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Lamborghini weighs first factory-backed Le Mans entry

Lamborghini could expand its racing program by competing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The Italian company has never been able to justify funding the development of an LMP1-spec prototype from the ground up, but the hypercar category the WEC will launch in 2020 makes competing in high-profile races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans much more affordable. The new class created to pick up where LMP1 will leave off has piqued the interest of Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali. He told British magazine Autocar that his team is taking a careful look at the regulations, and company officials will decide whether to go racing by the end of 2019. The hypercar category will replace LMP1 during the 2020/2021 season, and its guidelines call for racers that look like production models. They'll need to weigh under 2,160 pounds, and they'll be allowed to use active aerodynamic technology, which Lamborghini already uses on production models like the Aventador SVJ, the Huracan Performante, and the Huracan Evo. Domenicali hinted a car similar to the one-off, Aventador-based SC18 (pictured) introduced in late 2018 could take Lamborghini racing. It shows the company has "a base for what could be an interesting approach," he told Autocar. Created at the request of a customer, the SC18 delivers 770 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque thanks to the Aventador's naturally-aspirated, 6.5-liter V12. If Lamborghini chooses to race, it will need to fend off competition from Aston Martin and Toyota, among others. Aston Martin confirmed it will compete in the hypercar category with an evolution of the 1,160-horsepower Valkyrie, while Toyota is busily transforming the Super Sport concept into a hypercar-spec racer. Unverified reports suggest McLaren and Ferrari could also join the fray sooner or later. While Lamborghini's history isn't rooted in racing, and it has never operated a full, factory-backed WEC program, its cars have competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other endurance events on several occasions. Die-hard fans will remember the Murcielago R-GT that raced at Le Mans between 2006 and 2009. It was more show than go, and it finished near (or at) the bottom of the pack. Auto News Motorsports Lamborghini Le Mans lmp1

Lamborghini Tecnomar 63 yacht: Raging boat

A year after being announced, the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 express cruiser is in the water with its first owner. The co-creation of Lamborghini Centro Stile and Italian boat maker Tecnomar, the water-borne speedster makes the most obvious nod toward the limited-edition Sian FKP 37 introduced in 2019, but gathers cues to the automaker's entire history. The Verde Gea paint matches the Sian's launch color. The helm seats come from the Huracan Evo and are fitted with Sparco seatbelts. The steering wheel, minus airbag and paddle shifters, migrated from an Aventador, the gauge cluster behind sparkling with graphics recognizable from current Lamborghinis. The throttle levers mimic the shift selector in the Urus, the same fighter-plane-style cover hovering over the engine start button. The windows, meanwhile, channel the hexagonal shapes that have ornamented vehicles from Sant'Agata Bolognese since 1963.   Oh, the irony that the heaviest and most powerful Lamborghini ever created fits into the ultra-lightweight class, a segment never graced by one of the automaker's cars. A weight-shaving carbon fiber superstructure slides into a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) hull to keep weight down to about 53,000 pounds. Two MAN V12 diesel engines — MAN is another Volkswagen Group brand — work together to blow 4,000-hp bubbles into the water. They get the Tecnomar to a top speed of 60 knots (69 miles per hour). Burning about 100 gallons per hour at cruising speeds between 40 and 45 knots (46 and 52 mph), there's enough fuel to run for about 360 miles. That's long distance moving.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Occupant spaces include the galley and dinette behind the helm, and sunpads on the fore and aft decks, that latter one with a pop-out television. Accommodations below deck are dressed in leather, Alcantara, and carbon fiber, with Y-shaped motifs most familiar in Lamborghini lighting signatures. There's a master suite forward, its bed overlooked by a sunlight shaped like a Lamborghini badge, and a guest cabin with two twin berths.  There will be just 63 Tenomar for Lamborghini 63 cruisers built, and we know one of them has already been spoken for by UFC fighter Connor McGregor. Reps at Lamborghini and Tecnomar wouldn't say how many of the roughly $3.5 million craft have been sold, but they did admit that production through the end of 2022 is sold out.

Top Gear names BMW i8 Car of the Year, Corvette, Ferrari, Mercedes also win big

The lads at Top Gear have released their listing of the finest cars of the past year, handing the ultimate honor to BMW's revolutionary i8 plug-in-hybrid supercar. "The i8 is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers - and then some," the British mag wrote. The i8, though, was far from the only hybridized car to take victories. James May and Richard Hammond both highlighted hybrids as their personal cars of the year, with May saluting the Ferrari LaFerrari and the Hamster, unsurprisingly, heaping praise on the Porsche 918 Spyder. Jeremy Clarkson, meanwhile, opted to shock many by selecting not only an American car as his best of 2014, but giving the honor to of all things, a Corvette. Clarkson wasn't the only person to honor the USA's iconic sports car, with the new, 650-horsepower Z06 variant being named TG's Muscle Car of the Year. Other big winners include Mercedes-Benz, which TG honored for S-Class Coupe (Luxury Car of the Year), the new AMG GT (Sports Car of the Year) and the not-for-US C-Class Estate (Family Car of the Year). The 458 Italia Speciale A snagged a second win for Ferrari. The best of the rest include the Citroen C4 Cactus, Renault Twingo, Volkswagen Golf R, Lamborghini Huracan and Audi TT. Take a look below for the celebratory press blast from BMW. The BMW i8 wins Top Gear Car of the Year The BMW i8 has been named as Top Gear magazine's global Car of the Year 2014. The plug-in hybrid performance vehicle beat off some stiff competition from a host of other premium and luxury manufacturers to win the overall award. The editorial team of Top Gear commended the BMW i8 for its breadth of abilities. Its 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine combined with an electric motor gives searing acceleration and driver enjoyment but all wrapped in a package that takes BMW's EfficientDynamics philosophy to the extreme courtesy of CO2 emissions less than 49g/km and a 135mpg combined cycle figure. Charlie Turner, Editor in Chief at Top Gear magazine, said: "The BMW is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers – and then some. It's the kind of car we should celebrate, a beautiful vision of the future, delivered now.