Sunday 27th March
New York 2016 - PH blog
Catch up on Dan's adventures at the New York International Auto Show here!
Dan's out at the show and, in addition to standalone stories, will be firing over regular updates to the liveblog below. You can also catch up with him on our Facebook page, on Twitter viaandand on Instagram atusing the hashtag #PHNYC2016 .
You always want what you can't have, right? Well, I can't have a Shelby GT350 Mustang. But I really, really want one. This one isn't even the 50-odd kilos lighter R version with its carbon wheels, ball-jointed suspension, Cup tyres and reduced exhaust baffling for the 526hp 5.2-litre flat-plane V8. Nope, this is 'just' the basic version. With its 8,250rpm redline, 7,500rpm peak power and 4,720rpm peak torque figures it sounds like exactly the kind of normally aspirated, big capacity V8 European carmakers have long abandoned. And it has a manual gearbox. I like the fact - stripes aside - it seems focused on getting the job done. The Camaro ZL1 looks amusing but almost caricatured in comparison - the GT350 just looks proper.
Dan
More interviews, this time with SVO boss John Edwards and director Mark Stanton and then a chance to chat with Jaguar design boss Ian Callum. The SVO guys were good value, obviously keen to get us in the F-Type SVR and eager to talk about how the reception for its Range Rover equivalent has strengthened their arm and given them the confidence in the SVR concept. Callum meanwhile is fired up by the reception to F-Pace too. Will they do a coupe like the Mercedes GLC Coupe launched at the show? Callum doubts it, saying the F-Pace already ticks the boxes. Random titbit - you can option your F-Type SVR without the deployable wing if you want but you'll be restricted to 185mph rather than the full 200. Aesthetics versus speed - which way are you going to call it?
Dan
A round-table with AMG boss (and chainsaw collector, so I'm told!) Tobias Moers found him on ebullient form and eager to talk about the new '43 range and how - in certain markets - he reckons AMG can be bigger than Porsche. Blimey. I asked him, with the entire range parked outside his office and one to drive home in, which he'd pick. "GT S," he said, without hesitation. "But soon the GT R," with a big grin. You get the impression he's rather keen to share that one with us. Count us in on that!
Dan
Interesting chat with Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura about GT-R design; he was there from the start of the R35 project from concept to production car. Perhaps unsurprisingly he says the MY17 car on show is his favourite but he reckons the biggest influences on the car are the original Hakasuka and the R34. And the signature GT-R feature? It's the angle and thickness of the C-pillar. Photographic evidence presented from Hakasuka, R34 and R35 for your consideration!
Dan
Wow! Hidden away on the Acura stand is this beauty - a GT3-spec NSX due for homologation this year and hopefully ready to race in GT3 for 2017. It's based on the road car but loses the electric motors, four-wheel drive and batteries and instead relies on an uprated version of the road car's twin-turbo V6, driving just the rear wheels. Full story to follow but, please Honda, give us a road going NSX Type R based on this! Please!
Dan
Another one ticked off the list - 'proper' pics of the MX-5 RF and a chance to consider it in the metal. I have to be frank, I love the idea and understand the desire to make the folding hardtop a distinct model from the regular roadster. But there's just something fractionally off about the proportions I can't quite resolve. Maybe the buttresses are just a few millimetres too tall. It could just be something as simple as dropping the ride height a tad to hunker it down a little - lord knows the standard car benefits from this too. It's like the oldMazda tried out a while back. Lovely idea. Just didn't quite seem to work in the metal.
Still, the car is getting a lot of love and I look forward to seeing it out on the road. I get the impression it's winning over a lot of those previously left cold by the MX-5, and as a fanboy I can't argue with that!
Dan
[Source:]
I'll let the pictures do the talking. But having unveiled the 'new' MY17 GT-R (full story) and made out it's basically now as wafty and comfortable as an S-Class Coupe, Nissan has also laid on a display of old GT-Rs that proudly boast of a tradition based on speed. Not comfort. I mean, who are they trying to kid? They've made the MY17 look more aggressive, with a little Lexus-ing of the front end, more vents, more skirt, more 'grr' in general. And then put a leather dash on it and called it a wafty GT. Don't believe a word of it.
The display of original GT-Rs is amazing too. It includes a 1969 PGC10, 1973 KPGC110, 1989 R32, 1995 R33 (that slashed 21 seconds off the R32's 'ring lap!) and a 1999 R34 GT-R M-Spec Nur. The R32, R33 and R34 are all from Nissan's own fleet, the two older cars privately owned. I'd happily drive any of them away. Or all of them.
I should focus though. I'm meant to be looking at new cars. Not starstruck by old ones. To Mazda!
Dan
Wednesday, 1315h - Hotel, Manhattan
Morning in Manhattan and a quick update before heading to the show. With apologies for my slightly gonzo video from last night here's a better official one from Jaguar, accompanied by some stunning photos by their official photographer Nick Dimbleby. Sure, it was 'just' a stunt but quite a brave one and resulting in some superb imagery so job done there.
A quick catch-up on the reaction to some of the stories posted up on embargo over breakfast has been interesting. Thehas polarised opinion and I'll look forward to taking up some of those discussion points with JLR Classic boss Tim Hannig. The car isn't here but he is! Feel free to post any specific questions you have for him below and I'll pose them to him and John Edwards.
Looks like thehas made a - mainly - positive first impression too. I have to confess I'm a little uncertain from the photos but have made it my first priority for the show so will report back with some 'real' pictures.
Dan
Pre-show night and Jaguar Land Rover held a bit of a press conference outlining the tech on the newand announcing the continuation XKSS - read all about that. So far so normal. But JLR doesn't pass up opportunity for a stunt at these things so we were taken round the corner to the specially closed off Park Lane Tunnel to get a personal demonstration of just how impressive sounding the F-Type SVR's titanium/Inconel exhaust system really is. Personal as in we'd be driving. I'm not sure how fast we went but the sighting run by the pro driver felt brutal, the tunnel narrow and surprisingly bumpy. Just shy of 500m long it was over before it began but a bit more exciting than looking at cars on a show stand!
Dan
So much for the quiet life - last time I came to the New York show it was a pretty chilled out affair browsing and/or talking Corvettes, Vipers and Mustangs and generally enjoying time in one of the cooler cities in America. But the flight over has been spent busily typing up stories on a number of embargoed cars due to be unveiled tomorrow from Mercedes, Jaguar, Nissan, Mazda and more. More on these in due course; first my hosts Jaguar Land Rover are summoning us to one of their characteristic pre-motor show stunts, this one involving the Park Avenue tunnel and a Jaguar F-Type SVR. More when I have it.
You'll have spotted the lead image to this update doesn't seem to have much to do with New York either. That's because it relates to a rather pleasant journey to the airport in my Eunos across a misty Saddleworth Moor. I could have just taken the M62 and had a bit longer in bed. But I suspected this would be worth an early alarm call and so it proved. Early bird and all that! Now, about that body clock...
Dan