The Best Of 2018 Pebble Beach

Apart from the Concours d’Elegance that gives visitors a chance to catch a glimpse of rare and beautiful vintage cars, the Pebble Beach also gives manufacturers a chance to unveil their concepts and upcoming cars. Here’s a selection of the best we’ve so far.

Porsche Project Gold

Yes, it’s finally here. After teasing us with sketches of a Porsche 993 undergoing a full restoration a la Singer, the carmaker has finally unveiled what it calls the Project Gold. This one-off 993-gen 911 Turbo comes after two full decades after it was discontinued! Apart from the original body shell with Turbo S air intake inlets, the rest of the car is entirely new and Porsche says it took them a year and a half from start to finish. Phew!

The Project Gold shares its colour with the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series, a limited production version of the Turbo S built by Porsche’s Exclusive team. Even the interior gets plenty of gold detailing,including gold stitching on the seats and dashboard panels. And what isn’t covered in gold is covered in carbon-fibre.

Read: 70 Years Of Porsche

The Project Gold packs a brand-new 3.6-litre flat-six motor that should produce the same 450PS as the original car. And like the original, the Project Gold gets a manual transmission and all-wheel-drive too. All the parts for the build were sourced from Porsche Classic’s range, says the carmaker. Sadly, it’s a one-off and not road-legal. Porshce is set to auction it off at RM Sotheby’s at the Porsche Experience Centre in Atlanta on October 27. Expect it to fetch millions!

BMW Z4 M40i

After waiting for what felt like years, BMW has finally unveiled the latest version of the Z4. And boy does it look gorgeous. Revealed in its M40i trim, the new Z4 is capable of hitting 0-96kmph in 4.6 seconds. The M40i variant seen here packs an 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six engine which is said to produce close to 340PS of power. However, the M40i won’t be the fist variant to make it to the market. BMW says it will launch the tamer Z4 30i in early 2019 followed by the M40i variant sometime during the second quarter of the year.

Read: Toyota Supra To Launch Next Year

The First Edition seen here gets adaptive dampers, M Sport brakes and an electronically controlled rear differential. Power is sent to the rear wheels as befits a roadster from BMW. And although BMW hasn’t revealed much information about it, we expect it to pack an 8-speed automatic gearbox from ZF. It also boasts of a perfect 50:50 weight distribution. So expect it to be a lot of fun on the twisties. Read more about it here.

Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

This year’s Pebble Beach also witnessed the unveiling of what could possibly be the last iteration of the Lamborghini Aventador - the Aventador SVJ. The most hardcore version of the Aventador, which was first introduced in 2011 as a replacement to the Murcielago, has already set a new record at the Nurburgring and is now set to wow 900 lucky customers across the world with its brutal 6.5-litre V12 that’s been tuned to produce a staggering 770PS of power!

Read: Lamborghini Canto: The Forgotten One

This lets it sprint from nought to 100kmph in just 2.8 seconds, while the 0-200kmph sprint takes just 8.6 seconds. Top speed? More than 350kmph, apparently! It also gets Lamborghini’s Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva’ or ALA like the Huracan Performante. Read more about it here.

Bugatti Divo

Before you ask, yes, there’s a Chiron under there somewhere. The Divo is Bugatti’s take on the Chiron with considerable aero tweaks to take all the attention away from the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. Bugatti’s designers seems to have been let loose with a Chiron and the result is quite stunning, to say the least. It gets a redesigned front section with vertically-stacked lights, a plethora of vents to improve airflow and a large spoiler to create even more downforce.

Powering the Divo is an 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine that makes 1500PS of peak power. This gives it a 0-100kmph time of 2.5 seconds, which is the same as the Chiron. So what’s really changed then? Well. Bugatti says the additional aero addenda lets the Divo corner harder than the Chiron. Read more about it here.

Audi PB18 e-tron Concept

The PB18 e-tron Concept is Audi’s take on a driver-focussed hot hatch of the future. To that effect, it doesn’t get any form of semi-autonomous tech on-board. The future's looking good already. Although it may look like a future version of the R8 from the front, viewing from the side and the rear reveals that it is a three-door hatchback. The sweptback roof leads to a flat roof and a pointy tail, giving the concept a sleek and futuristic look.

The PB18 uses a combination of three electric motors - one on the front axle with 150kW and the other two powering each rear wheel with a total of 650kW. The concept has a combined output of 500kW and 800Nm during normal driving and can provide a boost of up to 570kW if needed. Audi says this should let the hatchback complete the 0-100kmph sprint in just 2.0 seconds. But there’s more the concept than outright power. Read more about it here, including its unique seating configuration, here.

 Jaguar E-Type Zero

Jaguar has announced that it will put its E-Type Zero concept into production. It will be built by the company’s Classic division and deliveries are expected to begin in 2020. It also said that existing owners of the E-Type will also be given the opportunity to convert their gorgeous grand tourer into an EV. How exciting is that?

Read: Jaguar To Invest $18 Billion In EVs

Although the British carmaker refrained from revealing the final technical specifications of the E-Type Zero, the car displayed on the show featured a 40kW-hour lithium-ion battery pack that gives it a claimed range of over 270km. Hitting 0-100kmph should take about 5.5 seconds, making the EV quicker than the original! Read more about it here.

Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow Concept

A classic racer with a modern twist. That’s what the EQ Silver Arrow Concept is all about. Mercedes says the design takes inspiration from the 1937 W125 which was capable of hitting a record-setting-for-the-time 433kmph! Unlike the W125, which used a massive V12 coupled to a supercharger, the EQ Silver Arrow Concept uses a fully electric powertrain.

The company says the concept could easily produce about 740PS from an 80kW-hour battery pack. And since electric motors are whiny and uninspiring, Merc has built a system that can recreate the sound of its current Formula 1 cars or even the stellar Mercedes-AMG V8. That’s neat!

SSC Tuatara

SSC North America unveiled the final version of its Tuatara hypercar at the Pebble Beach this weekend. The company, which was formerly known as Shelby SuperCars, unveiled the Tuatara in its concept form seven years ago. It features a 5.9-litre V8 engine that produces over 1350PS of power when fed with premium unleaded and as much as 1750PS on flex fuel. The mid-mounted engine, which has a redline of 8800rpm, sends power to the rear wheels though a 7-speed “computerised-manual” gearbox featuring “robotic shift system”.

Named after a lizard-like reptile from New Zealand, the Tuatara features a streamlined body with a drag coefficient of just 0.279. The body, chassis and even the wheels are made of carbon-fibre to keep unsprung mass as low as possible. The 20-inch wheels come wrapped in Michelin Pilot Cup tyres measuring 245/35 at the front and 345/25 at the rear. Expect it to be one of the fastest production cars ever made when it goes on sale sometime next year. The record for the fastest road-legal car is currently held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS, which tops out at 447.18kmph!