Under a bright blue sky the European endurance racing season kicked off at the Paul Ricard 'High Tech Test Track' with the now-traditional official Le Mans Series test weekend. With less than two weeks to go until the first of five races in the 2006 Le Mans Series the pressure was on the teams to show speed and reliability. For most it was the first opportunity to test the strength of their new or revised material against the competition and for others it was literally the first test. It was also the first chance for Ultimatecarpage.com snapper Wouter Melissen to catch up with the championship he is going to follow throughout the year. That's right; we will bring you detailed and well illustrated reports of every race of the Le Mans Series.
To get you up to date with the latest news and in the mood for the season ready to start next week in Turkey, we have drafted up a Season Preview. And to really get your blood boiling we added a 170 shot slideshow packed with all the Paul Ricard track and pit action, including the first pictures of the brand new cars including the Radical SR9, Courage LC70 and Creation CA06/H.

Despite never being officially announced by the factory, the F430 GTC made its racing debut earlier this month in the Sebring 12 Hours. Derived from the road going F430, the new Ferrari racer looks set to take on the ever-dominant Porsches and could very well have won at its debut. We met up with the F430 GTC at one of its first European outings during the official Le Mans Series test on a sunny Paul Ricard circuit. A full season preview and slideshow from the test packed with new racers will be published later this week.
When Formula 1 started in 1950 the grid was made up of exotic Italian and British 1.5 litre supercharged racers, and a striking blue alternative from France with a 4.5 litre naturally aspirated engine. This Talbot Lago T26C Grand Prix was introduced a few years earlier and was an immediate hit with privateers. Although not on the same pace as its supercharged rivals, the T26C sometimes had the better of them thanks to its superior fuel efficiency and reliability.
Somewhat overshadowed by the many supercar debuts in Geneva was the Mercedes Benz CLS 350 CGI, which features an all-new direct injected V6 engine. While the German manufacturer might have introduced direct injection in the 1950s, its pioneering role has recently been taken over by Audi, but maybe the new 'CGI' range can bring Mercedes Benz back into the game.
One of the great American motoring icons is the Shelby Mustang, which was available in many shapes in the late 1960s. Most will immediately think of the GT 350 fastback coupe, usually painted white with racing stripes. Today we take a look at the lesser known, and rarest of the bunch; the "King of the Road" GT 500 KR Convertible.

Initiated by Cooper's incredible success in single seater racing the mid-engined revolution spread from motor racing to road cars in the second half of the 1960s. Despite the company's conservative nature, Ferrari won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1961 with a mid-engined racer and recorded the first mid-engined victory at Le Mans in 1963. To complete the transition Ferrari wanted to replace the 250 GTO with a mid-engined GT car to race in the World Manufacturer's championship. Sadly this '250 LM' was never homologated because Ferrari failed to build the 100 cars prescribed by the FIA. Today we take a look at the unique Ferrari 250 LM Pininfarina Stradale Speciale; built as the first of a proposed series of road going examples of the 250 LM to boost sales and obtain homologation. The car remained a one-off. We were lucky enough to run into it in Florida this year and are proud to present an in-depth article with a detailed history and a set of stunning pictures.
Undoubtedly many of you want to download every single one of those eighteen pictures; we have now added a feature that will enable you to save them all at once, conveniently packaged in a zip-file. This tool works with both the car and event features. Together with a Photo of the Day archive this mass save feature is part of our revised Premium Subscription Package: the price remains the same, but the package is even bigger. You can discuss these new Premium features in this thread in our Website Discussion forum.

After months of testing the international motorsport season has kicked off in style with the Sebring 12 Hours and the first two Grands Prix. The anticipation was high in the build up to the first green light of 2006 because of a number of new cars and heavily revised regulations respectively. Despite the many changes the winners were very familiar. At Sebring Audi continued their domination, but now with the TDI powered R10; the first major motorsport victory for a diesel engine. In Formula 1 several teams looked very strong in pre-season testing, but it was Renault with their R26 that clinched the wins in the first two races of 2006. To commemorate Honda's return to F1 as a manufacturer we take a closer look at the company's very first F1 racer, the RA271.
Italy's Ferrari is world famous for their motorsport successes, but their past winners are also welcomed guests at the most prestigious Concours d'Elegance. Last week the 1961 Le Mans winning 250 TRI61 was awarded best in show at Amelia Island. A few months earlier we captured this striking Duesenberg SJ LaGrande Dual Cowl Phaeton at the Palm Beach International, a Concours d'Elegance.
Building on the coupe/convertible trend Fioravanti and Heuliez launched interesting concept vehicles in Geneva. The Italians showed the Punto based Skill with a rotating roof and the French unveiled the Macarena; the first four-door 'CC'.

