Last week it was Bugatti beating the record for the world's fastest production car at 304.77mph and this week VW in their electric ID R have broken yet another record. After Pikes Peak, Goodwood Hillclimb and the Nurbrugring Nordschliefe, VW have taken a red ID R up the Tianman Shan Big Gate Road in China in a new record time of 7 mins 38.5 seconds. With 99 corners and a total distance of 6.776 miles and Romain Dumas again piloting the 670bhp electric beast, the current record set in a Range Rover Sport P400e of 9 mins 51 secs had no chance at all. VW have not indicated what their next test will be, I think getting around the M25 as quickly as possible. Whilst on the topic of electric cars, the Porsche Taycan is currently the fastest production electric car around the Nurburgring with a time of 7 mins 24 secs, but Elon Musk has challenged them to a duel. Next week, a Tesla Model S P100D will attempt a timed lap of the Nurburgring to knock Porsche off of their metatphorical 'high horse'. The Taycan has been revealed in the last few days to have 700bhp so good luck to Tesla beating that.
The Frankfurt Motor Show is this week and this means there are a lot of new models shown for the first time. The Lamborghini Sian which I talked about last week has received a new name in the Sian FKP 37 which tributes the late Ferdinand K Piech, born in 1937. This name will be on the nameplate of the car, however it will be known as a Sian. BMW have shown to the public for the first time the new BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe which, like every 8 Series, looks absolutely stunning. It will go on sale in the UK this September with the choice of either a straight six or a V8. Sticking with BMW, to an extent, we have the new Alpina B3 Biturbo Touring which is Alpina’s vision of what would happen if BMW made an M3 estate, fitted with the 6 cylinder engine and adding a twin turbocharged set up to produce 463bhp and Alpina say it will be good for 186mph which would make it one of the fastest estate cars on the market. Alpina will begin taking orders in early 2020. BMW have confirmed that they will be working on making a successor to the now 41-year old BMW M1 as signature designs of the M1 were found in the new M Next Vision concept. The M1 signature double rear shield feature is shown to be in the design as well as the rear engine cover which is similar to the original car. However due to the radical and beautiful design of the concept, BMW will likely never put it into production as they tend not to make the beautiful concepts, more rather they would hide them in their museum. Mercedes, in another collaboration with luxury manufacturer Maybach, have come to the show with a luxury edition of their GLS SUV. At a price of £150,000, it will be produced to rival the Bentley Bentayga, Range Rover Vogue SV Autobiography and the Rolls Royce Cullinan. And at half the price of the Cullinan and all of the luxury, I know my choice. The Frankfurt Motor Show in conclusion provided a lot of interesting, important and unique cars for the future of motoring, some of which I hope to see in the near future.
Porsche have had a habit of taking it's hardest charging models and giving them the prestigious 'RS' badge. RS, standing for RennSport, has been a pinnacle of Porsche since the 2.7 Carrera RS of 1973 first wore the RS badge for road cars. Since then there have been many cars to wear the RS badge, and all of them were 911s. There's been the 993, 996, 997 and 991 generation of GT3 that have worn the badge as well as the 993, 996, 997 and 991 generation of GT2. These have been the only cars that have worn the RS badge, until now. Spotted at the Nürburgring last week was a modified version of the new 718 Cayman GT4 featuring the bonnet air intakes of the 991 GT2 RS, a lowered stance and a strange looking rear wing. Porsche have not yet ruled out an RS version of this generation GT4 and as the Clubsport has already been released so this could be the RS we've been waiting for. If it is, it has been predicted to have 500hp there or thereabouts and with the 4.0 flat 6 from the Porsche 911 GT3, it could be one of the fastest track day cars around.
Sunday, 15 September 2019
Thursday, 5 September 2019
30th Aug-5th Sept - Weekly Car News
The main key news this week is due to the sad passing of Anthoine Hubert, a French Formula 2 driver who was killed at the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. In the feature Formula 2 race after Formula One qualifying on Saturday, all the drivers came to climb the dangerous Eau Rouge/Raidillon corner. The corner itself has been a feature of Spa since its opening in 1926 and is described as one of the most dangerous corners in motorsport. After La Source, the hairpin first corner of the circuit, the drivers accelerate down the shallow incline to be met with an incredibly steep left turn which curves right up the hill only to be met with a second left hander to lead to the Kemmel straight. The speed at which cars can go up Eau Rouge varies as touring cars can go up this corner at maximum 110mph, whereas F1 cars can go up at 185mph due to the increased downforce and grip of the cars. Back to the tragic events of this weekend, the formula two cars were racing up the hill when Hubert pushed too hard causing his car to spin. As it spun, it hit the right side barriers and rolled back out onto the track, where he was hit a second time at 100mph. His car, or what was left of it, dragged upside down along the track only being saved by the carbon fibre halo. After the race was red flagged, Hubert and the other car involved, Correa, were safely taken out of their cars and taken to hospital. Hubert died due to his injuries and Correa is still in intensive care. The news was incredibly hard hitting for the F1 drivers who stopped interviews and sprinted up to the crash location. Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were most affected due to growing up racing each other. Leclerc went on to win the Formula One race the next day, dedicating the win to his friend. It has been thought that he’d have died on impact if the halo safety precaution wasn’t in place but it stands as a reminder of the dangers these drivers face every single day. Legendary endurance racer Stefan Bellof also was killed at Spa in 1985 after his Porsche 956 came into contact with Jacky Ickx’s 956C at Eau Rouge and speared into a wall. The safety at Spa has always been a concern but given all the similar concerns at other racing circuits, these incidents are always declared as racing incidents.
Bugatti have always been known for creating some fairly fast cars and some legendary models. Ettore Bugatti created originally the Type 35C to be one of the worlds fastest racing cars with a top speed of 135mph in 1926, which was ridiculous. However due to many financial issues and the sad death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947, Bugatti was no more. Until the 1990s when Bugatti was revived by the late Ferdinand Piech and released the EB110 which became the world’s fastest car in 1991 with a top speed of 218mph, soon to be eclipsed by the McLaren F1’s 240mph in 1994. That record was only broken by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in 2005 with a top speed of 253mph. After multiple editions came and went, Bugatti cemented their top speed at 268mph with their SuperSport model. Since then, Koenigsegg set a top speed record in the Agera RS at 278mph which is the current record. However, footage has been released by Bugatti recently which shows a Bugatti Chiron with added aero parts reaching the magical 300mph. This has been the first road legal car to reach this number, in what has been dubbed the Chiron Supersport 300 prototype. 300 miles per hour is a motoring myth that for decades people thought was impossible for a road car. SSC (Shelby Super Cars) had a go in the US in their Ultimate Aero TT but only managed 256mph, Hennessey tried in the Venom GT managed 270mph and the rare 9FF GT9 Vmax with 1400hp managed 272mph. 300mph has always been the target, only achieved once before in a very highly modified Mk2 Ford GT. The Chiron smashed it, maxing out at 304.77mph under the control of Andy Wallace, who set the record with the McLaren F1 and the Jaguar XJ220. Koenigsegg have all eyes on them now as the new Jesko has an estimated top speed of 'above 300mph' and the up and coming Hennessey Venom F5 and SSC Tuatara from the USA, the top speed game is going up a level.
In the next week is the Frankfurt Motor Show 2019 which tends to be one of the smaller of the international motor shows in comparison to, say, Geneva, New York and London. However, given the preview of this year's show, it should be classed as one of the big shows. The main event is the debut of the Lamborghini Sian, a new limited series Lamborghini with a revolutionary new feature that could change the way Lamborghini make cars in the future. This new model features the engine from the SVJ but with an upgraded supercapacitor meaning it is slightly hybridised. Although only 63 examples will be made, it is a glimpse into the future of Lamborghini and the future of their V12 engines. Audi will be debuting their new RS6 which will facelift the previous model and feature the very popular 4.0 Twin-Turbo V8 which has just under 600bhp and will rival the new Mercedes AMG E63S and BMW M5. They are also rumoured to be announcing their new RS7 Sportback which will definitely have over 600bhp and will be the new hero car for the Audi RS range. BMW will show their Vision M Next concept which shows a modern interpretation of the 1978 BMW M1 which will most likely not make production like many other BMW concepts but for this one I have hope. A surprise attraction will be Hyundai with the new i30N Project C which has been under cover of camo at the Nürburgring featuring race spec alloy wheels and a suspension drop. Limited to 600 units with none expected to come to the UK unfortunately we will miss out on this exciting project. As mentioned last week, the Land Rover Defender will make an appearance for the first time without a camo wrap which will be a crucial release. Porsche released today the new Taycan. I have seen the Taycan prototype at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed driven by Mark Webber. This model was under camo though so didn't see the proper body shape. However, Porsche have now revealed two trims being the Turbo and Turbo S. The name confuses me as it is a fully electric Porsche, so how can it be turbocharged? Besides this, the car looks absolutely stunning with many cues being taken from the Panamera, 718 Cayman GTS and the Sport Turismo and should be a perfect addition to the Porsche family. The Mercedes AMG GLB has been announced as a rival to the Audi RSQ3 and will pack a punch of 416bhp from a 2.0 turbocharged 4-cylinder engine featured in the A35 AMG. As a small rumour, Ferrari have apparently shown an exclusive look at two new models which will be joining the current range. The Ferrari 812 Spider has been more or less confirmed at this stage with some leaked images and scale models showing the beautiful styling that Ferrari are famous for. The second car goes under the alias of 'V8 Spider'. There are a few options as to what it could be, possibly an update to the Pista Aperta, possibly an F8 Tributo Spider but that would be strange seeing as though there are no customer owned F8s in the world yet. Another option is the SF90 Stradale Aperta which has the same issue as the F8. This 'V8 Spider' may go completely unknown until its launch.
Monday, 2 September 2019
22nd-29th August - Weekly Car News
Starting over the last seven days, I have been compiling a number of different car-related news stories which are major or just interesting in order to increase the journalistic style of my writing.
One of the biggest stories that is circulating the internet a lot recently is the apparent leak of the new Land Rover Defender, a car that has been anticipated for over 2 years. The Land Rover Defender was in production from 1963-2016 and was the pinnacle in 4X4s for all of those years. Since early 2017, Jaguar Land Rover has teased that there will be another version of the Defender to be released in 2020 with snapshots of certain body panels, a camo car rallying through the deserts of Abu Dhabi and even an unofficial debut at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed under its camo wrap with the #best4x4xfar hashtag smeared all over it. However, a few days ago, an image leaked of the Defender appearing to be on the set of the new James Bond film 'No Time to Die'. The image seems to suggest a lot of styling cues from the current Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Discovery, however the leak source is not a reliable one so this may be a render or maybe even if it is the car, certain sections may be edited.
Bugatti have announced today that they will not make any one off special edition cars for clients that pay them enough for it. This comes after the announcement of the £7.4m Centodieci at Monterey Car Week, a Chiron Sport bodied car with styling elements harking back to the first Bugatti hypercar, the EB110. The Centodieci features similar styled side ventilation as the EB110 as well as a bumper that looks fairly similar and a massive carbon rear wing that slightly subverts the EB110 design. The engine is the same 8.0 V16 as the Bugatti Divo and produces a ridiculous 1577bhp which is over 100 horsepower up from the regular Chiron. Only 10 will be produced in another limited series Bugatti car. However they have said they won't go down the same path as Ferrari's Special Project series and will not create bespoke one off models for clients. This means a Kuwaiti billionaire cannot walk into Molsheim, home of Bugatti, with a briefcase full of money and drive out in a Chiron prepped for the Monte Carlo Rally in a Shooting Brake format. Bugatti have a very passionate fanbase and an even more loyal clientele who often buy the special editions of Bugatti cars without driving them or sometimes even seeing them in advance. It is amazing that Bugatti have already sold out of the Centodieci, as all 10 examples were sold before the car's debut. It is thought that the average Bugatti owner has 30 cars, a very exclusive and niche market for their cars yet they all manage to sell. All of the Bugatti Divo's had sold before the debut of it at Geneva which added to the Centodieci numbers is 50 limited series cars sold before public reveal. The only one off that Bugatti has completed was La Voiture Noire, created as an homage to Jean Bugatti's Type 57 and built as a gift to an unknown client, rumoured to be the late Ferdinand Piech or Stephen Winkleman, and was the most expensive new car commissioned at £16.7m. Bugatti has not ruled out special projects such as the Divo and Centodieci as they believe coachbuilding to be a key element in their history, but have ruled out one off models.
