Racing and Competition

Aston Martin Racing is once again ready to take on the world’s premier endurance series, with the team announcing its three-car line-up for the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) today. Fielding two V8 Vantage GTE cars in GTE Pro and one in GTE Am, the team’s entry to the series and this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans was confirmed during a web conference held by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in Le Mans.

We decided to go a little more toward the sporting side this week – guess that is still a carry over from Daytona this past weekend. So, our Video of the Week this time is titled “Brits Who Made The Modern World: The Lotus 25”. In this 22 minute film, Peter Snow finds out how Britain’s successful Formula One industry has its origins in a remarkable amateur racing club and a visionary group of motor enthusiasts. He meets the surviving members of the Lotus Engineering team whose revolutionary car, the Lotus 25, changed the sport forever. To quote our old friend Wikipedia: The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in F1. In the hands of Jim Clark it took […]

Bentley Motorsport has traveled 17,000km from its Crewe headquarters to New South Wales in Australia to take on its first challenge of the 2017 season – Bathurst 12 Hours – where the team is looking for a win on the world-famous Mount Panorama circuit. A pair of Bentley Continental GT3s is entering the endurance race that sees more than 50 cars from the world’s leading manufacturers battle it out on the tight and twisting walled roads that wind over the mountain.

The MINI JCW Team took the checkered flag earlier today at Daytona International Speedway, winning their first race ever in the Street Tuner class of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series. With LAP Motorsports Team Owner Luis Perocarpi on top of the pit box, drivers Mat Pombo and Derek Jones held off heavy pressure from a number of competitors for more than four hours in order to bring the #73 MINI JCW to victory lane. The 2017 season is only the second full season for the team in the series. We knew going into the race today that we were going to be fast and that we’d have a good chance to win this race. I am so proud of everyone on this team for their hard work. A win at the high banks of Daytona to start the […]

The 570S GT4 will make its North American competitive track debut this weekend at the iconic Daytona International Speedway, as the first customer-run examples of the latest GT model from McLaren take on the four hour Continental Tire BMW Endurance Challenge. Six examples of the 570S GT4 are set to contest the championship throughout the 2017 season, which commences at the famous 3.5-mile circuit in Florida. Customer teams VOLT Racing, C360R and Motorsports in Action will each field a pair of cars in the CTSC Grand Sport (GS) class. The category has attracted some of the world’s best GT4 outfits, and features 20 cars on the entry list for the season-opening round. This historic debut this weekend for the 570S GT4 continues the long-standing tradition of McLaren sportscars racing Stateside which dates back to 1966. McLaren has fielded cars in […]

Aston Martin Racing is set to kick off the 2017 racing season early, with the marque set to contest the Rolex 24 at Daytona this weekend with its V12 Vantage GT3. The IQ Option liveried V12 Vantage GT3 will take on the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship’s opening round with four of the team’s regular FIA World Endurance Championship drivers at the wheel.

In the annals of motor racing, few machines are as iconic as the Lotus-Climax Type 33, chassis number R11, the car driven by Jim Clark to first place in the 1965 Belgian, British, German and Syracuse Grands Prix and the Lotus in which he won his second World Championship. It is only right that this amazing piece of motorsport history be the centrepiece of the Motor Sport Hall of Fame at Race Retro, the international historic motorsport show, held at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, from 24 – 26 February, where R11 will make its first public appearance in over four decades. 

A new era will begin for McLaren Automotive this March with the launch of the second generation of its Super Series at the 87th Geneva International Motor Show. The first of the 15 new cars cited in the company’s Track22 Business Plan, the second-generation Super Series is also the first replacement of a product family by the British manufacturer of luxury sports and supercars. “Super Series is the core of the McLaren business and personifies the blend of extreme performance, crafted luxury and unparalleled driver involvement that is the McLaren heartland,” explained McLaren Automotive CEO, Mike Flewitt. “This is the first time we have replaced a product family and the new Super Series will be absolutely true to McLaren’s pioneering spirit in being a revolutionary leap forwards, both for our brand and the supercar segment.” The new Super Series is […]

A truly incredible collection of Formula 1 heritage is set to go on display for the first time at Autosport International in January. Classic Team Lotus have confirmed all seven remaining Lotus type 49 racing cars will be present at Europe’s foremost motorsport show between 12-15* January. The late Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe designed the Lotus 49 with a Ford Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine at its heart. The show at the NEC in January 2017 marks 50 years since this pioneering F1 car first raced – and won – with the legendary Jim Clark behind the wheel at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

Next summer’s Silverstone Classic will feature more than eight decades of glittering motorsport history, with confirmation that the acclaimed Kidston Trophy for Pre-War Sports Cars is returning to the packed on-track program in 2017.

