Issue 21 Paris
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Itʼs that time of year again! Welcome to the Paris International Motor Show 2010 and my goodness do we have news for you. This being arguably the most anticipated show of the year it was unlikely to disappoint but words can not do justice to what is on the following pages. Ok, so Iʼm not Franceʼs biggest fan but they do put on a dam good show. How does a new V10 Lamborghini Concept sound? Or the rebirth of biggest name in rallying? Still not tempted... what about a 780BHP Jaguar super car? Yeah I thought that would grab your attention. This Issue is entirely dedicated to the Paris show and so does not contain some of our usual features such as the boys columns. But donʼt fret as they will be back for issue 22. There are two reasons for this: 1) We managed to lose 25 pages of what would have been issue 21 “Dʼoh!” 2) This issue is being published within 48 hours of me typing these words. If all goes to plan you are reading this and Iʼm not just talking to myself. Enjoy! Ford Focus Episode 3: The ASBO Strikes Back The Ford Focus ST has always been a source of practicality, affordability and performance. It’s the sort of car that your wife would let you buy and you would be happy to own, that was until the green party killed it off. The eco warriors got their way yet again and sealed the ST’s fait by banishing it from being sold within Europe. But never fear as Ford has just officially announced the all-new Focus ST for next year! They were so excited about it that they have let details slip a day before its debut. We still stick by what we said when we first saw the car a few weeks ago in that it does look like a fish. Despite this it still manages to be attractive in a hot-hatch sort of way. This new ASBO inducer is powered by a 2.0 litre “EcoBoost” (BLOODY Eco Nazi’s!) four cylinder turbocharged engine producing 247BHP. So already it’s looking to give the Golf GTI a hard time but with 266 lb-ft of torque and a 6 speed manual gearbox it may well come out better in a scrap. Also this little trouble maker has some rather high-tech gizmos to combat under steer in a powerful front wheel drive car. Torque vectoring is usually found as an extra on a Porsche yet here we are with a Ford offering it as standard. FIRE UP THE QUATTRO! The Audi Quattro is a legend in its own right. It much shorter and that muscular bodywork brings introduced all-wheel-drive into rallying, it has the original screaming into the 21st century. It more racing victories than almost any other car weighs in at just under 3000 pounds and has a that has competed in any form of motorsport and turbocharged inline five cylinder engine. It gets obviously its 80’s styling makes it one of the better as it makes the driver get their hands dirty coolest things on four wheels. Be it flying through with a 6 speed manual and none of this electronic the set of Ashes To Ashes or the streets of DCG nonsense. 408BHP is the figure Audi has Monaco this car is a household name, and a given us as well as an amazing 354 lb-ft or torque name that Audi has used on every car since. The to match its temperament of a 40:60 set-up. Quattro retired from service in 1991 leaving an 11 year legacy and since that day petrol heads have This is just a concept for now but kick up enough been crying for a comeback. Well cry no more as fuss and I would put money on Audi putting it into I am ecstatic to tell you that the Quattro is back! production in some form or another. Audi have produced this for its 30th anniversary of the original car, named the Quattro Concept it is based on the Audi S5 but my goodness there has been a lot of tinkering going on. The wheelbase is The Cat That Got The Cream... Why doesn’t Jaguar make serious supercars This is the Jaguar C-X75 Concept and it can anymore? Oh yes, I remember now… The Jag achieve 0-62MPH in in less than 3.4 seconds. The XJ220 was their last and it was a car that was top speed is said to be 205MPH and the last thing plagued with ill fate. It launched at the wrong time you expect me to say now is that it is an Eco-Nazi as nobody had any money due to the recession, the pacifier. It’s an Eco-Nazi pacifier… All jokes aside engine wasn’t the promised V12, its performance this car really is a green machine as it can attain a was over rated, it cost much more than anticipated, range of 570 miles! It has four electric motors but and the list goes on. But these are the days of a uses two turbines to extend its range once they are revitalized Jaguar and a supercar with 780BHP out of juice. Now before we get too carried away, it sounds like just what the doctor ordered. is just a concept and the British manufacturer has no plans to produce it. Styling however will filter down to new models. French Connection We have followed the progress of Citroen’s 2011 Dubbed the DS3 WRC, this seductive looking hatch WRC title challenger from its first prototype all the has 300BHP thanks to its 1.6 litre direct-injection way through its development and first testing. In its turbocharged engine. It has the industry standard R3 variant it even saw victory on home soil despite four-wheel-drive layout and to accompany it a 6 only being entered into the stage of further tests! The speed sequential gearbox. Snowy Sweden is set to DS3 road car is fantastic and from what we have be the cars introductory event in 2011. Two teams – seen of the car that is replacing the aging C4 in the Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena and Sébastien Ogier / WRC, it looks to be a worthy successor. After a few Julien Ingrassia – have already been confirmed. shadowy images Citroen have finally shown the world its latest offering to motorsport. We like it, we like it a lot! The BIGGER Mini Adventure... Mini and rallying go together like fish and chips, salt Named the Mini WRC “very creative” this 1.6 litre not and pepper, Bill and Ben. The original little car not so mini Mini will be contending with the big boys only captured the hearts of the nation but also many come next season’s opening in Sweden. Prodrive, Rally titles. It punched well above its weight and put who maintained the Subaru WRC cars, will be doing many much bigger names to shame, so the badge the same for this car and so the company feel has a deep history within the sport to say the least. confident that they have a competitive car. Naturally Mini is returning to the WRC next year with its it has all the rally gadgets you can shake a stick at countryman based car. We have seen sketches and but that may be all well and good, still doesn’t make renderings of it but here at the Paris motor show the the car a looker. In truth it looks like a van. finished product has been made public. F i e s t a RS WRC Well the rally car front is very much alive today This, as previously mentioned, replaces the as this is third announcement relating to the Focus that has served Ford in the rough and WRC in the past 24 hours. Ford has just seen ready setting of Rally for many years now. This huge success with sales of the European Fiesta Fiesta not only looks to be one of the most in the USA going through the roof. The muscular cars for next year but also shows it Americans love it and so with the little hatch competitiveness with a heavily modified variation representing the company both here and in the of the companies 1.6 litre EcoBoost engine and US it makes sense for Ford to make their 2011 includes a WRC spec turbo. The competition rally contender universal. This is the 2011 Ford should be wary of this little Ford come 2011. Fiesta WRC and it’s our sort of rally car! Ford have interestingly not released a power rating for the car… Lotus has been saying for a while that things are about to change... But what they were hinting at remained a mystery. The following events were almost beyond comprehension as the British company set about redefining their brand. 5 cars were unveiled, 5 cars shocked the motor industry, and these 5 cars are causing the likes of the “BIG BOYS” (Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin) to quake in their boots. What follows is not a fairytale and everything concerning this has been set to us by Lotus and pasted directly on the following pages so you can form your own opinions without our influence. Brace yourselves! 2015 Lotus Elise Oh yes, here it is! There’s s.ll room for the Elise at Lotus but what a difference a decade or two makes. The Elise due for release in 2015 is a sexy, agile beast of a car.