Senza-Cromo (Alfa Romeo 8C)

When the 8C was announced in 2003 the world thought Alfa was stepping into the supercar market. A 400+ bhp, two door, carbon fiber-bodied Italian car sure sounds like a supercar.

The 8C moniker is from the 1930's Ferrari badged Grand Prix racer which was dubbed the first true "single seat" race car. Driven by Tazio Nuvolari and managed by, the then young, Enzo Ferrari. The car, it's name and drivers are all heavyweights in the history of the automobile.

To honour such a legend, Alfa surely would have created a light, tight screamer?
Not really.
Alfa had a typically Alfa approach to designing this car. The final power output is 450bhp with a weight of 1450kg. Not the most powerful, not the lightest and, with a big V8 in the nose, not the best setup for track handling. The Germans would laugh, if they had a sense of humor, at such an effort.

What Alfa brought to the world was the ultimate expression of their passion for infusing soul and character into a car, which is fantastic, but leaves room for improvement.

Room which has been filled by the lads from Wheelsandmore, not the classiest name I'll admit. They squeezed some extra power out of the V8 by toying with the electricals and upgraded the suspension. All the shiny bits were blacked out and a neat stripe placed just off-center gives for some contrast.

The results are stunning.

Remember to click on the image for the wallpaper sized picture.

Back in Black (Brabus)

I've been offline for a while, but now I am ready for the end of the world in a few months so I can carry on with life as normal.

The guys over at Brabus have a strange fetish with a) Mercedes-Bens and b) changing things.
Mercedes has an in-house tuning company, AMG, which takes care activities like turning an everyday C-class into a monster C63 AMG. Mercedes obviously couldn't be bothered.

How do these two (Brabus and AMG) correlate you might ask?
Brabus obviously thinks that AMG is quite silly and isn't trying hard enough to get ordinary Merc's to do extraordinary things.

Here's an example (in 2011):
Mercedes Takes a rather large slab of steel, hits it with a hammer a few times and pops out an S500, boasting a 5.5 Liter V8 with 382bhp.
When they're done with it it's AMG's turn. They drill a larger hole in the engine giving it a capacity of 6.2 Liters and manage to get 525 bhp to the crankshaft.
Brabus then laughs at AMG. They take the car, bling it up and make the engine angry so that it produces over 600bhp.

"Is that output sufficient, sir?" your butler might ask you if you're considering purchasing one. (If you don't have a butler don't be surprised if you can't afford one. Think Rolls-Royce prices)

Brabus also takes Mercedes' 6 Liter V12, gives it Between 700 and 800bhp and puts it in a C, E, CLS, CL, GLK, ML, GL or even a G-Class SUV. If you were one of the few to buy an SL65 Black series, they'll make that faster too.

Pointless?
Yes, but so cool.

A visual feast follows.

Brabus "Bullit" C-class

Brabus 800 "Widestar"

Brabus SL65 AMG Black Series

Hear Ferrari, think Novitec.

In the world of motoring, there will always be limitations, regulations and laws to dull the experience. Car manufacturers have to abide by these or their car isn't allowed to be sold in a country where the laws are enforced.

Luckily, tuning companies have much more lenience from the law makers.

For example:
A Mercedes E 500, a fast car with a large 5.5L V8. Great, but you can't hear it and its not that fast. This is where a tuning company comes in and turns the large cow in to a raging bull. Mercedes has gone a step further and made a tuning company, AMG, an in-house division of the brand.

Many will argue that a Ferrari needs no such tuning, but the company is subject to the same laws as the aforementioned Mercedes.

The solution to this problem is Novitec Rosso. Ferrari's tuning partner, though not an in-house tuner. I agree with most enthusiasts that the cosmetic changes verge on Mansory vulgarity, but one cannot argue that the sound from a Novitec tuned Ferrari is of epic proportions.

Here's a great clip of what I mean.

And, of course, a few wallpapers. Click for the large version.