When Ferrari announced the FXX last year, the company established a new super-track-day-special category. Now it seems, Maserati will jump on the bandwagon with the even more exclusive MC12 Corsa. Directly derived from the multiple race winning MC12 GT1 car, the 'Corsa' differs only in detail (additional seat) from the racing car. One million Euro does seem a little steep for a car that can only be used on track and will most likely not hold its value as well as the similar F-car.
At last week's Monaco Historic Grand Prix, there were several major accidents and the featured BRM P201 fell victim to one of them. Fortunately we were in time to shoot the ill-fated Formula 1 racer when it was still in one piece. Shortly after designing this P201 in 1974 Mike Pilbeam set up his company and in the last thirty years produced some highly successful racing cars. His latest effort is the Pilbeam MP93, which scored a second place finish earlier this year at the Istanbul 1000 km race.
Almost a year after introducing the 'S' model, Porsche released the first details of the entry level Cayman, which probably offers even better bang for buck than the top of the line models.
With the recent 100EX and 101EX concept cars, Rolls Royce revived a long lost tradition of experimental models. One of the first of these was the Phantom I 17EX fitted with a very striking Jarvis Torpedo body. After a thorough restoration, it recently was awarded the Trofeo Rolls Royce at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.

This past weekend the Automobile Club de Monaco hosted the bi-annual Historic Grand Prix, preceding the upcoming F1 race this weekend. It is a celebration of single seater racing in general and its most legendary race, the Monaco Grand Prix, in particular. The organizers carefully selected a field of nearly 200 of the finest historic racing cars. The fields of historic Formula 1 cars were particularly without equal. The seven races were by no means a parade with the drivers very eager to step in the footsteps of legendary drivers like Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna. Combined with the treacherous nature of the street circuit, the desire to take victory resulted in a number of accidents. Fortunately all of the drivers stepped out of their bent vehicles unharmed. Celebrating his first of three victories exactly fifty years ago, Sir Stirling Moss was present with the unique four wheel drive Ferguson. Sadly technical difficulties prevented him from starting the race.
Saturday evening the museum of the Principality's royal family housed Bonham's Les Grandes Marques auction. It was highlighted by a spectacular Maserati 4CS 1500 from the Rosso Bianco collection, selling for nearly �650,000.
We were in Monaco for the entire event and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A summary of all seven races and the auction can be read in our full report and seen in a 240-shot slideshow. Many of the stunning cars raced will be featured in more detail in the near future, but for now: enjoy!

After a number of difficult seasons, the Saleen S7R made a very successful reappearance on the European tracks with a second place in the FIA GT opening round and a first in class in the Spa round of the Le Mans Series. A renewed interest from Saleen was responsible for the successes. Today we take a closer look at the Oreca Saleen S7R, which is the Spa winning car and serves as a test bed for the latest works parts. A similar car will be at Le Mans next month and might spoil the predicted Aston vs Corvette battle. Another successful debutant at Spa was the Zytek 06S, which qualified second and finished third in the eventful race. This was quite a remarkable achievement, considering the fact that the car was still in pieces at the Zytek workshop a mere three weeks before the race. It will join the Saleen at Le Mans where it might be able to challenge the diesel engined Audis.
At the annual Mille Miglia retrospective last week, BMW took the wraps of the very striking Mille Miglia Coupe Concept. Based on Z4 M Coupe mechanicals the retro concept hints back at the highly successful BMW 328 Coupes that won the legendary rally in its heyday. In that same era Alfa Romeo scored numerous Grand Prix victories with the 158 'Alfetta'.
One of Ferdinand Porsche's early masterpieces is the Mercedes Benz S-Type first introduced in 1927. Derived from a road going model, the big Benz proved very successful from the moment it was introduced at the opening of the legendary Nurburgring track. This week the first evolution of the S-Type takes centre stage; the 700 SS in this case equipped with a stunning Fernandez & Darrin Torpedo body.

This weekend the legendary Spa Francorchamps track once again proved why it is so well loved by drivers and fans alike. For the third year in a row the Belgian circuit hosted a round of the Le Mans Series. It's not just the layout of the track that makes for exciting racing, but it is also the weather that plays a big part; a completely dry race weekend is exceptionally rare. This weekend was not one of them with sun on the first day, rain on the second and fog on the third. Even with three of us present, the amount of action was hard to keep track of. Not one session ended without some drama and before the race started three cars were already out. Shortly after the lights turned to green half a dozen cars were out with accident damage. Once the race really got going there was never a quiet moment with close fights in all classes, as if it was a sprint race.
Our photographers spread out across the 7 km long track to capture the race in high resolution and full colour. Their thoughts and images can be found in a 2000 word report and a stunning 200-shot slideshow.

