they have always held the higher ground with 200+ MPH today that has all changed. The united state's begun developing super cars capable of higher top speeds than even today's Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

Mclaren F1 (242mph)

Bugatti Veyron(268mph)

Hennessey Venom GT (270+mph)

Shelby Super Cars Ultimate Aero II (275+Mph)

Vector WX8 Twin Turbo (300mphEst)

with the aftermarket producing follow on performance upgrades we have seen cars like a Twin Turbo Ford GT run as high as 268 mph at the Texas standing mile with goals to try and run beyond 300mph. They are out pacing them in the top speed specification and can directly challenge any record one might hold.

America, China and Japan's next generation super cars are on the horizon. America's will be like's of the Hennessey Venom GT, the Freedom X designs "Have Blue" and China now acquiring Spyker motor's that will likely under cut price's of the Lamborghini Aventador. Future clients will be purchasing very advanced super cars with near Bugatti Veyron capabilities in quantities rivaling Ferrari F458 estimates.

Bringing it all together European exotics have challenges across the board. When taken in total the new and improved American and Japanese super cars can produce an inpenatrible box at any race track around the globe that the legacy super cars cannot enter thus denying them full supremacy. Without supremacy they will lose the most important edge they hold in modern racing heritage today. These challenges will only grow as qualitative and quantitative edge continues to end.

Remember there is no prize for second best.

Jay Lopez with Acceleration Media.

Mclaren's MP4-12C to take on the big boy's.

The Facts

Mclaren began working on a new generation of Supercars to follow up on the successful Mclaren F1 road car of the 1990's and they did just that with the brand New MP4-12C. It's set to take on the Ferrari F458 Italia and the Lamborghini Gallardo's replacement due out sometime next summer. It will also take on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and likely the Corvette C7 and Dodge Viper, Lotus Esprit when they both make a return to the supercar market.

The MP4-12C has a more conventional lay out from the previous 3 seater design found in the legendary F1 and for the first time Mclaren has designed it's very own engine the M838 T which is based on the Nissan VRH35 found in the R390 Race car that makes it a 3.8 liter V8 Twin Turbo which redlines at 8500 RPM however torque will be around 2000RPM.

It produces 592 horsepower and 266 ft·lbf of torque Not bad considering it weighs 2,866 lbs, Pretty much what a Pontiac Fiero GT with a V8 conversion would weigh.

it's going to use a 7 speed gear box to keep pace with the new generation of Supercars which all seem to be going with the 7 speed fad. We don't know for sure what they will perform like.

Mclaren is currently developing a lighter GT3 race car with a detuned 500hp engine which we are only guessing will rev at higher RPM's allowing it to be a better performer. There's also talks of a first ever Mclaren Spyder model allowing the roof to be removable which will be due sometime out next year.

We can only guess there will be a high performance model to tackle the future F458 Challenge racer, Lamborghini SL, Porsche 911's replacement GT3, Corvette's Z06 and the Dodge Viper's ACR all special models and we can also only guess what Lotus has plans for their Esprit V8 if they are going to do a high performance model as well.


The Bottom Line

I love the Mclaren MP4-12C because it will give those who never got the chance to buy a Mclaren F1 new back in the early 1990's an opportunity to own a part of Mclaren's history. For sure it will not be a Ferrari F458 or a Lamborghini(XXX) But most likely it will be the best secondary class of supercars out there. I predict it will exceed the performance of some of the more expensive cars such as the Aventador, The replacment for the 599 and quite a few others. It will also put those "Bang for the buck" supercars such as the Corvette Z06, Nissan GTR and Dodge Viper in their places where they belong and with Mclaren working on a replacement for their F-1 Roadcar it's only a matter of time before Bugatti will lose the title of being king of the hill and return's it back to Mclaren.

But I can't give them 100% credit after all they are developing their own engines, chassis and now they are slowly getting back into the world of motor racing so we can expect there will be challenges to over come.

Overall Mclaren in general is the company I'm keeping my eye on besides Lotus to come back and become big players. Then again I'm expecting that they will come back and dominate. I'm not so sure about Lotus.


VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media.