There was a time when all Rolls-Royce chassis were clothed by custom coachbuilders, but today even Rolls-Royce have succumbed to series-production. Pininfarina have made a rare exception with the Hyperion, which will be shown for the first time at Pebble Beach. The best manufacturers can offer to replace the custom coachwork are lavish options. Lamborghini has jumped on that band-wagon with the Murcielago LP640 Roadster Versace. As with the Coupe model, the Roadster comes equipped with an interior designed by the Italian couturier.
Porsche have rounded off the face-lift of 911(997)-range with the introduction of the four-wheel drive versions, headlined by the Carrera 4S Cabriolet.
At the upcoming British Motor Show in London a new Spanish manufacturer will debut what looks like yet another Lotus 7 clone. Dubbed the IFR Automotive Aspid, the two seater comes equipped with a very powerful four cylinder engine.
After an absolute glorious period in the 1960s and early 1970s, sports car racing lost its edge. Towards the end of the decade, it all turned around. Today we take a look at two very successful cars from that period; the triple World Championship winning Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Turbo and the 1984 IMSA GTP Championship winning March 84G.
To finish off this update we have dug deep into motoring history and have come up with the American Underslung Traveler. Built between 1907 and 1914, the American Underslung featured, as its name suggests, a revolutionary 'underslung' chassis. Today only very few of these wonderful machines have survived and the featured example sure is one of the best.

Our reporter Rob Clements has made it a Father's Day tradition to visit the annual EyesOn Design Concours d'Elegance with his father. As you may have already seen in his previous reports, this is time well spent. EyesOn Design is a concours like no other; there is a strong emphasis on design, yet it is also the fundraising event for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. There is even a special "visionary" award chosen by visually impaired judges. Held at the beautiful Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, the event attracts stunning machinery from all over the country.
This year American designer Bob Lutz received a (long overdue) lifetime achievement for his work for companies like BMW, Chrysler, General Motors and Ford. In between flying in his jet fighter, he is currently employed by General Motors, whose 100th anniversary was celebrated. Another particularly interesting class featured a classic design together with its modern counterpart, like the Mini and the MINI and the Beetle and the New Beetle.
Unfortunately the event had to be cut short due to severe weather. Rob nevertheless managed to capture all the highlights of the 200-car field, including the Best in Show. His thoughts and photographs have been compiled into a full report and a sparkling 80-shot slideshow.

Three of Japan's major manufacturers embarked on a quest to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1980s. Eventually only Mazda succeeded, but both Toyota and Nissan came close. The latter's challenge was temporarily interrupted after Group C was phased out, but Nissan returned in 1995 with the production based Skyline R33 GT-R LM. Prepared and entered by NISMO, the GT-R LM faced off against purpose built racing cars and could do no better than a fifth and tenth in class in 1995 and 1996 respectively.
Nissan followed the trend by using a loophole in the rules and built a prototype racing car for the 1997 edition of the legendary race. They attained homologation by adapting one of the racing cars for road use. Dubbed the R390, the new Nissan racing car was developed together with British experts TWR. They supplied the carbon fibre chassis and the design penned by Ian Callum. Nissan's biggest contribution was the ferocious twin-turbocharged V8 engine that a few years earlier had produced well over 800 bhp in the back of the Group C cars. The Nissan R390 proved to be quick straight out of the box, but not very reliable at its first outing. In 1998 the four examples that started the race all finished in the top ten, but the placed Nissan could do no better than third behind the dominant Porsches. Rule changes left the R390 obsolete at the end of the season and Nissan did return in 1999 with a new car, which failed to impress.
Although Toyota, Mazda and Honda all look likely to return to Le Mans with a full factory assault, Nissan has been awfully quiet on the subject.

Today Italian luxury / sports car manufacturer Maserati revealed the first pictures of the face-lifted Quattroporte range. The biggest news though was the addition to the line-up of the Quattroporte S, which comes complete with the 4.7 V8 engine seen earlier this year in the GranTurismo S.
With the very unusual Gina Concept, BMW have presented an interesting direction for the possible future of the automobile. By using an easily adaptable textile fabric for the skin, the car's appearance can be changed at any given time. Better known for their ground-breaking concept cars is Mazda and during the upcoming Moscow Motorshow, the Japanese manufacturer will launch yet another design study.
One of our readers recently directed us to this rather stunning Dowdeswell & Hardie Concept 17.1 Falen, which will be limited to four examples only. Little technical detail is known at this time, but the racing-derived Judd V10 engine should be able to propel the mid-engined sportscar to mind boggling speeds.
Renowned Mercedes Benz tuner Brabus have released a second version of the very potent C-Class based V12 engined Bullit; the Black Arrow. Ford is increasing tension for the launch of the much-anticipated Focus RS by publishing two pictures of a thinly disguised test-car and some additional specifications.
By far the craziest car in this week's update is the aptly named Toyota Aygo Crazy, which is powered by a mid-mounted 200 bhp turbocharged engine.

