1959 Ducati 85 Turismo

There was a point in Ducati’s history when it actually offered budget bikes at, well, budget prices.

Back in the 50’s, one of those bikes was the Ducati 85 Turismo. This particular beauty was catered to entry-level buyers, with powertrain options ranging from 48 cc to 125 cc.

As for the 85 Turismo, the bike was, for all intents and purposes, a simple and economical machine that became known for its commuting and short-distance runs. It was powered by an 85 cc OHV single engine that was mated to a three-speed transmission.

Design-wise, the 85 Turismo was a stud on two wheels. To ensure its appeal despite the simple powertrain options, Ducati designed the bike with an ode to its more expensive SOHC counterparts.

The model that was sold at the 2012 RM Auctions was a very tidy older restoration finished in red with a white tank and good paint and chrome. It was sold at a price of €1,755 ($2,255) which was below its listed bid price of €2,500 - €3,500 ($3,200 - $4,500).

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Talk about a bike that was designed to be "bare as bones."

If that phrase needed any more explanation, you only need to look at the Ducati 250 Sprint. This is a bike that came with a minimalist design, as well as Ducati’s new 249 cc SOHC single wide-case engine that was mated to a five-speed transmission.

The 250 Sprint was built for sprint racing and hill climbing, with the latter being a popular form of racing back in Italy during the 60’s and the 70’s. Back then, the Ducati single engines were a popular choice amongst enthusiasts. The 250 Sprint not only came with that powertrain, but they also had a significantly larger Dell’Orto PHF32AS carburetor and twin spark plugs. To save weight, the seat and tailpiece were made from fiber-glass, as was the fuel tank. In addition, the bike also came with rear-set foot-pegs, clip-on bars, and a fly-screen with a Veglia tachometer whereas the wheels came with Borrani rims.

Despite carrying an estimated auction price of about €8,000 - €12,000 ($10,300 - $15,400), the bike was only sold at a price of €4,095 ($5,250) at the 2012 RM Auctions in Monaco.

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Jag Shows us What Happens to Clay Model Cars After a Design is Complete

We’ve all seen the way that most luxury cars develop through their conception phase. They start off as a rough drawing, then become a computerized image, and finally turn into a clay model just before the design is finalized. We have often wondered what happens to these clay models after all is said and done. Do they throw them in an over-sized kiln and cook them so they remain permanent fixtures forever embedded in their designers’ memories, or do they destroy them in dramatic fashion with axe-bearing employees?

For those of you that chose the latter scenario – as unbelievable as it sounds – this is precisely how Jaguar rid itself of this life-sized hunk of clay that was once the design platform for the all-new XF. Jaguar didn’t see it fit to just take the clay model into a back roof and hack it into bits, Godfather style, but rather film their three hitmen chopping this beautiful model into tiny bits.

You can see the dramatic video of the three men demolishing the clay model above. We are starting to wonder if every Jaguar model is hacked up in such dramatic fashion, if so, that is a great way to let off some steam. Unfortunately, we are willing to bet that this is significantly dramatized, but cool as hell nonetheless.

We could think of a few older Jags that could use some axe treatment. The X-Type that is the first on the list to catch an axe. No, we don’t mean the clay model; an actual X-Type (A.K.A. Ford Taurus in a Jaguar wrapper).

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Come inside Koenigsegg’s Swedish factory with Driven

Watching the processes which are involved in creating any piece of machinery, let alone a car, is amazing. These experiences really give you an idea of how every human thing which surrounds you comes from a factory somewhere and someone or something has worked on creating it.

In the case of Koenigsegg, the vast majority of components featured in their cars are hand-made and this point is continually brought up in the latest episode of Driven with J.F Musial, who also visited the Pagani and McLaren factories a few weeks back.

In the 30-minute documentary-type video, the man who founded the company, Christian von Koenigsegg, takes the camera through all of the detailed stages which are necessary in order for the brand to produce the incredible hypercars which it does.

Add that to the fact that just over 10 units are produced annually, and the notable point that there’s an abandoned airfield next door, and you have the perfect example of what high-end exotics are all about: Exclusivity and Speed.

In addition to exploring individual components of the Koenigsegg, specifically the Agera R, Musial was lucky enough to be taken out by the company’s 24-year old chief test driver for some high speed runs, cornering and braking on the airfield literally next door to the abandoned military base which the brand now occupies.

You’ll see all of this and more in the following video, so enjoy it!

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Two Lamborghini Aventadors get some sideways action in a garage

Okay, let’s face it: the Lamborghini Aventador is an amazing supercar and having a chance to see one on the road is pretty rare. Two is even more unlikely. Well, the guys at NueVueProductions are upping the ante by providing a black Aventador and a red Aventador, as well as some sideways action in a garage.

