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Posted
Jan 24 2012, 01:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 14 comment(s)
One of the highlights of the International Racing Car Show is always the Formula 1 Grid: a rare opportunity to examine up close an almost full-house of current F1 machines – and perhaps the only way without having some very well-connected friends and a whole neck-full of passes. Even dedicated racing magazines and sites only infrequently show close-ups of the detailing of the cars, so I found it very interesting to be able to see for myself the surprisingly large differences between the current...
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Posted
Jan 21 2012, 01:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 19 comment(s)
The Autosport show was a great way to remind ourselves just how good rallying was – and still is. Despite troubles behind the scenes, the WRC has kicked off with another classic Monte Carlo rally , and rallying as a sport is still a must-see event. Forget the politics: watch the stages. The main attraction at ASI for rally fans was the British Rally Heroes Display, which showed off half a dozen classics from the last 50 years of the sport from a UK perspective. Ford Escorts continue to be a...
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Posted
Jan 18 2012, 07:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 14 comment(s)
NISMO and JRM chose the Autosport International Racing Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham to officially unveil the Nissan GT-R GT3, which is now on sale to customer teams to race in any series using FIA GT3 regulations. To coincide with the day of the car's official launch, several thousand miles away in Dubai a GT3 GT-R run by JRM was also lining up to take the start of the Dubai 24 Hours. The driver line-up was certainly a statement of intent, as was the 'Champions' livery it carried...
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Posted
Jan 17 2012, 01:10 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 12 comment(s)
Racing is what the Autosport International Racing Car Show at the NEC complex in Birmingham is all about. As it does every year, ASI in 2012 showcased a mouth-watering line-up of cars that, given the resources, you could be walking out of the show holding keys for (or at least having the right to press the starter). This is very much a commercial show as much as it is for the fans, and a huge amount of business is done over the four days of the show. On the central stands in the main hall, current...
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Posted
Jan 17 2012, 03:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 22 comment(s)
Here on Speedhunters we've been posting links to video updates on the 2012 running of the Dakar Rally, which this year has seen Stéphane Peterhansel in a Mini emerge victorious after another tremendously hard-fought event. But it's easy to miss out on what is the toughest car event of the year and the most challenging off-road rally in the world. This is an event that is worth paying attention to. "A challenge for those who go on. A dream for those who stay behind," is how...
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Posted
Jan 15 2012, 08:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 28 comment(s)
Ayrton Senna. A name that still reverberates around the modern era of Formula 1 – a hero to even some contemporary Grand Prix drivers, but a villain to others. The release of the award-winning Senna documentary last year has brought his name back into the headlines, and given everyone a chance to relive his career through the film. The Autosport International Racing Car Show at the Birmingham NEC provided an opportunity to see some of his cars in the flesh: a dedicated exhibition area was bolstered...
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Posted
Jan 14 2012, 10:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 47 comment(s)
One of the most exciting new builds unveiled at the 2012 Autosport International Racing Car Show was this monster of an RS200. Put together by specialists Forge Motorsport for Liam Doran, this Ford is built to tackle a single event: the Unlimited class of the 2012 Pike's Peak International Hill Climb . In the same way as other legendary events such as Le Mans or Bonneville, there's a mystique about the event that pulls people in, that makes drivers and teams throw everything at it in their...
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Posted
Jan 13 2012, 12:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 23 comment(s)
This weekend The International Racing Car show at the sprawling NEC complex in Birmingham becomes the focus of the racing and performance car world. It's where the manufacturers often choose to launch their new models: this year Nissan and JRM officially launched the GT-R NISMO GT3 at the show. The GT3 variant lacks none of the aggression of its now-redundant GT1 big brother – and the official launch was backed up by a JRM GT-R GT3 taking third position on the grid for today's Dubai...
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Posted
Jan 05 2012, 01:30 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 21 comment(s)
JRM, the mother ship of Sumo Power, have just released the shock news that they'll be launching an assault on the 2012 World Endurance Championship, following on from victory for their Nissan GT-R in the 2011 GT1 World Championship. Their weapon of choice in 2012 will be the HPD ARX-03A LMP1 prototype – dropping them straight into a fight against the factory might of Audi, Peugeot and Toyota. The WEC is the first world championship for prototypes for over 15 years – it will be fought...
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Posted
Jan 01 2012, 01:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 13 comment(s)
A Silk Cut Jaguar means a lot to a British sportscar fan. It represents a resurgent British racing programme against the might of Porsche and Mercedes – one that even made national TV headlines and the front pages of the newspapers. Jaguar XJRs raced in the World Sportscar Championship and at Le Mans between 1984 and 1993, during the glory period of Group C and the World Sportscar Championship. The livery defines the Jaguar Le Mans programme of the '80s: whichever variant, the purple, white...