Lamborghini has released a press image of what may be the new Aventador model to grace the world ready for a debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The image shows a darkened room with two star shaped head lamps lighting towards to camera. The general body shape of the car seems a lot wider than the standard car and a lot taller than the standard car, with potential relation to the Terzo Millenio EV concept. Due to this relation it is predicted to have a hybrid V12 engine, which does mean the Aventador replacement will still have the traditional Lamborghini V12 scream. The stance of the car also, to me, has some elements of other Lamborghini special editions such as the Veneno, Centenario and the SC18 Alston, which shows that due to the Audi ownership, the Germans will have most likely built the engine, drivetrain and hybrid system with the Italians doing the styling. The car is expected to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show on the 10th of September and finishing on a good note, Lamborghini has confirmed it will remain naturally-aspirated and will not have to fall back on turbocharged engines.
Finally ending with some sad news of the passing of Dr. Ferdinand Piech at the age of 82. The German automotive designer had a large catalogue to his name and leaves a legacy behind with him. Most notably in his career was his lead on the VW group and his racing development that led to some of the greatest cars the world has ever seen. Some of his masterpieces include the Porsche 917 which he designed to win Le Mans and succeeding in creating one of the most overpowered racing cars of all time that forced a rule change to stop its domination in the motoring world. After the 917 he moved to Audi where he pioneered the legendary Audi Quattro and Quattro S1, using four wheel drive systems to beat Lancia in the 1980s World Rally Championships. Then he made the move to the VW group, helping Bugatti out of administration as without him, there would be no Veyron or no Bugatti at all. When Audi took over Lamborghini, everyone thought it would flop and the legends of the Miura and the Countach would sink. However the Gallardo is one of the best, the interesting concepts of the Estoque and Asterion made people wonder and the Murcielago/Aventador was a pinnacle supercar. With Porsche, he helped the creation of the Carrera GT and their rebirth into motorsport with disciplines such as the Porsche Carrera Cup, LMP racing, GT3 racing and WRC. Piech designed cars won 14 of 15 Le Mans 24 Hour races they entered and with the return of Porsche, Audi were allowed to race alongside them before both teams withdrew. He also designed a future with the VW XL1 which found production as an electric VW sports car. His ownership, leadership and design skills led to Piech being a well respected man in the auto industry and a leader who will be sorely missed.
One of the biggest stories that is circulating the internet a lot recently is the apparent leak of the new Land Rover Defender, a car that has been anticipated for over 2 years. The Land Rover Defender was in production from 1963-2016 and was the pinnacle in 4X4s for all of those years. Since early 2017, Jaguar Land Rover has teased that there will be another version of the Defender to be released in 2020 with snapshots of certain body panels, a camo car rallying through the deserts of Abu Dhabi and even an unofficial debut at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed under its camo wrap with the #best4x4xfar hashtag smeared all over it. However, a few days ago, an image leaked of the Defender appearing to be on the set of the new James Bond film 'No Time to Die'. The image seems to suggest a lot of styling cues from the current Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Discovery, however the leak source is not a reliable one so this may be a render or maybe even if it is the car, certain sections may be edited.
Bugatti have announced today that they will not make any one off special edition cars for clients that pay them enough for it. This comes after the announcement of the £7.4m Centodieci at Monterey Car Week, a Chiron Sport bodied car with styling elements harking back to the first Bugatti hypercar, the EB110. The Centodieci features similar styled side ventilation as the EB110 as well as a bumper that looks fairly similar and a massive carbon rear wing that slightly subverts the EB110 design. The engine is the same 8.0 V16 as the Bugatti Divo and produces a ridiculous 1577bhp which is over 100 horsepower up from the regular Chiron. Only 10 will be produced in another limited series Bugatti car. However they have said they won't go down the same path as Ferrari's Special Project series and will not create bespoke one off models for clients. This means a Kuwaiti billionaire cannot walk into Molsheim, home of Bugatti, with a briefcase full of money and drive out in a Chiron prepped for the Monte Carlo Rally in a Shooting Brake format. Bugatti have a very passionate fanbase and an even more loyal clientele who often buy the special editions of Bugatti cars without driving them or sometimes even seeing them in advance. It is amazing that Bugatti have already sold out of the Centodieci, as all 10 examples were sold before the car's debut. It is thought that the average Bugatti owner has 30 cars, a very exclusive and niche market for their cars yet they all manage to sell. All of the Bugatti Divo's had sold before the debut of it at Geneva which added to the Centodieci numbers is 50 limited series cars sold before public reveal. The only one off that Bugatti has completed was La Voiture Noire, created as an homage to Jean Bugatti's Type 57 and built as a gift to an unknown client, rumoured to be the late Ferdinand Piech or Stephen Winkleman, and was the most expensive new car commissioned at £16.7m. Bugatti has not ruled out special projects such as the Divo and Centodieci as they believe coachbuilding to be a key element in their history, but have ruled out one off models.
Lamborghini has released a press image of what may be the new Aventador model to grace the world ready for a debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The image shows a darkened room with two star shaped head lamps lighting towards to camera. The general body shape of the car seems a lot wider than the standard car and a lot taller than the standard car, with potential relation to the Terzo Millenio EV concept. Due to this relation it is predicted to have a hybrid V12 engine, which does mean the Aventador replacement will still have the traditional Lamborghini V12 scream. The stance of the car also, to me, has some elements of other Lamborghini special editions such as the Veneno, Centenario and the SC18 Alston, which shows that due to the Audi ownership, the Germans will have most likely built the engine, drivetrain and hybrid system with the Italians doing the styling. The car is expected to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show on the 10th of September and finishing on a good note, Lamborghini has confirmed it will remain naturally-aspirated and will not have to fall back on turbocharged engines.
Finally ending with some sad news of the passing of Dr. Ferdinand Piech at the age of 82. The German automotive designer had a large catalogue to his name and leaves a legacy behind with him. Most notably in his career was his lead on the VW group and his racing development that led to some of the greatest cars the world has ever seen. Some of his masterpieces include the Porsche 917 which he designed to win Le Mans and succeeding in creating one of the most overpowered racing cars of all time that forced a rule change to stop its domination in the motoring world. After the 917 he moved to Audi where he pioneered the legendary Audi Quattro and Quattro S1, using four wheel drive systems to beat Lancia in the 1980s World Rally Championships. Then he made the move to the VW group, helping Bugatti out of administration as without him, there would be no Veyron or no Bugatti at all. When Audi took over Lamborghini, everyone thought it would flop and the legends of the Miura and the Countach would sink. However the Gallardo is one of the best, the interesting concepts of the Estoque and Asterion made people wonder and the Murcielago/Aventador was a pinnacle supercar. With Porsche, he helped the creation of the Carrera GT and their rebirth into motorsport with disciplines such as the Porsche Carrera Cup, LMP racing, GT3 racing and WRC. Piech designed cars won 14 of 15 Le Mans 24 Hour races they entered and with the return of Porsche, Audi were allowed to race alongside them before both teams withdrew. He also designed a future with the VW XL1 which found production as an electric VW sports car. His ownership, leadership and design skills led to Piech being a well respected man in the auto industry and a leader who will be sorely missed.
Sunday, 25 August 2019
Monterey Car Week 2019
Monterey Car Week 2019
This last weekend has been the end of Monterey Car week in Carmel, California which some would say is the greatest car event in the world. Spanning a week and covering many factors such as the Concours D'Elegance, Quail and general Cars and Coffee events. The Concours D'Elegance was held at Pebble Beach and visitors were witness to some of the best restored classic cars in the world such as the 'Best in Show' Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting, the 1936 Mercedes 540K Cabriolet and the stunning 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spider. Another key event was the Tour D'Elegance which was simply the drive to the concours event through the Californian country. With over 175 cars in the tour including some very rare Lamborghini Miura SVs, a Ferrari 250 GT TDF, an Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Ferrari 250 Testarossa and even a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlante. Another event was the reunion at WeatherTech Laguna Seca raceway which played host to BMW 3.0 CSLs, M1 Procar's, Singer Porsche 911s and even Keke Rosberg's Williams F1 car.
Quail, however, is the area of Monterey Car Week that most people talk about as it has many of the best and most up to date hypercars and supercars in one place at once. An example is the US debut of the De Tomaso P72 and the all-new electric Lotus Evija. Pagani were once again at the big car shows and this time debuted their new Pagani Huayra Roadster BC, a one of 20 roadster version of the 2016 Pagani Huayra BC. I feel the best way to show that this show is one of the greatest in the world is to simply list the supercars and hypercars that were in attendance : Bugatti EB110SS, Bugatti EB110GT, 2 Porsche 918 Spyders, Ford GT, Ford GT Heritage Edition, Lamborghini Countach 25th, Ford GT MK2, 10 McLaren Sennas, 2 Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722S Roadsters, Porsche Carrera GT, Lamborghini 350GT, the actual 'Back to the Future' DeLorean, 2 Koenigsegg Agera RS Final Editions, Koenigsegg Regera, Koenigsegg Jesko, Koenigsegg CCX-R Trevita, Koenigsegg Agera R, Koenigsegg CCX, Koenigsegg CCXR, Singer DLS, Porsche 911 'Rallye', RUF CTR Yellowbird, Pagani Zonda C12, Pagani Zonda R, Pagani Zonda Cinque, Pagani Huayra Roadster, Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Diablo SV, McLaren GT, Audi R8 LMS GT2, the new Drako GTE, Aston Martin Valhalla, Hennessey Venom GT, Ferrari P80/C, McLaren F1 LM, McLaren F1 HDK, McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, the first look at the SSC Tuatara, Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster, Lamborghini Reventon, Pininfarina Battista, Ferrari 290MM, Ferrari 250 GTO, Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Ferrari F50 GT, Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione, Ferrari F40 GTE, Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy, Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, Bugatti Chiron, Bugatti Divo, Rimac C-Two, W Motors Fenyr SuperSport, Bentley EXP1000 Concept just to name a few. See why it's one of the best car shows now?
Auctions are also a key sector of Car Week as it is a very affluent area so there is a lot of money thrown around at the auction block. There are 4 main auction houses that have an auction at Monterey being Mecum Auctions, Bonhams, Gooding and Co. and RM Sotheby's. Beginning with Mecum, they had a very successful auction with a very high percentage of lots selling with some of the more expensive lots selling for just over $2,000,000 like the Ferrari 275 GTB/4, Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Weissech and Ferrari 275 GTS. Bonhams auction in comparison with the other two auction houses had a fairly standard auction with not many extremely expensive cars. However of these few expensive cars, not too many of them sold such as the Porsche 718 RSK, Bentley 4 1/2 Litre, Delahaye 135M, Porsche 918 Weissech and Ferrari F40. Of those that did sell, Bonhams successfully sold the Ferrari 340 America for $3,635,000, the Fiat 8V Supersonic for $1,625,000 and the Shelby Cobra for $1,380,000. Gooding had a very successful auction with 17 cars selling above $1million, some including some very expensive classics such as the Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider which sold for $9,905,000, the Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 for $6,800,000, the ex-Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T for $6,000,000, the Ferrari 250 GT TdF for $5,100,000, the Aston Martin DB4 GT for $3,600,000 and the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 for $1,710,000. Although these cars sold for insane prices and Gooding had around a 73% sell rate, there were a lot of special cars that did not sell such as the Ferrari F50, Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 959 Sport, Ferrari F40, Ferrari Sergio and even an Aston Martin Vulcan.
