After a brief summer break, the Peter Auto historic racing season resumed earlier this month with the Dix Mille Tours du Castellet. Hosted by the unique Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France, the event has been on the calendar since 2010. This year's thirteenth edition featured all the familiar Peter Auto race grids and also demonstration runs for Formula 1 cars, and recent Le Mans Prototypes and GT racers. Even though we are well into the season, there were several new cars to the series, which included the unique Lamborghini Diablo Jota GT1 and the only Lotus Elise GT1 that raced at Le Mans.
It was a very busy weekend with the two-hour Sixties' Endurance race starting at sunset and the event not concluding until early in the evening on Sunday. As always, our photographers were on hand and have captured the Dix Mille Tours in its entirety with this class-by-class 200-shot gallery and detailed report as the result.

At this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, Porsche's 75th anniversary was celebrated. Today, we have taken a look at three cars that starred on the hill and are painted in iconic liveries. The earliest is this 917/30, which is the prototype for the all-conquering Can-Am racer. Initially used for testing, it features a variable wheelbase. Following its test and development duties, chassis 917/30-001 was successfully raced in the Interserie Championship by Herbert Müller. It is today painted in the Vaillant colours used during the 1975 season.
Sporting the instantly recognisable Jägermeister livery is this 911 Carrera RSR 3.0. Using a bare tub, it was built into a complete race car by the Kremer brothers. It was raced with considerable success, usually with Helmut Kelleners behind the wheel. Today, 005 0005 is one of very few genuine Jägermeister cars that is not in the collection of Eckhard Schimpf, whose grandfather founded the spirits company.
Run by the Swiss Brun Motorsport team, this 962C was raced only twice in period. It was driven by Walter Brun and Jesus Pareja, who was backed by Spanish oil company Repsol. Still in highly original condition, 962-163 was recently acquired by its current owner, who demonstrated it at Goodwood.

Lotus has expanded its line-up with the all-new, four-door Emeya. The spiritual successor to the Lotus Carlton/Omega was unveiled in New York City and is a battery electric vehicle. The striking machine comes with a choice of drivetrains, with the most powerful producing a combined 905 bhp, which is sent to all four wheels through a two-speed gearbox. Production of the Emeya is set to begin in 2024.
A more traditional sports car that broke cover is this Bizzarrini Giotto. The mid-engined supercar is styled by Giorgietto and Fabrizio Giugiaro and powered by a bespoke V12. Developed together with Cosworth, the naturally aspirated engine displaces 6,626 cc, which is a reference to Giotto Bizzarrini's birthday; June 6th, 1926. Development is ongoing and the first Giotto should arrive with customers early in 2026.
Jumping on the off-road bandwagon, Ford created the Mustang Mach-E Rally. As the name suggests, it is a raised version of the all-electric Mustang. The Mach-E Rally, boast a pair of electric motors, which are good for a combined 480 bhp.
Another high-performance all-electric machine revealed this week is the Volkswagen ID.X Performance. It debuted last weekend at the ID. Treffen in Locarno Switzerland and is based on the all-new ID.7.

It is Goodwood Revival week and an integral part of the unique event is the annual Bonhams Auction. Headlining this year's sale is a very rare works Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, finished in striking Martini colours and fitted with the full-width 'Mary Stuart' tail. Known internally as 'R7', it was raced by the factory team in 1973 and subsequently by Brumos Racing in North America. It has had just a handful of owners since new and the rare Porsche racer is now estimated to sell for £3,750,000 - 5,750,000.
Another iconic racing car consigned to the sale is this Lancia 037. One of 20 built to Evo 2 spec, it was raced with great success in the Italian Rally Championship, scoring six wins out of nine starts with Gianfranco Cunico at the wheel. It was raced through to 1987 and was then restored to works Martini colours. Only recently was this rectified and chassis 412 now sports its original Olio Fiat / Hertz livery a again. Offered from longterm ownership, the 037 has a £750,000 - 950,000 estimate.
At this week's IAA Mobile show in Munich several manufacturers offered a glimpse of the future. Among them was Volkswagen who showcased the ID. GTi Concept. It is exactly what the name suggests; a first look at what a GTi version of Volkswagen's all-electric hatchback could look like. An even more dramatic concept is the Cupra DarkRebel. Again the name fits the bill of this low slung, angular two-door shooting brake. BMW revived an iconic name of old with the Vision Neue Klasse. It is a reference to the 1500 model of the 1960s, which was instrumental to saving the company and laying the foundation for the success that it is today. Sporting a fresh design, the Neue Klasse is a preview of the first BMW that uses a bespoke electric platform. This upcoming model may become equally important for the German company's future as the original Neue Klasse was in the 1960s.

Penned by Franco Scaglione, the original Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale ranks as one of the all time great designs and Alfa Romeo has now created a tribute using modern underpinnings. Appropriately dubbed the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, the compact mid-engined coupe has a design inspired by the original. Underneath the retro skin, the new 33 Stradale is very modern with a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis and a choice of a 620 bhp twin-turbo V6 or a full electric drivetrain good for 750 bhp at peak power. Alfa Romeo-backed Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas will be responsible for honing the chassis. The 333 km/h top speed claimed surely is not a coincidence and the 33 Stradale should be able to accelerate to 100 km/h in under three seconds. Alfa Romeo has tasked specialist company Touring Superleggera with the construction of the 33 Stradale. Only 33 examples will be built in total and all have already been spoken for. It will be interesting to see how many customers will combine the retro styling with an all-electric drivetrain.
There is little retro about the Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid announced this week. It is the new range-topping model of the Cayenne line-up and combines the familiar twin-turbo V8 engine with an electric motor. The combined maximum output is a whopping 729 bhp with 950 Nm of torque available. In addition to the regular version, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid is also available in Coupé form.

This weekend, the Historic Racing by Peter Auto series returns from the summer break with the annual Dix Mille Tours at Paul Ricard. A packed schedule features all the familiar grids and also a demonstration of historic Formula 1 cars. To get you in the mood, we have taken a closer look at four cars that will star at Paul Ricard. Lining up in the Endurance Racing Legends field is this Porsche 911 GT2 R, which was raced at Le Mans four times. It was originally built to Evo spec and raced by Larbre Competition in the GT1 class. It ran in the top five overall until a crash in treacherous conditions ended the charge. The GT2 was raced through the end of the 2002 season and has now been restored to its 1995 colours. Another car raced successfully by Larbre Competition and also a four-time Le Mans veteran is this Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT2. This ex-works car was the very first GT2 specification Corvette C6.R built. It won the GTE Am class at Le Mans in 2011. Chassis C6GT-001 is currently the only C6.R GT2 used in historic racing today.
Another car that returned to the race track this season is this MG Lola EX257. It was raced twice at Le Mans by the works team and proved fast but fragile. It was later raced in North America but has now been returned to its striking works colours.
Of a slightly earlier vintage is this March 75S. The BMW-engined sports prototype was originally raced by Swiss driver Fredy Lienhard. Now campaigned by a British racer, it will line up in the Classic Endurance Racing 2 race on Sunday.
If you are in the area, you can attend from September 1st-3rd or otherwise we will be there to capture all the highlights for an in-depth report.