2024-12-05: Genesis enters sports car racing and Bonhams Bond Street preview ...
Hyundai's luxury arm Genesis is poised to enter sports car racing from 2026 onwards with the
GMR-001 Hypercar. Developed to IMSA's LMDh regulations, it will be built around an Oreca chassis and will feature a bespoke internal combustion engine that is mated to a standard hybrid system. Due to debut in the the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, the
GMR-001 Hypercar will be raced by Pipo Derani and Andre Lotterer, who will also double as development drivers during testing in 2025.
Earlier this week, Hyundai Motorsport also revealed the
Elantra N1 TC Evo, which is due to take part in SRO-sanctioned touring car races starting in 2025. Like its predecessor, it is powered by a direct injection, two-litre turbo engine that drives the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox.
Next weekend, Bonhams will stage the flag-ship
Bond Street Sale at the company's London headquarters. Consigned to headline the sale is this
Koenigsegg CCXR. It is the second CCX built and was acquired new by a major Koenigsegg shareholder. It spent much of its early life as a factory development car and
7031 famously starred in a Top Gear episode. Upgraded to 'R' specification, it was place in storage during the first half of the 2010s and while it was fastidiously maintained, it was only very rarely seen in public.
Another high-performance supercar due to cross the block is this
McLaren 720S GT3X. The second of 15 built, it has only been used sparingly since it was built in 2022.
2024-12-03: Jaguar reborn with electric show car and big-block Can-Am McLarens ...
In a remarkable move, Jaguar production has been completely suspended while the brand is reshaped as an all-electric manufacturer late in 2025. A first sign of things to come was a new logo revealed last week and now the British company revealed the
Type 00 show car. In the accompanying press release, the big GT is described as an unmistakable, unexpected and dramatic physical manifestation of Jaguar. The bold
Type 00 show car will be followed by a production version that will be produced in the United Kingdom with the first deliveries not expected until early 2026.
To cleanse your palette, we have also taken a closer look at a pair of Chevrolet big-block engined McLaren Can-Am cars. The earliest of the pair is this
McLaren M8E Chevrolet, which was sold new to Fred Parkhill. He only raced the car in a Can-Am race once but campaigned it until the late 1970s. From the 1980s, chassis
80-06 has been regularly campaigned in historic events. It is now owned by an enthusiast from New Zealand, who started his career working for McLaren.
The penultimate customer Can-Am car built for McLaren by Trojan is this
M8FP Chevrolet. It was raced during the 1973 and 1974 Can-Am seasons and was campaigned in local events through to 1976 when it was damaged. Once repaired, chassis
8-72 was campaigned in historic events on both sides of the Atlantic. Both cars were demonstrated earlier this year at the
Goodwood Members' Meeting.
2024-11-29: Ferrari Friday with three iconic models we saw at events this year ...
One of the most remarkable stories of this year was the
Ferrari 250 GTO driven to the
Chantilly Arts & Elegance in Paris over the road from London. It even crossed the Channel by train through the Eurotunnel. The second GTO built, it was shown in the class celebrating the designs of Carlo Chiti. In period, chassis
3387GT had been driven to a class win at the Sebring 12 Hours in the same American livery it wears today.
Also shown at Chantilly was another ex-North American Racing Team Ferrari; the one-off
196 S Dino. It was campaigned in period by the Rodriguez brothers and was later part of many prominent collections. Now back in American hands, chassis
0776 was also driven on the Tour during the Chantilly Arts & Elegance.
Freshly restored by Michelotto, this
Ferrari F40 LM was driven up the hill at the
Goodwood Festival of Speed by period F40 LM racer Luca Drudi. The car itself was never raced in period and has only very rarely been seen in public.
2024-11-26: Priceless pieces from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum headed for auction ...
