Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i Motor Sport Magazine

While the Formula 1 circus sweated it out in the desert heat of Bahrain, more eclectic grids lined up in West Sussex for the 82nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting. The fact that the gathering took place during a period of balmy sunshine before the British weather closed in again only added to the feeling that the event was a bright spot of the year so far. The Members’ Meeting is open to all types of machines from the dawn of racing right up to today’s racers – something which differentiates it from its bigger brother the Revival which limits entries to cars made before 1966. As we report on page 108, this year’s gathering attracted some showstopping entries not least our cover star from last month, the Lotus 97T in which…

We’ve had four different winners across the first five races – including the sprint in China – but as I write this on the flight home from Bahrain, I wonder if one driver has delivered a decisive blow to mark himself as the new favourite. Oscar Piastri had his most dominant performance yet in Formula 1 with pole position, a win and fastest lap and delivered it with apparent ease. When looking back at the early races, if not for getting caught out on slick tyres in the rain at one corner in Melbourne and one tiny error in qualifying in Japan that cost him pole position, Piastri could have won all four grands prix. ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’, of course, but the fact is that he has taken two dominant…

1 USA (78 wins, 55 drivers) Between the first post-WWI running and the end of the 1980s, ‘foreigners’ only conquered the Indy 500 three times. While British companies such as Lotus, Cosworth, McLaren and March broke the home-grown stranglehold, the Brickyard remained largely parochial, especially for racing drivers. But from the 1990s, Indy became truly international. Half the winners from that decade were from overseas, even after the protectionist Indy Racing League era kicked in from 1996, and out of the 25 races run so far in the current millennium, only six have been won by Americans: Buddy Rice, above (remember him?), in 2004, Sam Hornish Jr in 2006, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014, Alexander Rossi in 2016 and for the past two years hat-trick hopeful Josef Newgarden. 2 GREAT BRITAIN…

During the past half century or so, British motorcycle racers haven’t enjoyed the same success as British Formula 1 drivers. Far from it. Between 1949 and 1977, Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Barry Sheene and others won 34 grand prix motorcycle world championships. In the five decades since then, Britons have won a single title across the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 categories (Danny Kent, Moto3, 2015). This year that number may double, with a little luck. Jake Dixon is one of the few British youngsters to turn away from the relative comfort of superbike racing and take his chances in the MotoGP paddock. His rookie grand prix campaign, the 2019 Moto2 championship, was grim. He went from winning races in British Superbike to struggling to score points. “Coming from…

Miami is one of the cities that Formula E should race in. The US is one of the holy grail markets for the series and our recent adventures over there have evidenced that there is an upward curve in engagement. We’ve raced on the West Coast (Long Beach), the Northwest (Portland) and the East Coast (New York), so it was entirely logical for us to go south to Florida again, a decade on from the first visit. It makes a lot of sense to be around this city because the catchment area is huge. It looks likely we will be back next year, and the only question is if we go to Homestead or downtown where Formula 1 races. It feels like the latter is the natural progression and that…

007 Harry Tincknell, 33 (GB) The two-time class winner will be making his 12th attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours, but only his third in the top class. A veteran of the Ganassi-run Ford GT campaigns, he has only raced for Aston once at Le Mans, when he won the GTE Pro class with Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in 2020. “To be in the middle of this Hypercar era is absolutely amazing. You’re in the paddock and you think, ‘I can’t believe this is really happening.’ Every brand you can think of, that you associate with speed and luxury, are all here. Not only in WEC but also across the pond in IMSA as well. To think where the top class was not that long ago to where…

Le MANS 2025 FERRARI Ferrari 499P Either factory entry will fancy snatching that Le Mans hat-trick for Ferrari, but the yellow AF Corse 499P has an equal chance of being in contention too. Don’t forget, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye led the race last year, although how Kubica took out Laurens Vanthoor’s BMW left a stain on the performance. Phil Hanson has switched from Jota, with whom he drove a Porsche last year, to replace Robert Shwartzman – and at 25, will relish the drive of his young life. An overall victory in the biggest race of them all, in a Ferrari, at what will be his ninth Le Mans start, would be quite a story. The Ferraris kicked off their 2025 World Endurance Championship campaign with a dominant 1-2-3 in…