The NueVue crew had the chance to test their brand new D800 camera by shooting some photos of the Aventador. The two cars were provided by Prestige Imports in Miami Beach, Florida, but Prestige may not have been aware that after the photo session was over, the guys thought it was time for a little fun. Check out the video to see what we mean!

As a reminder, the Aventador is powered by a 6.5-liter V12 engine that delivers a total of 700 HP 8,250 rpm and 509 lb-ft at 5,500 rpm. It sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds and up to a top speed of 217 mph.

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Pagani Huayra start and fast acceleration

Our favorite Youtube user, Marchettino, has provided us with yet another tantalizing video! This time, he has caught a Pagani Huayra as it starts up its V12 engine and then does a full throttle acceleration down the road with a wheelspin, followed by a couple of downshifts! There are some pretty amazing shots, but it seems as though that is always the case with Marchettino!

As a reminder, the Pagani Huayra is powered by a 6.0 liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine that delivers an impressive 700 HP and 730 pound-feet of torque. The engine is mated to an X-trac seven-speed sequential transmission and sprints the car from 0 to 60 mph in under three seconds and up to an amazing top speed of 220 mph!

Before anyone gets too excited, the Huayra is limited to only 20 units and will be priced at $1.3 million each.

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$7.00 Worth of Gasoline or Your Infant Child, What’s More Important?

There comes a time in every person’s life where sacrifices must be made and the biggest moment of sacrifice is when you have a child. I know that my son comes first in everything. There is not a single thing in this world that I would put before his health, safety, and overall well-being. Unfortunately, not everyone feels this way.

Enter in a woman (we know her name, but we’ll spare her some privacy) from the Denver, Colorado area, and you have a woman that made the “mistake” (her words, not ours) of putting $7.00 worth of gasoline in a child safety seat, as the young child sits in the seat next to the car seat with a lap belt around him.

After picking up what appears to be a 2-gallon gas can of fuel, she apparently couldn’t find any other better place to sit it other than her child’s car seat. So she removed her son and placed him on the adult seat and securely strapped in the can of gas in the child seat.

Fortunately, she was stopped by the Aurora Police Department during a random seatbelt checking campaign and she received a slew of tickets. One of the officers snapped a picture of the terrible site and posted it on the Colorado DOT’s Facebook page, which now has 704 comments, most of which comment on the horrendous lack of safety, and 2,031 shares.

To make matters worse, on this undisclosed woman’s Facebook page she posted on May 30th “So I jus [sic] got pulled over! No license again....but I didn’t go to jail! Thank God! This time I learned! !!!” This leads us to believe that not only was she driving with her son in the worst possible position – in a regular seat with a can of gas within reach – but she was doing so without a valid license, which she has done before.

It’s not our job to judge, so we will just say that no matter what, the safety of you children always comes before a can of gas…

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Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 vs Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Dyno Comparison

If we were to compare the official numbers provided by Ford and Chevrolet, the horse power difference between a 2013 Mustang Shelby GT500 and a Camaro ZL1 would be off by about 82 HP (662 HP for the Mustang and 580 HP for the Camaro). However, a recent dyno test provided by Inside Line with the two cars side by side, revealed a difference of close to 100 HP: 595 HP at 6600 HP for the Mustang and 497 HP at 6000 rpm for the Camaro.

Either way, the result is the same: the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is the victor, as well as the meaner sounding vehicle, of the two. Does this mean that Ford automatically wins the muscle car war? Well, that depends on what Chevrolet has up their sleeve. Make your move, Chevrolet!

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Ford Turns to "The People" to film the Focus ST Commercial

Ford is really banking on the Focus ST taking over where the Focus SVT left of in the U.S. market, and they went a rather creative way to grow its buzz even more. Ford needed a commercial introducing the ST as a performance hatchback to the U.S. market, so what better way than to set up a street race involving two Foci STs. This “street race” was held on closed roads and each car was driven by a professional driver, of course.

That was not the interesting part though, as Ford relied on customers to film the event for them. You’re reading that correctly; no camera crews, no sound team, no directors. Just two Focuses, hundreds of screaming fans and a whole bunch of cellphone cameras, digital cameras and likely a few pieces of professional equipment.

Not only is the commercial bad ass (you can see it above), but just the pure concept really got the public excited for the upcoming release of this high performance econo-hatch.

Of course, Ford did have a hand in editing the videos taken by the fans and we are certain the majority of the shots were taken by semi-professional cameramen with thousand dollar equipment, but some of them were obviously by handheld camcorders and digital cameras too.

