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Castrol Nexcel is an oil change in a box

Oil changes are a vital part of car ownership. For some this simple bit of maintenance gives them a sense of accomplishment and a closer connection to their car. Others just find it a hassle. Castrol might have a compromise with new tech called the Nexcel that packages the oil and filter into a single, easily removable container. The company claims switching the unit out takes just 90 seconds. Instead of draining the oil for a regular change, the whole Nexcel is replaced each time. Castrol then retrieves the used containers and recycles the fluids inside into other lubricants. The exclusive cadre of ultra-wealthy buyers for the track-only Aston Martin Vulcan get to be the first ones to find out if the Nexcel lives up to the hype. And don't worry, the container can reportedly stand up to the hypercar's punishment. According to Castrol, the Nexcel has been tested to perform at up to 1.8G and can flow as much as 158.5 gallons of oil a minute. The tech also allows Castrol to create specific oil blends to match to different engines. "Today, you can't guarantee the right oil will be used, so the degree to which oils can be tailored is limited. Nexcel is different and can go further. The oil cell enables a concept we call precision lubrication," a spokesperson said to Autoblog. Assuming the Nexcel is a success, Castrol estimates that it could arrive in the first road car in about five years. The company already claims to be in discussions with "several" automakers about potentially implementing the tech. While changes would be far quicker, some enthusiasts might balk at the idea of being locked into oil from just a single brand, though. CASTROL REINVENTS OIL CHANGE WITH NEXCEL: THE REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGY THAT MAKES OIL CHANGES QUICK, SMART AND SIMPLE The Nexcel oil cell, an easy-to-change unit containing both engine oil and filter delivers superior engine performance and improved environmental sustainability The new technology allows your oil to be changed in around 90 seconds, more than 13 times faster than a conventional oil change of 20 minutes The Aston Martin Vulcan track-only supercar will be the first vehicle featuring Nexcel technology LONDON, Thursday 8th October 2015 – Today, Castrol launches Nexcel, a new revolutionary technology that marks the most significant oil change innovation in automotive history.

Get your Aston Martin Vulcan in Ohio for just $3.4 million

Want to get your hands on an Aston Martin Vulcan? Good luck: the manufacturer is only building 24 of them, and each carries a price tag of over $2 million. But if you're willing to shell out, there's one for sale in Cleveland. This Fiamma Red example listed for sale on the duPont Registry is described as the first Vulcan in the United States. It bears the VIN AMLVULCANXXXXXX07, indicating that this is the seventh of those two dozen examples to be made. And it can be yours for the small matter of $3.4 million, which is one heck of a markup on a vehicle that's already enormously expensive. The Vulcan, for those unfamiliar, is the supercar that Aston Martin built specifically for use on the track. That puts it in the same league as the McLaren P1 GTR and Ferrari FXX K. The Vulcan features an old-school naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V12 rated at over 800 horsepower – mounted up front but entirely behind the axle. It's built around a carbon-fiber tub that's even stronger and lighter than the one at the center of the One-77. And that aero kit derived from Aston's GT3 racer will generate as much as 3,000 pounds of downforce at top speed. The Aston is also more rare than its counterparts, of which McLaren will build 35 and Ferrari fewer than 40. That's rather rare company indeed, in which the Vulcan looks poised to be the rarest. So if you want to gain admission into the club, it won't come cheap. Related Video:

FIA introduces 'Hypercar Concept' for World Endurance Championship

One of the most common jabs at hypercars is the question, "Where can you drive them to their potential?" Imagine the answer being: to the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We're not there yet, but the FIA World Motor Sport Council took a step closer to the possibility during its second annual meeting in Manila, the Philippines. One of three initiatives the WSMC announced for the 2020 World Endurance Championship was "Freedom of design for brands based on a 'Hypercar' concept." This "Hypercar concept" would replace LMP1 as the premier class in the WEC. The dream, of course, would be seeing racing versions of the AMG Project One, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Regera, McLaren Senna GTR, Pagani Huara BC, and the rest of the gang trading paint and carbon fiber through Dunlop in a heinously expensive version of "Buy on Sunday, sell on Monday." The reality is that we don't have all the details yet on the set of regulations called "GTP," but the FIA wants race cars more closely tied to road cars, albeit with the performance level of today's LMP1 cars. Exterior design freedom would shelter internals designed to reduce costs, the FIA planning to mandate less complex hybrid systems and allow the purchase of spec systems. One of the FIA's primary goals is lowering LMP1 budgets to a quarter of their present levels. Audi and Porsche budgets exceeded $200 million, while Toyota - the only factory LMP1 entry this year and next - is assumed to have a budget hovering around $100 million. Reports indicated that Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota sat in on the development of the proposed class. If the FIA can get costs down to around $25 million, that would compare running a top IndyCar team and have to be hugely appealing to the assembled carmakers. The initiative represents another cycle of the roughly once-a-decade reboot of sports car racing to counter power or cost concerns. The FIA shut down Group 5 Special Production Sports Car class in 1982 to halt worrying power hikes, and introduced Group C. In 1993, Group C came to an ignoble end over costs; manufacturers were spending $15 million on a season, back when that was real money and not one-fifth of a Ferrari 250 GTO. Then came the BPR Global GT Series that morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which would see the last not-really-a-road car take overall Le Mans victory in 1998, the Porsche 911 GT1. That era would be most aligned with a future hypercar class.