Matt Bishop meets: Kevin Magnussen Where do you start when your task is to interview a Formula 1 driver who is also a friend? To be clear, having worked in F1 for a third of a century, I am chummy with dozens of F1 drivers past and present. But I am close friends with only a few. “So, Kev, I begin,” sitting in my study at home in London, seeing my old mate in front of me, on a Teams video link, driving through pretty roads in rural Denmark at the wheel of what appears not to be a supercar or anything like one, “what are you driving?” “A Merc Sprinter van,” he replies. “I’m towing my new kart to a test session. It’s a proper gearbox kart, a quick…

Racing drivers Rick Morris and Stuart Kestenbaum and team owner-cum-chief engineer Don Hardman are three of the most experienced guys you’ll ever find in a national racing paddock. They share a passion for Formula Ford 1600 that goes back decades, and they’re still as active as ever and loving their racing at a time of life when some of their contemporaries are reaching for the pipe and slippers. Don’t underestimate this trio or think that this is motor racing’s equivalent of Last of the Summer Wine. Morris and Kestenbaum continue to be serious and committed racers, and Hardman knows more about engineering a quick Formula Ford than most people ever will. Morris is the most experienced of the trio and can trace a career in Formula Ford back more than…

It was back in 2014 that Historic Racing Drivers Club founder Julius Thurgood conceived the HRDC Academy, a controlled race series for Austin A30 and A35 cars built to identical specifications and with sealed 1275cc engines. The formula proved a huge hit, especially at the Goodwood Revival where, in 2016, the entire St Mary’s Trophy Race field comprised the diminutive Austins which, despite their small size and low engine capacity, provided neck-and-neck, crowd-pleasing competition. But the idea of making Austin A35s go quickly wasn’t exactly new… Way back in 1957, just a year after the A35 arrived as the replacement for the less-powerful A30, race enthusiasts John Sprinzel, Len Adams and George Hulbert collaborated on a modified cylinder head that improved the car’s performance. The three began entering races under…

It’s been a flying start for classic, vintage and sports finance. While the first few months of 2025 have brought global uncertainty, the same can’t be said for our beginning to the year at Cambridge & Counties Bank. It’s been an exceptionally strong first quarter for our Classic, Vintage & Sports (CV&S) team, with lending activity reaching new heights. Compared to the same period last year, the number of deals completed is up 50%, and total lending has surged by 300%. This isn’t a reflection of the market overall, but it does speak to the strength of our expert team and how they work with customers to deliver tailored finance solutions. It’s been exciting to support customers in acquiring some stand-out cars. Recent highlights include a Porsche 911 S/T, a McLaren…

1989 RUF CTR YELLOWBIRD SOLD BY GOODING & COMPANY, £4.7M Digital technology, drones and YouTube may have taken filming to new heights but there are few examples of automotive footage to beat Faszination auf dem Nürburgring from 1989. The 20-minute promotional movie for Porsche tuning house Ruf showed Stefan Roser driving a twin-turbo CTR Yellowbird at 10/10ths around the circuit. It became a cultural icon, so it was inevitable that this car, one of 29 CTRs made, would fetch a fortune, especially since it was in ultimate Leichtbau specification. While it wasn’t the actual ’Ring Yellowbird, it was definitely yellow. 1963 JAGUAR MARK II SOLD BY HISTORICS AUCTIONEERS, £55,000 This beautifully presented Mark II was as much ‘go’ as ‘show’ having had a three-year £100,000 rebuild to create an evocation…

Porsche remains dominant in North America’s IMSA sports car series, following another win for Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr at Long Beach. But Ferrari has a stranglehold on the World Endurance Championship right now, as James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi made it two from two for the Prancing Horse with a glorious home win at the Imola 6 Hours. Calado, Pier Guidi and Giovinazzi followed victory for the sister 499P in Qatar with what might have been a comfortable run, were it not for the safety car interruptions that made them sweat to bring joy to the tifosi. It was all the sweeter in the wake of the strategy fumble that cost Ferrari a home win at this race last year. Calado made the most of pole…

