Ten things we learned this week

Merc teases a potential new Black Series and Vauxhalls are being eaten: another weird week for cars

This could be the AMG GT Black
 
“Something fast is coming,” exclaims this video from Mercedes’ AMG department. Excuse our pedantry, but aren’t all AMGs, y’know, fast?
 
Anyway, we’ll stop being sticklers and ramp up the excitement. Our best guess is that the 'something fast' is theAMG GT Black Series, if the thunderous V8 soundtrack is anything to go by. We’ve had our appetites whetted by the unofficial rendering above, and eagerly await something from Merc itself…

TVR will take your money
 
Good news emerged recently, with the most plausible rebirth plan for TVR since its sad demise ten years ago. With Gordon Murray and Cosworth behind it, much patriotic optimism erupted around the car industry for the return of frankly quite terrifying sports cars with unfathomable door mechanisms.
 
The first fruits of their labour will appear in 2017, we’re told. And if you’re in possession of an overly fat wallet and a prescription for many brave pills, the order books open on July 7. You can actually put down a £5,000 deposit for your future TVR, whatever that might be.
 
If your minerals are big enough to take a punt this early on, driving the end product ought to be a doddle.

You’ll be waiting a long time for a new Civic Type-R
 
Want the most bonkers front-drive hatchback on sale? Then you might be waiting some time. While 30 grand may seem like a dizzying amount of money for a Honda Civic – and one so yobbishly appointed – the 306bhp headcase is sold out in the UK until next spring.
 
Admittedly, Honda’s sales expectations were modest, its UK boss telling TG that 1,200 Type-Rs a year would count as a success. Nonetheless, it bodes well for the return of the red H badge. What chance a new NSX Type-R, Honda?

This Smart has been holding up locomotives
 
Regular Ten Things readers will be well aware of our penchant for a pun. Especially a poor, badly delivered one. Yet we’re left befuddled by this, the Smart Forrail.
 
If you’re waiting for us to guffaw “corners like it’s on rails!” or suchlike, then we’re afraid Smart has got there first, as that’s the running theme of a press release announcing the six-month project that saw a ForFour switched onto 22-inch wheels and its steering disconnected. The aim? To let the little Smart pretend it's a choo-choo.
 
“Despite challenging engineering obstacles,” the bumf reads, “the experiment steadfastly refused to come off the rails.” Boom boom.

A man has accidentally become a stunt boss
 
This week’s “please don’t try this at home” news comes from Palm Beach, or more specifically its Flagler Memorial Bridge. A drawbridge, no less.
 
Driving distracted may typically result in nudging innocuously into the car in front, but the chap in this Chevy SUVreally wasn’t paying attention, smashing through the barrier designed to prevent access to the bridge before leaping, somewhat stylishly, over the ramp created by the bridge’s rising centre.
 
Cool as the impromptu stunt may have looked, though, it took a full five hours to fix the mess he’d created.

Nardo has 40 candles to blow out
 
That’s assuming Italy’s most famous car development facility has the ability to do such a thing, of course.
 
The Mediterranean Millbrook, as it would really prefer not to be known, is 40 years old, and continues to be home to the world’s fastest high-speed bowl, which measures 7.8 miles in length - so huge it's VISIBLE FROM SPACE. And while Nardo is now owned by Porsche, its hall of fame is like a who’s–who of history’s most droolworthy supercars.
 
The McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220 both set records there, while more recently Koenigsegg clocked 241mph on its banked course. Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien facility is preferred for such v-maxxing nowadays, its flat surface more easily yielding speed records. Where would you rather drive bonkers-quick in a supercar, though, mid-Germany or southern Italy?

The new Veyron could be a 286mph hybrid
 
Rumours of exactly how ridiculous the next Bugatti will be have been circulating since, ooh, about 237 special edition Veyrons ago. But this week’s murmurs emanate from an interview between VW overlord Martin Winterkorn and German newspaper Bild.
 
They suggest a 2016 arrival of a car evolved from the Veyron, but with the clearly necessary addition of electric motors.

Rather than to appease environmental concerns though, the e-motors will reported contribute to a 50 per cent power increase to 1,500bhp, enough to yield a top speed little shy of 300mph.
 
Is there any point? And more pertinently, does it actually matter if there’s not?

The Alfa Giulia has some active aero gubbins
 
And here they are in action. Alfa’s all-guns-blazing return to the saloon car world set internet comment sections quite on fire last week, with no talk of diesel engines and company car tax bands, the Italians instead deciding that a Ferrari-developed V6 turbo with the ability to nuke the BMW M3 was a better approach.
 
We’re inclined to agree, and our latest glimpse at the Giulia in action shows its carbon splitter unfolding. It’s said to create proper downforce, helping ensure Alfa's return to rear-driven performance cars doesn’t immediately end in a hedge. We’re excited.

Vauxhalls are being eaten in Bedfordshire

 

Weirder news this week from the heart of England, or the area around Vauxhall’s Luton plant, anyhow. BBC Crimewatch has reported numerous thefts of Corsa and Astra body parts in the area, with up to 10 reports each week of stripped body panels. Most frequently it's bumpers being nicked, but in 150 cases enough of the car has gone walkabout to make repair unviable.

 

Why? Well, short of apprehended culprits, there’s no firm answer, but the high brand loyalty in the area means that there’s big demand for spare parts, and those being nicked are the ones typically called upon after car accidents.

 

We’ve clearly underestimated the Corsa’s desirability

There is now a 3D-printed supercar

 

We’ve seen a 3D-printed car already, but the end product didn’t resemble anything we were aching to drive.

 

Enter the DM Blade, a far more dynamic take on the DIY car purchase. It’s not 3D-printed in its entirety, but quite a lot of its chassis is born of the technology.

 

The DM Blade’s grip on plausibility is loosened somewhat, though, by the numbers surrounding it, namely a claimed 700bhp and 2.0sec 0-60mph time. Our Supercar You’ve Never Heard Of cynicism hats are placed firmly on our heads.

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