For the Sotheby's auction, I will need a separate paragraph for all the cars mainly due to the auction being what I proclaimed to be the greatest auction of all time. The Sotheby's auction also took place over three days with the first day being known as 'An Evening with Aston Martin' which very clearly focused on Aston Martin sales. Some significant sales from that day would be the Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake which sold for $1,765,000, the Aston Martin DBAR1 Zagato which sold for $296,500, an Aston Martin DB5 'Bond Car' used in actual filming in 'Thunderball' and 'Goldfinger' for $6,385,000, an Aston Martin DB5 Volante for $1,325,000 and an interesting Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 for only $81,200. Obviously there were some Astons that didn't sell such as the DB3S Works, two variants of the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato and an Aston Martin DB4 GT. The other days featured a lot of high end exotica going across the block including a few collections. The BMW Motorsports Collection sold a 3.0CSL, 3.5CSL IMSA, 320i IMSA Turbo and an M3 DTM for a combined $3,141,000 but this wasn't even the highest sale of those days. A Bugatti Veyron 16.4 sold for $1,050,000, a one off Porsche Carrera GT for $1,193,000, a one off Ford GT for $1,242,500, a Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 for $1,517,500, Ferrari F40 for $1,682,500, a Pagani Huayra Tempesta for $2,040,000, a Ferrari 365 GTS for $2,205,000, a Ferrari LaFerrari for $2,947,500, Ferrari F50 for $3,000,000, a Ferrari FXX from the Ming Collection for $3,520,000, a Porsche 718 RS 60 Werks for $5,100,000, a Ford GT40 Roadster Prototype for $7,650,000, a Ferrari 250 GT SWB for $8,145,000 and finally a one of two McLaren F1 LM for $19,805,000. With $107,000,000 from the 74% sale rate of the auction, it would seem to be an auction that Sotheby's would remember for all the right reasons. However in a small error, the Sotheby's auction was left embarrassed by the car community. In selling the 1939 Porsche Type 64, the first car to ever wear the Porsche crest and therefore the most important Porsche in history, there was an error in the price of the car shown upon screen that was met with amusement for the audience. The renowned Dutch auctioneer who was selling the car appeared to begin the bidding at $30,000,000. The Porsche did not carry an estimate so the audience went along with it until the screen displayed $70,000,000 which would make this the most expensive car sale at auction of all time. However the auctioneer stepped up to correct that the start bid was actually $13,000,000 and therefore the bid was only up to $17,000,000. With the audience in confusion and the price corrected, there was no further bids due to a disgruntled audience who believed themselves to have been tricked. In the end there was no sale of the Type 64 and therefore it remains at the Porsche Museum where it was originally selling from.
Overall Monterey Car Week has been shown to be an ultimate haven for supercars and hypercars and one of the ultimate car shows to attend alongside the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Top Marques Monaco.
This last weekend has been the end of Monterey Car week in Carmel, California which some would say is the greatest car event in the world. Spanning a week and covering many factors such as the Concours D'Elegance, Quail and general Cars and Coffee events. The Concours D'Elegance was held at Pebble Beach and visitors were witness to some of the best restored classic cars in the world such as the 'Best in Show' Bentley 8 Litre Gurney Nutting, the 1936 Mercedes 540K Cabriolet and the stunning 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spider. Another key event was the Tour D'Elegance which was simply the drive to the concours event through the Californian country. With over 175 cars in the tour including some very rare Lamborghini Miura SVs, a Ferrari 250 GT TDF, an Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Ferrari 250 Testarossa and even a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlante. Another event was the reunion at WeatherTech Laguna Seca raceway which played host to BMW 3.0 CSLs, M1 Procar's, Singer Porsche 911s and even Keke Rosberg's Williams F1 car.
Quail, however, is the area of Monterey Car Week that most people talk about as it has many of the best and most up to date hypercars and supercars in one place at once. An example is the US debut of the De Tomaso P72 and the all-new electric Lotus Evija. Pagani were once again at the big car shows and this time debuted their new Pagani Huayra Roadster BC, a one of 20 roadster version of the 2016 Pagani Huayra BC. I feel the best way to show that this show is one of the greatest in the world is to simply list the supercars and hypercars that were in attendance : Bugatti EB110SS, Bugatti EB110GT, 2 Porsche 918 Spyders, Ford GT, Ford GT Heritage Edition, Lamborghini Countach 25th, Ford GT MK2, 10 McLaren Sennas, 2 Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722S Roadsters, Porsche Carrera GT, Lamborghini 350GT, the actual 'Back to the Future' DeLorean, 2 Koenigsegg Agera RS Final Editions, Koenigsegg Regera, Koenigsegg Jesko, Koenigsegg CCX-R Trevita, Koenigsegg Agera R, Koenigsegg CCX, Koenigsegg CCXR, Singer DLS, Porsche 911 'Rallye', RUF CTR Yellowbird, Pagani Zonda C12, Pagani Zonda R, Pagani Zonda Cinque, Pagani Huayra Roadster, Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Diablo SV, McLaren GT, Audi R8 LMS GT2, the new Drako GTE, Aston Martin Valhalla, Hennessey Venom GT, Ferrari P80/C, McLaren F1 LM, McLaren F1 HDK, McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, the first look at the SSC Tuatara, Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster, Lamborghini Reventon, Pininfarina Battista, Ferrari 290MM, Ferrari 250 GTO, Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Ferrari F50 GT, Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione, Ferrari F40 GTE, Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy, Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, Bugatti Chiron, Bugatti Divo, Rimac C-Two, W Motors Fenyr SuperSport, Bentley EXP1000 Concept just to name a few. See why it's one of the best car shows now?
Auctions are also a key sector of Car Week as it is a very affluent area so there is a lot of money thrown around at the auction block. There are 4 main auction houses that have an auction at Monterey being Mecum Auctions, Bonhams, Gooding and Co. and RM Sotheby's. Beginning with Mecum, they had a very successful auction with a very high percentage of lots selling with some of the more expensive lots selling for just over $2,000,000 like the Ferrari 275 GTB/4, Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Weissech and Ferrari 275 GTS. Bonhams auction in comparison with the other two auction houses had a fairly standard auction with not many extremely expensive cars. However of these few expensive cars, not too many of them sold such as the Porsche 718 RSK, Bentley 4 1/2 Litre, Delahaye 135M, Porsche 918 Weissech and Ferrari F40. Of those that did sell, Bonhams successfully sold the Ferrari 340 America for $3,635,000, the Fiat 8V Supersonic for $1,625,000 and the Shelby Cobra for $1,380,000. Gooding had a very successful auction with 17 cars selling above $1million, some including some very expensive classics such as the Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider which sold for $9,905,000, the Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 for $6,800,000, the ex-Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T for $6,000,000, the Ferrari 250 GT TdF for $5,100,000, the Aston Martin DB4 GT for $3,600,000 and the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 for $1,710,000. Although these cars sold for insane prices and Gooding had around a 73% sell rate, there were a lot of special cars that did not sell such as the Ferrari F50, Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 959 Sport, Ferrari F40, Ferrari Sergio and even an Aston Martin Vulcan.
For the Sotheby's auction, I will need a separate paragraph for all the cars mainly due to the auction being what I proclaimed to be the greatest auction of all time. The Sotheby's auction also took place over three days with the first day being known as 'An Evening with Aston Martin' which very clearly focused on Aston Martin sales. Some significant sales from that day would be the Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake which sold for $1,765,000, the Aston Martin DBAR1 Zagato which sold for $296,500, an Aston Martin DB5 'Bond Car' used in actual filming in 'Thunderball' and 'Goldfinger' for $6,385,000, an Aston Martin DB5 Volante for $1,325,000 and an interesting Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 for only $81,200. Obviously there were some Astons that didn't sell such as the DB3S Works, two variants of the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato and an Aston Martin DB4 GT. The other days featured a lot of high end exotica going across the block including a few collections. The BMW Motorsports Collection sold a 3.0CSL, 3.5CSL IMSA, 320i IMSA Turbo and an M3 DTM for a combined $3,141,000 but this wasn't even the highest sale of those days. A Bugatti Veyron 16.4 sold for $1,050,000, a one off Porsche Carrera GT for $1,193,000, a one off Ford GT for $1,242,500, a Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 for $1,517,500, Ferrari F40 for $1,682,500, a Pagani Huayra Tempesta for $2,040,000, a Ferrari 365 GTS for $2,205,000, a Ferrari LaFerrari for $2,947,500, Ferrari F50 for $3,000,000, a Ferrari FXX from the Ming Collection for $3,520,000, a Porsche 718 RS 60 Werks for $5,100,000, a Ford GT40 Roadster Prototype for $7,650,000, a Ferrari 250 GT SWB for $8,145,000 and finally a one of two McLaren F1 LM for $19,805,000. With $107,000,000 from the 74% sale rate of the auction, it would seem to be an auction that Sotheby's would remember for all the right reasons. However in a small error, the Sotheby's auction was left embarrassed by the car community. In selling the 1939 Porsche Type 64, the first car to ever wear the Porsche crest and therefore the most important Porsche in history, there was an error in the price of the car shown upon screen that was met with amusement for the audience. The renowned Dutch auctioneer who was selling the car appeared to begin the bidding at $30,000,000. The Porsche did not carry an estimate so the audience went along with it until the screen displayed $70,000,000 which would make this the most expensive car sale at auction of all time. However the auctioneer stepped up to correct that the start bid was actually $13,000,000 and therefore the bid was only up to $17,000,000. With the audience in confusion and the price corrected, there was no further bids due to a disgruntled audience who believed themselves to have been tricked. In the end there was no sale of the Type 64 and therefore it remains at the Porsche Museum where it was originally selling from.
Overall Monterey Car Week has been shown to be an ultimate haven for supercars and hypercars and one of the ultimate car shows to attend alongside the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Top Marques Monaco.