MOTOGP – FRENCH GRAND PRIX Le Mans, France, May 9-11 A month before those Hypercar behemoths arrive at Le Mans, two-wheeled titans take over – on the Bugatti Circuit which has been home to French GP motorcycle racing since 2000. This is a tight track, so expect late braking and hard acceleration. Capacity is 100,000; tickets from £105. UK SLOT CAR FESTIVAL British Motor Museum, Gaydon, May 10-11 It’s a given that Motor Sport-ites will have an appreciation of slot cars, so this small-scale spectacular will leave many dizzy with anticipation. Free tracks to use, race competitions, a chance to meet the Scalextric design team – and you’re permitted to have a wander around the British Motor Museum. 10am-4pm; entry from £17. WRC – PORTUGAL RALLY Matosinhos/Porto, Portugal, May 15-18…

Online convenience is all well and good, but it can’t replicate that feeling of unearthing a hidden gem in person. Order something online and you know what you’ll get and when you’ll get it. But part of the rush of collecting is the thrill of finding the unexpected, sifting through the usual to discover something special. But where can you maximise your chances of this? Goodwood’s events are spectacular, with hundreds of stalls to choose from and big-name sellers present. However, the stalls come at a hefty cost to sellers, so prices will reflect that and you may be paying top-dollar. Events like the Revival have also become more geared towards lifestyle, so you’ll have to pass through rows of handbags and cushions before getting to the odd motor sport-related…

WHAT’S MY CAR? June 1956 Both Aston Martin and Humber have sent out PR pics of Fangio in the UK using their models. We ask, “But which did he choose?” Over at the Monaco GP we note drivers’ “motley” transport: “Behra a Renault Dauphine, Collins a Zephyr, and Schell an obscene-looking US car.” PHANTOM FLING June 1961 The world’s tiniest violin plays for Rolls-Royce in our news story of a tax plan for executive cars: “We’ve no love for them; they steadfastly refuse to co-operate with Motor Sport.” We then rubbish a Leather Institute press release about car seats: “Cloth holds drivers more firmly in place.” AUNTIE HEROES June 1985  Motor Sport enthuses that BBC duo Murray Walker and James Hunt are “an irresistible combination”. Over in Formula Ford 1600,…

The single-biggest headache faced by the UK car industry in relation to Donald Trump’s tariffs is that no one knows almost from one day to the next what he’s going to decide to do – or not do, making future planning almost impossible. As I write these words he has just announced a 90-day moratorium on the imposition of tariffs on all countries save China, except for now at least it doesn’t include the 25% tariff applied to all cars imported into the US; when I wake up tomorrow he could have decided that it does. Who knows? But let us say for now that the 25% is here to stay. Just how big a problem will that be? And the answer is that it will be a far bigger…

email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.com Great article by Quentin Spurring on the ’75 Spanish GP at Barcelona [“I was walking into the worst day of my motor racing life”, May]. I remember it vividly because I was there as well, and the atmosphere was very tense, especially after only one practice session, which admittedly was spectacular. I must have been standing almost exactly in the same spot as him after the jump, and before sharp braking for the hairpin left. We spectators were ‘protected’ by a chicken wire fence, with Armco directly in front. When Regazzoni and Lauda crashed I swear I could see the whites of Clay’s eyes as he hurtled towards us skittering along the Armco. Luckily they didn’t flip over it, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this today. As you…

He could have what so many want: a full-fat factory drive in the top tier of endurance sports car racing. Instead, Callum Ilott has thrown the dice on a far riskier choice. The 26-year-old from Cambridge has steered away from a prime Hypercar drive with Jota’s works Cadillac team in the World Endurance Championship to head back to IndyCar with a European operation, Prema Racing, which is diving into one of the most competitive and difficult racing series for the first time. It begs the obvious question for Ilott: why? “I had unfinished business with IndyCar,” replies Ilott, who has accumulated 40-odd starts in the US single-seater series since 2021 and should make his fourth appearance at the Indianapolis 500 this May. “I wanted to progress and show more of…

● If you’re ‘wild at heart’, this 1967 LYNX-JAGUAR XKSS, inset right, once owned by Hollywood actor NICOLAS CAGE, could be for you. It’s visually identical to STEVE McQUEEN’s ‘Green Rat’ XKSS and has a period-correct 3.8-litre engine. It later passed into the collection of slightly-too-lively TV presenter CHRIS EVANS. It’s on sale for £349,995 at DYLAN MILES in Tunbridge Wells. ● Are we witnessing an EV backlash? According to a survey by insurer AXA UK 63% of UK drivers have no plans to go electric, with concerns over battery life and range acting as prime deterrents. UK uptake is slow-moving; just 10% of Brits own an EV outright. “Battery health certificates could play a significant role in stimulating the UK’s used EV market,” says the report. ● Although nobody…

