Racing and Competition

Bentley Motors will compete in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the first time on 24th June 2018 with the award-winning Bentayga. The 600 bhp, W12-powered Bentayga will tackle the famous 12.42-mile Colorado Springs hill climb with record-breaking ambitions, aiming to navigate the 156 corners of ascending asphalt quicker than any SUV before.

Jaguar Racing has announced its first Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY partner, with Michelin joining as official tire supplier ahead of the series debut season later in the year. During an on-stage appearance at Autosport International, Jaguar Racing Team Director James Barclay revealed that leading motorsport tire supplier Michelin will provide tires for all 20 Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY racecars at each round of the world’s first international championship for production-based electric cars.

Leaving behind the bright lights of Hong Kong, Panasonic Jaguar Racing head to the hustle and bustle of Marrakesh, Morocco, for the next installment of the FIA Formula E Championship. The third E-Prix of the season, on 13 January, starts at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan before winding its way through the streets of Marrakesh. In the shadow of the city’s world-famous medina, the 1.86-mile track is one of the longest in the series, pushing teams to prioritize energy management.

The start of the 40th edition of Dakar – the tenth in its present South America theatre – is now only hours away. Shakedown testing is complete and the MINI family of seven international two-man race crews, together with the large support team from MINI Motorsport partner X-raid, are fully prepared to undertake the challenges the Dakar will undoubtedly present throughout its 9,000 km distance that spans 14 race stages. The 2018 Dakar takes place across three countries with the starting point in Lima, Peru on Saturday 6th January 2018, before crossing into Bolivia and onwards to the finish line 14 stages later in Argentina on 20 January 2018. Each country will feature race stages that take place across natural splendor, which also happens to host the toughest cross-country racing conditions known to man and machine.

Christmas has come early for Aston Martin Racing, as the team received a special delivery in the form of Belgian GT and DTM ace, Maxime Martin. The 31-year-old has joined Aston Martin Racing to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship ‘super season’, which starts in Spring 2018. Paul Howarth, Aston Martin Racing Team Principal said: We’ve had an eye on Maxime for several years now, so we are delighted to welcome him to Aston Martin Racing. He is an exceptionally talented GT driver and he is the perfect addition to our high-calibre driver line-up.

Bette Hill occupied a unique position in Formula One history, as wife and mother of two world champion drivers. Her husband Graham won the title in 1962 for BRM and again for Lotus in 1968. Her son Damon Hill did so for Williams in 1996. Bette Hill, born Bette Shubrook on June 12, 1926, passed away this December 8, 2017. One of four girls born to a cricketer who also worked for The Times, and a mother who was ambitious for her children in the proper way, Bette and her sisters were achievers, and she understood the competitive imperative. One played piano, another was a champion schools swimmer, the third was also sporting, and Bette herself rowed for Britain in 1952 and 1954 and finished third in the European Championship quadruple sculls at Compiègne in 1954. Bette and Graham were married for 20 years […]

Porter Press International, the publisher of some of the world’s finest motoring books including the award-winning ‘Great Cars’ series, has launched a new entry-level book format under the name of Porter Profiles. The first book in this series is Austin-Healey 300 : The Story of DD 300 by Simon Ham. This more accessible series starts by taking readers back to the swinging sixties and the adventures of one of the most successful Big Healeys of all time – a charming story of a lost era told in 96 pages featuring insightful narrative, evocative archive photos, and new studio shots, all for a cover price of just £20 (currently about $27 USD). The Austin-Healey 3000, introduced in 1959 and manufactured until 1967, was relatively big and brutish for an English sports car. It was received affectionately in the UK but sold […]

The McLaren Senna has been designed, engineered and developed with a single-minded purpose: to be the ultimate McLaren track-concentrated car for the road. Legalized for road use, but not sanitized do suit it, the new Ultimate Series deliberately compromises McLaren’s trademark breadth of supercar daily usability; instead it provides the purest connection between driver and car, to deliver the most intense circuit experience of any road McLaren. You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have; everything, absolutely everything.  — Ayrton Senna The technical recipe is classic McLaren Automotive supercar, a pedigree established and earned in the short time elapsed since the pioneering sports and supercar company was founded in 2010, but taken to another level entirely in the McLaren Senna. Ultra-lightweight construction, with carbon fibre chassis and body panels. Mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged […]

