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Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is new SUV king of the 'Ring

It's been a couple years since the last Nurburgring SUV lap record was set by the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, a quick time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds making it the first SUV to pull off a sub-8 minute time. The Cayenne's glory days are over, though, as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio just obliterated that time. Alfa's wild SUV with its Ferrari-based 510-horsepower twin-turbo V6 managed to whip around the north loop of the 'Ring in just 7 minutes and 51 seconds. Not only does that make it 8 seconds quicker than the Cayenne, it's an insane 23 seconds faster than the Land Rover Range Rover SVR, the record holder before Porsche. The Stelvio also was working with a notable power disadvantage compared with the Cayenne and the Range Rover. The Porsche packed 565 horsepower, and the Land Rover had 542 horsepower. View 9 Photos Alfa Romeo also got the whole lap on film, which you can view up above. The video also shows that the Stelvio had an aftermarket roll cage fitted for an extra layer of safety. Alfa didn't say anything about how that might affect performance or what may have been done to offset it. But as we always point out with these records, they shouldn't be taken too seriously, especially for the SUV segment, in which we can virtually guarantee no one will be attempting to replicate this lap time with their personal Stelvios. Related Video:

Abarth Classiche 1300 OT revives the Alfa Romeo 4C for one last hurrah

The Alfa Romeo 4C is back from the dead. Well, at least partially. This Abarth Classiche 1300 OT doesn’t wear an Alfa Romeo badge, but itÂ’s effectively a re-bodied and re-jiggered 4C built with an eye to the past. Limited to only five examples, the Classiche 1300 OT is part of StellantisÂ’ “Reloaded by Creators” project that aims to reinterpret beloved cars of its past in a modern form. This time, the model is the Fiat-Abarth OT 1300 race car from 1965. WeÂ’ll put new and old side-by-side below for you to critique how Abarth did. One of the original carÂ’s most distinctive features was the big periscope atop the roof meant to cool the cabin while racing, and Abarth made a small attempt at recreating it with a little scoop atop the roof. Its hood features a scoop that looks a little like the originalÂ’s, and you can see similar inspiration found for its rear taillghts. All that said, this re-body job doesnÂ’t really go far enough to make you forget itÂ’s actually just an Alfa Romeo 4C underneath. You may recall a similar attempt made a few years ago with the Abarth 1000 SP that used the same formula, but instead was based on the 4C Spider. Technical details are practically non-existent for this new Classiche 1300 OT, but we suspect itÂ’s powered by the same 1.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder as the 4C was and cracks off shifts via a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox. We donÂ’t know the curb weight, but Abarth says all of its body is now made of carbon fiber, so itÂ’s likely to be even lighter than the standard 4C. If weÂ’re lucky, Abarth has done some re-tuning of the powertrain and suspension to differentiate how it drives compared to the 4C. And if you want one of these creations, Abarth says ordering is open now, but remember, only five are ever going to be built.

Touring's Disco Volante makes us green with envy [w/video]

In its entire production run, Alfa Romeo only ever built 500 examples of the 8C Competizione – just 90 of which ended up in the United States – and another 500 Spiders. That makes it a pretty rare car indeed, but it's positively commonplace compared to the Disco Volante, the version reborn by the talented and steady hands at Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. In correspondece with Autoblog, Touring's CEO Piero Mancardi confirmed that the coachbuilder will only build eight examples of the Disco Volante, in colors chosen by their individual customers: one in black, one in blue, one in silver, the one in green you see here and the rest in different shades of red. That makes this particular example a one-of-a-kind work of art that we were privileged to behold here at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, and you can see what we saw through the camera lens in the high-resolution image gallery above, or by checking out the video below. Featured Gallery Touring Disco Volante: Geneva 2014 View 20 Photos Related Gallery Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera in green & gold View 38 Photos Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Geneva Motor Show Alfa Romeo Coupe Luxury Performance 2014 Geneva Motor Show touring alfa romeo 8c competizione carrozzeria touring superleggera disco volante