Articles by Staff

Aston Martin Racing and the Hotel de France reunited after more than 50 years yesterday to relive some of the most iconic memories from the luxury sportscar manufacturer’s history at the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 1950s and 1960s, Aston Martin’s racing team used the Hotel de France as its base for the 24-hour race. This year, it returned with three of its 2015 V8 Vantage GTEs and works drivers Darren Turner (GB), Richie Stanaway (NZ) and Mathias Lauda (AT) to recreate the photos and footage that captured some of the greatest moments in the brand’s 102-year history. David Richards, Chairman of Aston Martin Racing, said: “The Hotel de France is an important part of Aston Martin’s motorsport heritage, having been the team’s Le Mans base for many years in the late 1950s, including 1959 when the […]

An incredible fleet of Jaguar sports and race cars worth in excess of £40m were responsible for extraordinary scenes on the streets of Coventry last weekend, with heritage racers led by the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hour-winning Jaguar XJR-9LM opening the show at MotoFest 2015. The exciting procession of Jaguar cars driven on the Coventry Ring Road were joined by a unique new Jaguar sports car, as the Jaguar F-TYPE R BLOODHOOUND RRV made its world dynamic debut in Jaguar’s home city. This year’s event saw the Coventry ring road closed to public use in order to host a number of live motorsport activities and Jaguar took advantage of the occasion to show of a cavalcade of some of the most iconic race and road cars from its 80 year history. The Jaguar F-TYPE R BLOODHOUND RRV was created by […]

Following an eight-year absence, the British Motor Show is being resurrected and, according to its backers, is looking to challenge Geneva and Frankfurt. The reborn event, which promises to offer a host of activities besides simply getting up close to the latest production and concept cars from the world’s biggest automotive firms, is scheduled to open its doors to the public on May 5, 2016. However, unlike a host of other major auto shows, the London show, which will be held in Battersea Park, will only run for four days, rather than the more usual two weeks. “With the considerable changes happening in the motor industry, this is exactly the right time to bring to London a high-profile motoring event,” said a spokesperson for the London Motor Show. “The London Motor Show will bring global brands to the capital, to […]

An incredible fleet of Jaguar sports and race cars worth in excess of £40m were responsible for extraordinary scenes on the streets of Coventry this weekend, with heritage racers led by the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hour-winning Jaguar XJR-9LM opening the show at MotoFest 2015. The exciting procession of Jaguar cars driven on the Coventry Ring Road were joined by a unique new Jaguar sports car, as the Jaguar F-TYPE R Bloodhound SSC RRV made its world dynamic debut in Jaguar’s home City. This year’s event saw the Coventry ring road closed to public use in order to host a number of live motorsport activities and Jaguar took advantage of the occasion to show of a cavalcade of some of the most iconic race and road cars from its 80 year history. Winner of Le Mans 24 Hours in 1988 […]

The Chesapeake Chapter of the New England MG T Register is proud to invite you to the 38th meet of The Original British Car Day, Sunday June 6, 2015. This event is held for the enjoyment of all British car and motorcycle enthusiasts. This years Featured Marque will be the MGA, in honor of its 60th Anniversary! The event is held annually from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM at the beautiful grounds of Lilypons Water Gardens. Come and enjoy this gathering of all British marques in one setting and the beauty of the water gardens. Bring your leashed pet and picnic lunch or partake of the food and drink offered by various food vendors. Whether you are displaying your car, or just coming to enjoy the event, the drive is beautiful no matter which direction you come from. Lilypons Water Gardens […]

Mini Meet West 2015 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Abbotsford ‘The City in the Country’ is located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, adjacent to Greater Vancouver and in the heart of the Fraser Valley. Mini Meet West is an annual gathering of Mini enthusiasts and owners of both the Classic and New MINI. Participants come from all over Canada, the USA, Mexico and as far away as Europe. Last year’s event included approximately 180 registrants & participants. With MMW2015 being held in the city of Abbotsford, June 29 through July 2, 2015, the hosts are expecting to attract over 200 registrants this year.   This event is open to all Minis, classic and modern. Check out the webpage at www.minimeetwest.com

