BMW M3 DTM Champion Edition announced

Celebrates Bruno Spengler's DTM drivers? title

Following a preview ceremony, BMW has finally announced plans to offer an M3 DTM Champion Edition to celebrate Bruno Spengler's DTM drivers’ title.

Drawing inspiration from Spengler's race car, the special edition features a Frozen Black metallic exterior with carbon fiber flaps, dark chrome accents and matte black wheels. There's also DTM-inspired graphics and plenty of M badging.

Interior changes are limited but the model comes nicely equipped with an Alcantara steering wheel, carbon fiber trim and black Novillo leather seats with contrasting Palladium Silver accents. Other highlights include GPS navigation, heated front seats and door sill plates which "replicate Spengler’s helmet design."

Power is provided by a 4.0-liter V8 engine that produces 420 HP (309 kW) and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque. It is connected to an M Double Clutch Transmission (M DCT) which enables the coupe to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds.

The car will go into production in February and only 54 units will be built. German pricing starts at €99,000.00 (including VAT) and buyers will be offered a chance to attend the BMW M Fascination Nordschleife driver training course to get tips directly from Bruno Spengler himself.

Source: BMW

Urban Outlaw by MOS MEDIA | SUPPLEMENTAL

URBAN OUTLAW is a portrait of Magnus Walker, the rebel Porsche customizer who turned a hobby into an obsession, and an obsession into a successful business. From a workshop in downtown Los Angeles, Magnus obsessively harvests fragments from donor 911s, grafting them onto vintage frames to create one-off automobiles with the spirit of Ferdinand Porsche but an ethos entirely his own.

Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Concept: A ‘peaceful co-existence’

The Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Concept was launched at this year’s Paris Show. A few weeks on, we have taken the prototype for a drive in Los Angeles to see what it contributes to Porsche’s model line-up.

Porsche's Chief Technology Officer Wolfgang Hatz left no room for confusion: “The Sport Turismo will not replace the Panamera as we know it. Rather, it will complement it.” So it’s not cannibalism, but a peaceful co-existence – one that should take shape within the next four years, although officially nothing is set in stone just yet.
“This is a trial project. We want to test the customer response for station wagons in tricky markets such as the USA and China,” said Hatz. Initial reactions in Beverly Hills have been positive: “A film producer has already offered us an absurd amount of money for this prototype,” designer Mitja Borkert chuckled. But the chic concept is not for sale at any price.



The increased interest is hardly surprising. On the road, it boasts lines that would leave its first-generation ancestor green with envy. And while we’re talking green, the plug-in hybrid has an electric motor providing the equivalent of 94bhp – double that of the electric motor in the current Panamera Hybrid. The result is an electric-only range of just under 20 miles - admittedly only achieved with a restrained right foot. That’s not so easy with the knowledge of the car’s easily accessible 410bhp.


And when your self-restraint gives way, you certainly know about it. As the shooting brake springs forward, the sonorous burbling of the engine changes into a hearty six-cylinder concerto. The reason for this is the lack of an acoustic silencer, a feature likely to be adopted in a possible production version. Also to be carried forward is the impressive fuel economy of 80mpg. However, the installation of a supercharged V6 plus electric motor in Porsche’s current hybrids resulted in patchy power delivery, so we hope the combination will be further developed come the Sport Turismo’s showroom showdown.


It’s not just forward propulsion that’s been under consideration during the car’s development; rearward vision has been re-thought, too. Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the absence of side mirrors. They’ve been replaced by cameras which transmit images to screens located either side of the circular central display – apparently a feature requested by ‘someone at the top’. But our initial experiences suggest this might not be one of Volkswagen patriarch Ferdinand Piëch’s better decisions. Retraining your brain to instinctively look downwards rather than sideways during lane-changes seems strange and, without the customary blind-spot check, you never feel completely at ease. That said, concepts are all about pushing boundaries, and the swipes and taps required by today’s centre-mounted touchscreens would have felt peculiar 10 or so years ago.


Whereas the interior looks to the future, the exterior uses the tried-and-tested Porsche formula. The strip connecting the rear lights is a nod to the 911 Carrera 4 (as a reminder that the Concept is 4wd), while the front end inherits the shark nose and bulging fenders of its predecessors. But, altogether, the design represents one of the freshest to come from Stuttgart in recent years.

It might share the Panamera saloon’s wheelbase, but in its current form the Sport Turismo Concept sits two inches lower and six inches wider, giving it a much more balanced look. So it’s prettier, more practical and will, we hope, be rid of the current Panamera Hybrid’s dynamics gremlins. Given the sales success of that model, a production go-ahead seems inevitable.
Text: Wolfgang Gomoll (classicdriver.com)Photos: Porsche

EL SOLITARIO ‘WINNING LOSER’

It’s stating the obvious, but some bikes are easier to customize than others. If you’ve got a Ducati SportClassic or Harley Sportster sitting in your garage, you’ve got a head start. But what about the real bread-and-butter bikes, the unloved small-capacity Japanese machines with gawky aesthetics, sold by the million to inner-city commuters the world over?

Yamaha’s SR250 is one such machine, and a staple of the slick Japanese ‘Brat Style’ custom scene. But you don’t often see it customized in the west, and certainly not to the radical extent we’re looking at here. This is the ‘Winning Loser,’ the first El Solitario motorcycle to be built from scratch, and one that still has pride of place in David Borras’ Galician garage.

This is the bike that El Solitario cut their teeth on: It was created for the Metamorfosis Masiva, a Spanish garage builders’ contest. There were just two rules: the donor bike had to be an SR250, and you were only allowed to spend €1,000 on parts—around US$1,300.

There was no time limit though, so Borras and his crew got to work—and put in over 500 hours. And although this SR250 might look like a design study, it’s a motorcycle that’s ridden regularly today. With a 3-liter fuel capacity it won’t go far between stops, but the fun factor is high on the twisty roads of northern Spain.

Borras dropped the front end of the high-riding stock SR250 by 4”, and lowered the rear end by turning metric wrenches into struts. Vintage bicycle handlebars are dressed with Wilson perforated leather grips.

Custom fabricated parts include the stainless steel fuel tank—fitted with a brass petcock and cap—plus the exhaust system and a 50-tooth rear sprocket. There’s no battery, with juice coming from a 68k uF capacitor, and the kickstart is from a 1983 Yamaha XT250. The headlight and Smiths tachometer are vintage finds, and the rear light is from an old Bultaco.

Paint was provided by the Spanish artist Raulowsky—also noted for his work with Sideburn Magazine—and Londoner Nicolai Sclater, AKA Ornamental Conifer. The resulting mix of raw finishes and immaculate detailing is strangely compelling; it’s part of the contradictory nature that has garnered a lot of attention for ESMC in Europe.

Head over to the El Solitario website for updates from the cutting edge of the European art-moto scene, and follow their exploits via the ESMC Facebook page. Images courtesy of Kristina Fender.