Over the weekend, Alpine announced the A110S. As the name suggests, this is a more poised version of the highly acclaimed A110. Compared to the 'base' model, it is slightly heavier but has 40 additional horses on tap courtesy of an increased turbo boost. Due to arrive in showrooms in October, the A110S will be available for customer deliveries before the end of the year.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all eyes were on the governing body as the new regulations for the top level class were announced. This will cater to either full prototypes or production based hypercars. Shortly after the press conference both Aston Martin and Toyota confirmed their participation with competition versions of the Valkyrie and GR Super Sport respectively. The new class is set to make its debut after the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 which will conclude the upcoming FIA WEC.
Although there was no track action, it was a busy Friday at Le Mans as the track also hosted the launch of the evolution versions of the existing LMP3 cars. In addition to the Ligier JS P320 previewed earlier, these new updated models also included the Adess 03 Evo and the Ginetta G61-LT-P3. In each case, the revisions are a combination of improved driver safety and increased performance.

This weekend, we were at the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois for the 55th annual Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or. Quite literally, celebrating the golden age of motor racing, the event has been part of the Peter Auto racing calendar for the last couple of years. Accordingly, this year's edition featured all the familiar grids like Classic Endurance Racing and Sixties' Endurance with the exception of the Group C field. Among the many highlights of the action packed event was a fight between a Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 for victory in CER1 and a surprising winner in the two-hour Sixties' Endurance race. It was also great to see a pair of the very rare mid-engined Maserati Tipo 63 Birdcages.
We were on hand throughout the weekend and have captured the event in full detail. The result is this 200-shot gallery that serves to illustrate a concise report.

As a tribute to one of the most extreme racing cars ever built, Porsche created this one-off Boxster Bergspyder. The model that inspired it is the 909 Bergspyder that was built for the 1968 European Hill Climb Championship. Saving weight was such an issue that chief engineer Ferdinand Piech went over the car with a magnet to ensure that not a single steel bolt or washer was fitted. The 909 had no conventional fuel pump but instead featured a fuel bladder that had to be pressurised by hand before the start. Also fitted were very light beryllium disc brakes, which had to be chrome plated as beryllium dust is toxic. Two were built and the featured example has recently been restored to full running order. The new Bergspyder is not quite so extreme. It is a lighter, single seater version of the 981 generation Boxster, fitted with a Cayman GT4 derived engine. Both Bergspyders are now part of the Porsche Museum collection.
Of a completely different order and quite a bit heavier is the new Bentley Flying Spur revealed today. Powered by a 626bhp version of the twin-turbo W12, Bentley claims it is the most advanced luxury Grand Touring sports saloon. The Flying Spur is available to order this autumn and deliveries will start early in 2020.

South African designer Gordon Murray has created a spiritual successor to the legendary McLaren F1. Dubbed the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50, the high performance machine is just about everything modern supercars are not; lightweight, fitted with a high revving naturally aspirated engine and equipped with a manual gearbox. It is built around a carbon-fibre composite monocoque, which uses the Cosworth-developed V12 engine as a partly stressed member. This V12 engine has a startling redline of 12,100 and produces 650 bhp from less than four litres of displacement. Like the McLaren F1, the T.50 is a three seater with a central driving position. Production of the £2+ million machine will start in 2022 and is limited to just 100 examples.
An absolute behemoth compared to Gordon Murray's latest creation is the all-new BMW M8 Competition that was just announced in both Coupe and Convertible versions. The Competition is a slightly faster version of the M8 with a slightly more powerful version of the twin-turbo V8, a more hardcore suspension and larger wheels.
One of the more unusual machines announced in recent weeks is the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato Concept. Sterrato is Italian for gravel roads and this wild version of the Huracan is indeed intended as an off-road version of the high performance coupe. It seems there are no intentions to make the off-road Huracan available to customers.
At next week's 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ligier will reveal the JS P320, which is the second generation of the company's LMP3 car. It has already been tested and will be made available to customers at the start of the next season. The JS P320 is not a completely new design and existing JS P3s can be upgraded to the latest specifications.

Having followed the Classic Endurance Racing field since its inception in 2004, we have seen a startling number of historic racing cars. Fortunately, each year we are treated to different cars that join the fray after having not been regularly campaigned for many years. One of the newcomers to the CER1 field this year is this well documented Chevron B19. Originally sold to South Africa, it has been raced in historic events for most of its life but only just joined the stable of the current custodian. He decided to finally returned B19-71-30 to its period 'Rays' livery.
Among the more fascinating cars to return to the track in 2019 was this Lola T280. The period racing career of this Cosworth DFV engined machine was cut short due to an accident after just two races. The wrecked car was used for spares when a honeycomb chassis'ed facsimile was built up for historic racing during the 1980s. What remained of chassis HU5 has now finally been rebuilt into fully running machine again.
One of five built, this March 75S has appeared in CER events but some years ago and with a different owner. A circuit racer now, it was hugely successful with French hill-climb champion Michel Pignard in period. He won a startling 21 national and European championship hill-climbs in 75S/3 during the mid-1970s.

Steeped in tradition, the annual Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este turned 90 years old this year. The highly exclusive event is held in the gardens of the Villa d'Este Hotel on the shores of Lake Como in what is a particularly beautiful part of the world. This scenic backdrop was explored further this year with the addition of the 'Prelude Tour' on the Thursday before the event. The entrants of the concours d'elegance were invited to join and the route took the cars to some of the most beautiful spots in the area. Unfortunately, nature was not friendly to the event for the entire weekend as just as the cars lined up for the parade in front of the Villa d'Este hotel started, a torrential downpour started. This did not dampen the spirits and the parade was completed just as planned, culminating with the presentation of the coveted Coppa d'Oro Villa d'Este for the 'best of show' by public referendum.
Our reporters also braved the conditions and have returned with a 180-shot gallery, which illustrates a concise report of the 2019 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.

Ferrari have revealed the company's very first series production plug-in hybrid vehicle, the SF90 Stradale. Being a Ferrari, this is not any old plug-in hybrid as it features a drivetrain that is good for a combined 1,000hp. This consists of an enlarged version of the twin-turbo V8, which alone produces 780hp and is mated to a new eight-speed automatic gearbox. The remaining 220hp is added through three electric motors of which two drive the front wheels. On electric power alone, the SF90 Stradale can drive 25km. The SF90 Stradale also features a sophisticated aerodynamics package that can generate 390kg of downforce at 250km/h. Thanks to the surplus of power and all-wheel drive, the new plug-in hybrid Ferrari can accelerate to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 340km/h.