This week, Las Vegas once again hosts the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show. The trade only event attracts mostly aftermarket suppliers but in recent years manufacturers have also had a strong presence at the SEMA Show and this year is no exception. One of the most spectacular machine launched in 'Sin City' is the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet. It represents a departure from earlier drag-strip-ready Mustangs as it is powered by a newly developed twin-turbo V8 engine. Although no official power figures have been released, the Cobra Jet should be capable of sub 8-second runs. The car on display at the SEMA Show is still labelled a concept but we expect a limited run to become available ahead of the 2013 season. Certainly headed for production is the Lingenfelter LTA. This striking machine is based on the latest Camaro but boasts a Pontiac TransAm inspired body-kit and a massive 655 bhp V8 engine. The car will only be built in very limited number. A slightly more modestly modified Camaro is the Hot Wheels Edition, which is also slated for production. In a reverse of normal practice, this Camaro is a full size version of a Hot Wheels miniature. Japanese manufacturer Acura used the SEMA show to reveal the ILX Endurance Racer, which is due to make its competition debut at next months Thunderhill 25 Hours.
On the other side of the world, Nissan took the wraps off the Altima V8 Supercar. Due to join the familiar Fords and Holdens in Australia's very competitive V8 Supercar series, the new racer is powered by the same engine that propelled the NISMO GT-R to the GT1 World Championship in 2011. Citroen have also launched a new racer this week; the DS3 RRC. Short for Regional Rally Car, the RRC is a toned down version of the all-conquering DS3 WRC. With 275 bhp and 350 Nm of torque available the affordable and durable machine is still a very potent weapon.

Having sold their company to the Orsi family, the three remaining Maserati brothers continued to produce cars but now under the OSCA (Officina Specializatto per la Costruzione di Automobili) brand. As in the past they started out as a pure racing car manufacturer but by 1960 were forced to branch out to produce more diverse machinery. One of the results is this lovely 1600 GT Zagato Coupe. This dual-purpose sports car used a 1.6 litre version of OSCA's twin-cam engine in combination with a steel tubular chassis and a lightweight body by Zagato. Unfortunately only very few examples were constructed, and the brothers were once again forced to sell their company. This leaves the 1600 GT as the last production car built by the Maserati brothers. Our feature car was originally sold to Rome and was later part of the fabled Rosso Bianco Collection. On Wednesday, it will be offered in RM Auctions' London Sale.
An even rarer machine on offer in the British capital is this Astra RNR2 Cosworth. This represents the final evolution of the slippery Costin-Nathan sports car used with considerable success in the late 1960s. The single most unusual element of the car's design is the plywood monocoque chassis. The RNR2 was built to compete against the latest Chevrons and Lolas, and in the hands of Roger Nathan himself proved remarkably competitive. The example available is the first of two built and was personally raced by Roger Nathan. We captured the car back in 2006 when it was reunited with Nathan, who had not raced a car since winning the 1970 Martini Trophy at Silverstone in the RNR2.
As already mentioned last week, a fabulous Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy 'Gullwing' Coupe is set to become one of the sale's big stars. Other interesting machinery set to cross the block include a Maserati MC12, a Koenigsegg CCX and this BRM P207.

For Aston Martin, 1959 was very much a watershed year; the company had finally won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the world championship outright, and also introduced its first brand new road car in nearly a decade. With the job done, Aston Martin retired its works team and instead focused on developing a competition version of this new DB4 intended for customers to race in the Grand Touring or GT class. The new racing car was introduced at that year's London Motor Show and was appropriately dubbed the DB4 GT. Compared to the standard road car it featured a shorter wheelbase, lighter body and more powerful engine. It was immediately successful in national events but on the major races faced strong opposition from the latest Ferrari 250 GT SWB, which was lighter still. In order to bridge the gap, Aston Martin Racing developed a Lightweight version and later even commissioned Zagato to create an all new body. While all this work did not eventually bring the desired results, the various DB4 GT variants still rank among the most sought after Aston Martins.
We have taken a closer look at this finely honed GT racer with a 18-shot gallery of a DB4 GT and a 12-shot galley of two of the rare Lightweights. All are shown in action during the Goodwood Revival, where the DB4 GT is a regular entry in the prestigious RAC TT Celebration race.

