Supercars from Geneva
2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
Tomorrow the 81st Geneva International Motor Show opens its doors to the motoring press and the undeniable star is the Lamborghini Aventador you see here.
Along with Lamborghini, many manfacturers are launching supercars in the 7 exhibition halls of Palexpo. One of the most celebrated will be the Koenigsegg Agera R. This 1115 bhp, €990,000 monster uses a twin-turbocharged version of Koenigsegg's bespoke 5.0-liter V8 and it is their most exciting car to date.
Several tuning companies are also taking advantage such as MTM with their Audi R8 Biturbo, Hammann with their Hawk and the Cruiserio Coupe by Xenetec. Later we will have these and more in our feature gallery.
Geneva Preview 2
550 BHP Jaguar XKR-S
Today, several manufacturers have revealed their plans for the Geneva Motor Show which starts next week. The most recent of these is Jaguar with their 550 bhp XKR-S. They will also take the opportunity to celebrate the E-type's launch from 50 years ago.
Along with the V8 Vantage S, Aston Martin will revive their Virage name for both a Coupe and Volante which are both upscale versions of the DB9. Competing in the same market will be the 2011 Maserati GranCabrio Sport.
More on the conceptual side, Geneva will have the MINI Rocketman Concept and Jaguar Bertone B99. Any day now we hope to have real pictures of the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 and other major Geneva releases.
Amelia Island Preview
1935 Duesenberg SJ Mormon Meteor Speedster
On March 13th, the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance will take place near Jacksonville, Florida. Focused on Duesenberg, Allard & Kurtis, the show will be graced by an appearance of the Mormon Meteor Speedster which won Pebble Beach in 2007.
RM auctions will be on site for their annual sale of collector cars. Included is this Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Town Car Prototype. Down the road, Gooding & Company will have the Miura SV Prototype from Gran Turismo 5 up for grabs as well as one of the world's best XK120s with an alloy body.
To get an idea of what to expect we can refer you to our gallery from last year's event. Our friends at the Seal Cove auto museum also tell us they will bring this 1914 F.R.P. Series B.
2011 WRC Rally Sweden
Mikko Hirvonen on Rally Sweden
Last weekend Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen won the 2011 WRC Rally Sweden driving their Ford Fiesta RS WRC for Ford Abu Dhabi WRT.
This historic rally has been ongoing since 1950 and is typically dominated by the Scandinavian drivers that specialize in ice and snow. This year Ken Block of the 'Gymkhana' series got his first taste of the Swedish conditions and set the record jump at Colin's Crest with 39 meters. He placed 14th overall.
New rules for 2011 in WRC have brought out new cars which closely resemble the S2000 competitors in IRC. Only Ford and Citroën are backing entries this this year with their Ford Fiesta RS WRC and Citroën DS3 WRC, but MINI will join mid-season with their Countryman.
Rétromobile Auctions
Bonham's Auction at the Grand Palais
Last weekend three great auctions were held to take advantage of the Rétromobile crowd and today we can present images of the lots with results.
Bonhams put on a spectacular auction at the Grand Palais which was the original venue for the Mondial de l'Automobile. Fittingly, they also assembled a great display of antique automobiles from the turn of the century to celebrate 110 years of the show.
Artcurial was the official auction at Rétromobile. Among the lots was a Invicta 4½-Litre Coupé which sold for €535,182. Surely a record for the model, the 1983 Lancia 037 Stradale sold for €221,573. These and the rest of the auction can be seen in our feature gallery by Dirk de Jager. A European first, Artcurial presented each lot on a ramp similar to the American style of presentation.
Geneva Preview
BMW Vision ConnectedDrive
With the 81st Geneva Motor Show just a month away, many manufacturers and design houses are releasing details before show.
The most recent of these is BMW who will present the Vision ConnectedDrive. It's a blatant attempt to draw attention to their new network, but the design of this roadster is agressive and controversial.
Other manufacturers have also gone avant garde for Geneva which typically showcases custom design. Renault have their CAPTUR and Nissan, the ESFLOW
On the more usable side, Ferrari will display the FF, their first 4WD car, and Mansory will radically modify their Evora.
Muscle from Chicago
Camaro ZL1 Unveiled
Today both Chevrolet and Dodge released new performance variants of their muscle cars at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show.
Chevrolet rekindled their ZL1 name for a new supercharged version of the Camaro. This revives the term which was first applied to the 1969 Camaro ZL1 COPO 9560-a version built only on special order with the 500 bhp 427 V8. Why Chevrolet didn't didn't use the more popular Z/28 name for their new car is questionable.
Dodge also took the opportunity to launch an SRT8 version of the 2012 Charger which produces slightly more power than the R/T and features a much more aggressive body kit.
2011 Retromobile
ROFGO Gulf Collection by Duncan Hamilton
This week Retromobile opened it doors to over 100,000 spectators interested in any and everything vintage.
Among the many spectacular displays was a new Gulf collection put together for a client by Duncan Hamilton. Included were 14 of the best Gulf-livered cars which probably cost many millions to assemble.
Our regular photographer Dirk de Jager photographed Retromomobile on a busy Saturday for our feature gallery. Later in the week we will present two of the three major auctions from the area.
Daytona's Heritage Exhibition
0846 & Freinds
Before the weekend and Retromobile hits us, we thought it would be nice to take one last look at the Daytona 24 and its Heritage Exhibition.
Before the race started, numerous cars were reunited with the track for a few pace laps. Many great examples were featured including the Nissan GTS which won the Daytona 24 outright in 1994.
We were happy to see Ferrari 330 P4 0846 returned to the track as driven by owner Jim Glickenhaus. 44 Years ago this Ferrari won Daytona and it is currently presented in the winning livery.
Peugeot 908
Peugeot 908 is revealed for the first time.
Today Peugeot Sport unveiled their 2011 LMP1 challenger at a private event in Paris. Called simply the 908, it uses a new diesel V8 powertrain and has numerous detail differences from the outgoing 908 HDi FAP.
Riding high off their victory at Rallye Monte Carlo, Peugeot's main effort is aimed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with three cars entered. They will also contest all seven races in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup including Sebring and Petit Le Mans in America.
At all these events, Peugeot will likely face Audi with their completely new R18 TDI. The rest of the LMP1 challengers can be seen with our tag.
Mecum at Kissimmee
CSX2093 - sold for $875,000
With it's deep metal flake paint, Mecum sold this 1963 Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake for $875,000 as a highlight of their Kissimmee, Florida auction.
With nearly 1500 cars on offer, the event was one of the largest automotive auctions in America with total sales of $39.9 million. Most lots at Kissimmee were muscle cars including several important drag-cars with race history.
Many of the highlights can be found in our feature gallery by Alex Marks. He especially liked the Ford Thunderbird Phase I which was specifically built for top speed runs at the 1957 Daytona Speedweeks.
