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Mazda Turnpike in Japan shut down for racing

The people behind Motorhead Magazine in Japan clearly have some friends in high places. Not only did they manage to shutdown eight kilometers of the Mazda Turnpike up the Hakone mountain, but they invited some of the country's premiere racers to take a drive up the hill. This wasn't just a Sunday cruise either. Featuring a BMW Z4 from the Super GT series, a classic Ford GT40, two flavors of Nissan GT-R and two takes on the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, these guys came ready to run. When an opportunity to let racecars challenge a curvy mountain road presents itself, you don't squander it. Thankfully, the folks at Motorhead knew that and outfitted the course with a plethora of cameras and high-quality sound equipment to capture the action. The result is nothing short of sublime. Take the video's urging to turn up your speakers for this one, and watch as these racers hit ludicrous speeds in a beautiful place never meant for them. News Source: japanmotorhead via YouTube, Jalopnik Aftermarket Motorsports BMW Ford Nissan Subaru Racing Vehicles Performance Videos ford gt40 super gt

2015 BMW Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe priced from $118,225* [w/poll]

If you're in the market for a high-performance BMW and you live in Europe, you've typically had two range of options at your disposal: you could go for one of BMW's own M models, or turn to Alpina. Though technically independent of BMW, Alpina is about as close to the manufacturer as a tuner can get, and many of its models are offered through BMW's own dealer network.
That's overseas, but in the North American market, BMW has typically taken a different approach, offering just one Alpina model - the B7 - to fill in for a lack of M7 performance sedan. That all changes, however, with the debut of the BMW Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe.
Slotting in alongside the M6 Gran Coupe, the Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe is marginally more expensive and slightly less powerful, but makes up for those relative (and negligible) shortcomings in spades. Both are based on the 6 Series Gran Coupe and both pack a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, but with key differences. Where the M6 produces 560 horsepower, the Alpina offers 'only' 540. But where the M6 channels 500 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the Alpina drives 540 lb-ft to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic.

The 2014 Alpina B4 Bi-Turbo Cabrio powers up luxury and speed

The BMW specialists at Alpina know how to exploit a niche when they see one. With the BMW M4 still not technically official, it saw the need for a higher performance four-seat convertible than the 435i 'vert. Enter the new B4 Bi-Turbo Cabrio that is debuting at the Geneva Motor Show.
The European-exclusive model takes BMW's 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged inline-6 and massages it up to 410 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, which is less power but more twist than the M4 would give buyers. Alpina's tend to be built more as quick, luxurious grand tourers, and the B4 Bi-Turbo gets is no different with an adaptive sport suspension and an eight-speed automatic. Plus it wears the classic pinstripes and 21-spoke wheels that are the brand's design hallmarks.
While the added weight for the convertible means that the Cabrio takes 4.5 seconds to reach 62 miles per hour, about a half-second slower than the coupe, at the moment it is the only way to get this kind of performance in a BMW convertible. Orders for the convertible open in March in Europe and prices in Germany start at 74,800 euros ($102,878 at today's conversion rates).