BMW 02 Series, page #27

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All the crazy stuff we saw at McCall's Motorworks Revival

Every year, Gordon McCall puts on a lavish event packed with rare cars and planes (and the type of people that can afford rare cars and planes). And every year, more ridiculous stuff shows up. It's the good kind of machine overload. It's likely the only place in the world where you'll see a line of BMW 3.0s next to some Paganis next to a Porsche 911 by Singer Design next to a Ferrari salt racer next to a custom Olds Riviera next to the latest from Koenigsegg next to he coolest stuff Shelby ever made next to a hangar filled with McLarens, including a few P1 GTRs. And then all of that is surrounded by private jets, fighters, and planes that could have flown in directly from WWII. In a word, it's insane. Walk through the gallery above to get a taste for what was there this year for the event's 25th anniversary. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 McCall's Motorworks Revival View 29 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Motorsports Misc. Auto Shows BMW Ferrari McLaren Porsche Koenigsegg

Jeremy Clarkson chooses his top 10 cars for 2015 and 2016

Jeremy Clarkson is well-known for his role as co-host on the old Top Gear. But the frontman of the upcoming Amazon Prime Show, The Grand Tour, also has a standing column for The Sunday Times in the UK where he reviews the latest cars. With fall nearing, Clarkson put out a list of his top-10 cars from this year and 2015. Some on the list will surprise you, while others represent everything we've come to love about Clarkson. In order to make his list of star cars, the vehicles must offer what co-host James May calls "the fizz." The vehicles, Clarkson claims, have something that is out of the ordinary. Whether it's the car's looks, the way it gets up to speed, or its high-tech gadgets, Clarkson's top-10 list is made up of items that are more than just tools for getting from point A to B. So which ones made the list? Head over to the column in The Sunday Times. Mazda MX-5 Miata 2.0 Sport Recaro Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe Mercedes-AMG GT S Ford Focus RS Ford Mustang Fastback 5.0 V8 GT Volvo XC90 D5 AWD Vauxhall Zafira Tourer 1.6 CDTi Tech Line BMW M2 Ferrari 488 GTB Lamborghini Aventador Related Video: Featured Gallery Jeremy Clarkson's Star Cars For 2015 and 2016 View 11 Photos News Source: The Sunday TimesImage Credit: STEFAN HEUNIS / AFP / Getty Images Celebrities BMW Ferrari Ford Lamborghini Mazda Performance bmw m2 ferrari 488 gtb

BMW autonomous tech helps USA Swimming win gold in Rio

BMW is helping USA Swimming bring home the gold in Rio. Athletes train for months to improve their technique, working for hours every day in order to shave time and compete for the gold, so every little maneuver and advantage helps. Now, American swimmers, like the team's star Michael Phelps, are using BMW's autonomous-driving technology to improve and enhance their training. The custom technology is adapted from the LED lighting system that BMW uses on its autonomous vehicles. LEDs are attached to a swimmer's wrists, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles and toes using 3D-printed mounts. An underwater camera uses motion-tracking technology to break down the swimmer's movements. The same technology is used in autonomous vehicles to detect moving objects and obstacles. This isn't the first time BMW has used their technology to help USA Swimming. The team trained for the 2012 Olympics using an older version of the autonomous tech. The current version is far more detailed and accurate than before. The new version is also far less intrusive and doesn't disrupt a swimmer's technique. According to Bloomberg, it cost BMW about as much as a few 30-second commercials during the Olympics, or $300,000 to $600,000. The automaker has also developed a racing wheelchair for the Rio Paralympics and a two-man bobsled for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Related Video:

BMW hints at long wait for Tesla Model 3 in new ad

When an automaker takes 373,000 advance reservations for a highly touted electric vehicle, that company can become a big target. A competitor, BMW for example, could then take aim at that target in an ad. As you might suspect from how all this is worded, the German automaker doesn't mention Tesla Motors or its Model 3 by name in the ad, as you can see above. As it gets ready to start selling its 330e iPerformance plug-in hybrid, BMW launched a couple of advertisements during the Summer Olympics this month, Advertising Age says. While talking about the unnamed competition, the tag line says: "You will wait, and wait and wait some more." One ad shows a woman walking by two empty charging stations, which look an awful lot like Tesla Superchargers, on the way to her new BMW. The reference makes sense, as prospective buyers of the Tesla Model 3 will have to, uh, wait until at least late next year to get their new vehicles. The 330e iPerformance PHEV goes on sale this summer and will start at $44,695, about $10,000 more than where the Model 3 is expected to be priced. According to one of the ads, the car gets a 72 miles per gallon-equivalent fuel-efficiency rating and can travel as far as 14 miles on electricity alone thanks to its 7.6-kWh li-ion battery. The car can also go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in about six seconds. You can read our "First Drive" review here. BMW currently sells two plug-in vehicles in the US, both are under the automaker's i sub-brand. Through July, Bimmer has sold almost 4,400 units of its i3 battery-electric vehicle and almost 800 of the i8 plug-in hybrid supercar. In 2015, the two models had sales of 13,289 units, about double the 2014 numbers. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1982 BMW 633CSi

