Highlights

Aston Martin Racing’s new FIA World Endurance Championship challenger – the Vantage GTE – heads East in search of its first podium this weekend, as the Super Season goes racing at Fuji Speedway in Japan. Following a highly encouraging performance in the previous round at Silverstone in August, where the new car qualified on the GTE Pro class front row and was a podium contender, the team aims to turn that upward momentum into success this weekend.

Morgan Motor Company has announced the first in a number of celebrations for its 110th anniversary year in 2019, which will see a series of ‘110 Anniversary’ models added to the line-up. Each of the ‘110 Anniversary’ models benefit from unique badging, denoting their significance as 110th-year editions, as well as an extensive list of specially selected performance and styling options included at no extra cost.

Jaguar Land Rover today reported total retail sales of 57,114 vehicles in September 2018, down 12.3% year on year despite strong sales for new models including the Range Rover Velar and the Jaguar I-PACE and E-PACE. Sales in China declined by 46.2%, as ongoing market uncertainty resulting from import duty changes and continued trade tensions held back consumer demand.

A one-off Land Rover Defender made a dramatic entrance at Selfridges in London, entering the famous department store through a first-floor window. The unique Selfridges Edition Defender Works V8 will form the centerpiece of the new-look menswear department at the Oxford Street store, but not before technicians from Land Rover Classic reassemble the vehicle in full view of shoppers.

MG Motor UK continues to be the fastest growing car manufacturer in the UK after achieving its most successful Q3 ever. Boosted by the launch of New MG3, the latest iteration of its successful B-segment hatchback, MG sold over 2,400 cars in Q3, beating last year’s volume by almost 82%. September’s sales results, taken from the latest Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) market report, show that MG topped 1,000 registrations in a single month for only the third time ever, reaching an impressive 1,010 sales in the plate-change month. This represents a 20% volume growth in a challenging market which fell by over 20% versus 2017.

Developed from the original Project Hero concept car, a unique lifesaving Land Rover Discovery has entered active service with the Austrian Red Cross disaster response team. The bespoke Discovery will provide eyes in the sky with a special drone and go-anywhere wheels on the ground, as an emergency mobile command center with the Austrian Red Cross disaster response teams.

Aston Martin Racing will give the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 its Nürburgring Nordschleife race debut in round eight of the VLN Endurance Championship, a four-hour race which takes place on 6 October. The event marks the first occasion the car, driven by three-time Le Mans class winner Darren Turner (GB) and 2016 Nürburgring 24 Hours winner Maxime Martin (BEL), will have been matched against GT3 opposition.

Our friend David Townsend over at Sportscar Art pointed out the photography of Bill Pack to me, and I am blown away. If you’ve never seen Bill Pack’s automotive art you owe it to yourself to take a look at one of the most unique photographers practicing the craft. His technique of “painting with light” brings a completely fresh look to vintage and classic cars. Presently, Bill is working on publishing a curated collection of some of his finest work into a leather bound, 12″ x 12″ coffee table book—truly a must have for any car guys automotive library. Bill’s Kickstarter campaign is getting near the end (just 8 days to go) and is still a bit short of the goal. V12 Automotive Art would make a handsome gift for any car enthusiast. It’s a self-funded effort and he has about […]

Calling on enthusiasts, collectors and car hunters worldwide, Lotus needs your help in tracking down the long-lost Lotus Mark I, the first car built by company founder Colin Chapman. As the British marque continues its 70th celebrations, it wants fans from around the world to pick up the trail of the most elusive Lotus ever – the competition car that the young engineer hand-built in a small London garage owned by his then girlfriend’s parents. Overcoming the standard car’s limitation Chapman applied innovative approaches to improve its performance in challenging trials competitions.

Aston Martin drivers Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam clinched the 2018 British GT Championship title at Donington Park in a historic day for the sport. Haigh became the first woman to be crowned outright British GT champion in a stellar year racing the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 alongside Optimum Motorsport team-mate Adam. Her debut season in the series included the first pole position and victory for a woman in the season-opener at Oulton Park in April, followed by another at Brands Hatch last month.

The all-new Bentley Continental GT has won Gold in two key categories of the prestigious German Design Awards – one of the most highly respected design competitions in the world. The luxury Grand Tourer was named winner by a jury of independent experts in the categories for best ‘Exterior Premium Brand’ and best ‘Interior’. Designed, engineered and handcrafted in Great Britain, the third generation Continental GT has been launched to global acclaim. Blending the highest level of attention to detail and artistry with refinement and performance, it represents the very essence of the Bentley brand. 

His Royal Highness, The Earl of Wessex, joined employees at Jaguar Land Rover North America Friday at the official building dedication ceremony of its new state-of-the-art North American Headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey. The Earl joined employees to unveil a special plaque and commemorate the official opening of the new headquarters. Prior to the dedication ceremony, HRH met with various employees who had served time in the United States Armed Forces, as well as employees who spearhead charity efforts within the community. The Earl also took a brief tour of the new 30,000 sq. ft. product research, training, and development center.

Dr. Andy Palmer, President and Group Chief Executive of Aston Martin Lagonda, today announced plans to create the Palmer Foundation, a privately-funded programme to create industrial apprenticeship opportunities for young people in the UK. Andy Palmer, who began his own automotive career as an apprentice, has undertaken to fund the scheme, which will also be supported by existing shareholders, members of the senior management team at Aston Martin Lagonda and Hitomi Palmer, wife of the CEO.

With this being the height of show season, we decided that this week we should take a moment to look at the judging process in a concours d’elegance. Now, different shows do judging differently. There are, of course, the popular choice car shows, but even within the concours shows the judging can be varied.  Our video is The Judging Process at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Some shows that I have attended have cared more about the presentation and condition of a car than its originality. Other shows have stressed original equipment and options even if that meant that condition may suffer a bit. Still, other shows want every part of the car to be of an original type and quality or be period correct, but the part itself does not need to have been original. Again, there are many variations and it […]

To celebrate the golden half-century of one of the world’s favorite films Beaulieu is to launch its Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50 years exhibition which can be seen in the National Motor Museum from October 20th. The exhibition will tell the story of Chitty as the star of the fantasmagorical family adventure and feature an original screen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Humber 8hp driven by Truly Scrumptious in the much-loved musical film.

Aston Martin’s next step into the mid-engined hypercar market has been confirmed with the release of the first official details of Project ‘003’. Project ‘003’ is the third hypercar to be developed by Aston Martin following the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro (formerly ‘001’ and ‘002’), 003 has its DNA deeply rooted in concepts and technology currently being developed for those revolutionary road and track-only machines.

Once again Abingdon Spares participated in and helped to sponsor the British Reliability Run, this time the Connecticut version, over the weekend of September 14, 15, and 16. We completed over 650 trouble free miles from Newtown, CT all the way up to Lake Placid, NY and back in two and a half days. A total of 8 teams participated in this inaugural event, two Spitfires, two TR6s, two MGBs, one MGA, and an NG, some of you may know this British Kit Car, designed like a classic roadster and based on MGB mechanicals, a very clever idea.

First Jaguar, now MINI. Brexit is already playing havoc with the business of making cars in the United Kingdom and striking fear into global automakers. BMW said Tuesday that it would shut its MINI factory in England for one month of maintenance immediately after Brexit because it can’t be sure of getting the parts it needs if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a trade deal. Brexit will take effect on March 29. The MINI shutdown will begin on April 1. “While we believe this worst-case scenario is an unlikely outcome, we have to plan for it,” said BMW, which employs 4,200 workers at its MINI plant in Oxford.