Our favorite camera operator was a man sitting in the tree at the 0:35 mark in the video. He obviously didn’t get his shot into the commercial, but he gets a shiny gold star for effort. Good call Ford, good call indeed!

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2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost by Carlex Design

The thing with people who love cars and have the money to splurge on them is that if they’re not impressed with the stock model, they can go crazy with aftermarket enhancements.

Take this particular Rolls-Royce Ghost for example. Built by Polish interior specialist Carlex Design, this project called "Ghost Save the Queen" isn’t your typical interior enhancement because as Carlex Design puts it, "we are not afraid of challenges and seek original solutions, which produce stunning interior innovation and unique solutions."

With that in mind, Carlex Design backed it all up with an exterior that has been painted in a stunning Deep Green paint finish. The luxury limousine was also given a number of upgrades, including the use of luxury ostrich and kangaroo leather, the presence of a royal crown embroidered in the seats, plenty of chrome parts, and wool rugs that have a pile length of 2.5 cm.

The embroidered royal crown, in particular, is an ode to the Queen, something that you would’ve probably guessed considering that the name of the program is, after all, "Ghost Save The Queen."

All told, the entire build took two months to complete, and certainly, if a picture did paint a thousand words, it would be foolish to underestimate how far these guys do take the phrase "unique solutions" seriously.

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Lindsay Lohan Slams a Rental Porsche into a Semi-Truck

Celebrity Edition!! Per a report from TMZ, oft-troubled actress, Lindsay Lohan, learned that an 18-wheeler always wins against a Porsche 911. While driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, Lohan managed to plant the front end of her rented – yes, RENTED – Porsche 911 into the backside of an 18-wheeler.

Don’t worry, your favorite teen star gone awry is A-okay, as she went to the hospital for tests and was released shortly afterward. According to reports, she heading to the set of the TV show she is surprisingly starring in, “Liz & Dick,” when she smashed the Porsche into small bits of $100K plastic, metal, and rubber, and she is now on the set and in good health.

According to reports, Lohan is claiming that the accident was not her fault and that the 18-wheeler cut her off. Looking at the accident scene, we really don’t see how an 18-wheeler could possibly cut someone off and not leave enough time for the driver to respond. Unless, of course, she was driving really, really, REALLY fast. But, we’re not here to judge, we are simply stating what we can see from the images. We are certain that this is not the last we will hear about this accident.

We are all glad to hear she is in good shape, so we can all continue on our normal path of ignoring any piece of work that she happens to be in…

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Lamborghini Aventador vs. F16 Fighting Falcon

We’re confident in saying that everyone has seen at least one video of a car being put up against a fighter jet, like our favorite, the Bugatti Veyron vs Eurofighter Typhoon Jet. Well, it was our favorite, until now. A Danish car magazine has put together a winning combination that has stolen the title of the best car vs fighter jet video by pinning a Lamborghini Aventador against an F16 Fighting Falcon. It was a race between a 700 HP supercar and a 125,000 HP jet; a top speed of 217 mph vs. 1,319 mph. It’s a pretty unbalanced match, but the much lighter Aventador still held its own. Besides, with videos like these, the race itself is more important than finding out the winner.

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First Tesla Model S Owner Takes Delivery

The anticipated release of the Tesla Model S is nearly here. It began just a few days ago with the launch of the Tesla Model S design studio, so customers could customize their own Model S and place an order. Just a few days later, we are now set to announce that the first Model S has been handed over to its owner over two weeks before the car’s official release date of June 22nd.

You may be wondering how exactly a customer got his hands on one of the hottest new cars available so early. Well, the first Model S went to Tesla board member, Steve Jurvetson. When you’re one of the bosses, we assume that you can pull a few strings to get your ride a little early.

What’s even better is that there is a video of Mr., Jurvetson taking delivery and you can honestly see that he is excited to get his hands on the first Model S and one of the already sold out Signature Series trim levels. Despite some minor audio issues around the midway point of the video, it is all pretty clear. What’s pretty funny is when Jurvetson hops in his Model S for the first time at the 1:47 mark, fires up its completely silent motor, and pulls away, you will notice that he obviously pressed the accelerator a little too hard, as the car launches forward a few feet before he releases the pedal.

That would have been an interesting story to tell had he lost control the first ever Tesla Model S on its inaugural run. Fortunately, he kept it under control and we are left with a cool video of the first model S to hit the streets. In about two weeks, all of you folks not associated with Tesla will start getting notifications that your car is finished and ready for delivery. Until then, just enjoy the video.

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