The E24 6 Series was one of the best-looking cars ever to grace a BMW showroom, and it was the car for successful Californians with a sense of style— whether boardroom heroes or purveyors of not-so-legal substances— to show off their wealth and taste. The E24 is quite collectible now, but the cost of restoration for a worn-out one is so high that many solid examples end up here. I spotted this '82 in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard last week. The 3.2-liter straight-six engine in this car was rated at 181 horsepower, which was quite a bit in a year when a new Cadillac Eldorado had just 120hp and a Datsun 280ZX Turbo a mere 180. There wasn't much serious competition in 1982 for a powerful imported luxury coupe with gangsterish overtones. If you were a bent banker treating your savings-and-loan as a personal cash machine in 1982, your mainstream choices were limited to this car, a Mercedes-Benz 380SLC, or a Jaguar XJ-S. For those who hit the big time, the Ferrari 400i and Rolls-Royce Camargue were available... but you'd see a hundred 633CSis for each of those in the wild. What time is it? Time for The Crusher! Related Video: Featured Gallery 1982 BMW 633CSi in California Junkyard View 17 Photos Auto News BMW Coupe Economy Cars Classics

The 2019 BMW 3 Series looks pretty much like a 3 Series

Spy photographers captured the 2019 BMW 3 Series during testing in Munich, Germany. While the sedan is wearing heavy camouflage, it's apparent that BMW is going for a more sophisticated look. Up front, the new 3 Series takes styling cues from the latest BMW 7 Series with rounded headlights that flow into the car's oval kidney grilles. The rear of the prototype still has protruding round taillights that were spotted on a previous prototype. They likely won't be used in the final design. Our photographers also snagged some interior images, and the cabin appears similar to the current 3 Series. The center console retains the current model's layout, though the HVAC controls appear to have grown in size and have fewer buttons. As previously reported, the next-gen 3 Series is expected to have a longer wheelbase and be wider than the current model. Despite growing in size, lightweight materials will help the upcoming sedan cut weight. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 BMW 3 Series Spy Shots View 9 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos BMW Luxury Sedan interior design

Watch Atieva's electric van outrun a BMW i8 and Dodge Viper

A little while back, automotive startup Atieva drag raced its electric van, called Edna, against a Tesla Model S and a Ferrari California in order to compare its performance against known and revered mechanical athletes. Again, the Silicon Valley-based company is putting its prototype up against electrified and conventionally powered performance vehicles on the drag strip. Last time around, Edna, the Mercedes-Benz Vito van equipped with a 900-horsepower, all-wheel-drive powertrain, bested both of its foes. In that showcase, Edna was hitting 60 mph in a little over three seconds. Comparatively, BMW lists the i8's 0-60 time at 4.2 seconds, though Road & Track clocked it at 3.8 seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds. The Viper does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. Before you even watch the video above, you can imagine how it will end, as the retuned Atieva Edna rips 0-60 mph in 2.94 seconds. Atieva clocked the quarter mile at 11.3 seconds at 117 mph. It's worth noting that driver skill can have a lot to do with a car's straight-line performance. We've witnessed Viper's elapsing the quarter mile in well under 12 seconds, which means it should be quicker in this test than the i8, if not the Edna. Still, the performance showcased in the video is exceptional. To improve Edna's stats, Atieva says it has used testing data to fine tune its AC induction motors at higher speeds once it got low-speed performance locked in. After testing in the hot California sun, including the race you see above, Atieva drove Edna 90 miles home with range to spare. As for production plans, Atieva will put this powertrain into a sedan slated for sale in 2018. In the meantime, the company will keep testing and tuning its working prototype, and has even invited the public to put their cars up against Edna in future sessions. Related Video: Related Gallery 2015 BMW i8 in Petoskey, MI News Source: Atieva, YouTube: Atieva via Electrek Green Motorsports BMW Dodge Automakers Electric Future Vehicles Videos drag race atieva

Recharge Wrap-up: Nikola One to debut in December, UK charging to outnumber gas stations by 2020

