An excellent look at something Audi’s done for years. Build a car with a ton of power that weighs more than a planet. The car is stylish and has 572 HP but weighs an astonishing 4800 lbs. The tester makes a good point: you can throw all the power in the world at a car, but at the end of the day if it’s as heavy as a tank you’ll run into some problems. Still, it’s always fun to see what ze Germans are up to and this twin turbo V10 powerplant really puts out the ponies. The price skyrockets with this well over the $100,000 mark.

The challenge: take 100 pounds (about $200) and buy a street legal car that’s worthy enough to put on the road. Drive these beaters about 200 miles from London to Manchester and back again, being scored for gas mileage and reliability. Then take the cars onto a track for various performance metrics including braking, acceleration, and cornering. Finally you crash test the cars into a wall to determine their durability and safety.

It’s pretty amazing what you get for the money buying these old Rovers, Audis, and Volvos in London. It would be really fun to try an American version of this. I’m down if anyone’s interested.

(this video is no longer available. Sorry!)

What car’s got the best sounding exhaust of all time? This is something I plan to post a lot about as time progresses.

Here are a few of my favorites. Ford GT40 V8:

Judd V8:

Want to hear more? Click here to view the whole post.

A quick preview of the practice session for the excellent American Le Mans Racing (ALMS), which offers perhaps the best variety of GT racing stateside:

Here are a couple videos showing the last half hour or so of the 2007 ALMS season at Mosport International Raceway: