Road test date 2.3.11 Test number 5000 Peak power 1183bhp at 6400rpm Kerb weight 1995kg Tyres Michelin Pilot Sport PAX 0-60mph 2.6sec 0-100mph 5.0sec Quarter mile 10.1sec at 147.9mph

15th – Ariel Atom V8

Lap time: 1min 8.4sec

Road test date 10.8.11 Test number 5024 Peak power 475bhp at 10,500rpm Kerb weight 650kg Tyres Toyo Proxes R888 0-60mph 3.0sec 0-100mph 5.7sec Quarter mile 11.2sec at 134.2mph

Tied 12th – Ferrari 458 Speciale

Lap time: 1min 8.3sec

Road test date 20.8.14 Test number 5179 Peak power 597bhp at 9000rpm Kerb weight 1445kg Tyres Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 0-60mph 3.6sec 0-100mph 6.8sec Quarter mile 11.1sec at 130.1mph

Tied 12th – McLaren 650S Spider

Lap time: 1min 8.3sec

Road test date 30.7.14 Test number 5176 Peak power 641bhp at 7250rpm Kerb weight 1490kg Tyres Pirelli P Zero Corsa 0-60mph 3.2sec 0-100mph 6.3sec Quarter mile 11.0sec at 135.2mph

McLarens like it best if you trail their brakes right to the apex, because this quells the understeer that they all to an extent suffer from. But the circuit layout we chose deliberately doesn’t always allow the same cornering style – particularly the really long, really fast left-hander, which shows up high-speed stability issues.

Even so, the 650S Spider was exceptionally fast, even on slightly worn tyres. (One last set went unused because we don’t get the circuit all day and the car turned up late.) Still, with the McLaren techs thinking there was a little more left in the bag, our track time was up, but this drop-top would match the more track-focused Ferrari 458 Speciale coupé.

Tied 12th – Mercedes-AMG GT R

Lap time: 1min 8.3sec

Road test date 10.5.17 Test number 5319 Peak power 577bhp at 6250rpm Kerb weight 1665kg Tyres Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 0-60mph 3.6sec 0-100mph 7.3sec Quarter mile 11.5sec at 128.6mph

Jason sources his motors from TCV (tc-v.com), which probably needs an ‘NSFW’ warning, given the time you’re about to waste on there. TCV connects UK buyers with Japanese dealers; it lets you refine your search to the nth degree and its adverts contain dozens of detail pictures and comprehensive spec lists. You’ll see the FOB price (for ‘freight on board’) but, crucially, you pick your shipping option up front; this immediately bumps the price up by £1500 or so (all of TCV’s prices are in US dollars).

You can negotiate with the seller; they make a margin on shipping costs as well as the vehicle price, so there’s wiggle room. “The haggling is easy,” says Jason. “The sellers get back to you very quickly.”

Once you’ve sealed the deal, you need to transfer the cash. Banks charge through the nose, but there are online resources you can turn to. Once payment is confirmed (TCV holds the money until the car is delivered), you get a shipping confirmation, plus a bill of lading and an export form – both key bits of paperwork. Then you put your feet up and track your ship’s progress across the globe (try marinetraffic.com).

A few weeks before the ship docks, you’ll need to contact an import agent (“I just Googled ‘import agent Grimsby’,” says Jason) to sort out the import tax and VAT, for which they’ll need the bill of lading and the export form. “You can do it yourself, but these guys do it all the time,” says Jason. You also need an import pack from the DVLA to register the vehicle (£55 plus VED) and to arrange a courier to collect the car from the port and bring it to you (around £200).

Once it arrives, book an MOT test (about £45) and ask the garage to fit a rear foglight (£50) at the same time. “It’s the only thing the JDM cars don’t have,” says Jason.

Finally, bear in mind that JDM cars have no underbody rust protection, so you’ll want to get it undersealed. “The two cars I’ve imported have been mint on arrival, so the underseal has been an easy job,” says Jason. “My local garage did it for £150.”

That might sound like quite a bit of work, but the process is drawn out over a couple of months. “The thing that makes it work for us in the UK is that there seems to be a lot of fairly old but very low-mileage vehicles that are well looked after and immaculate,” says Jason.

Despite their differing backgrounds, Thiim and Sørensen have truly gelled, with a friendship that’s unusual even among sports car team-mates. “It’s like a soccer team,” says Thiim. “You don’t always need superstars; sometimes you just keep the group together and perform better as a team, and the chemistry between Marco and me means we just know what we have to do. We really gain and take a lot from each other.”

