Top Gear Tests the New Ford Fiesta

Le Mans June 11-12, 2011

Live Le Mans coverage in USA:  SpeedTV.com

It's okay that LeMans runs at the same time as our Formula Car Challenge race at Sears Point this weekend. LeMans is a 24 hour race so only insane people watch it from start to finish.

. . . Okay, we admit that we dream of being trackside, in Le Mans, France. . . from start to finish. . . in the rain. . . oh, and we'd like to go there on the Concorde or the Queen Mary (why stop the insanity at just watching the race?)

Queen Elizabeth 2, Concorde, Red Arrows 

For kindred spirits, here's a little Le Mans trivia from the boys at Top Gear: Le Mans 2011: how it works - BBC Top Gear

McLaren’s new GT3 car revealed - BBC Top Gear

From our buddies at Top Gear, here's the latest on McLaren's efforts to top the greatest supercar ever built, the 240 mph, 1992 McLaren F1 (apologies to Bugatti and others but we still prefer the original, naturally aspirated McLaren.)

McLaren’s new GT3 car revealed - BBC Top Gear

Gallery: Classic Fords - BBC Top Gear

Not to be missed--Ford releases thousands of historic photos from its archive. Almost Everything's favorites from TopGear's sneak peek are two shots of Ford GT40s. The first shows a collection of the cars parked in various racing liveries but without numbers. The second shows the three GT40s crossing the finish line of the 1966 24 Hours of LeMans in 1st, 2nd & 3rd places. There are plenty of others showing prototypes, show cars and other historic racers. Click the link below for more!

Gallery: classic Fords - BBC Top Gear

Stunning Cat--Limited Production of E-2011 Concept Planned

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type at the 1961 Geneva Auto Show, Bo Zolland and Robert Palm have created a stunning E-Type tribute. Zolland is the founder of Vizualtech, a design house in Sweden. Palm is a designer based in Switzerland.

Top Gear is now reporting that the concept reception has been so good that Zolland and Palm are planning to actually produce the car using Jaguar XKR mechanicals including the supercharged 600 bhp 5.0-litre V8. The designers are targeting 0-100 k/hr (0-62 mph) in the high 3-second range. Expect to pay anywhere from $700K - $1.4M (US Dollar), depending on actual demand. The boys hope to have the first cars on the streets next year.

The Original XKE "E-Type"

Surviving a Sinking Car

Richard Hammond may be a real life Kenny in the U.K. We like Richard and hope he continues to survive these attempts on his life. . . by his friends.

On a more serious note, a tragedy happened to a young boy in this part of California a few weeks back. I'm a long-time scuba diver and I've always assumed that drivers who die underwater in their cars were drunk, asleep or otherwise incapacitated before hitting the water. After seeing these videos, I understand what should have been obvious to me from scuba. Watch Top Gear's Richard and learn something that could one day save your life--Frank