Nikola Motor Company plans to unveil its Nikola One electric truck prototype on December 2, 2016. The company, based in Salt Lake City, says it has "engineered the holy grail of the trucking industry," according to founder and CEO Trevor Milton. "We are not aware of any zero emission truck in the world that can haul 80,000 pounds more than 1,000 miles and do it without stopping. The Nikola One requires only 15 minutes of downtime before heading out for the next 1,000 miles." Nikola also has plans to build emissions-free power plants. Read more in the press release from Nikola, or at the company website. Nissan says EV charging stations will outnumber gas stations in the UK by 2020. The UK had just 8,472 gas stations at the end of 2015, down from 37,539 in 1970. Extrapolating that to 2020, the UK is expected to be home to fewer than 7,870 fuel stations. By then, and possibly much sooner, charging stations are expected to surpass 7,900, up from 4,100 in 2016. Growing interest in EVs, infrastructure expansion, and better batteries mean that "the tipping point for mass EV uptake is upon us," according to Nissan EV Manager Edward Jones. Read more from Nissan, or at Green Car Congress. BMW is expanding its ChargeNow service to 25 markets. In a partnership with EVgo, BMW i3 and i8 customers will have the option of an annual or pay-as-you-go ChargeNow membership with service in cities around the country, with "introductory pricing" available until July 31, 2017. For those i3 owners in California already enrolled in the DC fast charging program, their free access is expiring. See more details about the program and its locations in the BMW i forum, and read more at Green Car Reports. Featured Gallery Nikola One Electric Semi Truck Related Gallery BMW i3 Gesture Parking News Source: Nikola, Nikola, Nissan, Green Car Congress, Green Car Reports, The Circuit Green BMW Automakers Nissan Green Automakers Truck Commercial Vehicles Electric Future Vehicles recharge wrapup

Elvis Presley's BMW 507 has never looked better

After two grueling years of work, BMW Classic is finally finished restoring the 507 roadster that once belonged to Elvis Presley. Now that it is restored to original condition, the vehicle will be on display at this year's Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach, CA, on August 18. The 507 will be in the exact same shape as when the King of Rock 'n' Roll took delivery of it on December 20, 1958. Not only did BMW Group Classic bring the 507 back from the scrapyard, it also went to great measures to ensure that the classic was restored in an authentic manner. The vehicle was painted once again in Feather White. But the primer coat, filler, and top coat were applied using methods that were used roughly 60 years ago, giving the 507 a truly original shine. The 150-horsepower 3.2-liter V8 was restored to its original spec, but utilizes a variety of old and new components. Other notable features include a black-and-white interior, center-lock rims, and a Becker Mexico radio. The 507 will be on display alongside numerous vintage BMWs as the company celebrates its centennial. Related Video: Featured Gallery Elvis Presley's Restored 1957 BMW 507 View 20 Photos Related Gallery Elvis Presley's 1957 BMW 507 View 59 Photos News Source: BMWImage Credit: BMW Auto News Celebrities BMW Convertible Classics Pebble Beach bmw 507

Toyota's chief engineer wants the Supra name back

There's no guarantee that Toyota's forthcoming sports car will revive the Supra name. For all we know, it could be some senseless alphanumeric. But there's at least one powerful voice among Toyota's developers pushing for a new Supra – Global Chief Designer Tetsuya Tada. Tada-san, a died-in-the-wool sportscar enthusiast known as the father of the Toyota 86, is fighting for the iconic nameplate. He told Australia's CarAdvice, "I love the Supra and I love the Supra name. It's historically important to Toyota. We're pushing for the name Supra for the new car we are developing with BMW." This is a good thing. There are too many brands willing to throw away prestigious vehicle names in favor of trendy but less endearing alphanumerics. We hope Toyota follows Tada-san's advice and brings the Supra name back. Besides sending enthusiasts around the globe into a fit of chop licking by merely mentioning the Supra name, Tada-san also gave a few insights about how work on the car, which Toyota is developing alongside BMW, is going. "I'd say the partnership is going well, very smooth," Tada-san told CarAdvice. But despite the cooperation between the two very different brands, the resulting vehicles should be unique, which is something Toyota's engineering boss supports. CarAdvice sees this as further support for rumors that Toyota's variant of the jointly developed car will lean more towards performance, potentially with a twin-turbocharged Lexus V6. The BMW version, supposedly called the Z5, will hew more towards a grand tourer's roll, succeeding the current Z4 and combatting the new Audi TT and Mercedes-Benz SLC. CarAdvice expects the Z5 to debut first, likely later next year, while the Supra probably won't show up until 2018. Related Video: News Source: CarAdvice BMW Toyota Coupe Performance bmw z5 tetsuya tada