N°01
SUPERCAR
Audi Nuvolari: 1,001 PS. V8. 499 Built.
Nobody saw it coming: Audi just dropped a mid-engine V8 supercar as its R8 successor, and Pistonheads already called it a 'low polygon' crime scene.
499 units, ~£500k, Lambo Temerario's twin-turbo 4.0L V8 revving to 10,000 rpm plus three electric motors for 1,001 PS total; deliveries H1 2027, European orders open Q4 2026. Pistonheads split sharply — 'nice arse though' on the rear, 'who the hell signed that off' on the front; r8talk owners quietly wondering if used R8 values just went vertical.
Two years after the R8 quietly died, Audi did the thing no one expected: it built another supercar. The Nuvolari — named for Auto Union racing great Tazio Nuvolari — was officially dropped on June 4, and it shares its 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with the Lamborghini Temerario. In Audi trim it revs to a frankly motorsport 10,000 rpm and produces 800 hp on its own; add three axial flux electric motors (two at the front, one sandwiched behind the engine) and total system output hits 1,001 PS from a 7.3 kWh battery pack. Carbon Space Frame body, F1-derived prepreg CFRP panels, active rear wing generating 400+ kg of downforce, DRS button on the steering wheel, 420 mm front discs with ten-piston calipers. The 0-100 km/h figure of 2.6 seconds requires battery at 80%+ and above 28°C — read that how you will. Weight is claimed sub-1,750 kg dry, though forum commenters at r8talk are already quoting closer to two tonnes wet. Pricing reported at approximately $700k/£500k. Just 499 units globally, with European pre-orders opening Q4 2026 and first deliveries in H1 2027. Audi CTO Rouven Mohr cited the brand's F1 debut season as the direct technical catalyst. The broader irony: Audi pledged EV-only from 2026. Instead its 2026 flagship burns 14.7 L/100 km. Nobody at the Pistonheads bar is complaining about that particular U-turn.
SUPERCAR · N°01
N°02
TUNER
Brabus Built a V12 Aston. Called It Bodo.
Brabus took a Vanquish, reclothed it in full carbon, bolted on 1,000 PS of twin-turbo V12, and named it after their founder — and it debuted on Lake Como, obviously.
Based on the Aston Martin Vanquish, the Bodo uses a twin-turbocharged 5.2L V12 tuned from 823 hp to an even 1,000 PS; 0–100 in 3.0 seconds flat, boattail rear, 21-inch Monoblock spokes, six-piston front stoppers. Revealed at FuoriConcorso 2026 on Lake Como on May 16 — Pistonheads noted Brabus's previous carbon creations but called this a genuine step-change; Carbuzz described it as 'the most badass Aston Martin of all time,' which is either high praise or the lowest bar in history.
When Brabus teased the 'Bodo' in April with only a '77' badge and a silhouette, the forums went straight to 'SL-based.' Wrong. The Bodo is built on a last-of-line Aston Martin Vanquish — the V12 variant — and while the roofline is the only recognisable Aston element that survives, it's unmistakably a Brabus. The entire carbon fibre body is new, including an extravagant boattail rear that stretches well past the Vanquish's original proportions. The original 5.2L twin-turbo Aston V12 (823 hp in donor form) is rebuilt with new turbos, revised cylinder heads, upgraded fuel management and a new exhaust — arriving at exactly 1,000 metric hp and 900 Nm of torque from 2,900 rpm. A big 2+2 GT, then, doing 0–100 in 3.0 seconds. The name pays tribute to founder Bodo Buschmann, who was famously obsessed with V12s and whose Brabus SL 7.3S became legend. The interior retains the Vanquish's centre stack architecture but gains quilted Brabus leather and carbon inserts done, unusually, without garish contrast stitching — all black, all sinister. No production numbers or pricing have been released, which tells you everything you need to know about the production numbers and pricing. Debut was at FuoriConcorso on Lake Como — appropriate given the car's grand-tourismo pretensions and the Alpine crowd's appetite for exactly this kind of thing.
TUNER · N°02
N°03
EVENT
Mille Miglia Leaves Brescia Tuesday.
400 pre-war cars, 29 nations, a figure-eight through the Apennines — and Vesco is chasing an unthinkable seventh consecutive win starting June 9.
The 44th edition runs June 9–13, five days, 1,600 km through Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Rome, Umbria and back; 77 'Participant' cars carry documented race history from the original 1927–57 editions. Andrea Vesco, four-time consecutive winner at last count, goes again in what the classic-car internet is framing as either sporting dynasty or regularity-rally monopoly — the Rennlist and Petrolicious crowd have predictably strong opinions about both.
