With the all-new G80 BMW M3 and G82 M4 release set for September this year, BMW has started its teasing campaign on the high-performance duo with a new teaser video showing the four-door model hitting the Nürburgring for fine-tuning.

While the car featured in the video is still clad in thick camouflage, we can clearly make out its wider body compared to the G20 3 Series, thanks to the flared wheel arches.

As expected, the model will also have a more aggressive front and rear fascia, with prominent air intakes at the front and the M badge’s trademark quad exhaust pipes flanking a deep rear diffuser.

Interestingly, the M3 seen here appears to be safe from the controversial grille that debuted on the M4, confirming previous reports that it won’t be a wide-ranging application.

Underneath the all-new sheet metal, the upcoming M3 will get an M xDrive all-wheel drive system for the first time, although it isn’t clear whether the system will follow that on the F90 M5, which allows drivers to direct power to the rears only.

Purist will also be glad to know a rear-wheel drive model, along with a manual gearbox will be on offer.

We will have to wait until the car’s unveiling to know for sure what powers the M3 and M4, but Markus Flasch, CEO of BMW M Division has previously mentioned both cars will share the S58 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six petrol engine as the F97 X3 M and F98 X4 M. It churns out 353kW in the standard version, and 375kW in Competition guise.

The post 2021 G80 BMW M3 teased in official video appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Ever wondered how Bugatti filmed the Chiron’s record-breaking 400km/h (250 mph) sprint back in 2017? Wonder no more. And if your guess is another Chiron, Congratulations!

In fact, the chase car that was just a few feet in front of the Chiron while it accelerated down the straight at Ehra-Lessien was driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.

Now, the man who helped produce the epic run has revealed just how it was done.

According to Al Clark, who is a specialist automotive film director and film maker, camera crews first rigged a small drone camera to the back of the lead Bugatti Chiron which was painted in white. Montoya was then tasked with launching the car off the line at exactly the same pace as the black Chiron being filmed.

The final footage was so smooth that editors had to introduce some camera shake to make it more realistic. However, it’s not perfect though as you’ll notice the black Chiron isn’t perfectly in focus because the camera was filming through the exhaust gases of the lead Chiron as it built up speed.

Click play in the video below to see more behind the scenes.

The post Bugatti reveals how it filmed the Chiron doing 400km/h appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Toyota has dropped a teaser video of the 2020 Yaris GR-4 hot hatch being put to the paces by none other than company president, Akio Toyoda, who also goes by his racing name of Morizo.

Originally expected to bow in at the season closing leg of Rally Australia, its launch was postponed due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’, but the video indicates that it is “coming soon.”

While the prototype in the video might look like a race-going WRC car, take away the raised ground clearance and rally-style tyres and mud-flaps; you’ll almost be looking at the production model, much like the GR Supra Racing Concept that appeared ahead of the road-going GR Supra.

Crucially, we can deduce from the video that the production Yaris GR-4 will indeed come with all-wheel drive, seeing how all four wheels spun when it was launched.

This is reinforced by the fact that it will carry the GR-4 badge, as Toyota has traditionally only apply the GT4 and GT-Four badges to rally-inspired road cars with all-wheel drive.

This makes the Yaris hot hatch a truly rally-inspired machine, and the only one in its class to feature all-wheel drive, as both the Fiesta ST and Polo GTI are both front-wheel drive.

Not much else is known about the car at this stage, except it is based on the latest Yaris, which will make its debut in October next year.

The post Teaser video shows 2020 Toyota Yaris GR-4 to be all-wheel drive appeared first on ForceGT.com.

It’s usually a malice that afflicts Ford Mustang owners but this Mercedes-AMG C63 driver seems to have caught the bug and slammed into a tree in a disastrous drifting attempt.

Caught on video by CarSpotterQVS over the weekend in The Netherlands, the driver was reportedly leaving the 100% Auto Live car show at Rotterdam Ahoy when he decided to impress the crowd with his drifting skill, or more precisely; lack thereof.

Unfortunately for him and his high-performance Mercedes, things didn’t go as planned as the car spinned out of control, hit a curb and slammed into a tree.

As you can see from the video, the aftermath isn’t pretty with the car’s rear door and quarter panel sustaining some serious damage, along with the rear suspension.

Luckily for the occupants, the airbags worked as intended and they walked away without serious injuries, except maybe for a big dent to the driver’s wallet and ego.

