2017 Lamborghini Huracan Lp 580 2 2dr Coupe on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Stock Miata beats bunch of high-powered cars in wet 1/4-mile drag race

When is a stock, 167-horsepower Mazda MX-5 Miata quicker than a Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini Gallardo, Lotus Elise and a Porsche 911? When it's raining. Sort of.
Mazda Canada arranged a unique drag race to show off the fact that the Miata's optional power retractable folding hardtop can go from top-down to top-up in just 12 seconds flat. In this video, all six cars line up for a drag race, and it starts to rain (well, sort of - but you'll have to watch the video all the way to the end to see what we mean). The green flag is waved, and the timer starts as soon as the convertibles begin to put their tops up. But because the Miata's roof mechanism gets the car's roof back up a full 5.1 seconds quicker than the second-place car, the Mazda gets a serious advantage off the line for the actual drag race.
It's a fun video. And while we've spoiled the results (come on, the video was uploaded by Mazda, you knew the Miata was going to win), be sure to see how it all unfolds, below.

Lamborghini Aventador SV gets more, less weight [w/video]

Following Lamborghini's recent tease, we were pretty certain that the Italian supercar brand would unveil its Aventador Superveloce at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Sure enough, during the Volkswagen Group Night event, the supercar with more power and less weight made its grand debut. Technically dubbed the Aventador 750-4 SV, Lambo revised the valve train and added a new four-exit exhaust with less backpressure. The result is a redline now at 8,500 rpm and a boost to 740 horsepower and 509 pound-feet of torque. Grunt still gets to all four wheels via a seven-speed gearbox. The changes help reduce the sprint to 62 miles per hour to just 2.8 seconds, and if that's not enough, 124 mph is just 8.6 seconds away from a standing start. The top speed reportedly rises to 217 mph. The other major factor in helping this improved performance is a 110-pounds reduction in weight to tip the scales at 3,362 pounds, which comes thanks to copious amounts of carbon fiber. On the outside, the door panels, side sills, fenders and new fixed rear wing are all made from the lightweight material, and the upgraded parts for the body reportedly increase downforce by 170 percent. The interior even features Lambo's Carbon Skin fabric for the headliner. Beyond the lighter weight and extra power, customers get magneto-rheological dampers, carbon-ceramic brakes and variable ratio electric power steering. All of this Italian performance comes at a price of 327,190 euros before any value-added tax when the cars go on sale in the spring. Official US pricing isn't announced yet , but that figure equates to about $366,000. Check out a video of the car being unveiled at VW's Group Night festivities in Geneva.

Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically "retired" earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.
In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the "Spirit of Le Mans" for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.