2011 Aston Martin Db9 Volante Convertible 2-door 6.0l on 2040-cars

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Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

We've all heard the horror stories. Your buddy knows a girl that was dating a guy whose best friend's brother once broke his brand-new, recently purchased performance car while making runs at a drag strip or laps at a track day, and the manufacturer wouldn't cover the repair under warranty. True story? Urban legend? Complete crap? Yes, no, maybe. One thing's for sure: Automotive warranties have always come with caveats. In 1908, an ad in the Trenton Evening Times clearly stated: "All Ford Cars Guaranteed for One Year." Although it changed over time, by 1925 the Ford New Car Guarantee only covered 90 days on material and 30 days on labor, and it clearly stated that that there was "No guarantee whatever on Fan Belts, Glass, Bulbs, Wiring, Transmission, Bands, Hose Connections, Commutator Shells, Rollers, Spark Plugs or Gaskets." Whether or not Ol' Henry would pay to fix your Model T if you broke it shaving a tenth off your lap time at the local board track seems to be lost to history. We're guessing no. But what about today? Do new-car warranties in 2017 cover cars when they are driven on race tracks? We researched the warranties of 14 auto brands to find out, and the answer is yes, no, maybe, depending on the brand, in some cases the model, and whether or not your car is modified from stock. Acura has been out of the high-performance car game for a number of years, but jumps back into the party in 2017 with its hybrid-powered $173,000 NSX supercar. And Acura's warranty, as well as Honda's, clearly states that it does not cover "the use of the vehicle in competition or racing events." View 33 Photos So we asked Sage Marie, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Honda and Acura. "If the car is stock, the warranty covers it on a track just as it does on the street. No question," he told us. "However, if the car is modified, say with slick tires or other components that would put higher stresses on the vehicle's parts and systems, then we would have to investigate the circumstances further." Marie went on to say the same would be true for any Acura model or Honda vehicle, including the new 2017 Honda Civic Si. This became a common theme. Chevrolet actually started this practice with the fifth-generation Camaro on the high-performance ZL1 and Z/28 models.

Aston Martin's AM-RB 001 hypercar will have a 6.5-liter Cosworth V12 and so much more

It's been a while since we heard any big news about the Aston Martin-Red Bull hypercar, the plainly named AM-RB 001. When it debuted last year, we got a look at the shape – and that's about it. Sure, a super-powerful V12 hybrid powertrain was promised, but we didn't have any concrete details on it or what was going into the pretty wrapper. Well, now Aston has made some announcements about partners, and they certainly have our attention: Cosworth, Ricardo, Multimatic, and Rimac. Cosworth, the famed engine supplier, will be supplying the engine. It's a 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12. Aston had previously said the car will be a member of the one-horsepower-per-kilogram club, and so people are expecting the engine to make about 900 horsepower. It will of course be augmented by an electric motor, which will be fed by a high-performance battery from Rimac. (Yes, the same Rimac whose Concept_One has been shown in videos beating everything from Teslas to LaFerraris.) The as-yet-undefined amount of power will be routed through a seven-speed paddle-shift transmission supplied by Ricardo. And because you're going to want to stop, there will be big carbon-ceramic brakes – Alcon and Surface Transforms will supply the calipers and carbon discs. Multimatic, builders of awesome shocks, will make the carbon-fiber tub that everything goes into. Multimatic has worked with Aston in the past, including on its last limited-production vehicle, the One-77. Bosch is responsible for the ECU, traction control, and stability control. LED lights will be supplied by Wipac. So yeah, there almost aren't any high-profile companies left after this announcement. This car is going to be pretty extreme. Aston reiterates that it will build a maximum of 150for the road including prototypes, plus 25 more track-only models. They'll start going to customers in 2019. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Aston Martin Red Bull AM-RB 001 Aston Martin Coupe Hybrid Lightweight Vehicles Performance Supercars aston martin am-rb 001

Aston may build fewer than 100 Lagonda super saloons

Aston Martin has owned the Lagonda nameplate since the late '40s, but in the roughly 70 years since that acquisition, the use of the name has been kept largely exclusive for four-door models. The two most famous modern Lagondas are the angular, futuristic sedan built in the '70s and '80s and the infamously ugly SUV concept from the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. UK magazine Car claims that the classic name could make its return on a svelte four-door as soon as this summer, which makes sense considering our spy shooters recently caught what looked like a modernized incarnation of the 70s super saloon last month. Interestingly, while Aston Martins are rare birds as-is, Car says that the neo-Lagonda could be even more scarce – its sources suggest that the model could be limited to under 100 units. That's because Aston Martin's Q customization service is reportedly taking up construction duties for the project, and with its small team, that means production is going to be slow, limited and very expensive. Even covered in camo as spied above, there's something special about the new car. The squinting headlights and thin A-pillar echo the '80s model in a modern way and make this four-door look a lot sportier than the Bentley, Maserati and Rolls-Royce models that it will likely compete against. It's rumored to be using composite body panels to keep weight down. The powertrain is said to be an evolution of the Rapide, Aston's sole existing four-door model. The Lagonda would use Aston Martin's 5.9-liter V12 with power tuned to around 600 horsepower, backed by an eight-speed automatic replacing the Rapide's elderly six-speed unit. That would put power just short of an Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, but the composite panels could lend it a weight advantage. The latest rumor only indicates the Lagonda's unveiling sometime later this summer, with no exact date or location. Still given the relative completeness of the test car, it doesn't look like it could be too far away. We can't wait to see it when the camo comes off.