Jaguar Racing announced the first Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race team for its new global electric racing series. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, led by Team Principal Bobby Rahal – three-time IndyCar Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner – will join the grid in the world’s first production-based electric vehicle race series, starting in December 2018. The Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY is a support series to the FIA Formula E Championship and the first to be based on a street-legal production battery electric vehicle. Races will take place the same weekend, and on the same city street circuits, throughout the 2018-19 season. The series, which will exclusively feature 20 Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race cars, offers teams the chance to showcase driving talent and electric performance while competing on the world stage in zero-emissions motorsport.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing are heading to Hong Kong for the start of their second season in the FIA Formula E Championship. The season opener takes place on 2 – 3 December in Asia’s first ever double-header race weekend and will be the first-time drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Mitch Evans line up on the grid together in the new British team. At the Hong Kong E-Prix drivers will complete 45 laps of the 1.86km street race circuit in the new Jaguar I-TYPE 2 on city’s iconic Harbor front. With ten turns and two hairpin bends, Panasonic Jaguar Racing are ready to electrify the city’s streets.

The AMOC Racing team, sponsors, supporters and competitors gathered at the Mercure Noke Hotel in St Albans on Saturday night to crown the season’s winners. Duncan Wiltshire, Race Director of AMOC Racing, hosted the evening thanking sponsors and competitors for their support throughout the season before handing out the prizes.

McLaren Automotive, the British creator of luxury sports cars and supercars, is to expand its race-winning activities in GT racing with a number of new initiatives. Headlining these is the announcement that a new 720S GT3 race car will join the successful 570S GT4, and this new model will begin testing next year for launch with customer teams in 2019. To serve customers engaging with the sport in the best possible way, McLaren Automotive is appointing a network of specialist motorsport retailers who will retail road and track products alongside each other. Also from next year, owners will be able to compete in a one-make GT series. Finally, the company will be helping to nurture young motorsport talent with the launch of a Driver Development Programme.

Aston Martin Racing clinched the GTE Am drivers’ and teams’ titles in the final round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship at Bahrain on Saturday. Capping an astonishing season that included seven pole positions and four victories for the crew of the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE, Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy covered themselves in glory on the series’ final visit to the Bahrain International Circuit. Having started from pole position, the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE delivered a storming drive to take an emphatic victory of the season in the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, securing a dream result for everyone in the team and those back at the factory in the UK.

The 2018 Kastner Cup will be contested at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Beaver, Pa., July 6-8. Triumphs will run within their respective race groups with other sports cars throughout the weekend and the Kastner Cup will be a dedicated 40-minute all-Triumph race July 7 at approximately 4 p.m.

The 32nd running of the MG Classic meeting, the longest running event of its kind in New Zealand and one of the biggest in competitor numbers, will be at Manfeild this weekend. Still known by many as “The Whittakers” because of the brand’s long association in the earlier events, this year’s meeting has attracted more than 200 competitors who will race in a record nine different categories covering open wheel, sports cars, and saloons.

Dr Andy Palmer will trade his business suit for a race suit this weekend when he takes on the challenge of competing in a 24-hour motor race. The Aston Martin President and CEO will race in the Hankook 24 Hours of CoTA (Circuit of the Americas) in Austin, Texas on 11-12 November. Naturally, Palmer’s car of choice is the Aston Martin Vantage GT8, the very same car that won its class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours earlier this year. He will share driving duties with Paul Hollywood, John “The Voice of Le Mans” Hindhaugh and Peter Cate.

Aston Martin Racing has claimed its 50th victory since its inception in 2004, after winning the eighth round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship; the 6 Hours of Shanghai. After taking the GTE Am pole position yesterday, the #98 V8 Vantage GTE of Paul Dalla Lana (C), Pedro Lamy (P) and Mathias Lauda (A) converted their advantage to victory, claiming a maximum 26-point haul from the weekend. In what was a trouble-free run throughout the entire six hours, the trio collectively amassed a gap of over one lap by the chequered flag.

British based racing car manufacturer and championship organizer, Ginetta, is set to launch its LMP1 car at Autosport International in January. A regular to the show, Ginetta announced its entry into the LMP1 marketplace in January 2017, committing to a production run of ten chassis and targeting sales to a trio of two-car teams for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The Leeds-based company has already secured its first orders, announcing Manor and TRS, as well as an as-yet-unnamed second team as customers for the 2018/19 WEC season, including Le Mans 24 hours.