Racing

Remember the Zarooq Sand Racer? You don’t? Well, that’s no biggie, because it died at some point a couple of years ago, but now it’s back under a different name, with a polished attitude.

The Zarooq Sand Racer was supposed to open a new niche, that of off-road supercars. It packed a V-6 good for 300 horsepower and looked like a hybrid between a Dakar rally car and an exotic, but was rather short-lived. This is where the Laffite G-Tec X-Road comes to pick up where the Sand Racer left off.

Corvette Racing, the oldest continuous program in top-level sports car racing of the modern era, unveiled its next chapter back in October when GM unexpectedly took the wraps off the C8.R, the GTE-spec race car based on the eighth-generation Corvette. It comes with a menacing body kit, a huge wing hanging over the back, and a flat-plane crank, 500 horsepower, 5.5-liter V-8 in the middle. A pair will race in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship and at Le Mans next year, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

It was back in 1999 at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona that a factory-backed racing Corvette first took to the track in an official practice session for a race. After decades of racing in privateer hands, barring some semi-factory-backed efforts that were ultimately canned due to GM’s ban on motorsport-related activities, the Corvette finally competed with backing from Detroit. 21 years later, Corvette Racing is still taking on the world’s best on America’s road courses and beyond and its latest weapon is unarguably the craziest yet.

If you’re attending the Tokyo Auto Salon on January 10, you can score a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 race car if you order tickets to the show early. No, you’re not getting an actual GT-R NISMO GT500 race car. Instead, you’re receiving a toy version of the racer courtesy of Japanese toy car maker Tomica. Pre-sale tickets for Friday, January 10, will cost 4,000 yen or around $37 based on current exchange rates. The cost of the ticket already includes the Tomica GT-R NISMO GT500. Costs of tickets for Saturday, January 11, and Sunday, January 12 add up to 3,000 yen or almost $28. If you’re not looking to score the Tomica GT-R NISMO GT500, the cost of tickets for January 10 is 3,000 yen and only 2,000 yen ($18.5) for January 11 and 12.

One of the auto world’s craziest and most sought-after records, the Cannonball Run has been broken. The infamous New-York-to-Los-Angeles run that has been the obsession of a subculture of gear heads for more than 50 years now has a new record time, and it was broken by three guys — Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Berkeley Chadwick — who managed to accomplish the run while driving a heavily modified 2015 Mercedes-AMG E 63, doing so in a staggering time of 27 hours and 25 minutes. That time eclipsed the previous record of 30 hours that was set only six years ago.

Brabham, a name that needs no introduction among motor racing fans, is firmly back where it belongs, on the track. The company stunned us all in 2018 when it pulled the covers off the vicious BT62, a 700 horsepower monster powered by a 5.4-liter naturally aspirated V-8 bound to squash any Porsche 911 GT3 you might encounter at your local track day event. Last month, the BT62 made its racing debut in the Britcar Endurance Championship with a victory at Brands Hatch. Partaking in the 24 Hours of Le Mans is still the target for the Australian motley crew, although it may not happen until 2022.

David Brabham, Sir Jack Brabham’s youngest son, is an established veteran race car driver in his own right. Despite lacking the trifecta of F1 World Driver’s Titles that make his father an all-time great, David is, however, a two-time ALMS champion and has conquered Le Mans outright a decade ago with Peugeot, although his career actually spans three decades. In the past few years, David decided to hang up the helmet and focus on regaining control of the Brabham brand and make something of it. That ’something’ is, for now, the BT62, and it seems like a cracking way to make an entrance in the world of track-bound hypercars.

The Ford Mustang, America’s pony car, grew from being one of the most compact two-door performance cars on sale in the U.S. to looking like an obese coupe brought to its knees by the fuel crisis and the most recent pollution regulations. The change began in 1971 but this is not one of those sluggish, choking ’Stangs. Instead, this is a Kar Kraft-tuned Trans-Am racer complete with a Roush-built 5.75-liter Windsor V-8, a 4.11:1 locked differential, and a very low, plunging nose. It’s an ultra-rare piece of history that, while not particularly successful in competition, proves the ’71-’73 Mustang wasn’t that big of a dud after all.

