Europe's fastest street-legal car is... a 252 MPH Pontiac Trans-Am?!

"Have fun with KITT," sniffed some AMG engineers when a group of Norwegians showed up at Germany's Papenburg test track with a 1987 Trans Am. The smug smiles were quickly wiped off the faces of the Mercedes tuner crew when the ancient Pontiac's practice laps were as fast as the AMG cars, and the F-Body wasn't even working hard. Once warmed up, the 8.9-liter V8 unleashed all of its 1400 horsepower on the circuit, delivering a startling 407 kph (252 mph) also known as Bugatti Veyron fast. Better still, unlike the Bug, the Pontiac's lap is official.

Needless to say, there's not much stock underneath the skin on this particular Trans Am. The car is the work of Polly Motorsport of Norway, and there's a wealth of top tuner expertise beneath the mostly stock exterior. We're sure even in its heightened state of tune, the Polly Trans Am is infinitely less expensive than the $1.6 million you'd have to cough up for a Veyron, and its creators say it's still street legal. Hit this link for some videos, which would be even more entertaining if we could understand what they were saying. Props to reader Mitka who provided the synopsis that we've posted after the jump!

Subject: Fastest street legal official road car in Europe!

A 1987 Trans Am fastest official street legal road car in Europe!

Paul brought his Pontiac to the Papenburg car testing track, one of the newest and most advanced test tracks in the world. Mercedes where testing their new AMG sports models the same day as Pal was going for his personal speed record. Some engineers from AMG team criticized the optimistic Norwegian team for bringing an 80's trimmed American car to this super test track for the advanced European supercars. But what they didn't quite comprehend is that Pal Arvil Blytt and his Polly motorsport team from Norway works at a motor tuner garage in Godvik Norway and most important of all nothing more than the shell of this car resembles the stock Pontiac. With a brisk 8.9L V8 producing a whopping 1407 HP, Pal was soon doing AMG top speeds of 300km/h in his warming laps. After driving a couple of rounds around the track, Paul felt ready to see what his road machine would do! And after pressing the pedal to the metal the ARP technician Christoph Tharrey came over with his laptop computer with a big grin. Here we have the official numbers: 407.134 km/h

You may say well the 9FF team drove 409km/h in an extremely rebuilt Porsche 911 at the same track; this speed was recorded with their own equipment and therefore can be fixed and therefore is not recorded as an official speed record. Bugatti Veyron 407km/h is also recorded with their own equipment.

As the Papenburg track is to small for the Pontiac to reach its potential top speed of 435km/h and Volkswagen's test track costs 25.000 Euro an hour to rent. Paul is bringing his road legal car to the US in 2009 to challenge Shelby supercars official record of 412km/h.

The 9ff DraXster is capable of hitting 161mph (260km/h) in a Veyron beating time of just 9.5 seconds

Porsche tuning specialists 9ff has unveiled its latest supercar, this time a modified Porsche seemingly focused on drag racing. Featuring a 4.0L twin-turbo flat six engine, the new 9ff puts out around 1,300hp (970kW) while torque spikes at 877lb-ft (1,190Nm). All that horsepower is contained in a lightweight 1,168kg package, meaning that the 9ff DraXster is capable of hitting 161mph (260km/h) in a Veyron beating time of just 9.5 seconds.

Currently, pricing and final top speed figures for the DraXster are unknown, but with that amount of power the car may be capable of beating the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, which recently claimed the title of world's fastest production car with its 255mph top speed.

On the other hand, 9ff has already been working on a different car to specifically beat the record held by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, in the form of the 9ff GT9R. Final specs for that car are yet to be released but some initial numbers included a 1120hp (836kW) and 774lb-ft (1,050Nm) output from the standard 9ff GT9’s twin-turbocharged 4.0L flat-six engine, which incidentally is rated at 987hp (726kW) and 710lb-ft (964Nm) of torque.

The 9ff DraXster is most likely then focused on acceleration performance as its name suggests rather than all out top speed, and considering the lack of aerodynamic adornments to the car as seen on the GT9 it is unlikely that it has been designed for beating a top speed record.

Via: Autoblog.nl

edo Competition team with designer Christian Audigier to create the fastest Lamborghini

edo Competition and designer Christian Audigier came together to create the fastest Lamborghini to date, and even managed to make the Lambo look even better! Audigier’s influence is clearly visible in the matte black exteriors, as well as the interiors; with a pirate theme and the “sparkling skull”.

