Vintage 1968 Chevy Impala Hood on 2040-parts.com

Race2Recovery starts new Dakar challenge

A TEAM of disabled ex-soldiers has arrived in South America to take on this year’s Dakar rally, known as the toughest motoring challenge on the planet. Race2Recovery, the team of severely injured servicemen and civilian volunteers, is taking a second shot at the Dakar after last year becoming the first all-disabled team in history to complete it. This year the 5,600-mile course travels through Argentina and Chile, crossing the Andes mountain range and the Atacama Desert, where temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees Celsius.

BMW Z4 GT3 (2011) completes testing

BMW Motorsport has released pictures of its upgraded Z4 GT3 race car. The 2011 car has completed testing and is available for customer teams. BMW Z4 GT3: the lowdown The Z4 GT3 may look like a regular Z4 that's been attacked by a boy-racer with a carbonfibre and tea-tray rear wing fetish. But under the skin the Z4 GT3 ditches straight-six power for a 4.4-litre motorsport-tuned V8 engine, hooked up to a six-speed racing transmissionBMW Motorsport takes a regular Z4 coupe-cabriolet body shell, and removes the retractable hardtop, bonnet, bootlid, front and rear wings and the bumpers.

Ford salutes Carroll Shelby with 850-hp GT500 Cobra

The “friends of Carroll Shelby” are saluting the late automotive pioneer with a remarkable, one-off 850-hp GT500 Cobra that was revealed Friday at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Ford Motor Co., Shelby American, Ford Racing and others collaborated on the omnipotent machine, styled in the blue and white colors of the legendary Cobras of the 1960s. It gets a wide body kit, high-performance 13-inch-wide rear wheels and a 4.0-liter Ford Racing supercharger that lifts output from the GT500's usual level of 662 hp.