Aston Martin’s most sought-after and expensive One-77 has been wrecked in China in a high-speed accident

Photo from www.europ-cars.com

Aston Martin’s most sought-after and expensive One-77 has been wrecked in China in a high-speed accident. This is the first ever known road incident involving the British supercar. Limited to just 77 copies, the model has now become even rarer.

Chinese weibo.com site published a photo of the silver-hued lacerated pride of British carmakers piled on a low loader truck.
The vehicle is believed to have hit a curb at high speed, tearing out the front left wheel which destroyed the splash board and face bar. Reportedly delivered just weeks ago, the One-77 did not have any plates and was probably neither registered nor insured.

The main hull of the carbon fibre monocoque appears to be intact, which means the driver couldn’t have been seriously hurt.  The vehicle’s 7.0-litre V12 engine producing 522kW/750Nm looks to be safe, too. While looking nasty, the car certainly could be repaired, but to do so the owner will have to pay to get the damaged beauty to the Aston Martin factory in the UK.

The Aston Martin One-77 was released in 2009. The whole line sold out long before production started to customers who pre-ordered their expensive toys.

The price of the vehicle varies, depending on the country it has been sold to and the extent of “personification”. In China, this Aston Martin was apparently sold for 47 million Yuan – $7 million – to a customer reportedly from Shenzen. In Great Britain, an Aston Martin One-77 cost ₤1.4 million.

Aston Martin One-77

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Truck Nuts lead to overnight stay in jail for driver

Thankfully, Truck Nuts have proven to be more fad than fashion, but that hasn't stopped a few truck owners from donning the hitch-mounted clock weights. Those who continue to hold their Truck Nuts near and dear should keep in mind that South Carolina law enforcement is having none of it. The Smoking Gun reports that one Joe Cervantes-Rodriquez recently spent a night in jail thanks to his flesh-colored pickup balls. A Spartanburg County Sherrif's Office deputy spotted the Truck Nuts during a patrol and decided to pull over the driver. For the Truck Nuts, Cervantes-Rodriquez was given a warning citation; for not having a driver's license he spent the night in jail-an experience that would likely have been avoided were it not for the "obscene object" that triggered the traffic stop, which was described as being the size of a softball and anatomically correct. Cervantes-Rodriquez was released from jail after posting a $237.50 bond. We'd guess that he's since removed the Truck Nuts.

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Lotus custom channels the Esprit of Ayrton Senna

These days it seems like the dream of a new Lotus Esprit is getting nothing but further away, while the troubled company responsible for it applies the classic black and gold livery to everything it produces – and many things produced by others. But there was a time when the original Esprit was a mechanical wonder to behold, and the JPS livery was championed by arguably the greatest driver who ever lived.

That driver, of course, was Ayrton Senna. And to mark the 18th anniversary of his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a German outfit called Cam-Shaft Premium Wrapping has created this special edition in his honor. Instead of starting with the original four-cylinder Esprit, though, Cam Shaft went with the later turbo V8 and laid over its black paint a series of gold decals evocative of the iconic livery which Senna sported on his 1985 Lotus 97T, including a reproduction of his signature on the panel in front of the door.

The German firm didn't stop there, however. They gave the Esprit new turbos, an intercooler and cats to drive output up from 354 horsepower (stock) to 492 hp, drop the 4.9-second 0-62 time down to 4.3 seconds and increase the top speed from 282 km/h to 305. They also fitted it with a new six-speed gearbox to replace the old five-gear unit, upgraded the brakes with AP Racing four-pot calipers on 330mm cross-drilled discs and fitted it with a chassis control switch similar to a Ferrari manettino.

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