Gains in power come from the use of new exhaust headers, new high flow catalytic converters, new mufflers, a new exhaust tip, new performance camshafts, modified cylinder heads, new high flow air filters and remapped engine controls. With these changes, the monstrous 6.5-l V12 of the Lambo generates a massive 710hp of power and 700Nm of torque. The zero to 62mph dash is completed in just 3.2 seconds, and 124mph comes in just under 10 seconds. Top speed of the Lambo stands at 224mph (360 kmph).

Based on the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640, the LP 710 gets a stainless steel high performance exhaust system, and 19 inch light alloy wheel shod in Continental high-speed tires.

edo Competition LP 710 is a Limited Edition car with only five instances to be built, each carrying a price tag of Euro 495,000 ($692,500 ). In case you want to make some changes, all these Haute-Couture Lamborghinis will be custom built for each customer, along with an opportunity to run the Lambo to the limit at the high speed oval in Papenburg, Germany or at Nardo, Italy.

[Courtesy: edo Competition] 

edo-Competition Lamborghini Audigier Picture

G-POWER M5 HURRICANE achives a 228mph top speed

G-POWER has done it again. The M3 Hurricane can now be named the fastest sedan in the world, breaking a long-standing record of the Brabus Rocket. Back in March, we wrote about G-Power’s tuning program, named “Hurricane”, and also about their 730 horsepower M5.

At the time, the M5 ran the track with a top speed of 200 mph, but G-Power had bigger plans for their M5. In November 2008, G-POWER M5 Hurricane RS achieved a top speed of 228.4 mph (367,59 km/h). The previous 227.2 mph (365,7 km/h) hold by the Brabus, has been broken. The test took place on tracks in Papenburg.

While the Brabus has a V12, G-Power uses only a simple V10 from the shelves of BMW and modified this engine with other two superchargers from G-POWER’s technology partner ASA, with enlarged capacity.

According to G-POWER the BI-Kompressor system could be raised from 0,7 bar rel. to 0,8 bar rel., but the system has not reached its limit yet. Companies representatives confirmed that if needed,  the system could be improved and the M5 Hurricane could be taken to a whole new level.

Which level that might be, time will tell. We’re almost positive that Brabus has something in-works to regain the lost status.

[Source: Autoblog.nl ]

And here is a video with the M5 Hurricane beind drives on the Autobahn

Nissan GT-R Tuned by Cobra N+ with up to 620HP

German tuning firm COBRA N+ has announced the development of a new performance package for the GT-R that will be available just in time for the Japanese sportscar's European market launch in the spring of 2009. In standard form, after its recent facelift that is (see details here), the four-wheel drive GT-R comes equipped with a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 engine delivering 485HP. COBRA N+ is readying two performance packages for the GT-R.

Nissan GT-R Cobra N+ The first tuning stage is projected to deliver 550HP, with an increase in torque to 680 Nm. To achieve this, the twin-turbocharged engine electronics were reprogrammed, boost pressure was increased by 0.15 bar and the air intake was modified with sport air filters. Also under development is a free-flow COBRA N+ stainless-steel high-performance exhaust system with metal catalysts.

With this package the Nissan GT-R from COBRA N+ will sprint to 100 km/h (62 km/h) in less than 3.5 seconds, on its way to a top speed of some 320 km/h (199 mph). The second tuning package which is still under development, will boost output to a hefty 620 HP and peak torque to approximately 800 Nm.

Nissan GT-R Cobra N+ COBRA N+ will also offer an array of suspension, wheels and brake upgrades that promise to better the sportscar's handling. These include three-piece lightweight 21-inch alloy wheels, eight-piston brake calipers and 405-mm brake discs on the front axle as well as a coil-over suspension that features a multitude of selectable settings for ride height and damper rates.

The aerodymanic package for the GT-R includes a front apron with larger air dams, rocker panels, a rear apron with integrated diffuser, and a larger rear airfoil. For the adventurous types that don't mind being finger-pointed on the road, there's also a stripes decal kit.

For the interior COBRA N+ offers two different options, a luxury kit with specially sewn upholstery for seats and doors, made from a high-quality combination of leather and Alcantara, and a racing kit with ultra-light carbon-fiber racing seats, six-point seatbelts and roll cage.

 Via: Autofiends , Source: Cobra N+