Sedan racing was big Stateside in the mid-to-late ’60s with the formation of SCCA’s Trans-Am Championship in ’66 drawing on the popularity of the A-Production and B-Production SCCA classes. At the peak of its popularity, the Trans-Am was a bona fide battleground with all the key muscle car makers involved including Chevy, Dodge, Plymouth, Pontiac, and, of course, Ford. However, this Mustang didn’t race in those glory days. It arrived a little too late, after the championship changed its focus from sedans and coupes and onto GT-style cars, following in the footsteps of the increasingly popular IMSA GT Series.

We’ve always wanted, at least once, to own a piece of history. The car shared by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby throughout the 1966 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a Ford GT40 Mk. II, is such an example. The identical-looking ’continuation’ Ford GT40 Mk. II seen in the recently released ’Ford v. Ferrari’ movie is another.

The good news is you can own the latter and brag that you’ll sit where Christian Bale did during filming. He’s no Ken Miles but he surely played the part convincingly well and all you have to do to get this baby blue 7.0-liter monster is be the highest bidder on lot #R554 during Mecum Auctions’ Kissimmee auction in January. Simple, right?

Peugeot, the proud manufacturer that stopped at nothing to win the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans in the early ’90s and again in the late ’00s and early ’10s, will be back at Le Mans in the summer of 2023 as part of a fully-fledged assault on the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2022 onwards. Peugeot, like Toyota, will compete with a bespoke hybrid hypercar not based on a current production model and the work will be carried out in-house by Peugeot Sport, although it’s believed outside partners such as ORECA could offer some assistance. Peugeot will thus make its debut in the FIA WEC in the third season of the new ’Hypercar’ regulations that come into effect next year for the 2020-2021 season.

Peugeot Sport, first with Frenchman Jean Todt at the helm and then with his pal Olivier Quesnel, has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times since it first took part in the French race all the way back in 1926. The company has also enjoyed success as an engine supplier, powering the early Pescarolos as well as the WM P88 Group C car, the fastest car to ever race at Le Mans that reached a top speed of 253 mph in 1988. With almost a century of history at Circuit de la Sarthe by the time Peugeot Sport’s new hypercar will debut in 2022, it’s safe to say the French automaker set its own bar very high for its comeback. In the light of this challenge - one that the French engineers most definitely relish - let’s take a quick look back at Peugeot’s history at Le Mans and in endurance racing as a whole.

In Ford’s attempt to gain even more hype and publicity surrounding the returning Bronco SUV, it surprised a lot of people, ourselves included, by entering a prototype version of the Bronco R racing truck at the legendary Baja 1000 off-road race. Unfortunately, Ford’s best-laid plans for the prototype racer were no match for the excruciating desert trial. The Bronco R not only failed to finish the race, but it suffered one issue after another, ultimately leading it to break down even before it got a sniff of the finish line.

Ken Block is one of the best professional drivers out there. Although he’s been in the business for a long time, it is the Gymkhana video that got him the fame he deserves. Since then, Block has been doing what he does best, only upping the skills each time. All his videos have the oomph and pizzazz that can make you go wow in an instant.

Now, he is back again with another terrifyingly-awesome video that’s titled ‘Climbkhana Two’. In this video, you can see the master rule the Tianmen Mountain in China. But, guess what? It’s not in some sleazy Subaru, as Mr. Block chose the F-150 Hoonitruck this time!! So, are you ready to have your minds blown?

You don’t get to see a Dodge Demon every day. Then again, you don’t get to see it as it stretches its muscles during some good ol’ drag racing in the company of a Toyota Supra, a BMW E30, and Savage Garage’s Ford Raptor. Oh, and this is no prep drag-race, by the way, as the whole scenario unfolds in the desert, between bursting clouds of sand.

Now that we have your attention, get ready to be amazed by the Supra, which proves extremely apt at putting down the power and generating enough grip to shoot ahead of its rivals, literally leaving them behind, choking on its dust.

The 2020 Lamborghini Urus ST-X is a race-spec concept version of the Urus, the company’s first-ever SUV. The concept vehicle previews a full-production SUV designed for a single-brand championship that will debut in 2020 in Europe and the Middle East. Conceived as a new "arrive and drive" experience in Lamborghini’s motorsport program, it will offer customers a complete package including the vehicle and technical support during race weekends.

Yes, the 2020 Urus ST-X will compete in a series very similar to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, reserved for race-spec Huracan models. Like all other track-bred Lambos, the 2020 Urus ST-X was designed and built by Lamborghini Squadra Corse.