French auctioneer Artcurial Motorcars will stage a sale in the principality of Monaco on Sunday. Among the highlights due to cross the block is this spectacular Saleen S7-R. A great example of the machine that was competitive in the GT1 class for a decade, the car on offer was delivered new to Zakspeed Racing. It was driven to three wins in as many seasons of competing in the FIA GT Championship. Offered by a German historic racer, chassis 060R is estimated to sell for at least Euro 400,000.
We are at Goodwood this weekend and among the cars to star will be the V8-engined version of the Aston Martin DB11. The 'entry-level' version of the DB11, it is powered by an AMG-sourced twin-turbo V8 that is good for just over 500 bhp.
Also revealed to the world for the first time at Goodwood is this Jaguar XE SVO Project 8. Fitted with a 600hp version of Jaguar's supercharged V8, this limited production model is the fastest ever four-door Jaguar.
Meanwhile, Peugeot Sport have further developed their Rally Dakar winning machine into the 3008 DKR Maxi. The 'Maxi' moniker is fitting as it is a full 20cm wider due to the us of longer control arms. These were used to make the car even better suited to the challenging terrain of the gruelling event. Peugeot's drivers will submit the 3008 DKR Maxi to rigorous testing now before the cars are shipped to South America for the title defence.

On Thursday, this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed will kick off with the first of four public days. Always assembling a formidable selection of road and racing cars, it is one of the absolute highlights of the year. Among the many great cars that went 'up the hill' last year was this Porsche 935/2.0 'Baby'. Effectively built for a single race, this is one of the most extreme Group 5 racers built and boasts the smallest six-cylinder engine ever produced by Porsche with a displacement of just 1.4 litres. We have taken a detailed look at the car's fascinating history, which is illustrated by a 34-shot gallery of this formidable machine.
In the official Goodwood Festival of Speed sale, staged by Bonhams, two Porsches are also set to take centre stage. Rarest and most valuable of the pair is this 356 A Carrera Speedster. While Porsche only built 152 Speedster with the four-cam Carrera engine the example consigned is rarer still as it is one of just three right-hand drive Carrera Speedsters. All three were sold to Australia, and this car is the only one back in the Northern Hemisphere, which explains why it is estimated to sell for close to GBP 1 million.
In the early 1970s, the Carrera name was revived for the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 homologation special. Of these, 200 were built to 'Lightweight' specification and the example on offer was one of just 17 in right-hand drive. Comprehensively restored some years ago, it is estimate to sell for GBP 750,000 - 850,000.
We will be on hand throughout the weekend and will return with a detailed report of this year's Festival of Speed early next week.

Rarely has a 24-hour race been more riveting with more plot twists than a season of House of Cards than this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was the first edition in nearly two decades without an Audi on the grid and Toyota looked set to finally break their duck in the world's most prestigious endurance race. Further down the order the race featured a brand new generation of very fast LMP2 cars and five closely matched manufacturers in the LM GTE Pro class. While it was expected to be a historic race, few would have predicted that with two hours to go the overall leader was an LMP2 car.
How this all came about can be found in our concise report, which is illustrated by a 150-shot gallery provided by Bob van der Wolf.

For the upcoming Pebble Beach Auctions, American company Gooding & Co. have announced some truly spectacular consignments already. One of the absolute headliners is this Porsche 917 K. Freshly restored and finished in iconic Gulf colours, it is a great example of one of the most iconic sports racers. Although it was not raced in period, the consigned 917-024 did set the fastest time in the 1970 Le Mans Test with Brian Redman at the wheel. It later also starred in Steve McQueen's legendary movie Le Mans, which explains why it is painted in Gulf colours. At that time, it was owned by Swiss racer Jo Siffert and it served as the lead car of his funeral parade late in 1971. Hidden away for many years, chassis 917-024 has been completely restored and is now estimated to sell for between $13-16 million.
Another fantastic sports racer consigned is this Alfa Romeo 33/TT/12, which helped win the 1975 World Championship. Entered by the works supported Willy Kauhsen Racing Team, it was driven to three wins by Derek Bell and Henri Pescarolo. It was sold by Autodelta to the current owner in 1980 and chassis 11512-010 will now be offered on public sale for the first time in nearly 40 years. The privilege of owning this glorious racer will cost at an estimated $2.4 - 2.8 million.