The Mille Miglia is many things — rolling museum, Italian cultural monument, magnificent excuse to stand at Radicofani at dawn with a coffee — but the 2026 edition carries extra weight. The route takes the figure-eight format for the first time in recent memory, retracing the shape of the earliest editions and threading through the Trompia Valley, Lake Garda, Modena, Tuscany and Rome before the return to Brescia on June 13. Giancarlo Fisichella wheels a 1954 SIATA 30 BC; Loris Capirossi campaigns a 1949 Lancia Aprilia; chef Carlo Cracco returns in a 1951 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT. The 400-strong field spans 29 nations, with Italy supplying 225 drivers and co-drivers. Of the 400+ entries, 77 are classified as full 'Participants' — cars with documented race history from the 1927–57 originals. That category includes some of the most valuable moving metal in existence. Andrea Vesco in a Ferrari 550-based Fiat — correction, in whatever classic his family campaign this year — is the favourite to extend his extraordinary winning streak. For Alpine-region enthusiasts the route's Apennine and Umbrian passages make this genuinely unmissable road-side viewing. No ticket required: find a corner, bring a chair, bring prosecco, arrive early.
EVENT · N°03
N°04
RESTOMOD
RUF Tribute Deliveries Begin. Air-Cooled. Manual.
The only new air-cooled sports car you can actually buy is now being handed to customers — 543 hp, seven-speed manual, $1.7M, and it passed emissions. Yes, really.
RUF Tribute: new 3.6L air-cooled flat-six built in-house (dual-overhead cams, variable valve timing, dry-sump), 543 hp/747 Nm, seven-speed manual, rear-wheel drive, carbon tub, ~1,270 kg, 200 mph claimed; 50–100 units over five years at ~$1.7M apiece. Pistonheads and Hagerty forums went predictably soft — 'keeps the thrill of analog driving alive' was a direct Alois Ruf quote that landed, and the air-cooled faithful on 911UK described it as the only meaningful answer to Singer that doesn't actually start with a 911.
The RUF Tribute is genuinely extraordinary in the literal sense — there is no other new-production air-cooled car being manufactured anywhere on earth. RUF debuted the concept in 2023 at The Quail to celebrate 60 years of the 911, but the production version confirmed at Monterey 2025 and now entering delivery in 2026 is a proper car, not a nostalgia exercise. The 3.6-litre flat-six was engineered entirely by RUF: billet aluminium cylinder heads, four-cam three-valve architecture (a first for an air-cooled engine), variable valve timing and lift, and a belt-driven cooling fan that will look immediately familiar to anyone who's peered into a 964's engine bay. It recently passed emissions certification — a fact that carries genuine historical significance, as emissions compliance was the cited reason Porsche abandoned air cooling for the 996 in the late 1990s. The chassis is RUF's own modular platform, shared with the CTR Anniversary and SCR: carbon fibre tub, double-wishbone pushrod suspension all round, integrated roll cage. Dimensions are deliberately kept closer to a 964 than a modern 992 — 4.21 m long, 1.82 m wide, 1.26 m tall. At approximately 2,800 lbs claimed dry, it is lighter than a 1990 Carrera 2. The seven-speed manual is the only gearbox on offer. RUF can build 30 cars per year across all models, meaning the Tribute queue is already measured in years, not months.
RESTOMOD · N°04
N°05
RESTOMOD
Alfaholics' GTA-R Gets Its 2026 Glow-Up
80 kg lighter, 30 more horses from a new 2.1L engine: Alfaholics just brought a 2011-built GTA-R fully up to 2026 GTA-R 290 specification for a new owner — and it's properly violent.
The upgrade transforms the car to full MY2026 GTA-R 290 spec: new 2.1L Alfa Romeo Twin Spark block with 94mm long-stroke crank, forged pistons, CNC-ported aluminium head, race valve gear, and Motec M1 ECU at 1,000 Hz for 120 Mb datalogging — total weight reduction 80 kg, power up 30 bhp. The classic Alfa world on Pistonheads has long regarded the Alfaholics GTA-R as the definitive answer to 'what would Autodelta have built with modern engineering' — and the R 290 spec update is being called the rawest driver's car at any price coming out of the UK right now.
Alfaholics operates out of Bristol making about the most extreme version of the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT you can legally drive on a road. The GTA-R is their flagship: a carbon-reinforced, comprehensively re-engineered GTA built on the bones of the original 1960s Bertone coupe and powered by a bespoke Alfa twin-cam that Alfaholics design, machine and assemble themselves. The MY2026 GTA-R 290 specification — now being applied as a retrofit for existing cars as well as new builds — centres on a new 2.1-litre long-stroke engine: 94mm crankshaft, steel connecting rods, forged oversized pistons and race-grade bearings. The CNC-ported aluminium cylinder head runs coated cam followers for reduced friction, with a crackle-black billet cam cover that would look exactly right on a period Autodelta car. Engine management is Motec's latest M1 platform at 1,000 Hz processor speed with sequential injection, 200 Hz knock control and 120 Mb datalogging — the kind of setup that belongs on an endurance racer. Combined with the 80 kg weight reduction, the 290 designation reflects approximately 290 bhp in a car that weighs somewhere around 750 kg. For the DACH crowd doing Pässe: this is the Alpine missile. No turbos, no launch control, no mercy, just a screaming twin-cam and a gearbox you actually have to work. Alfaholics build around 10–15 cars per year; waiting list is measured in years.
RESTOMOD · N°05