Category Archives: Tuning

Tuning

Brabus Rocket GTC: A Convertible That Wants to Warp Time

Monterey Car Week isn’t short on spectacle. You can’t swing a silk scarf without hitting a seven-figure hypercar that looks like it’s just landed from Mars. But this year, Brabus decided that wasn’t quite enough noise and rolled up with something called the Rocket GTC—a name that sounds less like a car and more like a Cold War missile silo.

The donor car is no slouch: Mercedes’ SL63 S E Performance, a plug-in hybrid grand tourer already packing 816 horsepower. But Brabus, never content with “quite powerful enough,” got the spanners out, bored out the V8 from 4.0 to 4.5 litres, wound the turbos up to “are you absolutely sure?” and came back with a 1,000 horsepower convertible. That’s right. Four figures. In a drop-top. Because sanity is for accountants.

Torque? An interstellar 1,820 Nm, although the engineers politely limited it to 1,620 Nm. Apparently, that was the point where the gearbox and driveshafts started filing complaints with HR. Still, even with the leash on, it’ll hurl itself from 0–100 km/h in 2.6 seconds. A Ferrari 296 would barely have finished checking its mirrors.

Of course, Brabus didn’t just crank the power and call it a day. The SL’s bodywork has been on a steady diet of carbon fibre and steroids: swollen arches, fresh bumpers, a ducktail spoiler, and so many air intakes you could confuse it for a jet engine. The wheels? Bespoke 21-inch up front, 22-inch at the rear, with aerodynamic blades and proper center-lock studs—because what’s a hyper-GT without race car cosplay?

And when you’re done terrorising time and space, you can sink into an interior that’s been drowned in red leather. Seats, dashboard, door panels, even the floor mats. It’s less “grand tourer” and more “Dracula’s lounge.” Brabus also fitted a new stainless steel exhaust, which, judging by the company’s track record, is less about emissions and more about ensuring the neighbours know you’ve just started the car from three postal codes away.

So, what is the Rocket GTC? It’s not a supercar, not really a grand tourer, and certainly not a convertible in the usual sense. It’s a 1,000 horsepower, leather-lined, carbon-clad act of lunacy—the sort of car you build because nobody told you to stop.

And we love them for it.

Source: Brabus

Tuning

BMW M2 by ALPHA-N Corse: When a Compact Coupé Decides It’s a GT4 Refugee

The BMW M2 has always been the naughty child of the M Division—short, wide, and perpetually looking for a fight. But now, a German tuner named ALPHA-N has shoved it into full military service. The result? A pocket-sized track weapon that looks like it’s just been rejected by the Nürburgring 24 Hours grid for being too aggressive.

ALPHA-N, based in Rheinbach, has launched a new “Corse” division, which is tuner-speak for “we’re done messing about.” The highlight? A carbon-heavy aero kit that makes the stock M2 look like it’s playing dress-up in its dad’s suit.

At the sharp end, there’s a track-grade carbon spoiler that bolts straight to the chassis. Not to the bumper. To. The. Chassis. You know, just in case you were worried it might fall off at 280 km/h. Flanking it are canards, aero blades, and enough vents to make a McLaren blush. The hood? Carbon, of course, with dual heat extractors that scream “I do track days on Tuesdays.”

Walk around the back and things get properly serious. There’s a sculpted carbon diffuser and, on the demo car, a wing so tall you half expect it to interfere with passing aircraft. This is a GT3-style rear wing, fully adjustable, fully outrageous, and fully guaranteed to make your neighbors think you’ve lost your mind. Prefer subtlety? ALPHA-N also offers a toned-down “Class 3” spoiler with gurney flaps. Still racy, but less likely to take someone’s eye out at the supermarket.

Even the underbelly hasn’t been ignored—carbon cladding smooths out the airflow and reduces lift at autobahn speeds, while TÜV approval means some of this lunacy is actually legal for the road. Germany, ladies and gentlemen.

