Month: January 2016

Land Rover celebrated 68 years of history today as the last of the current Defenders was produced at its famous Solihull production facility. To mark the occasion Land Rover invited more than 700 current and former Solihull employees involved in the production of Series Land Rover and Defender vehicles to see and drive some of the most important vehicles from its history, including the first pre-production ‘Huey’ Series I as well as the last vehicle off the production line, a Defender 90 Heritage Soft Top. At the same time, Land Rover announced a new Heritage Restoration Programme, which will be based on the site of the existing Solihull production line. A team of experts, including some long serving Defender employees, will oversee the restoration of a number of Series Land Rovers sourced from across the globe. The first vehicles will […]

MINI USA and LAP MotorSports LLC are gearing up the MINI John Cooper Works Team for the 2016 season of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge(CTSCC), the first full season for the team. The team also today announced the addition of a third car and two new drivers – Ethan Lowe and James Vance. Building on the momentum of the team’s first podium at the season finale at Road Atlanta last year and a solid performance during three days of testing at The Roar Before the 24, the team is hopeful for more podium finishes during the 2016 season. The season kicks-off this Friday, January 29th, at Daytona International Speedway. The Indianapolis-based MINI John Cooper Works team owned and operated by racing veteran Luis Perocarpi will return this year with drivers Mat Pombo and Derek Jones. The racing duo, who […]

The Classic & Sports Car Show was an enormous success last autumn with 15,150 visitors attending the inaugural event. Now The Show is returning for 2016 – and it will be even bigger and better. Organised by the world’s best-selling classic car magazine, Classic & Sports Car, and Haymarket Exhibitions, The Show will return to the majestic and iconic venue of Alexandra Palace, running from Friday 28th October to Sunday 30th October, 2016.

Autoweek is running an article about RM Sotheby‘s upcoming Scottsdale, Arizona auction and nine cars to watch. What really caught our attention in this one is the inclusion of one of our favorite, but often overlooked, supercars – the Jaguar XJ220. To quote Autoweek… Jaguar’s technological masterpiece is getting to that stage when some of those who wanted them as kids now have the ability to buy them, whether they have to sell their houses to do it or not. The XJ220 had a complicated history, and like an impressive number of 1990s supercars it was conceived during an economic boom to arrive in their owners’ driveways a couple of years after a market crash. The recession of the early 1990s dealt a heavy blow to the XJ220 without killing it outright, though the car itself was in some ways […]

Ahead of the 2016 season, McLaren GT has added to its off-track team with the appointment of Bas Leinders to the role of Sporting Manager. Confirmation of a number of new McLaren GT customer teams for the 2016 season has further strengthened the GT3 grids around the world. Leinders brings valuable experience to the teams on the pitwall and he will work with customer teams to further optimise the potential of the 650S GT3. Leinders, 40, has enjoyed a successful GT and single-seat racing career, which included winning the German Formula 3 in 1998 before joining the McLaren junior team alongside former Formula 1™ driver Nick Heidfeld, and a role as Formula 1™ test and reserve driver. The move to GT racing saw Leinders claim back-to-back FIA GT G2 championship wins between 2006 and 2008 among further accolades. The Belgian […]

I can’t resist stories of the way cars used to be made – back when automobiles weren’t so much produced as crafted. You know, back when every other car that slides off an automated assembly line resembles nothing so much as an over-ripe jellybean. Honestly, it wasn’t that long ago. Our VotW this week goes back to an old Top Gear episode with a much younger Jeremy Clarkson visiting the TVR factory in Blackpool, Lancashire. The video, from 1995, shows a factory that is worlds away from the automotive assembly plants we picture today. TVR was started by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947 in Blackpool. For nearly 60 years the company produced fabulous if ofter quirky sports cars in fits and starts and under various ownership. In 2006, the factory at Blackpool was closed by then-owner and Russian businessman Nikolai Smolensky. […]

Readers of BusinessCar magazine have voted the MINI Hatch as Premium Supermini Car of the Year 2016. This marks the fourteenth consecutive year that the MINI Hatch has won the coveted award. Excellent performance alongside low running costs and CO2 emissions, coupled with strong residual values are just some of the qualities of the MINI 3-door Hatch which have continued to win over BusinessCar magazine readers for nearly a decade and a half.

The Triumph Stag combines classic car style with on the road fun. The noise, the looks, the effortlessness… it’s an intoxicating driver’s car and has been underrated for years. Now Practical Classics magazine has released their “Complete Guide to the Triumph Stag“. Quoting their announcement, “lavishly illustrated, this volume collects a wealth of historical, technical and personal insight from the pages of Practical Classics magazine, including the full Stag story: from drawing board to production, an exclusive foreword by ex-Standard Triumph Development Engineer, Dennis Barbet and rally legend Russell Brookes’ personal take on the Stag at the limit.” Buying & Owning Practical Classics gets to the truth about the much-maligned Stag V8. Complete with tips and guidance for project buyers and budding restorers alike, we’ll tell you how to buy a good one without getting your fingers burnt. Restoring & […]

The Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat (KIMR) has put out a call that they have space for a few more concours quality cars. The 2016 Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat rolls onto Kiawah Island April 15-17, 2016. Located at the entrance to the famed Ocean Course, this celebration of outstanding automobiles features an entire weekend of events. More than one hundred unique and rare Concours cars will compete for the Best of Show trophy and other awards on Sunday, April 17. Collectors are encouraged to submit entries at www.kiawahconcours.com. There is no application fee, but all entries are subject to a selection process.

