One of the most highly anticipated new supercars is the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. In addition to the road legal example, there will be a T.50s circuit version of the 'Fancar' as well. Officially announced earlier this week, it will be named the Niki Lauda in honour of the late Austrian racer, who raced in the original fancar Brabham. The T.50s is lighter and has a bit more power than the road car, while the aerodynamics have also been reworked to better suit track conditions. Professor Murray decided to limit the downforce generated by the car to ensure it could still be driven by the wealthy amateur racers the car is intended for. Only 25 will be built with deliveries due to start in 2023.
Red Bull Racing have revealed a first glimpse of their 2021 F1 car; the RB16B. It has a revised rear suspension compared to last year's car and there should be some more changes that have yet to be revealed by the Austrian-owned, British team.
The big motorsport news of this week is that Ferrari will return to top level sports car racing with a new Le Mans Hypercar in 2023. It is the first time in 50 year since the Italian manufacturer has fielded a works sports car effort and the last prototype racing successes date back to 1998 when this 333 SP won both the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours outright.
Currently under development at Porsche is the Taycan Cross Turismo, which is undergoing a stringent testing campaign around the world. As can be seen in the teaser images, it is a shooting brake version of Porsche's first all-electric production car.

It is Formula 1 launch season and today we can reveal the new cars from Alfa Romeo Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri. The Italian-backed Swiss team will race this Ferrari-engined C41 during the upcoming World Championship. It is a development of the C39 used last year with most of the development tokens spent on the front-end and nose of the car. The reason that the new Alfa Romeo Racing machine is dubbed the C41 is that the C40 had already been used for the car that had originally been developed for the all-new regulations that have now been postponed to 2022.
A race winner in 2020, Scuderia AlphaTauri took the wraps off the AT02 late last week. It will be raced by Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, and should benefit from a considerable engine upgrade provided by Honda in their final year in Formula 1.
The Alfa Romeo Racing cars are built by Sauber in Switzerland. Among the many interesting cars in the Swiss team's history is the C14, which was raced during the 1995 season. It was driven to Sauber's first podium finish and also brought major sponsors Red Bull and Petronas into the sport.
Maserati, meanwhile, revealed a first glimpse of the Grecale SUV that is currently under development. As shown in the images, road testing of the prototypes has already started.

This week, McLaren revealed the all-new Artura, which replaces the 570S and derivatives. Powered by a hybrid drivetrain, it is the first modern McLaren not powered by a version of the twin-turbo V8. Instead, it boasts an all-new V6 engine with a wide V-angle to allow the two turbochargers to sit between the cylinder heads. Combined with the electric motor, the hybrid drivetrain is good for a peak power of 670 bhp. Despite all the additional equipment, the Artura has a kerb weight of less than 1,500 kg thanks to a sophisticated carbon-fibre composite monocoque. The first examples of the all-new McLaren should be with the customers early in the summer.
Morgan meanwhile revived the Plus 8 for a new limited production model. Dubbed the Plus 8 GTR, it is inspired by the 1990s Plus 8 GTR GT2 racer. Raced by Charles Morgan himself, this was the first Morgan built around the bonded and riveted monocoque chassis that was later used by the Aero models. Painted bright blue, the one-off Plus 8 GTR was better known to Morgan enthusiasts as 'Big Blue.' The new Plus 8 GTR is built on recommissioned, unused chassis of the Plus 8 road car of which production had officially stopped in 2018. Limited to just nine examples, it is the first in a line of a series of Morgan special projects.

This afternoon, Porsche took the wraps of the new 992-generation 911 GT3. The hardcore road car is powered by a 503 bhp version of the naturally aspirated four-litre engine. This is mated to either a manual or automatic gearbox. The new 911 GT3 is the fastest evolution yet. This was underlined by Joerg Bergmeister, who lapped the 'Ring a whole 17 seconds quicker than the time set by its predecessor.
The first 2021 Formula 1 car to break cover is this McLaren MCL35M, which was revealed last night. Due to the global pandemic, the sport decided to limit development but McLaren was already committed to a change of engine supplier. So, as the name suggests, the MCL35 is effectively last year's car with a Mercedes instead of a Renault engine. Signed to drive the bright orange McLaren are Lando Norris and newcomer Daniel Ricciardo.
With this striking E-R9 show car, Lotus offer a glimpse of the future; 2030 to be more precise. It is the British company's vision for the type of car that would race at Le Mans that year. The E-R9 is inspired by the Lotus Mark IX, which raced at Le Mans in 1955. The 2030 edition of the 24 Hours would be the 75th anniversary of the car's debut at Le Mans.

