BMW tuner Van Harten Performance from Holand recently got its hands on a brand new BMW S1000RR superbike and, apart from turning it into what appears to be a carbon fiber edition, it can also brag about being the first to take the S1000RR beyond the 200bhp barrier. And I’m not so sure you’ll believe us when saying they managed to squeeze 210bhp out of German inline-four by only adding a four-in-one Akrapovic exhaust system. But it is the truth and it really shows this bike’s tuning potential.

210bhp BMW S1000RR by Van Harten Performance originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 12 March 2010 10:58 EST.

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This may not look like a student’s regular scooter concept, but more like an ingenious mean of short distance commuting inside airports. It is called Nexus and designer Francisco Lupin thought at everything to make it happen: two electric engines fed by four 12V batteries will supposedly be capable to power what we like to call the suitcase scooter to a top speed of 15 km/h (9.3 mph) while carrying a maximum load of 110 kg (242.5 pounds). It will go like this for two hours before emptying the batteries.

The Nexus can also be used as a regular suitcase when the batteries are empty and as long as it will fit in the overhead compartment, I’m buying one as soon as they start making it…if it ever happens, of course.

Nexus scooter concept for airports originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:26 EST.

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It’s pretty much been common knowledge to a lot of folks that the new Chevrolet Camaro has become quite a popular item for General Motors re-launched the brand last year, but we had no idea that it had become THIS popular.

According to Camaro5, the Camaro recently reached a historic milestone after the GM’s Oshawa assembly plant rolled out the 100,000th Camaro. Fittingly enough, the historic Camaro was an Inferno Orange Metallic SS.
The feat is even more remarkable considering that the Camaro reached 100,000 units in less than a year’s time – if you wanted to be anal about it, the first Camaro was rolled out on March 16th of last year.

If you round out the average, that’s about 282 Camaro’s being rolled out every day!

Remarkable; to say the least.

General Motors rolls out 100,000th Camaro originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 7 March 2010 06:42 EST.

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Suzuki introduced their all-new middleweight Gladius in 2009 and didn’t change it in any way for this year, but here comes a rendering showing a quite possible way to turn the funky Suzuki naked bike into a presence much strongly felt wherever ridden. The design was done by Oberdan Bezzi, Italy’s most renown motorcycle designer, and it aims towards a more aggressive look.

If we were daring, which we can become, we would say this concept could easily pass as a streetfighter, but as much as we look at it, we cannot erase the fairly dull image of the model currently being produced. That’s the sad part because with his sketch, Obiboi is trying to drift the Suzuki Gladius away from its original look and make it worthy of an “S” completing the name.

Although the designer doesn’t mention anything about a possible engine upgrade, we think this is a rather simple way of refreshing the Gladius look and increase figures on the sales charts in years to come.

Suzuki Gladius streetfighter by Oberdan Bezzi originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 4 March 2010 11:34 EST.

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New kinds of motorcycles are born when different makers think at combining this and that to achieve what they believe the market asks for and when it comes to downhill riders, we usually don’t expect to hear an engine roar, but we’ve come to find that someone did thought at using the power from a 125cc four-stroke single on a light bike – 125.6 lbs (57 kg) – in order to get across high ground with greater ease. The bike is called FX Mountain Moto and it is the only engined downhill two-wheeler that we know about.

Light and nimble as a mountain bike and enough powerful to put it up against your everyday dirt bike, the FX Mountain Moto is a very successful combination coming from New Zeeland. In fact, this thing is claimed being the world’s lightest adult-sized dirt bike. Does that motivate you to pay $5,040 (€3,700) for it?

FX Mountain, the 125cc downhill bike [w/video] originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 15:29 EST.

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The soap opera surrounding the tenuous state of USF1 heading into the 2010 Formula One season has reached a climax. And unfortunately for the Charlotte-based outfit, they couldn’t live long enough to see the closing credits.

Autosport is reporting that USF1’s team operations have ‘effectively shut down’, signaling the end of months’ worth of uncertainty on whether the team can make it to the Bahrain Grand Prix for the opening race of the season.

While no official announcement has been made by anyone in-the-know, this report comes only a few days after the team SpeedTV reported that USF1 requested a one-year delay on their F1 entry. With the likelihood of missing the entire 2010 season becoming more and more probable, the team appealed to the FIA to have their seats kept warm just in time for the 2011 season. The FIA has not yet ruled on the team’s request, although SpeedTV’s report said that the Formula One’s governing body was supportive of USF1 with the FIA’s racing director, Charlie Whiting, making a trip to the US to meet with the teams higher-ups.

Continued after the jump.

Report: USF1 effectively closes shop originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 15:00 EST.

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For all the good vibes and positive press Naomi Campbell received for her partnership with Lotus in helping raise money for the people of Haiti, she pretty much threw away in a slight fit of anger.

Reports are now coming in that Naomi Campbell is wanted by the NYPD for questioning regarding an incident with her driver as they were driving through New York City. This, apparently, all stems from allegations made by the driver that Campbell struck him so hard that his face slammed against the steering of the Cadillac Escalade he was driving the supermodel in.

The driver then stopped the car and reported the incident to a traffic enforcer, at which point Campbell had already left the Escalade on foot.

Continued after the jump.

Naomi Campbell involved in Escalade altercation with her driver originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 05:32 EST.

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They say you need to be a certain kind of biker in order to ride a trike and it is not hard to recognize the type as the biking crowd passes along, so hearing about a guy having turned a 2001 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R into a trike raises a few question marks regarding to what kind of rider would do that and why. A very special kind of rider let me tell you and also one that wants to have fun and feel a little safer on two wheels.

Simeon Hill is a brit who’s 155mph Kawi trike featuring a custom-built frame, a push-button gearshift system, Akrapovic exhaust, modified axle and differential from a Ford Sierra made it to Trike magazine. Sure, the 17-inch rear wheels with 235 x 50 tires also had much to do with the achievement, but mostly with what our man built it for. So let’s see what Hill has to say: ‘I built this trike to handle. I have turned a few heads and surprised many sportsbike riders on twisty Yorkshire and Lincolnshire roads. It’s taken me on local jaunts, weekend trips and longer trips around Europe, not only keeping up with my friends’ sportsbikes but also giving them a good run for their money.’

Kawasaki ZX-12R trike originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 1 March 2010 15:42 EST.

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The 2010 Geneva Motor Show will open its doors tomorrow and one car that we’ve been waiting for months to make its world debut is the new 2011 Audi A1 premium compact car. We’ve just about seen as many videos, promos, teasers, and spy shots of the car that the only thing left is to see it live and in the flesh.

What we don’t know, however – and what a French website is now reporting – is that the A1 may come in another version that aren’t of the gas and diesel engine variety.

According to this report, Audi is toying with the idea of using an A1 to be the basis of another E-Tron concept, following in the R8-based E-Tron concept that we saw in Frankfurt last September. While the R8-based E-Tron will only be built with a limited number, there’s a distinct possibility that an A1-based E-Tron could become Audi’s flagship volume plug-in vehicle, which, if you think about it, is a pretty smart move by Audi. Introducing a car that’s bound to get a lot of attention from customers would end up being more attractive if it came with a more fuel-efficient engine variant that the traditional petrol and diesel variety.

In any case, we’re going to have all these reports and rumors answered soon enough when the Geneva Motor Show officially opens tomorrow.

Audi to bring A1-based E-Tron concept to Geneva? originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 1 March 2010 08:00 EST.

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