Undoubtedly the single most iconic and sought after Mercedes-Benz of the post-War era is the 300 SL with its legendary 'Gullwing' doors. Of the 1,400 built, there are 29 that are even more special. These are the Alloy Coupes, which came at a DM 5,000 premium. These lightweight machines are recognisable by the Rudge knock-off wheels and could also be specified with a competition engine. Due to their rarity, they are the most expensive of all 300 SL road cars; one sold earlier this year for a staggering $4.6 million. Today we take a look at two examples. The first was ordered by Mercedes-Benz works drive Juan Manuel Fangio, who actually used it in a road race in South America. The other was picked up from the factory by its original Swiss owner. This car will be offered by RM Auctions in their October 31st London sale and promises to be one of the top sellers of the auction.
For most Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 customers, Touring of Milan was the coach-builder of choice. Among the exceptions was this fabulous Ghia Cabriolet. Four examples were built of this Mario Felice Boano-styled drop-top of which only two have survived.
Today, the Sao Paolo International Motor Show will open its doors to the public. Undoubtedly the most spectacular world debut is the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 45th Anniversary but other manufacturers are also on hand with brand new cars. Both Nissan and Volkswagen have brought compact SUV concepts in the form of the Extrem and Taigun respectively. The Volkswagen is powered by a new compact engine that produces 109 bhp and 175 Nm of torque from a displacement of just 1 litre.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the Ferrari range was topped by the America and subsequent Superamerica model. Targeted at the rich and famous, these machines were all built to custom order and as a result no two were alike. Halfway through the 1960s even Ferrari could no longer be the exception to the rule and introduced the series produced 500 Superfast. The last of this great line of Ferrari's bespoke luxury cars is the 400 Superamerica. Unlike its predecessors, which were all powered by the 'long-block' or 'Lampredi' engine, it featured a four-litre version of the shorter, 'Colombo' V12. Equipped with three Weber carburettors, the all-aluminium engine nevertheless produced 340 bhp. Pinin Farina offered both open and closed coach-work for the chassis of which the featured Aerodinamico Coupe was the most beautiful and popular. Two beautiful examples are pictured in our 24-shot gallery, and although they share the same lines penned by Aldo Brovarone, they boast many distinct cues.
Established in the 1960s, the VDS team, run by the Belgian Van der Straten family, have been a prominent private entrant in a wide variety of national and international championships. In the early 1980s, they even briefly fielded cars of their own construction. Raphael van der Straten, grandson of the team's founder, has now decided to once again build his own car. This has resulted in the VDS GT 001-R racing car and its road-going counterpart, the GT 001. The striking machines are based on tried and trusted Gillet Vertigo underpinnings and sport coach-work with a neo-retro, Mustang-inspired design. Van der Straten intends to build less than two dozen examples of the road car, while the GT 001-R is set to debut in the January 2013 Dubai 24 Hours.

At the 2012 Super Trofeo season finale in Navarra, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann was on hand to reveal the new Gallardo LP570-4 Super Trofeo. Replacing the existing model next year, it carries over most mechanical components of the LP560-4. More work, however, has gone into the aerodynamics with an all-new rear wing adding as much of 160 kg of downforce. Further visual changes were made to the Super Trofeo to match the updated Gallardo road car.
This week the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT Roadster has hit the showrooms. To mark the occasion, the German manufacturer has released additional images and full specification of the range-topping 583 bhp model.
One of the highlights of this week's Australian International Motor Show was the Lexus LF-LC Blue Concept. As the name suggests, it is a blue version of the 500 bhp LF-LC Concept first shown in Detroit at the start of the year.
Following a first glimpse a few months ago, the wraps have now come off the all-new Opel and Vauxhall Cascada. Due to hit the market in March of 2013, it is the largest four-seater convertible built by the two manufacturers in many years. At the launch, the range topping engine is an equally new direct-injection, turbo-charged 1.6 litre engine, which is good for 170 hp. Later in its lifecycle, the Cascada range will expanded with more powerful models.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, sports car racing played second fiddle to the production based Group 5 class with the Porsche 935 and its numerous derivatives as the most popular entry. A host of other manufacturers tried to break the German manufacturers stronghold with varying degrees of success. Ford of Europe with the help of Zakspeed was among them with this spectacular Group 5 Capri. Following the regulations to the letter, this was effectively a bespoke racing car and only incorporated a limited number of panels from the third generation of the road-going Capri. Both the aluminium spaceframe chassis and turbo-charged engine were purpose built by Zakspeed. The car was predominantly raced in the very popular DRM series in Germany, initially in the two-litre class and later with a slightly bigger engine in the over two-litre class. In the hands of Hans Heyer and Klaus Ludwig, the big-winged Capris were very successful, resulting in numerous race wins and several championships.
Only six of these Capris were built by Zakspeed and our feature car was one of the very last. Believed to have been used by Klaus Ludwig to win the 1981 DRM Championship, it is still owned by Zakspeed. In recent years, it was meticulously restored and we captured it in full detail during the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This was the car's first outing since the restoration was completed.

