When is a Lotus Esprit not a Lotus Esprit? How about when it’s a Group C prototype underneath? It sounds like a match made in heaven, taking the aesthetics of the most recognisable two-seater sportscars of the ’80s and matching it to the underpinnings of a thoroughbred racing car. What’s not so surprising is that [...]
For my last post on the Premium Day, I will be concentrating on some more tuner cars I came across on the paddock as well as checking out some of the entrants that participated in the Option Magazine organized Super Lap time attack session. I’m going to kick things off with this Yashio Factory candy green [...]
91 cars. That’s how many 86s/BRZs/F-RSs were on display at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon. Never in the history of this show has one car been quite so popular. However what really makes the hachiroku, and its other guises, stand out is that it seems to have been adopted by pretty much every single car [...]
Now we go back in time… This category features cars from the mid-’70s to the late-’80s: street, race or track cars; originals, replicas and rebuilds based on period shells. Looking at the most popular car features on Speedhunters for 2012 it looks like the classics tick the box for a lot of you: they generally [...]
The Classic Motor Show at the Birmingham NEC is a Mecca for retro car fans: hall upon hall of clubs, cars for sale, restoration workshops, auto-jumble and auctions. For me it turned into an unexpected journey of nostalgic bliss, with cars at every turn that triggered memories from across my life: childhood pin-ups, cars that [...]
Across much of the world, the long winter is creeping closer and closer. Days are getting are shorter and colder, and many have retreated to their garages and workshops to prepare vehicles for next season. Nowhere is this truer than in Northern Europe. One exciting build that we’ve recently caught wind of is from KRB Trading in Norway. Kai Bakken and KRB are most known for their Group B style Audi Quattro that terrorizes Gatebil events, but this build is shaping up to be equally amazing.
I felt like banging my head against a wall when I first saw Dean Meeson’s Lotus Esprit, that was at the Retro-Rides Gathering back in August. I’d known of it’s recent completion having seen the car on a forum thread, but as we all know the real world is so much better. So why was [...]
There are some events that you can attend where you just know it’s going to be a great day even before you even arrive. The UK’s Retro Rides Gathering, held again this year at the beautiful Prescott Speed Hill Climb, was one of those days. I find it’s all to do with location and the [...]
Lotus took centre stage at this year’s Goodwood Festival Of Speed, literally in the shape of the magnificent Gerry Judah sculpture on the front lawn before Goodwood House, and displayed a wide selection of cars around the paddock and exhibition area from across the marque’s long and illustrious history. Known during their heyday as the [...]
The organisers of the Donington Historic Festival have made the car clubs an intrinsic part of the event, and their presence is seen as a vital element of the weekend’s atmosphere. Hundreds of cars represented over 35 clubs. The range of clubs which attended was impressive: marques from all ends of the spectrum lined the [...]
Alongside the main National Motor Museum and Top Gear areas at Beaulieu in England is the James Bond exhibition: when I visited the museum earlier this year there was a small but quality range of cars on show from various Bond films, serving as a taster for 2012 when there will be even more 007-themed [...]
Honda always knew that the CR-Z would be well received among enthusiasts. With the current trend to go green, the little hybrid sports car offers something that no eco car out there has so far, like its sporty dynamics and the option of a 6-speed manual gearbox. Being reasonably lightweight the CR-Z has a lot [...]
The reason you didn’t see any shots of the Esprit NSX on the Part 3 of the HKS Premium Day coverage is that I wanted to dedicate a spotlight to this very special car. As you may recall its time at the Lap Battle event in Tsukuba back in December ended early due to mechanical [...]
Every year in the Japanese Time Attack scene, there’s only one event to remember and that’s the REVspeed Time Attack event at Tsukuba. All the major tuners in Japan are there to present their new cars and products. One of those tuners is Esprit and they always enter their blue and white NSX. Last year [...]
