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Exotic car collection belonging to rockstar heads to auction

Rockstars are well known for two things, over-the-top parties and having an extensive collection of valuable cars. The latter is true today as a number of exotics, belonging to the late J. Geils of the band and his namesake.

The collection of cars and motorcycles will be put up for auction at the upcoming Mecum’s Daytime Auction in Monterey, which we have covered in a previous article. These vehicles will go onto the auction block on 19th August without reserve, mind you, but should still fetch a respectable amount of money.

A number of noteworthy vehicles in J. Geils’ collection include a blue and grey 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE 2, 1967 Lancia Flaminia 2.8 3C and a 1967 Fiat Dino Spyder. As for his motorcycle collection, the two-wheelers that stand out the most are the 1983 Benelli 900 SEI, a 1976 MV Agusta 125 SS and a 1970 Ducati 350 Desmo.

Even if you aren’t a fan of this rocker, there’s no denying that he had an exquisite taste when it came to cherry-picking his vehicles. Besides this, most of them were probably well looked after by the late rockstar or his garage’s custodian and technicians.

This is especially true with his 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE. It still has its original 3.0-litre V12 engine and 5-speed gearbox. Though this isn’t surprising considering its value, but vehicles from that era would usually have had some repair work or replacement parts swapped onto them at some point in time.

Mecum’s Daytime Auction will be taking place from August 16th to the 19th and will see 600 vehicles rolling on and off the showroom floor within that timeframe. There are several big name cars like the Ferari LaFerrari, Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita and 1958 Lister-Jaguar that will be part of the auction event.

So, stay tuned and we will let you know the outcome of this auction and whether any records were broken. High profile events such as these are bound to attract those from the upper echelon of society with deep pockets.

Surge in demand for BMW electrified vehicles

The BMW Group, which is comprised of the BMW, BMW Motorrad, MINI and Rolls Royce brands, has announced its recent sales figures. And based on these numbers, we can say that the Bavarian automaker has had a decent run so far.

Compared to the same period last year, the company has managed to sell 1,401,551 vehicles in the first seven months of 2017. This is a 4.3% increase compared to the previous year and in July’17 alone, sales increased by 0.4%.

Speaking of the achievement, Dr Ian Robertson, Management Board Member for Sales and Brand BMW, said, “Following a record first half-year, our sales in July remain at a very high level, with profitability our primary focus.”

He added, “Despite continuing headwinds in the USA, as well as the model changeover of the BMW X3 and the BMW 5 Series in China, we were still able to achieve last year’s high sales levels, due to our policy of balanced global sales growth.”

July also happens to be a great month for the sales of BMW’s electrified vehicles. And since the beginning of the year the company was able to deliver more than 50,000 BMW i, BMW iPerformance and electrified MINI vehicles. This is a 74.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

Currently, there are total of nine electrified vehicles that are made by BMW. This product portfolio and the fact that it has sold a record number of such vehicle this year has made the automaker the 3rd biggest BEV/PHEV manufacturer in the world.

Supporting this notion is the fact that the i3 has been the company’s best selling compact battery-electric vehicle in the premium segment since 2014. These figures are expected to improve even further as car buyers around the world begin to embrace electrified vehicles as the future of personal mobility.

That said, we shall have to wait and see if these sales figures are affected in anyway by the introduction of Tesla’s affordable family sedan – the Model 3. Touted as the affordable Model S, Tesla hopes to reach a much larger customer base with this relatively inexpensive yet premium EV.

Ford Mustang with carbon-fibre body showcased on Jay Leno’s Garage

Carbon-fibre plays a major part when it comes to weight savings. Significantly lighter than steel but just as tough, it’s a material that has been used wherever and whenever reduction in weight is an important priority.

Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymer or CFRP, has been used extensively in the aerospace industry as well as the world of motor racing. Many exotic supercar makers tend to use CFRP extensively in the construction of their vehicles’ chassis and bodywork.

This brings us to a video that we stumbled upon recently. Jay Leno, the former Tonight Show host, has a popular Youtube channel that showcases special and bizarre vehicles. And this time, a video was published about a fully carbon-fibred Ford Mustang GT350R made by Speedkore.

Though the powertrain and internals were left relatively stock, Speedkore built the entire body and its panels from CFRP using their own propriety construction methods. This offers the car a significant weight savings, which will be especially noticeable when there’s a sudden shift in vehicle’s direction.

