In 2006 Audi won the Le Mans 24-Hours with the R10 TDI, the first diesel powered race car ever to win this coveted event. Since then, diesel engines have powered all of Audi’s Le Mans winners totalling eight victories out of the next ten races. The diesel debate, which has seen a lot of column inches in all the mainstream media outlets of late rumbles on, but there is more to … [Read more...]
9 motor museums and 3,059km in 1 week
Three Dutch friends Dik Boosman, Jan Mol and Pim van der Veer hit the road from Dordrecht in the Netherlands on Sunday 22 June, heading south towards Neuenburg, near the Black Forest (680km) to visit 9 motor museums and in the process drive 3,059km in one week. So we pick up their story from there: “The purpose of the adventure was to acquaint ourselves with the hitherto … [Read more...]
Frankfurt Motor Show 2013
“The most automotive show in the world” Nobody, either involved or interested in the motor industry, can ignore the Frankfurt Motor Show 2013 (Internationale Automobil Ausstellung - IAA) dedicated to cars in uneven years in Frankfurt, and to commercial vehicles in even years in Hanover. Past IAAs drew between 900,000 and one million visitors from all over the world. This … [Read more...]
Pocket Rockets of Yesteryear
After Word War II smaller passenger cars of unitary construction became increasingly popular, and in the 1950s it was common place to find highly tuned but conventional family cars racing in competition. This had an extraordinarily positive effect on sales as the car-buying public could identify with the cars seen on the track and it was possible to go out and buy street … [Read more...]
Clear skies over Silverstone!
Clear skies and warm – no, make that hot! – weather greeted the crowds at the Silverstone Classic on both Saturday and Sunday (21 and 22 July 2012), but only after drenching all and sundry on the Friday afternoon and leaving puddles and standing water, it seemed that in most areas where the photographers liked to stand for their favourite shots. But the weekend races were a … [Read more...]
Le Mans 24 Hours … Two Weeks to go
Question – what do you do with your time once you retire from international football and you have a World Cup Champion’s medal in your top drawer? Answer – you could buy a wine farm and put your feet up or you could try the next best thing, go motor racing. That is what Fabien Barthez, the 1998 French World Cup winning goalkeeper has done, in fact he started racing a month … [Read more...]
Le Mans 24 Hours … Four Weeks to go
A WEEK AT THE LE MANS 24-HOUR On a practical note, the Le Mans week begins on Sunday, June 10, and runs until the end of the race on Sunday June 17. Here is the race programme: Sunday 3rd June: 2012 Le Mans Test Day, 09h00 – 13h00, 14h00 – 18h00. Sunday 10th June: Scrutineering and admin. checks (14h30 – 19h00) Monday 11th June: Scrutineering and admin. checks … [Read more...]
Le Mans 24 Hours … Seven Weeks to go
Its all happening in the world of sports car racing ahead of the world’s greatest endurance racing event, the Le Mans 24-Hour race, now 7 weeks to go…. First up are two competitions worth looking at: 1) Fancy winning a trip to Le Mans in an R8 paid for by Audi? You can enter the competition which incidentally closes on 4 May 2012, by clicking on this link: … [Read more...]
Corn Flakes and rocket cars
Back when this writer was a little boy, and that is quite some considerable time back, breakfast time used to be a meal that I looked forward to with much enthusiasm, and it wasn’t because I was particularly hungry. No, you see, it was something much more obscure that caused me to race down the passage into our dining room and grab the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes every morning, it … [Read more...]
Duel in the Sun
Last year, at around the same time, 55 highly tuned sports racing cars lined up on the grid for the start of the 78th Le Mans 24-Hour race. Under a bright sky with not threat of rain, the race was run entirely in the dry which made life a little easier for the teams and drivers, but there were more than just a few sore heads on Sunday morning on the banks and in the … [Read more...]
