Bas Leinders, Sporting Manager, McLaren GT - Headsho
Highlights

Bas Leinders Appointed Sporting Manager of McLaren GT

Ahead of the 2016 season, McLaren GT has added to its off-track team with the appointment of Bas Leinders to the role of Sporting Manager. Confirmation of a number of new McLaren GT customer teams for the 2016 season has further strengthened the GT3 grids around the world. Leinders brings valuable experience to the teams on the pitwall and he will work with customer teams to further optimise the potential of the 650S GT3. Leinders, 40, has enjoyed a successful GT and single-seat racing career, which included winning the German Formula 3 in 1998 before joining the McLaren junior team alongside former Formula 1™ driver Nick Heidfeld, and a role as Formula 1™ test and reserve driver. The move to GT racing saw Leinders claim back-to-back FIA GT G2 championship wins between 2006 and 2008 among further accolades. The Belgian […]

VotW - TVR's Oldschool Blackpool Factory
Articles

VotW – TVR’s Oldschool Blackpool Factory

I can’t resist stories of the way cars used to be made – back when automobiles weren’t so much produced as crafted. You know, back when every other car that slides off an automated assembly line resembles nothing so much as an over-ripe jellybean. Honestly, it wasn’t that long ago. Our VotW this week goes back to an old Top Gear episode with a much younger Jeremy Clarkson visiting the TVR factory in Blackpool, Lancashire. The video, from 1995, shows a factory that is worlds away from the automotive assembly plants we picture today. TVR was started by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947 in Blackpool. For nearly 60 years the company produced fabulous if ofter quirky sports cars in fits and starts and under various ownership. In 2006, the factory at Blackpool was closed by then-owner and Russian businessman Nikolai Smolensky. […]

MINI HATCH WINS PREMIUM SUPERMINI OF THE YEAR AT 2016 BUSINESSCAR AWARDS
Corporate Business

MINI Hatch Voted Premium Supermini Car of Year 2016

Readers of BusinessCar magazine have voted the MINI Hatch as Premium Supermini Car of the Year 2016. This marks the fourteenth consecutive year that the MINI Hatch has won the coveted award. Excellent performance alongside low running costs and CO2 emissions, coupled with strong residual values are just some of the qualities of the MINI 3-door Hatch which have continued to win over BusinessCar magazine readers for nearly a decade and a half.

Practical Classics Guide to Triumph Stag 1
Classic Cars

Practical Classics Guide to Triumph Stag

The Triumph Stag combines classic car style with on the road fun. The noise, the looks, the effortlessness… it’s an intoxicating driver’s car and has been underrated for years. Now Practical Classics magazine has released their “Complete Guide to the Triumph Stag“. Quoting their announcement, “lavishly illustrated, this volume collects a wealth of historical, technical and personal insight from the pages of Practical Classics magazine, including the full Stag story: from drawing board to production, an exclusive foreword by ex-Standard Triumph Development Engineer, Dennis Barbet and rally legend Russell Brookes’ personal take on the Stag at the limit.” Buying & Owning Practical Classics gets to the truth about the much-maligned Stag V8. Complete with tips and guidance for project buyers and budding restorers alike, we’ll tell you how to buy a good one without getting your fingers burnt. Restoring & […]

Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat British Cars
Highlights

Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat – Call For Cars

The Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat (KIMR) has put out a call that they have space for a few more concours quality cars. The 2016 Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat rolls onto Kiawah Island April 15-17, 2016. Located at the entrance to the famed Ocean Course, this celebration of outstanding automobiles features an entire weekend of events. More than one hundred unique and rare Concours cars will compete for the Best of Show trophy and other awards on Sunday, April 17. Collectors are encouraged to submit entries at www.kiawahconcours.com. There is no application fee, but all entries are subject to a selection process.

Conceptualized and created in 1999 for the brand’s 40th Birthday, the David Bowie Art Mini remains an eccentric reflection of both the musician and brand’s tie-in with modern music culture. Photo credit: autocar.co.uk
Classic Cars

David Bowie and the Mini

Way before the fame – the glam rock image, flamboyance, Space Oddity and Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie was a creative teenager with a plastic saxophone and a love for the Mini.  Having grown up with a penchant for music, his enthusiasm for players such as Charles Mingus and John Coltrane paved an early road for his transition to fame at an early age.  At 15 years old, Bowie formed his first band, the Konrads, playing mostly at family gatherings and weddings.