Check out the video and let us know what you think of this amazing creation as well as whether future muscle cars should have more carbon-fibre bits added to them.

Lotus’ financial health showing signs of improvement

For the first time in a while, Lotus is showing signs of financial stability. This comes after a statement from Lotus Group International Limited (LGIL), saying that it had finished financial year (FY) 2016/17 on plan with a EBITDA profit of £2.0m. This is a marked improvement over the £16.3m EBITDA loss for the same period for the financial year (FY) 2015/2016.

Apart from that, the company has also seen an improvement in Profit Before Tax. This year, it has made a profit of £11.2m, which is a commendable feat considering its dismal £41.2m loss in FY15/16. That said, the bulk of the profit for the FY16/17 came in the second half of the year with a figure of £10m.

Lotus attributes this ‘key’ turnaround to a more streamlined portfolio of sports cars, which includes the Evora, Exige and Elise model range as well as the availability of the new Lotus 3-Eleven. Unlike most automakers, Lotus has stuck to its roots by producing lightweight sports cars with driver enjoyment as the core necessity.

By focusing on its core strengths, the automaker believes that its cars are the finest they have ever been and should pave the way for future investments and developments of new models. And the demand for Lotus vehicles is evident by the company expanding its global markets to include the US. As a result there is now a total of 215 Lotus dealerships in the world compared to 138 that were recorded in 2014.

Speaking of the automaker’s financial feat, Jean-Marc Gales, CEO, Group Lotus plc said, “This is a proud moment for Lotus and to have achieved so much is testament to the hard work of all our staff. Our vastly improved profitability, together with an increase in revenue means that for the first time in many years Lotus is now a self-sufficient and sustainable business.”

Geely’s recent aquistion of Proton, which is Lotus’s parent company, has not changed the governmance of the small scale sports car manufacturer, yet. Though that might soon change as the Chinese giant automaker looks to increase efficiency and synergy between the brands in the near future.

Prototype 9 finally revealed to the masses

Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury arm, has finally unveiled its pet project, the retro sports car that was touted for being a modern interpretation of vintage racer. Called Prototype 9, the car is said to be a celebration of Nissan and Infiniti’s ingenuity, artistry and craftsmanship.

It’s basically a 1940s racer, reimagined through the eyes of Infinit’s current designers and engineers. It began as an ‘after-hours’ project where the automaker’s employees would devote a considerable amount of their leisure time into making this car a reality.

Sporting the same basic dimensions of the racing cars of 1940s, Prototype 9 has a rather squarish tubular design at the front that morphs into more of a rounded one towards the rear. Also a nice a touch, is the massive finned front grille design that is reminiscent of custom American hot rods.

But what’s unique about it is the metallic trim panel that stretches across the entire grille and meets the bodywork of the front axles. In terms of looks, Infiniti broke convention with the car’s paint scheme. Unlike most concepts, this one has a matte silver finish that is similar to what the Silver Arrows racers used to have back in the day.

In total, the car is 4,330mm long, 1,820mm wide and 910mm high with a ground clearance of 65mm. It’s a pretty big vehicle but its overall weight, including the powertrain, weighs about 890kg, which should make it an agile vehicle around corners.

The car has a leading-arm rigid axle with transverse leaf spring front suspension and a De Dion axle with transverse leaf spring for the rear. And despite it being an electric car, it does not have power steering.

Regarding Prototype 9, Alfonso Albaisa, Senior Vice President, Global Design, said, “Prototype 9 celebrates the tradition of ingenuity, craftsmanship and passion of our forebears at Nissan, on whose shoulders we stand today. It started as a discussion – what if INFINITI had created a race car in the 1940s?”

He then added, “If one were to imagine an open-wheeled INFINITI racer on the famous circuits of the era, such as Japan’s Tamagawa Speedway, what would that look like? The sketches were stunning and the idea so compelling that we had to produce a prototype. As other departments became aware of this, they volunteered their time to create a working vehicle.”

Under the rather suave handmade exterior sits a steel ladder frame that should be period correct for the 1940s but be more rigid thanks to modern construction methods and the use of tougher materials.

The car is powered by a single speed powertrain that delivers 148bhp and 320Nm of torque to the rear wheels. Juice is supplied to the motor via a Lithium-ion battery pack and as such, the car is capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in 5.5 seconds and reaching a top speed of 170km/h.