The next major auction on what seems a relentless schedule is tomorrow's RM Sotheby's Paris sale. This is a livestream sale, which allows for remote bidding only. Today we take a look at three of the most interesting lots to cross the block. The rarest of this trio is the unique Isdera Commendatore 112i, which was originally shown at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show. The striking machine is powered by a Mercedes-Benz V12 engine and famously starred in the Need for Speed II video game. It was later modified but has since been restored to its original configuration by Isdera themselves. The one-off Commendatore has now been consigned by Isdera and is offered at no reserve.
Also available in the sale are two recent V12-engined Ferraris. One is the original F12tdf prototype that was shown at the car's 2015 Finali Mondiali debut. It was eventually auctioned off for charity to celebrate Enzo Ferrari's 120th birthday. The winning bidder of that sale has now consigned the F12tdf to the Paris auction. Not as well publicised is the 599 GTZ Nibbio Spyder, which was based on a 2009 599 GTB and later modified by Zagato to its current configuration. It is believed that just nine 599s were modified to Nibbio guise by the Milanese coach-builder in the last couple of years. Chassis 165830 was signed off by Zagato early in 2020 and has been barely used since.
Audi have expanded the all-electric e-tron line-up with this very aggressive looking and very powerful RS e-tron GT. Courtesy of front- and rear-mounted electric motors, the RS e-tron GT has a combined 590 bhp on tap.
Czech specialist racing car builder Praga have introduced a comprehensively revised version of the mid-engined R1. It has a more powerful engine, a larger fuel tank and still weighs in at just 643 kg. Among the series for which the compact machine is eligible is the Britcar Endurance Championship where its predecessor won the championship in 2020 with seven outright victories in nine races.

On Friday one major action was held while another closed and now the full results are in. With La Parisienne, Artcurial held a live at Hotel Dassault in Paris. The €18.3 million sale was topped by the 1972 Le Mans winning Matra MS670 that was offered directly by Matra owners, the Lagardière Group. It found a new owner for nearly €7 million including buyers' premium and VAT, and is to date the most expensive car sold at auction in 2021.
Also grabbing headlines was Michel Hommell's Group B collection, which sold very well. The most impressive result was achieved by this Audi Sport Quattro S1, which sold for just over €2 million; the highest price ever paid for a Group B car at auction.
Californian auctioneer Gooding held their second European based sale with the online only, single owner European & Sporting Collection sale. All nine lots sold with the auction topped by this recently restored Aston Martin DB4 GT that found a new owner for £2.75 million. Interestingly, that is almost twice as much as a sister car that sold at Artcurial on the same day.
On the same day, Audi revealed the second generation RS 3 LMS. Again aimed at the TCR sanctioned touring car races around the world, the compact racer has big shoes to fill as the first generation machine scored 279 victories in the 1,051 races the four-cylinder Audi competed in. Although the actual power figures and weight are determined by a balance of performance to create a level playing field, the RS 3 LMS has a reworked four-cylinder engine that is capable of at least 340 hp.

This week, we should have been in Paris for the annual Retromobile show. This has been postponed to June for obvious reasons but official auctioneer Artcurial will still hold a sale on Friday. Suitably dubbed La Parisienne, the sale is 42 lots strong and features some truly fascinating machines like the Le Mans winning Matra we featured earlier but also no fewer than seven Group B cars from the collection of legendary French published Michel Hommell. All of these were acquired in the late 1980s and early 1990s directly from the factories and teams that raced them in period. All the significant Group B cars represented, headlined by a particularly rare Audi Sport Quattro S1, which is a valued at over €1 million. No Group B collection is complete without Lancia's two successful Martini-liveried machines raced in this period so there is both a 037 and a Delta S4 in the sale. For the enthusiasts of French rally cars there is a Peugeot 205 T16 and an ex Carlos Sainz Renault 5 Turbo Maxi. Although arriving a little too late to score significant results in period, a Ford RS200 and MG Metro 6R4 also have their place in Group B history and were included in the seven-car collection as well.
The sale is a live auction, and will start at 4 pm local time on Friday, February 5th.

This weekend's Daytona 24 Hours was the first major race of the new season. It turned out to be a classic with five cars on the lead lap for most of the race. Eventually, the victory was scored by the Acura ARX-05 entered by Wayne Taylor Racing. Scoring its third consecutive Daytona win, it was the team's debut race with the HPD/Oreca developed DPi prototype. For Acura, it was the first ever outright victory in a major endurance race.
Although the Arizona dust has barely settled, Gooding & Co. have sprung into action with the online-only, single collection European Sporting & Historic Collection sale that is already open for bidding and will close on Friday, February 5th. Headlining the nine-lot sale is this Aston Martin DB4 GT, which has recently benefitted from a complete R.S. Williams restoration. Originally delivered to Switzerland, chassis DB4GT/0144/L has been owned by prominent collectors like Chip Connor and Peter Livanos. The pre-sale estimate is £2 - £2.5 million and at the time of writing the highest bid is £1.2 million.
Shown at the 1967 Brussels Motor Show when brand new, this Ferrari 275 GTB/4 is another highlight of the sale. It spent most of its life in the hands of a single Dutch family and was never fully restored. Chassis 09389 has already received a £1.3 million bid at this moment but the reserve has not yet been met.