The Avocet sportscar programme, including designs, datapack, production and intellectual property rights, is to be marketed for sale internationally as a now fully developed market-ready product, with defined, wide scope for future variants, options and alternative componentry. MMI, the privately owned automotive enterprise behind the marque, took the very deliberate decision to use the recent past flat market period to advantage, by undertaking substantial further development and testing, auditing and proving the car’s bill of materials and commercially benchmarking the project. MMI Founder and Managing Director, Martin Miles says: “We have done everything we set out to do – and more. The result is that Avocet is now a highly competitive car which combines a stylish, ultra-lightweight two-seater body with exceptional chassis dynamics and awesome performance … and we have achieved that whilst still retaining our base model price ambition […]

Following a hugely successful Mille Miglia in 2015, Jaguar Heritage has released a film of this year’s rally, giving viewers an in-depth look at an event once described as ‘The most beautiful race in the world’. In the year that Jaguar celebrates its 80th anniversary, the official Jaguar Heritage team headed to the start in Brescia with three C-types, three D-types, two XK120s and an XK140 driven by famous faces from the world of motorsport, TV and music. Following the Jaguar Heritage cavalcade were a group of media guests driving various examples of new Jaguar XE and latest generation of F-TYPE sports cars. Supported by an expert crew of Jaguar Heritage technicians, the nine Jaguar entries ran smoothly throughout the gruelling four-day event. Driven by the likes of supermodel David Gandy, model and TV presenter Jodie Kidd, and musician Elliot […]

The UK Concours of Elegance has revealed a few of the legendary cars set to shine in its 2015 event, ranging from a 1905 Star Gordon Bennett racer through to the 2015 Touring Superleggera Berlinetta Lusso. The Concours of Elegance began in 2012, showcasing the world’s finest cars at Windsor Castle to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Since then it has moved to St James’s Palace and Hampton Court Palace, before this year heading to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. One of the most significant early British racing cars, this 70HP Star was built to compete in the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup. Powered by a 10,168cc engine and capable of speeds in excess of 100mph, this magnificent car is cast in the same historic mould as the famous 60HP Mercedes. Of the dozens of cars specifically built to uphold […]

According to Car Magazine, BMW is planning to take Mini back to its small-car roots – with a Mini Minor. This is great news for fans of the historic British baby, which has grown podgy under German ownership, and shows that the shrunken Mini Rocketman concept car wasn’t in vain. But it’s also an intriguing industrial development: BMW is planning to co-develop the baby Mini with Toyota. Product planners in Germany acknowledge that the Mini has grown tubby in recent years, stretching to 4005mm in five-door hatchback form. Hence the desire to surf the downsizing trend with a new smaller model, scheduled to stretch just 3450mm long. For reference, that’s the same footprint as the new Smart Forfour. The Mini Minor is likely to come to market in late 2018 or early 2019, CAR can reveal. ‘It’s still early days […]

After announcing the company’s largest apprentice intake in 25 years, Bentley has received more applications to join the programme than ever before. 1,285 people applied for 63 positions, with the successful candidates starting the three-year scheme in September. The second stage of the recruitment process begins now, with assessment centres and interviews taking place throughout the summer. 40 of the apprentices will be working on a newly developed manufacturing programme. A dual education system of learning, 70 per cent of time is dedicated to practical training delivered by Bentley master trainers, themselves with combined industry experience of over 100 years. The remaining 30 per cent of time will be devoted to theoretical learning within chosen professional areas. A further 23 apprentices will be based in business areas at Bentley’s global headquarters in Crewe, including Engineering, Sales and Marketing, Purchasing and […]

The Lotus brand has long been synonymous with small, quick, and agile sports cars. Our Video of the Week this week features a history of the car through the 1980s via a show and rally of dedicated owners. The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, both graduates of University College, London, in 1952. The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman.

