VIDEO: Ferrari California gets Squashed by Tour Bus

Blame their celebrity-like status, but when a new supercar gets involved in an accident, it’s bound to attract some media attention. This here incident involves a brand new (or fairly new) Ferrari California and a tour bus that crossed paths at the intersection of Camden and Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills. We don’t know the details surrounding the mishap but the result is that the Ferrari got squashed into a curb by the tour bus. If you happen to know anything about the crash leave us a comment after the jump. Hop through the break to watch the video.

Source: SoCalspeedzone & Concoursblog via Motorauthority

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VIDEO: Turkish Truck Driver Heroically Saves the Day when Tanker Catches Fire

The footage you are about to see was recorded at a gas station in Turkey. What happened was that a tanker truck caught fire while it was filling the underground fuel tanks, with the fire allegedly triggered by static electricity. People who saw the fire expanding rapidly started running away, fearing an imminent explosion.

However, Engin Koçak, the truck driver, felt he had the duty to do something, so he first attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher. The blaze was too powerful for that, so he got in the cabin and drove the truck away from the station, risking his own life in order to save the lives of others.

“The fuel tank went up in flames instantly. At that moment, I said, ‘Let something happen to me, instead of the people nearby,’ and got behind the wheel. The tank turned into a ball of flames, but I managed to take it to a secure place. But some cars were burned as a result of the flames jumping from the tank,” said the driver, who reportedly jumped off the truck to save his life when he arrived in a safe area, 1 kilometer away from the gas station.

Thanks to Koçak's heroic actions, no one was hurt in the incident.

Sources: Milliyet & Hurriyet

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VIDEO: Giant Sinkhole Swallows Two Cars in Wisconsin

A 10-foot deep, 625-square-foot sinkhole gobbled up two parked cars, a VW Golf and a Toyota Camry, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after a 42-inch water main ruptured in the area this past Saturday. Luckily, no one was hurt during the collapse. Watch the videos after the break.

Sources: Youtube, ITN

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VIDEO: Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Spectacle in Berlin

As you might expect, the menacing presence of Lamborghini’s new Aventador LP700-4 supercar is bound to capture everyone’s attention upon seeing and hearing the Italian supercar. And that’s exactly what happened when a brand new example of the Aventador LP700-4 finished in an eye-popping Arancio Argos orange color was dropped off a central street in Berlin, Germany and parked inside a building for display. Click through the jump for the 8+ minute-long video of Lamborghini's new 700-horsepower dream car.

Thanks to Andy for the tip!

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Fail: How Not to Park an Audi R8 Spyder

There’s no background story on this costly parking fail, but we can only think of two explanations for why an Audi R8 Spyder would end up in such a tight fit with the concrete pillar. One includes the driver and plenty of alcohol and the other, a team of immature, or for whatever reason annoyed individuals, who wanted to offer a special surprise to the owner of the drop top sports car from Ingolstadt.

Source: Failblog via Autoblog.nl

Jaguar XK8 Costumed up as an Aston Martin DBS [with Video]

Is the Jaguar XK8 not good enough for you? Then how about turning it into something with a bit more pizazz like an Aston Martin DBS? At least that’s what an eBay seller is proposing in our latest replicar find. The DBS doppelganger is based on a 1998 Jaguar XK8 and was up for sale on eBay with a ‘Buy it Now’ price of $50,000, but received no bids.

Not surprising, given the fact that you can find examples of the XK8 for as low as $8,000, with KBB suggesting a retail value of around $12,000 for a pristine 1999 model with the same mileage (95,000 miles). Heck, for under 50 grand you can actually get a real Aston Martin as we found 2002/2003 DB7s going for around $45,000 on eBay. Photos and video follow after the break.

Link: eBay

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VIDEO: Japanese Tsunami Sweeps Cars as if They Were Toys

Images coming from Japan today are horrific and it's only in moments like these that we're reminded what an overwhelming force nature really is. If cars are to blame for global warming, then what you will see in the videos after the break could be interpreted as nature's revenge on automobiles.

