One of Italy's great coachbuilders, Bertone, has been in financial turmoil for the last few years and at this time it is uncertain whether there is a future for the company. In the 'carrozzeria's' long history, they have built some fabulous machines like the Alfa Romeo B.A.T.s of the 1950s or the Lamborghini Miura. Today we take a closer look at perhaps one of their absolute finest works, which not only broke new ground stylistically, but also dominated the World Rally Championship for many seasons; the Lancia Stratos. An in-depth look into the history of the multi-talented machine taught us that we certainly do not have Lancia to thank for the legendary rally car. Instead it was Nuccio Bertone's persistence that finally convinced Lancia to further develop his amazing Stratos Zero Concept into a production car. Looking at the 1970 concept car, it is hard to imagine it formed the basis for the final version of the Stratos.
The reason for our Bertone tribute is our recent encounter with the pre-production prototype of the Stratos, which was built in just four months. At first glance it looks very similar to the production car, but the body is different in every detail and the Bertone built chassis features double wishbone rear suspension instead of the McPherson struts later used. Hopefully Bertone will survive and return with an another iconic vehicle like the Stratos.
Next up for us is the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, which is held this weekend. For those of you that can not make it out to the principality and also for those who do, we expect to have our well illustrated report online late on Monday.

As promised in our full report, we today take a closer look at some of the highlights that were on display at Villa d'Este and in pairs; by Pininfarina, BMW and Touring.
One of the absolute crowd favourites was this Ferrari 206 S Dino Berlinetta Competizione, which was recently acquired directly from Pininfarina by its first owner. The 1967 Frankfurt show car has gone into history as one of the coachbuilder's absolute finest designs and one of the last great curvaceous shapes before the advent of the wedge era. That Pininfarina was already into slippery shapes from an early age can be seen by this fantastic Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B. Although built in 1937, it could easily be mistaken for an early 1950s car.
Event patron BMW marked the 30th anniversary of the M1 supercar at Villa d'Este. They celebrated it by assembling half a dozen of the production cars as well as by showing the original 1972 Turbo Concept and the brand new BMW M1 Hommage.
Like many companies of its kind, custom coachbuilder Touring was forced to shut its doors in the 1960s. At Villa d'Este they were officially revived by the introduction of two Maserati based machines. The GranSport based A8 GCS is still a mock-up, but might enter production soon. Already available to the public is the Quattroporte based Bellagio Fastback.
While we were at Villa d'Este, Monaco hosted the annual Top Marques show. One of the most striking machines on display was this Weber Sportscar Faster One. Powered by a blown Corvette Z06 engine, it is expected top out at over 400 km/h.
Long time BMW tuner Alpina will go back to their roots by fielding a race version of the B6 in next year's GT3 championship.

For the first time in its five year history the Le Mans Series grabbed the attention of the world news, but not for the best of reasons; an absolutely horrendous accident for Stephane Ortelli in the Courage-Oreca during the Monza 1000 km. He was very fortunate to get away with 'just' a broken ankle. The massive crash showed both that while the current cars are safer than ever, motorsport is still very dangerous. It was just one of many incidents in a very eventful weekend on the classic Italian track.
Amidst the crashes, collisions and flat tyres there was an actual race going on. For the overall win, the fight was again between the two Audis and two Peugeots. Despite the speed advantage of the French machine, the outcome was not decided until the absolute closing stages of the race. There was also plenty of drama in the GT2 and LMP2 classes with surprise winners in both. The GT1 class win was closely competed with both top runners never further than a few hundred metres apart.
Our reporters were trackside to capture the action and returned with a head full of thoughts and a hard drive full of pictures. These were compressed in a full report and a compact 100-shot slideshow.

The Italian lake district just north of Milan easily ranks as one of the beautiful areas in the world. One weekend each spring it gets even more special as automotive enthusiasts gather for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Steeped in tradition, the annual event is quite different from most other concours. With limited space available the entry list guaranteed to be of high quality. Held over the weekend the 2008 edition was certainly no exception. All of the 52 cars lined up on the courtyard of the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este had a storied past, received a superb restoration, remained in original condition or in most cases a combination of the three. Covering the five greatest decades of motoring, the entry ranged from an elegant Rolls Royce Silver Ghost to the bright Lancia Stratos Prototype. The jury and the public sure had a hard time picking their favourites, although both Best of Show winners were well deserved. Complementing the classic cars there were also a number of modern concept cars. Among them was the Maserati Bellagio, which is the first machine to come from the revived Touring coachbuilding company.
Our reporters were out and about for several days to capture the every detail both in pictures and writing. Their findings have been compressed into a 2200-word report and a mouth watering 200-shot slideshow.
In future updates many of the fantastic cars that appeared at Villa d'Este will be looked at in even greater detail.