The Jaguar Classic Challenge returns in 2017 with two brand new events confirmed in the five-race series for pre-1966 Jaguars. A new date for the Jaguar Classic Challenge calendar is the Silverstone Classic on 28-30 July. This special summer weekend will be the third round in the Challenge and is expected to draw a full grid of stunning classic Jaguar racing cars.

The Aston Martin Vantage GT8 will make its debut at the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race in February 2017 with R-Motorsport, competing in the invitational class for production cars. Aston Martin works driver, Darren Turner (GB), will lead the charge and will be joined by one of the R-Motorsport team owners, Florian Kamelger (I), and Markus Lungstrass (DE). Held annually at Mount Panorama in New South Wales, Australia, the Bathurst 12 Hour is technically a street circuit that presents a multitude of challenges, not least the tight and narrow section that runs across the top of the mountain. In stature, it is as notorious as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours.

Factory Driver Alvaro Parente secured P2 on the grid for customer team K-PAX Racing ahead of this weekend’s Motul Sepang 12 Hours, continuing his strong season with the US-based team. After progressing through the qualifying sessions to the Top 15 shootout, the Portuguese driver set a blistering laptime of 2m 02.764s driving its #9 McLaren 650S GT3 – just 0.130s off pole. Parente’s best lap in the session driving the 650S GT3 – which he has claimed six race wins this season, helping secure three 2016 Pirelli World Challenge titles – came following a strong run of form in the three practice sessions ahead of Qualifying at the event. The Portuguese driver was consistently among the fastest on track, ending two of the three free practice sessions at the top of the timesheets. During the final top 15 shootout, he […]

Caterham has unveiled a new nomenclature for its series of domestic motorsport championships, ahead of the 2017 season. The new system was developed to better reflect the road car model range and bring the titles of the six championships more up to date. Further alterations are expected to be made ahead of the 2018 racing season.

Aston Martin’s Innovation Partnership with Red Bull Racing is to be extended to cover the 2017 season following an agreement signed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Aston Martin is also confirming that all 150 road car versions of its groundbreaking AM-RB 001 hypercar have been sold out. Customer deliveries of the AM-RB 001 will commence in early 2019. Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey, Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichman and Aston Martin’s Chief Special Operations Officer, David King, created the AM-RB 001 to provide the ultimate blend of cutting edge F1TM technology with Aston Martin’s signature sports car design. Just 175 examples, including 25 track-only specials, will be built, with all 150 road versions now allocated to customers.

MINI USA is proud to congratulate amateur racer Craig Wilcox on his recent championship victories in the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series and the Tire Rack Solo Nationals presented by Garmin VIRB. Wilcox, of Blue Springs, Mo., finished as the Year-End Points Winner in the ProSolo Series and was crowned the National Champion of the Solo Nationals in September at the Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, Neb. The long time MINI owner was driving his 2012 MINI Cooper S Hardtop, which doubles as his day-to-day primary vehicle. It was the fifth time Wilcox finished as the Year-End Points Winner in the ProSolo Series and his fourth Solo Series National Championship. Even more remarkable, Wilcox finished with the largest margin of victory ever reported for the SCCA Solo National Championship with a class of 60+ competitors.  Wilcox was clocked at 115.778 seconds in the […]

Aston Martin Racing drivers Nicki Thiim (DN) and Marco Sørensen (DN) have today been crowned world champions after taking victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale in Bahrain. Heading into the Bahrain race, the pair led the GT Drivers title battle by 12 points, with the team controlling the GTE Pro championship with a 2-point advantage. While a third place finish would provide the necessary points to take the GT Drivers title, the Danes claimed victory in style by taking their second win of the season, securing the GTE Pro championship for Aston Martin Racing in the process.

MINI announced the start of a new chapter in its long, illustrious motorsport history with the introduction of its latest in a long line of cross-country rally car greats: the MINI John Cooper Works Rally. Now there is a new MINI champion in the making… MINI John Cooper Works Rally: racing ahead into the future The introduction of the all-new MINI John Cooper Works Rally underlines MINI Motorsport’s long-term commitment to its involvement in motorsport especially in the arena of rally-raid and the FIA World Cup, the legendary Dakar Rally and the latest long-distance endurance challenge of the Silk Way Rally.