Earlier in the year, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum announced that several non-Indy 500 related cars would be consigned to RM Sotheby's to bolster the financial health of the museum. The star lot is this iconic
Mercedes-Benz W196 Streamliner, which will be offered at a special event in Stuttgart on February 1st. It was first raced in open-wheel configuration by Juan Manuel Fangio, who immediately scored a race win in a Formula Libre event. Later in 1955, it was entered for Stirling Moss in the Italian Grand Prix sporting the streamliner bodywork still fitted today. Initially retired to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, chassis
000 09/54 was donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1965. Only shown at select events, it is now slated to become only the second W196 in private hands with the sales price estimated to exceed €50 million.
Due to cross the block at the Miami sale later in February of 2025 is this
Ford GT40 Mk II. Completed early in 1966, it was raced in period at the Sebring 12 Hours and 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Holman and Moody team. At Le Mans, it sported striking DayGlo green sections on the nose to distinguish it from the other seven GT40s in the race. Later used for show duty, it was eventually donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1968. A non runner for most its life, it was eventually restored to full running order during the second half of the 2000s. Like the Mercedes-Benz,
GT40P/1032 will be offered for public sale for the first time and the estimate is accordingly set at $8 - $11 million.
Late last week, Porsche announced the
Manthey Package for the latest 911 GT3 RS. This is a €76,911 aerodynamics upgrade created by the factory Manthey Racing team. Wilder still than the original 911 GT3 RS, it creates a staggering 1,000 kg of downforce at 285 km/h without an added drag penalty.
2024-11-21: TWR Supercar and the Jaguar XJ-S Group A it was inspired by ...
On the day that Jaguar relaunched as a pure EV brand with a new logo, the reborn Tom Walkinshaw Racing revealed the full details of the
Supercat. Inspired by the Jaguar XJ-S Group A racer built and raced by TWR in period, it is the latest restomod. Using the XJ-S as a starting point, the engineering team that includes Khyzyl Saleem and Magnus Walker, created a thoroughly modern super GT. A lavish carbon-fibre bodykit is draped over the original steel monocoque. Among the other changes are revised suspension, an uprated, supercharged V12 engine and a six-speed manual gearbox. Lighter and more than twice as powerful as the original, the
Supercat is strictly limited to 88 examples. This is a nod to the outright victory at Le Mans scored by the TWR-built Jaguar XJR-9 in 1988.
A great example of the 1980s Group A racer is this
chassis, which was built ahead of the 1984 season. It raced with great success in the European Touring Car Championship, then finished second at Macau and then won the 1985 Bathurst 1000 km outright. At the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed,
TWR JC 84A004 was reunited with the Bathurst winning drivers Armin Hahne and John Goss.
2024-11-19: Turbo Tuesday with a pair of iconic Nissan and Porsche racers ...
Today we celebrate Turbo Tuesday with a pair of iconic competition cars. The earliest of the pair is the
Nissan R90CP, which was raced with great success in the Japanese Sports Car Championship. Two were built in 1990 and represent a further development of the Lola-based Group C racers. In fact both featured early R89C chassis. The P in the name is a reference to the Oppama plant in Japan, where the cars were developed in-house with the help of aerodynamicist Yoshi Suzuka. In R89C guise, the featured
R90CP was raced at Le Mans twice before being converted in Japan. It was part of two-car effort that won the Japanese Sports Car Championship and was retired to the Nissan Heritage collection after its last race in 1991. Acquired directly from Nissan by our friends at the Ascott Collection, it received a mechanical restoration and was first raced in over 30 years at the recent Dix Mille Tours.
One of the most interesting cars in action at the Estoril Classics last month was this
Porsche 911 GT2. Built early in 1995, it was raced for several seasons in the striking Blue Coral colours. In subsequent ownership, it continued to be campaigned until 2008. Over the years it received upgrades to the engine and a more advance Roock bodykit to keep it competitive with the much newer cars it raced against. Retained by its third owner for many years, it was eventually restored to its Blue Coral livery and original specifications. Now run by Era Motorsport, the
911 GT2 was raced at Estoril by Marino Franchitti and Kyle Tilley.