In the early years of Group C racing, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, only the Lancia LC2 provided Porsche with real resistance. Very much a Fiat-group joint effort, the Martini liveried machines featured a Ferrari-sourced and Abarth-tuned V8 mounted in a bespoke, Gianpaolo Dallara designed aluminium chassis. The twin-turbocharged engine over time grew in size to just over 3-litre. By that time it was good for at least 850 bhp in qualifying trim. Very quick, the lovely Lancias rarely managed to match the Porsche 956 over a race distance in speed, reliability and fuel consumption. The German machine could rely on the strength of numbers, as the works team was often complemented by at least half a dozen privateers, while the LC2 was run exclusively by Lancia Corse. As a result only a handful were ever manufactured. Most have survived and in recent years three have come out of the woodworks and have been meticulously prepared for racing. We have captured these three examples at historic tracks like Spa Francorchamps, Le Mans and Paul Ricard during the past two seasons, which has resulted in this 42-shot gallery, which serves to illustrate our detailed article.

While Ferrari is best known for relatively small, free-revving V12s, the Italian manufacturer also fielded much bigger engined racers during the 1950s. Among them is this 410 S Scaglietti Spyder, which was built specifically for the 1955 Carrera Panamericana. When the gruelling road-race was cancelled, the five-litre racers were sold to privateers. Among them was John Edgar, who fielded his ex-works car with considerable success for some of the time's greatest drivers like Carroll Shelby and Richie Ginther. Much later in his life, Shelby even signed the gas tank with the message: "Mr Ferrari told me this was the best Ferrari he ever built." The second works car was sold to Sweden where it was only briefly campaigned. Compared to the other two examples, these ex-works cars stand out because of their twin-plug engines, which produced a hefty 380 bhp. In recent years we have captured both examples as can be seen in this 24-shot gallery showing the cars at Pebble Beach and Villa d'Este.
Porsche have today completed the Cayenne line-up with the launch of the Turbo S variant. Compared to the 'standard' Turbo model, the new S boasts an engine that has an additional 50 hp and 50 Nm of torque. Complementing the tweaked engine are an even more luxuriously appointed interior and exclusive 21 inch wheels. Priced at just over 150,000 Euro in Germany, the Cayenne Turbo S will be available from early 2013.

To mark the 45th anniversary of AMG, Mercedes-AMG have built this SLS AMG GT3 45th Anniversary. Strictly limited to just five examples, the anniversary model is based on the successful GT3 version of the SLS AMG road car. Compared to the 'standard' version, it features various detail changes in the interior and brand ambassador Bernd Schneider has personally helped install the powerful V8 engine. A special '1 of 5' logo on the seats and dashboards underlines the exclusivity of the 45th Anniversary.
The launch of the limited edition model has inspired us to take another look at the production SLS AMG GT3, which, according to Mercedes-Benz, has already notched up 58 wins in less than two seasons of racing. We captured four examples in great detail at the season opening FIA GT1 World Championship and FIA GT3 European Championship races at Nogaro during the Coupes de Paques easter meeting.
British specialist manufacturer Caterham have meanwhile expanded their range with the Superlight R600. This is the company's first 'Seven' based model powered by a supercharged engine. This is based on the Ford Duratec straight four and produces around 275 bhp. Intended for a one-make series, Catherham hope to have at least 16 examples of the very potent R600 go head-to-head during the 2013 season.

This weekend the unique Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track hosted the third annual Dix Mille Tours. Organised by Peter Auto, the event combined proprietary grids like the CER and Trofeo Nastro Rosso with additional races for Group C and Historic Formula One racers. New for this year was a special regularity race reserved for the Ferrari F40 and 333 SP, which provided both a visual and aural spectacle. One of the other highlights was the two-hour Sixties Endurance Race, which ran into the sunset and concluded Saturday's action. Among the many fantastic cars spread across the grids were a Le Mans winning Porsche 936, a wide variety of Ferrari sports and GT racers and the thundering Sauber-Mercedes C11. The organisers also inspire even rarer machinery to come out of the woodworks, which this time included a Huron 4A, TOJ SC204 and a one-off DFV-engined March 76S.
Our photographers ventured to French Mediterranean coast, which is particularly lovely this time of year, to capture the 2012 Dix Mille Tours in its entirety. The fruit of our labour is this detailed class-by-class report, illustrated by an action-packed 250-shot gallery.