Goodwood FOS 2019 Review - First Glance + Other Displays
The next and final section of the Goodwood Festival of Speed review for this year is the First Glance Paddock and the smaller displays such as the Performance Parking and the independent stands. The First Glance paddock tends to do what it says on the tin, if you will, with many manufacturers debuting new models and occasionally the announcement of a car nobody knew existed
First Glance Paddock
Firstly at the First Glance paddock was a new version of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio being the AR Racing edition. This was made to celebrate Alfa Romeo's return to Formula One with the Alfa Romeo Sauber team. Many people will look at this and just think its a Giulia with a livery, when in fact the AR pack adds an Akrapovic titanium exhaust, many carbon fibre parts such as the rear diffuser and a more prominent rear wing and, most importantly, it gives the owner status. The reason for this is Alfa will only bring 10 of these special editions to the UK and only 3 of the Stelvio AR which is the AR version of their SUV. The next car is a very interesting Aston Martin being the prototype of the DBX. The DBX is set to be the first SUV made by Aston Martin which has now been confirmed for a December launch and it made an appearance under a camo livery in order to hide the body shape and the styling until a full launch. The camo car did look good unfortunately I did not love it like I do many other Aston Martins such as the next car. The Rapide has been at the forefront of luxury for Aston Martin and had gone through many facelifts and changes but none so dramatic as the new Rapide E. This fully electric version of the Rapide will be the first fully electric car built by Aston Martin. However it will not be mass produced with numbers limited at 155 examples which is a shame. But for a £250,000 price tag on each car, I doubt there will be many more buyers. Bentley had two new models debuting beginning with the Bentayga Speed which is an updated version of the original W12 model. This update features the darker grills and bumpers and an alternative hybrid V6 engine. If I'm honest, I believe this to just be an update for the sake of updating as the Bentayga was fine as is. The other model they were debuting was the new Flying Spur which for once didn't look like a hideous monstrosity like it used to. Actually looks very clean, very luxury and incredibly Bentley. BMW debuted another hideous M version of one of their SUVs. The X4 is a car that is caught in limbo, it's not luxury enough to fit into the family of the X7 and X5 but not small enough to be classed as a crossover like the X1 and X3. It fits into the worst section for BMWs which is the sports SUV which homes the X4 and the X6. The Competition version adds a little bit of extra horsepower, a few carbon bits and not much else. Citroen showed their new C5 Aircross SUV which was only really there to represent Citroen for their 100th anniversary and therefore did not get very much attention. Ford showed off the insane looking updated version of the GT500 Mustang which is set to be the most powerful Ford Mustang of all time. Although an official figure has not been released, Ford have said it has excess of 700bhp which is Ferrari 812 power. The green spec on it helped to make it look as if it were the vehicular incarnation of the Incredible Hulk which was incredible alongside the next car which is the Honda e. The Honda e is a cute little car made by Honda as their first entrant into the electric car market and it was the cutest thing at the whole show. It was so small and cutesy compared to all the massive SUVs and Crossovers and actually looks a fun and happy little car. Also it is unique as it does not have a 6000 mile range like many electric cars predict - may be a bit of an exaggeration but even so. Jaguar last year debuted their XE SV Project 8 which is a customer racing kind of car. Based on the XE saloon, the Project 8 is limited to 300 units with a top speed of 200mph to create an insane saloon car. With 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds it is one of the fastest four-door cars on the market. However the Project 8 at this years FOS was a little different, because Jaguar brought the new Touring package. The Touring package has identical statistics to the regular XE except with the reduction of the carbon fibre rear wing. The Touring package is limited to 15 examples and the price is expected to be above the £149,995 price of the regular Project 8. From what I saw at Goodwood, this car is one of the greatest saloons currently on the market and it 100% makes up for the very high price of the car. Jeep made their debut at Goodwood by bringing their ultimate hybrid. A hybrid between an SUV and powerful muscle car that is. The Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk features the 6.2 litre V8 used in the Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Demon, which produces 697bhp and can propel the Jeep to a 180mph top speed which is ridiculous for a 2.3 tonne 4x4. Lamborghini also brought their Urus for the first glance paddock which is not really a first glance but it's always good to see a Urus. Lexus brought their new RCF Track Edition which took the already insane RCF and boosted the power, the aerodynamics and increased the carbon fibre usage by around 800%. This must be the ultimate form of the Lexus RCF as I don't see how Lexus can do any better with the RCF. Next is the Lotus Evora GT4 which is a track version of the Evora for Lotus customers to buy and take to tracks much like the Ferrari XX programme or Aston Martin's AMR programme. The Lotus sounded absolutely godly and one can only dream of the sound of 20 or more of these rocketing around a circuit. Maserati brought their new upgraded version of the Levante 4x4 with the V8 similar to the Quattroporte GTS and very similar to the Ferrari 488 GTB. Mercedes and Mini shared a similarity in that they both showed some new cars under camo being the new Mercedes A45 AMG and the electric Mini concept. Both of which went a little under my radar due to 'better' cars elsewhere. These better cars can include the new Polestar One which is a subseries of Volvo with their electric saloon which is the only electric car that I think I would go out and but because I was so impressed with it. Another of the wow factor cars is the Porsche Taycan which nobody knew existed yet. It is the Porsche electric car that has been teased for years but never seen. Granted it was shown under a camo that hid the body shape but it was still there and I was there for the world debut of the Porsche Taycan. Overall the First Glance paddock was very interesting and very good to see what will be gracing showrooms over the next year or so.
Other Displays
The final section of this review has to cover the multiple other displays at Goodwood which includes Performance Parking and the independent stands as well as random pop up displays. I'll begin with the random pop up areas.
The main area of this was the Bentley centenary celebration in the centre of all the manufacturer stands on the green. This was a display of 30-40 cars that celebrated the 100 years of Bentley with some very special cars dotted around. I'm not very knowledgeable about the older Bentleys so the cars that stuck out to me were the modern ones such as the brand new Mulsanne Speed talked about prior. There was also a Bentley Continental GTZ on this green which is a regular 2006 Continental but with the body styled by Zagato. A very controversial design that I love and others hate but I found the signature Zagato 'double-bubble' on the roof line to be the feature that swayed the GTZ from hate to love. The other notable Bentley was the Continental GT3-R which is a one of 300 Bentley inspired by motorsport hence the British Racing Green touches and the carbon fibre spoiler that would be very strange on a regular Bentley. A second pop up area I was a large fan of was the Pagani area. On the day I attended the Pagani Raduno was supposed to attend with multiple one off Zondas and Huayra BCs and Huayras but they did not attend although they said they would. However there were some Zondas there. In a row of 5 cars there was Zonda 001 which was the first C12 chassis produced known as La Nona (grandmother) which had been restored to original status after going through multiple changes to other specifications. Next along was the Zonda F in red with black carbon accents which was my favourite of the 5 due to the simplistic beauty and presence that came with it. Next in the line up was a carbon blue bodied Pagani Zonda Revolucion which was the track only Zonda built for those to track day their Zondas. Next was one of the rarest Paganis in existence in the form of the Cinque. This one of 5 car was built as a farewell to the Zonda name with lots of carbon fibre elements in what we thought was the last iteration of the great car. Well 7 years after the release of the Cinque, Pagani came up with the HP Barchetta which is one of three which Pagani now say is the last Zonda. This example finished in carbon blue over regular black carbon with wheel shields much alike the old Jaguar Le Mans cars and a bespoke interior. This actual car is owned by Pagani founder, Horatio Pagani hence why it's one of the prettiest cars around. Another interesting area was that of 4 cars down by the south performance car park. There were two cool cars and two amazing cars. The two cool cars were a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon which is an 840hp, £100,000 muscle car and a Miami Blue Porsche 911 GT2 RS which was only the 4th GT2 RS I had seen. But now the amazing cars begin with a McLaren P1 LM which is a one of 6, road legal version of the McLaren P1 GTR. When the P1 GTRs were being converted to a road legal, Lanzante Motorsport commissioned 6 P1 LMs for road use exclusively. It also held the lap record at the Nürburgring with 6m 43secs but it was disqualified as it did not hold a registration plate and therefore could not be recorded. However even with all these credentials, the McLaren was not the best car here. The best car was a really strange looking Aston Martin. It had the general body shape of the One-77 but had a large carbon rear wing, massive wide arches and a ridiculous front splitter. It turns out that this car was the test mule for the Aston Martin Vulcan based on an unused Aston Martin One-77 chassis, which explains all of the aerodynamic modifications. It is also apparently the first time that Aston Martin has shown this car in public.
Performance Parking
The Performance Parking area is set up every year for owners to pay a certain fee to have their car parked inside the grounds at Goodwood to which some would say is a car show in itself. The South Performance Parking was a lot quieter than the main PP area but still had some hidden surprises. The one that caught my eye the most was obviously the blue Pagani Zonda C12 S with lots of carbon additions. The Pagani Raduno was supposed to be around on the Saturday but unfortunately this Zonda was the only example ,of over 20 on the Raduno, that was there. Even so I never complained. Along with this was a Ferrari 360CS, Lamborghini Diablo SV, Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Jaguar XE SV Project 8, two Ferrari 488 Pistas and a Liberty Walk Ford Mustang GT. This was only day one as well. Day 2 consisted of an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, a couple of new Aston Martin Vantages, a Ferrari 458 Speciale, another Ferrari 488 Pista, a 1989 Aston Martin Vantage Volante and a McLaren 600LT.
The main PP makes the south one look like a regular car park, which very clearly is difficult to do. The direction we entered the festival happened to be by the Performance Parking which was an added bonus. In this car park there was two Lamborghini Aventador SVJs, a brand new Lamborghini Huracan EVO, McLaren 675LT, lots of McLaren 600LTs and Ferrari 488 Pistas, a Porsche 918 Weissech, a Porsche 911 GT2 RS, another Porsche 918 Spyder, the Team Galag Batmobile Tumbler, a Ferrari F12 N-Largo S and a very rare Weissmann MF5. That list should state the obvious that this car park was so much better.
First Glance Paddock
Firstly at the First Glance paddock was a new version of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio being the AR Racing edition. This was made to celebrate Alfa Romeo's return to Formula One with the Alfa Romeo Sauber team. Many people will look at this and just think its a Giulia with a livery, when in fact the AR pack adds an Akrapovic titanium exhaust, many carbon fibre parts such as the rear diffuser and a more prominent rear wing and, most importantly, it gives the owner status. The reason for this is Alfa will only bring 10 of these special editions to the UK and only 3 of the Stelvio AR which is the AR version of their SUV. The next car is a very interesting Aston Martin being the prototype of the DBX. The DBX is set to be the first SUV made by Aston Martin which has now been confirmed for a December launch and it made an appearance under a camo livery in order to hide the body shape and the styling until a full launch. The camo car did look good unfortunately I did not love it like I do many other Aston Martins such as the next car. The Rapide has been at the forefront of luxury for Aston Martin and had gone through many facelifts and changes but none so dramatic as the new Rapide E. This fully electric version of the Rapide will be the first fully electric car built by Aston Martin. However it will not be mass produced with numbers limited at 155 examples which is a shame. But for a £250,000 price tag on each car, I doubt there will be many more buyers. Bentley had two new models debuting beginning with the Bentayga Speed which is an updated version of the original W12 model. This update features the darker grills and bumpers and an alternative hybrid V6 engine. If I'm honest, I believe this to just be an update for the sake of updating as the Bentayga was fine as is. The other model they were debuting was the new Flying Spur which for once didn't look like a hideous monstrosity like it used to. Actually looks very clean, very luxury and incredibly Bentley. BMW debuted another hideous M version of one of their SUVs. The X4 is a car that is caught in limbo, it's not luxury enough to fit into the family of the X7 and X5 but not small enough to be classed as a crossover like the X1 and X3. It fits into the worst section for BMWs which is the sports SUV which homes the X4 and the X6. The Competition version adds a little bit of extra horsepower, a few carbon bits and not much else. Citroen showed their new C5 Aircross SUV which was only really there to represent Citroen for their 100th anniversary and therefore did not get very much attention. Ford showed off the insane looking updated version of the GT500 Mustang which is set to be the most powerful Ford Mustang of all time. Although an official figure has not been released, Ford have said it has excess of 700bhp which is Ferrari 812 power. The green spec on it helped to make it look as if it were the vehicular incarnation of the Incredible Hulk which was incredible alongside the next car which is the Honda e. The Honda e is a cute little car made by Honda as their first entrant into the electric car market and it was the cutest thing at the whole show. It was so small and cutesy compared to all the massive SUVs and Crossovers and actually looks a fun and happy little car. Also it is unique as it does not have a 6000 mile range like many electric cars predict - may be a bit of an exaggeration but even so. Jaguar last year debuted their XE SV Project 8 which is a customer racing kind of car. Based on the XE saloon, the Project 8 is limited to 300 units with a top speed of 200mph to create an insane saloon car. With 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds it is one of the fastest four-door cars on the market. However the Project 8 at this years FOS was a little different, because Jaguar brought the new Touring package. The Touring package has identical statistics to the regular XE except with the reduction of the carbon fibre rear wing. The Touring package is limited to 15 examples and the price is expected to be above the £149,995 price of the regular Project 8. From what I saw at Goodwood, this car is one of the greatest saloons currently on the market and it 100% makes up for the very high price of the car. Jeep made their debut at Goodwood by bringing their ultimate hybrid. A hybrid between an SUV and powerful muscle car that is. The Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk features the 6.2 litre V8 used in the Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Demon, which produces 697bhp and can propel the Jeep to a 180mph top speed which is ridiculous for a 2.3 tonne 4x4. Lamborghini also brought their Urus for the first glance paddock which is not really a first glance but it's always good to see a Urus. Lexus brought their new RCF Track Edition which took the already insane RCF and boosted the power, the aerodynamics and increased the carbon fibre usage by around 800%. This must be the ultimate form of the Lexus RCF as I don't see how Lexus can do any better with the RCF. Next is the Lotus Evora GT4 which is a track version of the Evora for Lotus customers to buy and take to tracks much like the Ferrari XX programme or Aston Martin's AMR programme. The Lotus sounded absolutely godly and one can only dream of the sound of 20 or more of these rocketing around a circuit. Maserati brought their new upgraded version of the Levante 4x4 with the V8 similar to the Quattroporte GTS and very similar to the Ferrari 488 GTB. Mercedes and Mini shared a similarity in that they both showed some new cars under camo being the new Mercedes A45 AMG and the electric Mini concept. Both of which went a little under my radar due to 'better' cars elsewhere. These better cars can include the new Polestar One which is a subseries of Volvo with their electric saloon which is the only electric car that I think I would go out and but because I was so impressed with it. Another of the wow factor cars is the Porsche Taycan which nobody knew existed yet. It is the Porsche electric car that has been teased for years but never seen. Granted it was shown under a camo that hid the body shape but it was still there and I was there for the world debut of the Porsche Taycan. Overall the First Glance paddock was very interesting and very good to see what will be gracing showrooms over the next year or so.
