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Ken Block is no stranger to shenanigans behind the wheel of a rally car. And while in recent years those activities involved a vehicle with a Ford badge, Block has returned to his roots for 2021. The Hoonigan star currently finds himself campaigning a Vermont SportsCar–prepped Subaru WRX STI in America Rally Association events, something he hadn’t done since 2009. Now though, we have a chance to watch Block pit his Subaru against his other off-road racing machine: an 1100-hp Trophy Truck built for Baja.
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The battle of the race cars took place at the Team O’Neil Rally School in New Hampshire. Block and his crew were at the school for some test days ahead of the New England Forest Rally, which took place at the end of July. The race itself was marred by a retirement from Block, as the WRX STI suffered a gearbox failure. As unfortunate as that is for the team’s season, that trouble didn’t come until after this sweet showdown was filmed.

The video follows a simple premise: Block and crew lapped both machines around the practice stage several times to see which was quicker. The Subaru was clearly favored going into the event, as the WRX STI race car was designed for this very activity. That said, the Geiser Bros.–built Trophy Truck is a serious machine in its own right. It’s powered by a 7.7-liter big-block V-8 built by Dougans, which produces 1100 hp. The truck also packs a crazy suspension of its own, designed to cope with high-speed jumps in the Mexican desert. Of course the Trophy Truck is also about double the weight of the WRX STI and significantly wider. In fact, the truck struggled to fit down the stage in a few instances. In what is the least shocking outcome possible, the Subaru managed to be the quicker machine. The WRX STI posted a time of two minutes, 32 seconds, while the truck managed a best lap of two minutes, 55 seconds. The gap is pretty steep, especially considering the short length of the stage in question. Block did note that he is far more familiar behind the wheel of the Subaru at this point, perhaps suggesting the truck has some time to give yet. Either way, I think we can all agree that Trophy Truck rally racing should become a real series.
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Pagani has shown the first images of the Pacchetto Tempesta, a package meant to take the Huayra BC to a new extreme.The Pacchetto Tempesta includes a redesigned rear wing with a central fin, a new six-pipe exhaust, and even more power and torque from the V-12, for totals of 816 horsepower and 811 pound-feet.The Pacchetto Tempesta will be officially revealed on Friday, August 13, at The Quail as part of Monterey Car Week.The 2021 edition of Monterey Car Week gets underway this weekend. Ahead of an in-person reveal at The Quail next Friday, Pagani has shared images of its latest creation, the Pacchetto Tempesta, a series of upgrades for the already special Huayra BC. The Italian supercar maker says that the changes included in the package are designed for “further unleashing the car’s true racing attitude” and has provided a few details ahead of the official debut.

The new package is exclusive to the Huayra BC, an extreme, track-focused version of the ornate Huayra supercar that was priced at around $2.5 million. Pagani has adjusted the vehicle’s aerodynamics, crafting a revised front splitter, redesigning the front air intakes, and fitting a new rear wing with an integrated central fin. Pagani has also squeezed more power and torque out of the car’s Mercedes-AMG 6.0-liter V-12. The engine now churns out 816 horsepower and 811 pound-feet, up from 791 hp and 775 pound-feet in the “standard” BC. The V-12 will scream through a new six-pipe exhaust system, and Pagani also says the car has a new suspension and a Soft Driving mode for more comfort.

