Pagani Zonda R unveiled in Vienna

While we certainly cannot say the Zonda F lacks performance figures, driving around the Nürburgring in 7:27:82 and achieving lateral G forces of almost 1.5 G, it is however a road car, easy to drive, intuitive and setting the benchmark for comfort, safety and lightweight. Paired with a quality finish and the attention to detail this made the Zonda F one of the most desirable supercars resulting in the 25 Coupé models being sold out in record time.

This did not seem to fulfill the requirements of our most demanding customers, who adore the weekend drive on a racetrack.

The spark has been set by an Italo-American customer, enthusiast and already proud owner of 3 Zondas. He describes the project this way: "The thought has been on my mind for quite some time, but I am not interested in racing".

The Zonda R is born with full liberty. The target: the ultimate performance at the racetrack without any implications of rules, except for safety, where no compromise is allowed.

In September 2006 the first drawings were ready, but it was crucial to have the support of Mercedes-AMG for a high revving engine with a power output of 750hp, dry sump, light and with a low centre of gravity. The basis was the self supporting engine of the mighty CLK GTR, which has dominated the GT championships.

Eve at constant racing pace the engine would have to cover over 5.000 km before servicing. The challenge has been accepted without hesitation.

The Zonda R is a car designed from scratch, with only 10% of the Zonda F components to be carried over. The suspension forged in Avional, a new Pagani six speed transversal sequential gearbox, carbon fibre monocoque, aeronautical four pump fuel tank are only part of the equation.

The wheelbase has grown by 47mm, the overall length by 394mm and the track is increased by 50mm. The bodywork and aerodynamics have been studied to offer maximum downforce. Even though built for the track, the project would not have received kick off, if the quality and finish of the car and its details was not up to the level of the Pagani road cars.

One of the first cars to be delivered however will be kept in a living room, designed by Pagani and built with the same materials as the Zonda F, beautifully textured carbon fibre, avional, titanium, inconel and other state of the art materials. Additionally it will feature a bespoke HiFi System that will allow the customer to listen to the sound of this car at Le Mans and the Nürburgring.

Technical Specifications

This Zonda is purpose made for track use, without restrictions of any competition rules or homologation, with the only exclusion of the passengers' integrity, where no compromise is tolerated according to our philosophy and state-of-the-art safety measures are featured.

A new heart

The engine is built by the racing specialists at Mercedes AMG, where the championship winning DTM cars are born, as well as the CLK GTR, probably the most devastating and effective weapon ever to compete in the GT series. From it's engine the Zonda R borrows the basic architecture including an ingenious dry sump allowing a low centre of gravity. This self-supporting engine with 750 hp at 8000 rpm and 710 Nm of torque carries a lightweight carbon fibre high- performance intake system, a racing multiple disc sintered clutch and Formula 1 style exhaust system, hydroformed in Inconel 625 and ceramic coated for optimal heat dissipation. The power unit combined with a 6 speed transversal manual sequential synchronised gearbox is designed to satisfy the most ambitious drivers.

The chassis

The central carbon chassis will incorporate a roll cage and a rubber racing fuel tank with 4 fuel pumps and quick refuel filler like on GT race cars. The wheelbase has been increased by 47mm to offer the best stability. The front and rear subframes are brand-new, built to accommodate a new suspension geometry, produced in avional. The magnesium forged rims with central wheel nut and a quick pneumatic lifting system allows fast and effortless changes of the slick tyres.

Bodywork and aerodynamics

The new bodywork has been honed to offer elevated downforce even in low speed corners. The longer front bonnet with flaps, closed underbody and the rear overhang with the adjustable rear wing and race derived diffusor translate into shattering aerodynamic efficiency and will let you experience cornering speeds beyond imagination.

The car displays and logs information about the amount of dowforce that the car is generating at each moment. Combined with the adjustable wings you can easily find the best setup for each track.

Workstation

The interior is designed to accommodate the driver and passenger in bespoke seats, built to offer the best support, when the G-forces from the vehicle dynamics come into question. The Digitek instrumentation provides the essential information and a sophisticated telemetry allows through a variety of sensors to monitor every single component of the car.

Technical data
Type V12 - M120
V - angle 60°
Displacement 5987 ccm
Stroke 80,20 mm
Bore 89,00 mm
Valves per cilinder 4
Horse Power 750
Power output 551 KW at 7.500 1/min
Torque output 710 Nm
Aspiration Single throttle bodies, mechanically
operated
Lubrification Dry sump with separate oil tank
Firing order 1-12-5-8-3-10-6-7-2-11-4-9
dati tecnici
Tipo V12 - M120
V 60°
Cilindrata 5987 ccm
Corsa 80,20 mm
Alesaggio 89,00 mm
Valvole per cilindro 4
CV 750
Potenza max. 551 KW at 7.500 1/min
Coppia max. 710 Nm
Aspirazione corpo farfallato singolo, azionato
meccanicamente
Lubrificazione a carter secco con serbatoio olio separato
Ordine di accensione 1-12-5-8-3-10-6-7-2-11-4-9



















I hope Jeremy Clarkson test drives this on Top Gear.