Other Displays
The final section of this review has to cover the multiple other displays at Goodwood which includes Performance Parking and the independent stands as well as random pop up displays. I'll begin with the random pop up areas.
The main area of this was the Bentley centenary celebration in the centre of all the manufacturer stands on the green. This was a display of 30-40 cars that celebrated the 100 years of Bentley with some very special cars dotted around. I'm not very knowledgeable about the older Bentleys so the cars that stuck out to me were the modern ones such as the brand new Mulsanne Speed talked about prior. There was also a Bentley Continental GTZ on this green which is a regular 2006 Continental but with the body styled by Zagato. A very controversial design that I love and others hate but I found the signature Zagato 'double-bubble' on the roof line to be the feature that swayed the GTZ from hate to love. The other notable Bentley was the Continental GT3-R which is a one of 300 Bentley inspired by motorsport hence the British Racing Green touches and the carbon fibre spoiler that would be very strange on a regular Bentley. A second pop up area I was a large fan of was the Pagani area. On the day I attended the Pagani Raduno was supposed to attend with multiple one off Zondas and Huayra BCs and Huayras but they did not attend although they said they would. However there were some Zondas there. In a row of 5 cars there was Zonda 001 which was the first C12 chassis produced known as La Nona (grandmother) which had been restored to original status after going through multiple changes to other specifications. Next along was the Zonda F in red with black carbon accents which was my favourite of the 5 due to the simplistic beauty and presence that came with it. Next in the line up was a carbon blue bodied Pagani Zonda Revolucion which was the track only Zonda built for those to track day their Zondas. Next was one of the rarest Paganis in existence in the form of the Cinque. This one of 5 car was built as a farewell to the Zonda name with lots of carbon fibre elements in what we thought was the last iteration of the great car. Well 7 years after the release of the Cinque, Pagani came up with the HP Barchetta which is one of three which Pagani now say is the last Zonda. This example finished in carbon blue over regular black carbon with wheel shields much alike the old Jaguar Le Mans cars and a bespoke interior. This actual car is owned by Pagani founder, Horatio Pagani hence why it's one of the prettiest cars around. Another interesting area was that of 4 cars down by the south performance car park. There were two cool cars and two amazing cars. The two cool cars were a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon which is an 840hp, £100,000 muscle car and a Miami Blue Porsche 911 GT2 RS which was only the 4th GT2 RS I had seen. But now the amazing cars begin with a McLaren P1 LM which is a one of 6, road legal version of the McLaren P1 GTR. When the P1 GTRs were being converted to a road legal, Lanzante Motorsport commissioned 6 P1 LMs for road use exclusively. It also held the lap record at the Nürburgring with 6m 43secs but it was disqualified as it did not hold a registration plate and therefore could not be recorded. However even with all these credentials, the McLaren was not the best car here. The best car was a really strange looking Aston Martin. It had the general body shape of the One-77 but had a large carbon rear wing, massive wide arches and a ridiculous front splitter. It turns out that this car was the test mule for the Aston Martin Vulcan based on an unused Aston Martin One-77 chassis, which explains all of the aerodynamic modifications. It is also apparently the first time that Aston Martin has shown this car in public.
Performance Parking
The Performance Parking area is set up every year for owners to pay a certain fee to have their car parked inside the grounds at Goodwood to which some would say is a car show in itself. The South Performance Parking was a lot quieter than the main PP area but still had some hidden surprises. The one that caught my eye the most was obviously the blue Pagani Zonda C12 S with lots of carbon additions. The Pagani Raduno was supposed to be around on the Saturday but unfortunately this Zonda was the only example ,of over 20 on the Raduno, that was there. Even so I never complained. Along with this was a Ferrari 360CS, Lamborghini Diablo SV, Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Jaguar XE SV Project 8, two Ferrari 488 Pistas and a Liberty Walk Ford Mustang GT. This was only day one as well. Day 2 consisted of an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, a couple of new Aston Martin Vantages, a Ferrari 458 Speciale, another Ferrari 488 Pista, a 1989 Aston Martin Vantage Volante and a McLaren 600LT.
The main PP makes the south one look like a regular car park, which very clearly is difficult to do. The direction we entered the festival happened to be by the Performance Parking which was an added bonus. In this car park there was two Lamborghini Aventador SVJs, a brand new Lamborghini Huracan EVO, McLaren 675LT, lots of McLaren 600LTs and Ferrari 488 Pistas, a Porsche 918 Weissech, a Porsche 911 GT2 RS, another Porsche 918 Spyder, the Team Galag Batmobile Tumbler, a Ferrari F12 N-Largo S and a very rare Weissmann MF5. That list should state the obvious that this car park was so much better.
Saturday, 3 August 2019
Goodwood FOS 2019 Review - Cartier + Supercar Paddock
Every year at Goodwood, there are two sections that tend to get the most attention out of all the areas. These are the Cartier Style et Luxe and Supercar Paddocks. These tend to get a lot of attention as they feature the latest and greatest sports cars, the debuts of some superb vehicles and some of the most expensive cars around. I shall begin with the review of the Cartier Style et Luxe.
CARTIER STYLE ET LUXE
The Cartier Style et Luxe is a concours event of machines that represent the finest of their type and class in the world. The Cartier is always judged by a group of specially selected judges, that this year was made up of jockey Frankie Dettori, Lapo Elkann, the former marketing director of Fiat, and the Earl of Snowdon. The categories this year were 'Cent Ans d'Avant Garde' which celebrated the centenary of the creation of French luxury manufacturer Avoins Voisin, 'A Sting in the Tail' which celebrated the 70th anniversary of Abarth, 'Like Father Like Son' which is a celebration of the creative mind of Jean Bugatti, son of Ettore. The next category was 'Continental Drift' which was paired with the Bentley centenary celebration, to celebrate their R-Type model, 'Tea for Two' to present the Volkswagen vans over time, 'Milanese Maestros' to celebrate the centenary of Italian coachbuilders Zagato and finally 'Aston-ishing' to celebrate the Aston Martin V8 and its glamourous history. A few highlights of the Cartier show for me begin with the 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of very few designed by Zagato, with luscious curves and a value of up to £14.3m. In fact, most of the Aston Martins at Cartier caught my eye such as the 1988 V8 Zagato, the 1971 DBS which was the first Aston to wear the, now legendary, DBS badge and the 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda which was seen to be one of the most luxury Aston Martins of all time. Another highlight was the Bugatti Type 57C Atlante which was entered by the Bugatti museum and is valued at up to £6m. The curves of this car was something else, as if sculpted by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. Finished in an original paint colour and having only undergone a restoration of a single body panel, it was one of the most original Type 57s around. Finally it is worth mentioning the best in show at the Cartier Style et Luxe which came as a surprise to me, in that it was not the DB4 GTZ or the Type 57C. But in fact the winner of best in show came from the 'Sting in the Tail' category and in the hands of the 1950 Abarth 205 Monza. There is very little known about this model anywhere, other than it is powered by a 1.1 litre inline-4 engine and is one of 3 ever made. It is thought that the one featured at Goodwood this year was the first Abarth car ever made by the manufacturer in 1950 and in the same year was entered into the vicious Mille Miglia race in Italy that covers nearly 1000 miles of Italian coastal road. This plus the gorgeous Italian styling makes it fairly plain as to why it won best in show. Overall the Cartier Style et Luxe gets better and better each year and always becomes more and more unique, a word perfect to describe the Concours event entirely.