The massive tidal wave triggered by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake swept everything in its path along the northern and eastern coasts of Japan, creating biblical scenes like these, in which the tide took cars, boats and all sorts of debris away as if they were toys. Surprisingly, despite the massive earthquake and tons of debris from the tsunami, the bridge stood motionless.

By Dan Mihalascu

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VIDEO: 627 hp VW Scirocco + Sweden and Snow = Awesome!

You probably think Sweden is all about IKEA, ABBA and Volvos. Of course you do because, like me, you base all your cultural assumptions on asinine, outmoded stereotypes. Though few would be so willing to admit it, we’ve all done it from time to time, mostly when drunk off our backsides around the family barbie.

So what if I told you the Swedes – well, a few of them anyways – were big into racing stripped out, turbocharged Volkswagen Scirocco’s packing AWD and 627 hp (468 kW)? And not simply racing them but racing them on snow and ice. You heard right, and we have the video to prove it.

Sadly, we don’t know much more about the car and its driver than what we’ve given so far; our Swedish isn’t even as good as our grammatically flawed German and poorly enunciated French. Still, it’s a fun video to watch, and the sonorous sound of the turbo gives me goosebumps all down my back.

Check out the video and leave your comments in the section provided below.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Bilsport via Autoholics

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BMW’s M Division Presents its First Ever Bicycle, the Carbon Racer

Initially created to facilitate BMW’s racing program, the Bavarian firm’s M Gmbh division gradually expanded its activities to include the development and manufacturing of the company’s sportiest production cars, and more recently, crossover and SUV models as well. Now, the M brand is entering new territory with the introduction of its first racing bicycle, the M Bike Carbon Racer.

The highlight of the bicycle is the lightweight carbon frame that has been developed in-house by BMW’s M division. The German company states that the frame is extremely light and stiff, absorbs shocks, and is absolutely corrosion-free. The bicycle also comes equipped with Shimano Ultegra gears and tips the scales at just 7.4 kg or 16.3 pounds.

The frame is finished in an anthracite carbon look, while the colored accents on the rims, handlebar grips, and saddle inlay are painted in the typical BMW M red color.

Prices have not yet been released, but BMW said that the M Bike Carbon Racer will be available from select dealers as well as online on the firm’s website from June 2011.

BMW M Bike Carbon Racer (anthracite)
Frame height: 52 cm, 54 cm, 56 cm, 58 cm, and 60 cm
Frame: Full carbon with BMW M logo
Rear derailleur: Shimano Ultegra RD-6700
Front derailleur: Shimano Ultegra FD-6700
Cassette: Shimano CS6700, 11–28 sprockets, ten-speed
Weight: 7.4 kg

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Fire Breathing BMW 46.0-liter V12-Powered Brutus Will Scare Even the Bravest Kids

The story goes that right after World War 2, some crazy Germans decided to craft a one-of-a-kind racecar built around a BMW V12 engine made for airplanes: a 1925 46.0-liter 12-cylinder unit, to be precise. There was no a shortage of these kind of engines in that era, since Germany wasn't allowed to own any military aircrafts.

They had a problem however: the engine tipped the scales at 510 kg (1,124 lbs) and was huge measuring 1.8 meters long, 1.1 meters tall and 0.87 meters wide. Finding a proper chassis was difficult, but they managed to get hold of a 1908 American LaFrance car that could withstand the weight of the beast. It took the builders several years to complete the car, which was manufactured in a workshop belonging to the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim and was given the name Brutus.

According to the museum, the engine puts out 500 horsepower at 1,500 rpm, while other sources claim 750 hp at 1,700 rpm (for only one minute). Its fuel consumption is 1 liter/km (2.35 mpg), hence the huge fuel tank, and the car is said to comfortably cruise at speeds of over 100 km/h (62 mph) at just 800 rpm.

The BMW Brutus is owned by the Sinsheim Museum in Germany where it can be seen today. Since it's hard to find accurate data about the Brutus, we'd appreciate it if any of you happen to know more about the car, dropped us a comment below.

