Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of some of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. I just throw in a little opinion of mine because I can. This week:

• SRT shows off insane Tomahawk Vision Gran Turismo car

• BMW packs in more features for the new X1

• Toyota ups the WANT factor with six GT-86 show cars

• TVR is coming back for real this time

• Ford confirms Shelby GT350 power output

• All-new BMW 7 Series to be revealed June 10th

• What’s your automotive news?

SRT Tomahawk Vision Gran Turismo

This Vision Gran Turismo program is getting more insane with every new addition. For the uninitiated, Gran Turismo 6 launched with an interesting program called Vision Gran Turismo. With that, a couple dozen automakers and design studios teamed up with Polyphony Digital (GT6 developers) to create a virtual car that would only be available in the game. They didn’t have to worry about real world restrictions at all and could build anything they wanted within a digital world. Automakers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chevrolet, Mazda, and others have already contributed with wonderfully mad machinery that is only available to players with enough hard drive space for all of GT6’s updates.
That brings us to SRT and their own Vision Gran Turismo car: the Tomahawk. When designers created this one, they really took advantage of that “build whatever you want” rule because the Tomahawk is truly mad. If you need proof, just look at the thing. If you need even more proof, keep reading…
The Tomahawk is SRT’s vision of a super car twenty years ahead of its time. It combines raw power with lightweight design, advanced active aerodynamics, and other crazy technologies that aren’t even mainstream yet. To showcase the Tomahawk’s broad capabilities, they split it up into three levels – a street car, a track car, and a freakin’ space ship.

The street car is the Tomahawk S. This civilian-spec monster is armed with 1,007 horsepower which comes from a 7.0-liter “wide-angle” V10 (792 hp) which powers the rear wheels and some fancy pneumatic machinery for air power at the front wheels (215 hp). The Tomahawk S weighs in at 2,026 pounds and tops out at 250 mph. That is entry level and it only gets better from there.

The next model up is the Tomahawk GTS-R, a track model that ups power and adds even more lightness. That utilizes the a 7.0-liter V10 as well but it produces 1,137 horsepower in this application and is aided by 313 horsepower from the air-driven front wheels, so total system output is 1,450 horsepower. The GTS-R is also significantly lighter at just 1,459 pounds and quite a bit faster with a casual top speed of 300 mph.

Finally, there’s the Tomahawk X which acts as the fictional range topper. You can tell it’s more serious already because of the “X” in its name, which has to be good for at least 100 horsepower along with the extra stickers, right? Wrong. More like 1,140. The 7.0-liter V10 in the X produces 2,168 horsepower at 14,500 RPM because why not and the air-driven front wheels contribute 422 horsepower, making total output an inconceivable 2,590 horsepower. Top speed is 404 mph and the virtual driver requires a G-suit to survive.
The only way something like the Tomahawk X can stay on the pavement is by using the active aero system that this car has, which is almost as insane as the powertrain. Nine active panels – which might as well be flight control surfaces – extend and retract within milliseconds to “steer” the car through the air at speeds that put Formula 1 to shame. It’s really an impressive thing to watch in action and you can catch a glimpse of it in SRT’s announcement video.
All three Tomahawks will be available as a free download for all Gran Turismo 6 players sometime this summer.
[Source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles via GTPlanet]

2016 BMW X1

The 2016 BMW X1 sports activity vehicle can partake in various sports activities, like kicking up sand.

And now for something that’ll take us back down to earth, the new 2016 BMW X1…
More than 730,000 BMW X1s have been sold so far as BMW blazes a trail in the premium compact crossover segment. BMW hopes to continue to set a trend with a freshly updated and more advanced offering, which as they say, serves as a shot of Sports Activity Vehicle DNA to a rising segment that’s already become crowded.
The first thing BMW fixed was the appearance, which used to be sort of a low-budget outlier in a premium lineup – actually, that kind of describes the whole car. But now the X1’s styling more closely resembles the kind of styling seen on other BMWs. The proportions are more rugged and the lines are all more powerful and [insert marketing jargon here] now. The X1 is also taller now which serves to improve cabin space.