Letter combinations have always been a very popular car naming method, but only some mean anything and only very few achieve a legendary status. GTO, TR and RS are among those that immediately spring to mind. Right up there is BMW's CSL for Coupe Sport Leicht, an abbreviation first used for the 3.0 CSL. This was also the first product of BMW's highly acclaimed Motorsport department. The ultra light (hence the name) CSL was available to the public to meet 1000 example production requirements set for homologation for the highly popular European Touring Car Championship (ETCC). Among the parts to be homologated for racing was an elaborate spoiler kit that would give the car its famous 'Batmobile' nick-name. In the ETCC, the various versions of the CSL raced faced strong opposition from Ford's Capris and Escorts, but nonetheless managed to take the championship six times between 1973 and 1979. A few years ago, BMW revived the CSL name for a special lightweight version of the M3, but the three letters will be forever associated with the elegant and very fast coupe of 1970s.
In today's update we pay tribute to the BMW that made the clear statement that the German manufacturer had overcome all the problems that dogged them in the late 1950s and early 1960s. First of the two cars spotlighted is the road-going 3.0 CSL, which comes complete with the Batmobile style spoiler kit. Second is the competition 3.0 CSL Group 2 in the specification that dominated the ETCC from 1976 to 1979.

Less than a month after the very exciting season opener at Istanbul, it is time for the second round of the Le Mans Series; the Spa 1000 km. We have already looked more closely at a large number of the competitors in recent weeks and to warm you up for the Spa race we now take a look at two of the more interestingly styled competitors. With its unique looks, rumbling V8 and fire spitting frolics, the Spyker C8 Spyder GT2 R is surely one of the fans' favourites. For Spa a new engine should be fitted, greatly improving the Spyker Squadron's chances for a class podium finish. A lot has changed in the prototype classes and many feared the cars would look at lot worse because of it, but now that the dust has somewhat settled we can conclude that the latest generation sportscar looks any bit as good as the old LMP 675/900 cars. One of the best examples is the all new Courage LC70, which has a number of striking design cues.
It is still relatively quiet in the automotive industry, but as almost every week there is a new Mercedes Benz model to report on. AMG have now inserted their new V8 engine in the facelifted CLS class to create the CLS 63 AMG. Aston Martin has released the first pictures of the DBS V12, which will be used by James Bond in the upcoming movie 'Casino Royal'.
For some years any Italian design was immediately eye pleasing, but some companies are now pushing the boundaries. An example of classic Italian style is the Stola Abarth Monotipo Concept, which was launched a few years ago and has seen been driven for many miles. We recently examined the unique orange coupe at the company's new North American office and can say it took the miles in remarkably well. At last month's Top Marques show in Monaco the wraps were taken off the Faralli & Mazzanti Antas V8 GT, which we found a lot harder to appreciate than the Stola.

At last week's Villa d'Este concours d'elegance, the striking Bizzarrini GTS 4.1 V Ghepardo Concept was not recognized as very special by most. Had we not heard it pull up on the Villa Erba lawn, we would have also assumed it was unchanged since the car's launch in Geneva last year. Closer inspection revealed that the Bizzarrini was now fitted with a screaming Mecachrome derived engine that develops 550 bhp at 10,000 rpm. Although production is still not certain, the changes definitely warrant a closer look. The French V8 looks and sounds more at home in the back of a racing car like the Paul Belmondo Racing Courage C65 Mecachrome.
Another reason for the Bizzarrini not getting a lot of attention was the quality of the cars officially entered in the concours. Picking the best of shows was not easy, but the choice of the Ferrari 410 SuperAmerica by the jury and the Isotta Fraschini 8A SS Castagna Torpedo by the public is not too difficult to explain. One of our personal favourites was the Maserati A6G/54 Zagato Coupe, which spent most of its life hidden away in a garage in Corleone, Italy, before being retrieved by its current owner. With the interestingly styled Russo-Baltique Impression Concept we have added the first Russian car to our database.
While getting ready for the 'Concorso', we spent some time in the nearby Alfa Romeo Museo Storico to shoot some of the gems on display there. In this week's update we would like to take a closer look at the Alfa Romeo 159 'Alfetta', the last of a long line of very successful Alfa Romeo Grand Prix racers.
It is the low season for new releases, but we have found two light weight supercars from England to add; the 550 bhp Caparo T1 and the Caterham Superlight R400. BMW showed the first pictures of the 335i Coupe, which is powered by the all new twin-turbo six cylinder engine.