-Nas

Carbon Fiber

"Carbon fiber reinforced polymer is used extensively in high end automobile racing. The high cost of carbon fiber is mitigated by the material's unsurpassed strength-to-weight ratio, and low weight is essential for high-performance automobile racing.

Race car manufacturers have also developed methods to give carbon fiber pieces strength in a certain direction, making it strong in a load-bearing direction, but weak in directions where little or no load would be placed on the member.

Conversely, manufacturers developed omnidirectional carbon fiber weaves that apply strength in all directions. This type of carbon fiber assembly is most widely used in the "safety cell" monocoque chassis assembly of high-performance racecars.

Many supercars over the past few decades have incorporated CFRP extensively in their manufacture, using it for their monocoque chassis as well as other components.

Until recently, the material has had limited use in mass-produced cars because of the expense involved in terms of materials, equipment, and the relatively limited pool of individuals with expertise in working with it. Recently, several mainstream vehicle manufacturers have started to use CFRP in everyday road cars.

Use of the material has been more readily adopted by low-volume manufacturers who used it primarily for creating body-panels for some of their high-end cars due to its increased strength and decreased weight compared with the glass-reinforced polymer they used for the majority of their products.


Here's where the shitty companies come in :

Often street racers or hobbyist tuners will purchase a carbon fiber reinforced polymer hood, spoiler or body panel as an aftermarket part for their vehicle. However, these parts are rarely made of full carbon fiber. They are often just a single layer of carbon fiber laminated onto fiberglass for the "look" of carbon fiber. It is common for these parts to remain unpainted to accentuate the look of the carbon fiber weave." - Courtesy of Wikipedia

I've noticed this more and more as I see more people with carbon fiber products. I have experienced everything from hoods cracking under light load and hoods splitting from their fiberglass backing causing crashes and windshields to break.

I spoke to Bill from DSG (http://www.dentsport.com)and asked him if he had a contact for real, actual, strong carbon fiber. He pointed me into the right direction and now we are in the process of coming out with a complete line of Full on replacement Dash boards, sti hood scoops and in the future other components.

The first dash boards that will be released will be for the S13 and S14 Chassis followed by Evo 9 and Sti.

Here are some teaser pictures:








If you look at the above picture, you will realize that there is no fiber crap backing. Its full on grade AA carbon from the U.S. Government.



That is the Wrx Scoop.

Here is the s14 dash:







Here is the mold for the vacuum sealing process:





We will have more information available in a few weeks.

If you can't wait and are interested in something feel free to contact me.

Naser Kamel
Pride-Performance
732.804.1280
prideperformanceonline@gmail.com
naser@pride-performance.com

Mete's Pulsar GTi-R

Here's some info about the vehicle courtesy of Wikipedia.

N14 series (1991–1994)

Nissan Pulsar/Sunny (N14)

In 1990, the N14 model finally saw Nissan turn to the rounded look. Holden in Australia did not use a variant of this Pulsar, instead choosing to use a rebadged variant of the Toyota Corolla sold as the Holden Nova until the late 1990s when they reintroduced the Astra name for their variant of the Opel Astra. It continued to be offered in New Zealand as the Sentra. In Europe, the Sunny name continued, applied to three, four and five-door models, alongside the Sunny California station wagon from Japan (called either the Sunny Estate or Sunny Traveller). The Langley and Liberta Villa models were not offered. There was no N14 Pulsar offered in the US either; Instead, the US Pulsar evolved into what was known as the NX1600 with the GA16DE engine, the SR18DE or the NX2000 with the SR20DE engine and rear disc brakes. The NX cars are sport coupe shape of the same chassis, engines, body electronics and even dashboard as Pulsar and Sunny. 1994 was the last year for the N chassis in the US.

This generation was badged as the Nissan Sabre (hatch back) and Sentra(4-door saloon) in South Africa, and the Nissan Sunny in Europe. The Pulsar was Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1991, which it shared with the Honda NSX — the only time the award was shared by two different cars.
Pulsar GTI-R

The N14 series also saw the introduction of the Nissan Pulsar GTI-R (labelled Sunny GTI-R in Europe). This was a homologation variant produced to satisfy the necessary WRC rules at that time. It featured a turbocharged SR20DET engine producing 169 kW (230 hp JIS) of power, as well as the ATTESA all-wheel drive system.

