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

• 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is ready to be an elite

• Lamborghini gets selfish with a new one-off concept

• Aston Martin is ready for 24 hours on the Nürburgring

• Gran Turismo 6 announced for Holidays, 2013

• BMW M5 sets a new drifting record 

 

2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Starting this September, the all-new S-Class will hit American showrooms with an evolutionary design, new tech, and loads of new luxury. It will also take the place of the late Maybach line by offering up to five different variants, including the sedan with short, long, and extra long-wheelbase as well as a coupe and convertible.

The new Benz’s styling is more modern than its predecessor, obviously, but it still has a few classic Benz styling cues so everyone knows what it’s supposed to be. The new bits include a noticeably larger front grille with also larger, completely LED headlamps on both sides and the newly structured body panels all around. Underneath the new body work of the 2014 S500 is a standard 4.7-liter twin-turbocharged V8 producing 455 horsepower that can be optionally paired with 4Matic all-wheel drive. Some parts of the world will be offered a hybrid model with a 3.5-liter V6 or a 2.1-liter diesel four-banger and a non-hybrid 3.0-liter diesel V6. Other heavy hitters include the planned 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with up to 571 horsepower available in the upcoming S63 AMG and the 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V12 in the S600. A plug-in hybrid is also planned for Europe, with efficiency of up to 58 mpg expected. All engines are paired exclusively with a seven-speed automatic transmission.

The interior is also brand-new and more than ready to fill the void left by Maybach. The design of the dashboard is meant to show off the massive information center yet be as elegant as the rest of the car is supposed to be. Occupants in the back can be spoiled with reclining seats with multiple airbags, including one in the seat belt, to keep them safe in an accident. The comfort options are too numerous to list, but one worth mentioning is the S-Class’s ride control system, known as Magic Body Control (no, really), which uses a front-mounted camera to scan the road ahead and tells the pixie fairies in the suspension to adjust the dampers accordingly to provide a smoother ride.

American pricing is not available yet, but if you have to ask…

[Source: Mercedes-Benz via Autoweek]

Lamborghini Egoista

As you are all probably aware by now, this year marks Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary. The Italian brand has already released a few special edition models to commemorate the occasion, but those were all based off existing cars. The one-off concept its calling the Egoista, however, follows Lamborghini’s long tradition of going absolutely mental.

The Egoista is a single-seat sports car, uhh, thing, that takes inspiration from jet fighters to a whole new level. The steering wheel yoke thing, heads-up display, forward-opening canopy, and aircraft navigation lights are all there to make the guy lucky enough to drive it feel like a flying ace. The Gallardo-sourced V10 might help with that too, since it’s been upgraded to push out 600 horsepower. As mentioned above, this is a one-off car that Lamborghini made just for itself. After all, “egoista” is Italian for selfish.

[Source: Lamborghini via Autoweek]

Aston Martin is ready for Nürburgring 24 Hours

This weekend, Aston Martin will be competing in the grueling Nürburgring 24 Hours with three very different cars, one being an ambitious engineering project, one being a proven racing champion, and the other being nearly showroom stock.

The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, V12 Vantage GT3, and a close to production-specification V12 Vantage will be on the ‘Ring this Saturday and Sunday fighting to bring glory to the British manufacturer – and on its 100th anniversary, no less.

So when you tune in to watch one of the most demanding races on earth, keep your eyes peeled for the three factory Aston Martins within the 200+ cars in the field, and have pity if they need to explain why they didn’t win on Aston Martin’s 100th anniversary.

[Source: Aston Martin]

Gran Turismo 6 inbound

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced Gran Turismo 6 is headed for the Playstation 3. The latest version of Playstation’s best-selling franchise will have its first delay announced during the Holidays this year, and the developers at Polyphony Digital are already providing us with some details and gorgeous in-game screenshots.

GT6 will aim to provide many improvements over GT5, including but not limited to more realistic driving physics from a revamped physics engine, more vehicle customization, and more flexibility with downloadable content (DLC), and more social and community functions. All tracks and cars that came with GT5 will be included at launch along with 7 new track locations and enough cars to bring the total up to 1,200, 180 of which are Skylines. Through DLC, more Skylines will be on the way shortly after launch. The Silverstone Circuit in the UK is one of the tracks included, and if I remember correctly, someone spotted Polyphony Digital scanning Bathurst a year or two ago, so that’s another possibility. The course maker will also be revamped to feature new locations, such as Andalucía, and greater layout possibilities.

GT6 will continue to benefit from a partnership with Nissan and the GT Academy, where gamers get the chance to become a real racing driver through an extensive time trial competition. This year’s competition will utilize a free demo that will become available on Playstation Network this July. The game also benefits from a partnership with Yokohama and KW Automotive for improved tire and suspension kinematic modeling.

Some of the new cars already confirmed include the KTM X-BOW R, Tesla Model S Signature Performance, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, Audi Sport Quattro S1 Rally Car, and the 1968 Apline A110 1600S, all in stunning detail.

[Source: Sony Computer Entertainment | Images: Gran Turismo]

BMW M5 sets new drifting record

The official Guinness World Record for the longest sustained drift was broken this week at the BMW Performance Center near Greenville, South Carolina. The car was a showroom stock BMW M5 and the driver was Performance Center instructor Johan Schwartz. The distance? 51.278 miles. Johan Schwartz and an unmodified BMW M5 performance a single, sustained drift around the Performance Center’s skid pad for 322.5 laps or 51.278 miles. That’s roughly 47 miles more than the previous record which was set back in February in Abu Dhabi.

Having been to the Performance Center myself, going all the way around that skid pad in a controlled drift is no easy feat, and he just did 322 full laps like it was nothing. In fact, I’m 90% sure Johan Schwartz was one of my instructors. So congratulations to Mr. Schwartz, the BMW Performance Center, and BMW on the new record.

The record attempt also raised $20,000 in donations benefiting the BMW Charity Pro-Am, which benefits over 150 other charities.

You can view the world-record drift down below.

[youtube width=”720″ height=”450″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ftbcg1soLc[/youtube]

[Source: BMW USA, Youtube]