Arios have been hard at work with their Nissan GT-R after taking delivery at the end of January giving it a custom look that stands out from the crowd.

***** CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF PARTS AND PHOTOS *****

Hot Wheels celebrating their 40th anniversary had a Mattel “Hot Wheels Designer’s Challenge” which provided major car manufacturers, such as Lotus and Mitsubishi, to go wild with their own automobile interpretations. In that vein, Honda presented the Honda Racer!

Click HERE FOR PHOTO RENDERINGS

The Nissan GT-R doing 310km/h on the Autobahn near the Nurburgring!!

[Source: GameTrailers.com]

One of the many safety features on the very fast Nissan GT-R is a speed limiter that would only switch off when a GPS link messaged back to the home office saying that the car was within the safe bounds of a race track. On normal roads the sophisticatedly encrypted ECU would only allow GT-R owners to play at speeds up to 112 mph.

All that is said to be changing however, as U.S.-based company COBB Tuning has said that it has cracked the ECU, and is in the process of in-house testing. Along with allowing the untethered GT-R to reach its fully mad top-end of 193 mph (claimed), cracking the Nissan computer should also allow COBB to tinker with fuel-mapping and boost pressure controls.

COBB has also been busy working with Nissan’s 350Z and Infiniti G37; the company plans to have aftermarket exhaust systems, suspension mods, and more electronic trickery available soon for those cars as well.

[Source: WindingRoad.com]

The prototype example of Nissan’s new GT-R Spec V has been dazzling observers of its Nurburgring testing of late, reportedly turning in lap times of an almost unbelievable 7:25. If correct, those numbers would make the V Spec substantially faster than the ultra hardcore Pagani Zonda F Clubsport, which set a production car record last October with a lap time of just under 7:28.

The amazingly quick lap times become a bit more believable when you consider that even the standard Nissan GT-R was able to reel off lap times in the 7:38 range.

The Spec V is said to be making extensive use of weight-saving materials like carbon fiber, dropping its curb weight by a reported 330 pounds or more. Couple that savings with the addition of 70 more horsepower or so and…wham! A new King of the Ring could be arriving shortly!!

CLICK HERE for all the SPY PHOTOS

Check out this slick little video from AutoExpress’ as they pin the beastly yet beautiful Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG up against the new 2008 BMW V8 M3 Sedan and the Lexus IS-F.

Specifications

2008 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Photos: 6.3 liter V8 engine producing 451 horsepower. 0-60 in 4.3 seconds
2008 Lexus IS-F Photos: 5.0L direct-injection V8 engine producing 416 horsepower. 0-60 comes in 4.9 seconds
2008 BMW V8 M3 Photos: 4.0 liter V8 engine producing 414 horsepower. 0-60 in 4.9 seconds.

[Source: YouTube.com]

The highlight of my weekend was visiting EU Autowerks on Saturday April 5, 2008. Thanks to Farzook aka Zookie from RennList.com and RennTech.org with the beautiful 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S who invited me out to meet up in person and allow me to take some photos of these awesome machines fresh out of winter storage!!!

Thanks to EU Autowerks Domenic Galati who let me take photo after photo including inside their immaculate shop!!

Click HERE for PORSCHE PHOTOS

Do you have a brand new stock Nissan GT-R on order, or maybe just took delivery? Then “Garage Defend” might have just what you need…specialized in Nissan Sportscars (and a couple others), this very professional dealer told Nihon Car about their latest “beast” based on the Almighty R35 GTR.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE PHOTOS of THE DEFEND GT-R

Earlier this month the Amuse crew brought their R35 Phantom GT-R back to Tsukuba Circuit for another go at setting a new R35 lap record.

CLICK HERE for the REST of the ARTICLE and VIDEO

Many thanks to the folks at Jalopnik for this awesome and educating Automotive Family Tree which shows the relationship between company joint ventures, licensed brands, owned companies and technology sharing relationships!

[Source: Jalopnik.com]