Archive

Lotus Motorsport redefines the Exige V6 Cup with the introduction of the Exige 360 Cup. New lightweight panels and an increase in power mean the Lotus Motorsport Cup model continues to provide a benchmark in handling and performance. The Exige 360 Cup bespoke styling signals an evolution in design, with an option of four colours (Metallic White, Metallic Grey, Metallic Black and Metallic Silver) and stealth matt black roof, front access panel and louvered tailgate. This design is a limited edition run of 50 vehicles and each of these special Exige 360 Cup cars will receive a numbered Lotus Motorsport build plate. This new model boasts an increase in power of 10 PS with freer flowing induction and a sports exhaust system, which combined with a low vehicle weight of 1130 kg gives an incredibly pure driving experience on road […]

Tigers East / Alpines East had a huge crowd at their Rootes United XXXIV in Dayton Ohio last the first weekend of August.  Nearly 90 Sunbeams and over 170 people attended.  Below is a time lapse video of owners leaving for the show last Saturday morning. Note the two Harrington’s in the first two parking spots. This show was held in conjunction with the Dayton British car show. With the 90 Sunbeam cars, they had a total of 370 British cars at the show which made a new record for them.  Another record for them was the long distance award which was given to a couple from the Sunbeam club who drove their Tiger from British Columbia 2800 miles to attend! Note: This report courtesy of Eric Gibeaut – owner of the first of the two Harringtons.

The countdown to the launch this autumn of the most attainable McLaren road car project yet, the Sports Series, continues with the start of the pre-production phase within the state-of-the-art McLaren Production Centre in Woking, England. This milestone marks the final stage in the development programme ahead of the global roll-out of the 570S Coupé; the first model to be launched in the McLaren Sports Series family. A short video documenting some of the stages of testing to date of the newest model in the McLaren range can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/erpQ8sWKFL4. Up to this point through the development programme, the Sports Series has covered in excess of 500,000 testing kilometres. These have been on a mixture of race circuits and roads, in some of the harshest conditions around the world including the extreme heat of the Arizona and Nevada […]

Concours of Elegance has confirmed the world-beating line-up of cars for its 2015 event at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, including an original 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost London to Edinburgh car. One of six Rolls-Royce cars in the main Concours event, this particular model was inspired by the Silver Ghost’s return journey from London to Edinburgh in top gear – mimicking the Concours of Elegance’s journey from Hampton Court Palace in 2014 to Holyroodhouse this year. During the return trip, the Silver Ghost covered around 1600 miles using only its top gear, carrying four passengers and luggage, and achieving 24.3mpg. It was this feat that helped cement a reputation for the Silver Ghost as ‘the best car in the world.’

We all started somewhere. That is fairly obvious, but where a lot of us started is with little cars. Very little cars – as in Matchbox and Hot Wheels toy cars. And quite frankly, I, like many of you, still have a nice collection of these wonderful miniatures. In honor of the toys of our youth – no matter the age – our Video of the Week this week is a 1965 piece on Matchbox cars. In the world of little cars, Matchbox were always the more authentic and real-to-life cars, while Hot Wheels were the concept, far out, and fantasy cars. What’s more, at least when I was young, Matchbox more often featured British motors while Hot Wheels had a distinctly American slant. Matchbox was introduced by Lesney Products in 1953 and is now owned by Mattel, Inc. The […]

Classic Car Auctions (CCA) is delighted to announce it will be auctioning Hornby Hobbies’ Ultimate 2015 Scalextric track at CarFest South on Sunday 30th August. Designed by Sky Sports F1® expert Martin Brundle, the biggest layout the slot car track experts have ever created will take centre stage on Hornby’s stand at the festival. Scalextric’s magnificent track is made up of 177 pieces and is 45 metres long.  It features the best corners, chicanes, and sections from the 2015 F1® calendar that fans can watch live on Sky Sports F1® throughout the season, including: Italy and the Ascari Chicane Monaco and the Casino Square Canada and the Wall of Champions Silverstone and the Copse Abu Dhabi and the Marina Complex Martin Brundle, Sky Sports F1® expert and former racing driver, commented: “The team challenged me to design my dream circuit […]

Aston Martin is today announcing the opening of a new warehouse and logistics hub. Created to support the future expansion of the business, the new facility is located at Wellesbourne, close to the company’s headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Representing a multi-million pound investment, the new development is the largest storage and distribution base in the company’s 102-year history. Aston Martin Manufacturing Operations Director Keith Stanton said: “The opening of this superb new facility at Wellesbourne is a vital part of our Second Century Plan. “Ensuring we have the right materials in the right place at the right time is, of course, fundamental to our manufacturing process. As the volume and complexity of our operations increases in the months and years ahead, we will be relying on the team at Wellesbourne to help us deliver our exciting new generation of Aston […]

Jaguar Land Rover has signed a Letter of Intent with the Government of the Slovak Republic for the potential development of a new manufacturing plant in the city of Nitra in western Slovakia. With its established premium automotive industry, Slovakia is an attractive possible development opportunity. The move marks the next step in the Company’s strategy to become a more competitive global business by expanding its manufacturing operations into new international locations in the future. The UK is the cornerstone of Jaguar Land Rover’s business. It remains at the centre of Jaguar Land Rover’s design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Over the past five years, Jaguar Land Rover has employed more than 20,000 people taking its workforce to more than 36,000 and invested more than £11 billion in new product creation and capital expenditure.