Interior design has also taken a step forward with the new model. It now offers a cutting edge premium ambiance and improved functionality. Standard features include 40:20:40 rear seats, USB and AUX-in sockets, and iDrive prominently displayed in a free-standing 6.5-inch screen (a bigger one is available). New [for the X1] optional features include a head-up display, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, traffic jam assistant, collision warning, and pedestrian warning with an automatic city-speed braking function. The now typical Advantage, Sport Line, xLine, and M Sport packages are also available to add another level of individualization.
Two petrol and three diesel engines – all four-cylinders – will be available in select markets when the X1 launches this October. Power outputs range from 150-231 horsepower. In cooler places like Europe at least, a six-speed manual is available as is a new eight-speed Steptronic.
The American-spec X1 will be restricted to the xDrive28i, so it’ll feature a 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol four-cylinder engine with 228 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque which gets driven to all four wheels through the eight-speed automatic. Prices were not disclosed.
[Source: BMW]

Toyota’s Goodwood fleet

Toyota is doing some hardcore fan service (maybe not that kind) with six GT-86 show cars that will be brought to the Goodwood Festival of Speed later this month. All six cars will be sporting one-off classic liveries based on some of the most greatest and most famous Toyota race cars of the past. I’m throwing money at my computer but nothing’s happening.
Each of the GT-86s get their classic motorsport styling thanks to individual vinyls from Motor Mode that recreate six famous racing liveries adapted for use on the GT-86. The six cars are:

• Yatabe Speed Trial Toyota 2000GT (yellow with green bonnet)
• Shelby Toyota 2000GT (white with blue bonnet)
• Ove Andersson’s Toyota Celica 1600GT (red with black bonnet)
• IMSA GTU Toyota Celica (red with yellow stripes)
• Castrol Toyota Celica GT-Four (red and green Castrol livery)
• Esso Ultron Tiger Toyota Supra (tigerskin effect).

Other than the graphics, each car features lowering springs, Milltek Sport stainless steel exhaust, and appropriate wheels from Rota. If you’re going to Goodwood this year, these cars will be available for public test drives before going on static display for the remainder of the event.
[Source: Toyota]

TVR revival planned [again]

TVR is the new Saab because they’re probably, seriously, maybe coming back for real this time. Again. But for real though, they’re coming back and they’ve got some proper support this time.
The British company hasn’t built a car since 2006 after it was bought and shut down, but that’s about to change thanks to a new investor group that’s agreed to back it up. The group is headed by computer gaming tycoon Les Edgar and will provide the financial backing they need to get things going again. And to help give them cars to build again, they’ve brought along a man named Gordon Murray, who you may know as the genius mind behind the McLaren F1.
Nothing is officially set in stone yet, but TVR promises their first cars will still resemble what they used to make. The cars will be similarly proportioned with lightweight construction and V8 power tuned by Cosworth. Initial plans call for four new cars in the next ten years with the first one being due in 2017 according to Autocar.
Details are still being finalized and of course they’re not going to tell us everything yet, but place some heavy emphasis on all of this being for real this time. Because it is. *Desire to know more intensifies*
[News Source: Autocar via Autoweek | Image source: TVR]

BLIPS

The Ford Shelby GT350’s awesome new V8 will produce 526 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 429 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,750 RPM, as finally confirmed by Ford. With all that coming from a naturally-aspirated 5.2-liter V8 with a flat-plane-crank and other goodness, that output makes it Ford’s most powerful N/A engine to date. It’s probably the highest revving engine as well with an 8,250 RPM redline. Both the GT350 and the more hardcore GT350R use the same engine with the same output.
[Source: Ford]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hnYf-Xvmss[/youtube]
BMW has confirmed that we’ll see the all-new 7 Series on June 10th with this quick teaser video. Not too much is currently known about the car but it seems they’ve been extremely busy reworking every aspect of the car, from the styling to its [carbon] core. I’ll follow up with details when they’re available.
[Source: BMW]

What’s your automotive news?

 
You know the drill. If you saw, drove, brought, broke, or otherwise did anything newsworthy that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.