While the big battle between Audi and Peugeot filled the headlines, the Porsche RS Spyder. almost inconspicuously clinched a one-two in the LMP2 class at its first outing at Le Mans. The superb prototype racer from Weissach already had quite a track record, so the Le Mans win was hardly a surprise. Particularly in the American Le Mans Series the bright yellow Roger Penske entered examples caused upset after upset by beating the intrinsically faster LMP1 cars for outright victory. This made for some absolutely fascinating racing between the much more powerful Audi R10 and the nimbler Porsches. The cherry on the cake was the overall win in the Sebring 12 Hours earlier this year. With a class win at Le Mans, the V8 engined prototype now has pretty much won everything within its grasp. The only thing Porsche could really do to top it, is to develop the car into a full fledged LMP1 car and go for their 17th Le Mans win. Sadly this is not a very likely scenario.
Today we celebrate the remarkable racing career of the Porsche RS Spyder with a well illustrated article. Included are pictures from the RS Spyder's latest achievement; the one-two in class at Le Mans.
For our supporting members, we have further expanded our wallpaper section with a total of ten wallpapers from this year's Le Mans. Included are the Dome S102, Audi R10, Porsche RS Spyder and the Aston Martin DBR9.

Over the past weekend 55 racing cars participated in the 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Just like the 1988 and 1998 editions, it was an absolute thriller with the top two runners never further than a lap apart throughout the race. Interestingly it was only the sixth time ever that the top two finished on the same lap. No doubt sensing the excitement in the air and many hoping for a hometown Peugeot win, a record 258,000 spectators flocked to the track from all over the world. Eventually the British and Danish fans were most pleased with the final result. Coincidentally the 1998 winner finally got his second win. Behind the Peugeot vs. Audi dog-fight was plenty more great racing, particularly in the GT1 class, which saw the fourth coming together of the Works Corvette C6.R and Aston DBR9. The other two classes were not quite as close, but both winners highly deserved their victory.
During the morning before the 3 pm race on Saturday, the crowd was entertained by a race for the much loved Group C and GTP cars of the 1980's. The line-up for the ten-lap event included a great mix of machines with Porsche, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Nissan and Mercedes Benz all represented.
Our photographer and reporter was at Le Mans for every session and didn't miss a minute of this very exciting race. All his findings are compiled in a highly detailed report and a mouth-watering 200-shot slideshow complete with photographs from the qualifying sessions, the Group C machines and the entire 24hr race.

At the moment 55 teams are preparing their cars for tomorrow's 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Yesterday and Wednesday they were out on track for qualifying, setting some absolutely startling times. Unfortunately there were also various offs, resulting in quite a lot of bent and broken carbon fibre. Nobody was seriously hurt with the exception of a cat that had a too close of an encounter with a Oreca-Courage. In between the red flag periods, the starting grid was determined and the setups for the race established.
Each evening the action was kicked off by a practice session of the highly popular Group C cars that will be racing on the Saturday morning. The colourful field includes a variety of Jaguars, Porsches and even a Sauber-Mercedes. For many spectators and journalists it brought back fond memories of one of the finest periods of sportscar racing. Very fitting, as we are on the brink of another one.
We have been trackside during every session and could not wait to bring you our familiar post event report. Instead we have compiled a qualifying report and a 60-shot slideshow. After the race has finished and the dust has settled you can expect a full report with many more images from the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In good Ultimatecarpage.com fashion we will kick off the 2008 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a look at the event's very rich history. There is a very good chance that this year the distance record set all the way back in 1971 will finally be broken. In our all new Le Mans Winners section you can see that at several times competitors came close by sorting them by race distance or average speed. For those of you more interested in the current machinery, we have added five spectacular shots from the test session to the wallpaper section. A lot more images will be published possibly as early as Friday with a report of the qualifying and the much anticipated Group C support race.
Rounding off our first report from Le Mans, we take a closer look at one of the least known; the Mercedes Benz 300 SL Competition Coupe, which was the first closed car and German car to grab the laurels in the legendary endurance race. Despite beating the Works Jaguars, Ferraris and Aston Martins in 1952, it is hardly remembered today. A reason for this might be that it was replaced by the legendary 300 SL Gullwing road car and the equally famous 300 SLR. In its single year of racing, the 'W194' also scored a convincing win in the Carrera Panamericana. The featured example is the actual Le Mans winner, which is in private hands and is still regularly campaigned.