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Posted
Dec 31 2011, 08:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 12 comment(s)
Alongside the main National Motor Museum and Top Gear areas at Beaulieu in England is the James Bond exhibition: when I visited the museum earlier this year there was a small but quality range of cars on show from various Bond films, serving as a taster for 2012 when there will be even more 007-themed cars on display celebrating 50 years of celluloid Bond. Cars in James Bond films usually offer up the perfect blend of high performance crossed with technology, gadgets and lethal weaponry. How often...
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Posted
Dec 26 2011, 03:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 11 comment(s)
If you heard this car, your life would be forever changed. The gaping maw of the 1950 BRM Type 15 hides its 1.5-litre engine – in itself nothing special, but then, like with the Formula 1 turbo cars of the 1980s, there is 1.5-litres and 1.5-litres. This particular 1.5-litre tiddler is a V16. As ever when describing a sound with a story comprising pictures and words, it's difficult to put across the noise this monster makes. But it's like a volcano . Although not remembered as the most...
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Posted
Dec 23 2011, 10:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 10 comment(s)
JULY: AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, Spa, Belgium 1/800th, F/5.6, 600mm, ISO200 Canon EOS 5D/Canon 300mm F/2.8L-IS + 2x Extender Summer break? Not for Speedhunters. May to August is always one of the busiest times in the racing schedule: the meat of the season, where every weekend seems to involve planes, trains and automobiles – lots of automobiles. And that's never a bad thing. For me it mostly meant tracking Team Need For Speed's progress in the second half of their FIA European GT3...
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Posted
Dec 21 2011, 02:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 11 comment(s)
It's no wonder that the recent return of the Lotus name to Formula 1 has caused such controversy – or that there has been such a fight over the two teams laying claim to it this year. Lotus occupy a mythical place in Formula 1's history: the 'English Ferrari', the innovators, the risk-takers – the winners . But if Ferrari could be thought of as Formula 1's beating heart, Lotus was definitely its brain. The team came from humble origins, as with so many British teams...
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Posted
Dec 16 2011, 11:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 12 comment(s)
The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in England has a full-house of Formula One races from across the decades, chronicling the evolution of the Championship in physical form. Beginning with racers from the '50s and finishing with examples from the most recent era, some vital cars are included in the collection that would normally only be seen in the hands of private collectors or in the museums of the manufacturers themselves. It's what makes Beaulieu such a special place, like the equally...
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Posted
Dec 16 2011, 10:10 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 22 comment(s)
I'm not sure a museum is the best place for anything Top Gear-related. An institution perhaps? Or a zoo? But anyway, Top Gear have an area staked out in the vicinity of the main hall of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu (pronounced 'Bewlay', by the way). Here is displayed – or as it's Top Gear we're talking about, dumped may be a more appropriate term – a swathe of cars that have been subjected to the Clarkson & Co treatment over the years. Part racing driver...
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Posted
Dec 15 2011, 04:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 13 comment(s)
How many models of car can say they've won a race? Tens of races? Hundreds? How about a thousand races? The Bugatti Type 35, built and raced between 1924 and 1931 can count over one thousand race victories. It's easily the most successful racing car of all time. At its height, it's recorded that the Type 35 was winning 14 races every week . The Type 35 series is the best-known racing Bugatti and was one of the first racing cars offered for sale to the public. £1,100 (around £37...
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Posted
Dec 14 2011, 02:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 11 comment(s)
To me the Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster looks like the future . It's what you see in movies when directors want to portray a decadent sci-fi image of what's to come: it's the car the bad guy will be driving – and the wheels will fold up when the car needs to take off. Slightly over-excited daydreaming aside, for a car that's almost 80 years old it still has a striking appearance: a 1930s boulevard cruiser given a steam punk make-over. Over-wide, over-long and over here. The...
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Posted
Dec 14 2011, 06:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 20 comment(s)
Here on Speedhunters we're constantly striving to bring you new things, new cars, new events. But sometimes it's good to look back and appreciate just how we've got to where we are. It is easy to dismiss old cars as, well old . Odd-looking. Not exciting. But as soon as you get up close to something like this 1922 Aston Martin I think it's clear just how special and relevant they are. An invention that is now over 120 years old, the motor car quickly evolved to the stage where there...
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Posted
Dec 13 2011, 11:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 15 comment(s)
JANUARY: Jaguar XK-R, Dubai Autodrome 1/30th, F/3.5, 24mm, ISO3200 Canon EOS 5D MKII/Canon 24-70mm F/2.8L Sportscars are my personal passion, and 2011 proved to be another great year Speedhunting exotics on the road and tracks around Europe and the Middle East. From the warm sun and balmy desert nights of the Dubai 24 Hours in January to the windy classic coastal track of Zandvoort in Holland in October, putting together these Photos Of The Year stories is an enjoyable reminder of the great events...
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