SUPERCAR PADDOCK
The supercar paddock went over a few changes this year from last year, mainly the location closer to the start line to accommodate for the new Drift Arena but also due to the size of the paddock. It is estimated that the paddock in its entirety would produce 8000bhp, an insane statistic so lets get to the cars. First up is the Apollo IE which made its debut last year and made another appearance this year but in a different colour scheme. Last year it appeared in its, now iconic, livery of purple carbon with gold wheels, however this year it donned a metallic blue with the gold wheels. The Apollo doesn't just look amazing but the 6.3l V12 mounted in the rear screams even when at low rpm. Next along is Aston Martin who really made a big show at their section of the paddock, debuting 2 new models as well as some fan favourites. One of these launches was of their Vantage AMR which is a standard V8 Vantage but with some enhancements by Aston Martin Racing (AMR) to amp up the power and improve the already beautiful design. Not the standout for me unfortunately as they also debuted the convertible version of their grand tourer, the DBS Superleggera. This Volante version allows for 715bhp to be heard even more by the driver and also is the fastest convertible Aston Martin ever made with a top speed of 211mph. Aston also brought their DB11 AMR and the Vulcan AMR Pro that they brought last year which would've been the centre of attention if a certain 4 Astons were not in attendance. The Lava Collection was present at Goodwood which is the full collection of Aston Martin Vanquish Zagatos, the Coupe, Volante, Speedster and Shooting Brake. Every detail of each car was sublime and most definitely the best looking area of the paddock. Adding that to the rarity of each car, 99 of each except the Speedster which has 28 examples, Aston absolutely smashed it. Bentley did not have such a presence in the Supercar Paddock as they were celebrating their centenary in the centre of the trade areas so only featured a Continental GT and GTC which unfortunately were simply looked past. BMW had their new M8 on display to give its debut to the Goodwood crowds. This was not any M8 though as it had the Performance package on it which added carbon fibre details and a little extra horsepower. Similarly to the M8 was the AC Schnitzer ACS8 which is the German bodykit manufacturers attempt at making a BMW M8 look more mean than it already did which was a success for them. Although it did not run, the AC Schnitzer and its £3,000 exhaust system would be a blast to watch. Brabham have become a fan favourite at Goodwood over recent years with their BT62 and this year was no different with two BT62s gracing the grounds of Goodwood and stunning audiences with the V8 roar and retro design to hark back to Brabhams former glories in Formula One. Dallara made its Goodwood debut this year with their critically acclaimed Stradale track car for the road. Probably didn't get as much attention as it deserved, even with the bright yellow colour it was finished in. The next car we have is possibly the most beautiful car I have ever seen, the De Tomaso P72. Built to celebrate 60 years of the marque and designed to look like 1960s Le Mans legends such as the Ferrari 330 P4. It is just breath-taking and definitely worth the €750,000 price tag. It is now the turn of the Tifosi, Ferrari had a mixed bag of cars at this years FOS which needs some discussion. To start off positive, some of the cars they brought were spectacular. The one off P80/C track car was simply sublime, the Monza SP2 built to look like the 250TR was created by a genius and the one of 2 SP3JC based on an F12tdf chassis was almost too good to be true. However this is where the problems begin. First and foremost there was only one of the XX series cars being the FXXK EVO. That's not a complaint because the FXXK is a ridiculous looking car but I'd have preferred to see the FXX or the 599XX if not as well as. It was not only that I felt Ferrari lacked in. The rest of their line up was their current range and at the time of the festival they had announced three new models months in advance being the F8 Tributo, 488 Pista Spider and the SF90 Stradale. However, they took it upon themselves to not bring any of those, not even the prototypes or test mules shown at Geneva. Instead they brought a 488 Pista Coupe, GTC4 Lusso, Portofino and an 812 Superfast. I'm not complaining as the Pista is an excellent sports car and the 812 sounds godly, all I'm saying is they had so much potential to do better and they didn't take that opportunity. Hopefully next year they will learn from this. Ford debuted their new version of the Ford GT known as the MKII Track Edition which costs an extra £400,000 to current Ford GT customers to get a new one that cannot be taken on the road due to the enhancements from the GTLM used in GT3 racing. To the Ford, its a nice idea but I don't think it will work as I doubt many will invest in it. Honda decided to create an entrance with a chrome orange NSX which looked hideous for such a good car which was a massive shame. Jaguar had an F Type SVR on their stand which is enough said as it is a good quality sports car but no wow factor. If wow factor is what's needs then the obvious choice is Lamborghini. Not only did they have a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in matte green which stunned crowds but they also had both versions of the new Lamborghini Huracan EVO, being the Coupe and the Spyder. The Huracan EVO is more or less the performance of the Huracan Performante without the aero modifications besides the double exit shotgun exhausts to make it the ultimate iteration of the Huracan platform. But this still wasn't the biggest wow factor in the Lamborghini section as that accolade goes to the SC18 Alston, a car that the world did not know existed. The SC18 Alston is a creation by the Lamborghini Squadro Corse racing division and it shows with ultimate aerodynamics and the most aggressive styling you will ever see on a supercar. This one off car takes lots of styling influence such as the Lamborghini GT3 cars but also some previous limited series cars such as the Veneno, Sesto Elemento and Reventon. And as if it could not get any better, I overheard a Lamborghini representative state the commission cost of this car, which was €5million. Before I move on to Lexus, there was another manufacturer in the paddock that is not written into the programme which is Koenigsegg. They brought two cars with them this year, the first being the Agera RSN, a one off version of the Agera RS finished in a blue and white two-tone effect. The RSN is one of the Agera RS family that is made up of 25 official cars and a lot more custom versions made for customers. The Agera RS is also the current holder of the worlds fastest road car after last year it clocked a speed of 278mph over two runs on average, it peaked a 285mph speed. The second car they featured is the Regera. There happened to be one at FOS last year in carbon green, but the one this year was a lot more special as it was finished in purple carbon fibre and a gold stripe down the centre. It is rumoured that the gold stripe had actual gold leaf in it which is just ridiculous. Moving on to Lexus who debuted the convertible version of their already beautiful LC500 known as the LC C. Although the name may be a little drab, I can say the styling is perfect for Lexus for them to return to the top for luxury sports cars. If I could I would most definitely buy this car because it is near perfect. Lotus featured two of their newest versions of the Exige, the Sport 410, and the Evora, the GT 410 Sport. These two were trademark Lotus, very loud, very aggressive and, for me, very overpriced. I love Lotus and the things they stand for since Colin Chapman chose lightness over any other element. However these new models are close to £80,000 in price, which is second hand Lamborghini Gallardo money but if it is a track car you are wanting then the Lotus is most likely your best bet. If you're just looking for a supercar, the Lotus is not the car for you. McLaren had a ridiculous Festival of Speed with the cars they provided. Starting off small with the 720S which is their top Super Series car at the moment but not too special in comparison to what else was there. Next along was the 600LT Spider, the convertible version of the ultimate McLaren supercar seen to be the best supercar on the market at this time next to the brand new McLaren GT which fills a gap in the McLaren brand of the grand tourer. The gold paint colour sold it for me as well as the sleek lines and the comparisons that can be drawn to the new Speedtail (also in attendance elsewhere). Here's where the line gets really special with a certain hypercar trio beginning with the McLaren Senna, although the same as the one featured last year, it is always a sight to see one of these beasts. But it's nowhere as beastly as the blue and chrome McLaren Senna GTR next to it. This is the first time the Senna GTR has been seen in the UK and heard in the UK too as it took to the hill across the weekend. Honestly it's such a spectacle to even see this car in the flesh, let alone to see it burn rubber and speed up the hill at full throttle. McLaren finished off with a volcano yellow McLaren P1 which is one of the early press cars still owned by McLaren. Moving on from McLaren to Mercedes who brought two iterations of the AMG GTR, the Roadster and the Pro which I saw once and was excited once but then never went back as although they have presence and look insane, they didn't stand out significantly enough to go back to them. The next car I did go back to, a lot. This is the Pagani Zonda R, the fastest Zonda ever made, the most track focused Zonda ever made and the most prolific Zonda ever made. Holding the Top Gear lap record for many years and the Nordschliefe lap record for many years, banned at many circuits with sound restrictions and only ever really driven at events or Italian circuits such as Monza or Imola. This was really a sight to see and to hear at FOS. Porsche put in a decent showing with the new 718 Cayman GT4, the production 911 Speedster after last years concept and the Porsche 935 built to celebrate the historic racing car. It was not Porsche who won the Porsche cars funnily enough, it was the modifiers of Porsches who won me over. First Lanzante who took a Porsche 911 930 from 1986 and fitted it with a McLaren Formula One engine, then there was TechArt who took a normal 991.2 GT3 RS and added lots of marble carbon to create the £350,000 GTStreet RS. Finally was Singer who had a 1989 and 1990 Porsche 911 with their restomod design to round off the Porsches. Finally of the paddock were two interesting supercars starting with the French Prato Orage based on a Corvette chassis with 800hp from a supercharged 8.1 litre V8. The final car is the W Motors Fenyr Supersport which has diamonds infused in the headlamps and just looks like the most 'Dubai billionaire' car I have ever seen.
Overall these two sections of FOS were absolutely superb and I have no idea how it can get any better in all honesty.
CARTIER STYLE ET LUXE
The Cartier Style et Luxe is a concours event of machines that represent the finest of their type and class in the world. The Cartier is always judged by a group of specially selected judges, that this year was made up of jockey Frankie Dettori, Lapo Elkann, the former marketing director of Fiat, and the Earl of Snowdon. The categories this year were 'Cent Ans d'Avant Garde' which celebrated the centenary of the creation of French luxury manufacturer Avoins Voisin, 'A Sting in the Tail' which celebrated the 70th anniversary of Abarth, 'Like Father Like Son' which is a celebration of the creative mind of Jean Bugatti, son of Ettore. The next category was 'Continental Drift' which was paired with the Bentley centenary celebration, to celebrate their R-Type model, 'Tea for Two' to present the Volkswagen vans over time, 'Milanese Maestros' to celebrate the centenary of Italian coachbuilders Zagato and finally 'Aston-ishing' to celebrate the Aston Martin V8 and its glamourous history. A few highlights of the Cartier show for me begin with the 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of very few designed by Zagato, with luscious curves and a value of up to £14.3m. In fact, most of the Aston Martins at Cartier caught my eye such as the 1988 V8 Zagato, the 1971 DBS which was the first Aston to wear the, now legendary, DBS badge and the 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda which was seen to be one of the most luxury Aston Martins of all time. Another highlight was the Bugatti Type 57C Atlante which was entered by the Bugatti museum and is valued at up to £6m. The curves of this car was something else, as if sculpted by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. Finished in an original paint colour and having only undergone a restoration of a single body panel, it was one of the most original Type 57s around. Finally it is worth mentioning the best in show at the Cartier Style et Luxe which came as a surprise to me, in that it was not the DB4 GTZ or the Type 57C. But in fact the winner of best in show came from the 'Sting in the Tail' category and in the hands of the 1950 Abarth 205 Monza. There is very little known about this model anywhere, other than it is powered by a 1.1 litre inline-4 engine and is one of 3 ever made. It is thought that the one featured at Goodwood this year was the first Abarth car ever made by the manufacturer in 1950 and in the same year was entered into the vicious Mille Miglia race in Italy that covers nearly 1000 miles of Italian coastal road. This plus the gorgeous Italian styling makes it fairly plain as to why it won best in show. Overall the Cartier Style et Luxe gets better and better each year and always becomes more and more unique, a word perfect to describe the Concours event entirely.
SUPERCAR PADDOCK
The supercar paddock went over a few changes this year from last year, mainly the location closer to the start line to accommodate for the new Drift Arena but also due to the size of the paddock. It is estimated that the paddock in its entirety would produce 8000bhp, an insane statistic so lets get to the cars. First up is the Apollo IE which made its debut last year and made another appearance this year but in a different colour scheme. Last year it appeared in its, now iconic, livery of purple carbon with gold wheels, however this year it donned a metallic blue with the gold wheels. The Apollo doesn't just look amazing but the 6.3l V12 mounted in the rear screams even when at low rpm. Next along is Aston Martin who really made a big show at their section of the paddock, debuting 2 new models as well as some fan favourites. One of these launches was of their Vantage AMR which is a standard V8 Vantage but with some enhancements by Aston Martin Racing (AMR) to amp up the power and improve the already beautiful design. Not the standout for me unfortunately as they also debuted the convertible version of their grand tourer, the DBS Superleggera. This Volante version allows for 715bhp to be heard even more by the driver and also is the fastest convertible Aston Martin ever made with a top speed of 211mph. Aston also brought their DB11 AMR and the Vulcan AMR Pro that they brought last year which would've been the centre of attention if a certain 4 Astons were not in attendance. The Lava Collection was present at Goodwood which is the full collection of Aston Martin Vanquish Zagatos, the Coupe, Volante, Speedster and Shooting Brake. Every detail of each car was sublime and most definitely the best looking area of the paddock. Adding that to the rarity of each car, 99 of each except the Speedster which has 28 examples, Aston absolutely smashed it. Bentley did not have such a presence in the Supercar Paddock as they were celebrating their centenary in the centre of the trade areas so only featured a Continental GT and GTC which unfortunately were simply looked past. BMW had their new M8 on display to give its debut to the Goodwood crowds. This was not any M8 though as it had the Performance package on it which added carbon fibre details and a little extra horsepower. Similarly to the M8 was the AC Schnitzer ACS8 which is the German bodykit manufacturers attempt at making a BMW M8 look more mean than it already did which was a success for them. Although it did