Pagani

Since Pagani has already built all 20 Huayra BCs, it is likely that the Pacchetto Tempesta is an upgrade that can be retrofitted for any owners who want it. Pagani also made 40 of the Huayra Roadster BC, but it’s not clear whether the package will be available on the topless version of the BC. More details should emerge when Pagani debuts the Pacchetto Tempesta in person at The Quail next week.
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Four vehicles used by Tom Hanks will be auctioned off later this month at the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction, including his on-set Airstream trailer and the 2010 Ford F-450 Super Duty used to tow it, a customized 1980 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser, and Hanks’ personal 2015 Tesla Model S P85D.Hanks used the Airstream trailer as a place to rest while shooting 18 movies between the 1990s and 2010s, including Forrest Gump and The Circle.Hanks ordered the trailer as an upgrade to the standard on-set cast trailers, and it has a full-size sofa inside that had to be customized in order to fit through the door.Even movie stars need to declutter sometimes. Tom Hanks, for example, has decided he no longer needs his 1992 Airstream travel trailer, which has been a part of his movie-making experience since he bought it in 1993. Hanks used the trailer on 18 movie sets over the decades, including Sleepless in Seattle and Forrest Gump in the ’90s all the way to movies like The Circle in 2017.Hanks bought and personalized the Model 34 Limited Excella trailer because he wasn’t impressed by the standard movie trailers he was spending time in during movie shoots. “I got it in the days when movies moved slower,” he told Bonhams Magazine. “I had spent too much time in regular trailers with ugly décor and horribly uncomfortable furniture, so I decided to buy a brand-new Airstream shell with an interior made to my own request.”That meant starting with an Airstream that had nothing but the kitchen and bathroom pre-installed, and he then added a regular-size sofa to go with the desk, futon platform and a small table and chairs. Over the years, Hanks also added stickers to the windows showing which movie locations the trailer was used on.

The trailer will be sold with plenty of the accessories and furniture Hanks and his movie-making friends used over the years. That means several espresso makers, teakwood chairs and table and an air conditioner autographed by Hanks. The Airstream 34′ Limited comes with the model’s standard equipment as well as the Excella 1000 package which includes AC units, a hot water heater and window blinds. The trailer also comes with electric leveling jacks, a rollup patio awning and a pair of propane tanks as well as a Honda ES 6500 120/240 volt generator. Bonhams said the trailer has been professionally maintained and was always stored inside when not in use.
The customized Airstream is just one piece of movie history that Hanks is offering at the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction on August 13. He’s also selling a small fleet of vehicles called the “Tom Hanks Collection,” which also includes the 2010 Ford F-450 Super Duty pickup truck that was used to tow the Airstream, Hanks’ customized 1980 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser and his 2015 Tesla Model S P85D. Bonhams said it expects the Airstream to sell for somewhere between $150,000 and $250,000, while the F-450 has an estimated value of between $70,000 and $100,000. The Land Cruiser should go for between $75,000 and $125,000 and the high-performance Tesla is estimated to sell for between $70,000 and $100,000.”You haven’t lived well until you survive a movie-stopping thunderstorm in an Airstream while on location in Carolina,” Hanks told Bonhams. “But, more than anything, an Airstream is gorgeous and cozy, which is why everyone who visited mine went away wanting one.”
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A couple of months ago, a viewer suggested this week’s very fun challenge, but we kept putting it off. Leave enough comments, though, and we’re bound to listen. The premise: Find a car that would benefit from an engine swap and create something interesting, like this Volvo 240 with a Mustang powertrain. Engine swaps can be extremely rewarding, but they can also be a total nightmare. Each member of the WS crew had to come up with both the car in need and the engine replacement, cobble together some loose plan to get it all to work, and spend less than $20,000. It probably won’t surprise our viewers that two of the swaps involve Chevy’s LS line of V-8s. Reliable, compact, and powerful, an LS is a smart and affordable way to upgrade a car’s performance, often with minimal fuss. One goes into a 1995 Land Rover Range Rover to replace the Buick/Rover 3.9-liter V-8, and the other, a first-gen Cadillac CTS-V. At this point you are probably wondering, doesn’t that Caddy already have an LS? It sure does, but there’s a better LS out there, and it should fit just as well, right? What could go wrong?The rest of the crew has slightly more ambitious ideas, but with ambition comes a lot work. Would you like to see a Fiat X1/9 with a Honda K-series? There’s even a kit to help with the conversion; just be prepared to wait three to six weeks for delivery. Other projects include a Scion FR-S that has dreams of emulating the Toyota FR4586 drift car and a 1984 Dodge Mirada with a vinyl top and a Mopar 6.4-liter crate engine. While this episode won’t provide much advice on swapping engines, you do get to hear about the last Boss Wagon project C/D did and how the Mirada performed in NASCAR. In other words, this is clearly a can’t-miss episode.

