Chris Harris hoons with the fastest Australian “El Camino” ever built
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Tag Archives: Chris Harris
The Mercedes C63 AMG Experiment
After spending a glorious day at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park watching the Tudor United Sportscar series we thought it was time to have a little fun with some old school video. Check out this 2012 Chris Harris segment where he takes a Mercedes C63 AMG coupe with the optional 480 HP power upgrade and lets her rip on some smaller rubber. The moral of this video is “Everyone should learn to drive with big power on skinny rubber!
New Chris Harris Video – 1957 Citroën 2CV
This new Chris Harris video is worth a watch since it’s so far from his usual style of sliding on a racetrack in a supercar. In this one, Chris takes his newly purchased all original, 1957 Citroën 2CV that features a restored chassis, 425 cc 12 horsepower engine on a drive through the English countryside. He profiles the Citroën’s simplicity of mechanical elegance and timeless design features such as the corrugated bonnet, sunroof, and unstoppable heater. He goes on to describe the impetus for his admiration for the 2CV as a result of the writings of the late, great, vintage motoring legend Alan Clark.
This is certainly a dramatic change of pace for Chris and it makes me wonder if he is having an anti-mid-life crisis?
Testing McLaren’s P1 950 HP Ultra Hybrid
Auto journalist and tester extraordinaire Chris Harris is really the only player who can come close to the level of access the UK’s Top Gear folks receive. Well, he out does himself once again with this extended video where he gets up close and personal with the unreal $1.2-million McLaren. Check out Harris’ once in a lifetime experience as he heads to Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to get behind the wheel of this 950 HP, turbocharged V8 hybrid-electric British built McLaren P1. Of course no Chris Harris video would be complete without him sliding it around the racetrack as he is famous for doing in all his tests.
The P1 features a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 gasoline engine similar to the engine found in the MP4-12C, but it’s tuned to deliver 727 HP and 531 lb ft at 7500 rpm. Combined with an in-house developed electric motor, which produces 176 HP and 192 lb ft, the P1 will have a total power and torque output of 903 HP and 722 lb ft.
Ferrari 458 Italia
It has been a while since we wrote anything about Ferrari so we thought it was a good time to revisit this ultimate supercar marque. We will focus on the Ferrari 458 Italia, a mid-engine sports car designed to replace the Ferrari F430. Officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show the 458 Italia as been included in the Ferrari line-up since 2010.
Powered by a mid engine, naturally aspirated 4.5L V8 producing 562 HP at 9,000 rpm and 398 lb of torque at 6,000 rpm with 80% of the torque available at 3,250 rpm. Yikes, that is a ton of power and torque for a car tipping the scales at only 1,450 kg /3,197 lb.
Official performance stats from Ferrari are as follows:
- 0-100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration is under 3.4 seconds
- Top speed is 325 km/h or 202 mph
In 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Ferrari unveiled the convertible variant of the 458 Italia called the 458 Spider which features an aluminium retractable hardtop which can be retracted in 14 seconds. The engine cover was also redesigned to work with the retractable roof system. Ferrari plans to sell approx 1,500-2,000 458 Spiders models annually. It has the same 0-62 mph time as the hard-top model but is a tad slower with only a top speed of only 198 mph (319 km/h). Not much of a sacrifice required to have the benefits of the drop top.
To go along with its amazing looks and performance, the 2013 458’s sticker price stands out among the crowd at approx $269,000 (CAD). After all, this is no ordinary sports car, it’s a Ferrari.
To catch a glimpse of the sheer rawness of the 458 in action, check out the UK’s Chris Harris behind the wheel of a new 458 Spider driving like an “idiot”. Honestly, talk about the most fun possible on four wheels and on a wet track no less. I think he may just have one of the best jobs in the world.
Sources: Wikipedia and Ferrari.com
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