not run, the AC Schnitzer and its £3,000 exhaust system would be a blast to watch. Brabham have become a fan favourite at Goodwood over recent years with their BT62 and this year was no different with two BT62s gracing the grounds of Goodwood and stunning audiences with the V8 roar and retro design to hark back to Brabhams former glories in Formula One. Dallara made its Goodwood debut this year with their critically acclaimed Stradale track car for the road. Probably didn't get as much attention as it deserved, even with the bright yellow colour it was finished in. The next car we have is possibly the most beautiful car I have ever seen, the De Tomaso P72. Built to celebrate 60 years of the marque and designed to look like 1960s Le Mans legends such as the Ferrari 330 P4. It is just breath-taking and definitely worth the €750,000 price tag. It is now the turn of the Tifosi, Ferrari had a mixed bag of cars at this years FOS which needs some discussion. To start off positive, some of the cars they brought were spectacular. The one off P80/C track car was simply sublime, the Monza SP2 built to look like the 250TR was created by a genius and the one of 2 SP3JC based on an F12tdf chassis was almost too good to be true. However this is where the problems begin. First and foremost there was only one of the XX series cars being the FXXK EVO. That's not a complaint because the FXXK is a ridiculous looking car but I'd have preferred to see the FXX or the 599XX if not as well as. It was not only that I felt Ferrari lacked in. The rest of their line up was their current range and at the time of the festival they had announced three new models months in advance being the F8 Tributo, 488 Pista Spider and the SF90 Stradale. However, they took it upon themselves to not bring any of those, not even the prototypes or test mules shown at Geneva. Instead they brought a 488 Pista Coupe, GTC4 Lusso, Portofino and an 812 Superfast. I'm not complaining as the Pista is an excellent sports car and the 812 sounds godly, all I'm saying is they had so much potential to do better and they didn't take that opportunity. Hopefully next year they will learn from this. Ford debuted their new version of the Ford GT known as the MKII Track Edition which costs an extra £400,000 to current Ford GT customers to get a new one that cannot be taken on the road due to the enhancements from the GTLM used in GT3 racing. To the Ford, its a nice idea but I don't think it will work as I doubt many will invest in it. Honda decided to create an entrance with a chrome orange NSX which looked hideous for such a good car which was a massive shame. Jaguar had an F Type SVR on their stand which is enough said as it is a good quality sports car but no wow factor. If wow factor is what's needs then the obvious choice is Lamborghini. Not only did they have a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in matte green which stunned crowds but they also had both versions of the new Lamborghini Huracan EVO, being the Coupe and the Spyder. The Huracan EVO is more or less the performance of the Huracan Performante without the aero modifications besides the double exit shotgun exhausts to make it the ultimate iteration of the Huracan platform. But this still wasn't the biggest wow factor in the Lamborghini section as that accolade goes to the SC18 Alston, a car that the world did not know existed. The SC18 Alston is a creation by the Lamborghini Squadro Corse racing division and it shows with ultimate aerodynamics and the most aggressive styling you will ever see on a supercar. This one off car takes lots of styling influence such as the Lamborghini GT3 cars but also some previous limited series cars such as the Veneno, Sesto Elemento and Reventon. And as if it could not get any better, I overheard a Lamborghini representative state the commission cost of this car, which was €5million. Before I move on to Lexus, there was another manufacturer in the paddock that is not written into the programme which is Koenigsegg. They brought two cars with them this year, the first being the Agera RSN, a one off version of the Agera RS finished in a blue and white two-tone effect. The RSN is one of the Agera RS family that is made up of 25 official cars and a lot more custom versions made for customers. The Agera RS is also the current holder of the worlds fastest road car after last year it clocked a speed of 278mph over two runs on average, it peaked a 285mph speed. The second car they featured is the Regera. There happened to be one at FOS last year in carbon green, but the one this year was a lot more special as it was finished in purple carbon fibre and a gold stripe down the centre. It is rumoured that the gold stripe had actual gold leaf in it which is just ridiculous. Moving on to Lexus who debuted the convertible version of their already beautiful LC500 known as the LC C. Although the name may be a little drab, I can say the styling is perfect for Lexus for them to return to the top for luxury sports cars. If I could I would most definitely buy this car because it is near perfect. Lotus featured two of their newest versions of the Exige, the Sport 410, and the Evora, the GT 410 Sport. These two were trademark Lotus, very loud, very aggressive and, for me, very overpriced. I love Lotus and the things they stand for since Colin Chapman chose lightness over any other element. However these new models are close to £80,000 in price, which is second hand Lamborghini Gallardo money but if it is a track car you are wanting then the Lotus is most likely your best bet. If you're just looking for a supercar, the Lotus is not the car for you. McLaren had a ridiculous Festival of Speed with the cars they provided. Starting off small with the 720S which is their top Super Series car at the moment but not too special in comparison to what else was there. Next along was the 600LT Spider, the convertible version of the ultimate McLaren supercar seen to be the best supercar on the market at this time next to the brand new McLaren GT which fills a gap in the McLaren brand of the grand tourer. The gold paint colour sold it for me as well as the sleek lines and the comparisons that can be drawn to the new Speedtail (also in attendance elsewhere). Here's where the line gets really special with a certain hypercar trio beginning with the McLaren Senna, although the same as the one featured last year, it is always a sight to see one of these beasts. But it's nowhere as beastly as the blue and chrome McLaren Senna GTR next to it. This is the first time the Senna GTR has been seen in the UK and heard in the UK too as it took to the hill across the weekend. Honestly it's such a spectacle to even see this car in the flesh, let alone to see it burn rubber and speed up the hill at full throttle. McLaren finished off with a volcano yellow McLaren P1 which is one of the early press cars still owned by McLaren. Moving on from McLaren to Mercedes who brought two iterations of the AMG GTR, the Roadster and the Pro which I saw once and was excited once but then never went back as although they have presence and look insane, they didn't stand out significantly enough to go back to them. The next car I did go back to, a lot. This is the Pagani Zonda R, the fastest Zonda ever made, the most track focused Zonda ever made and the most prolific Zonda ever made. Holding the Top Gear lap record for many years and the Nordschliefe lap record for many years, banned at many circuits with sound restrictions and only ever really driven at events or Italian circuits such as Monza or Imola. This was really a sight to see and to hear at FOS. Porsche put in a decent showing with the new 718 Cayman GT4, the production 911 Speedster after last years concept and the Porsche 935 built to celebrate the historic racing car. It was not Porsche who won the Porsche cars funnily enough, it was the modifiers of Porsches who won me over. First Lanzante who took a Porsche 911 930 from 1986 and fitted it with a McLaren Formula One engine, then there was TechArt who took a normal 991.2 GT3 RS and added lots of marble carbon to create the £350,000 GTStreet RS. Finally was Singer who had a 1989 and 1990 Porsche 911 with their restomod design to round off the Porsches. Finally of the paddock were two interesting supercars starting with the French Prato Orage based on a Corvette chassis with 800hp from a supercharged 8.1 litre V8. The final car is the W Motors Fenyr Supersport which has diamonds infused in the headlamps and just looks like the most 'Dubai billionaire' car I have ever seen.
Overall these two sections of FOS were absolutely superb and I have no idea how it can get any better in all honesty.
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Goodwood FOS 2019 Review - Paddocks
The Goodwood Festival of Speed occurred two and a half weeks ago and only now have I gotten over how amazing it was. Overall I would say it was better than last years event due to the variety and diversity of the cars scattered around the grounds. This review will be split down into different sections of the festival in order to make this review easier to break down.
RACING PADDOCKS
One key element to the Festival is the race car paddocks as Goodwood is one of the only places to see some of the world's greatest racing cars in one place. The race cars range across all pedigrees of motorsport from Formula One and Le Mans to Rally and Touring Cars, it is an extensive collection of motorsport gems. Some highlights that stood out to me in particular include the mass amount of Porsche 917s dotted about. This year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 917 and therefore there were 11 in total including the legendary Gulf liveried 917s and a metallic silver road legal 917 which is allegedly daily driven in Sussex. With a value of £14,000,000 for each 917, to see 11 in a row is truly spectacular. In the same paddock as this was a line of all of Michael Schumacher's ex-cars which was a sight to behold also: Bennettons, Jordans, Ferraris and a Mercedes to make up the illustrious career of one of the greatest drivers of all time. These two were incredible sights to see but to me, the best scenes in the paddock was of vintage Le Mans cars. My favourite era of cars are Le Mans from 1966-2008 and therefore there were some utter gems hidden. Bentley's 2003 Speed 8 which took them to a victory at Le Sarthe, the 2002 Dallara SP1 in it's iconic livery, the 1999 BMW V12 LMR which placed 1st in 1999 and the extensive line of modern and vintage Aston Martin racing cars were my highlights by far. Not forgetting to mention that in the Aston Martin section was a DBR1, worth up to £20m, a DB3S worth up to £8m, a DB4 GTZ worth up to £14m and the special project Aston Martins which are near to priceless. Paddocks overall was a little worse than last year as last year featured an MC12 GT1, Jag XJR12 and many other 90s Le Mans legends that unfortunately were not present this year.
RACING PADDOCKS
One key element to the Festival is the race car paddocks as Goodwood is one of the only places to see some of the world's greatest racing cars in one place. The race cars range across all pedigrees of motorsport from Formula One and Le Mans to Rally and Touring Cars, it is an extensive collection of motorsport gems. Some highlights that stood out to me in particular include the mass amount of Porsche 917s dotted about. This year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 917 and therefore there were 11 in total including the legendary Gulf liveried 917s and a metallic silver road legal 917 which is allegedly daily driven in Sussex. With a value of £14,000,000 for each 917, to see 11 in a row is truly spectacular. In the same paddock as this was a line of all of Michael Schumacher's ex-cars which was a sight to behold also: Bennettons, Jordans, Ferraris and a Mercedes to make up the illustrious career of one of the greatest drivers of all time. These two were incredible sights to see but to me, the best scenes in the paddock was of vintage Le Mans cars. My favourite era of cars are Le Mans from 1966-2008 and therefore there were some utter gems hidden. Bentley's 2003 Speed 8 which took them to a victory at Le Sarthe, the 2002 Dallara SP1 in it's iconic livery, the 1999 BMW V12 LMR which placed 1st in 1999 and the extensive line of modern and vintage Aston Martin racing cars were my highlights by far. Not forgetting to mention that in the Aston Martin section was a DBR1, worth up to £20m, a DB3S worth up to £8m, a DB4 GTZ worth up to £14m and the special project Aston Martins which are near to priceless. Paddocks overall was a little worse than last year as last year featured an MC12 GT1, Jag XJR12 and many other 90s Le Mans legends that unfortunately were not present this year.
Monday, 1 July 2019
Goodwood FOS 2019 Preview
The Goodwood Festival of Speed begins in 3 days and for me it begins in 5 days. It is always a haven for the motoring industry and car fans alike, meaning there are always some dynamic debuts which become greater and greater each year. Here are a few of the highlights featured this year.
Pagani will have a huge presence at this years show as they celebrate their 20th anniversary. As many would know, Pagani is a favourite of mine and having seen 3 of their cars last year, I thought that three would be the most I'd see in one place. This year, they are hosting the biggest collection of Pagani cars in one place with rumours of over 20 cars to be on display as well as the Pagani Museo collection. The Pagani's will have a 'takeover' of the supercar paddock on Saturday and on Sunday they will part but to see them in the metal will be truly special.
Following on from Pagani, another smaller hypercar manufacturer is making a dynamic debut at this years festival being Koenigsegg. 20 years ago, no-one would've heard of Koenigsegg but after years of stunning the supercar game, they are debuting their newest car at Goodwood. The Jesko (named after the founder's father) will be on the Michelin Stand and will not take to the hillclimb. However the 1600hp Jesko will be on display for its UK debut most likely among other Koenigsegg's on display to go up the hill.
Ford are celebrating 60 years since the 1969 Le Mans victory over Ferrari in the Ford GT40s and not only are they taking all 4 GT40s that raced in that amazing victory in 1969, but they teased on their social media a special racing version or a racing-inspired version of the current GT. There are currently no details besides the still, shadowed image but this Thursday all shall be revealed.
Ferrari are taking 3 very special cars to debut at Goodwood this weekend that are making their world debuts. The first of which is the SP2 from their Icona range to celebrate their heritage. The SP2 based on the 1957 250 Testarossa is a two seater speedster limited to 200 units, the sister car to the single seater SP1 which is as of yet unconfirmed. The second car is the SP3JC which is a one off produced for a customer which uses the running gear from an F12tdf and the body to celebrate the old 1960s Ferrari Roadsters. It is rumoured to be a one off but two of these have been spotted, one with a blue, yellow and white colour scheme and one finished in gunmetal grey and red. The final is a first for Ferrari which is a one-off special project based on a racing chassis. The P80/C is based on a 488 GT3 and therefore is not road legal but still a spectacular project.
Ultimately the debuts will be special but the hypercar line-up so far is insane not even including what was mentioned prior. Apollo will be there again with the IE 'Purple Dragon', Brabham will feature a BT62 to go up the hill and a second one on their stand, W Motors will again be there with their Fenyr and De Tomaso get a reboot with the highly-anticipated Project 'P'. Don't worry there's more : a brakes manufacturer are bringing a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 prototype, Ginetta are bringing their new Akula supercar, Ultima have their Evolution RS, TechArt are bringing their interpretation of a 991.2 GT3 RS, Ford are bringing their new Shelby GT500 and finally Morgan have found new light with their Plus 6 powered by the 3.0 V6 in the new BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra.
With Goodwood approaching there will be a lot of new announcements that will be followed up with a lot of articles and posts on here. 785 photos last year, let's see if I can get anymore that that this year.