Next week, we will be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which this year will celebrate the long and colourful career of former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Among his many roles in the sport was owner of the Brabham team. Among the absolute highlights of his time at the helm of the team was the World Championship victory with the BMW-engined Brabham BT52. One of the all time great Grand Prix cars, the BT52 combined the brilliant chassis design of Gordon Murray with the similar talents of BMW's engine designer, the late Paul Rosche. We captured the BT52 at two earlier editions of the Festival of Speed, where it was reunited with former drivers Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese. The car is set to make an appearance again this year.
An intricate part of the Festival of Speed weekend is the Bonhams Sale, scheduled for Friday, June 30th. Among the top lots consigned this year is this Ferrari F40, which was bought new by Pink Floyd's lead guitarist and singer David Gilmour. He actually took delivery of the car together with his bandmate Nick Mason, who had ordered an identical F40. The ex-Gilmour F40 has recently been restored from the ground up and is in virtually as-new condition. For enthusiasts looking to compete in the Goodwood Revival Meeting later this year, Bonhams also has this McLaren M1B on offer. Fitted with a Mercury engine, it competed in several rounds of the inaugural Can-Am championship and more recently has been completely restored to its 1965 specification.
We will of course create an in-depth report about the Festival of Speed after the event but if you want to attend in person, there are still some tickets available on the official Goodwood website.

Even before the start this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans was set to be a historic one, and as it turned out, it would be one for many more reasons than highlighted today but that will be addressed later this week. The 2017 edition was always going to be a historic one as it was the first without an Audi at the start since 1999 and accordingly represented the end of a hugely successful era. To mark that occasion, we have today taken a detailed look at the original Audi R8 that debuted in 2000 with outright victories in the Sebring 12 Hours and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The writing of Audi dominance was very much on the wall as these debut wins were a one-two and a one-two-three respectively. Designed by Audi Sport engineers in Germany and built by Dallara in Italy, the R8 was not particularly revolutionary but was developed to be a hugely efficient endurance racer that was easy to work on and hugely reliable. In 2001, the R8 did feature a new direct-injection FSI engine, which would further increase the car's efficiency.
In today's feature we have taken a look at three of the cars that raced in 2000. In addition to the winning car, we have also included the unique alligator liveried machine and the the ex-works and ex-champion chassis 405, which was recently demonstrated at the Spa Classic.

Perfectly timed for the summer, McLaren revealed the Spider version of the 'entry-level' 570S sports car. Powered by a 570 hp version of the familiar twin-turbo V8 engine, the Spider features a retractable hard-top roof. The McLaren 570S Spider will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed later in the month.
German manufacturer Audi had much the same idea and introduced the R8 Spyder V10 plus. As the name suggests, it is open version of the range-topping 'plus' version of the R8, which boasts a 610 hp V10 engine that drives all four wheels. This allows the R8 Spyder V10 plus to accelerate to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 328 km/h.
At this week's 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ligier announced the JS P4 as a new entry level prototype racer for a yet to be defined LMP4 category. Built around a carbon-fibre monocoque, it is powered by a 420 hp Ford V6 that is mated to a six-speed gearbox provided by Quaife. The Ligier JS P4 can be used at trackdays to build experience and is also eligible for VdeV races and the Creventic organised long-distance races.