The GTI-R, which was identified as an RNN14 model, was entered by Nissan into the World Rally Championship. However, it did not prove to be very competitive, and many believe it was hampered by a few technical problems. These included excessive weight over the front wheels which caused a deficiency in handling where the car could understeer excessively and the location of the turbocharger's intercooler unit atop the engine which caused inefficiency in the induction system. Many also theorised that the cars were running with a manufacturer of tires that were not up to scratch with the competition at that time. The GTI-R raced under the Nissan Motorsport Europe banner. It was more competitive in the hands of privateers, winning the Group N class of the World Championship in the hands of Grégoire de Mévius in 1992. It also proved popular in the European Rallycross Championships.




Mete's car is very clean.

The mod list are as follows:

Tanabe Catback Exhaust
O.Z. Rally Spec Wheels


The goal is 400 hp and suspension upgrades. For those that don't know the car has the ability to run with the best current manufactured cars on the road today.

Here's a video in Tsukuba.Stock R32 GTR vs. Stock Pulsar GTi-R - Godzilla vs. Godzuki



Heavily modded 5th Gear Episode- Viper vs. GTi-R


Best Motoring Video 1990- This is more of an informative infomercial on the GTi-R


Stay Tuned to see more updates on this little beast dubbed Godzuki!

-Nas

Indy 500 winner Brack takes X Games rally racing

Courtesy of: The Associated Press


CARSON, Calif. — At an event that celebrates the young, new and radical, it was instead a 43-year-old from a traditional sport that dominated the final day of the X Games.

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack emerged with a gold medal Sunday in the Rally Car Racing Super Special while making his X Games debut.

Brack, a CART and IRL driver from Sweden who retired from racing after the 2003 season, leaped onto the roof of his car to celebrate his win in the final official event of the action sports showcase.

"It was fantastic to come back to the states this way," Brack said. "It's a fun event."

After thanking the X Games' organizers and sponsors, Brack playfully thanked his competitors who "let me win."

Defending champion and nine-time X Games gold medalist Travis Pastrana took the silver medal after he crashed into a wall towards the end of the first lap and wasn't able to complete the head-to-head final race.

The crash, along with another wreck and early exit from Moto X Best Trick on Friday night, made for a down week for Pastrana. He has been the X Games' most successful and dynamic star in recent years.

"I finally had a good shot at a really good race and I hit a wall, not for any other reason than I was pushing very, very hard," Pastrana said. "If he wasn't quite so fast that would not have happened. It definitely was a disappointing way to end."

Tanner Foust, the 2007 Rally Car Racing gold medalist and a movie stunt driver, took the bronze medal.

Freestyle motocross star Brian Deegan, one of many rally competitors to come from different X Games disciplines, finished fourth in his debut in the event.

Though Brack accepted an invitation to compete in the X Games, the 43-year-old said he doesn't plan on coming out of retirement. Brack occupies his time with his family and a young driver program.

"I'm not looking to get into this full-time again," Brack said. "It's a lot easier standing on the sidelines telling somebody how they need to do it than to actually do it yourself so that's what I enjoy now."

Brack didn't rule out the possibility of returning to the X Games next year.

"You never, know, but I don't want it as my day job again," Brack said. "I have a family now and other things to do and if you don't have the commitment that you need for something like this, you're not going to be successful."

After making its debut last year with mixed reviews from the competitors, the Skateboard SuperPark event enjoyed a favorable makeover.

Rune Glifberg successfully defended his SuperPark gold medal while Andy Macdonald took the silver and Chad Bartie the bronze.

Glifberg, who has competed in all 15 X Games, won his first gold medal last year in SuperPark.

"I'm stoked," Glifberg said. "I worked hard all week to try to get as much practice as possible to just really get comfortable with the course and my lines."

After skaters complained about the original course, designed to bring together vert and street skaters in a single competition, organizers revamped and enlarged it to include concrete bowls and more street features.

The course design drew rave reviews from all three medalists, who applauded the changes, though Macdonald said it took three to four days to get used to the course.

"Last year it was good for a first event, no one knew what to do, no one knew how it was gonna be," Bartie said. "It still worked, but what they wanted and what they did was perfect."

The event still failed to draw most major stars from street or vert skateboarding.



I watched the event and thought it was pretty cool. Tanner Foust, Travis Pastrana, Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard, Ken Block, and the winner Kenny Brack are all really good drivers.

I was impressed with the fact that you could see different driving styles go head to head and compare them side to side. While Tanner Foust drifted through corners, Others drove their lines and in most cases there was a minimal difference in times when they came out of the turns.

At the end Brack one due to Pastrana clipping a wall and getting stuck.

Watch the video, It's pretty amazing!