There is plenty of high performance news to report on this week. We kick off with yet another special edition from Pagani; the Zonda Cinque. Limited to just five examples, it is more powerful and lighter than the standard model. Could this be the final hurray for the Zonda and will the next Pagani we can report on be its replacement? Porsche have updated their 911 range by introducing direct injection and a dual-clutch gearbox. For the Carrera S this means a 30 bhp hike in performance. British manufacturer Bentley have also introduced improved versions of their current models and also extended their line-up with the 600 bhp Continental Flying Spur Speed. Forty years after his untimely death behind the wheel of a Lotus 48, the great Jim Clark is celebrated with a special Clark Type 25 edition of the Elise. A completely new name is Breckland, but with the 400 bhp and sharply priced Beira, they could soon become a household name. Although in this niche market many have tried and most have failed.
For our weekly trip down memory lane, we have highlighted two 1950s racers from two very famous and successful manufacturers. First up is the Aston Martin DB3 Spider, which marked the company's difficult first steps into international sportscar racing. A race win at Goodwood and a class win at Sebring were the rare highlights in this car's racing history. One of the final Maserati sports racers built in the 1950s was the 250S, which was raced with considerable success by the likes of Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall in North America.
We would like to conclude this week's news feature with a very stylish Duesenberg. This unique J Weyman 'Tapertail' Speedster certainly is a real Duesey!

At 3pm local time on June 14th, 55 racing cars will take off for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The start of the race is a culmination of many months of preparation and a two week build up on site, which began with this weekend's Official Test. Usually the annual test gives first indication of the entrants' capabilities, but this year various showers prevented most cars from setting competitive times. What became clear was that Peugeot have brought the absolute quickest car and most likely the fastest sports racer ever built. With a lap time of 3:22.222 Alexander Wurz shaved four seconds off last year's pole position in less than ideal conditions. Audi is nevertheless still well within range, which should make next week's race the most tightly disputed in many years. There are high quality entries throughout the field and we expect close racing in all three of the other classes as well. This includes possibly the last battle between the Aston Martin DBR9 and the Corvette C6.R which will be fascinating to follow. Dozens of fabulous racing cars and some very talented drivers should make for a highly exciting edition of this legendary race.
Despite the poor weather we managed to capture the entire field out on track and have compiled a fully illustrated entry-list and a class by class preview.
We will be back at the track for qualifying and will capture the race in its entirety. You can expect a very well illustrated article on the Tuesday after the race.

Over the weekend the build-up to the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans kicked off with the official test day. It was the first opportunity to see the latest developments and in one case a brand new car; the Dome S102. The splendid white coupe was an immediate favourite with observers and could very well challenge the diesel engined top runners. Unfortunately the weather was pretty poor and the car could not clock a competitive time. Later in the week we will publish a full preview for the race with an illustrated entry list.
On the other side of Europe another racing car made its debut and immediately impressed. Norwegian rally ace Petter Solberg managed to place the Subaru Impreza WRC2008 second in the WRC event in Greece behind world champion Sebastien Loeb. It was the best result for Subaru in quite some time, so the new car certainly is an improvement.
Rolls-Royce have revealed the first sketches of the RR4, which will join the various Phantom models in the company's line-up. Italian supercar manufacturer Ferrari continued the roll-out of the California with additional information and images; it certainly looks better in blue than red.
Italian coachbuilders have long since achieved legendary status and a glance at this unique Aston Martin DB2/4 Bertone Berlinetta or this very early Lamborghini 350 GT explains why. Also stuff of legends is the work of American Virgil Exner. RM Auctions will auction one of his finest works, the Chrysler Diablo Concept, at their upcoming Monterey Auction in August.
We would like to complete this update with something altogether different; the Mors Grand Prix. Built for the 1908 French Grand Prix, it features a massive four cylinder engine. Unfortunately it was to be the last racing car built by the French pioneers.