Sørensen adds: “We’re both super-competitive, but if he’s quicker in one race, I’m not making excuses. We’re happy if the other is quicker, because it’s good for our car. We’re so competitive in everything we do, but we know how to push each other and not get on each other’s nerves.”

Such trust helps when sharing a car in an endurance event, says Sørensen: “When you go to sleep, you’re not thinking ‘will the car end up in the wall?’. A lot of driver pairings, even if they’ll never admit it, get too competitive within their own car and forget that it’s the result of the car that counts.”

This season, the Dane Train’s results have been very good, with three wins in the six events held so far in the 2019/20 FIA WEC – a season that began in July last year. It was due to conclude at Le Mans in June but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, has been extended until Bahrain in November. With two races left and this weekend’s Le Mans counting for double points, Thiim and Sørensen have a 19-point lead over Porsche duo Michael Christensen – another Dane – and Kévin Estre.

It’s a big improvement over the 2018/19 campaign, when the pair managed just a single race win in the then new Vantage AMR, hampered by a rule requiring teams to run a single tyre compound for the full season. “With the new car and switching from Michelin to Dunlop, we didn’t get enough testing and ended up struggling with tyre degradation,” says Sørensen. The best example was Le Mans, when the pair qualified on class pole but knew their tyres wouldn’t last a stint.

While the rules meant that Aston was locked into its package in races, it could test during the season and so focused on ensuring it would have a competitive package for 2019/20. “Now it’s a good combination and we can push really hard,” says Sørensen, although he notes that speed isn’t everything. “A lot of our wins aren’t because we had the absolute quickest car but because we’re executing all the time and not making little mistakes.”

The new Toyota GR Super Sport hypercar has made its first public outing in development form ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A prototype version of the machine, which is based on the double Le Mans-winning TS050 Hybrid prototype, completed a lap of the French circuit ahead of the 2020 race. Driven by former F1 racer Alex Wurz, the machine appeared in the familiar camouflage livery of Toyota’s GR sports division and was used to ‘return’ the Le Mans trophy to race organisers.

The GR Super Sport road car was first shown in concept form in 2018, and will be used as the basis for a racing version that will run in the new Le Mans Hypercar class (LMH) in the race next year. Toyota has described the machine as “a hypercar with race car pedigree and performance.”

The LMH rules will allow for both race-honed versions of road-going hypercars and bespoke prototypes. Designed to offer considerable technical freedom, the LMH hybrid systems will allow for 268bhp electric motors on the front axles of cars, offering four-wheel-drive. The LMH rules were finalised earlier this year, and will allow for cars with a total power output of 670bhp with a minimum weight of 1100kg.

Toyota last detailed the GT Super Sport concept last year, before the LMH rules had been finalised, and said the car was being developed with a 986bhp twin-turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrain to match the initially planned maximum power output of LMH cars. It is not known whether Toyota will maintain this figure for the eventual road-going GR Super Sport, or match it to the 670bhp maximum for the race car.

Former Toyota racer Wurz said: “I could already feel that the GR Super Sport has the potential for incredible performance.

Toyota will face opposition in the new LMH class from Peugeot, which confirmed its entry earlier this week. Racing teams ByKolles and Gliockenhaus are also building machines for the new class.

READ MORE

Toyota tests GR Super Sport ahead of Le Mans debut (from 2019)

Peugeot details 2022 Le Mans entry details

Opinion: Endurance racing’s rules confusion is a threat to the future

First drive: Toyota GR Yaris prototype

Many enthusiasts, particularly this one, some time ago realised the pointlessness of 700bhp supercars in the modern world and instead either backtracked to classics (or at least modern classics) or fell in love with new cars that have usable performance, such as the Alpine A110.

I suspect that we will lose a few players over the next few years. I can’t see McLaren making it through and I have severe doubts about Aston Martin. Even if the DBX is a sales success, I can’t imagine that there’s enough profit in the SUV to fund the development of electrified supercars.

It’s also quite possible that there will be the double-whammy of the Greta Thunberg effect and the economic fallout from this pandemic. How will extravagant flaunting of wealth go down among populations struggling to house and feed themselves? Will thrashing a Lambo past Harrods in first gear trigger not admiration but hatred? Will the supercar die? I don’t think so.