In the previous ten editions of the event, the annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance had built up quite a reputation. For this year's edition we freed Rob Clements from the Canadian winter and sent him down to Florida to personally find out how this concours stacks up.
The weekend's proceedings were kicked off by a big RM auction, headlined by a SWB Ferrari, a Teardrop Coupe Talbot Lago and an ex-Le Mans Cobra. All three million dollar motors were among the 98% of the lots that had found a new owner at the end of the day.
For Sunday's Concours d'Elegance nearly 300 historic vehicles lined up on the grounds of the Ritz-Carlton in a very sunny Amelia Island. DuPont, steam engines, forty years of CanAm and alternative fuels were the slightly unusual featured classes. The cars entered in these classes were as rare as they were interesting. Racing legend Johnny Rutherford was the concours' honorary chairman and made a grand entrance in the McLaren M16C he took top honours in at Indy in 1974. At the end of the day, the judges named a striking DuPont 'Best in Show, Concours d'Elegance' and the 1961 Le Mans winning Ferrari 'Best in Show, Concours de Sport'.
Rob enjoyed the lovely weather while he was hard at work capturing the auction and concours. His findings can be found in a full report and slideshow.

While much attention at the Geneva Motorshow was grabbed by Ferrari's striking new 599 GTB, Lamborghini also headlined the show with a new version of the Murcielago. The rather dull grey paint it was presented in did not hide the true performance of the 640 bhp Murcielago LP640. Even more powerful was the all new Koenigsegg CCX, which is specifically adapted for the American market.
One of the surprise releases was the Alfa Romeo Diva Concept, designed and built by Sbarro to celebrate the Swiss design school's 10th anniversary. With its combination of the much admired Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale shape and a number of modern cues, the Diva was easily one of the most beautiful cars on display. At the Bertone stand many enthusiasts' eyes were drawn to the ever stunning Miura, celebrating its 40th birthday, but the company's latest concept vehicle also deserved close inspection. Based on the new Grande Punto, the Suagna Concept is a very interesting design proposal for a new Fiat convertible.
After years of cars continuously getting heavier, the trend seems to have turned and with the use of aluminum and composites the next generation of cars will be lighter than they previously were. Two manufacturers who continued to cherish light weight as one of their core values are Porsche and Lotus. In Geneva they presented the 997 GT3 and Exige S respectively; both of which underline the manufacturer's principles.

In last week's Geneva Motorshow Report we already expressed our admiration for Pininfarina's work on the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and Alfa Romeo Spider. Today we want to convince you even further with comprehensive galleries of both Italian master-pieces. Geneva also hosted the launch of a number of impressive concept vehicles like the stylish Rolls Royce EX101 and the 400 bhp Saab Aero X. More likely for production are the compact Identity i1, the lavish Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris Super SUV and the spicy Honda Civic Type R. Of the production cars introduced the 480 bhp Porsche 997 Turbo was one of the most impressive.
Over the weekend we have introduced a new style for the Ultimatecarpage.com main page and forums. Together with the obvious new colours and graphics, we have made several subtle changes to improve the site's functionality. A detailed description and discussion about the changes can be found in this forum thread.

All eyes in the automotive industry were on the Swiss city of Geneva for the last two days. The ocassion was the much anticipated International Motorshow, which promised to be one of the finest of recent years. In the now traditionally 'leaked' press releases much of the show's news was already out weeks beforehand, but nothing beats a real life encounter. The unique mix of mainstream and exotic manufacturers gives the 'Salon' an edge over similar major shows. This year the mainstream manufacturers brought enough high performance models that they almost outdid the experts, but with new models from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche that was next to impossible. In a league of their own, Spyker created a new crossover style by combining a sportscar body with an off-road drive train. Other highlights included the Alfa Romeo Spider, Saab Aero X Concept and Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.
After a snow covered trip over we made it to Geneva for both press days. We spent the two days with our trigger finger and ears alert to capture all the activity, which is compiled in a full report and a 240 shot slideshow. In the coming weeks all the new releases will be covered in depth with full database features.