Tomorrow the world's finest sports racers will hit the track for the practice session of the second 1000 km race of the season at Monza. For a variety of reasons, it promises to be the finest season to date. The exciting race in Barcelona showed that expectations were rightly high. All information on the Series can be found on our dedicated 2008 Le Mans Series page. We have been loyal followers of the LMS and will again be trackside at Monza to capture the action. Unfortunately we can not give the event our full attention as just 30 km north of the track some of the finest classic cars will gather for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. We have looked into cloning, but eventually ended up with an intricate schedule that allows us to cover both of these great events. So you can look out for two exciting event reports in the coming days.
Most of the attention in the pre-season and at the first Le Mans Series race was grabbed by the big battle between Audi and Peugeot. Somewhat in the limelight the world has been introduced to the Epsilon Euskadi ee1 Judd; the first Spanish built car to be raced at Le Mans. It is the culmination of a lengthy project, which includes a top single seater racing team and a motorsport university. The car itself was penned by a former Lola designer and the end result is quite startling from both an aesthetics and engineering point of view. Due to various new car problems the ee1 has not improved yet, but we expect it to be in better form at Monza this weekend and later in the year at Le Mans.

Mid-engined supercars are very much an Italian specialty. The great tradition has its origin in the mid-1960s; a few years after the racing world adapted the superior layout. One of the very first production cars to have the engine mounted between the driver and the rear axle was the ATS 2500 GT. It was built by a number of key Ferrari personnel in the years after the famous fall-out in the winter of 1961/1962. Without a doubt the most advanced road car available at the time, the beautiful ATS was produced for a short few months before the company collapsed. It is estimated that only 20 engines were built and even fewer cars. Shortly after the 2500 GT was introduced, DeTomaso took the wraps of the Vallelunga, which featured a mid-mounted Ford four cylinder engines. A lovely little car, but greatly underpowered. All that was cured with the V8-engined Mangusta. The shape was penned by Giorgietto Giugiaro and is one of the absolute highlights in his very rich portfolio and one of his personal favourites. Unfortunately the Mangusta's handling did not quite match the superb looks.
After weeks of silence the automotive industry shot into action again the last couple of days. One of the main reasons was the Beijing Motor Show, which opened its doors for the media yesterday. There the wraps were taken off the Buick Invicta Concept and the 550 bhp Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. Vauxhall showed the first pictures of the all-new Insignia, while Audi unveiled the equally new Q5. This weekend also saw the start of the alternative Dakar rally through Central Europe. Multiple Dakar winner Mitsubishi have ventured into unknown territory by fielding a diesel engined version of the Pajero Evolution.
A vast majority of the surviving 1950s Ferraris has been restored to a very high condition, making original cars a rare sight. One of those exceptions is this 166/195 S Vignale Coupe. Complete with dents and chipped paint, it has been raced at all major events in recent years. Next month it will be offered by RM in their Ferrari auction and hopefully its next owner will preserve and use the car in the same fashion as it has been in the last years.

While Ferrari's current line-up is not short on variation, we believe that there is a model missing; a luxury two-seater V12-engined cabriolet. This great Ferrari tradition was kicked off in the second half of the 1950s with the 250 GT Pinin Farina Cabriolet. One of the first Ferraris to be produced in a series, the 250 GT Cabriolet combined competition derived underpinnings with an exquisite coachbuilt body and interior. Of the forty examples built between 1957 and 1959 not one is identical and Sergio Pininfarina once referred to them as a series of one-offs. In period the Cabriolets were shown prominently at car shows around the world and owned by the rich and often famous ranging from Royals to racing drivers. Today Pinin Farina's exceptionally beautiful creation often stands in the shadow of the 250 GT California, which was much more closely related to the successful competition cars. Nevertheless most of the surviving examples are owned by famous collectors, who cherish their luxury two-seaters. Now if they would all team up and commission Pininfarina to build a limited run of 612 Scaglietti based Cabriolets, the great tradition could be revived.
As we caught up with over a dozen of them at last year's Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, we thought a proper feature on the 250 GT Cabriolet was long over due. Our in-depth article is illustrated with images of new fewer than fifteen examples shown at The Quail, Pebble Beach and the Cavallino Classic.

