What do you do when your and Italian guy with too much money and a love of American TV shows? You order a new Alfa Romeo 8C and have it painted like the ‘General Lee’ of course! Though you can’t see it in this pic, the doors also feature the 01 numbers. But the real question is… does the horn play Dixie???

It’s long been rumored that Acura would be bringing back the NSX. The concept is set (complete with hybrid powertrain) and the first official commercial spot will debut during the upcoming Super Bowl. Thanks to the internet, you don’t have to wait that long…

Chrysler made the official announcement last year that they would be bringing back their Viper in an all new generation car.  I took that as both good and bad news.  Good news because the Viper was brutally awesome and deserved to stay in production.  Bad news because “all new” could mean they would re-invent the car into something different.  Rumors swirled that the Viper would be based on a Fiat chassis with a V8 or V6 engine utilizing forced induction.  That would have KILLED the Viper for me – and most other Viper fans as well.   Good news then – The new Viper is said to have an updated version of it’s old chassis and suspension AND a punched out version of it’s V-10; possibly 8.7 liters!!  Above is a ‘teaser’ pic from SRT, showing mostly similar styling for the upcoming beast.  The overall shape, emblem, scoop and dipped roof all scream, “I’m still a Viper”, and that’s a very good thing.

Project Torino has had a choking issue for awhile now.  Every time I would do a burnout at the track, as soon as I would let off the throttle, the motor would die.  Upon restart, black smoke would shoot out the side-pipes.  Obviously, something was up in the fuel system.  Our buddies at Pony Express Racing suggested looking at the fuel pressure – and they we’re right.  After installing a gauge on the fuel rail, the Torino was showing over 9PSI of pressure going to the carb.  A quick talk with Holley revealed that the 850 double pumper should be getting somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5.

The solution?  A fuel pressure regulator.  I ordered a Holley unit from Summit ($44.00 with tax & shipping) and had it within a few days.  We tossed the universal bracket that came in the box and opted to make a custom one that would mount on the edge of the intake manifold and line up in the basic path that the fuel line was already at.  The install was quick and easy, and after cranking up the motor, it only took a couple quick turns on the adjustment bolt to get the pressure to read 6.5.   The car is running great now, and I can’t wait to get it back out to SGMP for some tire melting fun.

The guys at ‘Car & Driver’ are back to V.I.R. for their 6th edition of the Lightning Lap challenge. 20 performance vehicles (that are new models or at least upgraded in some way for 2012) going head to head on the track. I think the biggest surprises come from the VW Golf-R and the Ford Mustang Boss 302 that both sleigh cars that cost much more. Check out the video below…