This weekend, we will be at the Chateau de Chantilly just north of Paris for the biennial Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille. Organised by Peter Auto, this Concours d'Elegance caters to a wide variety of historic machinery. Considering the other events held by Peter Auto, it is no surprise that competition cars are well represented. To get you in the mood for what promises to be a scorching edition, we have taken a look at four sports cars that have starred at Chantilly or will line up this Sunday.
Shown at the inaugural event in 2014 is this Lola T70 Mk3B Coupe. Originally owned by David Piper and finished in the familiar green colours of his longtime backer BP, this particular car has a long period racing history. It also starred in Steve McQueen's Le Mans movie. Now owned by a British historic racer SL76/150 is also raced at select events like Peter Auto's Le Mans Classic where it is also pictured.
In 2015, we were treated to sole surviving Mercedes-Benz CLK LM Strassenversion. It was shown alongside the unique McLaren F1 GTR art car. At this year's edition, there will be a special McLaren class and among the entries is an F1 GTR.
Also entered for this weekend is this Porsche 911 GT1 that was raced in period by Konrad Motorsport and Larbre Competition. Now in British hands, chassis 993-GT-109 will be part of a special class dedicated to GT racers from 1994 onwards.

One of the all-time great Grand Prix cars is the Williams FW14B. Raced during the 1992 season, it was the first World Championship winning Formula 1 machine penned by the now legendary Adrian Newey. Effectively an interim car that was developed from the 1991 FW14, it combined the Newey's very effective aerodynamics with a sophisticated active suspension system and Renault's powerful V10 engine. The FW14B proved so fast in testing that the FW15 planned for 1992 was never raced. In the hands of Nigel Mansell, the FW14B was particularly successful and he was crowned World Champion after just 11 of the 16 rounds during the 1992 season. Such was his dominance that Mansell qualified a full three seconds faster than Ayrton Senna in a McLaren. At next week's Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed sale, you have the opportunity to acquire a fully functional example. The chassis is offered by its first private owner and was driven to pole position and victory by Mansell in the first five races of the 1992 season. We have also highlighted FW14-6, which was the development and test car. It has recently been meticulously restored by Williams Heritage and demonstrated at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
BMW's Motorsport department have offered a glimpse at the future with the Vision M NEXT. Equipped with a 591 bhp hybrid system, the striking coupe can accelerate to 100 km/h in 3 seconds. We will get a chance to take a more detailed look at the Vision M NEXT as it will star in the Chantilly Arts & Elegance show on Sunday.

It will be a busy couple of weeks for us with the Chantilly Concours d'Elegance and Goodwood Festival of Speed on the horizon. At the latter, Aston Martin will be the featured marque, so to get you in the mood we have taken a closer look at two great and very distinct examples of DB3S that starred at both events in the past.
Developed over the winter of 1952/53, the DB3S was a more refined evolution of Aston Martin's first sports racer. Compared to the DB3 of 1952, it was smaller, lighter and more powerful. It was raced with considerable success during the mid-1950s by the works team and customers but the much desired outright Le Mans victory proved a stretch too far. The feature example came very close by finishing second overall in 1955 and again in 1958. Chassis DB3S/6 actually started life as one of the two factory Coupes but after a disastrous 1954 Le Mans, it was raced with considerable more success as a Roadster. The second place at Le Mans in 1955 was also a first in class.
In addition to the cars raced by the Aston Martin works team, a further 20 examples were built for costumers to race. Of these, three were Coupes of which chassis DB3S/119 was the second. Not raced in period, it has been owned by several leading Aston Martin enthusiasts. Its most recent owner had the DB3S Fixed Head Coupe meticulously restored to its original configuration before showing it at Chantilly in 2015.

In front of a 252,000 strong crowd, the 87th annual 24 Hours of Le Mans was run last weekend. The race served as the Super Finale of the FIA WEC Super Season that started back in May of 2018 and also included last year's Le Mans race. As a result, there were many of the same cars on the grid, which with 62 entries was larger than ever before. Fortunately, there was some additional colour added to field thanks to several art car and retro liveries. While the fight overall victory had few surprises, the racing in LMP2 and LM GTE Pro was top level and both classes were very closely disputed.
Our man on the ground was Bob van der Wolf, who shot this 230-shot gallery that serves to illustrate our concise report.
On the eve of this weekend's Nurburgring 24 Hours, Mercedes-AMG revealed an evolution of the hugely successful GT3. The modifications focus on making the car easier and cheaper to run. The GT3 Evo is available as a new car but current owners can also upgrade their existing cars.

The fine people at Porsche Motorsport have worked their magic on the mid-engined 718 model to create the 718 Cayman GT4 and 718 Spyder. The tantalising machines share the same four-litre, six cylinder engine that, crucially, is naturally aspirated. It is good for 412bhp and this power is fed to the rear wheels by a manual six-speed gearbox. Both the Spyder and Cayman GT4 are priced at under �100,000 in Germany and we reckon they will sell like hot cakes.
BMW have added a third model to the 8-series line-up with the launch of the M850i xDrive Gran Turismo. Compared to the coupe introduced earlier, it features a slightly longer wheelbase to accommodate bigger rear seats and two additional doors. What is carried over is the 523bhp twin-turbo V8 engine that is mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive system.
Earlier this week, Aston Martin revealed that their upcoming mid-engined sports car will be called the Valhalla after the warrior's paradise from the Norse mythology. Formerly known as the AM-RB 003, it has been developed together with Red Bull Racing and will be powered by a turbocharged V6 combined with a hybrid-electric system.
Shortly ahead of the market launch, Ford have released the power figures of the new Shelby Mustang GT500. The supercharged V8 will produce 760bhp, which will make the GT500 the most powerful Ford production car ever.

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.