The supercar should become more usable – Steve Cropley

If defining the supercar of the future, my plan would be to combine the views of Ferrari doyen Luca di Montezemolo and McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray. When di Montezemolo took the reins of Ferrari in the early 1990s, he made it clear that the people who bought such cars needed to be able to get in and out of them easily, to see out of them and to use them day to day. He changed Ferraris so that they afforded better access, driving positions and visibility. When the rest of the Ferrari recipe was added, they made wonderful cars.

Murray adds the vital threads of compactness, a perfect driving position and extreme lightness. He also believes his owners will know and care enough about cars’ internals to understand the smallest nuances of his cars’ design and engineering. Not every supercar owner is like this, but a high proportion of them are.

The big debate – which isn’t really a debate at all – is about the powertrain. We know that we’re ultimately going electric. Personally, I want more supercars in the BMW i8 mould, with a small but exotic engine assisting the latest and best in electric motors. We punters must learn to understand the internal workings better and better so that we can know, in effect, which electric motor is the notional V16 and which is the pushrod four-pot. The same goes for batteries. Given that any supercar’s reputation has always depended on how well it’s understood, we have some learning to do.

No more engines means no more supercars – Matt Prior

The next decade of the supercar will be mixed. There will be old-school V12s making the most of the opportunity and there will be an influx of electric cars offering 0-60mph in 2.0sec, until we’re bored by them.

What will be more interesting is the 10 or 20 years after that: will the ultimate driver’s car redefine itself as something that offers maximum involvement? Will there be limited-production exemptions, alternative or synthetic fuels or other ways to circumvent the outlawing of engines? Because if we know anything about the definition of supercar, it’s that an engine is the nub of it. Either we will need new engines or we will need a new definition of ‘supercar’.

Peugeot is using this weekend’s Le Mans 24hr race to release the first images and details of its entrant to the new 2022 hypercar class of the race. 

The French maker is developing the new hybrid racer in collaboration with Total – its main sponsor for 25 years of motorsport activities, including three Le Mans race wins. 

As part of the new Balance of Performance regulation due to come into force in the revamped 2022 race, Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) car uses a hybrid four-wheel drive system for a total output of 670bhp. The front-mounted motor puts 268bhp through the front axle, with the rest coming from a motor of an as yet undisclosed output. 

The new regulations will mean the new car is heavier than the current top-tier of WEC racers, the LMP1 class – although by how much is not yet known. It will be longer (up to five metres) and wider (up to two metres) too. 

Oliver Jansonnie, technical director of Peugeot Sport WEC, said the new Balance of Performance rule “certainly sets limits, but also allows room for any technical possibilities in our development, specifically on the general shape, as long as a certain overall aerodynamic efficiency is not exceeded”. 

Jansonnie continued: “We have confirmed part of the aerodynamic concept. The engine framework has been decided and we have chosen the functionality of the hybrid system and its fundamental design. We still have several steps before our debut in endurance in 2022 – in studies, the production of prototypes and finally, affirmation on the bench and on the track.”

The new hypercar rules have been shaped with cost-cutting in mind, with a season’s budget expected to be limited to around €20 million (£17m). Manufacturers have the option of developing a bespoke racer or modifying a road-going hypercar for race use. 

The category regulations from the FIA state that each competitor in the hypercar class must produce “at least 25 engines identical to the ones destined for a series production car homologated for road use equipped with this engine”.  Therefore, 25 identical series production cars for road use with the engine must be produced by the end of 2022.

The Volkswagen Group is considering selling Bugatti to EV specialist Rimac as part of a consolidation of volume car operations – and Porsche looks set to play an integral role in the deal.

The proposed sale, although not officially confirmed, was the main topic at a recent Volkswagen Group supervisory board member meeting, according to Germany’s Manager Magazin. It said chairman Herbert Diess is hopeful of concluding a signing of contracts by end of 2020.

To enable Rimac to finance the purchase of Bugatti, Volkswagen Group-owned Porsche is expected to boost its current 15.5% shareholding in the Croatian company to as much as 49%.

The increased Porsche shareholding in Rimac is planned to enable the Volkswagen Group to remain active in the future decision processes at Bugatti, according to one insider, who told Autocar that talks between the German giant and Rimac are ongoing, with final decisions on the complex three-way purchase yet to be made.

Autocar’s request for comment was denied by Bugatti, Porsche and Rimac.

Under the condition of the sale said to be proposed by Volkswagen, Bugatti would switch its focus from combustion-engined to electric supercars, using driveline and battery knowhow developed by Rimac for its 1888bhp C_Two hypercar.

