1967 Alfa Romeo Gtv on 2040-cars

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Alfaholics built an Alfa Romeo 105 Series entirely out of carbon fiber

Alfaholics has restored numerous 105 Series cars before. And Alfaholics has used carbon fiber parts before. But this is the first time Alfaholics has built a 105 Series with a body made entirely out of carbon fiber. The United Kingdom-based builder and parts supplier debuted the carbon shell this month and will make it available as an option for future projects. It's called the GTA-R 300. Alfaholics is a all-encompassing Alfa Romeo 105 Series (also known as the Giulia) parts supplier, customization shop and restoration specialist run by Alfa enthusiasts Richard, Max and Andrew Banks. The company has become known for its GTA-R builds, which are part of its R-Type program that Alfaholics says is "reserved for our most exclusive restorations which represent the ultimate evolution of the Alfa Romeo 105 Series." Human hands spend more than 3,000 hours building GTA-R coupes (or Ti-R sedans or Spider-R convertibles), and everything can be customized to the client's demands.  Customers are presented with a massive book of options, including choices of engines, gear ratios, suspension packages, damper valving, power steering, seat styles, upholstery, interior lighting, roll cages, dashboard styles, car audio and infotainment, and much more. Up until this point, clients did have the option for carbon fiber parts, but the choices were limited to the hood, the doors, and the rear deck lid. Now buyers can opt for a full carbon fiber kit. The GTA-R 300 gets its name due to its power-to-weight ratio. It's about 84 pounds lighter than the previously range-topping GTA-R 290 and about 154 pounds lighter than a GTA-R constructed entirely out of steel. All said, Alfaholics says the GTA-R 300 has a power-to-weight number of 300 bhp per ton, but it did not provide a specific weight number for the car, as it is not yet completed. Alfaholics does say this build will also include many other lightweight parts such as the Alfaholics GTA-R Ultraleggera billet titanium suspension package. For more information on other current and completed builds, visit Alfaholics.           View this post on Instagram                   Alfaholics GTA-R 300 Carbon Full carbonfibre body conversion, 70kg weight saving over a steel GTA-R.

Porsche 911 Turbo and Nissan GT-R Nismo star in World's Greatest Drag Race 4

We love Motor Trend's annual World's Greatest Drag Race video. Now back for its fourth appearance, the idea of lining some of the world's fastest cars up for a ten-wide, straight-line, full-throttle run is, well... it's pretty freaking badass.
The lineup this year boasts some impressively fast cars to be sure. The group of ten includes the following darlings: Alfa Romeo 4C, BMW i8, BMW M4, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Ford Fiesta ST, Jaguar F-Type R Coupe, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Subaru WRX STI and, last but not least, the Volkswagen GTI. Give us any one of those for the weekend, and we're happy to take the keys.
It must be said though, that for a publication that draws as much water as Motor Trend does, there are some big cars that we might expect to be here instead. The Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari 458 Speciale would have added some exotic flare to the list, and the omissions of the Chevy Corvette Stingray (for the second year in a row) and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat are real head-scratchers.

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.