Tag Archives: lemans

AC Cars Revives Cobra GT Coupe

AC Cars released today the first images of the new AC Cobra GT Coupe. The first ever official AC Cobra coupe set for production, working from an augmented version of the existing AC Cobra GT Roadster architecture. This road-going model, you might remember – if you are of a certain age and Monte Carlo Rally, LeMans and Kammtail resonate – draws on AC’s racing heritage. Continue reading

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Racing Colors Revealed – Three Cadillac V-LMDh Daytona Cars

Cadillac today revealed the racing colors for the three new electrified V-LMDh race cars that will make their competition debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona this month. The three designs represent the teams running the Cadillacs, each with a different color from the Cadillac V-Series emblem. Cadillac says each car uses one of the “primary colors” of the V-Series logo – No. 01 in gold, No. 2 in blue, red on the No. 31. (pace Newton, we know Gold isn’t a primary color in the classic sense, but light through a marketing prism it is.) Continue reading

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New Mustang Debuts After Media Day at NAIAS

In a surprising example of fair-weather automaker debuts, the movement of the struggling Detroit Auto Show – aka NAIAS – to September of 2022, allowed FMC to skip media day at the Auto Show and debut the new Mustang after press previews ended with the traditional Automotive Press Association welcoming opening night reception. Continue reading

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Le Mans Qualifying Practice – Rain, Red Flag and Racing

The No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing driver set his fastest lap in the dry first 30-minutes of the session before a red flag and then pouring rain nullified affected any improvements in Hypercar or any other class. Continue reading

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First Look – 2022 Ford GT Heritage Edition. The Last?

The latest Ford GT Heritage Edition is a marketing take on the original, combining Wimbledon White paint and a triple racing stripe with expensive touches including exposed carbon fiber behind blue-painted carbon fiber wheels and Lightspeed Blue Alcantara suede seats. Continue reading

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Reigning Champ Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar Set for 2021

Reigning World Champion and three-time Le Mans winner Toyota Gazoo Racing today became the first manufacturer on the Hypercar grid in 2021, alongside Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, with Audi, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche among those joining the battle in the coming years. Continue reading

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WEC SPA – Toyota One-Two. 24 Hours of Le Mans Next

After days of sunshine and high temperatures, the frequently variable Spa weather struck just over an hour before the start, with a heavy rainstorm causing the race to begin behind the safety car. It would have been a vastly different race and outcome if it had remained dry as the rwd Rebellion was clearly faster, until it got wet and had to run against the awd Toyotas. Continue reading

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Shanghaied! Porsche Takes Third Straight Endurance Driver’s Title

Toyota has yet to announce if it will return to LMP1 next year – right now they are the only factory entrant with, oh, potentially $100 million investment needed. Continue reading

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Toyota Engines Fail on Way to Sure Win at SPA. Audi Triumphs

It was evident at the opening race this year at Silverstone that Toyota was still down on power compared to the Germans. In a classic demonstration of the trade-offs in racing, both TS050 Toyota hybrids had significantly improved performance – but. Continue reading

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Milestones – 50 Years of the Porsche 911

More than 820,000 Porsche 911 models have been built, making it, arguably, the most successful sports car in the world since it was first shown in 1963. For each of its seven generations the engineers in Zuffenhausen and Weissach have revised it, while retaining its identifiable and now classic lines and proportions, as well as its famous but often quirky performance. Continue reading

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Rotary Engine Le Mans Winner Mazda 787B Selected as ‘Legend’

For the 1990s, the voting- using French sponsorship and nationalist math – was a “dead-heat” between the Mazda 787B and the Peugeot 905 – so 11 cars were given ‘legend’ status. Continue reading

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Le Mans Test Day – Audi and Toyota Hybrids, Nissan DeltaWing

Two new unlimited racecar entrants – Toyota with a pair of TS030 hybrid cars and Nissan with its lightweight DeltaWing – successfully participated in the traditional test day to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours on 16-17 June. They were joined on the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans by Audi dieselR18 ultra and R18 e-tron Quattro models, the latter another hybrid design. Missing, sadly was Peugeot, which last year placed four Peugeot 908s in the Top Five finishing list, but whose endurance-racing program fell victim to the Eurozone crisis. Continue reading

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Carroll Shelby – Sports Car Racer and Builder – Dead at 89

Carroll Hall Shelby, a legendary sports car racer and builder died Thursday at age 89, his company, Carroll Shelby International, said today. The creator of the Cobra, Shelby passed away yesterday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. Carroll Shelby is the only man to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race as a driver, team owner and automotive manufacturer. Shelby once told me that he “spent a ton of old man Ford’s money, and kicked Ferrari’s ass,” which his team did for successive years at the 24 Hours of Le Mans until a rule change made the brutally fast and reliable cars illegal. Continue reading

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Nissan to Run Delta Wing at Le Mans in P.R. Stunt

The real Japanese race to watch at Le Mans this year will be a Toyota, which will run a hybrid in the LMP1 class. Last year’s race was the most exciting in years – maybe decades – as Peugeot and Audi fought an epic battle. In a fiercely fought 24 hours of racing with sporadic rain, wrecks and attrition, a diesel-powered Audi R18 won the 24 hours of Le Mans in the fastest, factory run P1 class. The Audi was followed by four Peugeot 908s. The three drivers of the second place Peugeot – Simon Pagenaud, Pedro Lamy and Sebastien Bourdais – competed to the very end as their 908 was only 13 seconds behind. Nissan and Chevrolet Corvette did win in other classes. Continue reading

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Toyota Returns to Le Mans in 2012 with Hybrid LMP1 Racecar

Toyota Motorsport’s high-performance technical center in Cologne, Germany, where the chassis has been designed, developed and produced, will be the base for the team. The Toyota LMP1 racecar will have a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain developed in Japan. Continue reading

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