Looks like a Million Bucks

Bugatti Veyron"Greatest car ever", some might say. 1001 horsepower from a W16 engine. Top speed of over 400km/h (over 250mph). Accelerates from 0 to 100km/h (62mph) in 2.5 seconds. Costs about $1.5 million.

First time I've seen one on the city streets.

Prepare for Takeoff

Nissan GT-R2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year!

Second GT-R on the blog. Brembo brakes.

Speed Light Racer

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarenOh yes, this is what we like.

First time I've seen this particular coupé. I thought maybe it was the silver 722 that is around town, but alas! it was not.

This is also the first time I've seen one with the doors open, as the driver was getting in and out of the car. The butterfly doors give it an exotic flair. I like the wheels, too.


I can't imagine why he would drive to this location in this car, as the roads all around this area are horrendous, full of cavernous potholes. He must have been just crawling.

Spur of the Moment

Bentley Continental Flying SpurSecond one on the blog.

Lunch Meeting

Chrysler Prowler, BMW M6, Maserati Quattroporte
Here's a nice little group.

Jack O'Lambo

Lamborghini MurcielagoOK, I know I said I was going to stay away from night shots, but come on, it's a Murcielago!

Happy Halloween!

2 Legit 2 Quit

Jaguar S-Type R HamannThere's a lot of mail-order rebadging going on around here, I believe. But judging by the wheels and the seat stitching (not to mention the big spoiler), this one seems to be legit.

It's a Jaguar S-Type R that's been given the Hamann treatment.

I said before that I didn't really like Jags, but after seeing the XKR and now this one... eh, they're not so bad. Well, maybe I'll just wait and see what the new owners decide to do with the brand. Jaguar is now owned by Tata.

Sheikh flies Lamborghini 6,500 miles to Britain for oil change

Speaking of Lamborghini, here's an article that I saw over the summer, from The Sun newspaper. I thought you might enjoy it. Here's an excerpt:

A rich Arab sent his Lamborghini on a 6,500-mile round trip to Britain for a service.

The £190,000 supercar was put on a scheduled flight from Qatar to Heathrow – then flown BACK after the oil check.

Money was no object as the flight would have cost the owner – thought to be a Sheikh – around £20,000.

The move sparked fury from green campaigners.

An airport worker said: “This car doesn’t have a carbon footprint – more of a crater.”

The overall cost of sending the Lamborghini to London for the oil change would have cost more than £23,000.

His black-and-gold supercar costs £3,552 to service at an approved dealer – on top of the £20,000 to freight from Qatar to Britain.

The Murciélago LP640 – driven by Batman in movie The Dark Knight – arrived from the Middle Eastern country on Friday.

It cleared customs and was trucked to specialist mechanics in London for the service.

On Monday it was flown back 3,250 miles to the oil-rich state where it was collected by the owner.

A cargo handler at Heathrow blasted the car’s environmental damage.

He said: “It would have been far more efficient to fly mechanics out there.”

Qatar Airways confirmed it carried the Lamborghini.

By NEIL SYSON
Published: 31 Jul 2008
(Source: The Sun via Autoblog.)

Black and White

Jaguar XKR convertibleYou know a driver values their car when they take up two parking spaces!

I'm not a big fan of Jaguars, but this is the first time I've seen the XKR up close. This is definitely the hottest Jag I've met. I've heard other people say that it looks a lot like some Aston Martins and I would agree (especially that front end). Maybe that's why I like it.

Bentley Continental GTSecond black one I've seen.

Porsche Cayenne SFirst, two black Lambos and now a pair of pearl-white Porsches.

Trident Four-door

Maserati Quattroporte VA fifth-generation model of this Italian luxury car. Plus, a Porsche Cayenne behind.

Dark Tuning

Ramadan Nights, the Sequel...

BMW X5 HamannThis dusty X5 was wearing Hamann badges.

Porsche Cayenne GemballaAnother Cayenne with the Gemballa treatment.

Ramadan is over now, so I will try to stay away from the nighttime shots from now on. Hopefully, as people get back to their regular daytime schedules, we'll be seeing a lot more exotics on the road in the daylight.

Evil Twin

As promised, here's a photo of "the one that got away" before. And this time, it brought a friend.

Lamborghini Gallardo & Gallardo SuperleggeraTwo black Lamborghinis parked near each other. Actually, I saw one arriving and the other leaving, so they weren't together at all. Just a random Doha coincidence.

Lamborghini GallardoThis small supercar costs about £125,000 in the UK (about $280,000 in the US). Four-wheel drive and 500bhp!