Jaguar F-Type SVR with 575 Horse Power
Highlights

SVR Jaguar F-Type with 575 Horsepower

Word on the street and the net is that the Special Vehicle Operations unit of Jaguar Land Rover is preparing to unveil a special version of the already fantastic Jaguar F-Type. According to sources including Jalopnik, the SVR F-Type will make an estimated 575 horsepower propelling to 200 miles per hour. This is coming from the same group who produced the Range Rover Sport SVR. What appears to be brochure pics and some details trickled out today on Autoblog.nl, Autovisie.nl and other Dutch car sites. According to reports, the SVR F-Type has a supercharged V8, all-wheel drive, and will apparently do the zero to 60 mph (0-100 km/h) dash in about 3.7 seconds. While the manual remains available for the V6 only, the SVR will deliver its power via an eight-speed automatic transmission. The car should be available in both coupe […]

William Medcalf Benjafields 1
Bentley

William Medcalf Vintage Bentley Prepares Cars for Peking to Paris Challenge

Preparation for the gruelling Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is entering its final stages at William Medcalf Vintage Bentley. The Bentley specialist is preparing all four Vintage Bentleys entering the event, which covers more than 8500 miles over 33 days and over all terrains, including long gravel tracks, dirt roads, the Gobi desert and across Alpine roads making it a real endurance test of both driver and machine.

MORGAN MOTOR COMPANY AWARDED £6M WORTH OF FUNDING TO DEVELOP NEW HYBRID POWERTRAIN TECHNOLOGIES
Highlights

Morgan Developing Hybrid Powertrains

Morgan Motor Company is pleased to announce that it will lead a £6m project to develop new powertrain technologies, in collaboration with UK companies Delta Motorsport and Potenza Technology. With funding from the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre, the consortium will develop hybrid and electric powertrain systems which will significantly reduce vehicle CO2 emissions and deliver best-in-class fuel economy. The technologies developed through this project will be introduced progressively on Morgan’s range of hand-built sports cars from 2019, with hybrid propulsion available on all of its models by the end of the decade. The advantages in terms of performance, fuel economy and refinement are expected to increase demand across its most important markets in UK and across Europe. This will result in a growth of the workforce at the Malvern factory and within the partnering companies. Morgan Managing Director, Steve Morris […]

Bob Tullius - Vintage Racing’s Premier Organization Salutes Trans-Am’s 50th Anniversary
Classic Cars

Bob Tullius SVRA Grand Marshall at Sebring 2016

The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) today announced that hall of fame sports car legend Bob Tullius will serve as grand marshal for its March 3-5 race weekend at the historic airport circuit. SVRA will share the venue with the TransAm Series as it marks its 50th anniversary in 2016. Sebring hosted the very first Trans-Am race in March 1966 and Tullius brought his Dodge Dart sedan home a winner. “Bob Tullius’ contributions to auto racing extend well beyond his hundreds of victories as a driver and team owner on tracks around the world,” said SVRA President and CEO Tony Parella. “Bob set the standard for presenting motorsport as a business platform for sponsors. His cars were always immaculately prepared and he helped usher in the modern era of branding through association with race teams.”

Jaguar Land Rover Manufacturing Lead in Britain
Corporate Business

Jaguar Land Rover Lead Britain in Manufacturing

Jaguar Land Rover has become the largest automotive manufacturer in Britain. The news follows today’s announcement from the SMMT that UK car manufacturing has had its best year in a decade producing 1,587,677 vehicles in 2015.  Jaguar Land Rover produced more than 500,000 cars and commercial vehicles at its three vehicle manufacturing plants in Solihull, Birmingham and Liverpool. Under Tata Ownership, the company has seen a dramatic transformation in its business since 2009 when total annual production stood at 158,000 units. Since that time, Jaguar Land Rover has become the fastest growing UK automotive manufacturer with annual output rising by almost 70% thanks to more than £11bn of R&D investment to create an expanded and enhanced range from the two iconic British marques. In 2015 alone, Jaguar and Land Rover brought 11 new and refreshed cars to market, including the […]

Parts in a Warehouse
Articles

Parts Pirates

“Yo ho ho and a bottle of ‘automotive snake oil’ ”??? It seems in today’s “buy it now” world of eBay and Paypal, we can now have useless junk sent directly to our front door without so much as picking it up and saying, “$50 for that?!”

Aston Martin DB10, July 2015. Photo: Drew Gibson
Aston Martin

DB10 Aston Martin to be Auctioned for Charity

The Aston Martin DB10 – the first car created exclusively for James Bond by British luxury brand Aston Martin – is to go under the auctioneer’s gavel at the London auction house of Christie’s on 18th February with proceeds donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. ‘Spectre – The Auction’ celebrates the release of the 24th Bond film on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD with 24 special auction lots going under the hammer for charity, led by the Aston Martin DB10. Celebrating the great British brand’s half century with Bond, which started with the iconic DB5, the DB10 gives a glimpse of the future design direction for the next generation of Aston Martins. Production of the DB10 was strictly limited to ten examples of the bespoke sports car which was developed and hand-built by the designers, engineers and artisan craftspeople at Aston […]

Carbon Fibre Confirmed By TVR For New Sportscar 1
Highlights

Carbon Fibre Confirmed By TVR For New Sportscar

The iconic British sports car maker, TVR, has announced that carbon fibre construction options will be available when the car goes on sale in the coming months. TVR will offer a lightweight carbon fibre composite structure to feature on its latest full-production model, thanks to the revolutionary techniques of design legend Gordon Murray, and has confirmed that its initial limited edition production run of cars will feature carbon construction as standard. Famous for his design leads in F1 and on road cars, Gordon Murray has developed an innovative ground effect aero chassis and body package using his innovative iStream® manufacturing methods. iStream® Carbon allows TVR to produce a revolutionary stand-alone tub and shell made from carbon fibre composite at a fraction of the cost that other methods allow.

