Articles by Staff

This past weekend saw two new winners in the inaugural Pure McLaren GT Series, making a total of four winners in six races, as competitors racing track-only Sports Series 570S GTs took to the iconic Algarve International Circuit in Portugal. The weekend’s two races had a major effect on the championship standings, after Sultan Ojjeh and Ian Loggie both scored wins. In the first race of the weekend on Saturday, it was the #75 570S GT4 of Ojjeh who took the spoils, after a dominant run to victory.

The Bentley Bentayga demonstrated its performance credentials by claiming the outright record for a production SUV at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Driven by two-time champion Rhys Millen (NZ), the Bentayga completed the 12.42-mile course in just 10:49.9 – taking nearly two minutes off the previous record by averaging 66.5 mph. Climbing almost 5,000 ft through 156 corners, the Bentayga deployed its unique combination of a 600 bhp, 900 Nm W12 engine, adaptive air suspension, active electric 48V anti-roll control and carbon ceramic brakes to set a stunning new benchmark.

Female racing driver Aseel Al Hamad celebrated the end of the ban on women drivers with a lap of honor in a Jaguar F-TYPE. Aseel, the first female board member of the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation, had never driven on a track in her home country before. Aseel joined Jaguar in a call for June 24th to be known as World Driving Day – a day when finally, the whole world can enjoy the thrill of being behind the wheel of a car. On World Driving Day Jaguar invites people to share a memory of their best driving moment (image or anecdote) using the hashtag #worlddrivingday.

Veloce Publishing has announced a new book that may be for interest to our readers, “How to Restore & Improve Classic Car Suspension, Steering & Wheels“. This comprehensive manual provides professional but easy-to-follow know-how on how to restore, improve and maintain your classic car’s suspension, steering and wheels. This book will familiarize you with the components of your car’s suspension and steering systems and their construction, it also takes a detailed look at refurbishing wheels and the choice of tires. The relevant restoration techniques are fully explained and illustrated with detailed step-by-step photography. The book is a new title in Veloce’s Enthusiast’s Restoration Manual series, and is based on articles from Europe’s leading classic car magazine OLDTIMER MARKT. The translator of this work is Julian Parish. Parish is a motoring writer and translator, and is a member of the Guild […]

Aston Martin Lagonda today announces two important new additions to its UK site operations. The Aston Martin Test and Development Centre at Silverstone will become a new hub for prototype vehicle testing, focused on chassis dynamics and high-speed handling. Concurrently announced is the creation of a central London office providing conveniently located space for meetings and events. Commenting on these announcements, Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin President and Chief Executive Officer said: The company is now investing for growth across the Aston Martin and Lagonda brands. I am particularly pleased that we can now call Silverstone home for dynamic testing and development.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing geared up for final rounds of the 17/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship season taking place in Brooklyn, New York this July, by making a visit to the Big Apple this week. Team Director James Barclay visited the city to host a lunch for 60 members of the International Motor Press Association (IMPA); sharing the latest on the team’s performance this season and how learnings from the race series help Jaguar develop road car technology for an electrified future.

Today, 21 of Jaguar Land Rover’s inspirational female employees have been recognized as part of Autocar’s ‘Great British Women in the Car Industry’ awards. Women from across the business made up more than one-fifth of the Top 100 list, more than any other British automotive organization. Elizabeth Hill from Product Engineering Quality was the overall winner of the Vehicle Development category following her role leading the successful launch of the 2018 model year Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, including the new plug-in hybrid versions.

Tex has a long and distinguished history as the supplier of wiper arms, wiper blades and rearview mirrors to the British motor industry, but sales of the latter have declined steeply in the last 12 months, owing to an influx of cheap foreign copies. Since 2008, Tex Automotive has been a wholly owned subsidiary of British Motor Heritage (BMH), whose Managing Director John Yea has this warning for the classic car fraternity: Examination of these fake products reveals they are of less robust quality and the glass is not ‘E’ marked, meaning the optical properties will not meet the legislative standard that existed when such items were originally manufactured. Yet more concerning is the discovery that some unscrupulous traders are passing them off as the genuine article – something we have proved through a dedicated ‘mystery shopping’ campaign. Needless to […]

Jaguar Vector Racing have broken the outright world and national electric speed records in a battery-powered boat. The unique Jaguar Vector V20E recorded an average speed of 88.61mph across the two legs of the famous 1km course on Coniston Water, England. The electric boat was designed and constructed by Jaguar Vector in partnership with Jaguar Racing’s technical partner Williams Advanced Engineering. Jaguar Vector co-founder and technical director Peter Dredge piloted the V20E.