-Nas

Driftspeed S14 Crash @ Formula D Chicago

Driftspeed S14 Crash @ Formula D Chicago- Taken From Eric's blog at www.beyondthedyno.com

Koji from Driftspeed sent me an email with some pics of their crashed S14 at the Chicago Formula D event. It always sucks to see a built car crashed because if you've built any cars, you know that there is a lot of time, effort and $$$ that goes into building any kind of race car. Anyhow, as quoted from Koji's email, "[This happened in] Chicago in D1 practice. They said there is a big dip right at first transition area that made rear wheel in air (70-80mph) and when it landed the car shot right into the wall."







OUCH...I'm not sure if it was suspension setup, driver fault, or event coordinators overlooking a big dip in the track surface, but I'd be pissed either way if I owned that car. The good thing about building another race car is that you get to put everything you learned from the first car into the next making it better the second time around. I worked with Koji for 7 years back at XS Engineering so I know the next car will be better if he gets his way.

Posted in: Beyond the Dyno by Eric Hsu

Gio should be there now, I wonder if he got any pictures of the accident.

-Nas

NEW EAT SLeep RACE SHIRT!!!!!!!!!

Just got this in from our buddies over at ESR. This Shirt is awesome!




Pride-Performance is an official distributor of ESR. We have T-shirts, Decals, and other apparel in stock!

Contact us via e-mail prideperformanceonline@gmail.com
or Phone 732.804.1280
to place your orders!

-Nas

Abu Dhabi's Nearly-Completed Ferrari World Theme Park

Located just across from Iran, the nearly-completed Ferrari World Theme Park sits on Abu Dhabi's largest natural island. In addition to the "usual" theme park rides, it will host this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Work only began on the 4,200 acre facility in November, 2007, but as things have a way of doing in the UAE, work is progressing incredibly rapidly. Ferrari World is scheduled for completion this November. Hit next to find out what to expect from "Ferrari World" and a shot-by-shot look at the build process from Sarlacc pit-like sand trap to prancing stallion princess castle!

-Nas

Cash 4 Clunkers

This is an interesting program to try and get people to trade in their older "gas guzzling" cars into dealers and get something that is more fuel efficient and try and help get the economy rolling again by having people spend money on the failing u.s. auto industry.

I started noticing dealers using very creative marketing ideas such as the following picture:



Now while this picture isn't from an actual dealership, I did pass by a Lincoln/mercury dealer this morning on Rt.9 in Freehold, NJ and saw this.

If your interested in learning more, follow this link:

http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/

-Nas

Tramontana Spanish Made Sports Car

You've seen the Tramontana before, and now, you can see it in motion. This Spanish made beast sports a 100% carbon fiber chassis, a twin-turbocharged AMG 5.5-liter V12 that makes 720 hp and 811 lb-ft of torque, it weighs 2,500 pounds and looks like an F1 car designed for Robotech. 0-60 happens before you get in the car and top speed is orbit. Probably. Not only are Tramontana's more expensive than you could possibly imagine, but each one is designed around the owner. Plus, your passenger sits behind you. We like that. But possibly the craziest thing about the R Edition is a certain button on the dashboard. See, in "regular" grocery shopping mode, the big Mercedes motor spits out "just" 550 hp. Luckily there's a button labeled "720 HP" on the dash. Wish our car had that. Check the video of Tom from Fifth Gear driving it after you jump.













That thing is Dope. I wonder if Top Gear will have the Stig run it. Normally for those that don't know, the Top Gear Hosts have a friendly feud with the 5th gear Hosts.

-Nas

Hybrid Racing Civic

Will sent me these pics via facebook. We all know how to do a K-swap. Let's face it, it's becoming the new fad for Honda guys. The Honda game is soo saturated that it's becoming tougher and tougher to find something unique, original and something that just makes you say WOW!!

That was my first thought when I saw this engine bay, and I am actually running this as my desktop right now.... Dope!





Lift your jaw.... you're drooling..

-Nas

Skyline's Running at Tsukuba

Recently found a great video on Streetfire, modified Bee Racing R32 GTR, Hosaka Special R33 GTR and MCR R34 GTR racing a standard R35 GTR at the home of time attack, Tsukuba Circuit.

The video is almost 15mins, but is definitely worth a watch. It really shows the strength of the R35 GTR even in standard form and the racing platform it will provide into the future.



I love the R34's. If I ever had a choice it would no doubt be an R34, But the r35's are really starting to grow on me. If only they made a real Gearbox for it.

-Nas

Brake Clean + Tig Welding with Argon= Fatal Phosgene Gas

I got a call this morning from Evo Dave (he has a sick evo 9) saying to be careful with my staff and welding. He sent me the info and I started seeing it pop up around the net and figured I'd blog it so everyone could check it out.

-Nas