Click play in the video below to see how it all unfolded.

Source: CarSpotterQVS

The post Mercedes-AMG C63 slams into tree in failed drift attempt appeared first on ForceGT.com.

The 441kW Jaguar XE SV Project 8 super saloon has beaten its own Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for a production four-door, cutting 2.9 seconds off its previous lap time set in November 2017 to 7min 18.361 seconds.

The Project 8 is also the first vehicle to set an official whole lap record in the Nürburgring’s mid-range production car class, lapping the 20.8km circuit in 7min 23.164 seconds.

The records were set by a production-specification two-seat Track Pack version of the Project 8 driven by development driver, Vincent Radermecker. The car’s height-adjustable twin-spring coil-over suspension was set in ‘track’ ride height, with the adjustable front splitter and carbon fibre rear aerodynamic wing positioned for maximum downforce and stability.

To maximise performance and steering precision, for the final record runs, the Project 8 was fitted with new off-the-shelf ultra-high-performance Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres. Tested and chosen by SV engineers for their capability on the track, the road-legal tyres use rubber compounds directly transferred from Michelin’s competition tyres.

The Project 8 is powered by a highly tuned 441kW version of Jaguar’s 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 that is capable of hurling the super saloon from 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 320km/h. It also features a fully-enclosed flat underbody for enhanced aerodynamics, which according to Jaguar, is key to its performance.

It’s offered in three specifications:

• Lightweight two-seat Track Pack – as used for the record lap times
• Four-seat configuration with same aero package and performance as Track Pack
• Touring specification with discreet fixed rear spoiler, which is limited to 15 examples world wide

Production of the limited run Project 8 will finish this year, with Australian pricing starting at $325,000 for the four seat, and $349,000 for the two seat Track Pack.

Sadly for Australians, all vehicles are left-hand drive and cannot be registered for road use in Australia.

The post Jaguar XE SV Project 8 breaks its own Nürburgring record appeared first on ForceGT.com.

US-based Swedish YouTuber and inventor Simone Giertz has become the first person in the world to get their hands on an all-electric Tesla ute – by way of making one herself with the assistance of a group of other YouTube personalities. 

Created due to her wanting a pickup truck to assist with acquiring materials for her many other creations she documents on YouTube that was all-electric due to environmental concerns, Giertz set about making her idea a reality by purchasing a brand-new Model 3 due to the mark-ups on used models.

Settling on the entry-level rear-wheel drive Standard Range variant as a base, Giertz notes that this decision was made not just due to the desire to keep the spend for the project down, but because the Model 3 has a steel unibody that would be easier to work with than the aluminium construction of the larger Model S and X.

The car was comprehensively dismantled both inside and from the B-pillar back in a rented workshop, before the irreversible cuts were made to the Model 3’s behind, instantly revealing just what the finished product would end up looking like.

After fabricating some structural reinforcement behind the cabin and under the tray area, the rear window assembly was adapted from a GMC Canyon while the tray base was taken from a wrecked Ford F-150. Additionally, a full-length roof rack was fabricated for transporting things such as large sheets of plywood.

Although the basics have been ticked off for now, Giertz does point out that a number of issues still need to be taken care of – such as waterproofing the cabin, piecing the interior back together, installing a tray liner, ironing out some of the bodywork, and fully respraying it – but the custom ute is fully driveable as is.

What has been completed on it so far was done over the course of four weeks, which included time off from the build due to Giertz travelling to multiple countries for other projects, and the finished product – dubbed the Truckla by Giertz – was treated to its own fake commercial film shoot to celebrate the achievements made thus far.

The deliberately tongue-in-cheek commercial, which includes typical pickup truck commercial scenes such as Giertz cutting wood on the tailgate and performing powerslides in a field, is wrapped up by her throwing the charging cable at the makeshift ute like a lasso, before it being proclaimed that the Truckla is “available nowhere”.

You can check out the very slick fake commercial in the video embedded at the bottom, while the full build process is documented in the main 31-minute video below – and do be warned, it does contain the odd four-letter word.

Build video: 

Fake commercial: 

Gallery:

The post Video: YouTuber turns her Tesla Model 3 into a custom ute appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Renault’s upcoming Megane R.S Trophy-R has been caught pounding the Nürburgring on a film shoot presumably for its impending release.

Published by Talea Media, the video captures the Megane R.S Trophy-R on the famous German track tailed by a camera car before launching itself in full attack mode.

