Land Rover Defender DC100 Concept

Bruce Mbingeleli

The new Land Rover DC100 concept car, was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in 2011.

Lander Rover has announced two version concept vehicles at the Frankfurt, a three-door estate off road powered by a diesel engine and a more leisure orientated two door sport version with no roof powered by a petrol engine for the Land Rover defender, the iconic go-anywhere vehicle, it’s named DC100 and DC100 Sport the two concept showcase the direction and thinking behind the on-going development of the new Land Rover Defender and production is expected in 2015.

The DC100 and DC100 Sport capture the flexibility, adaptability and versatility; it’s an expression of leisure fun to travel in. Like the iconic 90 it’s relatively compact, though the show car is much wider than its predecessor. Judging from its width it makes more recognizable from the outside, the wheel-at-each corner stance seems more pronounced in the fixed roof model though some doubters liken the shape of the DC100 to the Skoda Yeti, it’s really unmistakably a Land Rover when you’re standing or looking at it. Inside and outside the DC100 has far more glitz from the funky door handles to the trendy yet sophisticated interior. The backseats are built into bulkhead and the bases appear have that flow of a stadium seats. Shiny aluminium and bright grab handles surround the auto gearlever and centre display while there are silver-finished details on the transmission tunnel and door handles. Covered in high-quality cloth and plastics are used on the seats and doors. Its shape added that modern look and boldness.

The DC100’s engine fires a meaty sound, this vehicle has a DNA of a Range Rover Sport under it, 375kW supercharged V8 has an aggressive rumble that gives it the character of a Monster truck.

BMW X4 Concept makes its debut…

Bruce Mbingeleli

The BMW X4 is making its world premiere at the Auto China Show 2013, also known as the Shanghai Auto Show. The show is scheduled from April 20-29 2013.

The BMW X4 is a new compact crossover Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), a production ready concept which will share the same powertrains with the X3, including a variety of four cylinder and six cylinder engines in both petrol and diesel format. Under the hood, the X4 will most likely feature past BMW engine options, such as a 176kW 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a 220kW 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six. In America, it will be featured as an all-wheel drive with less powertrains petrol and turbocharged engines for overseas consumers according to the brochure.

The X4 crossover is a smaller version of the X6, even though this is a concept the production model of the X4 is going to be similar, it already looks like a BMW, sharing the distinctive BMW grill and muscular lines. The production model should also feature the full LED headlights and taillights. The vehicle measures 4.648mm in length, 1,915mm in width and 1,622mm in height. It bears the same length and wheelbase as the X3, but is 53mm lower and 34mm wider than the X3. When it comes to styling nothing much has changed as it has identical exterior features as the all the X models and a few from the F30.

Aston Martin Centenary Edition

The iconic British car maker’s Century Edition the Vanquish.

Bruce Mbingeleli

Aston Martin celebrates 100 year of its historic venture and with this, it manufactured a set of genuine Centenary Edition models that will be some rather with interesting features.

The Centenary Editions make over will make just hundred units of each of its model lines, V8 Vanquish, Vantage, DB9 and Rapide.

Pricing is not yet available, but if you ask me these vehicles will cost you an arm and leg. But if you can afford the Centenary Edition models are available to order now from either of Aston Martin’s dealerships in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“A rich and illustrious heritage marks Aston Martin out as an automotive marque like no other. The story of this historic company is the story of consistent excellence, expertise and the utilisation of the latest in engineering and design technology - a story expressed best in the story of our cars”.

Aston Martin

The vehicles’ exterior features solid sterling silver Aston Martin wings badges with tailored enamel inlay and a special Aston Martin hallmark, with a unique graduated paint finish which adds 18 hours to the paint process according to the brochure.

The interior features deep soft black leather with contrasting stitching and a special embroidery of the Aston Martin wings in the head restraints and solid sterling silver sill plaques individually numbered with an Aston Martin hallmark.

Audi Reveals R8 facelift, with new 7-speed S Troinc V10 Plus Edition

Bruce Mbingeleli

Audi’s lifted the covers off the 2013 model year R8 facelift in advance of its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in September.

The R8 benefits from some minor cosmic tweaks both inside and out, the addition of a 7-speed S tronic dual clutch transmission that replaces the 6-speed automatic R tronic the all-new range-topping and lighter V10 Plus model with 410Kw, which is available solely in Coupe guise.

