During the 1950s soon to be arch-rivals Ferrari and Porsche mostly competed in different classes but from the early 1960s the two legendary manufacturers gradually became direct competitors. One example was the European Hill Climb Championship for which both produced two-litre prototypes. Porsche had the upper hand in 1967 but the threat of an-all new flat-12 powered Ferrari, inspired the German manufacturer to push the envelop further than ever before. The result was the 909 Bergspyder, which tipped the scales at just 385 kg or 850 lbs. One example of the extremes the engineers went through, was the use of beryllium brakes; although very light, beryllium dust is toxic so the discs had to be chrome plated before they could be used. In order to ensure not a single steel nut, screw or washer was used, Porsche's motorsport supremo Ferdinand Piech supposedly went over the entire car with a magnet. The complete, and at times baffling history of the 909 Bergspyder can be found in our detailed article, which illustrated by an all-revealing 12-shot gallery of the example that is current on display in the Porsche Museum.
Porsche are again pushing the envelop with the 918 Spyder, which is scheduled to be launched in 2013. Built around a carbon fibre composite monocoque, the new supercar is powered by a hybrid drivetrain that consists of a competition derived, 570 bhp V8 engine and two electric motors. Following the release of pictures of a bare prototype, the German manufacturer have now published these pictures of a very thinly disguised test car. The 'camouflage' used is inspired by the 1970 Le Mans winning 917.
During this weekend's MINI United event at Paul Ricard, MINI revealed the limited edition John Cooper Works GP. Like the previous version, which was past on the first generation MINI Cooper, only 2,000 examples will be produced of what promises to be the fastest road-going MINI yet. No technical details have been revealed but according to MINI, the car is capable of lapping the Nurburgring in 8:23; a full 19 seconds faster than its predecessor.

This weekend Monaco hosted the biennial Historic Prix, which like the modern equivalent is held on what are normally the Principality's public roads. The allure of Monaco always attracts a stellar field of historic racing cars that this year ranged from late 1920s Grand Prix Bugattis to early 1980s F3s. The field of around 250 cars was spread over seven groups, including one for sports racers. Among the many interesting racers present was the Lotus 18 driven to back-to-back victories by Sir Stirling Moss and a very rare Ferrari 1512 F1, which featured the manufacturer's very first flat 12 engine. With the Armco barriers literally at arms-length, the Circuit de Monte Carlo always provides for exhilarating races. This year's Historic Grand Prix was no exception and one driver even managed to take a win after starting from the very last row of the in spite of the track's notoriously few overtaking opportunities.
In addition to the on-track activities there were also various classic car auctions. Most successful was RM Auctions' second Monaco Sale, which saw well over EUR 30 million worth of machinery change hands.
For the fourth time, our photographers ventured to the 'Cote d'Azur' to capture the event and the auctions in full detail. This has resulted in a detailed article and two galleries with a total of 300 shots. As always, you can expect a closer look at some of the event's best cars in the coming weeks but for now our Monaco Historic Grand Prix report should keep you busy for quite some time.

While we were in Monaco for the Historic Grand Prix, the sad news reached us of Carroll Shelby's passing at the age of 89. Born in Texas on January 11th, 1923, the multi-talented Shelby first took on the racing establishment as a driver and later as a manufacturer. Among his many great successes behind the wheel ranks the outright victory at Le Mans in 1959 as the finest with the Aston Martin DBR1. He will, however, be best remembered for the Cobra he created by shoe-horning Ford's small block V8 engine into an AC Ace chassis. This particular example was the very first Cobra and had remained in Shelby's ownership ever since. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Cobra and the various celebrations planned at events like the Goodwood Revival and Monterey Motorsport Reunion will now no doubt also become a celebration of the man who was responsible for one of the world's most legendary cars. The ultimate evolution of the Cobra was the Daytona Coupe, which sported a slippery body penned by Peter Brock. In this guise, the Cobra was also able to take on arch-rival Ferrari at the high speed European track and brought Shelby and Ford the much coveted class victory at Le Mans in 1964. They did one better in 1966, when the Ford GT40 Mk II, scored a one-two-three victory in the 24 Hours. This finally brought an end to the stronghold Ferrari had held on the race since Shelby's own victory as a driver back in 1959. In the following years, various evolutions of the GT40 would take another three Le Mans wins. While Shelby stopped his competition program in the late 1960s, he remained an active member of the American automotive industry. He had a hand in a large number high performance models from Ford and Dodge, while he also continued producing cars under his own name. The 'Texas Chicken Farmer' will be missed; a true legend has passed.

Having suffered German and Italian domination for many years, both the French and British were very keen to return to Grand Prix racing immediately after the War with new, superior machines. Using governing backing, the French created the CTA Arsenal. The project was the brainchild of Le Mans-winner Raymond Sommer, who called in the help of CTA (Centre for Technical studies for Automobiles and bikes) for the design and the army 'Arsenal' for the construction of the cars. CTA also employed the services of Albert Lory, who had previously penned the all conquering Delage 15-S8 Grand Prix racer. The result was a very interesting design, which featured a 1.5 litre supercharged V8 and torsion-bar suspension. Sadly, the high profile project failed miserably and after two fruitless attempts in the French Grand Prix, the cars were retired from active service at the end of the 1948 season. One example has, fortunately, survived and was prepared to compete in the 2010 Monaco Historic Grand Prix. This allowed us to capture the unusual machine in full detail.
The CTA-Arsenal article serves as our final preview for this weekend's edition of the biennial Monaco Historic Grand Prix. This time it will not be one of the competitors but the 250-car strong field does include machinery ranging from a Ferrari 1512, various examples of the March 701, a Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler to Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza. After the weekend, we will provide a full report of all the on-track activities as well as the Bonhams and RM Auctions sales hosted by the small principality.

In February of 1966, Ferrari launched its new racing cars for the coming season. Among them was this fabulously beautiful 206 S Dino Spyder. A scaled down version of the 330 P3 also launched that day, it was intended to compete in the Group 4 GT class against the latest Porsches. Unfortunately labour unrests prevented the required 50 cars to be produced, so the little Dino was never homologated. Eventually only 18 were built, and although they were not quite as successful on the track as their contemporaries, they are highly sought after today. Many have been in the same collection for many, many years. Our article features an 18-shot gallery of two examples. The first will be offered later this week at RM Auctions' Monaco sale and has a hefty estimate of EUR 2.2 - 2.8 Euro.
The beautiful Ferrari is just one of many highlights of the sale, which kicks off with an immaculate collection of Ducatis, which includes the MotoGP bike raced last year by Valentino Rossi. Other stars include the unique Ferrari 308 GT4 LM, an immaculate Alfa Romeo 33/2 Daytona, one of just four Williams FW06s and direct from Peugeot, one of the Le Mans winning 908 HDi FAPs. A full list of the lots can be found here. As part of our Monaco Historic Grand Prix coverage, we will also drop by RM, so you can expect a closer look at these fabulous machines right after the event.
Following the company's withdrawal from endurance racing, Peugeot is now focusing most of its attention on rallying and the 208 R2 is the latest result of that shift in attention. Built to compete in national and international rallies, the first example boasts classic Peugeot colours and will be campaigned in the Tour de Corse this coming weekend.