Suzuki's GSX-R1000

Suzuki's GSX-R1000 has been considerably revised for 2005, with an increase in capacity and reduced weight – although Suzuki won't quote power or torque outputs yet.

The bore has been increased by 0.4mm, bringing actual capacity up from 988cc to 999cc, just inside the one-litre limit for World Superbikes.

The motor breathes in through 44mm throttle bodies and out through a new, bulkier titanium tailpipe - although Hamamatsu has resisted the temptation to put it under the seat like everybody else.

Suzuki has reduced the rake to shorten the wheelbase by five millimetres to 1405mm without reducing the length of the swing-arm; the seat height has been lowered by a significant 20mm to 810mm

The front brakes retain their class-leading four-pot Tokico radial mount callipers but the discs have grown by 10mm to 310mm

While tank capacity remains the same at 18 litres, the body panels have been carefully revised to make the bike lower, slimmer and shorter, resulting in a weight reduction of two kilograms to a positively anorexic 166kg.

So far there's no word from Suzuki SA as to when the 2005 Gixer will be available here.

Specifications:

Motor: Liquid-cooled four-stroke transverse four.

Capacity: 999cc.

Bore x stroke: 73.4 x 59mm

Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder.

Induction: Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve fuel injection with four 44mm throttle bodies.

Ignition: Digital Transisitorised Electronic.

Starting: Electric.

Clutch: Cable-operated multi-plate wet clutch.

Transmission: Six-speed gearbox with final drive by 525 chain.

Suspension: 43mm Kayaba Diamond Like Carbon (DLC)-coated upside down cartridge forks adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping at front, Kayaba monoshock with temperature controlled damping, adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping at rear.

Brakes: Twin 310mm discs with Tokico four-pot radially mounted opposed piston callipers at front, 220mm disc with Nissin twin-pot opposed piston calliper at rear.

Tyres: Front: 120/70 -ZR17 tubeless radial. Rear: 190/50 - ZR17 tubeless.

Wheelbase: 1405mm.

Seat height: 810mm.

Dry weight: 166kg.

Fuel capacity: 18 litres.

Extravaganza-what a car

With the muscle car wars already beginning to heat up this summer, speculators have been doing there level best at speculating on what direction FoMoCo will be boldly moving towards for the 2009 model year of it's hard-charging pony car.

Some claim it'll look similar to the Giugiaro Mustang from this year's LA show, with others claiming it'll get a shooting brake re-make. All the rumors do seem to suggest at the very least it'll receive a bit of a front face lift to tighten the skin over the sagging Sid Ramnarace and J Mays "retro-futurism" exterior in an attempt make it look more like the PYT it wants to be when compared with the new-to-the-block Camaro and Challenger.

In addition to the collagen implant in front, there are mumblings of a retractable hardtop in the offing. Under the hood, there's rumors the GT version will be tweaked with output going up to...

...the 350-horsepower range -- and maybe more. Well, at least more in the fervent hopes and dreams of Mustang-lovers everywhere. Though no spy shots have yet been snapped of this horse in the wild, Autobytel has an illustration, courtesy of Priddy & Co., of the direction they think it's going to take. – Ray Wert

CRYSTAL COVE, Calif. -- The sun is a soft glow on the still-slumbering Pacific at dawn, before the ocean awakes with yawning waves, and the seaside shops blink open their shutters.

But nearby is the sound and smell of serious horsepower. Engines are roaring as Lamborghinis, rare Porsche speedsters and lime-green Vipers roll almost regally into the lot of a strip mall perched high above the sea. The surfers may still be sleeping, but the car nuts are most definitely awake.

Every Saturday morning, and we do mean morning -- not even the local Starbucks is open -- hundreds of exotic-car owners and admirers from across southern California gather to gawk, preen and convene in a loosely organized exotic and classic-car extravaganza known simply by its location: Crystal Cove.

Row after row of hand-built kit cars, super cars and every kind of impracticality on wheels, sit alongside pristine American muscle and Italian fancy. One stunning black-and-white exotic with a white bubble cockpit perched on a black, sharp-nosed hood resembled an Oreo cookie that might, at any moment, take flight.

By 7 a.m., the parking lot is so filled with expensive, one-of-kind metal that when a Mercedes CLK 320 slides by, the only head that turns is that of the protective owner of a 427 Cobra who gives the Mercedes driver a look that distinctly says, "Don't you dare scratch my baby with that trash."

Sprinkled among the owners and admirers are a smattering of car designers who regularly drop in for a shot of inspiration. (Ford designers are such fans that the auto parade recently relocated to Ford's design studio parking lot in Irvine after noise complaints.)

On this day, the pros include Ford designer Tyler Blake, a young, soft-spoken guy in jeans whose eyes light up behind rimless glasses when he walks by a bright-blue 1970 Chevelle SS -- a tough, American muscle machine that looks like something a Clint Eastwood character would shoot you from.

"That's one of my favorite cars," Blake says, doing the typical designer dance -- view it from the front, kneel down, step back a few paces, come forward, walk around to the back, repeat. "It's so tough."

Blake, like other designers who can't seem to resist the call of Crystal Cove, see something different when they look at these cars. They talk about distance between wheels, proportion, the size of the hood, or it's volume. Walking through rows of cars with Blake is like walking through a museum with an art professor.

"Look at the way the light plays off the sheet metal," he says, gazing at a '55 Porsche, seemingly unperturbed that the Starbucks has still not opened. "You really can't get that anywhere else in the U.S. but here."

Blake loves American muscle cars, he says, for all the typical boy reasons, but also for their proportion. "There's a balancing point those designers achieved with proportion, the vast hood, the tough shoulders of the car. There's nothing like American muscle."

"Look at that," Blake says, nodding toward a 1970 Boss Mustang. "You could make a whole Focus out of the sheet metal on that hood."

Since Blake transferred from Detroit to Ford's design center in Irvine, he says he's starting to draw with more color. He comes to the Cove at least once a month just to be around passionate car owners, he says, and to be bombarded with the beauty and history of the past -- and also to be reminded of what differentiates a trend from true classic design.

A tricked-out silver Hummer drives past slowly. "See, that's cheesy and trendy," he says. "It just goes too far." He gestures toward the '55 Porsche. The lines are so classic, so elegant that "it's timeless. Even now, it looks modern."

That's what he's striving for in his work at Ford. He was already on the team that designed a compact, futuristic sports car, called the Reflex, released as a concept car at the 2006 Detroit auto show.

But at 33, Blake has got decades of work ahead of him. And plenty of time to create something so memorable, that 50 years from now, if he succeeds, it will glide into this parking lot and some young designer will stand in front of it, back up, kneel down and shake his head in pure admiration.