Both model base the 4.2-liter V8 with 316kW and 430Nm of torque and the 5.2-litre V10 rated at 380kW and 530Nm remained unchanged, according to Audi the 7-speed S tronic will reduce C02 emissions by up to 22 grams/km and decrease the sprint from zero to 100km/h by three-tenth of a second very impressive. Fingers show that, the R8 V8 Coupe with S tronic accelerates from rest to 100km/h in 4.3 seconds with a top speed of 300km/h, while the V10 with S tronic completes its sprint in just 3.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of 314km/h.

The new addition to the range the V10 Plus, which is essentially a replacement to the 412 GT models, this production has been limited to 333 units for each body style. The V10 Plus Edition..

This limited edition will comes with bucket seats with glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) chassis, with specially tuned springs and shock absorbers different camber values on the front axle and standard magnetic ride adaptive damping.

Sales are expected to start in the first quarter of 2013 in the U.S.A



Sosh SpinKingz host “Legends Only” event

Speed & Sound spinners and other spin kings entertain the crowd at Soshnaguve Spinning Palace, Block F. Photos by Robert Mabusela

Bruce Mbingeleli

The Soshanguve Spinning Kingz (SSK) hosted a Spin City event in celebrating the legends of spin at Soshanguve Spinning Palace (SSP) in Soshanguve Block F over the weekend.

The event featured an amazing line-up of local spinners and drifters as well as The General and The Sheriff, spinners from neighbouring countries.

The SSP was packed with petrol-heads who came out in their numbers to witness one of the most epic spinning events ever hosted in Soshanguve.

This event was held to celebrate the motoring tradition and spinners from Gauteng, Rustenburg and Botswana headed to Soshanguve to support the event.

Soshanguve Spinning crew, IZR, and Tshepang “Isla Bonita” Mkonza, a member of SSK, kept the crowd captivated with their brilliant performances.

Botswana spinner The General, a friend of SSK, came to celebrate and also enjoyed the event.

“I feel like a superior person, because Soshanguve is where it all began. This is the place where we perfected our stunts. I make sure that I perfect all my moves and make them as extreme as possible,” The General said.

SSK crew member Lebo “Lebojwa” was not intimidated by the wet road surface and although it was tricky, he managed to do burnouts. 

The event was a day of excitement for both the spectators and the spinners.

“The Spinning Kingz crew along with all the other spinners and drifters were legendary today,” Lebojwa said.

Model citizen meets Tesla Model X Concept

 Bruce Mbingeleli

The Tesla Model X is a full-sized battery electric crossover Sport Utility Vehicle Concept (SUV) in development by Tesla Motors. Plans for the production are to kick-off by the end of 2013 and deliveries to commence in 2014 in the States, don’t know when it will land to our shores, but I’m hoping to see its appearance at the Johannesburg International Show (JIMS) in October of this year.

The prototype was unveiled at the Tesla's design studios in Los Angeles on February 9 2012 and shown at the Geneva Auto Show in March of that same year. The Model X is being developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Tesla Model, and will be produced along-side it at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. The Model S on which it is based is a four-door sedan, which was the first to be introduced at the 2009 Frankfurt Motorshow as a prototype and began retail delivers in the US in June 2012.

The Model X weighs about 10% more than the Models S and shares about 60% of its content. Tesla Model X expected to be offered with a choice of two lithium ion battery packs, rated at 60 and 85kW-h and expect the performance model to be able to move from 0-100 in around 4.4 seconds.  The Model S is rear-wheel drive; the Model X will also be available in all-wheel-drive versions. The AWD versions of the Model X will use two motors, one for the front and the other for the rear wheels, unlike conventional AWD system which only have one source of power.

Viper GTS-R the Snake is back

Introducing the new Viper GTS-R

Bruce Mbingeleli

The long awaited GTS-R is back with a bang this year, a factory-backed Viper will race on the world stage again. Based on the all-new 2013 Viper, the Viper GTS-R remerges in 2012. The competition-spec 2013 Viper will compete this year as part of two-car team in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), the same series that Viper dominated in 2000.

The new GTS-R is built for three things: speed, reliability and durability. The GTS-R is all about winning endurance races such as the Petit Le Mans, a 10-hour race at Road Atlanta in Georgia and the 24-hour of Le Mans in France. It’s also built to run shorter races in the ALMS, generally two hours in duration. The GTS-R will run in the GT class against Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Corvette amongst others.

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