Of all the products in Mercedes’ stable that could benefit from a thorough tweaking, the McLaren SLR isn’t one of them. But Brabus has built its name on taking things to the illogical extreme, and its modification of the new SLR Roadster is no different.

Equipped with a new set of cams, exhaust and a system to cool the fuel, the blown V8 now produces an additional 23 HP that’s sent through the stock transmission and down to a clutch-type LSD. 0-to-60 times drop down to 3.6 seconds and the top speed has been increased to 209 mph.

A new carbon fiber front spoiler and rear diffuser, tuned by Brabus in the wind tunnel, reduces lift at speed, while the factory rolling stock has been ditched in favor of 9.5×20-inch wheels in front and 11.5×20-inch hoops in the rear. Read more »

The Lamborghini Reventón has been named L’Automobile più Bella del Mondo. Translation: The World’s Most Beautiful Automobile.

It earned this honor in the Special Models category of this annual automotive fashion show, recently held for the fifteenth time at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy.

There are eleven categories in all, though the Special Models category is generally considered to be the big winner. Other cats include your various sizes of sedans, coupes, convertibles, station wagons, crossovers, sports cars and concept cars. Read more »

Toyota has built a 15-foot-high, 23-foot-wide, 78-ton driving simulator “for effectively analyzing the driving characteristics of average drivers.”

The simulator allows Toyota to work on specific driving issues in a controlled environment, and to study mental aspects of driving such as decision making, which are among the most important considerations when trying to develop the next wave of gotta-have-it safety features.

The NHTSA has a comparable simulator, and Toyota used some of that technology to create its own. There’s a Lexus inside the dome, and its walls are 360-degrees of computer-animated scenery. Read more »

The rumors, the announcement, the official photos … none of it was enough to believe a once sensible company like Daimler-Benz could have created something so outrageously, ridiculously impractical as a six-figure, all-white, high-performance, partial-convertible, super-luxury limousine.

Seeing it on video doesn’t quite make it believable either. (It’s kinda like the Moon Landing to conspiracy theorists that way).

But short of seeing it up close and in person - which we hope won’t be necessary - this is just about as close as we’d want to get. Okay, we believe, we believe. Just make it stop. Read more »

Both Ferrari and Lamborghini’s CO2 emissions right now exceed 400 g/km. The EU has set a goal of 120 g/km for a carmakers’ fleet average by 2012.

Last week, Ferrari said it planned to at least get down to 280-300 g/km by 2012, which, while still more than double the target, represents a 30% decrease. It said it would do that by exploring more efficient engines and different body panels to make cars lighter.

Lamborghini’s response to the same issue, from CEO Stephan Winkelmann, came to a similar conclusion but in a slightly different way. Read more »

Even with more billionaires around then ever, there still appears to be a very limited demand for cars priced upwards of $1 million.

The almighty McLaren F1 was originally planned for a run of 300 cars, but production ultimately ceased after only about 100, including more than two dozen racing models.

The current high-dollar, high-speed champion Bugatti Veyron seems to be having a similarly hard time finding the necessarily well-heeled customers it needs. Read more »

The Audi R8 is apparently a tempting platform for tuners. We’ve seen sketches of the Abt Audi R8, we spotted the APR Audi R8 at the 2007 SEMA Show, and we recently took a look at the carbon fiberized PPI Audi R8.

MTM, those crazy Germans who built the twin-engine, 740-hp Audi TT Bimoto, brought their own version of the R8 to the Dubai Motor Show.

Although visually subtle, a turbocharger system has been added to the 4.2-liter V8 for a total of 888 bhp and 610 lb-ft torque. 0-60 mph can be achieved in 3.0 seconds flat, and top speed is limited to 223 mph. Read more »