The new MINI Clubman ALL4 1
Highlights

New MINI Clubman ALL4 Launched

MINI is today launching the all new MINI Clubman ALL4 – the brand’s first all-wheel drive model in the C-segment. This launch marks the MINI brand’s further advance into the premium compact segment and represents the first ALL4 model to be built at MINI Plant Oxford.   MINI’s ALL4 all-wheel drive system, which has previously only been offered on MINI Countryman models, has been specially redeveloped to ensure sportier handling and improved versatility to further enhance the everyday practicality of the new MINI Clubman. MINI Clubman was launched in October 2015 and is notable as MINI’s first vehicle in the competitive C-segment. Now, the brand is offering something new to the market in the form of Clubman ALL4. Available with two of the latest MINI engines, the MINI Cooper S Clubman ALL4 and the MINI Cooper SD Clubman ALL4.

McLaren Automotive announces four new retail locations 2
Corporate Business

McLaren Announces Four New Retail Locations in US

McLaren Automotive continues to strengthen its retail footprint with the opening of four new retail locations in the US. The appointment of McLaren retailers in Bergen County NJ, Boston MA, Houston TX and Palm Beach FL is an important step in the development of the brand and follows the introduction of the new Sports Series model range, which just arrived in showrooms a few weeks ago. The four new retail locations now offer sales and aftersales facilities for all McLaren models, and they will soon complete their new state-of-the-art retail facilities featuring the latest McLaren visual identity. These locations will provide the ultimate in retail experience coupled with market-leading customer service and personal approach.

VotW - Group 44 with Bob Tullius
Articles

VotW – Group 44 with Bob Tullius

We are very happy for our Video of the Week to feature a snapshot of a fantastic video for fans of Triumphs and racing alike. John Clancy at Triumph DVD has put out a new DVD that brings you the full story of the Group 44 Inc. race team featuring Bob Tullius, his crew and other important people who were there at the time. From their humble TR3 origins to taking Jaguar back to Le Mans in 1984 with the XJR-5 GTP cars, this is the complete, amazing history. This is the complete history of the Group 44 Inc. race team which was so dominant in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) racing in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. From the origins of the team when Bob Tullius first joined up with fellow racer […]

Triumph TR2, 3, 3A, 4 & 4A - Enthusiast's Restoration Manual by Roger Williams
Classic Cars

Review – Triumph TR2, 3, 3A, 4 & 4A – Enthusiast’s Restoration Manual

Triumph TR2, 3, 3A, 4 & 4A – Enthusiast’s Restoration Manual by Roger Williams has been released in ebook format by Veloce Publishing. Previously available as two separate volumes, this book, which covers all Triumph TR2, 3, 3A, 4 & 4A models, explains the characteristics of the different models, what to look out for when purchasing and how to restore a TR cost effectively. As well as his own substantial experience and that of other amateur restorers, the author had the help of various TR specialists and professional restorers. These books, in their separate forms, have been around for years and are the go-to reference works on the subject of the TRs. To be clear, this is not a shop manual or handbook. To carry out any significant maintenance or repair on your TR you will need to obtain one […]

Silverstone Classic's power show at the NEC 1
Classic Cars

Silverstone Classic Icons Wow at Autosport International

The world’s biggest classic motor racing festival served up a stunning show of power at the annual Autosport International, staged at Birmingham’s NEC from 14-17 January. The Silverstone Classic teamed up with Classic & Sports Car magazine to create a very special showcase putting the spotlight on several of the mouth-watering race grids that will star on the action-packed racecard at this summer’s spectacular three-day extravaganza (29-31 July). Presented under the evocative ‘When We Were Kings’ banner, the prominent presentation at the NEC was one of the show’s major attractions, proving hugely popular with the sell-out numbers of visitors.

Petersen Museum Steve McQueen 1956 Jaguar XKSS
Articles

Petersen Automotive Museum

Editor’s Note: Our “expert of the auctions”, Bob Seidler, recently visited the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and sent in this report. This was only after texting me far more photos than I can run and making me extremely jealous in the process. For all of us car buffs out there, be sure to add the Petersen Automotive Museum to your must-see list.  Over the years, I had heard it was a pretty cool place, and I can now confirm…it is the best automotive viewing experience I‘ve ever had.  While many of us have visited museums where the cars are lined up and little ID plates tell the basic facts, The Petersen takes visitor engagement to a new level.  Lots of detail and the cars are displayed in a manner that you can walk around them.  Most are on […]