But ALPHA-N didn’t stop with cosplay. They threw on forged F-ONE wheels—20 inches up front, 21 at the back—which trim unsprung weight and make the M2 dance more gracefully. The suspension is swapped for an Öhlins TTX coilover setup, the kind of kit normally reserved for people with race licenses and titanium kneecaps. Handling, as you can imagine, is sharper than a set of IKEA hex keys.

Power? Still courtesy of BMW’s 3.0-liter S58 twin-turbo straight-six, but with engine software borrowed from the incoming M2 CS. Translation: more grunt, faster response, and a soundtrack that’ll make your hair follicles vibrate.

Inside, things get stripped and serious. The standard dials are binned in favor of a CANchecked digital display, delivering everything from boost pressure to engine temps. If the phrase “oil temp readout” excites you, congratulations—you are the target market.

The result of all this? The M2 Corse isn’t just a hot-rod coupe. It’s a junior GT4 car that you can, technically, still drive to Lidl. It’s loud, it’s unapologetic, and it’s very German. Think of it as an M2 that’s gone on an exchange program with the DTM paddock and come home fluent in Race Car.

And in yellow, with that skyscraper wing, it doesn’t so much whisper performance as shout it through a megaphone. If you ever wanted your compact BMW to terrify Porsche Cayman owners and cause small children to point, this is it.

Source: BMW; Photos: ALPHA-N

Tuning

RUF Rodeo: A 618-Horsepower Carbon-Fiber Wrangler in a Porsche Suit

RUF has finally done it. They’ve built a Porsche 911 you can aim at the nearest desert without immediately calling your chiropractor afterwards. It’s called the Rodeo, and while at first glance it looks like someone gave a Carrera a pair of hiking boots and told it to “be more outdoorsy,” this thing is far more serious.

First, let’s kill the obvious thought: this isn’t just a 911 with a lift kit. The Rodeo sits on a bespoke carbon monocoque chassis, which makes it the only off-road–ready supercar of its kind. That’s right—RUF didn’t just take Stuttgart’s finest and slap on mud tyres. They built a completely new skeleton designed to take a beating while still letting you commute at warp speed.

The debut car wears Jordan Black paint set against white forged wheels with a single central nut. It’s very “stormtrooper in cowboy boots.” But the stance tells you the story: anti-roll bars integrated into the bumpers, chunky fender extensions, and a rear track widened by a full 142 mm. That’s not just for show. That’s so it doesn’t fall over the moment you point it at a sand dune.

And under the skin? Oh, just a 3.6-litre turbocharged flat-six, pumping out 618 horsepower and 700 Nm of torque, fed through a 6-speed manual and an adaptive all-wheel-drive system with variable torque split. Translation: you can drop the clutch, and the Rodeo will decide whether the sand, gravel, or snow should be redistributed to your rear tyres, your front tyres, or into the atmosphere as dust.

Suspension is handled by pushrod-activated coilovers with active dampers—the sort of setup you normally see on F1 cars, not things with mudflaps. Those dampers also lift the car 242 mm higher than RUF’s road-going SCR, meaning you could, in theory, clear speed bumps without clenching. Stopping power is courtesy of carbon-ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers and 350 mm discs all round.

And just in case you’re wondering, yes—RUF also brought along some company for Monterey. The CTR3 Evo turned up wearing Howe White paint and an 811-horsepower, 990 Nm turbocharged 3.8-litre, because apparently, RUF customers want to bend time as well as space. Meanwhile, the RUF Tribute kept things air-cooled with a twin-turbo 3.6 that still belts out 558 horsepower, proving that nostalgia doesn’t have to be slow.

But the Rodeo is the headline act here. It’s not a Dakar homage, nor is it a cynical cash grab on the SUV craze. It’s RUF saying: why not? Why shouldn’t a flat-six supercar wear hiking boots, climb over rocks, and then annihilate a mountain road in the same breath?

The only real question is—who’s brave enough to take their €700,000 carbon monocoque cowboy up a muddy trail?

Source: RUF

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RUF Rodeo: A 618-Horsepower Carbon-Fiber Wrangler in a Porsche Suit