Henry Payne, The Detroit News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the 670-horsepower, 5.5-liter V-8 engine screaming behind my ear at a stratospheric 8,400 RPM, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 hit 135 mph on west-bound Pennsylvania Avenue before hot shoe and General Motors’ Vice President for Product Programs and Motorsport Ken Morris buried the brakes into Turn 2 and pulled the eyeballs out of my head.

And no cops pulled us over.

The nation’s capital has hosted military flyovers, parades, and riots over its 226-year history but it has never seen anything like the NTT IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix that will race around the National Mall Saturday and Sunday, August 22-23.

I got a taste on my Friday afternoon hot lap of what it’s like to go (legally) 110 mph over the 25 mph speed limit down Washington’s six-lane main street that connects the White House and the Capitol Building. This weekend, IndyCar’s will top that by another 50 mph – hitting 185 before diving into Turn 2, the best passing opportunity on the track.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Holly — In addition to capturing multiple Formula Drift championships in a Ford Mustang, Vaughn Gittin Jr. has made a name for himself as one of America’s top off-road racers, winning class victories at the Baja 1000 and King of Hammers in a Ford Bronco. The self-described “fun-haver” is one of the most engaging, outsized personalities in motorsports.

My purple and aqua Mystichrome-painted, 37-inch-tire, dirt-kicking Bronco RTR ROVR tester from his Ready to Rock mod shop is infused with Gittin’s DNA.

RTR is responsible for Ford’s forthcoming in-house Bronco and Mustang RTR models, but the North Carolina-based company continue to make its own, dealer-installed mods that are fully covered by Ford warranty. ROVR is one of those packages, and my Bronco Badlands-modified fun-haver was loaded to the gunwale.

The great thing about off-road performance vehicles, of course, is you don’t have to travel all the way to Drummond Island in the Upper Peninsula (117 miles of trails) or legendary Moab, Utah, to be a fun-haver.

Read full article here.

GM, GM

Here’s a stoplight drag race we’d like to see at a future Woodward Dream Cruise: the Porsche 963 RSP vs. the Cadillac V-One.

At Carmel, California’s summer autopalooza last week, The Quail, General Motors Co.’s luxury brand unveiled the wicked-looking V-One Concept based on the Cadillac V-Series.R hypercar that endurance-races across the globe from Daytona to Le Mans.

The V-One comes a little over a year after Porsche’s street-legal hypercar — also based on their Le Mans endurance racer — debuted at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. The car was gifted by Porsche to Roger Penske, Porsche’s partner in international sports car racing.

Like the 963 RSP (short for Roger Searle Penske), the V-One is a street-focused version of the V-Series.R. The two cars are likely the fastest street-legal vehicles ever conceived. Unlike the Porsche, Cadillac hailed the V-One as a halo for future V-Series brand design.

Read full article here.

Pontiac – Dawn broke over the Woodward Deam Cruise here Saturday revealing asphalt black with burnout marks at the intersection of Woodward and Pike.

It’ll got a lot blacker today.

The bookends of the Woodward Dream Cruise have very different personalities. Ferndale opens the Cruise Friday at 5.30 PM each year – blessed by the presence of Ford’s sprawling Mustang Alley display at Como’s – with an official ribbon cutting at Nine Mile and the Lights & Sirens Parade of city emergency vehicles.

Pontiac is the Wild West. No ribbon cutting. No officials. No manufacturer presence. Just wall-to-wall car owners enjoying the world’s biggest car event. After the sun went down Friday, the revs turned up as cars cruised the West Track Loop at the north end of the Cruise’s 16 mile strip before turning south.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Ferndale ― Now you can go topless riding 795 ponies.

Just in time for the Woodward Dream Cruise, Ford on Friday unleashed the 2027 Mustang Dark Horse SC Convertible, the drop-top version of its wicked, 795-horsepower, 5.2-liter, supercharged V-8 Dark Horse SC. With its soaring soundtrack, Ford Racing-engineered performance, and sleek styling, the SC Convertible takes aim at luxury, six-figure coupes like the Porsche 911 Cabriolet, Mercedes SL, and BMW 8-series.

The SC Convertible expands the Dark Horse lineup to four models, establishing it as a premium sub-brand within the Mustang lineup to appeal to upscale muscle-car customers enticed by the range-topping, limited edition, GT3-race-car-based, $330,000 Mustang GTD halo.

Read full article here.

Honda, Wieck

At the turn of the 20^th century, the Detroit Pistons’ newly hired GM Joe Dumars kicked off the Ben Wallace era, the Tigers moved into their new Comerica Park home, the Red Wings suffered a shock first-round exit to the LA Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Lions went 9-7, narrowly missing the postseason. Motown’s own Eminem broke through with The Marshall Mathers LP. Gladiator won Best Picture, PlayStation 2 sold like hotcakes, Vlad Putin was elected Russian president, Al Gore demanded a recount, America Online bought Time Warner and Santana’s “Smooth” became a mega-hit.

On the automotive front, the new millennium birthed a fleet of automotive notables from American sedans to sleek sports cars to a BMW SUV made in the USA.

Here’s a look at the new antiques.

Read full article here.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Bay City — Call it the Batmobile. The stealth fighter. The Black Widow.

Or, in long hand, the matte-black 2026 Toyota GR Supra MkV Final Edition. It’s the last hurrah for one of the most engaging, recognized, awarded sports cars in the U.S. market. My Final Edition tester was a paparazzi magnet on a weekend up north. In Charlevoix a Amazon delivery driver jumped out of his truck.

“I saw this come by down the block,” he said. “Do you mind if I take some photos?”

At a gas station, the driver at the next pump came over to ogle. “Nice car,” he drooled.

On I-75, an SUV shadowed me at 75 mph, its occupants hanging their smartphones out the window to take video.

On M-31, a Golf R tailed me to get a closer look.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Detroit — Exotic and practical, progressive and conservative, modern and traditional. The all-new 2026 Lexus ES has a dual personality: it’s offered in electric and gas models while sporting flashy design for customers shy on the latest tech.

Rolling into Supino’s Pizzeria in Eastern Market to satisfy my appetite for the best Brooklyn pie in town, my electric ES 350e turned heads.

If Lexus has been known for its expressive Spindle grilles, the electric ES’s design (and its hybrid ES 350h doppelganger) is inspired by the Lexus LF concept. Goodbye gaping mouth, hello dark sideburns. It’s a striking evolution from the last-gen Darth Vader fascia, and more pleasant to my eye.

Read full article here.