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Volkswagen is preparing to unveil its latest EV, the ID.5 GTX, which appears to be a SUV “coupe” version of the ID.4, with a similar front end but a sleeker roofline.The GTX portion of the name indicates a performance-focused model, and the ID.5 GTX will have an electric motor on both the front and rear axles.Volkswagen has yet to say whether the ID.5 GTX will make its way stateside or whether it will be offered without the GTX powertrain setup.Volkswagen sold just over 6000 examples of its new ID.4 electric crossover in the first half of the year, and while Ford has sold around twice as many Mustang Mach Es, it’s still a solid start to Volkswagen’s electric offensive in the United States. Now VW is preparing to launch another member of its battery-powered lineup, the ID.5 GTX. The company is previewing the model with several teasers before its upcoming reveal at the Munich auto show in early September.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen says that the ID.5 GTX will be its first electric SUV “coupe”, and the garish green and red swirls of the camouflage in the teasers does nothing to hide the sloping roofline. The ID.5 appears to be closely related to the ID.4, sporting what appears to be an identical front end but trading the boxy tail for a sleeker, rakish roofline in the rear. As a result, it will likely have less cargo space than the ID.4.

The GTX suffix attached to the ID.5’s name indicates that it is performance-focused, with GTX representing for VW’s ID models what GTI means for the Golf. VW revealed that the ID.5 GTX will have an electric motor on each axle, providing all-wheel drive, and is predicting a range over 300 miles. VW has already given the GTX treatment to the ID.4, but the GTX sub-brand will be limited to the European market, while the U.S. will get a mechanically similar model called the ID.4 AWD. It is not yet clear if the ID.5 will be offered as only the GTX or whether it will be available to American consumers, but more details should be revealed when VW takes the covers off the ID.5 GTX in a month’s time.
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Do not confuse it with Blue’s Clues, the children’s education show, or a booze cruise, the young adult adventure that’s happens when you combine a boat with tons of alcohol. No, this is BlueCriuse, Ford’s hands-free driving feature and answer to GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot. It is available on some 2022 F-150s and Mustang Mach-Es.Long story short: it works as advertised. Ford isn’t promising commuters the chance to catch up on Instagram on their drive to work. But it is giving drivers the chance to lessen fatigue on the slog that is many Americans’ rush-hour drive home. BlueCruise may be able to keep the car in a lane and a safe distance from traffic in front, but that doesn’t mean it is driving. The driver still needs to pay attention and be ready to resume control if any number of virtually infinite possibilities arise that the computer can’t compute.

BlueCruise, much like Super Cruise, is geo-fenced and limited to divided highways. Ford calls them Blue Zones, but know that it includes over 100,000 miles in all 50 states and southern Canada. Activate adaptive cruise control and BlueCruise takes over once it has a good sense of its surroundings. Ford leveraged the digital instrument cluster to totally change its appearance when BlueCruise is active. This is one of the best uses of a digital cluster and it avoids any confusion. There’s a camera and two infrared light emitters in the cabin to keep track of what you’re keeping track of. If your eyes wander too long from the task at hand, which is driving, BlueCruise will shut down.

Ford

The system worked great for us. Only when we wore a mask and sunglasses did BlueCruise think we weren’t paying enough attention. In addition to tracking eyes, the camera tracks the whole face. (We had a minder from Ford in the car with us and we were trying to be respectful.) Once we removed the mask, there wasn’t a single warning to pay better attention.We got to sample the Level 2 autonomy system in Dearborn, Michigan, while behind the wheel of an F-150. The camera and dual IR emitters are totally integrated with the pickup’s dash. In the Mach-E, however, there is a camera wart on the steering column. There is no relative limit as to what speed you can set BlueCruise to maintain. We didn’t confirm that the F-150 could achieve it, but we did set the system to 106 mph while cruising at 55 mph behind a tractor trailer on the Southfield Freeway. We’re guessing the top speed of the pickup is 106 mph. If you have a 2021 F-150 or Mach-e with the ADA prep pack, you can pay a one-time $600 fee to upgrade your car to BlueCruise spec. This can be done over the air or at a dealership. Another over-the-air update—Ford calls them Power-Ups—that includes an automated lane-change feature will roll out at some point in the near future. For now, drivers will have to signal and initiate the lane change themselves.This is just one step of many more that need to happen on the path to full autonomy. Ford is confident it will be put more than 100,000 BlueCruise equipped cars on the road in the next year.
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This is the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 customer race car that celebrates Porsche and Manthey-Racing’s 25th anniversary. It’s powered by a 690-hp twin-turbo flat-six from the 911 GT2 RS, and it has an adjustable racing suspension, carbon-fiber bodywork, a huge swan-neck rear wing, along with other equipment from Porsche’s racing cars.Only 30 units will be made, with six heading to the U.S. starting at $620,000. Porsche and Manthey-Racing are celebrating 25 years of their motorsports alliance with this limited-edition 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25. You might think that the GT2 RS is old news since the newer 992-generation 911 is now well into its production run (sans its own GT2), but Porsche reassures us that this special-edition race car “bridges the gap” of the two most recent 911 generations. Only 30 of them will be built with just six heading to the States, and they’ll cost $620,000.

