Auction house breaks record with £10m Aston Martin sale July 14, 2018 Auction house Bonhams yesterday broke the record for the most valuable British car sold at a European auction when an Aston Martin was sold for more than £10m. The 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato fetched £10,081,500, which Bonhams said was a record. It sold in the room to a European buyer. The lot was part [...]
Lewis Hamilton interview: How the most decorated British racing driver in history, may be about to swap the track for the runway July 5, 2018 I find Lewis Hamilton quietly thumbing through a sheaf of technical sketches. But he’s not in a pit garage or race car factory perusing the work of aerodynamicists – he’s in Tommy Hilfiger’s Knightsbridge studio, studying pictures of sneakers. Just as he gives his Mercedes crew feedback, demanding different damper settings or more wing, he’s [...]
Ferrari Portofino review: The replacement for the California T is a special and surprisingly easy drive March 26, 2018 Ferrari would never admit its California was a car marketed at women. Back when it was launched in 2008, just four per cent of the Italian manufacturer’s customers were female. With the California, a softer sports car with a folding metal roof and lower price tag, it said it intended to reach an audience it [...]
Mercedes-Benz SL R107: The best classic Merc you can buy February 19, 2018 All cars eventually become classics, but not all classics are created equal. The ‘R107’ Mercedes-Benz SL is a case in point. This luxurious grand tourer – we’ll stop short of calling it a sports car – was a cut above the automotive norm when new, and remains so today. Indeed, it’s one of the best [...]
Following in the tyre tracks of legendary rock stars through Morocco in a Bentley Bentayga November 1, 2017 As I steer off the ferry from Spain and burble through the customs gate, I catch sight of the Grand Mosque’s rectangular minaret that greeted Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg in 1967. I’m in Tangier, exactly 50 years later, on a mission to Marrakech and, like Keith and Anita, my girlfriend and I have arrived [...]
Mercedes GLK 250 review: We travel to Bahrain, the Monaco of the Middle East, to test drive Mercedes’ junior SUV May 3, 2017 It’s appropriate that Bahrain should celebrate high-octane sports; it was here that oil was first discovered in the Gulf, after all. Fireworks explode in a riot of colours overhead as Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari takes the Bahrain Grand Prix’s chequered flag, followed by Lewis Hamilton six seconds later as the sky above the grandstands erupts. The [...]
Porsche 964 Carrera RS review: Tim Pitt lets Porsche’s road racer off its leash, but is this the ultimate 911? March 20, 2017 The Porsche 911 is the greatest sports car ever made. There, I’ve said it. This Darwinian survivor has evolved over five decades, transcending humble VW Beetle origins and shrugging off attempts to replace it. From air-cooled originals to today’s turbocharged Carrera, every 911 is iconic, idiosyncratic and unfailingly brilliant to drive. But which is the [...]
UK motor industry shifts down a gear as inflationary sentiments creep in March 14, 2017 Britons are expected to put the brakes on their spending for new cars in 2017 as inflation bites, new data by consumer research company GfK finds. In research out today, it forecasts that car sales will slide by 5 per cent this year, following last year’s record. Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK, [...]
Bentley Mulsanne Speed review: This rolling fortress is like a luxury flat on wheels March 13, 2017 There’s an old saying that Bentleys were made to be driven and Rolls-Royces were made to be driven in. That hasn’t really been the case since Bentley was taken over by Volkswagen Group and Rolls-Royce by BMW – you can now buy wafty Bentleys and sporting Rolls-Royces – but even so, you’d expect a Bentley [...]
Land Rover Discovery review: The king of SUVs is back and it’s better than ever March 6, 2017 Land Rover started the current SUV craze. Back in 1989, it launched a model that was more road-oriented than the Sherpa-like Defender, and more affordable than the old-money Range Rover. The Discovery was born and the world was stopped in its muddy tracks. Typically, Land Rover then rested on its laurels. Since that original, there’s [...]