Latest news with #GT500
Miami Herald
14-07-2025
- Miami Herald
Man kills couple at home over muscle car, tries to fool cops, AZ officials say
A man accused of breaking into an Arizona couple's home and killing them over a muscle car has been sentenced to prison, according to prosecutors. Investigators say Alexander Lee Smith broke into Walter Mitchell and Susie Ephrem's Peoria home in November 2023 and fatally shot them, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said in a July 11 news release. The couple's 8-year-old grandson was inside the home but wasn't hurt, the attorney's office said. Mitchell and Ephrem were 52 and 42 years old, KSAZ reported. Ephrem called 911 and officers arrived to find her wounded, though she later died at a hospital, prosecutors said. Mitchell died at the scene. Prosecutors say Smith, who was 20 at the time, had been communicating with Mitchell about buying his Ford Shelby GT500 — which is essentially an upgraded, and much pricier, Ford Mustang. It's not only 'the most powerful Mustang — it's also the most expensive,' according to Car and Driver, with baseline models starting around $80,000 and higher trim levels climbing to nearly $130,000. Classic GT500s can list for much more. Messages between the men show Mitchell was going to sell the car to Smith but 'called off the deal because the wire transfer didn't go through,' prosecutors said. 'That same night, Walter traded the Mustang at a car dealership. He and Susie were killed the next morning,' according to prosecutors. But Smith wasn't ready to give up on acquiring the GT500, prosecutors say. The day after the killing, Smith went to the home and spoke to police, telling them he was there to pick up the GT500 that had been purchased by a car collector who he was working for. That apparently didn't work, so he waited a little while and tried again. 'More than two weeks later, Smith went to the Peoria Police station and asked to speak with detectives about getting the car,' prosecutors said. 'His story did not match what he told detectives at the crime scene the day after the shooting.' Investigation later revealed that police weren't the only ones Smith was trying to fool, according to prosecutors. 'Smith's phone records show that at the same time he was trying to buy the Ford Shelby GT500 from (Mitchell), he was also posing as the car's owner so he could trade it with someone else. Even after the deal had been called off, he told the third party he would trade the car the next day, which was the day of the murder,' prosecutors said. By then the car was already gone, as Mitchell had traded it to a dealership. Investigators found Smith's fingerprints on a door handle at the home, and GPS data shows he was nearby when the shooting happened, prosecutors said. 'This was an act driven by greed; even after taking two lives this defendant continued to lie to police to try to get the car,' Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. 'Thanks to Peoria Police and MCAO prosecutors, his story unraveled, and he will spend the rest of his life facing the consequences of his choices.' Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and one count of burglary, the prosecutor's office said. He was sentenced to two life sentences, plus 21 years, in prison. Information about his legal representation was not immediately available. Peoria is a northwest suburb of Phoenix.
The Star
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Alesi, Sasahara steer Toyota to dominant Super GT victory
SEPANG: Deloitte Tom's Toyota GR Supra duo Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi executed a flawless race strategy to claim victory in the GT500 class at the Autobacs Super GT Championship, which returned to Sepang after a 12-year hiatus. Alesi sealed the win with a best lap time of 1:54.601s after 55 laps, finishing 19 seconds ahead of the Arta Mugen Civic Type R-GT pair Tomoki Nojiri and Nobuharu Matsushita.
The Star
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Kunimoto-Sakaguchi bag pole position for Super GT race
SEPANG: WedsSport Advan Toyota GR Supra, driven by Yuji Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi, claimed pole position for the Autobacs Super GT championship today after a dominant display in the qualifying rounds at the Sepang International Circuit. Sakaguchi secured his fifth career GT500 pole in spectacular fashion, clocking a blistering 1:49.748s in Q2 yesterday, smashing the 18-year-old course record of 1:54.306s set by Takashi Kogure in 2007.