In contrast to the appalling weather in the run up to last year’s Simply Land Rover event, this weekend’s clear blue skies and warm sunshine encouraged Land Rover owners to make the journey to Beaulieu for this year’s Simply Land Rover on Sunday 9th August, to display their vehicles in the grounds of the National Motor Museum. Now in its third year the event saw a large increase in participating vehicles, up over one hundred on 2014 numbers at 270. It made for an impressive display of Land Rovers ranging from the classic Series I, II and III, to the rugged County and Defender, iconic Range Rover and capable Discovery. All Land Rover models and derivatives could be seen, from a battle-scarred workhorse to a pristine show-winner.

Four years on from its global launch, McLaren Special Operations (MSO) will return to the manicured lawns of the USA’s famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance later this month with a selection of distinctive and beautiful commissions. The bespoke division of McLaren will showcase some of the individualisation options it will make available on the forthcoming new 570S Coupé, the first model to join the McLaren Sports Series. Two examples have been created. The first 570S Coupé ‘by MSO’ features the uniquely formulated Mauvine Blue paint finish coupled with a bespoke interior finished in Carbon Black leather with co-ordinating detailing, carried through from the exterior colour. A second 570S Coupé, finished in Ventura Orange and fitted with a selection of styling details from the MSO Defined range of options, will take up position on the popular Concept Lawn at the event. […]

“Team Amelia” will again be part of the annual Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on August 13-16, 2015. The historic car races at Laguna Seca are a large part of the annual festival and celebration of classic, historic, competition and collector cars known simply worldwide as “Monterey Car Week.”

Huge crowds expected as free-to-view motor show prepares to take over London’s “Mile of Style” The Regent Street Motor Show is the largest free-to-view motor show in the UK, showcasing an impressive 125 years of motoring history and taking place on London’s most iconic shopping street on Saturday 31 October; a date for the diary. 2015 promises to bring a family-friendly, highly interactive feel to the Regent Street Motor Show. Celebrating the earliest days of motoring with the pre-1905 veteran cars on display as part of the prestigious EFG International Concours d’Elegance, a stunning array of present day and yester-year cars is an exciting opportunity to get a glimpse of what the future of motoring might hold. On the day of the Show, Regent Street will be closed to through traffic from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus, providing a safe environment […]

The 18th annual British Car Day at historic Ocean Grove, New Jersey, will be held on Saturday, 19 September. This show is presented by the Positive Earth Drivers Club.

Aston Martin’s new 2016 DB9 GT will make its global debut as part of the marque’s presence at the Pebble Beach® Automotive Week from 13 August, accompanied by a glimpse of Aston Martin’s Second Century with the DBX concept, Lagonda Taraf and Aston Martin Vulcan supercar all set for appearances. The DB9 GT is the luxury British sports car maker’s most compelling production ‘DB’ to date, designed to offer world-class grand touring and hand-built excellence. Claiming the title of the most potent DB9 yet devised, by virtue of its uprated 6.0-litre V12 engine which now boasts 540bhp – the DB9 GT continues a distinguished tradition of luxury, excitement and style with a raft of engineering, equipment and styling developments calculated to make this the very best of what DB9 can be. Aston Martin’s ‘Second Century’ plan was announced by Dr. […]

The new 16 MY Bentley Continental GT makes its North American debut at this year’s Monterey Auto Week, alongside inspiring models from Bentley’s past and future. In a nod to Bentley’s illustrious heritage and celebrating its 85th anniversary, the iconic 1930 Blower Bentley makes its dynamic appearance in the Quail Rally. The week will culminate with a look to Bentley’s future; the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept will be situated on the Concept Lawn at The Lodge on Sunday, a vision of iconic Bentley design cues fused with progressive craftsmanship techniques to showcase modern British luxury. Michael Winkler, President and CEO, Bentley Motors, Inc. comments: “The future of Bentley is now, and Pebble Beach is the perfect backdrop to showcase the new Continental GT alongside gems from our past and concepts for our exciting future. The new Continental GT is […]

As part of an ongoing relationship with South and City College Birmingham, MG Motor UK has teamed up with the college’s social media students to find out what sparks their interest when it comes to online content. In June, seven social media apprentices from the Birmingham based college visited MG’s head office to discuss online interaction and how the car manufacturer can expand its social media followers.

According to an article in Automotive News, Lotus will bring the Elise to America no sooner that 2020. Nick Gibbs, UK correspondent for the publication says … Lotus will reintroduce the two-seat Elise sports car in the U.S. after the company brings out the next generation of the car in 2020, the company’s CEO said. The U.K.-based company first imported the Elise in 2004 but had to withdraw the car in 2011 after exemptions from certain safety regulations expired. It continues to sell a handful models for use on racetracks. Lotus recently made safety changes to the bigger Evora to enable the company to start selling that car again in January as a 2017 model, but CEO Jean-Marc Gales told Automotive News that similar changes would be too onerous for the Elise. “We’d need smart airbags, plus side airbags and […]

OK, so we have had Jaguar and MG and Triumph and Healey and Aston Martin and even Sunbeam. Oh wait, Morgan and Morris and Rover too.So this week we are going to do a more general video. This week we are going to turn our attention to our general love – Classic British Cars. This video is part one of a multi-part series that covers the full range of British cars, from the sports car to the touring saloon. There are many classics in this video that you just don’t see anymore – for better or worse. Some of these cars have gone on to become valuable collector’s items, while some of them have disappeared into obscurity.  How I would love to see a full range of these at a British car show. Not that I don’t love row upon […]