Caterham has taken this month's relative lull in motoring news to take the wraps off the fastest four cylinder engined Seven today. Like it's predecessor the lightning quick two-seater is dubbed the R500. It comes equipped with a two-litre engine that is good for a staggering 263 bhp and promises neck-snapping acceleration figures. Ford Australia has released the first information and a teaser image of the FG Falcon F6, which will be powered by a 416 bhp engine.
Two weeks ago the motorsport world was stricken by the loss of legends Richard Lloyd and David Leslie in an airplane crash. As a small tribute to these two, we have added the Nissan Primera raced to five victories in the 1998 and 1999 BTCC championship. Having made their mark on sports-car racing for over three decades both will be sorely missed.
During the Catalunya 1000 km a large number of brand new cars took to the track and today we take a closer look at the brightest livered of all; the Courage-Oreca LC70. Powered by a new engine and equipped with a completely revised aero package, it proved to be quite a step forward from the Courage LC70 used last year.
A few weeks ago we featured the legendary Porsche 935 K3. Few know that Kremer took the concept one step further with the 900 bhp 935 K4. Only two were built and they could not live up to its predecessor's legacy. Although intended for road use, various privateers took the Talbot Lago T26 GS to the track. The most famous of these is the Chambas Coupe, which was raced at Le Mans five times. Massive four cylinder engines and chain drive were typical for the pre-WWI Mercedes road cars and this 37/95 hp Holbrook Tourer is a prime example.

Often overlooked and discarded, the 1961 - 1965 1.5 litre Formula 1 era deserves much more credit. Sure the engines were tiny and not very powerful, but this inspired chassis and suspension designers to make some major steps forward. The limited displacement, high revving V6, V8, V12 and flat 12 engines were absolute works of art and eventually produced over 150 bhp per litre. The 1.5 litre era also saw some of the greatest drivers of all time to come to fruition such as Jim Clark and Graham Hill. We already feature many of these great racers and today we put another six in the limelight; some more successful than others.
Scoring five victories, the BRM P261 is by far the most successful of the bunch. BRM's answer to the Lotus 25, it was even successful in the later 3-litre era. Following a similar design pattern of a spaceframe covered by aluminum sheets was the Ferrari 156 'Aero'. This was the final six cylinder engined Ferrari F1 car before being replaced by the similar, but V8 engined 158. One of the most popular combinations for private entrants was the Lotus 24 powered by the BRM V8 engine.
The era was very much dominated by the Works BRM, Ferrari and Lotus teams and others could rarely do better than a podium finish. Some of the cars that came closest were the Brabham BT11, Cooper T66 and the Lola Mk4 Climax.
Many of these fabulous single seaters will be seen out racing again at next month's Monaco Historic Grand Prix, which we will of course cover in great detail again. For much more information on these great cars, drivers and races, we strongly recommend Mark Whitelock's "1 1/2-litre Grand Prix Racing 1961-1965" book.

This weekend Europe's endurance racing season got off to a flying start with the first race of the 2008 Le Mans Series at Barcelona. A colourful mix of familiar and brand new machines lined up for the Catalunya 1000 km race. All eyes were of course at the head of the field where reigning champions Peugeot were challenged by new-comers Audi. It was the second time the rivals faced off this season in preparation for what already promises to be an epic 24 Hours of Le Mans race. While everybody expected the diesels to easily run away with it, they were actually challenged by the brand new petrol engined Lola Aston Martin, which showed both speed and durability.
The LMP2 class saw the European debut of the Porsche RS Spyder and again Lola surprised with their equally new Judd engined coupe. It was quite a start of the season for the British company that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In the two GT-classes there were familiar faces heading the charts. In GT2 the brand new Spyker pulled off a great performance even though the two cars had not turned a wheel before the weekend.
Our photographer Wouter Melissen cut his holiday short to fly out to Barcelona in time to capture the race in great detail. His findings have been compressed in a full report and a spectacular 160-shot slideshow.