Infiniti will probably use this car as a design study or a show piece of the talents and capabilities of its design and engineering teams. We doubt that Prototype 9 will be of any use to Nissan’s road-going vehicles in any point in its lifetime.

Mayweather’s rare Koenigsegg is up for auction

One of only two in existence, a 2010 Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita, formerly owned by boxing legend Floyd Mayweather is up for sale. The car will join a line-up of special vehicles that are expected to hit the auction block of Mecum’s Daytime Auction in California.

This very rare Koenigsegg only has 3,133 km on its odometer, which means that since the car was purchased, it has spent most of its time being a garage queen.

It is part of the Ash Crest Collection and is predicted to be one of the most talked-about vehicles at the event. Its expected to sell for a price that is between $2.7 million to $3 million (RM 12 million to RM 13 million).

That said, there are number of other high value supercars that will grace the auction floor on the same day. They include two Ferrari LaFerraris and two Bugatti Veyrons (including 2015 Grand Sport Vitesse edition).

Other notable mentions include a 2016 Aston Martin Vulcan and 2007 Maserati MC12 Corsa. Each of these vehicles are expected to fetch between $2.3 million to $2.7 million (RM 9.9 million to RM 13 million).

Expect to see huge sums of money being spent on this selection of rare and exquisite supercars. Each of them were made in extremely limited numbers, which include the LaFerrari. It was only made available for purchase via invitation from Ferrari.

Supercar auctions command tremendous amounts of money and the one taking place this month at Mecum’s Daytime Auction in Monterey, won’t be any different. Till then, enjoy the picture gallery below.

Nissan to sell battery business to GSR Capitol

There’s going to be a bit of a shake up at Nissan’s EV division. According to a statement by the automaker, it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with GSR Capital (GSR), a private investment fund, for the sale of Nissan’s electric battery operations and production facilities to GSR.

This agreement includes Nissan’s battery subsidiary, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), as well as battery manufacturing operations in Tennessee and Sunderland. The one in Tennessee is owned by Nissan North America Inc., while the one in Sunderland belongs to Nissan Motor Manufacturing (U.K.) Ltd.

The sale includes assets such as part of Nissan’s Japanese battery development and production engineering operations located in Oppama, Atsugi and Zama. This is a major move for the automaker considering its position as a pioneer in mass production of EVs for global markets.

Speaking of the sale, Hiroto Saikawa, president and chief executive officer of Nissan, said, “This is a win-win for AESC and Nissan. It enables AESC to utilize GSR’s wide networks and proactive investment to expand its customer base and further increase its competitiveness.”

Saikawa later added, “In turn, this will further enhance Nissan’s EV competitiveness. AESC will remain a very important partner for Nissan as we deepen our focus on designing and producing market-leading electric vehicles.”

Nissan’s current workforce at all facilities that have been acquired by GSR, which include the production plans, will be maintained. Apart from that, both the headquarters and development centers of the business will remain in Japan too, with no relocation plans for the time being.

We aren’t too sure how the effect of the sale will eventually pan out, but we do hope it doesn’t disrupt Nissan’s current plans of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for electric vehicles both on the race track as well as off it.

Mika Häkkinen to drive legendary McLaren M23 around Laguna Seca

Former Formula One champion and arch rival of Micheal Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen has been tasked with belting a McLaren M23 at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, this August. The car belonged to F1 legend, Emerson Fittipaldi and helped him clinch the 1974 championship.

Häkkinen will complete a couple of 15-minute exhibition laps to entertain fans as well as showcase the capabilities of the vintage racer. Back in the 1970s, Formula was still a crude, unsafe and unfiltered sport that offered both the best as well as the worst of Motorsports racing.

Between 1973 to 1978, this McLaren-Ford M23 won 16 of the 80 grand prixs that it competed in. Three world championship titles were won with it, including the 1974 drivers’ and constructors’ title and 1976 drivers’ title.

Häkkinen will be sitting in for Jenson Button who was the original choice of McLaren. Since the latter wasn’t able to fulfill this task, the automaker turned to its most trusted ambassador and icon of Formula One.

Nicknamed ‘The Flying Finn’. Häkkinen drove 130 grand prixs for the McLaren team between 1993 and 2001, and winning 20 of them. This included two Drivers’ World Championship titles in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

The rivalry between the Finn and Schumacher was extremely fierce, which gave rise to exhilarating edge-of-your-seat action that is seriously lacking in the current F1 era. Their battles were so intense that they have become part of Formula 1 folklore.

