Tim Lappen Looks at the Maserati Quattroporte GTS and 2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coup

David is one of the few people who often drives his other 288 GTO (who else can say that!) on the street – in fact, he takes all of the horses in his corral out to play, including several 1960s-vintage classics, such as 250 Lusso, 275 GTB short nose 6C and a 330 GTS – but the “Evo” is too radical for road use as it is at a whole new level – 650 HP in a race-ready carbon-fiber wisp of a car that clocks in at under 2,100 pounds, abut the same as a Smart Fortwo with a supermodel at the wheel.

WHEN MCLAREN ANNOUNCED THEIR MP4 12C, people were stunned by its beauty and performance yet baffled by the name, which hardly tumbled off the tongue.

Since it was founded some 110 years ago, Rolls-Royce has been known as the creator of elegance on wheels. Rollers were famous for their civility, aplomb, comfort, style—they had that air of a certain je ne sais quoi, sometimes difficult to describe but always a joy to experience (a quiet joy, to be sure, but a true joy nonetheless).

1955. Argentina. Horacio Pagani is born. This sounds like the start of some fable or apocryphal story about someone who really turned things around, right? I mean, the name “Horatio” features prominently in American folklore. And did I mention the part about this Horatio building an F3 racecar when he was 20 and about his time working with Lamborghini? And Ferrari? And on tractors and pick-up trucks? And then founding his own constructor, Pagani Automobili Modena, in 1992?

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is, to car enthusiasts worldwide, the equivalent of a unicorn. It’s whispered about in circles of gearheads, when talk turns to extreme horsepower, incredible torque, unbelievable speed… to many, it’s a mythical vehicle that they’ve heard about, perhaps seen pictures of, but haven’t seen in the flesh.

The top two winners of their heats advance. Basically, other than a few wild-card slots in the finale, it’s lose and go home, win and go on. Repeat. That, my friend, is the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship (“GRC”).

I’m always interested in what a car’s name means.  Look up “volante” in the dictionary, and depending on what language it’s from, you’ll get a few choices, including “flying,” “steering wheel,” and even, “moving with light rapidity.” However, when you couple “volante” with “Aston Martin Vanquish”, all definitions lead to “pure joy on the road.” […]

“It’s not fair! I wait all my life for a shot in the spotlight and I have to follow a Ferrari!” Being prone to anthropomorphisms, all I could think about during my first few minutes behind the wheel of the new Infiniti Q50S Hybrid was that it was not going to be happy following on […]