Porsche

This special-edition customer race car, like the modern-day Porsche 935 that Porsche commissioned in 2018, is based on the Clubsport version of the 991-generation 911 GT2 RS, which was limited to 200 units. It uses the 911 GT2 RS road car’s 690-hp twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter flat-six and seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission. Like the other two customer race cars, the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 has an adjustable racing suspension, carbon-fiber bodywork, a data logger, and Porsche’s Stability Management (PSM) system. Additionally, it has electric power steering with a variable steering ratio from the 935.

Porsche says the new car’s livery, which includes those bright green accents that highlight its functional aerodynamics, was inspired by Manthey’s GT3 R—dubbed “Grello” by racing fans because of its color scheme. The Clubsport 25’s underbody is closed off, and the two large hood vents send air over the roof to the swan-neck rear wing. That small inlet in front of the two scoops is for the cabin’s air conditioning.

Porsche

The stripped-out interior is the same as the standard GT2 RS Clubsport, so it’s a single-seater with a Recaro bucket seat and a roll cage. It has the 991-generation 911’s overall dashboard shape with buttons to toggle the stability and traction control systems, and there’s a unique badge to show that this race car is exclusive. If you want to own one of the six U.S.-bound 911 GT2 RS Clubsport 25 cars, you’ll need $620,000, which is more than double the price of the 911 GT2 RS road car when new. However, although it will be rare (especially in North America), its price sits right between the $478,000 911 GT2 RS clubsport and the $829,000 modern-day 935.
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The 2022 Lexus GX gets a newly standard 10.3-inch touchscreen, up from 8.0 inches, and now has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.Other tech features such as parking assist, navigation, and power folding and heated mirrors are now standard on the GX as well.A new Black Line Special Edition joins the lineup, with blacked-out trim and a new color offering, Nori Green Pearl. Lexus has revealed a host of updates for the 2022 GX SUV, its mid-size, three-row luxury off-roader. The second-generation SUV, introduced back in 2010 and related to the global Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, soldiers on with a body-on-frame platform and a thirsty V-8 engine but for 2022 adds more modern technology and a Black Line Special Edition model.

Lexus

The biggest changes are found inside, where every GX now comes fitted with a 10.3-inch touchscreen, replacing the dated 8.0-inch unit from last year’s model. Crucially, the system also now supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa integration. Lexus has also made its parking-assist system, navigation, and power-folding and heated mirrors standard across the GX lineup. Lexus’ Safety System+, which includes driver-assistance features such as lane departure alert and intelligent high beams, is also now standard.

The GX also gains a Black Line Special Edition trim for 2022, based on the Premium trim level. Unsurprisingly, the Black Line consists of a lot of blacked-out trim, including the fog lamp housings, grille surround, and roof rails, although the door handles are painted body-color. The special edition rides on 18-inch wheels finished in, you guessed it, glossy black, while the theme continues inside with a black headliner and black faux leather upholstery. The Black Line is available in Starfire Pearl or Black Onyx, and is also offered with an Nori Green Pearl paint color that’s new to the GX. The 2022 GX is powered by the same 4.6-liter V-8 making 301 hp and 329 pound-feet of torque and it’s still somewhat of a workhorse, with a 6,500-pound towing capability, a Torsen limited-slip center differential, and a two-speed transfer case with low range. The 2022 GX goes on sale this month and pricing should be similar to the 2021 model, which started at $54,475.
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