Pebble Beach Concours

The Ferrari 488 Pista Spider joined the 488 lineup at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as a replacement for the 458 Speciale Aperta. The Ferrari 488 Pista replaced the iconic 458 Speciale, and it’s the first of its kind to hide a turbocharged engine under the hood.

Just when we thought that Ferrari settled for the Aperta name for its convertible sports car, Maranello returned to using the old Spider badge. But this is arguably a small issue here, as the Pista Aperta is just as exciting as its coupe sibling, but with extra headroom when the top is removed. The 50th drop-top model built by Ferrari since 1947, the Pista Spider made its global debut in the United States, where convertible sports cars are more popular than everywhere else in the world. Let’s have a closer look at the latest member of the 488 family in the review below..

Continue reading to learn more about the Ferrari 488 Pista Spider.

Originally unveiled in 2011 as a concept car, the SSC Tuatara has finally evolved into a production car. It was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2018, and it promises to be faster and more powerful than its predecessor, the Ultimate Aero.

Established in 1999, SSC North America, formerly known as Shelby SuperCars Inc., took the supercar market by surprise when it established a new world speed record for production cars with the Ultimate Aero in 2007. Driven to a top speed of 256.18 mph, the Aero surpassed the Bugatti Veyron’s 253.7-mph benchmark. The French firm regained its record three years later with Super Sport, which hit a certified top speed of 267.81 mph.

Eight years have passed since then, and the speed record is now being held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 277.9 mph, but SSC promises to move the benchmark into 300-mph territory with the Tuatara. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

Continue reading to learn more about the SSC Tuatara.

RM Sotheby’s is in a world of trouble after its auction of a 1939 Porsche Type 64 went off the rails. Confusion and embarrassment reigned as the auction turned into a farce over as an upset crowd booed the attempted sale of the high-value model. In the end, the Type 64, otherwise known as Ferdinand Porsche’s “Nazi car’ failed to meets its reservation price. It is currently marked as “still for sale” on RM Sotheby’s online auction catalog, though given everything that transpired during the actual auction, it’s unlikely that anyone’s going to touch the Porsche Type 64 anytime soon. As for RM Sotheby’s reputation, well, that’s up in the air, too.

Bugatti promised to make waves at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and it certainly lived up to that promise with the debut of the Centodieci hypercar. Limited to just 10 units — “centodieci” is Italian for “one hundred and ten” — the Centodieci is Bugatti’s long-rumored homage to its EB110 supercar, which many consider as the forefather of both the Veyron and Chiron. The intent and motivation behind the Centodieci are admirable, and the car itself comes with the kind of power, performance, and technology you’d expect from Bugatti. It’s also priced like a Bugatti as each of the 10 units will come with a starting price of almost $9 million. But as far as the design and execution of the said design are concerned, Bugatti left a lot to be desired.

There comes a point in life when everything changes. For Acura, that happened three years back when it showcased the Precision concept - a model that showcased the company’s new design philosophy. Up to this point, only the 2019 RDX follows the design language. However, the company is all set to reveal a production-ready concept at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance that showcases Acura’s flagship product that will be inspired by the Precision Concept. It gets better - Acura could also revive the "Legend" moniker for this new flagship sedan.

One month after it made its official debut, the Mercedes-Benz EQC, the company’s first all-electric crossover, showed up for public display at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. Displayed alongside the new-generation GLE Class, the EQC has quite a few technologies to showcase in France.

The Porsche 908 is a prototype racer that competed in the mid- to late-‘60s and into the early-70’s, squaring off against some of the best of the best from the likes of Ferrari and Ford in numerous endurance racing events. Bearing an advanced aero package, an innovative flat-eight-cylinder engine, and a tenacious attitude, the 908 played a crucial part in Porsche’s racing development, and now sits as one of the more desirable collectible competition Porsches to go head to auction.

Continue reading to learn more about 1968 Porsche 908 Works Short-Tail Coupe..

Let’s do a little thought experiment. Say you’re looking to create one of the greatest road cars in existence. Where do you start? The answer should be obvious - racing, or, more specifically, a homologation special. These are machines birthed from the womb of competition, tuned ever so slightly to meet the rules of the road and sold to mere mortals like you and me. The Lancia Stratos HF Stradale is one such vehicle. Plucked from the sideways insanity of the WRC, the Stratos comes from a time before AWD, a time when simple, brutal machines vied for supremacy by dancing on the limits of adhesion offered by the rear wheels alone.