Among the most formidable racing cars ever constructed were the IMSA GTP sports prototypes of the 1980s and early 1990s. Built for sprint races, they combined very powerful engines with physics defying downforce levels. Today we have taken a look at two of these spectacular machines.
The most modern of these is the Nissan NPT-90, which was raced extensively from 1990 well into 1993. This was the first completely new car constructed by the American based NPTI team and featured a turbocharged V6 and a sophisticated ground-effect aero package. We captured our feature car during the Group C support race at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. It still sports the fabulous MOMO colours it used in 1993 when run by the late Gianpiero Moretti's privateer effort.
Almost exactly a year ago we were treated to this March 84G Porsche, which also wears a famous livery of the period. In these 'Kreepy Krauly' colours it was raced in the IMSA GTP series in 1984 and subsequently at Le Mans in 1985 and continued to be campaigned until the end of 1986. Today the March 84G uses a Porsche 956 engine, which was installed as part of the car's conversion to Group C specification ahead of the 1985 Le Mans. We shot the car at the 2011 Dix Mille Tours and the 2012 edition is just around the corner. Scheduled for this weekend, it once again has a busy program with a wide variety of races on the roster. New for this year are the FIA Historic F1 Championship and a special race for Ferrari F40s and 333SPs, which should provide plenty of visual and aural delights. Stars among the other grids range from a Maserati A6GCS, two Porsche 936 to a Sauber-Mercedes C11.
As always, a full report from this action-packed weekend will follow early next week.

The Talbot Lago T150C proved to be particularly popular with France's most prominent coach-builders like Figoni & Falaschi and Pourtout. The most famous creation on the competition bred chassis is no doubt the 'Teardrop Coupe' by Figoni & Falaschi. This Paris-based company also built three Cabriolets; two on the short 'SS' chassis and one on the long wheelbase 'S'. This T150C SS is the first of these two shorter Cabriolets and the only one surviving with its original body. It was in the same family since the late 1950s and was not seen in public until the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August. Benefiting from a complete RM restoration, the striking Figoni & Falaschi Cabriolet not surprisingly won its class. The long wheelbase T150C S Cabriolet has also survived and was shown at Pebble Beach back in 2006.
One of Figoni & Falschi's rivals, Jacques Saoutchik, was honoured at Pebble this year with a special class. His creations were rarely subtle but this Delahaye 175 Coupe de Ville was more exuberant than most. The beauty of this design is in the details like the removable roof section and the 14-karat golden fixtures used throughout. Built specifically for the 1949 Paris Motor Show, the Saoutchik Coupe de Ville has since been part of the prominent Harrah, Nethercutt and Blackhawk collections.
One of the absolute stars of this year's Paris Motor Show was Jaguar's new F-Type, which looks set to finally fill the void in the British company's line-up left by the E-Type. Last week we published details of the range-topping V8 model but we believe the F-Type S powered by a new supercharged V6 will be the most popular choice. Hopefully, the all-aluminium machine will be as good to drive as it looks.

One of the many small stories of this year's Le Mans Classic was the return to the legendary France venue of two works Alfa Romeo racers that last competed side by side 40 years earlier. The car in question is the 33/TT/3, which was the fifth evolution of Alfa Romeo's prototype racer in as many years. Compared to the earlier versions, the 1972 model sported an all-new tubular spaceframe chassis. It was intended to be run with an equally new flat 12 engine but that was not ready until the end of the season, so instead the existing V8 was used. Faced with a very dominant Ferrari effort, the 33/TT/3 was forced to play second fiddle throughout the year despite being manned by some of the era's finest drivers. Today these beautiful machines are a rare sight, so we did not waste our opportunity and captured both in full detail as can be seen in this action-packed 30-shot gallery. At the Dix Mille Tours event at Paul Ricard this weekend, you will get another opportunity to see these two Alfa Romeos go head-to-head. We will be there and you will of course be presented with a full report next week.
It is been a long time since Michael Schumacher dominated the headlines for good reasons and last week was no exception as it was announced that the seven-time World Champion was let go by his current employer Mercedes-Benz in favour of Lewis Hamilton. Although the often controversial German is still considering his options, this may well mean that his career behind the wheel may very well end after the last Grand Prix of 2012. This has prompted us to take a closer look at the Jordan 191 Ford in which Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut. It is for this reason that the car is best remembered. It deserves more credit as it, Jordan's very first Grand Prix car, scored points in only its fifth outing. Our feature car was allocated to Andrea de Cesaris and is today actively campaigned in the BOSS Grand Prix series.