Jaguar announced today that it has entered into a partnership with the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) to introduce its newest high performance models to some of the nation’s most fervent automotive enthusiasts. The partnership will feature seven Jaguar-sponsored SVRA races throughout the US starting with a Gold Medallion Invitational at the Sonoma Raceway on May 28-31. The Gold Medallion program aims to protect the integrity of these vintage vehicles by maintaining and racing them as they were prepared in period. At each of the seven events, Jaguar will offer consumers the opportunity to test the dynamic performance of the newest additions to the Jaguar line-up including the 550-hp Jaguar F-TYPE R AWD1. Activities will include an autocross track specially designed by the Jaguar Performance driving team.

JD Classics – one of the world’s leading classic car specialists – is celebrating its best ever Mille Miglia, in which it prepared, rallied and supported 11 separate entries. Ranging from an Alfa Romeo 1900C Sprint Pininfarina to the company’s priceless ex-Fangio C-Type, the JD Classics entries represented the largest British team competing in the 2015 event. And for the first time, JD Classics was a gold sponsor of the Mille Miglia – the only classic car specialist in the world to have such an association. As all of the Mille Miglia cars arrived at the Brescia Trade Centre for scrutineering, the JD Classics hospitality lounge opened its doors to all competing crews. For months before the rally, JD Classics’ expert engineers and craftsmen were fettling and fine-tuning the cars, some of which were customer entries and some of which […]

Bentley’s return to the home of British motorsport at Silverstone brought a double-top-ten finish despite a challenging race for both cars. While the pace of the Continental GT3 was good enough to try and emulate last year’s victory at the track, circumstances meant that the Bentley Boys had to settle for the satisfactory results of P6 for car #8 and P9 for car #7. After a rain-disrupted qualifying earlier in the day, Car #8 started from P17 on the grid, and Maxime Soulet drove an outstanding opening stint to move up through the field to sit P8 by lap 17. As those around him pitted under a full course yellow, Maxime stayed out to move up to P6 before pitting and handing the car to Maxi Buhk. Maxi drove a solid stint to maintain P6 overall, before being relieved of […]

Jaguar has announced its partnership with two premier U.S.  design colleges, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Student participants in the program will have the opportunity to work on Jaguar design briefs to create a 2030+ model year concept vision halo sports car and 2+2 sports coupe four-door interior. The design briefs were created by the Jaguar Design team who will interact with students throughout the semester and ultimately judge the students’ work. Taking place over the summer semester, the design program will last a total of 12 weeks from start to finish while students transform concept sketches to scale models, both in digital and in clay form. During this time period the students and instructors will work closely with Ian Callum, Jaguar Design Director, and his team […]

Aston Martin is once again returning to the shores of Lake Como in Italy this weekend as it showcases the stunning new DBX Concept in the esteemed 2015 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Entered in the event’s prestigious Concept Cars and Prototypes class, the DBX Concept defies conventional thinking about the high luxury segment and points to a bold new future for GT travel in the 21st Century. Unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show, the DBX Concept widens the appeal of the iconic British luxury brand and reaches out to a more diverse global audience than ever before. Ahead of its appearance this weekend, Aston Martin Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman said: “As we explained when we debuted the car, the DBX Concept is designed to challenge the existing status quo in the high luxury GT segment. It promises to […]

Legendary cars from Bentley’s past are embarking on a tour of the world’s premier heritage and historical automotive events this summer. The ‘Blue Train’ car that famously raced the Calais-Mediterranée Express and the Team Blower that entered Le Mans in 1930 – the race ultimately won by Bentley Boys Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston in Speed 6 ‘Old No 1’ – are among the highlights of Bentley’s curated or treasured collection. Both are celebrating anniversaries and will be on the road at numerous international events between May and October. ‘Blue Train’ Bentley This year is the 85th anniversary of that most famous Bentley Boy adventure – the Blue Train race. The car that (probably) accomplished the feat will be touring Europe with a series of high-profile appearances. In 1930 Captain Woolf Barnato, Chairman of Bentley Motors, was staying in Cannes […]