This weekend we were at the undulating Circuit de Dijon-Prenous for the 53rd annual Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. Organised by Peter Auto, the event featured all of the familiar grids like Group C and Classic Endurance Racing but also additional single seater classes and high speed demonstration runs for the Global Endurance Legends. Among the many great cars in action were the likes of a Porsche 917 K, Howmet TX turbine racer and the ever impressive Sauber-Mercedes C11. When at Dijon, the mind automatically wanders to the legendary fight between Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve in the 1979 French Grand Prix. This year even more so as Arnoux himself was back behind the wheel and raced a Shelby Cobra and a BMW M1 Procar together with its owner.
Our photographers were on hand throughout the weekend and have captured all the highlights in a 270-shot gallery, which serves to illustrate our concise report.

This weekend we will be at the legendary Dijon-Prenois circuit in the French Bourgogne region for the annual Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. Many great cars will take to the undulating track and as a preview we have selected three of the most interesting.
The earliest of the trio is a very rare Aston Martin DB2/4 Bertone Spider. One of just three built during the early 1950s by Bertone for 'Wacky' Arnolt and offered alongside his better known Bristol-engined Arnolts. This particular example was sold new to the United States. Although used by most of its custodians, it never accumulated a high mileage and has survived in lovely original condition. At Dijon as it did at Spa three weeks ago, it will compete in the Trofeo Nastro Rosso.
A race winner at last month's Spa Classic was a TOJ SC304. Two were built by Jorg Obermoser, and they were the first three-litre engined TOJs. Both cars are pictured in our 90-shot gallery, while the Spa winning chassis will race again at Dijon and should once again be among the top contenders in the CER 2 race.
Among the cars entered in the popular Global Endurance Legends demonstration runs is this Dodge Viper GTS-R. Built in 2000, this car was raced in period by Paul Belmondo and his team, and won FIA GT rounds at the Hungaroring and Silverstone. It was last raced as late as 2005 and C25 was restored in 2008 to the livery it wore in 2002.

Among the many great cars that starred at last week's Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este were three striking machines featured today.
Earliest of the trio is this Maserati 300S, which was built for works driver Stirling Moss. This particular car represents the ultimate development of the model with larger, 450S derived brakes and five-speed gearbox. Moss drove the car to two wins during the 1958 season. Renumbered to 3083 it was sold to the United States ahead of the 1959 season. More recently, it was comprehensively restored in Austria with spectacular results.
Not quite as well known but equally rare was this Lagonda Rapide. Effectively a four-door version of the Aston Martin DB4, the Rapide was built in very small numbers between 1961 and 1964. The example on display at Villa d'Este is one of just eight left-hand drive cars and when it was new, it was displayed at the New York Auto Show.
Also benefiting from a recent restoration was this Lamborghini Miura P400. It was ordered new by the son of Sherlock Holmes author Adrian Conan Doyle and finished to his specification in red with green and gold stripes. The stripes were eventually removed but fortunately rare, colour photographs were found to allow the Italian restorers to restore 3480 to its unique, original configuration.

At last weekend's Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este one car that was impossible to miss was this Ferrari 365 GT4 BB. What made this fine example of Ferrari's first mid-engined, flat-12 Grand Tourer stand out was its striking yellow-green colour known officially as Verde Germoglio. The example on display was the only 365 GT4 BB painted this colour and was recently restored to its unique, original configuration.
Breaking cover at Villa d'Este, was this one-off Rolls-Royce Sweptail. Built to custom order of an Asian customer over the last couple of years, the Sweptail was not only revealed at Villa d'Este but also delivered there to the new owner and came complete with the '08' license plate.
While we were at Villa d'Este, BMW showed a camouflaged version of the upcoming M8 at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Alongside the production road car, BMW are also developing a GTE competition version, which will race at Le Mans in 2018.
For the new model year, Lotus have further refined the Elise Coupe 250. While the 250hp engine is carried over, it features a more efficient aerodynamics package and is also slightly lighter. Customers can further lighten the Elise Cup 250 by ordering special carbon-fibre composite body-parts.