You may have seen that mad video where a group of YouTube folk take it off-road? It made for a insane yet intoxicating video and has racked up many views on the popular site. That group, Tax the Rich, have made a habit of taking some of the worlds most iconic cars and just going bonkers with them. Be it power sliding a Roll-Royce Phantom across a muddy field or tug-of-war with a pair of Ferrari F50′s they are game for just about anything. Now they have got hold of the biblical Ferrari 288 GTO and tried their hand at a spot of Group B rallying!
Bugatti have a prestigious history that is intertwined with luxury machines and performance icons. These two qualities are clear for all to see in the Veyron that they produce today. Bugatti’s racing heritage is something the company is very proud of and the next car in their line-up of six “Legend” special editions continues to celebrate the past.
The third model in Bugatti’s Legends series is named the Meo Constantini after a double Targa Florio champion. Based upon the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, this car dons a beautiful French racing blue and polished aluminium colour combination. In my personal opinion it is the best looking Veyron thus far. The colour scheme mimics that of Meo’s Type 35. Inside the lavish interior sports various historical engravings including fantastic Type 35 sketch style embroidery in the door lining.
Just three of these 1,200BHP, £1,700,000 car will be produced.
“The most beautiful car in the world” proclaimed the great Enzo Ferrari. Compliments from “the old man” were few and far between, but almost non-existent when pushed in the direction of competitors. Gracious, proud and drop dead gorgeous the Jaguar E-Type is not just a very pretty car, it is a British icon.
1961 saw its introduction to the world as a car built on Jaguars success in motorsport. The Jaguar E-Type was in fact the worlds fastest road car when new and promised stunning performance to match those good looks. Powered by a 3.8 litre six-cylinder engine, 0-60MPH was achievable in only 7.1 seconds and the car could go onto a top speed of 150MPH. Both coupe and convertible variations proved popular and with the introduction of a 4.2 litre engine in 1964, that offered more torque, the E-Type was well and truly at the top of its game. A more practical 2+2 Coupe was added to the range in 1966. Back then new a Series 1 model cost £2,097 but today these cars are worth up to and over £100,000.
1968 ushered in the Series 2, a machine that improved upon some areas such as cooling over its predecessor and also was fit for US consumption. The symbolic headlights were now open and the ovular air intake had grown wider. Though only on sale for three years, the Series two still clocked up 18,809 sales.
The Series 3 was to be the last example of the Jaguar E-Type. A brand new engine in the shape of a V12 was offered with a displacement of 5.3 litres. The wheelbase for this car was much longer than the Series 1 and 2 with the car only being offered as a 2+2 coupe or convertible. The last Series 3 Jaguar E-Type rolled off the production line in 1974, 13 years after the very first.
Its long production life is a testament to the cars popularity and today collectors fall over each other to get their hands on an early example. A true British sports car through and through, the Jaguar E-Type more than deserves its place on this list.
Sometimes you only need to look at a car to see that it exudes greatness. The Aston Martin DB5 is one such machine with its commanding stance and unique British charm. This car in a recent global survey ranked in the top ten when people were asked what represents Great Britain. Handsome, regal and set to become a global star, did you ever doubt that this legend would make it onto the list?
1963 is a great vintage in the history of the motor car and it is where the DB5 began its life. An evolution of the DB4, this new model was now powered by a 282BHP 4.0 litre engine. Officially the car would crack 143MPH and do 0-60MPH in 8 seconds. The DB, or David Brown, range of Astons was regarded highly for their sporting nature reinforced by Le Mans victories.
The DB5 would make its big screen debut in the James Bond classic Goldfinger of 1964. This glorious car teaming with gadgets accompanied super spy James Bond on his mission that would see him take on the infamous Gold smuggler Auric Goldfinger. Aston Martin and Bond went together like strawberries and cream with the relationship still seen today. The latest 007 epic went back to its roots staring the DB5 as Bonds noble steed once again.
A Vantage variation of the Aston Martin DB5 saw release in 1964 featuring Webers that enabled greater performance when the car was pushed hard. The new output from the engine was 315BHP but only 65 DB5 Vantages were ever produced. 165 DB5 convertibles were sold, though the low number could be attributed to customers wanting “the car that Bond drives.” An interesting footnote in the DB5 story is the appearance of a prototype shooting brake model that was developed specifically for David Brown himself.
Aston Martin is celebrating their centenary this year and thought they have produced many fantastic cars throughout their history, the DB5 still remains the most famous.
Every now and then there comes a milestone in the the history of engineering. The first lightbulb, the microprocessor, the combustion engine, Concorde. These are all things we can marvel at and admire for their technical excellence, but one machine that is missing from that list is the Bugatti Veyron, a car that took the laws of physics and threw them out of the window.