“Though we were looking forward to having Jenson Button at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, we are delighted that a driver of Mika’s caliber is able to take his place,” said Gill Campbell, Senior Vice President of Event Operations at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

He later added, “Formula 1 is the pinnacle of racing advancement, and Mika will be able to showcase a car with great racing history during his spirited exhibition laps. Fans will surely enjoy the link between past and present during the exhibitions and throughout the event. Thank you to McLaren for making this happen.”

This year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion will be held at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The event will see more than 550 historic cars taking part in the race weekend. Like many shows of this nature, fans will get to see a range of vehicles ranging from the pre-war era cars to more modern ones.

TVR reveal more details of upcoming sports car

TVR has released a teaser picture before the official launch of its first ever production vehicle since going under. According to the automaker, its entire team have worked tirelessly to ensure that the new vehicle is engineered to offer class leading strength, reliability and functionality, but still maintain lightweight and high performance attributes.

Based on the available image, we can see that extensive time and attention have gone into designing the intricate details of the interior. The gear knob, seems to have been machined out of a block aluminium or alloy, the switchgear arrangement seems very aircraft-like but the gauges and thier arrangement on the centre console is reminiscent of 1960s race cars.

What this could be then, is a TVR that has the best elements from the past and present mashed into a slender body that should be on par with the rest of the performance heavy hitters. The premise of this notion is the fact that the automaker has been working closely with Gordon Murray Design to complete the new car.

In case you didn’t know, Gordon Murray was the guy behind the legendary McLaren F1 supercar. It was his brainchild and proved to be the most powerful car of its era. In fact, It held the record for being the fastest production car in the world until recently. Murray has now opened his own design house in the hopes of creating another game changer.

Speaking of the new TVR, Murray, said, “We developed the new TVR as a product that builds on all the magic and excitement of our hand-crafted British motor cars of yesteryear. We combined this with the most rigorous engineering and assembly process design to ensure outstanding consistency, build quality and reliability.”

The car will be revealed in September at the Goodwood Revival Earls Court Motor Show and will only be sold in limited numbers. This year also marks TVR’s 70th birthday and its entry into the high performance vehicle market.

Regarding this, Les Edgar, chairman of TVR, said, “On the 70th birthday of our marque, we are entering a new era with a precisely engineered car that delivers exhilarating performance on road and track, as well as everything discerning customers expect of a car intended for everyday use.”

TVR has’t divulged much regarding the car or what it will be called. They will probably continue to keep mum till the actual release date, as a way to build more hype. Based on what we have gathered though, the new car should be an interesting addition to the current line-up of sports cars and should serve as an alternative to what we are used to seeing from the German and Italians.

Infiniti has created a retro modern racer

Infiniti will be unveiling a new prototype vehicle at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. It is supposed to be a heritage inspired car that combines the stylistic elegance of vintage racers with modern technology and powerful powertrains.

According to the company, the introduction of the car not only celebrates Infinit’s passion for design, but also the great roots of the company’s pioneering spirit and innovation-mindset. It was developed after careful research into the automaker’s roots and combining that with a fusion of advanced EV technology.

Speaking of the car, Alfonso Albaisa, Senior Vice President, Global Design, said “It started as a simple thought: What if we found a car, down at the southern tip of Japan, buried deep in the bush, hidden from all eyes for 70 years? What if in this car we found the seed of passion planted during our first Japanese Grand Prix and the power and artistry of Infiniti today?”

Unlike Jaguar’s Project 7, which was based on the F-Type but customized with inspiration from the legendary D-Type, here the approach is very different. Based on the published pictures, we can surmise that the car will probably sport the looks and dimensions of a pre-war era of Formula One.

The long and narrow bodywork that becomes even narrower at the rear to form a canoe-like shape. The front and rear axles protrude from the body where they combine with the rather thin wheels. As a whole, it looks like a 21st century interpretation of what a pre-war racing car would have looked like had the designers and engineers of that era had the tools and hardware we take for granted today.

We are completely lost on the logic of introducing such a vehicle. It’s possible that Infiniti plans on using it as a design study or a marketing tool to showcase what its team of designers and engineers are capable of if given free reign.