By Dan Mihalascu

Sources: Sinsheim Museum , Blogautomobile , BMWblog

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French Hybrid Design Study Uses Wind Turbines To Recharge Batteries

Remember a few years ago when every wannabe gangsta was buying those awful “spinner” alloys for their beat up old Chevys and Oldsmobiles? Well, French artist and teacher Thierry Dumaine (who sounds like a character from a historical romance) has taken the concept of the spinner and applied it to an imaginary hydrid he calls the Ventile.

It’s all very simple. You know those bicycles that have pedal powered lights? Same principle, though in this case the fans are turned by the circular motion of the wheels and not by being affixed to the wheels themselves.

The fans power a generator that helps recharge the Ventile’s batteries. I don’t know how well this would work in the real world, mostly due to the Law of Conservation of Energy, but really who cares.

The Ventile is a sweet looking ride; sort of like the result of a 1930’s Ford being reinvented by MINI. There’s also a large underbody fan that is turned by air rushing over the vehicle’s underside; a far more realistic prospect for energy production. It’s not unlike that wind turbine car those two Germans used to cross Australia a few weeks back.

Dumaine’s creation was an entrant in the 2011 Michelin’s Challenge Design showcase, an annual exhibition of new automotive design talent on the web. You can check out our gallery below.

By Tristan Hankins

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VIDEO: Ferrari Drops FF Press Cars at Ski Resort with a Chinook Helicopter

Over the next few weeks, some 200 handpicked journalists from all over the world will have the opportunity to try out Ferrari’s latest creation, the new FF sports car. Usually, a Ferrari presentation of this kind would take place at a race circuit, but not this time as Maranello chose the Plan De Corones ski resort in Italy to tout its new four-seater model’s all-wheel drive capabilities.

Being that the ski resort can only be reached by ski-lifts, Ferrari commissioned the help of the Italian air force to transport the two press cars at the top of Plan De Corones at 2,350 metres. A CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter from Viterbo’s 1st Regiment Antares and three Agusta 205 helicopters from the 4th Regiment Altair from the Italian air force in Bolzano, assisted Ferrari in moving the cars to the Dolomites. You can watch the air-lift in the video after the break.

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eBay Find of the Day: George Barris’ 70-X Toronado from Expo ‘67

George Barris is a living legend, perhaps best known for his work on the Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile for the ‘60s Batman TV series starring Adam West. One of his lesser-known creations is this: the 70-X Toronado, aka a heavily customized 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. It was one of four custom Olds’ commissioned by Canada’s Imperial Oil and built by Barris for Expo ’67 in Montreal. And now you have the chance to own this unique piece of customising history for the low, low price of US$99,000.

The Toronado held the distinction of being the first front wheel drive car produced in the U.S. since the Cords of the 1930s, though was otherwise ordinary for the time. A 425ci big block under the hood, a wide grin and two sharp fender protrusions to impale unsuspecting pedestrians were the standout features of the ’67 model year. In Barris’ hands, though, the Toronado became something even more exotic.

Barris built upon the ’67 Toronado’s design language, enlarging the fender protrusions at the front and extending them to the rear. He pumped up the wheel arches and added fluted chrome indicator housings and side vents. Chrome helps disguise the width of the C-pillars and subtle intakes on the hood give the 70-X a sportier appearance. The interior is adorned with a wrap around rear couch, tan leather and lots of custom wooden elements including a fold out writing desk.

The seller is Daniel Schmitt & Co of St. Louis and as usual, they aren’t afraid to pander around the usual disingenuous sales talk. The eBay listing includes such zingers as, “In many experts opinion, this great motorcar is George Barris’ most magnificent creation,” and “Opportunity to acquire one of the world’s most unique and desired motorcars!” Yeah, right.

Still, it’s an interesting piece of auto exotica and a Barris Original to boot, so it’s certain to find a comfortable home in some collector’s private collection. And the price tag is somewhat understandable given the car’s heritage and the extensive restoration work that’s been done.

As always, you can check out the gallery below and leave your piece in the comments section.

By Tristan Hankins

Link: eBay

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