German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

The 2011 Formula 1 season did not exactly go as planned for Mercedes. No point dwelling on the past as it is time to focus on the 2012 season and how Mercedes will fare with their new car. The main changes in the W03 are different maximum bodywork heights which create the "interesting" new nose style and exhaust placement changes. The new car has 4500 parts compared to 4300 of the old car. How will Mercedes fare this season and will Nico finally clearly surpass the aging Schumacher or will Michael prove his talent is timeless? We can not wait to find out. ...

The P31 C63 AMG is a very strong car in stock form. While the regular C63 AMG and the DCT M3 is a drivers race the P31 is definitively stronger than the DCT M3 performing more like a standard C63 with a tune. So what happens when a tuned DCT M3 with bolt on's takes on a P31 C63? Well, check it out below with multiple runs from the cars. The M3 is claimed to have a tune, pulley, exhaust, and x-pipe and and the C63 AMG coupe is stated to be stock.

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Here is the first graph we have seen of a stock internal Heffners twin turbo R8 5.2. EPL (European Performance Labs) tuned the car as Heffners Performance was not able to crack the stock ECU. The high 600's on stock internals is a bit underwhelming although that curve is gorgeous. Considering where Gallardo's are with twin turbo setups the R8 5.2 V10 is lagging a bit behind due to the difficulty in tuning them it seems. We hope to see built motor numbers soon.

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Here it is, the new Mercedes SL63 AMG. The finished product looks almost identical to the renderings BenzBoost provided. So, any surprises? Nope, not really, the car features the M157 twin turbo 5.5 liter V8 in a state of tune of 529 horsepower. With more power and torque than the previous SL63 combined with 242 pounds less weight, this should be an easy 11 second and 120+ mph car in stock form especially if equipped with the performance package. Job well done Mercedes, more power, better efficiency, and less weight.

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Porsche is doing a better job keeping the manual alive than most manufacturers. They offer a 7-speed manual transmission, something that nobody else does, and were the first to do so. However, Michael Schatzle (project manager of the new 911) stated the manual would only likely make it another generation beyond the current one. 78% of new 911 sales have been for the PDK globally. Where is the manual most popular? Oddly enough in the USA where it is currently an even split although we expect the PDK will be favored heavily soon here as well. ...

Everyone should know how great the M156 naturally aspirated V8 E63 AMG sounds. A great growl with a slight exotic touch that only gets more and more glorious as it approaches its 7200 rpm redline. The switch to turbo motors in BMW's has removed much of the aural pleasure associated with the powerplants. We are happy to say the E63 AMG switching to turbos has not diminished its sound quality and the M157 sounds amazing. Check the videos below for proof and to compare to the M156. ...

So you know the new entry level Porsche SUV based on the Audi Q5 that everyone was calling the Cajun? Scratch that, just a code name. Call it the Macan. We did not think Cajun was very good but it certainly sounds a heck of a lot better than Macan. How high is the Porsche board of directors when they approve these names? Porsche says Macan originates from the from the Indonesian word for tiger and it is those attributes of a tiger that fit its new SUV perfectly. Calling it the Porsche Tiger probably sounds better but nobody wants the Germans building Tigers again. If that doesn't make sense, please read a history book and pay attention to the chapters that mention German manufacturing circa 1942. ...

Congratulations to BMS (Burger Tuning / Motorsports) for raising the bar on stock turbo N54 performance yet again. The vehicle used was a E82 135i steptronic with a JB4, down pipes, dual cone intake, CM10 meth setup, FMIC, and race gas. The mile per hour (fastest) record in the 1/4 came on a run of 11.3@125.24. The elapsed time (quickest) record came on a run of 11.259@122.86. The trap speed dropped a bit with the better ET which is not surprising considering it came on a much better 60 foot. These records were set at Famoso Raceway which is a decent track but certainly not the best strip for setting records. ...

The Corvette and 911 have been rivals, for, well, forever. They may be at two extremely different price points (price as tested $131,760 for the Carrera S and $72,130 for the Grand Sport) but they are both sports cars going about things in very different ways. The Carrera S PDK is a technological Tour de Force with direct injection, a dual clutch transmission, and weight savings (the 911 is 121 pounds lighter than the Vette at 3254 poudns) thanks to composites and aluminum ...

The RS5 is coming soon, very soon, as in this Spring to the United States. In preparation for its arrival Audi released this video teaser. It shows the RS5 going through the desert and looking gorgeous doing it. As a reminder, the RS5 will have 450 horsepower from a 4.2 liter high revving direct injected V8 mated to a DSG (dual clutch) gearbox. No pricing yet (likely $80k+) and production will be very limited so do not expect to see these everywhere. Thanks for bringing it to the USA Audi! ...

AMG acquiring Ducati is an interesting proposition. There have already been a couple partnerships between AMG and Ducati namely the R172 SLK55 AMG Ducati Edition as well as the Duacti Diavel AMG. The natural choice for Ducati is AMG due to past partnerships and also considering that Mercedes has no motorcycle division. Acquiring one to compete with BMW would work much in the same fashion as when Mercedes acquired AMG to compete with BMW's M division. ...

We already knew the BMW N20 four cylinder was underrated from its 240 horsepower rating as we saw in a dynotest of the Z4 sDrive28i which put down 233 to the wheels. That dyno was done by Insideline who recently did a dyno of the new F30 328i and overlaid it with the Z4 dyno. As luck would have it, EAS also did a dynotest of the F30 328i so we have more than one graph to go on. For the record, Insideline was wrong about claiming they exclusively had the first 328i dyno. ...

Things are progressing nicely on the M3 front with Gintani recently recording 828 horsepower at the crank in a manual E90 M3. The car has a low compression built motor (compression will not be revealed at this time) and hit 16.5 psi of boost from a Vortech YSI. The blower has more in it and could likely be overspun to the 22 psi range but for now 828 horsepower at 16.5 psi is very impressive and more than anyone has made up until today. Expect to see more out of these Stage III cars, like BimmerBoost's own project M3, in the next few weeks.

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First of all, only one car is the true winner here. That vehicle is the C63 Black Series. Why? Because it is the only one out of the two that can be purchased in the United States. The M3 GTS might as well be a unicorn. It is also worth mentioning that Clarkson owns a Black Series. He ends up picking the Black Series here but his reasoning is sound. The M3 is a scalpel, an already fine machine further sharpened. He likens the C63 Black Series to more of a large caliber machine gun to the M3 sniper rifle and that it is a far greater improvement over the standard C63 AMG which he does not find as noteworthy as the standard M3. Sound reasoning in our view. ...

The new N20 motor certainly is opening eyes. The base 3 Series is basically on par with a US E36 power and acceleration wise. This was an 8-speed automatic version that weighed in at a hefty 3480 pounds. Definitely not light or comparable to an E36 M3 in that regard but the base 3 series has just gotten a lot faster than it used to be. The manual version is about 60 pounds lighter and we would expect to see high 13's in the 100 mph range out of the car in capable hands on the drag strip. ...

All the big reveals seem to be taking place on the internet before the Geneva show. We were excited to get a rendering of this car yesterday based on the production bumper pieces only for the real thing to be released a few hours later. The final product is simply gorgeous and typical Audi quality inside and out. A 450 horsepower 8250 rpm 4.2 liter V8 mated to a dual clutch DSG gearbox makes for one seriously badass wagon. We will not be getting it in the USA but we will get the RS5 which is a fine consolation prize. ...

911 turbo and the Nissan GT-R battles are simply natural for the two platforms. Both are twin turbo all wheel drive six cylinders with a history of tuning. This is a bit of a mis-match though but still interesting to see the comparison. The 997 Turbo appears to be an automatic which is at a large disadvantage to the GT-R dual clutch. A PDK turbo with a tune would have held its own much, much better and actually made this a race. ...

The B8 Audi RS4 is coming just not to the United States. It will basically share the Audi RS5 drivetrain so that means a 4.2 liter V8 with 450 horsepower and DSG (dual clutch transmission). Sibal based his rendering on bumper pieces that were leaked out. The pieces seem to in fact be genuine which gives us an idea of the styling that will be employed in the B8 RS4. How these pictures of finished bumper pieces got out on a car that is not out yet is anyone's guess. ...

Most of you should know that the Mercedes 1.8 liter M271 DE18ML engine lost its supercharger in favor of a turbo creating the 1.8 liter M271 DE18LA turbocharged and direct injected four cylinder. AMG is enlisting help of its internal HPE (High Performance Engine) division to raise the output beyond what the BMW 1M and Audi RS3 offer. This means they are shooting for over 340 horsepower which will require a substantial reworking of the 201 horsepower 1.8 liter engine. ...