The purchase by Rimac of Bugatti and the increased shareholding of Porsche would be dependent on the agreement of a number of current stakeholders, including Chinese battery specialist Camel Group and Hong Kong-based China Dynamics, further sources suggest.

Founded in 1909, Bugatti sold 82 cars in 2019, mainly examples of the Chiron, which features a quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 petrol engine developing 1479bhp.

Bugatti’s most recent model, the 1578bhp Centodieci, is based on the Chiron. It’s planned to be built in a limited run of just 10, each priced at €8 million (£7.3m).

Rimac, headquartered in Sveta Nedelja, near the Croatian capital Zagreb, was established in 2009 by Mate Rimac.

Autocar understands that Bugatti was initially offered to Gregor Piëch, a son of former Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch. However, this sale never came to fruition.

Under Diess, Volkswagen is currently undergoing a major reorganisation, with a focus on electric mobility and a renewed focus on volume production.

The futures of its upper luxury car brands, including Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini, as well as motorcycle manufacturer Ducati and design studio Italdesign, are all said to be under scrutiny as the company seeks to cut costs in order to fund the electrification plans of its volume brands – Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen – and an extension of Porsche’s EV operations in co-operation with Rimac. 

The ITV network will broadcast the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) until the end of 2026, following a new five-year deal with series organiser TOCA. 

The new broadcast agreement starts at the beginning of the 2022 season and will take the partnership between ITV and TOCA into its 25th year. 

The BTCC will be shown exclusively on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, with each race receiving at least seven hours of coverage. In total, the new agreement will account for a minimum of 340 hours of airtime per season, including highlights and post-race streaming. 

Highlights programmes will continue to be shown on ITV and ITV4, and live qualifying coverage will be hosted at itv.com/btcc, or on the ITV Hub on-demand service. 

ITV will also show race highlights and live clips on its social media feeds. 

TOCA said that “Whilst other forms of major motorsport are being lost behind a paywall”, it aims to “continually expand its mainstream free-to-air television coverage”. 

Alan Gow, BTCC chief executive, said: “I’m immensely proud of the great and close partnership that we have with ITV. Their commitment and enthusiasm to bring the BTCC to as wide an audience as possible is absolutely unrivalled.

“It was vital to me that the BTCC maintained its vast live free-to-air coverage. Simply, we want the maximum amount of people to be able to watch our great racing. It’s the bedrock of our enormous popularity. So hiding our championship away behind a paywall would only have the exact opposite effect. 

“With the new hybrid regulations and our fantastic broadcasting coverage now locked into place right through to the end of 2026, it provides the solid foundation on which all our teams and partners can base, and build, their involvement.

“I’m not sure how many major motorsport championships in the world have an unbroken (and in fact increasing) free-to-air broadcasting relationship spanning nearly a quarter of a century with the same broadcaster, but by my reckoning, it’s probably only one… the iconic British Touring Car Championship.”

Read more

BTCC reveals 2021 calendar with return to 30 races​

How to build a BTCC race engine​

Official BTCC video game series to be revived in 2022​

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Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Version R, £6995: Don’t ring up your optician to get an eye test: that’s how this 60k-mile Ralliart Version R left the factory. The R came with a 159bhp 1.5 engine, stiffer suspension, sports exhaust and Recaro seats. The chassis was also seam-welded for extra stiffness.

Auction watch

Maybach 57: In the early 2000s, two ultra-luxury marques returned to the market with brand-new models, but only one of them survives today. However, it is a shame that the Maybach is overlooked by many in favour of the Rolls-Royce because, at £37,000 (before fees), this 57 is basically half the price of an equivalent Phantom.

It’s not as if the 57 is lacking in luxury features since – dated infotainment aside – it could easily pass as a new barge. It certainly has the performance of one, with a 543bhp 5.5-litre V12 – which, incidentally, is nearly 100bhp more than the Rolls-Royce can muster.

Future classic

Honda CR-Z, £4500: Hybrid cars aren’t seen as the driver’s choice – the obvious exceptions being the LaFerrari, Porsche 918, McLaren P1 and, of course, the CR-Z. No, hear us out, because the performance of this Honda is boosted by electricity just like those exotics, except the CR-Z is rare in having a more engaging manual gearbox. It’ll be dependable because there are many around with 100k miles or more, and nobody would drive a car that much unless they enjoyed doing so.