Ultimatecarpage.com update (12-26-07)

[Wouter Melissen]

Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,

The final days of the year are ideal to look back. So for our last update of 2007 we have picked eight of the finest and most interesting cars we have seen this year at races, shows and concours. All eight features are very thorough and well illustrated.
It was a very productive year for the Italians, highlighted by the introduction of the much acclaimed Ferrari 430 Scuderia and the Maserati GranTurismo. In particular the latter will be vital to the future of the company, which up to now struggled to sell their two-door cars. Very early in the year Toyota impressed us with the FT-HS Concept, which combines a high-tech drivetrain with a spectacular design with many interesting cues.
At Le Mans finally a serious pretender to Audi's throne stepped up; Peugeot. With the 908 HDi FAP the French greatly impressed at the shorter Le Mans Series races. At Le Mans the dramatically styled coupe could not quite match the Audis, but we believe the 2008 edition could be a true classic with more teams stepping up their game.
Mercedes (Benz) is well represented in this list with two cars. The oldest is the 1908 Mercedes 140 hp Grand Prix. It was built specifically for the third French Grand Prix and won with a commanding lead. The pictured example is highly original and will be on display at Brooklands the coming months to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the win. The other Mercedes is the lavish SSK Trossi Roadster, which took best in class at Villa d'Este in April. We could not ignore the fortieth anniversary of the legendary Cosworth DFV engine. It made its victorious debut in the back of the Lotus 49. The featured machine was used by Jim Clark to take his final Grand Prix victory early in 1968. To round off this best-of we take a close look at the only Ford-engined car to ever take a Can-Am win; the Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers. Although the Ford small-block engine was lighter than the more successful Chevrolet, it could not be increased in size enough to match it for power.

Enjoy the links:


Ferrari 430 Scuderia
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...-Scuderia.html

Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder Ford
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...yder-Ford.html

Lotus 49 Cosworth
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/8...-Cosworth.html

Maserati GranTurismo
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...anTurismo.html

Mercedes 140 hp Grand Prix
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...rand-Prix.html

Mercedes Benz 710 SSK 27/240/300 hp Trossi Roadster
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...-Roadster.html

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...8-HDi-FAP.html

Toyota FT-HS Concept
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3...S-Concept.html

Regards,
Wouter Melissen