Driving Sports

In this weeks episode of Driving Sports TV's Extra we check out Honda's new Super GT racer, review the changes going into the new 2011 BMW 3-series, preview the BYD e6 electric and ask Derek D what happened to Fast Lane Daily?!

Welcome to the Driving Sports TV’s Extra, all the news you need for the third week of January 2010.

This week: BMW’s 3-series gets a facelift, Honda builds the sexiest car nobody will ever own and BYD is blowing their horn ahead of schedule. Oh, and what the hell happened to Fast Lane Daily?!

Fans of a certain other car show were hit with a big ol’ sledgehammer on Monday morning when they woke up to this.

Yup, that’s the new FastLaneDaily. And, based on the YouTube comments, fans were not amused.  The show started in 2007 and built a reputation for its cheesy wit, thanks in part to the former host, New York-based Comedian, Derek DeAngelis. Our requests for comment from Autostream (who just recently acquired FLD from Next New Networks) yielded no response at the time of this recording.

We were able to get a hold of Mr. DeAngelis who said, “I did not leave Fast Lane Daily!! I want to make that clear, it was not my choice.”

So, will the show return to the hosted format or will it remain b-roll with a voice over only? Only Autostream knows for sure, and they’re not saying… at least not yet.

The BMW 3-series is one of the best selling luxury cars on the planet. So it’s a rather big deal when it gets updated.

The 2011 facelift isn’t a radical one – don’t mess with a good thing, right?

The headlights look cooler. The side-mirrors are different, the front-end has a revised trademark grille and so forth. But it’s not all just looks. More seriously, the leather has a new treatment to keep it cool in direct sun light and the coupe will finally have an option for xDrive – that’s BMW’s all wheel drive system.

What’s really exciting is that the new 335i Coupe and Convertible will also receive a new straight-six turbo motor. This new engine features a twin-scroll turbo design, BMW valvetronic valve management tweaks as well as direct-injection.

This not only gives a very workable amount of performance, it also allows the 3-series to maintain a pretty reasonable economy. 33.6 miles-per-gallon in the coupe and  32.1 miles-per-gallon in the convertible.

Don’t trade your prius’ in just yet, numbers provided are British gallons, which are slightly larger than our American ones. Some quick math shows the Coupe is good for 27.98 mpg and the convertible good for 26.73… that’s still pretty damn good for a motor that puts down 306hp at 5800 RPM and 295 ft-lbs of torque starting at 1200 RPM and running flat all the way to 5000 RPM.

BMW claims the Coupe can run 0-62mph in 5.5 seconds and the Convertible can do the job in 5.8 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 155mph in both models. Oh, and the same motor will find its way into the 1-series as well.

2004 was the first and only time there has been a Japanese Super GT race in the United States. Even so, if you’re even remotely interested in Asian performance cars like the Subaru Legacy GT or Nissan GT-R, you’d do well to check it out as it showcases production cars that are already fast in their own right, and gives them a quad-latte injection right to the heart.

I bring it up, of course, because Honda just announced it’s throwing down with a new GT500-cass contender for 2010.

Though Honda has been participating in the series for many years, a rule change in 2009 banned the traditional rear-engine rear-wheel drive layout of its NSX Super GT car, making last November’s Twin Ring Motegi race its final outing.

No fear Honda fans, say hello to the Honda Sports Velocity 010, or the HSV-010 for short. As you can see, this is one bad-ass looking Honda.

It features a motor called the HR10EG installed in the front of the car – a high-revving 3.4-liter V8 good for a class-constrained 496-hp and 289 ft-lbs of torque. The transmission is a constant mesh design attached to steering-mounted paddles. Tires are 330/40R18 in the front, 330/45R17 in the rear… which is exactly the same as last year’s NSX Super GT car.

If you’ve been paying attention, you should be asking, “wait, I thought you said Super GT cars were based on production models?” And you’d be right to ask that.

Sadly the only Nissan GT-R this supercar is going to battle with is on the racetrack. There are no production plans, outside of the racing world for the new Honda HSV-010.

Word is Honda received special permission from the organizing body of Super GT to be exempt from the production requirement. But, Toyotas relative success with it’s recently LFA supercar will keep our carbon fiber fantasies alive.

In final news from the North American International Auto Show, BYD, the Chinese car maker co-owned by Billionaire Warren Buffett, announced it’s plug-in E6 electric sedan will be available in 2011 – a whole year ahead of schedule

The E6 will be available for just over $40,000 and will be able to seat 5. It’s powered exclusively by Lithium Ion batteries and reportedly has a range of up to 250 miles. Initially it will only be available in limited quantities at your local BYD dealership, that is, assuming it can meet US crash standards… and if they manage to open any dealerships… because currently there are zip!

Thanks for watching, we’ll be back next week with even more news from the auto world.

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