Petrolicious just released a delightful video about the XK120, Jaguar’s first car to race at La Sarthe. Not as successful as the later XK120C from 1951, but in my humble opinion MUCH more of a looker.
Category: Racing
REVIEW – 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722
Pilots: S. Moss, D. Jenkinson
Team: Mercedes-Benz
Race: 1st place (class S+ 2.0) in the 1955 Mille Miglia
Minichamps - 432.553100 (diecast)
Review HERE
New Evora – GT4 Concept
Generally speaking, I’m not the biggest Lotus fan, but I’m really digging the Evora GT4 concept. Lotus revealed the new Evora this week at the Auto Shanghai motor show in China – Lotus is owned by the Chinese automotive company Geely. It weighs around 1200 kg (subject to ballast) and could reach over 270 km/h.
It’s still a concept though, but the production version will probably be very similar. And there’s hope to see it at La Sarthe…
How you build a vintage E-Type nowadays
Remember in my review of Jaguar’s E-Type Lightweight when I said that in 1963 Jaguar planned to produce 18 units? By 1964 however, upper management decided to cut production short after number 12 was done.
Astonishingly, back in 2015, Jaguar decided to complete the 18 car run. In their Browns Lane factory, where the Lightweight was originally produced, the missing 6 cars came to life. Built to original specifications, and utilising the unused chassis numbers, these “new” Lightweights came out of the factory exactly like their older brothers back in 1963 and 1964.
With a price of over £1million, they sold out even before production began. Ain’t it nice to have lots of money?
Ferrari P80/C – when you need an exclusive track toy
I’m not the biggest fan of the cars from Maranello, but boy this one looks GOOD! It’s the new P80/C, a one-off model based on Ferrari’s 488 GT3. The 488 GT3 was a more-than-capable track weapon, but the owner of the P80/C didn’t think it was exclusive enough. So he got Ferrari to build him an exclusive track car, and after four years of development, his brand new car is ready.
Over at Ferrari’s website you can find a little more about the car. They also posted a 12 minutes video:
Sir Stirling Moss’ greatest victory
The 1955 Milli Miglia, of course.
His record of 10h7’48” still stands to this day, and will never be beaten. Why? Because the Mille Miglia was absolutely insane. Imagine around 500 cars on public roads going over 200 km/h through cities and villages. Oh, and those roads were NOT closed to the public.
And some say that the Avusrennen was bonkers…
917 turns 50
March 12th, 1969, is an important date for some gearheads (like yours truly). On this day, 50 years ago, at the Geneva Motor Show, Porsche unveiled the 917. It was a very important car for the manufacturer, since it was their shot at attempting an overall win at Le Mans. As history shows us, the begining was really rough, but in the end the 917 won not once but twice at La Sarthe.
The first 917 ever, chassis #917-001, has been restored to it’s original condition of that famous homologation photo. After a painstaking and meticulous job that took over an year, the car is ready and is now displayed at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
Up above is a nice short video (3m40s) about the 917 by The Wheel Network.
Le Mans 1980
A look into the historic 1980 race, when Jean Rondeau drove to victory in a car he himself had built. But what I really liked to see was pit crews working on the cars – sooooooo different from the surgical precision of today.
GYMKHANA TEN
Ken Block has a new video out:
This time it’s with five different cars in five different places.
What’s your favorite? Mine is the Hoonicorn.
New C8.R
The new Corvette is coming to tracks in 2019. Chevrolet did a night test at Sebring of the new car, and it looks (and specially sounds) very nice. However, it’s just me or does it look like an European car?