We obsessively covered Pebble Beach Week
As always, we made the annual trek to Monterey, California for Pebble Beach Week with laptops in tow and digital SLR cameras in hand to capture everything worthy of your time. As you can see by our assemblage of posts below, 2010 was another spectacular year for new and old.
From a bevy of new car introductions to a slew of special events and even a couple of high-brow auctions, we'd imagine there's something to see for just about every fan of internal combustion. Knock yourself out... and please excuse us while we (finally) put down the coffee and take a well-deserved break.
Production Cars
2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302
Morgan EvaGT
Bentley Continental GTC 80-11
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
Jaguar XKR175
Infiniti G25
Lotus Evora Cip GT4
McLaren MP4-12C
Infiniti IPL G Coupe
Lotus Exos Type 125
Perana Z-One
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
Special Events
Rolex Motorsports Reunion
Jaguar's 75th Birthday
100 Years of The Indy 500
Alfa Romeo's 100th Birthday
Concours d'LeMons
Bugatti GP Cars
The Quail Motorsports Gathering
Ferrari F40 Birthday Collection
Concorso Italiano
Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance
Jaguar XK-SS Gathering
Honoring Dan Gurney
Caroll Shelby Tribute
Pebble Beach Concourse
Concours Best in Show
Auctions
Gooding & Company
RM
RM for Ford
We obsessively covered Pebble Beach Week originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:57:00 EST. .
Red Victor 3 - Click above for high-res image
The drag racing world is a scary, scary place. It's a realm where engines are built to hold together just long enough to scoot down the quarter mile before they're torn apart and rebuilt for the next run. It's a world where if your vehicle is turning anything close to double-digit fuel mileage, it's not producing enough horsepower.
Typically, these types of monstrosities are little more than trailer queens that are rolled onto the strip and then back into their awaiting shuttles home. That's not the case with the new Vauxhall Red Victor 3 - a custom-built racer that has a twin-turbocharged 8.8-liter General Motors V8 under the hood good for 3,000 horsepower.
The car uses 1967 Victor FD sheet metal, though the company says that the whole contraption is entirely street legal. How's about them apples? The car was built specifically for the Power Festival at Silverstone (how appropriate...), which kicks off August 28. Vauxhall predicts that the car should run 240 miles per hour in the quarter at 6.5 seconds. Yup. That's pretty quick. Hit the jump for a look at the full press blast.
[Source: Vauxhall]
Audi RS5 Shooting Brake - Click above for high-res image gallery
We just spent the last few days bouncing around Germany driving the 2011 Audi TT and the powertrain-enhanced Q7 (review next week), and between bouts on the autobahn and a few factory tours, we pestered our hosts about some of their Euro-only products and what we can expect in the future.
We dropped a few not-so-subtle hints in an attempt to score some seat time in the RS6 (denied) and the TT RS (achieved, and yes, it's awesome), but the RS5 was something we were aching to drive. Unfortunately, we were short on time and didn't get a crack at the 450-hp coupe, but on more than one occasion we mentioned that a shooting brake version would be the bee's knees. As you'd expect, that's probably not gonna happen, but the rendering wizard Theophilus Chin has answered our prayers in digital form.
Chin, who mocked up the three-door for a Photoshop contest, took some inspiration from past Audi coupes - including the GT - to create a two-door fastback version of the RS5 that's loaded with win. The sloping roofline matches perfectly to the RS5's widened haunches, and while the roof rails wouldn't have been our first choice, we dig how they tie into the brushed aluminum front splitter, rear diffuser, side mirrors and five-spoke wheels. Too bad it probably won't happen, but there's a good chance those of us in the States will get a crack at the standard two-door RS5 in 2012.
Ken Block's Gymkhana 3 Ford Fiesta - Click above for high-res image gallery
When Ken Block switched alliances earlier this year - ditching his Subaru Impreza WRX STI for a a rallified 2011 Ford Fiesta - there was no doubt in anyone's mind that an all-new Gymkhana variant was right around the corner. Tonight in San Francisco, we finally got an eyeful of Block's new ride, and as you'd suspect, it's meaner, wider and ridiculously more powerful than its predecessor.
The Gymkhana Three Fiesta was built by the same team that produced his Monster World Rally Team hatch, and includes a boosted 2.0-liter four-pot capable of 850 horsepower (de-tuned with a restrictor plate to output 650 hp in the name of tractability) and 660 pound-feet of torque. Partnered with a Olsbergs Motorsport-developed MSE Maktrak six-speed sequential transmission and powering all four wheels, the new Gymkhana contender will hit 60 mph in two seconds flat and according to Block, can "handle loose, while still providing complete control."
We plan to grill Block about his plans this evening, but in the meantime, make the jump for the official details and check out the teaser from earlier today.
Gallery: Ken Block Gymkhana 3 Ford Fiesta
Horse-drawn Hummer H2 - Click above to view the video after the jump
When the internal combustion engine finally helped the automobile pass the horse-drawn carriage as the chosen method of transportation for a majority of citizens in the United States, that a step in the right direction. Right? Moving forward about a hundred years... when the behemoth Sport Utility Vehicle that never actually seems to venture off the beaten path passed the minivan in the hearts and minds of families across the country as the people-mover of choice, was that a step in the right direction?
If you answered no to either of the above questions, perhaps you'll enjoy the video pasted after the break. Created by artist Jeremy Dean (read about our initial post on the project here), the converted Hummer H2 is called Futurama and is pulled by two white horses named, appropriately enough, Duke and Diesel. Hummers are for horses? See for yourself.
Gallery: Jeremy Dean's Hoover H2