Way before the fame – the glam rock image, flamboyance, Space Oddity and Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie was a creative teenager with a plastic saxophone and a love for the Mini.  Having grown up with a penchant for music, his enthusiasm for players such as Charles Mingus and John Coltrane paved an early road for his transition to fame at an early age.  At 15 years old, Bowie formed his first band, the Konrads, playing mostly at family gatherings and weddings.

Word on the street and the net is that the Special Vehicle Operations unit of Jaguar Land Rover is preparing to unveil a special version of the already fantastic Jaguar F-Type. According to sources including Jalopnik, the SVR F-Type will make an estimated 575 horsepower propelling to 200 miles per hour. This is coming from the same group who produced the Range Rover Sport SVR. What appears to be brochure pics and some details trickled out today on Autoblog.nl, Autovisie.nl and other Dutch car sites. According to reports, the SVR F-Type has a supercharged V8, all-wheel drive, and will apparently do the zero to 60 mph (0-100 km/h) dash in about 3.7 seconds. While the manual remains available for the V6 only, the SVR will deliver its power via an eight-speed automatic transmission. The car should be available in both coupe […]

Preparation for the gruelling Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is entering its final stages at William Medcalf Vintage Bentley. The Bentley specialist is preparing all four Vintage Bentleys entering the event, which covers more than 8500 miles over 33 days and over all terrains, including long gravel tracks, dirt roads, the Gobi desert and across Alpine roads making it a real endurance test of both driver and machine.

Morgan Motor Company is pleased to announce that it will lead a £6m project to develop new powertrain technologies, in collaboration with UK companies Delta Motorsport and Potenza Technology. With funding from the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre, the consortium will develop hybrid and electric powertrain systems which will significantly reduce vehicle CO2 emissions and deliver best-in-class fuel economy. The technologies developed through this project will be introduced progressively on Morgan’s range of hand-built sports cars from 2019, with hybrid propulsion available on all of its models by the end of the decade. The advantages in terms of performance, fuel economy and refinement are expected to increase demand across its most important markets in UK and across Europe. This will result in a growth of the workforce at the Malvern factory and within the partnering companies. Morgan Managing Director, Steve Morris […]

The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) today announced that hall of fame sports car legend Bob Tullius will serve as grand marshal for its March 3-5 race weekend at the historic airport circuit. SVRA will share the venue with the TransAm Series as it marks its 50th anniversary in 2016. Sebring hosted the very first Trans-Am race in March 1966 and Tullius brought his Dodge Dart sedan home a winner. “Bob Tullius’ contributions to auto racing extend well beyond his hundreds of victories as a driver and team owner on tracks around the world,” said SVRA President and CEO Tony Parella. “Bob set the standard for presenting motorsport as a business platform for sponsors. His cars were always immaculately prepared and he helped usher in the modern era of branding through association with race teams.”

Jaguar Land Rover has become the largest automotive manufacturer in Britain. The news follows today’s announcement from the SMMT that UK car manufacturing has had its best year in a decade producing 1,587,677 vehicles in 2015.  Jaguar Land Rover produced more than 500,000 cars and commercial vehicles at its three vehicle manufacturing plants in Solihull, Birmingham and Liverpool. Under Tata Ownership, the company has seen a dramatic transformation in its business since 2009 when total annual production stood at 158,000 units. Since that time, Jaguar Land Rover has become the fastest growing UK automotive manufacturer with annual output rising by almost 70% thanks to more than £11bn of R&D investment to create an expanded and enhanced range from the two iconic British marques. In 2015 alone, Jaguar and Land Rover brought 11 new and refreshed cars to market, including the […]

“Yo ho ho and a bottle of ‘automotive snake oil’ ”??? It seems in today’s “buy it now” world of eBay and Paypal, we can now have useless junk sent directly to our front door without so much as picking it up and saying, “$50 for that?!”

The Aston Martin DB10 – the first car created exclusively for James Bond by British luxury brand Aston Martin – is to go under the auctioneer’s gavel at the London auction house of Christie’s on 18th February with proceeds donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. ‘Spectre – The Auction’ celebrates the release of the 24th Bond film on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD with 24 special auction lots going under the hammer for charity, led by the Aston Martin DB10. Celebrating the great British brand’s half century with Bond, which started with the iconic DB5, the DB10 gives a glimpse of the future design direction for the next generation of Aston Martins. Production of the DB10 was strictly limited to ten examples of the bespoke sports car which was developed and hand-built by the designers, engineers and artisan craftspeople at Aston […]

The iconic British sports car maker, TVR, has announced that carbon fibre construction options will be available when the car goes on sale in the coming months. TVR will offer a lightweight carbon fibre composite structure to feature on its latest full-production model, thanks to the revolutionary techniques of design legend Gordon Murray, and has confirmed that its initial limited edition production run of cars will feature carbon construction as standard. Famous for his design leads in F1 and on road cars, Gordon Murray has developed an innovative ground effect aero chassis and body package using his innovative iStream® manufacturing methods. iStream® Carbon allows TVR to produce a revolutionary stand-alone tub and shell made from carbon fibre composite at a fraction of the cost that other methods allow.