BMW’s supercar icon, the M1, blew out the candles at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este this weekend. In honor of the car’s thirtieth birthday, BMW rolled out the new BMW M1 Homage, a concept/design study that pays tribute to the original M1 and shows what could be possible if BMW were to produce a new mid-engined sports car. Follow the jump for the breakdown.

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By most accounts, Honda originally planned to show off the next generation NSX to the seething throngs at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show. But due to the less-than-positive reception the Advanced Sports Car concept garnered at the Detroit show, Honda’s designers headed back to the drawing board to redesign the front clip housing the 550 hp, 4.5-liter V10.

Now, Autocar has gotten word from a Honda insider that the NSX is bound for the 2009 Tokyo show, sporting a new front end that “has Chevrolet Corvette undertones” and is slated to for production in the fall of 2010.

The new NSX will supposedly kick off Honda’s first serious attempt at producing rear-wheel-drive vehicles to rival BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Infiniti, including new platforms that will underpin Acura’s larger sedan offerings and an S2000-based Acura sports car that takes aim at the Mercedes SLK. The launch of Acura’s 7-series fighter isn’t due to make an appearance until 2015. For Honda’ sake, let’s hope they can expedite development to make it happen around the turn of the decade.

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With the return of the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger, Ford will surely be stepping up the Mustang’s performance when it receives a makeover for 2010. In an interview with stuff.co.nz, Bill Osborne, President of Ford Australia, claims that Ford is considering using a 5.0L V8 for the new Falcon - the same engine being developed for the upcoming Mustang. While nothing has been officially confirmed by Ford, this is further evidence that the 5.0 will be making a return since it was dropped from the Mustang back in 1995.

Assuming the 5.0 V8 will be available for the 2010 Mustang, there are many questions that still remain. It’s possible the 5.0 could become standard, but it could also be reserved for use in a special edition Mustang like a Boss or Mach 1. There is also the question of how the engine is being developed. The simplest answer is that it will be based on the current modular V8 architecture and could be a stroked version of the 4.6L V8.

We would love to see something similar to the 5.0 V8 in the Saleen Parnelli Jones Limited Edition Mustang that we sampled last year. With 400 bhp and 390 lb-ft of torque, it was a smooth and powerful engine that suited the Mustang well.

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In partnership with Bentley, Milanese design house Zagato has decided to offer a limited run of the Continental GTZ it showed us this year at the Geneva Motor Show. Nine discerning customers for whom the “standard” Bentley Continental GT Speed is not enough will have the opportunity to upgrade their coupes for a nominal fee of just €550,000. (For reference, consider that the Zagato’s custom LED tail-lights cost €50,000 alone.) That’s on top of the cost of the donor car, which comes in just shy of $200k. The first vehicle has already been delivered for an all-in grand total of €800,000.. .that’s over one and a quarter million dollars.

The six-figure conversion overhauls the exterior styling with Zagato’s own custom bodywork identical to that seen on the Geneva show car. The interior is likewise treated to a sumptuous bespoke leather re-upholstery job, while the mechanics of the car remain untouched, allowing Bentley to

(source: autoblog)

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A fair share of us Autobloggers were ambitious Lego builders as kids, but we never cooked anything up like this. From Crowkillers, the same hands that brought us the new Camaro made from the plastic Danish bricks, comes this replica 1967 FordMustang fastback, complete with model V8 engine, shaker hood, working suspension with live rear axle, 4-speed transmission, rear spoiler and automatic opening doors. No kidding. With creations like this – and the dozen or so more he’s got up on his site – we wonder if this guy didn’t have too much time on his hands, but hey, we’re bloggers. Who are we to judge? We’ll let you judge for yourself with the images in the gallery below.

[Source: Autoblog via Brickshelf via CarScoop]

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The Porsche 997 GT2 is the undoubtedly the king of the 911s, but the crew at SpeedART has decided to add a few more jewels onto the GT2’s crown. Beginning with the overly competent twin-turbocharged flat-six, the German tuning haus modified the stock snails, replaced the headers, fitted a new exhaust with freer flowing cats, installed larger intercoolers and tuned it all with a Motronic ECU. Output is now up to 650 hp and 634 lb.-ft. of torque, propelling the BTR-XS 650 to 60 in 3.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 216 mph.

In addition to the extensive work underhood, the modified GT2 gets coilovers fitted at all four corners and custom wheels, while inside, customers willing to plunk down the €27,500 can choose from an endless catalog of interior bits, including sports seats, a new steering wheel and acres of Alcantara.

source (autoblog)

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More spy shots from the Nurburgring today, this time of the Camaro SS prototype that was spotted arriving at the track yesterday. We already pointed out the bright red Brembo calipers on this Camaro, which suggest it’s a high-performance SS version of the car, though that hasn’t been confirmed. What is special about these photos is that they’re the first time we’ve seen the Camaro really being driven hard on the track. Though we’ve seen plenty of Camaro spy shots in the past, most have been of the car caught in a parking lot, on a transport trailer or just meandering around town. Seeing the suspension under load is a thing of beauty that we’ve been waiting for, and KGP spy photogs tell us that it “looks impressive in action, and that its suspension looks well buttoned down on some of the ‘Ring’s challenging stretches.” Hopefully they have their stop watches ready when Chevy engineers run the car hard for a full lap.

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