Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special (2009): first photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 01 July 2009 09:22 CAR was hanging out at Jaguar yesterday when we spotted this: the new XKR Goodwood Special – an XKR turned up to 11 to wow the crowds at this weekend's Festival of Speed.Editor Phil McNamara was on hand to soak up the one-off XKR, which points to a harder, faster XKR. Power rises to 523bhp from the standard XKR's 503bhp and torque swells to an earth-rippling 516lb ft.The new Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special: the lowdownWe were at the Whitley design centre on an, ahem, top-secret feature for a future issue of CAR Magazine, when design director Ian Callum and chief engineering type Mike Cross arrived unannounced in the XKR Goodwood Special. Over to you, Mike: 'The regular XKR has a torque limiter to conserve the gearbox's life,' he explained.

Aston Martin Rapide – first official image

First official image of the Aston Martin Rapide [ad#ad-1] The Aston Martin Rapide been coming for ever. But it’s getting closer (even though its not actually going to be on sale until 2010) and finally Aston Martin has released the first official image of the car, although there was a so-called official image (or rendering) of the Rapide a little while back. For some reason this story and the image were embargoed until tomorrow.

Ferrari F70 takes test laps

It's a strange world we live in when, even in my short-to-medium lifespan, we've gone from the 1980 Ferrari 308 GTSi making either 205 or 214 hp—depending on who you're asking—to the Ferrari F70, which is rumored to make 950 hp with its V12 and KERS system. I would put an Excel graph here, but just imagine a line going up at a 45-degree angle to infinity. With all of that in mind, here's about five minutes of the camouflaged supercar flying around the test track with fantastic audio of the Italian stallion in action.