Articles by Michael Carnell

Still haven’t picked up that Father’s Day gift yet? Don’t feel bad, we all put it off till the last minute. This procrastination has nothing to do with our affection for dad. It has everything to do with wanting to find the perfect gift but having no idea what that gift would be.

We reach partially into the future this week for our featured video. Looking into the future of Jaguar, we see this short film of the Jaguar I-PACE Concept subtitled “Electrifying Performance”. Thanks to I-PACE Concept’s electric-only platform, our engineers were able to focus on the best possible performance package for this zero tailpipe emissions vehicle. Generating a combined 400PS and 700Nm of instant torque, the first all-electric Jaguar can achieve genuinely breathtaking sports car acceleration, with 0-60mph in around 4.0 seconds and a range of 500km. According to Jaguar, the I-PACE Concept has been designed to accommodate a large lithium-ion battery pack to alleviate any issues with the vehicle’s range. It uses the very latest pouch cell technology and the pack is rated at 90kWh. In simple terms, this means I‑PACE Concept will be able to travel much further before […]

As you all know by now, the induction ceremonies for the British Sports Car Hall of Fame were held this past Friday, June 2nd, in Petersburg, Virginia. The event was held in coordination with the second Moss Motorfest and was a great success with a standing room only crowd of almost 600 people in attendance. Of the twenty-three human inductees (more on that in a moment), eight were in attendance. Those eight were Mike Cook, Michael Dale, Peter Egan, Robert Johns, Richard Knudson, Graham Robson, Bob Tullius and John Twist. During the awards ceremony itself, brief biographies were gone over, stories were told on themselves and others, and then the gorgeous Moto-Lita steering Heacock Insurance wheel awards were handed out. After the awards ceremony proper, started off by Rob Goldman of Moss and then MCed by Graham Robson and John Nikas, a […]

Back to the more modern works! Our video this week comes via Aston Martin and, although really an advertising piece, is a stylish depiction of beauty as seen through the eyes of Aston Martin and their designers. If you like the Aston Martin Valkyrie or the Zagato then you will love this video. The Vulcan, launched in 2015 as a track-only limited edition car, was designed by Aston Martin’s creative officer Marek Reichman. The car is limited to 24 examples worldwide. The Zagato was unveiled in 2011 and awarded the “Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes” at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este where it made its debut. The car was designed at the Aston Martin Design Studios in Gaydon. The beautiful Zagato was produced in collaboration with Zagato to celebrate a fifty-year partnership between the two companies.

This Friday sees the second running of the TR Drivers Club’s ‘Bullet Run’.  A weekend of leisurely organized driving through some of the most picturesque locations undertaken by Triumph test drivers and engineers when the cars were being developed.  This year will re-trace the route through the beautiful Peak District.  The whole event is based around the high-quality Jury’s Inn Hinckley Island Hotel near Nuneaton.

John Twist is the MG guru behind Michigan’s University Motors who has helped countless people maintain, restore, and understand their MGs. He has run a successful shop, has an informative video series, and now is an international speaker. Twist will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on Friday, June 2nd.  

Our video this week is a bit different, as is the car in focus. This week we are featuring the Nash Metropolitan which many do not even consider to be a British car. In that aspect, it may have been years ahead of its time because it prompts us to ask, again, what is a British car? We start with a 1954 filmstrip for dealers ‘The Inside Story of the Metropolitan‘. The Metropolitan was also sold as a Hudson when Nash and Hudson merged in 1954 to form the American Motors Corporation (AMC), and later as a standalone marque during the Rambler years. Additionally, it was actually sold in the United Kingdom and some markets under the Austin brand.

Robert ‘Bob’ Tullius is the founder of the famed Group 44 racing team, he won countless races, several championships and paved the way for sponsorship in modern racing. He is undeniably the best known and accomplished American racer of British sports cars. Tullius will be inducted on Friday into the British Sports Call Hall of Fame.

John Thornley, OBE was one of the founders of the MG Car Club and served as its first Secretary. Later, he went on to become Director and General Manager of the MG Car Company. John Thornley will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in ceremonies on June 2, 2017.

John Sprinzel, one of the best-known racing and rally drivers of his era, won the British Rally Championship and his class at the 12 Hours of Sebring behind the wheel of an Austin-Healey Sprite. This “spritely” British auto racer and tuner will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in Virginia next week.

Known as the Dalai Lama of the Sacred Octagon, Ken Smith is the Editor Emeritus of The MG Driver and was known for his numerous appearances at British car events across the country on behalf of Moss Motors. Ken will be inducted, along with 22 other worthy motorheads, into the British Sportscar Hall of Fame on June 2nd.

Graham Robson is a distinguished motoring historian whose working life has always been connected with fine cars and advanced engines. After starting his career at Jaguar, then running the ‘works’ motorsport team at Triumph, he developed a passion for motoring heritage and for classic cars. He has been an independent writer, historian and motoring consultant for many years, and has written more than 130 books. Robson will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame this June. In fact, we are pleased that he will also be MC of the event.

Sir Stirling Moss has ben described as the greatest Formula One driver to never win a World Championship. He competed in open wheel racing, sports cars, and land speed record vehicles, highlighted by a victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia, considered by many experts to be the greatest one day drive in history. He will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in Petersburg, Virginia on June 2nd.

Jaguar XK 120: The Remarkable History of JWK 651, second in the publisher’s “Exceptional Car” series, is one of those books that is hard to classify. On the one hand, authors Chas Paker and Philip Porter have done such an amazing job detailing the story of this one particular Jaguar that the book is definitely a history book. On the other hand, this is documentation – documentation of one car, its provenance, and its current state. On on a third hand (we all have three hands right?), this is an art book. The photographs rival any automotive coffee table book on the market today. Regardless, however you classify it, this book is a delight that you can sit and read or just flip through and marvel at the images. The Remarkable History of JWK 651 tells the story of one of the six […]

Our video this week is a bit different, a spot of fun, and a bit odd. The video is an advertisement for the new MG GS out of Australia. Fun, yes. But just how much bum slapping can go on in one commercial?

Giovanni Michelotti was a prolific designer, who styled cars for Ferrari, Maserati, BMW and Triumph, designing some of the latter’s most successful cars in the postwar era. When you look at a Triumph TR4, Spitfire, Stag or Herald, you are looking at Michelotti’s work. Giovanni Michelotti will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Sir William Lyons was the founder, director, chairman and guiding force of Jaguar. That seems like such a short and simple sentence to convey the importance of the man known as “Mister Jaguar”. For over 40 years Lyons led the car company through its many iterations and shaped both the cars and the culture through personal determination. For those many years, Lyons simply was Jaguar. He will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in just over two weeks.

Richard Langworth, CBE, is not just a renowned automotive writer, he is responsible for some of the most definitive marque histories ever published. Beyond this, he is also a recognized authority on Winston S. Churchill. His most recent book on Churchill is Churchill and the Avoidable War: Could World War II have been Prevented? and Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said is due out in August. Richard M. Langworth will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. Though never intending to become a historian, he has written, co-written or published 54 books and 2000 articles on automotive history—American, English and European. He is also a self-described “Chemistry drop-out at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1960), a fail-safe graduate of Wagner College (1963), a 120-day-wonder U.S. Coast Guard officer (1964-67), and a bored bureaucrat […]