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Top Gear pits Hennessey VelociRaptor vs. Range Rover Sport SVR

As a television series, Top Gear is in limbo with an intent to return, but no hosts yet. However, it's magazine and website continue to bring us clips like this one. While the video might lack the show's charismatic hosts, this is an opportunity to see a drag race between a Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR with 550 horsepower and a Hennessey VelociRaptor with 623 hp. The duel between these two supercharged V8s definitely sounds great. Both rugged models start at the line growling angrily at each other like dogs ready for a fight. You have to watch the clip to see whether the more powerful VelociRaptor feeds on the SVR, though. News Source: Top Gear via YouTube Ford Land Rover Truck SUV Performance Videos Hennessey ford f-150 svt raptor top gear magazine

Car Stories: Owning the SHO station wagon that could've been

A little over a year ago, I bought what could be the most interesting car I will ever own. It was a 1987 Mercury Sable LS station wagon. Don't worry – there's much more to this story. I've always had a soft spot for wagons, and I still remember just how revolutionary the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable were back in the mid-1980s. As a teenager, I fell especially hard for the 220-horsepower 1989 Ford Taurus SHO – so much so that I'd go on to own a dozen over the next 20 years. And like many other quirky enthusiasts, I always wondered what a SHO station wagon would be like. That changed last year when I bought the aforementioned Sable LS wagon, festooned with the high-revving DOHC 3.0-liter V6 engine and five-speed manual transmission from a 1989 Taurus SHO. In addition, the wagon had SHO front seats, a SHO center console, and the 140-mph instrument cluster with mileage that matched the engine. When I bought it, that number was just under 60,000 – barely broken in for the overachieving Yamaha-sourced mill. The engine and transmission weren't the only upgrades. It wore dual-piston PBR brakes with the choice Eibach/Tokico suspension combo in front. The rear featured SHO disc brakes with MOOG cargo coils and Tokico shocks, resulting in a wagon that handled ridiculously well while still retaining a decent level of comfort and five-door functionality. I could attack the local switchbacks while rowing gears to a 7,000-rpm soundtrack just as easily as loading up on lumber at the hardware store. Over time I added a front tower brace to stiffen things a bit as well as a bigger, 73-mm mass airflow sensor for better breathing, and I sourced some inexpensive 2004 Taurus 16-inch five-spoke wheels, refinished in gunmetal to match the two-tone white/gunmetal finish on the car. That, along with some minor paint and body work, had me winning trophies at every car show in town. And yet, what I loved most about the car wasn't its looks or performance, but rather its history. And here's where things also get a little philosophical, because I absolutely, positively love old used cars. Don't get me wrong – new cars are great. Designers can sculpt a timeless automotive shape, and engineers can construct systems and subsystems to create an exquisite chassis with superb handling and plenty of horsepower. But it's the age and mileage that turn machines into something more than the sum of their parts.

Ford GT40 makes historic return to racing at Goodwood

Is there a more iconic, American racecar than the Ford GT40? That may be a discussion for another day (although by all means, tell us how wrong we are in Comments), but this video of heaps of GT40s running in the Goodwood Revival races certainly has us thinking that Ford's Ferrari-killer might just be the best racer the Land Of The Free and Home Of The Brave has ever come up with.
That's completely ignoring the fact that the GT40 was largely developed by Brits using American money, but that's besides the point (there was also a rather brash Texan, who had a big role later in development). The resulting vehicle was dominant, besting the cars of Il Commendatore from 1966 to 1969, although it should be noted that Ford's GT40 was unable to beat Ferrari in its first two Le Mans outings in 1964 and 1965.
Those four years of dominance, which started with Ford sweeping the podium, were enough to establish the GT40's legend. And now, here we are almost 50 years later, celebrating the mid-engined monsters at Goodwood, in their first ever one-make race. Take a look below for the entire video.