New Straits Times
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Sakaguchi shatters 18-year-old course record at Sepang
SEPANG: WedsSport Advan Toyota GR Supra, driven by Yuji Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi, will start from pole position for the Autobacs Super GT championships tomorrow after a dominant display in the qualifying rounds at the Sepang International Circuit today. Sakaguchi secured his fifth career GT500 pole in spectacular fashion, clocking a blistering 1:49.748 in Q2 – shattering the 18-year-old course record of 1:54.306 set by Takashi Kogure in 2007. His teammate Kunimoto had earlier topped Q1 to hand Sakaguchi the chance to fight for pole, and the 21-year-old delivered in emphatic style, giving the team the best possible start as they chase a record seventh consecutive GT500 class victory tomorrow. A jubilant Sakaguchi said he had an enjoyable outing at the Sepang track and was looking forward to the race tomorrow. "I'm happy to be here, first time to race in Sepang for Super GT and there's a lot to deal with (during the race) but it was very exciting and we managed to push and I enjoyed the track," said the 25-year-old in the post race press conference. ARTA Mugen Honda Civic Type R-GT's Tomoki Nojiri-Nobuharu Matsushita were second with 1:50.350 in the qualifying rounds, while Modulo Honda Civic's Takuya Izawa-Riki Okusa were third fastest with 1:50.388. There was drama early in Q2 as Sacha Fenestraz of TGR TEAM SARD was forced to park his SARD car, which had been fastest in Friday morning practice, with an apparent engine fire. While the fire was quickly controlled, with Fenestraz emerging unharmed, it left the SARD car 10th on the grid, with the status of its engine not immediately clear. Meanwhile, championship leaders Sho Tsuboi-Kenta Yamashita of TGR TEAM au TOM'S qualified eighth after clocking 1:51.064. In the GT300 category, Takashi Kobayashi and rookie Yuto Nomura grabbed the spotlight as the UPGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 claimed pole with a new lap record of 2:02.110.
The Drive
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
Surviving Nissan R390 Racer Wrapped in Pennzoil Colors Is a Certified Gran Turismo Classic
Until recently, there was just one street-legal Nissan R390 GT1 in the world. Nissan built it as a prototype for its 24 Hours of Le Mans challengers that contested the race in 1997 and 1998. The car wasn't particularly successful in its first attempt, and one of the four chassis entered into the '98 running notched a respectable third-place finish, but that's pretty much all history wrote on the R390. This is an endurance racer that's been mostly lost to time, but thankfully, we get to talk about it today, because another road-registered car has emerged wearing an unexpected livery. The R390 seen here did compete in Le Mans in '98, as car No. 31. And not only did it participate, but its owner today is none other than Érik Comas, one of the three men who steered it to fifth overall in that event. Many years later, this very R390 was converted to road duty. Today, it's said to retain about 95% of the same parts it had during competition, as well as a glass windshield and cooling system, among other 'luxuries,' to achieve street legality. Comas trotted it out this week in the colors of another Nissan race car he made history in. Nissan never ran the R390 with a Pennzoil livery, but if you know your late-'90s Japanese race cars, you probably already understand what's going on here. The yellow-and-black getup recalls the NISMO GT-R GT500 that Comas also drove in the 1999 Japanese Grand Touring Car Championship; he and Satoshi Motoyama were the class winners that season. Before any preservationists get up in arms, let it be known that this is only a wrap, and this R390 is stark white underneath. (Which, incidentally, is a fine look for this or any other '90s Le Mans machine.) Artist Benoit Fraylon, BillionaireWrap, and Pitstop Monte Carlo all collaborated to bring the design to life, and it was unveiled at Box98 Monaco on May 8, which, as far as I can tell, is like a Dave & Busters except with indoor karting instead of giant Angry Birds arcade machines. The result looks fantastic, like one of those 'What If' renders we're inundated with online all the time nowadays, but have stopped paying attention to because they never amount to anything. It's one thing to race against somebody who's put this livery on their R390 in Forza ; it's quite another to know that one of the only surviving examples of the real deal is sporting these colors right now. Maddox Kay If you're curious as to the whereabouts of some other R390s, Nissan maintains the one true road car, seen above, in its Zama museum in Japan. The automaker also keeps some racing chassis too; the No. 23 short-tail from 1997 can be seen peeking into the frame up there, and, naturally, the podium-sitting No. 32 car from '98 is likely never to leave the company's stable. Meanwhile, No. 30 was a part of Xavier Micheron's Ascott Collection as recently as five years ago. All this is to say that when an R390 appears in public, we ought to take notice. It's not an ordinary thing, and, like many of its endurance-racing contemporaries, the R390 was not an ordinary car. Got tips? Send 'em to tips@ Adam Ismail is the News Editor at The Drive, coordinating the site's slate of daily stories as well as reporting his own and contributing the occasional car or racing game review. He lives in the suburbs outside Philly, where there's ample road for his hot hatch to stretch its legs, and ample space in his condo for his dusty retro game consoles.