The “HF” in the name stands for “High Fidelity,” Lancia’s go-to designation when it comes to its high-performance models, while “Stradale” is Italian for road, indicating the car’s street worthiness. Powered by a Ferrari-sourced V-6 and stripped down to only the bare essentials, the Stratos is often credited with changing the world of rally as the first car designed specifically for competition in the sport. Throw in the fact Lancia made nearly 500 examples for the road, and what you’re left with is a truly fantastic car.

Continue reading to learn more about the Lancia Stratos HF Stradale.

The GT-R V-Spec was the range-topping model of the R32-generation Nissan Skyline. Designed for homologation purposes in order for the R32 to compete in Group A racing, the GT-R was upgraded to V-Spec features in 1993. Production ended in 1994 with only a handful of V-Spec models built. Due to its massive success in the Australian Touring Car Championship, the R32 GT-R was nicknamed "Godzilla."

Launched in 1957 by Prince, the Skyline nameplate started life as a rather common automobile. By 1969, it was sold as a Nissan and spawned a number of higher-performance versions, including the first GT-R model in 1969. The R32 arrived in 1989 when Nissan decided to drop every other body style save for the coupe and sedan. Nissan built almost 300,000 Skylines in five years, but only around 44,000 were GT-Rs. The V-Spec was produced in less than 2,800 units, making it one of the rarest GT-Rs ever. Beyond that, the V-Spec was one of the agilest productions cars on the race track back in its day. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

Continue reading to learn more about the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R V-Spec.

The result of Pagani’s partnership with Airbus Corporate Jets came to life at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where the Italian automaker showcased a scale model of its Infinito cabin. The mock-up is a bespoke interpretation of what a Pagani-designed airplane cabin could look like in the future. Neither Pagani nor Airbus Corporate Jets have given a timetable on when the Infinito cabin will come to life.

The iconic Acura NSX made a comeback in 2016, after a 11-year absence from the market. Powered by a hybrid drivetrain for the first time, the second-generation NSX just got better for the 2019 model year thanks to a comprehensive mid-cycle refresh.

Already a potent sports car, the Acura NSX now rides on a revised chassis that’s supposed to enhance agility on the road and track. Acura also made some design changes, but these are rather small and limited mostly to new color options. But the Japanese firm also added new standard features that cost more than the marginal price increase of the facelift. Find out more about that in the review below.

Continue reading to learn more about the Acura NSX.

Not content with blowing us away with the Rimac C_Two, the electric supercar brand took to the Peterson Automotive Museum to showcase a special edition version of the C_Two, called the California Edition. The limited-run electric supercar mixes all the mind-numbing features and qualities of the C_Two and adds room for…two champagne bottles. There’s no word yet on the availability of the C_Two California Edition, though expect it to be a tad more expensive than the $1.2 million standard version.

The Bugatti Divo is a track-focused version of the Chiron. It’s also the supercar through which Bugatti revived its coachbuilding tradition after seven decades. Although based on the Chiron, the Divo looks significantly different, boasting what appears to be a new design language.

The Divo isn’t Bugatti’s first attempt to turn the Chiron into a better car at the track. The Chiron Sport was the first to bring enhanced dynamics, but the Divo takes everything to a new level with significantly higher performance in terms of lateral acceleration, agility, and cornering. As Bugatti puts it, the Divo "is made for corners."

Just like the Chiron, the new supercar is named after a famous Bugatti racing driver. This time around, it’s Albert Divo - a two-time winner of the Targa Florio race on the mountainous roads of Sicily in the late 1920s. Unlike the Chiron, which is limited to 500 units, the Divo will be built in only 40 examples. Let’s see what makes it special.

Legendary Italian shoemaker Stefano Bemer has launched a new line of custom-made, handcrafted driving shoes that ensure that our feet are wrapped in the most exotic of materials and still have the versatility and comfort to spend a day on a race track. The shoes, called the Gentlemen’s Driving Shoes, can also be designed to incorporate details of an owner’s own car into the custom footwear. Prices start at $600 for a pair, though in the age of customization, prices may vary depending on the financial mileage a customer can provide.

If the Lamborghini Aventador SuperVeloce Jota (SVJ) isn’t rare enough for you, you’ll be happy to know that a 63-unit Aventador SVJ 63 Special Edition is also available from Lamborghini. The rarer Aventador SVJ 63 carries that name as a nod to 1963, the year patriarch Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the company. Lamborghini has yet to release the price for the Aventador SVJ 63, but expect it to be heavier on the pockets compared to the $517,770 price tag of the “standard” Aventador SVJ.