After a six-month preparation and development program, a race-ready Bentley Bentayga is in Colorado and ready to take on the 96th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this weekend. Along the exceptionally challenging 12.42-mile course, which features 156 corners and a 4,720 ft climb, the Bentayga will have to average a minimum of 60 mph to achieve its target – to claim the outright Production SUV record. Tackling the challenge will be two-time overall Pikes Peak champion Rhys Millen, whose race team has been working tirelessly with Bentley Motorsport this year to prepare the car for “The Race to The Clouds”.

Aston Martin Racing’s brand new Vantage GTE recorded a double-points finish on its Le Mans 24 Hours debut. Despite coming into the world’s most grueling endurance race with only one competitive outing previously at Spa-Francorchamps, the two Vantage GTEs raced through the night with barely a hitch as the #95 car recorded its first top ten finish at the Circuit de la Sarthe. This was an impressive achievement for the 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8-powered race car, based on the highly-acclaimed road car borne of Aston Martin’s second century plan and driven by Danish duo Nicki Thiim, Marco Sørensen, and three-time Le Mans winner Darren Turner after it had to be rebuilt from a new frame and roll cage after a testing crash.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Rolls-Royce plc are two completely and distinctly different companies. The two companies branched in 1998 after BMW licensed the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo from Rolls-Royce plc and acquired the rights to the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem and Rolls-Royce grill shape trademarks from Volkswagen AG. Rolls-Royce plc is a British multinational public limited company incorporated in February 2011 that owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries.  Clear as mud? Now that the groundwork is out of the way, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars issued a statement today clarifying their financial standing. This was issued after Rolls-Royce plc that it is scrapping thousands of white-collar posts at the jet-engine giant in a bid to redress the balance and unleash the potential of an 80 billion-pound […]

Europe’s leading entertainment company Sky has signed an agreement with Aston Martin Lagonda and its motorsport division – Aston Martin Racing – to become the British marque’s official UK media partner. The announcement comes ahead of this weekend’s showpiece endurance race, the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. This exciting new partnership brings together two quintessentially British success stories to collaborate and forge a range of creative content together that focusses on both Aston Martin Racing’s motorsport activities in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Aston Martin Lagonda’s growth under its second-century business plan. 

The next new McLaren is just two weeks away from being revealed online ahead of a public debut at the UK’s 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed. To keep the world guessing, a second, tantalizing image has been released revealing a pair of formidable top-exit exhausts. This follows the issue last week of a partial view of its dramatic rear. The car, which will be driven up the famous Goodwood Hill Climb for the first time on Thursday, July 12, will be the fifth model to be announced under McLaren’s Track22 business plan. It will benefit from increased power, minimized weight, optimized aerodynamics, and enhanced driver engagement. It will also deliver track-focused dynamics. And like the McLaren Senna, the most recent model revealed by the Woking-based company, it will be limited to the few. The wait to learn more will be […]

As Aston Martin returns to Le Mans to defend its 2017 victory at the iconic 24-hour race, so the latest car in the exciting new AMR stable has been unveiled. Following hot on the heels of the DB11 AMR, Aston Martin has revealed the limited edition Rapide AMR. This production version of the concept shown at Geneva last year is limited to just 210 cars. AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing and the brand draws a direct engineering and aesthetic link between the company’s successful race team and its road cars. As such the Rapide AMR is a sports car capable of comfortably transporting a team of race drivers to a circuit on the other side of a continent and then tackling the track when they get there.

Two Series 1 E-type Jaguars were the top sellers at Barons’ British Heritage, Classic & Sports Cars sale at Sandown Park on June 5th. Barons had a really strong entry for the sale and, by the time the hammer fell for the final time, 65% of the 65 cars on offer had found new homes. The well-presented Old English white 1962 3.8 roadster selling for over top estimate at £99,000, while the opalescent blue 1964 4.2 FHC achieved £86,820.

Andreas Bareis has been appointed as Vehicle Line Director of McLaren Automotive’s Super Series product family. He will take up his position in July and will report directly to Chief Operating Officer Dr. Jens Ludmann. Andreas will be responsible for managing the development of the second generation of McLaren’s Super Series, the core of the British manufacturer’s range of sports cars and supercars, which began with the 12C and today includes the 720S. His responsibilities will include taking product developments from idea and concept through to development and testing, then on to market introduction.

MINI USA announced today that the 2019 MINI Hardtop 2 Door has earned a “2018 Top Safety Pick” award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The MINI Hardtop earns this designation when equipped with Active Driving Assistant and newly available LED headlights. The 2019 MINI Hardtop 2 Door received a “Good” rating across a wide range of crashworthiness tests, including “driver-side small overlap front”, “moderate overlap front”, “side, roof strength” and “head restraint” tests.