In 1909 Ettore Bugatti set out to build some of the worlds most exclusive cars for the wealthy that could afford them. Italian born Ettore set up shop in France building his first road car in 1910. Named the Type 13, it proved not only popular with customers but also saw success in motorsport. Many more powerful and prestigious models followed as well as victories at the worlds most famous endurance race, the Le Mans 24 Hour. Ettore’s son, Jean, took over the company in later years however his death and the following war saw Bugatti sold in the 1950’s. 1987 brought a revival of the Bugatti name as it was acquired by Romano Artioli. The Bugatti EB110 came into being in 1989 and became the worlds fastest road production car in 1991. Due to a following recession the company again failed producing just 139 examples of the EB110.VW bought the rights to the name in 1998 and showed a range of luxury saloon concepts featuring the worlds first W16 engines for the road. However it was at the 1999 Frankfurt motor show where the first production concept of what we today call the Veyron was shown. Named the 18/3 Chiron. It was to become the brands future.
The mandate was clear after the reaction of the concept car that claimed so much. Build the worlds most powerful, fastest and desired road car. This task was given to Hartmut Warkuss (Chief Designer) under the guidance of Wolfgang Schreiber. Produced under the official title of Bugatti Automobiles SAS in Château St. Jean France, the yet to be named project was not designed to be beautiful but functional. Delivering biblical speeds had been done time and again but coupling that with unrivaled luxury was to be a huge challenge. With this much power how do you craft refinement? Testing began of the 8.0 litre W16 quad-turbocharged monster producing results that even surprised the engineers that built it. Traveling at speed in excess of 250MPH required some of the most focused technologies the world had to offer as the car must adapt to its rapidly increasing speed. Signed off in 2003 this incredible machine now had a name. The Bugatti Veyron.
They had done it. The laws of physics had been challenged and banished. This 253MPH mechanical miracle was the trophy for the engineers responsible. The Bugatti Veyron became the worlds fastest road production car but better yet, a genuinely comfortable experience and not just two seats with a rocket attached to the back. Critics have said time and again that this extraordinary machine is as tranquil at 30MPH as it is 230MPH. Collecting multiple awards the Bugatti very quickly became THE car to own. However its £839,000 price-tag reserved it strictly for the worlds most wealthy. VW built this car to show what can be achieved with pure engineering and so make no profit at all on all 350 cars. In fact the car costs £4,000,000 more to build than what it is sold for.
Over the years the Veyron’s record has been challenged and so Bugatti needed to produce something that would silence the claims of others. The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport became the world’s fastest production car. At VW’s secure test facility. This 1,200BHP goliath set a biblical speed of 267.81MPH! The new car has 1,106 pound-feet of torque as well as a modified aerodynamic profile. All production models are limited to 257.9MPH, as if the car was set free the tyres would only last 7 minutes.
It is a machine that changed the fortunes of a company. It is a symbol of mans true engineering potential. It is today one of the most globally recognizable cars on the planet. The Bugatti Veyron is many things to many people but what it is in isolation is an achievement.
In 1964 an American icon was born, a machine that would become synonymous with the USA. Stars and stripes, syrup and bacon, route 66 and the Ford Mustang! This pony car is an icon of performance that every blue collared working man can afford. It is literally the American dream on wheels…
Its introduction part way through 1964 started a craze that saw the Mustang become the companies most successful model since the Ford Model A. Sales forecasts from within the blue oval predicted around 100,000 units to be sold in the first year, however, this number was blown out of the water within three months and just 18 short months since its introduction a million Mustangs were on the road.
The Mustang had won its place in the hearts of its home nation and through 5 generations, the 6th is on its way, this car also became a global superstar. Thanks to its racing career and famous partnering with a certain Carroll Shelby, these stallions got leaner and meaner with now legendary names such as BOSS and GT500 being carved into the pages of history. The car also had its fair share of movie outings, most notably as the hero of Bullet in a gripping chase scene through San Francisco.
There is just something about the romance of an American muscle car that sets us petrol heads alight.
Goodwood. For some, the name ‘Goodwood’ is simply a place in West Sussex where, occasionally, some motor cars rumble around a circuit or up a hill, some planes land in a field, or horses run the length of a course whilst being watched by thousands of people in funny hats.
For most, though, Goodwood is a name synonymous with motorsport legends, both cars and drivers, but more recently a place where you can see new cars being thrashed, priceless racers being driven the way they were built to be driven, and current F1 drivers and cars mingling with the heroes of motorsport’s past.
The 2013 Festival of Speed was, like the nineteen festivals before it, packed with debuts, famous faces, and a hilarious number of anniversaries.
