Month: April 2017

A 1960 Bentley S2, owned by legendary rhythm guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for The Kinks, Sir Ray Davies, will go under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale, taking place at Silverstone circuit on 13th May. The car was bought by Sir Ray Davies in 1966 after the Kinks’ single Lola went to Number 1 in the charts around the world. He was persuaded by his family to invest in a big car, unusual for him as he didn’t actually drive at the time, in fact, he didn’t start driving until he was 44 years old.

Instead of using caffeine to wake you up, how about a nice brisk morning drive in a beautiful Triumph TR3A? Via the fine folks at Petrolicious, our Video of the Week the go rounds is titled “A Triumph TR3A to Warm Up a Cold Morning“. Another soft spot for me since I once owned a small-mouth TR3, although admittedly I sold it before the was put back together enough to see road time.

Norman Dewis, OBE was the chief test driver and development engineer for Jaguar Cars from 1952 to 1985. During his time at Jaguar, he helped develop one of the greatest-ever upgrades in automotive braking, the disc brake, which has probably saved tens of thousands of lives over the years. Dewis, along with 23 other outstanding individuals, will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in June.

Jaguar has revealed the first glimpse of the desirable new XF Sportbrake over Wimbledon’s iconic Centre Court. With less than 70 days to go until The Championships, Wimbledon 2017, the famously manicured surface of the All England Lawn Tennis Club served as the canvas for a large-scale outline of the dynamic sports estate.

McLaren Toronto has been named the North American Retailer of the Year 2016 in recognition of its sales performance and highest standards of business operation.

Michael Dale is the retired President of Jaguar North America where he was responsible for the company’s activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Prior to being named President, he had been responsible for all U.S. Jaguar sales and marketing activities, including advertising and sales promotion. Michael Dale will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Jimmy Cox is a former engine guru and works mechanic at the MG Development Department responsible for many of the company’s racing and record-breaking successes. He was with the successful MG record breaking team at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1959 and was also part of the MG team who went to Le Mans in 1955. Jimmy Cox will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. In 1945, at the young age of just 14, Jimmy Cox started work at MG’s Abingdon factory as a mere messenger boy. That eventually led to work on the MG TC production line, but in 1949 Cox entered the military for his two-year duties. Upon returning to MG in 1951 he again was working on standard production cars but soon had the opportunity to take over responsibility […]

Without equal and without compromise, the ballistic new Exige Cup 380 coupe provides the perfect balance between fully type approved road car and genuine race car to deliver the ultimate track-and-back street-legal Lotus. Evolved from the hugely successful and capable Exige Sport 380, this latest Lotus supercar is the purest manifestation yet of the company’s Cup concept for sports cars. Genuinely eligible for competition yet undeniably elegant, just 60 editions of this extreme Exige are planned for worldwide markets – assuring its status as one of Lotus’ most collectible road cars.

From time to time Aston Martin, using their Lagonda brand, launched a four-door saloons. In 1961 they brought back the Lagonda name again with the Rapide saloon which was based on the then current Aston Martin DB4 but was the first car to use the new dual overhead cam 4-liter inline six which produced 236 bhp, at 5500 RPM and 288-foot-pounds of torque at a relatively high 3850 RPM. With this power unit, the car was reported to achieve 0-60 in 9.0 seconds, quite fast for the era, and a top speed of a very impressive 130 MPH. This was, however, the last Lagonda to use a six-cylinder engine although this engine was standard fitment in the DB5.

Well, it looks like the MG E-Motion concept we talked about last week is one step to making it into production as a rival to the Tesla Model S. Following the reveal of the concept car at the Shanghai Motor show, MG UK’s sales and marketing boss Matthew Cheyne confirmed that he expects the E-Motion to make production around 2020 and be priced from under £30,000. With a purported 250+ mile range on a charge and a zero to sixty time in the 4-second range, the E-Motion could be a very attractive package. Of course, this will probably be another MG model that will never reach US shores. Although, at least there would be little to know emissions regulations holding things back since this vehicle will be electric. Sadly, with SAIC looking to pull all manufacturing out of Britain, this […]

The McLaren 570S GT4 has scored its first win of the season in the opening round of the 2017 British GT Championship at Oulton Park, UK. Customer team track-club, with drivers Adam Balon and Adam MacKay, took overall GT4 victory during the first of two races over the Bank Holiday weekend, as all six examples of the latest GT racing model from McLaren showed pace and reliability. From the outset of the weekend’s racing activities, the pace of the 570S GT4 looked strong. Building on the year of experience at the wheel of the track-honed McLaren Sports Series model, GT Driver Academy pairing of Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell in the #100 Black Bull Garage 59 car secured pole position for the first race and would line up in P2 for the start of the second.

Our Video of the Week this go-round features a car that is the favorite of James Bond and man other people. What we are talking here is, of course, the Aston Martin. This video is from the recent Simply Aston Martin gathering and show and is courtesy of the folks at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum. Every generation of DB model was on at the show, helping to make this one of the biggest gatherings of Aston Martins in the south of England.

Jaguar Land Rover’s £1bn Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) today celebrated production of its first Ingenium petrol engine, which will debut in vehicles later in the summer. The inaugural petrol engines mark the completion of the first phase of the EMC; a fully flexible, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant that now serves Jaguar Land Rover’s three UK vehicle plants. Hailed as the most significant new automotive manufacturing facility in the UK in the last decade. Production of the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol Ingenium engine, adds to its line-up, which also includes the ultra-low emission 2.0-litre 150PS, 163PS and 240PS four-cylinder diesel engines. 

In many ways, Michael Cook is responsible for the vision that most Americans have of the sporting, carefree lifestyle of the British sports car owner. He, along with 22 other remarkable individuals, will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. For more than 30 years, Mike Cook’s job was to publicize and promote British cars in America. From the height of the sports car craze in the late ’50s to the end of the era when Jaguar ownership passed to Ford, Cook helped create the image of the marques, generate media buzz, launch new models, and publicize racing successes.

McLaren Automotive, the creator of luxury sports and super cars from Surrey, England, has appointed Dr. Jens Ludmann as Chief Operating Officer (COO) effective from May 2, 2017. He will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mike Flewitt. Dr. Ludmann joins McLaren in the second year of its Track22 business plan to focus on further developing internal working processes, relationships, and disciplines. His departmental responsibilities will include Product Development, Purchasing, Supplier Quality Assurance and Manufacturing, overseeing the launch of a further 14 new models or derivatives during the next five years. Previous roles include Chief Engineer Product Development at Ford Motor Company, Chief Technical Officer at Qoros Auto, and most recently Executive Vice President of the global engineering service provider FEV GmbH. 

Gerry Coker was a designer for the Donald Healey Motor Company, he was responsible for the design of the Austin-Healey 100 and Sprite, later joining Chrysler and the Ford Motor Company, where he invented the 3-postion tailgate. Gerry will be inducted into the Britsh Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

MG, which is now owned by SAIC, has launched the new MG 360 in the Middle East. The brand chose to first launch the model in the Middle East as it is a key market. The model is notable for its striking design, intelligent features and the space and flexibility of the seating options in the interior. The MG 360 exemplifies MG’s ambitious and exciting new approach, offering motorists here the option of driving a stylish, well-equipped, modern sedan which is available at a highly competitive price.

According to the Autocar website, the MG E-Motion supercar concept looks set to take the company back to its sports car roots, albeit with an electric powertrain, upon its debut at the Shanghai motor show. Despite new images having been released of the full design of the dramatically styled coupé, no further information has been given away. The images do show upward-opening doors, which reveal four seats inside when opened.