Month: July 2017

Bentley Motorsport has finished in second place in the largest GT3 race in the world, the 24 Hours of Spa, with its #8 Continental GT3 and drivers Maxime Soulet (BE), Andy Soucek (ES) and Vince Abril (MC). With a carefully pre-determined race strategy, the Bentley Team M-Sport crew ran out-of-sync with many of the leading GT3 competitors for most of the race but the long-term gains came to fruition in the final stages of the 24-hour endurance event.

The Bentley Team M-Sport #8 Continental GT3 marked a milestone in Bentley’s history books yesterday as it took the model’s 500th race start at the largest GT3 endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Spa. The third chapter of Bentley’s motorsport story began with the unveiling of the first Continental GT3 concept at the Paris Motor Show in 2012, followed by the first public running of the first test car at Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2013. Since then the Continental GT3 has celebrated series and race wins around the globe, with the most recent victories in the past month in Blancpain GT Series at Paul Ricard 1000kms, Pirelli World Challenge at Road America and British GT at Spa Francorchamps.

Outwoods Primary School year six pupil, Deya Kidder from Burton upon Trent, has been announced as the winner of MG dealership TL Darby’s ‘Up on the Roof’ competition. The contest, which received more than 80 entries from eight schools within the area, asked pupils to come up with a design that would be featured on the roof of the MG GS. Deya, who has just finished her final year at Outwoods Primary School, visited TL Darby to see her winning design in the flesh, adorning the roof of the car which now sits pride of place in the showroom. 

Update: The contest is now closed! We would like to congratulate Ray Whitley on his win which was determined at random from all entries received. We would also like to thank all of those who entered the contest. Entertaining stuff! I bet you didn’t know that July is my birthday month – well it is. But, I am going to give you the present. Aren’t I generous? We Leo’s are like that!  Since this book is proving to be so popular, I thought you might like another contest chance to win a copy of Robert Morey’s Philosophy and Psychology of British Car Restoration. This is a great little book, and a fun read for any fan of old British cars. So, you might be asking yourself how you enter the contest. I gave a lot of thought to that and decided that […]

Rolls-Royce believes a new benchmark will be set as the New Phantom – the eighth generation of this great nameplate – arrives. Not satisfied with simply launching a motor car that is a wholly contemporary design interpretation of Phantom DNA and a technological tour de force, Rolls-Royce has revolutionized the luxury car industry itself by shifting away from the status quo of shared platforms to an entirely new luxury business model. From the moment Sir Henry Royce introduced the Rolls-Royce Phantom in 1925 it was judged ‘The Best Car in the World’ by the cognoscenti. As a result, it has conveyed some of the world’s most influential and powerful men and women to the most defining historical moments over the last 92 years. Every new Phantom that has subsequently appeared has successfully retained the title of ‘Best Car in the […]

The most extreme road car in McLaren’s history is set to make its debut later this year. Codenamed P15 and said to feature an 800PS engine with a stripped-out interior and overall weight of less than 1,300kg, the new model will be the second in McLaren’s Ultimate Series range after the hybrid P1. Designed to be the most extreme, track-ready but still road legal car in the line-up, McLaren’s engineers have reportedly been given the freedom to prioritize performance over everything else and the P15 is said to be faster on a racing circuit than any McLaren, bar the track-only P1 GTR.

One of the first 500 E-Types produced by Jaguar has been found in pieces in France and is to be brought back to life by world-class restorers Classic Motor Cars of Bridgnorth (CMC). Chassis No. 875256 is one of the very early 3.8 left-hand drive, open two seater, outside bonnet lock models with all matching numbers. It was delivered new to the Belgium Motor Company dealership in Brussels in July 1961 and was subsequently sold to ‘Societe de Civel Immeubles en Afrique.’ It resurfaced in France in 2015 and records indicate that it was imported from Luxembourg in 1975.

The best-selling lots at Barons Connoisseurs Classic Car Collection sale at Sandown Park on July 18th were two pieces of classic British motoring heritage, both of which exceeded the top estimate. The bright red 1970 Jaguar E-type Series 2 FHC achieved £51,700 while the handsome 1964 Jensen CV8 sold for just under £49,000. Queen guitarist Brian May raised over £6,300 for the animal charity Save Me when the 1952 Jowett Javelin he bought for his father 35 years ago went under the hammer at the sale. Enthusiastic bidding and strong pre-sale publicity meant that the car went for over top estimate, with the lucky new owner acquiring a charismatic family classic car previously owned by rock royalty.

Our video of this week this time comes by way of Ohio. Well, it comes from the MG Cars Channel actually. The video is a wrap-up of the recent MG Gathering of the Faithful (GOF) that took place last week in Akron. Although the weather turned rainy, it sounds like a good time was had none-the-less. You can see more details of the event at the GOF Central website. Make sure to check out all of the cars winning awards on the awards page. The 2018 GoF Central will be held at Lake Delavan, Wisconsin, beginning on June 27th. More info is available at the official site.

Drivers seeking the opportunity to experience the latest Lotus sports cars at the famed manufacturer’s facility in Norfolk, will now have the chance, with the opening of the new Lotus Driving Academy in August 2017. From as little as £119 for the entry level experience, right through to the intensive ‘Gold’ course at £899, the Lotus Driving Academy offers a range of experiences suitable for anyone looking for a more involving and informative track session that will enhance and hone their driving skills.

Jaguar has released a short behind-the-scenes documentary offering viewers the chance to see how its engineers brought a perilous barrel roll stunt from concept to reality. The stunt, which was six months in the making, was over in just 1.5 seconds when the E-PACE was revealed to the world at London’s ExCeL on Thursday 13th July. Jaguar leapt into GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ history with its new performance SUV for the furthest barrel roll in a production vehicle. Over a million people* watched the stunt within the first week online.

Jaguar has launched the new XJR575 with a high-speed interview starring designer Wayne Burgess being questioned by TV presenter and race driver Amanda Stretton as the performance saloon accelerates from 0-186mph. Lasting just 44 seconds – the time it takes Jaguar’s fastest-ever XJ saloon to reach its top speed – Burgess gave a quick-fire insight into the development of the potent new model.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to support the Read to Succeed campaign, fronted by Nick Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and Minister of State for School Standards. The significant donation by Rolls-Royce concludes the campaign target to provide a book to every year 4 pupil – over 1000 children – in Mr. Gibb’s constituency, to enjoy over the summer holidays The books in the scheme have been specifically chosen by schools and libraries to appeal to year 4 students (8-9 years old), which is the age that most students start to read independently for the first time. The books selected cover a wide range of abilities and interests so all children can enjoy the magic of reading. Each book also includes a token for the child to take to their local library to sign up for the library’s Summer […]

The MINI JCW Team and MINI USA are gearing up for another big race this weekend at Lime Rock Park in their quest to sit on top of the Manufacturer’s standings in the Street Tuner class of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series. After all three MINI JCW Team cars finished inside the top five at Watkins Glen International, including the #73 and #52 MINI JCW’s in victory lane, the team went on grab a podium finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, the following weekend, when James Vance piloted the #37 MINI JCW to a third place finish after an aggressive battle to hold his lead against the race’s eventual winner for more than an hour. Vance will be joined once again this weekend by Mike LaMarra. Team owner Luis Perocarpi, lead engineer Rob Ridgely and MINI engineer Zdravko Miric have been hard at work piecing the #52 MINI […]

Jaguar Land Rover has opened its Chinese engine plant as part of its RMB10.9 billion joint venture with Chery Automobile Ltd. The state-of-the-art facility will manufacture the all-new Ingenium 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine for future Chery Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. During the first six months of the year, Jaguar Land Rover sales have increased by 26 per cent in China. The new engine plant demonstrates Jaguar Land Rover’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market, providing customers with an exciting range of vehicles and powertrain options, as well as to its joint venture.

Following the successful introduction of the Lotus Evora 400 and Evora Sport 410 to global markets, Lotus has unveiled its most powerful road-going model ever – the Evora GT430. A beautiful and pure combination of elegance and power, Lotus has lavished attention on hand-crafted carbon-fibre components to endow this fully homologated Evora with a level of precision engineering and design unseen before. This focused evolution of the critically acclaimed Evora has resulted in a landmark model for the famous British manufacturer. Powered by a new development of the 3.5-litre V6 supercharged and charge cooled engine producing 430 hp, and benefitting from a significant hike in downforce, the rare breed Evora GT430 is a class apart from its competitors.

This week, our video features the performance of the Panasonic Jaguar Racing team at the Formula E races in New York. First of all, it is fun watching these cars tear around, but secondly, it is such a different auditory experience with the sound of electric motors instead of the internal combustion beasts. In front of the iconic Manhattan skyline, Panasonic Jaguar Racing claimed a vital championship point in the first of the NYCePrix Formula E races. Adam Carroll advanced three positions to finish 10th, whilst Mitch Evans sustained damage early in the race. For those who don’t know, Formula E, officially the FIA Formula E Championship, is a class of auto racing that uses only electric-powered cars. The series was conceived in 2012, and the inaugural championship started in Beijing on 13 September 2014. The series is sanctioned by the FIA. […]

BMW’s Oxford factory in England is currently the favored location for building an electric version of the Mini despite Britain’s planned departure from the European Union, two sources familiar with the company’s thinking told Reuters on Wednesday. Any decision by the German carmaker to commit to further spending at Oxford would be a boost to the British government, which has been warned by businesses at home and abroad that Brexit will hit investment.