Cars

Following a principle set by the previous generation Continental GT, the Speed variant sharpens driving dynamics and boosts power over the standard model: this time up to 616bhp and 590lb ft.

That translates to a top speed of 205mph – which not only betters that of the regular W12, but also the Supersports model which crowned the previous generation. The 0-62mph benchmark is also dispatched rather more quickly than the current W12's effort, down from 4.4 to 4.0 seconds.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be: despite being launched at the 1984 Birmingham Motor Show to a rapturous reception from public and media alike, Lotus was in a familiar phase of turmoil.

Its eminent custodian had passed away a couple of years prior, but not before instructing the company’s Chief Engineer Tony Rudd to build a new V8 engine (codenamed Type 909); it was to have as much in common with the slant-four still operational across the Lotus family as possible, while conjuring 320bhp and 300lb ft.

The #1 R18 e-tron quattro, driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer had been on pole position and was followed over the line by its sister hybrid car of Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish. Third was the all-diesel factory Audi of Marco Bonanomi/Oliver Jarvis/Mike Rockenfeller. The remaining Audi finished fifth.

While the very first Cobras were powered by 260ci V8s, the most well-known version of the Anglo-American roadster was a 289 (4.7-litre). This formed the basis for the Ford-bankrolled company to take on – and beat – Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin in international GT racing, achieving an over-2000cc class victory in 1965.

The ‘big-block’ 7-litre V8 went into a heavily revised Cobra later in its life, seeing action on the race tracks and drag strips as well as the highway. The Cobra 427 was raced until the early 1970s, winning hundreds of events.

Many will remember the Rocketman concept from its debut at last year’s Geneva Motor Show; it was BMW’s vision of a new MINI truer to the original’s petite dimensions. Now, as part of BMW’s extensive sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics, it has been given a number of “unmistakably British design features.”

Thurgood reckons that his ‘in and out in a day’ programme policy will appeal to racers (and their other halves) who are tired of spending long periods of time away from home, not to mention the additional costs involved. And if that isn’t enough to encourage both competitors and spectators, the fact that the day is a highly worthwhile fund-raiser should help to convince.

The pair of cars shows the different stages in the development of the Anglo-American, mid-engined racer built specifically to win the Le Mans 24 Hours for Ford in the 1960s.

Founded in 2010, it seems that Vencer is seeking to better the efforts of struggling compatriot Spyker Cars by releasing its own low-volume bespoke supercar: the Sarthe. Named after the region in France where the Le Mans 24 Hours is held, the car will be powered by an eight-cylinder motor producing 503bhp and 480lb ft of torque, which apparently facilitates a 0-62mph sprint of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of over 200mph.

The American was well-known for his love of fast cars, his on-screen success giving him the means to buy a huge number of the world’s finest, including Porsches, a Siata, a Jaguar XKSS and several Ferraris.

This one was purchased in San Francisco when McQueen was filming Bullitt and converted to a ‘N.A.R.T. Spider’ replica by a later owner in the 1980s. Under the strict originality criteria of the Ferrari Classiche programme, it therefore had to be returned to the specification in which it left Maranello in the late-1960s, i.e. a coupé.