Articles by Staff

The 1969 film ‘The Italian Job‘ and its fleet of Minis has been named the best British film ever, following a survey by Vue Entertainment. The heist film starring Michael Caine and three patriotically-colored Minis beat other flicks such as The Full Monty and Zulu to the top spot. The Italian Job is widely recognized for having some of the most recognizable scenes in cinema (and horrifying to car lovers) including the destruction by the Mafia of a Jaguar E-Type, the chase through Turin following the heist and the final scene at the end of the film, where a bus carrying the £4 million of gold bullion teeters on the edge of a cliff.

The New Jaguar E-PACE has set an official Guinness World Records™ title during its world premiere in London. Leaping into the record books, Jaguar’s compact performance SUV achieved an epic 15.3 metre-long jump, complete with a 270-degree corkscrew-like barrel roll. Behind the wheel was legendary British stunt driver Terry Grant. One of the best things about watching this barrel roll, other than the sheer marvel of such a stunt, is that you get a full 360-degree view of the E-PACE. Let’s face it, it is hard to hide much when you soft white (or aluminum) underbelly is exposed for all the world to see.

Today, Rolls-Royce has announced that it will celebrate the 50th anniversary year of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in its own way by bringing the colorful Rolls-Royce Phantom V, famous for being owned by John Lennon, back home to London for the British public to see. Currently owned by the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, ‘The John Lennon Phantom V’ will travel from Canada to London to join ‘The Great Eight Phantoms’ – A Rolls-Royce Exhibition, at Bonhams on New Bond Street, an area visited regularly by Lennon in the late 1960s in this very car. Members of the public will be able to see ‘The John Lennon Phantom V’ at Bonhams from 29 July to the 2 August.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Britain’s biggest carmaker, said on Thursday it is to build its new E-PACE compact sports utility vehicle in Austria and China, the first of its cars only to be manufactured outside of its home market. JLR said its three British plants were either full or at near capacity but the decision will spark fears the firm is looking to boost its output by using overseas operations, rather than invest in greater capacity at home.

While DNA factors can often find the answer to our own health concerns, what about utilizing similar statistics to maintain the health of a collector car? The Atlanta Concours has entered a multi-year partnership with Alpharetta-based VehicleDNA, an engine, and transmission testing company that provides a complete analysis of all engine and transmission fluids, to offer collector car owners the reassurance of knowing the current health of their vehicle. All registered cars for the Atlanta Concours will have the opportunity to receive a complimentary fluid analysis throughout the weekend, September 30-October 1st, (a $75 value), and receive a detailed assessment of a component’s condition, as well as recommendations for addressing potential problems within 48-72 hours.

London Taxi Company (LTC) has relaunched as LEVC, marking the next stage in the company’s transformation. Underpinned by an investment totaling £325m, LEVC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely, has the single-minded ambition to be the urban commercial vehicle provider of choice for cities around the world. Chris Gubbey, CEO, LEVC said: Today is an incredibly exciting day for the company, for the world’s cities, for the air we breathe and for the drivers of commercial vehicles. The launch of LEVC marks Britain’s leadership as a first mover in creating the world’s only dedicated electric vehicle company for the urban commercial market.

Since the first reveal of the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar in July 2016, Aston Martin, Red Bull Advanced Technologies and project partner AF Racing have been working intensively to further develop the Valkyrie’s aerodynamics, body styling and cockpit packaging. The teardrop-shaped cockpit’s upper body surfaces and lower tub contours follow the envelope of space available between the huge full length Venturi tunnels that run either side of the cockpit floor. Drawing huge quantities of air beneath the car to feed the rear diffuser, these tunnels are the key to generating the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s extraordinary levels of downforce while keeping the upper body surfaces free from additional aerodynamic devices that would spoil the purity of the styling.

An impressive 282 Jaguars of every shape and size purred into Beaulieu for the second Simply Jaguar rally which attracted as many as 634 participants. The graceful ‘big cats’ gathered in the grounds of the National Motor Museum to join the display which ranged from post-war classics to the latest models of the legendary British motoring marque.

