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APRIL FOOLS: FIA: Group B Rally To Return In 2012

VW Group says they're already on board

Citing popular demand and the vast increases in racing safety that have been developed over the last 25 years, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (or FIA to us Anglophones) has announced that they will be bringing back the Group B class of rally cars staring next year. Woo hoo!

The details required of the entrants will be more or less carried over from the original Group B racers in the ’80s: all Group B vehicles must be two-seat sports cars, and they must be homologated to the tune of 200 units. (However, to accommodate the larger engine sizes common today, the four old classes of the group have been modified; while the weights remain the same, all four classes have had their maximum allowed engine displacement bumped up one liter.) While the FIA expects most of the cars in the 2012 season will be based on sports cars already in production, they hope the return of the brand will inspire manufacturers to create new world-class vehicles for the group.

Adding to the excitement currently happening in our pants, the Volkswagen Group is already on board with the plan in a big way. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn announced today that not only will his group be involved, every single one of the VW Group’s brands will be fielding a Group B competitor in the next few years. Lamborghini will be first, running a rally version of the Sesto Elemento that uses a Gallardo V10 downsized to 5.0 liters; following that, Bentley will introduce a Group B version of the next-generation Continental Supersports in 2013, with Audi taking the new Quattro racing in 2014. Here’s hoping VW’s example inspires the rest of the automotive world to follow suit. [via FIA]

(In case you hadn’t figured it out, this post is entirely fictional, and was created as part of our April Fools’ Day coverage.)

Extra Crispy Dodge Challenger

Muscle car ends up fried on the assembly line

It seems Johnny Storm got a little too excited when he swung by the factory to see his personal Dodge Challenger roll down the line, and he accidentally incinerated it. (Editor’s note: we’ve just been informed that Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch, is currently deceased. Our apologies for the prior remark.)

Actually, the overdone Challenger you see above reportedly caught fire when some paperwork attached to the car came too close to a heat lamp, which led to what Dodge employees supposedly refer to as “a thermal event.” Presumably, this was followed immediately by several “words of ill repute,” then a “targeted irrigation operation.”

Let this be a lesson, kids: don’t leave paperwork on a car if it’s going to pass by a heat lamp on the assembly line. As Calvin once said, we prefer maxims that don’t encourage behavior modification. [viaJalopnik, Moparts]

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NISSAN Silvia S14 GT500 Project

(its actually a ongoing project by a independent builder)