Like its predecessor, the hardcore Trophy-R is a track-focused weapon. That means instead of rear seats, the hot hatch comes complete with a roll cage, stickier low-profile tyres, as well as upgrade brakes with perforated front discs.

In order to feed more air into the turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, the hot hatch also drops its trademark multi-reflector LED lights in the bumper for a pair of air intakes.

The video also reveals the upcoming Trophy-R will feature a black bonnet scoop, “Trophy-R” lettering and graphics on the doors, an F1-inspired red wing in the front bumper, along with black alloy wheels.

We are not sure if Renaultsport will tweak the Trophy-R’s engine to churn out more power at this stage. For reference, the Megane R.S Trophy pumps out 221kW and 400Nm of torque. 0 to 100km/h is done in 5.7 seconds before reaching a top speed of 260km/h. However, with lower weight and other performance mods, the Trophy-R is likely to be faster even without the additional horsepower.

The post Renaultsport Megane R.S Trophy-R caught undisguised on The ‘Ring appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Carmakers are increasingly coming up with high-tech interiors that showcase the latest technology and Hyundai is the latest to embrace this trend.

While based on the i30’s interior, the Korean giant has significantly overhauled the hatchback’s cockpit that brings an all-new steering wheel with two touchscreens, as well as a digital instrument display.

Instead of traditional buttons, the steering wheel concept features two customisable displays that allow drivers to chose the icons/functions they want. This includes everything from volume controls to dedicated shortcuts for the navigation system.

That’s not all, the steering wheel screens also have actuator modules which is claimed to deliver stronger and more consistent haptic feedback for the users.

Along with the new steering wheel, the i30 features a digital instrument cluster with a multi-layer display. Unlike ‘traditional’ digital displays, Hyundai’s revolutionary display features two different screens which are “stacked behind each other at a distance of 6mm”. This enables realistic 3D graphics which Hyundai says could be used to subtlety alert drivers to important information such as the speed limit.

The hatchback’s infotainment system has also been upgrade with haptic modules and new software that interfaces with the digital instruments and steering wheel controls.

According to Hyundai, this makes the experience of using multiple displays more cohesive and enjoyable.

Don’t expect to see the technology anytime soon though as the company hasn’t committed to putting it into production.

The post Hyundai showcases 3D digital instrument and touchscreen steering concept appeared first on ForceGT.com.

A Lamborghini Huracan Performante has had an unfortunate encounter with a tree and a brick wall while leaving a supercar meet organised by high-end U.K. dealer HR Owen in London.

Presumably in an attempt to put on a show to impress the gathered crowd, the owner of the Italian supercar thought it was a good idea to sprint down a narrow road with parked cars on the side.

Instead of accelerating away in a straight line with screeching tyres and screaming V10, the 477kW supercar somehow ended up crashing into a tree and a brick wall. Luckily no one, including the driver, was injured in the incident, except for a very bruised ego.

As for the Huracan, it wasn’t as lucky, as it sustained some serious damages to the driver’s side and will need extensive amount of repair work to get it back into shape – that’s if it’s not being written-off by the insurer.

According to onlookers, the driver of what used to be the fastest production car at the Nürburgring wanted to leave in style by using launch control. But because the tyres were cold, traction was limited and the result was catastrophic.

This is by no means the first Huracan Performante to meet with an unfortunate end. Late last year, a similar model was destroyed after a pump mishap at a petrol station.

Source: F1 YMS

The post Video: Lamborghini Huracan Performante wrecked while leaving supercar meet appeared first on ForceGT.com.

It certainly is a rare sight to spot a Tesla Model S – a fully electric car for those who’ve been away from planet earth for a while – at a petrol station, and we suspect the blond lady in the video might have just stepped off the USS Enterprise, as she can be seen desperately trying to fit the fuel nozzle into the Tesla’s charging port.

To be fair though, electric cars are still a rarity and to most people and they certainly don’t look and feel all that much different to a conventional ICE vehicle, especially the Tesla Model S.

So the poor lady in the video might have borrowed the vehicle without being told it’s an EV.

We couldn’t ascertain the authenticity of the video and the joke might be on us as it was all a setup. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining video and will surely wipe your Monday blues away.

And if you ever encounter a similar situation, we suggest acting a bit quicker to spare the person the embarrassment.

The post Video: Woman hilariously tries to fill up Tesla Model S at a petrol station appeared first on ForceGT.com.