In last month’s pages we briefly mentioned the forthcoming appearance of this unique Aston Martin, flagging-up the fact that it’s likely to be one of the star lots at the second RM Sotheby’s Cliveden House sale. Designed in-house by Frank Feeley, it was to form the basis for the successor to the DB Mk III – but after Aston Martin asked Touring Super leggera to “stiffen” the body, the Italian coach builder suggested starting again from scratch and created the far prettier DB4. As a result of this, Aston Martin had no further use for chassis DP114/2 so it was handed over to marque owner David Brown’s second wife (and former secretary) Marjorie Deans, who kept it as her regular car for five years. Uncharitably known as the ‘Walls Ice…

● The 2025 British GT championship kicked off at Donington Park, as Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss converted pole position into their first GT3 victories in 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG. But Sandy Mitchell chased them hard in a Barwell Lamborghini, coming up just 1.1sec short at the flag. ● Formula E returned to Miami for the first time since its first season for a round on Homestead’s ‘roval’. Nissan’s Norman Nato took pole and was first across the finish line, only to be docked 10sec for failing to take his full Attack Mode allocation. So Porsche’s reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein picked up his first win of the season. ● Ireland has its first Formula 2 winner since Derek Daly! Alex Dunne, inset – the 2022 British Formula 4 champion –…

Very few motor sport events enjoy the stature and longevity of the Long Beach Grand Prix, which through 50 years has seen transformations through Formula 5000, Formula 1 and four distinct eras of IndyCar. The 2025 edition brought back former champions Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr to celebrate that history, and now under the ownership of Penske Entertainment the popular event appears to be bigger and better than ever. English expat Chris Pook envisioned a street race to promote Long Beach when it was a somewhat grimy port city. The concept gained credibility when legendary racer Dan Gurney, whose All American Racers firm built Eagle Formula 1 and Indycars in nearby Santa Ana, lent his support. The early years were run on a shoestring, but Andretti’s victory over Niki…

It’s an unfortunate fact that rather more Formula 1 drivers are better remembered for misfortunes than achievement. For me 30 years ago the Japanese hopeful Taki Inoue fitted this bill. During Saturday morning practice at Monaco in his Footwork-Hart FA16 he spun at Mirabeau and stalled. The car was wheeled aside then retrieved behind a tow truck during the break. Inoue had clambered back into the car’s cockpit to steer it home and ride the brakes to keep the towline taut. The little man hadn’t re-fastened his seatbelts. As the truck was grumbling through the tunnel, and down through the chicane, the organisers sent out their course car. However, its driver that weekend was sparky rally ace Jean Ragnotti. Here he was upon the F1 world’s most exotic stage, and…

Uncle Ralph knew a trick or two, a brick or three. Indy’s handsome leading man had experienced triumph and tragedy here: 132 laps led in victory in 1915; and 196 (of 198 completed) in defeat in 1912. Ralph DePalma was at it again in 1921 – 108 laps (of 110) – when his straight-eight engine gave short notice of impending boom! His riding mechanic leapt from the cockpit as the clattering Ballot staggered to a stop two laps later, a conrod broken. Rare were the occasions when nephew – and riding mechanic – Pete DePaolo’s gap-toothed grin wore thinly. This was one. Another had been in 1920. From the first of consecutive poles, and recovering swiftly from a puncture just prior to the formation lap, DePalma had led 79 (of…

The 2025 UK TCR Championship is already underway, with five rounds complete from a total of 17 (split across seven race weekends). The first two weekends were both at Donington Park; the series then calls in at Silverstone, Croft, Oulton Park and Snetterton before the season wraps up at Brands Hatch in early November – alongside the British Truck Racing Championship. If you fancy getting stuck in, there are ‘arrive and drive’ opportunities listed on the UK TCR website (tcr-uk.co.uk). SILVERSTONE NATIONAL May 17-18, Rounds 6, 7 & 8 CROFT FULL CIRCUIT June 14-15, Rounds 9, 10 & 11 OULTON PARK ISLAND July 5, Rounds 12 & 13 SNETTERTON 300 September 13-14, Rounds 14 & 15 BRANDS HATCH INDY November 1-2, Rounds 16 & 17 2025 RESULTS DONINGTON PARK NATIONAL…