Lamborghini Gallardo SuperleggeraLamborghini doesn't make this lightweight version of the Gallardo anymore, since they recently updated the base model. But the idea was to cut down on the weight of the car by replacing a lot of the original parts with carbon fibre versions. The 70kg weightloss cost about £26,000 more ($50,000 more) than the Gallardo. Apparently only 37 black Superleggeras were made, so this is a pretty unique car.

Ramadan Nights

Sorry about the dark photos. The exotics are pretty scarce in the daytime during the month of Ramadan. I think all the high-end cars are at home sleeping in the afternoon. After dark, however, some of them come out to play.

Bentley Continental GTThis is a different GT than the white one I saw last month.

Porsche Cayenne Gemballa GT BiturboA Cayenne that has been tuned by German aftermarket company Gemballa.

Two Chevrolet Corvette C6Two Corvette convertibles stopped at a traffic light. That's the front end of a Porsche Cayenne on the right-hand side.

Rolls-Royce PhantomThe driver is waiting for several ladies in black.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead CoupéThis is the first time I've seen one of these. It's the two-door convertible version of the Phantom. Gotta love the suicide doors.

The most amazing car that I've seen during Ramadan was a black Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. I didn't manage to capture a photo of it, but I'll keep on the lookout.

Aftermarket

Volkswagen New Beetle NismoHere's a VW Beetle with a Nismo badge. Not sure exactly what's going on there, but I guess they added some bits, including a spoiler.

BMW M5 HartgeThis M5 has been modified by German aftermarket tuning company Hartge.

It Has Arrived!

Nissan GT-ROne of the most highly-anticipated cars in a long, long time.
0-60mph in 3.2 seconds. Top speed of 314km/h.

First GT-R in Qatar?

Mustang Madness

Ford Shelby GT 500
Is it? I've never seen one like this (hood scoop, stripes, etc.).

Ford Mustang GT
I'm not sure if this is a hood scoop or a surface-to-air missile launcher. Has anybody seen one like this before?

Fine Tuning

BMW M6 Hamann
This BMW M6, already a high-performance car, has been tuned by aftermarket company Hamann.

Evening Closes In

Mazda RX-8
Don't see many of these around here. In fact, this is the first one I've seen in this country.

Chevrolet Corvette C4
Lots of C6s in Qatar, but I rarely come across one of these fourth-generation Corvettes.

Bentley Continental GT
Another first; a white GT.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur
This is the four-door version of the Continental, introduced in 2005. Like the GT model, it has a powerful W12 engine.

Outhorsepowered

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
I spied this sleek Ferrari cruising the city streets. Haven't seen it before. I would like to get a better shot of this one.

Summer Spotting: UK Edition

TVR Tuscan
A powerful sports car from Great Britain.

TVR Tuscan S

Summer Spotting: France Edition II

Aston Martin Vantage


Bentley Continental GT


Maserati Quattroporte V


Maserati Quattroporte V


Audi R8


Ferrari F430 Spider
Even Ferraris can get tickets!

Summer Spotting: Canada Edition

Dodge Viper
Looks like a fourth-generation Viper (2008), but I'm not sure. In any case, its engine is over 8L!

Lotus Elise
An awesome British car, first released in North America with the 2005 model. A fibreglass body on an aluminum frame.

Ford GT
Ford supercar that was only built for two years (2005, 2006). 550 horsepower!

Summer Spotting: France Edition I

Porsche 964 Carrera 2
A rear-wheel-drive Porsche from the early nineties.

Aston Martin DB9
Awesome car, beautiful design, V12 engine.

Ferrari 575 M SuperAmerica
Made in 2005, this car has a unique convertible "electrochromic glass panel" roof that flips over 180 degrees to the back. Apparently there were only 559 of these built.

Citroën 2CV
This is such an iconic French car that I had to include one shot of it. In production for over 40 years, Citroën made almost four million of these cars! There are rumours that an updated version of the 2CV may go into to production in the not-too-distant future.

Abroad

I am going to be travelling outside of Qatar for a while, but I will upload any exotics I am able to capture around the world!

Long Time Coming

Chevrolet Corvette C6
I'm not sure what colour this is. Salmon? Peach? I don't think the police were impressed, because they captured this one, too.

Plymouth Prowler
This one is a little older than the gold Prowler I saw before, probably 1999 or 2000. Only about 10,000 of these were ever made, over the whole five years of production.

Hummer H2 (stretched)
There are many, many Hummers around this city, especially H3s. So I haven't bothered to capture any of them for the blog. But I thought this Hummer was just a little out of the ordinary. This thing can't be easy to drive. Or park.