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280-bhp Elemental RP1 revealed, now with bike-engine option

The Elemental RP1 might be Britain's next big boutique roadster success story. Designed by a team with Formula One experience, it aims to mix road car drivability with racecar performance in a single, adaptable package weighing less than 1,000 pounds. It was first previewed a few weeks ago, but the secrecy has finally disappeared due to its upcoming debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The backbone of the RP1 is a carbon fiber and aluminum tub onto which the front and rear subframes bolt on. Inside, it has an F1-like, feet-up driving position that allows for additional underfloor aerodynamic aids to improve downforce. Despite its hardcore nature, Elemental says that it wants the car to be very user friendly. Buyers should be able to drive the RP1 to the track, adjust it with some wrenches, go racing and drive it home. The company even claims the storage areas to either side of the engine offer enough room for a helmet and other racing gear. Hopefully, buyers don't crash, though, otherwise they might be stuck. Elemental is adding two more engine options for the RP1, as well. In addition to the previously announced tuned Ford 2.0-liter EcoBoost with 280 horsepower, buyers can also choose a upgraded version of Ford's three-cylinder 1.0-liter EcoBoost or a model aimed at pure track use with a 999cc Honda Fireblade motorcycle engine. The 2.0-liter uses a six-speed sequential manual gearbox, and a limited-slip differential and alternate gear sets are available as additional options. The first RP1s built will be pure racers for the 2015 season, and the first road cars will follow in the early summer of next year. Pricing isn't set yet, but scroll down for more details and full specs of Britain's latest feather light car for road and track. Introducing the Elemental Rp1 Press Release: 23/6/2014 British sports car manufacturer, Elemental Motor Company Limited, today released further details of their new and innovative, road legal track car, the Rp1. The Rp1 is an open top, road legal, mid engined sports car that incorporates state of the art road and race car technologies. Designed, Engineered and Built by a team with decades of experience in the Formula One and Supercar industries, it brings the concept of a road legal track car firmly into the 21st Century. The Rp1 will be revealed to the public for the first time, this weekend, at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it will located in the Moving Motor Show tent "First Glance" display.

Ford taken to task by gov't for Chicken Tax end-around

Ford is in a bit of a pickle for importing and selling Turkey-built Transit Connect cargo vans as passenger vehicles in the US, then converting them to commercial-vehicle specification stateside in an effort to bypass a 25-percent tax imposed on vehicles imported for commercial use. Automakers are required to pay a 2.5-percent tax on imported passenger vehicles.
The Blue Oval got into trouble for this in a January ruling in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials asked Ford to stop the practice of importing the Transit Connect vehicles with passenger seats, then removing and shredding them. Now Automotive News reports that Ford is appealing the ruling. The 25-percent "Chicken Tax," as the tariff is often called, is 50 years old and was enacted as a response to a German tariff on chickens. Like Ford, Chrysler bypasses the higher tariff, but it does so in a different manner. It partially disassembles Sprinter cargo vans before shipping them to the US, then rebuilds them at a plant in South Carolina.
But the ruling against Ford's strategy states that it "serves no manufacturing or commercial purpose" and is there to "manipulate the tariff schedule," Automotive News reports. As Ford's appeal goes through, it is importing the Transit Connect and paying the higher tax, hoping for a favorable outcome and planning to build the next-generation Transit Connect, which it plans to launch before the end of the year, in Spain.

Fitting Retirement: Grand Marquis last Mercury off the line

The signs have come down and retail production ended back in October of 2010. Now, the very last Mercury model has rolled off the assembly line. This last Mercury somewhat fittingly takes the form of a Grand Marquis reporting for fleet duty. It was built at the St. Thomas plant in Ontario, Canada, which is the same facility that continues to produce the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car for fleet and livery duty.
St. Thomas' days are numbered, however, as the factory is slated to close on August 31. When it goes, the Panther platform is likely to follow. So long, and thanks for all the fish memories.
[Source: Autoweek]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments