Road Strikers

Good timing with the new Bugatti Grand Sport (2009) hypercar. The polar ice caps are melting and the world’s in the middle of the worst financial crisis since John Steinbeck was still scratching around in the dust bowl looking for a pencil, yet Bugatti manages to gauge the zeitgeist perfectly and unleash a £1.5m convertible supercar that emits 596g/km CO2. Sleeping polar bears? One little Bugatti isn’t going to hurt, and anyway, there’ll always be sufficient disgustingly rich people to buy a truly outrageous car like the drop-top Veyron Grand Sport. So how fast is the world’s fastest hair dryer? As fast as the regular Veyron, at least with the roof in place when you can insert the second key to engage the top speed mode that drops the car closer to the ground and tweaks the angle of the spoilers. Do that, find enough road and you’ll hit 253mph. With the roof off, you can’t use the second key and are limited to a mere 224mph. Pah! What about p...

Obscure supercars come and go, each proclaiming to be faster than the Bugatti Veyron. Five years after driving the original Veyron, it's time to try this final evolution of the species, the Super Sport, a car that should secure Bugatti the ‘World’s Fastest’ title for some time. How has a standard Bugatti Veyron become a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport? By gaining an additional 196bhp and 184lb ft, thanks to bigger intercoolers and four enlarged turbochargers. The 0-62mph time doesn’t improve (it’s still a stunning 2.5 seconds) but the 0-125mph times drops (7.3sec to 6.7), as does that all important 0-186mph sprint (16.7 seconds down to 14.6), and the top speed climbs to 268mph. Or at least it would if Bugatti hadn’t limited the Super Sport’s top whack to 259mph for the sake of the tyres – the standard Veyron is limited to 254mph. There are other changes, too. The redesigned nose features bigger brake cooling ducts, a differnt bumper for more...

This is the Bugatti Veyron Vitesse. Or to give it its full name: the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse. It’s the ultimate Veyron, mixing the targa-roofed (and reinforced) body of the Grand Sport with the upgraded 1183bhp engine from the world record-breaking Super Sport. It’s yours for £1.6m. 1183bhp? In a convertible Bugatti Veyron? Are you sure? Yes we are. All Veyrons have an 8.0-litre W16 engine with four turbochargers (hence the 16.4 designation) but the Vitesse features the Super Sport’s version, with upgraded intercoolers and four larger turbos. And the increases in power and torque aren’t small: 987bhp and 922lb ft has become 1183bhp and 1106lb ft. What other go-faster variant on the planet has an extra 196bhp? That’s nearly a whole Golf GTI’s worth of extra horsepower! And if you’ve ever even thought about the environment then you’ll feel sorry for Mother Nature’s resources when you see the consumption and emis...

That name's a bit of a mouthful. What's it all about? It's the replacement for the much-loved but dull-looking 575, a two-seat coupe based on the four-place 612 Scaglietti. The numbers refer to the capacity of the V12 (5999cc) and Fiorano is the name of company's Maranello test-track where its road and race cars are developed. So what are headlines? Where to start? It's made from aluminium so strong and relatively light. The gearbox is mounted in unit with the rear diff to allow the best possible weight distribution and can shift gears in two thirds of the time it takes an Enzo because the clever techy people at Ferrari have persuaded the gears to move before the cutch has even disengaged. The 612bhp engine comes from the Enzo (albeit with minor tweaks), and the whole lot can lap Fiorano in the same time it takes a 360 Challenge Stradale. So it's no boulevardier then? It can be if you so wish, the ride is firm but not uncomfortable and the low-speed gearcha...

Hasn’t the 612 Scaglietti been around for a while? Yes it has. It was launched in 2004, but Ferrari has just revealed a special HGT-S pack for it. It costs a steep £7420, but that’s fairly insignificant given that the standard car already costs £175,725. And when you appreciate what the extra money buys it starts to make more sense. Cosmetically, the changes are limited to 19-inch wheels at the front and yellow brake callipers, which stood out a treat against the deep blue of CAR Online's test car. Under the skin, you get sports exhausts with valves that open at 3000rpm to make the noise even better, a revised control system for the adaptive suspension and shorter gearshift times. Tell me more… The V12 already makes a pretty sensational sound in the standard car but more recently the two-seat 599 has set a new standard for aural excellence. This new exhaust for the 612 really redresses that balance. You get the full range of noises from the burble at idle ...

It’s not exactly the new Dino some were expecting, but the launch of any new Ferrari is worth getting excited about. Yes, even if, like the new California, it’s poles apart from the brilliant Scuderia. CAR broke new e-turf back at the California launch in October 2008, when we filed a real-time test drive, blogging live from the Sicilian event with our first impressions of Ferrari's new coupe-cabriolet. So if it’s not a Dino, what is the new Ferrari California? The California is a front-engined GT, Ferrari’s first front-engined-V8, its first coupe-cabrio and its first to be fitted with a dual-clutch gearbox. That’s a lot of firsts. Here’s another one: it’s the first Ferrari that has been designed specifically to attract women to the brand. Excuse the misogynist tone, but you had me all fired up until that! We’re with you. There are plenty of women who appreciate drivers’ cars just as there are many men who don’t. But when ...

This HGTE handling package for the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March and we’ve just been to Fiorano, appropriately, to test it. With Ferrari predicting the same sales in 2009 as 2008, despite the addition of around 2000 Californias, it plainly needs help shifting its current models, and particularly the V12s. But will the idea of spending an extra £13,960 for some chassis, gearbox and trim tweaks be enough to tempt existing 599 owners to upgrade? So what does the HGTE pack give you for fourteen grand? No engine modifications, for a start – not that the magnificent, Enzo-derived 612bhp V12 needs them. For the 2008 model year it cut emissions from 490g/km to 415 and consumption from 13.3mpg to 15.7; very impressive, if not exactly the kind of bar-room boasts that would tempt existing owners to change. So the HGTE package aims to do that. It lowers the car by 10mm and springs are 17% stiffer at the front and 15% at the back. The magn...

This is the Ferrari F430’s swansong, the Scuderia Spider 16M. Just 499 will be produced to celebrate Ferrari’s 16 Formula One constructors’ championships, hence the 16M bit in the name. Its underpinnings are familiar from the Ferrari Scuderia coupé we first drove in 2007, but the roof’s come down and the price has gone up – by around £30k to £198,524. Ferrari certainly knows how to make money! It does. At £171k, the Scuderia coupe was £36k more expensive than the F430 coupe, yet the 16M is £55k more expensive than the F430 Spider. However, every 16M is already sold. Seems that in a tough economic climate, the limited edition route has been a clever way of upping profit margins and ensuring strong demand. Hasn’t Ferrari just released a V8 convertible? Yes, we drove the California last year, but the Scuderia is a very different beast. The engine’s behind the driver for a start, the roof is fabric (not folding meta...

A new chapter in Ferrari’s rich history begins with this, the FF. The designation is simply shorthand for ‘Ferrari Four’, and not only is it a two-door 'shooting brake' estate, but for the first time ever a Ferrari has four-wheel drive capability. This new Ferrari FF sounds intriguing. Does it have conventional 4wd system? No. Instead the FF has a two-speed ‘box (plus reverse) mounted ahead of the engine that takes its drive directly from the crank. The ‘box drives the front wheels via wet clutches that can adjust the torque going to each front wheel independently (essentially by varying degrees of slip). No transfer diff, no connection to the rear wheels. The advantages are light weight, fast response time and, crucially, the ability to pre-empt wheelspin and start to help the rear tyres before they go beyond the limit of grip and traction. And in perfect conditions the FF should remain completely rear-driven to retain that agility so central to the mode...

The new 2014 Ferrari California T is the first of a new generation of turbocharged road cars from Maranello. But does a pair of blowers enhance or detract from the Ferrari experience? We went to Tuscany to find out when we reviewed the new California T. Turbocharging a Ferrari? That sounds like a capital offence! Don’t be so hasty. Have you forgotten the F40 and 288 GTO? Hardly lacking in character were they? And before them, in the early 1980s Ferrari built a series of 2.0-litre turbocharged 208 sports cars to circumnavigate some tough Italian tax laws that made cars with big-capacity engines hideously expensive to run in the home market. You had better get used to the idea because next year’s 458 replacement will use a tweaked version of this California’s 3.8-litre V8, too. Run me through some of the technical highlights on the 2014 Ferrari California T. It’s a Maserati engine, isn’t it? Ferrari builds a blown 3.8 for Maserati, but this isn’t i...

The new 458 Speciale Aperta is the most hardcore V8 roadster that Ferrari has ever produced. In essence, Ferrari takes the 458 Spider and treats it to the same track-focussed upgrades that transform 458 Italia coupe into 458 Speciale. It then adds an A; it’s a reduction of Aperta, Italian for open. Performance goes up from the Italia and Spider’s 562bhp to 597bhp, and just 499 are to be built. What are the changes on the Ferrari Speciale Aperta versus the regular 458 Spider? It’s essentially the same logic as 458 Italia versus Speciale coupe. You’ll notice the bodywork first: the more aggressive front bumper, the vented bonnet, the new sideskirts with their aerodynamic fins, the larger rear spoiler. There’s also new dual exhausts to replace the triple-exhaust triangle – they’re mounted higher up to make way for the vast new rear diffuser that swoops up from the underbody. All the body mods are functional. Of particular interest are the active...

I'm stumped. It looks exactly the same as the Elise R, so why's it here? When Rover died the entry level, K-Series-powered Elise went with it along with a loyal customer base that couldn't stretch to a whopping £29,945 (in basic trim) for the Toyota-powered 'R'. Meet the 'S', the new entry level Elise. It's £6000 cheaper than the 'R' and is powered by a distant relative of the trick VVTLi engine, built by Yamaha for the Toyota Celica. The 134bhp, 1.8-litre engine sitting under the rear clamshell is lifted from the current Corolla. Unlike the 'R' it’s not been fettled by Yamaha, meaning different internals, no electronic valve lift and one less cog in the gearbox. Is this a pared to the bone, hardcore track-special then? Not really. The Elise has never been exactly luxurious but the 'S' still comes with a stereo, Probax bucket seats, alloy wheels and new LED rear lights. The windows are wind down (hardly a chore in an Elise), th...

What's this – a slightly bigger Elise? Kind of. Lotus claims the Europa delivers the majority of the Elise and Exige's driving thrills while offering a load more practicality and comfort – 'business class by Lotus', says the blurb. It's a bit longer than the Elise, a smidge wider and a good deal heavier (995kg versus 860kg), but sticks with the Norfolk firm's trademark mid-engined, rear-wheel drive layout. The bonded aluminium chassis will be familiar to Lotus fans too. You'll pay £32,995. Europa? Don't I recognise that name? Quite possibly. Colin Chapman first released the frog-eyed, pick-up-like Europa in 1966 – his first mid-engined road car. Understandably, Lotus' design department opted for a clean sheet this time. Even so, it still doesn't gel quite as well as the Elise or Exige, looking more like the offspring of a Noble M15 and Vauxhall VX220. Credit where it's due, mind, the Europa turned heads constantly while we blasted through ...

It looks like a slightly more colourful Exige - what's the story? This is the Exige 265E - the fastest ever Exige and the first bio-ethanol Lotus. The digits 265 denote the 265PS power output, or 261bhp in old money – up 46bhp over the standard car. The 'E' informs people that this car runs on ethanol, alcohol made from the fermentation of crops, mixed with petrol. Using this greener fuel results in a claimed 70 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The Exige 265E is a development prototype created by Lotus Engineering, the Norfolk firm's fiendishly clever consultancy arm. In only five weeks between July and August 2006, its engineers completely re-engineered the Toyota engine powering the standard Exige S to run on the wheat-derived fuel. The result is the fastest road-legal bio-ethanol car (and the fastest Exige) ever built. Performance is sensational - 0-60mph flashes up in only 3.88 seconds before running out of puff at a mind bending 158mph. Who says bein...

We’ve been subjected to some rather tenuous special edition Elises in the past, but this is a bit different. The fastest, most powerful production version of Lotus’s baby sports car yet, it’s essentially an Elise R (formerly the 111R, now renamed) fitted with a supercharger to provide an extra 28bhp. So it’s got the engine from the Exige S? If only things were that simple. Yes, it uses the same basic 1.8-litre Toyota engine, but the Exige is fitted with an intercooler that sits on top of the engine under the fastback. The Elise though has a flat engine cover meaning the intercooler won’t fit. So Lotus reengineered the car to work without an intercooler. Incredibly, the non-intercooled engine produces the same 217bhp as the intercooled car as well as 156lb ft of torque. Those figures don’t represent a massive on-paper improvement over the 189bhp and 133lb ft but the torque curve is fuller and and the peak shifts from a silly 6800rpm to a more usable ...

At 270bhp, this is the most powerful Exige Lotus has ever built yet it is also one of the most environmentally friendly. The Exige 270E Tri-Fuel, to give it its full title, has been produced by research engineers at Lotus Engineering to demonstrate how straightforward it can be to develop high performance carbon neutral vehicles using sustainable liquid fuel. The 270E can run on either petrol, ethanol or methanol or a blend of all three if necessary. It forms part of a research program looking into the technicalities associated with burning mixtures of petrol and alcohol fuels and since the Exige is already supercharged, also dovetails neatly with the trend towards downsizing by using smaller capacity boosted engines to improve efficiency. A green Lotus Exige? How can that be any fun? Oh, it’s fun. On Lotus’s southern test track the Exige quickly demonstrated just how potent it is. Cruising at low throttle openings the engine sounds quite innocuous, although because it...

The 2-Eleven is the most track-focused road car Lotus has ever built. And we’ve emphasised the ‘road car’ bit because despite the wings and splitters and launch control and racing stripes the Lotus 2-Eleven can be driven to the shops. There is a track-only version that does without lights, a horn, etc. but having driven the 2-Eleven comprehensively on the road we can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t go for the full SVA-approved version. Hold your horses. Road? Track? What exactly is the Lotus 2-Eleven? It’s a lightweight track car. It has no doors, no roof and no concessions to comfort. You can’t drive it on the road without a crash helmet – well you could, if you like the taste of bugs – and you don’t really want to be venturing too far from home if there’s rain in the air. However, when sun is shining and you’re faced with a long ribbon of empty tarmac (road or track) the Lotus 2-Eleven sings. So what mak...

CAR's test of the Lotus Eco Elise has an inauspicious start. I slip into the driver's seat – with that swing-legs-in-haul-your-weight-around gymnastic routine familiar to generations of Elise owners – and thumb the start button. The first few hundreds yards confirm the Elise's rich DNA. Who doesn't love Hethel's back-to-basics purity? The tiny rim squirming in your palms, the wings' contours making it a cinch to thread out of the car park, the surprisingly supple ride soaking up pitted road acne. But something's amiss. In the nighttime gloom I can feel what can only be described as old man's trousers lining the steering wheel's boss... The tweed Elise? Just what is the Lotus Eco Elise? As it's pitch black when I leave the office, I am none the wiser until the following morning. My commute home passes in familiar Elise fashion; the Eco Elise is a remarkably easy car to drive, with good visibility and simple, light controls, but it comes alive t...

With the Lotus Evora on the horizon and getting ever closer, Hethel has chosen to update its current range-topping sports car, the Europa. Now available in SE guise, it offers more power and torque, tweaked sports suspension, bigger wheels, bigger brakes and a more luxurious cabin. But with the sublime Elise just below it and the Evora soon to be above it – not to mention competition from the likes of Nisan, Porsche and BMW – can the revised Europa still justify its place in the Lotus line-up? I’d forgotten all about the Lotus Europa. Where does it fit in again? It’s the tin-top Elise that was designed, perhaps optimistically, to take Lotus into Audi TT/Porsche Cayman territory. The new SE model has some engineering mods to improve those crucial performance stats: the 0-60mph sprint time drops from 5.8 to 4.9 seconds and the charge to 100mph takes over two seconds less at 12.4sec. Unfortunately (for those of you that care about fuel figures in your Lotus), the...