Cars

In the late 1960s, the original Ghibli was more expensive to buy than the celebrated Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. And yet, as evidence of both its beauty and superb driveability (not to mention 170mph potential from its 4.7-litre V8 engine, in coupé form), it outsold the hugely admired Ferrari. The exquisitely designed grand tourer (said by many to be Maserati’s ultimate road car) was the work of stylist Giorgetto Giugiaro, while he was working for Ghia. It made its first public appearance at the 1966 Turin motor show, going on sale the following year.

This isn’t the first vehicle belonging to a Top Gear presenter we’ve seen for sale in the wake of the Clarkson fracas-gate – Richard Hammond had a similar idea, selling his ‘Big Foot’ Land Rover Defender a while back. 

Juxtaposition

It’s rare to have more than a trio of vintage Bugattis at a classic car meeting, so try to imagine 95 together for an entire week. At the International Bugatti Meeting last week, 17 different models were represented, driven by teams from 16 different countries. 

Why dream?

There’s hardly a sports-racing team that doesn’t dream of taking home the coveted overall victory at Le Mans, such is the race’s fame and prestige. As such, I decided that I wanted to experience every minute of this year’s edition, to find out exactly where the fascination comes from. Naturally, I sought help along the way, by talking to Le Mans veterans, team bosses and motorsport fans in general. And to defy fatigue? An hourly intake of caffeine, from flag to flag. 

You might remember the hilarious promotional video for Berlin Fashion Week 2015 we featured a few months ago, which gave a starring role to one of the Mercedes-Benz C111 concepts. Well, last week saw the event take place in London – and also saw the same C111 test its real-world credentials in the heart of the Capital.

Holster those party poppers, though – the Celebration is billed as a ‘show car’ rather than a production model, although it’s clearly a lot closer to reality than the (more dramatic) A110-50 concept of 2012.

It was the junior team that took the victory – current Formula One star Nico Hulkenberg taking the start on his debut at Le Mans, supported by teammates Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. Despite strong pressure from the Audis, unscheduled pitstops for them allowed two Porsches, the second driven by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, to take the chequered flag. Team boss Friedrich Enzinger said that last year’s technical education had been worth it and that the victory was a great success.