Insane Private Supercar Collection In Japan (Part 1)
Car News, Japan, Supercar News — By Lawrence on December 13, 2011 at 1:53 pm — No Comments
Luxury4Play recently introduced us to a private supercar collection in Japan. As their Garage of the Month for December, they featured this stunning collection in Japan. The garage features some of the most desirable Italian exotics from brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. It’s so big, we’ve decided to split it over two posts!
We’ve taken a small cut of the photos from the 200 odd that appear on the Luxury4Play forum. For the full set, you’ll have to head over to their forums. Originally, these galleries contained over 500 photos of the cars. However, forum admin Aimee had to cut them down to a bandwidth-friendly 200. Very few details of the rest of the garage contents were revealed, but we’ll give you a summary of some of the key cars from the galleries lower down.
In the above gallery you’ll spot a Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, a homologated racer, built to compete in the FIA GT Championship series in 1997. This example, a left-hand drive road car, is one of 25 CLK GTR’s to leave, the factory, the original car remained in the hands of Mercedes. This example recently received a chrome-blue and carbon fibre wrap. The CLK GTR occasionally sits next to a Maybach 57 Zeppelin, a special edition Maybach model a limited edition of just 100 worldwide, although we’re sure a lot less were actually delivered. You’ll notice that two different sets of wheels are used in two different pictures. We think this is due to the car receiving a change of rims between when the two photos were taken.
The next car is a Ferrari 288 GTO, a car that needs little introduction. Built on the platform of the Ferrari 308, the Gran Turismo Omologata is almost a completely different car due to the level of changes. Next we have a Wald International Phantom Black Bison Edition. You can read more about that here. The owner also owns a Ferrari F50. His Ferrari F40 GTE has received the same colour wrap as the Mercedes. The GTE is the very pinnacle of the F40 racers, we think this is a GTE because of it’s fender vents which were more extreme than the LM. The McLaren SLR 722S looks benign next to the F40. The owners Bentley, tuned by Mansory, has received a carbon-effect wrap too.
A Star is Born: Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR
Historical Cars, Mercedes, Videos — By Chris on October 17, 2011 at 11:06 pm — No Comments
The Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR debuted almost fifteen years ago, but is still one of the most impressive road going cars ever made.
Built by Mercedes-AMG, the CLK-GTR was designed primarily as a race car intended for participating in the new FIA GT Championship series in 1997. In order to meet the initial FIA requirements for these racing series, Mercedes was obligated to produce at least 25 road-going versions of the car. With a price tag of $ 1,547,000 in those days, the CLK-GTR became the most expensive car in the world.
The Mercedes CLK-GTR competed against cars like the Porsche 911 GT1 and McLaren F1 GTR. The Silver Arrow was very successful as racing car, it won the FIA’s championship in 1997 and 1998. Riding on this success the Germans decided to sell a road-going variant and limited production to 25 cars.
McLaren MP4-12C GTR rendered again, this time in Longtail form
Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance
McLaren MP4-12C GTR Longtail – Click above for high-res image gallery
Earlier this month we showed you the wishful renderings of a GTR variant of the McLaren MP4-12C. The car doesn’t exist and no plans have been announced for a motorsports program, but just seeing the car in McLaren racing livery made us hope that the car does end up on the track. Now the same artist, Jon Sibal, has come up with some additional renderings of the car in longtail form.
For those of you not familiar with the term “longtail,” it refers to the second-generation of McLaren F1 GTR race cars that competed in in the 1997 FIA GT championship. The extended bodywork at the front and rear was meant to improve aerodynamics and help the F1 compete with the likes of the Porsche GT1, Nissan R390 GT1 and the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR. Like the F1 GTR, the MP4-12C Longtail isn’t as pretty as its shorter brother, but it’s impressive nonetheless. You can check them all out in the high-res gallery below.
Gallery: McLaren MP4-12C GTR Longtail