Pagani will have a huge presence at this years show as they celebrate their 20th anniversary. As many would know, Pagani is a favourite of mine and having seen 3 of their cars last year, I thought that three would be the most I'd see in one place. This year, they are hosting the biggest collection of Pagani cars in one place with rumours of over 20 cars to be on display as well as the Pagani Museo collection. The Pagani's will have a 'takeover' of the supercar paddock on Saturday and on Sunday they will part but to see them in the metal will be truly special.
Following on from Pagani, another smaller hypercar manufacturer is making a dynamic debut at this years festival being Koenigsegg. 20 years ago, no-one would've heard of Koenigsegg but after years of stunning the supercar game, they are debuting their newest car at Goodwood. The Jesko (named after the founder's father) will be on the Michelin Stand and will not take to the hillclimb. However the 1600hp Jesko will be on display for its UK debut most likely among other Koenigsegg's on display to go up the hill.
Ford are celebrating 60 years since the 1969 Le Mans victory over Ferrari in the Ford GT40s and not only are they taking all 4 GT40s that raced in that amazing victory in 1969, but they teased on their social media a special racing version or a racing-inspired version of the current GT. There are currently no details besides the still, shadowed image but this Thursday all shall be revealed.
Ferrari are taking 3 very special cars to debut at Goodwood this weekend that are making their world debuts. The first of which is the SP2 from their Icona range to celebrate their heritage. The SP2 based on the 1957 250 Testarossa is a two seater speedster limited to 200 units, the sister car to the single seater SP1 which is as of yet unconfirmed. The second car is the SP3JC which is a one off produced for a customer which uses the running gear from an F12tdf and the body to celebrate the old 1960s Ferrari Roadsters. It is rumoured to be a one off but two of these have been spotted, one with a blue, yellow and white colour scheme and one finished in gunmetal grey and red. The final is a first for Ferrari which is a one-off special project based on a racing chassis. The P80/C is based on a 488 GT3 and therefore is not road legal but still a spectacular project.
Ultimately the debuts will be special but the hypercar line-up so far is insane not even including what was mentioned prior. Apollo will be there again with the IE 'Purple Dragon', Brabham will feature a BT62 to go up the hill and a second one on their stand, W Motors will again be there with their Fenyr and De Tomaso get a reboot with the highly-anticipated Project 'P'. Don't worry there's more : a brakes manufacturer are bringing a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 prototype, Ginetta are bringing their new Akula supercar, Ultima have their Evolution RS, TechArt are bringing their interpretation of a 991.2 GT3 RS, Ford are bringing their new Shelby GT500 and finally Morgan have found new light with their Plus 6 powered by the 3.0 V6 in the new BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra.
With Goodwood approaching there will be a lot of new announcements that will be followed up with a lot of articles and posts on here. 785 photos last year, let's see if I can get anymore that that this year.
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Top 10 'Firsts' at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual car show held at the famous Goodwood House in Chichester in early July. Last year was my first year in attendance and as soon as I walked through the gates, I knew it was automotive heaven. It was a place I saw my first of a multitude of cars and with Goodwood coming up next week I thought it would be a good time to check out my top 10 firsts at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. For this list, I will be excluding finds in the public and supercar car park because there will be another two lists for those. This list also excludes any racing cars so the Mercedes CLR will not be on this list.
10) Ferrari Enzo - The Ferrari Enzo was launched in 2002 yet even today it still looks like a modern supercar. This was the follow up to the F50 in the line of Ferrari hyper-performance machines (288, F40, F50, Enzo, LaF). The power was courtesy of a 650bhp V12 which could push the car up to 220mph making it still one of Ferrari's fastest ever models. Not only can it reach up to £1.9million at auction and is one of only 399, but the Enzo was developed and tested by the legendary Michael Schumacher. 
9) Mercedes AMG One - The next entry is a bit of an odd one as nobody knew it would be there. On the Mercedes stand was this, the Mercedes AMG Project One (now only known as the AMG One). This is Mercedes-Benz's attempt to enter the hybrid hypercar market currently spearheaded by the Porsche 918, McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari. This is also a response to the Aston Martin Valkyrie. It features the same 1000hp V6 lifted from the Mercedes AMG F1 car and with that can allegedly accelerate from 0-200kph in 'under six seconds'. The car was meant to be put into production at the start of this year and as of yet none of the 275 examples have been sold. This could be to do with the late production or the £2.5 million price tag.
8) Apollo Intensa Emozione - Of all the cars in this list, the Apollo has to win the award for the most hypercar-like hypercar. Finished in a full purple carbon body and gold wheels, the knife like body pointing every which way, this Apollo IE is one of only 10 examples to be build by the now-defunct Gumpert brand. The monumental rear wing, jagged front splitter and jet fighter like interior all come together to make the IE one of the most menacing and fierce supercars out there. The limited numbers plus the £3 million price tag makes the IE one of the most desirable cars out there.
7) W Motors Lykan Hypersport - This 'first' is not just the first of this certain manufacturer but of the manufacturer itself. W Motors is a supercar made in the UAE and much like the previous cars, their models are made in very limited numbers. Both of their models were on display at Goodwood last year but of the two I prefer the Lykan Hypersport. Their Fenyr Supersport was in the supercar paddock and is their newest model but the Lykan had so many subtle features. Examples of this include the cut diamonds in the headlights, the reverse dihedral doors and a holographic gesture control. It's usage in the Fast and Furious movies gained it some attention but the twin turbo engine produced by RUF and the one of 7, £2.5 million price that gained my attention. 
6) Maserati MC12 - The Maserati MC12 was a car produced by Maserati as a sister car to the Ferrari Enzo. It features the same engine and same horsepower output but a body designed by Maserati making it 5 metres long. It is much larger than the Enzo in proportions and much, much rarer with only 50 examples created. However I have never seen a road going Maserati MC12, but Goodwood provided one of the GT1 racing cars and 3 of these editions being the Corsa. The Corsa was a race prepped MC12 which was possible for road legal conversion. This blue Corsa was a star in the centre of the retail section but people were only interested in the Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari LaFerrari that flanked it, a sad thought.
5) Ferrari LaFerrari - Speaking of the Ferrari LaFerrari, Goodwood was actually the first time I saw a LaFerrari in person. Branded as a rebirth of the Ferrari Enzo, the 950hp hybrid powertrain accelerates the car to 60 in 2.9 seconds and up to 219mph. This example was not the only one there as the supercar paddock hosted a LaFerrari Aperta, the convertible version of the standard car. LaFerraris are the most expensive of the holy trinity of the 918 and P1 with prices at auction reaching £3 million, three times the initial price of the car. The Aperta is even more expensive with an example selling at £8.3 million.
4) Ferrari 250 Series - The Ferrari 250 series is known for being one of the most valuable series of car ever created. From lower models such as the 250 GT which can sell for up to £600k, to the top of the pile being the model in this list, the 250 GTO. The 250 GTO gained a reputation after it became the most expensive car to ever sell at auction at £22.8 million. However it gained a greater status when just last year, another 250 GTO sold for £37.68 million. The reason it is so expensive is there were only 39 examples made and it is a Le Mans legend. New, it cost £6000 and when Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason bought one for just over £12000, people thought he was losing money. To the right is his actual car, now worth upwards of £20 million. 
3) McLaren F1 - Known as one of the greatest cars ever made, how could the McLaren F1 not make the list. This example is a very famous one as it was owned by Mr Rowan Atkinson and crashed by him as well. He sent it back to McLaren for it to be rebuilt and here it is. The F1 was designed by Gordon Murray and had a lot of unique features such as the gold engine bay and the usage of Kevlar and the BMW V12. This held the record for the fastest car in the world for 11 years until the Bugatti Veyron came along. But this was not the only example at Goodwood, as with this was a red example in the Concours, an F1 GTR that won Le Mans in 1995 and a Longtail version of the GTR to show the racing prowess of the F1.
2) Koenigsegg - Koenigsegg are another motoring giant that I only saw for the first time at Goodwood. Koenigsegg are a Swedish manufacturer that hold the record for the fastest production car at 277.9mph. The car that did it is the Agera RS, a limited production variant of their model, the Agera. This example is the RS FE, which is the final edition because the Agera model line was replaced by the Jesko early this year. The Final Editions were commissioned by two American millionaires, and they were named Thor and Vader. The one pictured is Vader and Thor was at Goodwood on the Friday before shipment to the US. Goodwood also featured the RSN one off, an original CCR made originally in 2004 and the brand new Regera.
1) Pagani - Obviously my choice as best 'first' would be Pagani, an Italian manufacturer of supercars that is my favourite manufacturer. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and at Goodwood in one week will be the largest collection of them in a single place. This example is the one of 3 HP Barchetta, which is named HP for Horatio Pagani (the boss) and Barchetta meaning it has no roof. Finished in blue and black carbon with a fully custom interior. Pagani love to make their cars for their customers requests with plenty of one offs and specials with their prestige 760 series of which there was one at Goodwood, the Oliver Evolution. Their other model, the Huayra, was released in 2012 and featured at Goodwood with their Roadster model. They are also going to be there next week.
Honorable Mentions - For Honorable Mentions I have to mention the Lamborghini Reventon, Lamborghini Centenario, Lexus LFA and the Porsche 959 which all came close to the Top 10 but unfortunately fell at the last hurdle. Goodwood Festival of Speed will always be the best show I've ever attended and in a week it grows to a whole new level.
By Cieran Boyne
Friday, 21 June 2019
Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Review
Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
And here it is. The SVJ. The name comes from the combination of the 'SV' label, used on previous Aventador models, meaning SuperVeloce (Superfast). The 'J' comes from the genesis of the Lamborghini supercar and from the Miura SVJ. The Miura SVJ was an iteration of the original 1966 Miura which was built in very limited numbers to comply with the old FIA Appendix J racing series. The racing chassis of the Miura SVJ was testing in Brescia when it crashed and burned to the ground. The Miura SVJ is the genesis of the Lamborghini limited series cars and the modern Aventador SVJ lives up to it's grandfather's legacy.
This particular example was on display by the Yorkshire Supercar Owners Club at Newby Hall during the Sports Cars in the Park this May. It was finished in Rosso Leto with the SVJ logo on the rear section of the car. It is also finished with the 20" bronze rims. The presence it had that day equalled being stood next to a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Enzo. The 6.5l V12 engine mounted in the rear of the car produces 759 bhp and can take the car up to a top speed of 217mph making it one of the fastest cars that Lamborghini has ever made. 0-60mph takes only 2.6 seconds due to the massive weight reduction that the SVJ has gone through, cutting over 100lbs from the base car. This car also holds the current lap record for road legal cars at the fierce Nürburgring Nordschliefe circuit. The Green Hell, as it is also known, is a 12.9 mile car-killing circuit known for being the first place many supercars go for testing. The SVJ completed a lap driven by Marco Mapelli, Lamborghini factory driver, in a staggering 6m 44 secs. To put that into perspective, the previous record held by Porsche was 6m 47 secs and the original 2012 Aventador took 7m 25 secs.
One reason for this may be the insanely fast test driver, who for a living drives Lamborghini Trofeo GT3 cars. However one of the more logical reasons is the immense aerodynamic features to the SVJ. The key feature is the wing (below) which uses the Lamborghini ALA aero kit first used on the Huracan Performante. This, plus the 4 wheel steer and 4 active suspension, makes this car one of the best track Lamborghinis and a car that can rival a McLaren 600LT around a track.
In terms of pricing, the SVJ price starts at around £350,000 and with only 700 units, this is a very good deal. There is a Roadster variant coming this year along with the very limited SVJ 63 made to celebrate the birth of Lamborghini with 63 units. A stunning car that certainly lives up to the legacy set by the Miura and a good farewell to the Aventador name.
By Cieran Boyne
Original Photography
Source
http://www.supercarworld.com/cgi-bin/showgeneral.cgi?857
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| The ALA system to improve downforce (left), a front shot of the most mean Lamborghini for the last few years. |
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