Rover V8 – the Story of the Engine by James Taylor tells the fascinating story of the engine that created a legend in its own lifetime. Starting life as a General Motors design in 1961, but withdrawn three years later in favor of cheaper technology, it reached Rover by chance in the mid-1960s. Few other British companies then had V8 engines in production, and Rover immediately gained a special status when the V8 entered UK production during 1967. This was an extraordinarily compact design and also extraordinarily light, thanks to its all-aluminum alloy construction. It was not a temperamental high-performance engine, but had a well-proven and simple architecture that made it both reliable and easy to work on. Small wonder, then, that the Rover V8 was bought by sports car makers who needed a light, compact and powerful engine. Small wonder […]

Aston Martin’s Red Bull Soapbox team “24 Seconds of Le Ally Pally” has taken second at the 2017 Red Bull Soapbox Race at Alexandra Palace, after a dramatic performance in front of 22,000 strong crowds. With an extensive ten-minute testing program for the GTE racer complete, the team headed to Alexandra Palace in the knowledge that at the very least, they’d deliver an entertaining run.

JD Classics – one of the world’s leading classic car racing and restoration businesses –  has launched its very own five-speed all-synchromesh gearbox for classic Jaguars. Designed by a team of JD Classics’ expert technicians and a well-respected motorsport engineering company, the gearbox is available to order now. Engineered with synchromesh on all ratios, helical cut gears and a reinforced aluminium cast casing, it is capable of handling up to 400hp and 350 ft/lb of torque.

Ahead of the Range Rover Velar arriving in showrooms, retail sales for Jaguar Land Rover reached 51,591 vehicles this month, up 11.0% on June 2016. Retail sales for the quarter totaled 137,463 vehicles, up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Retail sales for June were up year-on-year in China (65.3%), the UK (3.8%), Europe (3.7%) and North America (3.2%) whilst sales in Overseas markets were down 8.5%, due to challenging conditions in emerging markets such as Brazil, the Middle East and Russia.

British sports car manufacturer, Caterham, celebrated 60 years of its revered Seven by bringing together some of the most esteemed examples in its history. Powering around the twists and turns of the Longcross test track was the original Lotus Seven Series 1. Reaching a top speed of 78mph and featuring a Ford 100E engine and aluminum bodywork, the Series 1 was the ideal, lightweight sports car when it was launched by Colin Chapman in 1957.

Making its global dynamic debut among the most powerful and extreme performance cars in the world at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the new Jaguar XE SV Project 8 claimed the hotly-contested Michelin Supercar Paddock Showstopper Trophy – just four days after the car was officially unveiled. As the only four-door car in the Michelin Supercar Run, the Jaguar vehicle faced formidable competition in the 50-car paddock, but voters in an online poll hosted by Michelin UK singled out Project 8 as one of the six most popular cars of the weekend, qualifying it for the overall Showstopper final on Sunday afternoon. 

From the freezing Arctic Circle to the dust and heat of Dubai, the Jaguar  E-PACE has been subjected to a diverse testing programs, ensuring it is not only a driver’s car but a dynamic and entertaining performance SUV too. Jaguar unleashed hell* and high water** to ensure that E-PACE worked on all surfaces and in all weathers. More than 150 prototypes were built during a grueling 25-month test program which took place across four continents to ensure not only extreme durability but that the vehicle lives up to the Art of Performance philosophy.

With the 2017 18-day, 4000-mile ‘Jaguar XK Club Round Britain Coastal Tour, supporting Prostate Cancer UK’ completed, the 100+ classic XKs involved and their crews can now take a rest and reflect on a very successful event. The main aim of this unique event was to raise funds and awareness of this cancer which kills a man in the UK every 45 minutes. The fund-raising target was £50,000 and this has now been exceeded.

Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) is celebrating another hugely impressive performance feat, having dominated its class at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017 Hillclimb. With Test Driver Oliver Webb at the wheel, BAC’s One-of-a-Kind Mono supercar clocked a sensational 49.54-second lap up the iconic hill to top the Supercars and Race Cars for the Road Shootout leaderboard.

It has been described as ‘the most important Aston Martin ever produced’. And in August this 1956 DBR1 could also become the most expensive British car ever when it goes under the hammer at one of the year’s biggest auctions. It will be sold at RM Sotheby’s flagship Monterey sale taking place on August 18 and 19 during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance motoring week in the US.