Firstly, let’s start with the anniversaries. This year marks the twentieth Festival of Speed, and as such there was a special ‘Twentieth Anniversary Parade’ to mark the occasion. As well as a celebration of Goodwood, there were a further nine big celebrations, including 50 years of the Porsche 911, 90 years of Le Mans, McLaren’s 50th birthday, 60 years of Lamborghini and 40 years of the World Rally Championship.
There was also a silly number of legendary drivers – not only did Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and a few other current F1 drivers take to the hill, but legends like Sir Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Nelson Piquet.
Le Mans was also well represented, with recent winner Allan McNish driving his Audi R18 e-tron Quattro for the last time before it will be placed in a museum, alongside other Le Mans drivers Anthony Davidson, Bruno Senna and Alex Wurz.
Another special guest was one Nick Heidfeld, who set the Festival hill climb record back in 1999 with his McLaren MP4/13. While he was driving the car again this year, he didn’t go for the record (the best time in the ‘Timed Shoot-Out’ this year was set by Justin Law in a Jaguar XJR8/9 with a time of 45.95 seconds).
The biggest attraction for many, though, is the supercar parade. All the latest supercars took to the hill twice a day. World debuts for the festival included the McLaren P1, Alfa Romeo 4C, Rolls Royce Wraith, Vuhl 05 and the Bertone Jet 2+2.
There were, however, a few incidents. Not only did Derek Bell’s Le Mans winning Porsche 962 lock up into Molecombe, crashing into the hay bales, but a Guigiaro Parcour concept hit the hay, as well as Ayrton Senna’s 1986 Lotus 98T F1 car lost its front end too.
Away from the hill, manufacturers and exhibitors showed off their latest cars and products, and, of course, Goodwood wouldn’t be Goodwood without a central feature outside Goodwood House, which this year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 911.
While no one knows what’ll be on display next year, what debuts will be made or who’ll be blasting up the hill, it’s fact that every year seems to get better and better. Tickets for next year aren’t on sale yet, but when they are, be sure to snap up a few and come along!
Many people have contributed to the world of Formula One. The drivers for their part in heroic driving and fairytale endings. The teams for building some of the fastest land based machines on Earth. But there is one man who is personally responsible for creating the blueprint of how unfolding events make their way to you. Murray Walker is that man.
With his instantly recognisable voice and commentary style, Walker is Mr. Formula One. His unrelenting enthusiasm for the sport has propelled him to the very top of his game. Such comments as “There’s nothing wrong with that car except that is is on fire.” and “I should imagine conditions in the cockpit are completely unimaginable” have been made famous throughout his career. Officially retired, Murray can still be seen making regular contributions to the BBC’s Formula One website. However, today it has been revealed that Murray Walker has been diagnosed with cancer.
A few weeks ago Murray had a fall which put him in hospital. Whilst there doctors found cancerous traces in his blood. The good news is that they have caught it early and that doctors and hopeful that treatment shall aid in a speedy return to form.
We wish Murray all of the best and a strong recovery.
They hang upon children’s bedroom walls. They are feverishly photographed when they make a public appearance. They are the definition of freedom and four wheels. Supercars turn the heads of all ages, interested in cars or not. Their draw to even the casual observer is the artwork that paints itself upon the skin of these machines. Pininfarina are arguably some of the best designers in the world working with manufacturers such as Bentley, Maserati, but most notably Ferrari. It was in fact the companies founder, Sergio, who personally persuaded Enzo Ferrari to produce mid-engined sports cars for the road. Sergio Pininfarina sadly passed away last year in Italy aged 85. His majesty with pen and paper is honuored in the Pininfarina Sergio.
Making its UK debut at a celebration of Pininfarina designed cars, this majestic silhouette was produced by the company as a tribute to their founder. Based upon the Ferrari 458 Spider, the raked architecture of the car promotes its performance. Beneath the windscreenless body sits a 4.5 litre V8 packing 562BHP. The Sergio can achieve a 0-62MPH time of just 3.4 seconds and will go onto a top speed of 199MPH.
Pininfarina have said that the Sergio will make up a limited production run.
Throughout motorsport history there are legendary pairings, but all are arguably overshadowed by that of McLaren and Honda. Together they won the Formula One drivers and constructors championships four times as well as underpinning the Senna Legend. The McLaren MP4/4 is the worlds most successful Formula One car, guess who built its engine? With regulations changing within the sport for 2014 now is the perfect time to change McLaren’s longstanding relationship with Mercedes.
Mercedes now have their own F1 team and so McLaren are no longer their top priority, the British team know this as they now have to pay for their Mercedes-Benz engines. The Honda 1.6 litre turbo that will sit inside the 2015 McLaren has been under development for quite some time in the upmost secrecy, apparently the result thus far are impressive. The link not only provokes vast quantities of nostalgia, but it is also a real shot in the arm for Toyota who have been absent from Formula One since 2008.
