Autoblog

Lottery winners can often have subhuman tendencies, so it's only natural that you'd want to hang out with equally awful subset of humanity, racing drivers. The Stig is a perfect representation of those with abnormally high levels of octane in their blood, and his/its services around Silverstone were purchased for £35,000 at a charity auction buy a lottery winner recently in reciept of £5 million. The Stig's passenger got three rain-soaked laps for a price of £11,666 per, and the Stig's performance, even on rain tires, was enough to impress Fernando Alonso. For the same price, you might be able to hire a passel of goons to abduct the esteemed Stigginator and pop that darn helmet off, though that particular scenario might be as creepy as the Darth Vader death scene in Return Of The Jedi.

[Source: Top Gear]

SPOILER ALERT

Click for a hi-res gallery from the 2008 British GP

Storms swept through Silverstone this year for the British Grand Prix. First came the announcement of David Coulthard's retirement from Formula 1, which was followed by the announcement that, starting in 2010, the race would leave its historic home at Silverstone and move to Donington Park.

The decision by Formula One Management and the FIA followed years of calls for the ageing Silverstone track -- owned and operated by the British Drivers Racing Club -- to renovate and get itself up to the modern standards set by F1's newer tracks. However, after failing to secure government funding or sufficient private investment, the decision was made to move the event to Donington. So as the storms set in to close two major chapters of British motor racing history, the rain poured down on the penultimate running of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Follow the jump to read how it turned out.

[Images: Getty/AFP]

Hundreds of European GT-R buyers, who have put down large down payments on cars that they won't see until next spring at the earliest, have received a small consolation gift from Nissan: a tape measure.

The highly cool GT-R-embossed little box is to be used to measure their heads, so Nissan will know what sized helmets to prepare for them when they show up for their free lessons in how to extract the best from their new steeds at Silverstone or (where else?) the Nürburgring.

That's one good reason to buy from Nissan, rather than from the numerous grey importers of surprisingly cheap second-hand R35s that are already hitting Japanese websites. Thanks for the tip (and pic) Philippe!

[Source: Autocar]

Our favorite rodent host of Top Gear, Richard "The Hamster" Hammond, was involved in an on-track collision last Saturday during an endurance race at Silverstone behind the wheel of a BMW 330 DTi Sport. Hammond, of course, was almost killed last September when he lost control of a jet-powered dragster at 288 MPH. This time Hammond merely collided with a car that was trying to overtake him. Reportedly traveling around 100 MPH at the time, he was able to limp the BMW off the track and wait for a tow to the pits where the car was repaired so he could continue racing. Fellow hosts Jeremy Clarkson and Jay Mays, as well as their mystery driver, the Stig, were also taking turns with the BMW last weekend.

The one-year anniversary of Hammond's near death experience in a jet car is September 20th. While his most recent incident is hardly newsworthy in and of itself, the fact it's his first since the jet car accident and comes almost exactly one year later makes it an interesting piece of news. Hammond, however, doesn't think there's much to report here, saying ""Reports of my shunt this weekend have been greatly exaggerated." Regardless, no one can say that Richard Hammond doesn't lay it on the line for his craft, that's for sure.

Thanks for the tip, Filip!

[Source: AOL Entertainment]

While its cars charge towards the head of the pack on the F1 racing circuit, BMW-Sauber has been positioning itself as the champion of demonstrations off-track. Following such shenanigans as driving on ice, and the return to the old Nurburgring Nordschleife, the team brought a couple of veterans back for demonstration drives at Silverstone.

Three-time world champion Nigel Mansell, more recently a fixture of the Grand Prix Masters series, drove Sauber's latest at the team's Pit Lane Park set up at Silverstone to coincide with this past weekend's British Grand Prix. Fellow retired driver Johnny Herbert, who won at Silverstone in '95, also had a go in the Bimmer single-seater. The drivers pulled donuts and smoky burnouts to the delight of the fans.

As you may recall, the team also gave former F1 driver Alex Zanardi another drive behind the wheel of an F1 car, and the handicapped car driver pulled off some impressive lap times, despite a minimum of preparation.

[Source: BMW Sauber F1 via AutoMotoPortal]

The UK is a pretty good place to be an F1 fan, as a number of F1 teams are headquartered in Great Britain. Four current F1 racing drivers are British, including the incredible Lewis Hamilton, with several more test drivers as well. Brits have their own race every year, no matter how poor the facilities and the attendance. And they're within driving distance of a handful more on the Continent. In short, the British Isles are F1-land, and more British companies are getting in on the action every year.

The latest to offer their services to race fans is Vue Cinemas, a rapidly-expanding chain of movie theaters that currently counts 59 multiplexes encompassing over 570 screens in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The chain has announced it will be screening a live feed of the British Grand Prix, directly from Silverstone, with no commercial interruptions. Vue Cinemas is calling it a "larger-than-life-experience" that will be offered at 30 of its locations in the UK.

You can expect tickets to be considerably less expensive than race tickets, and while it won't feature the same "right-there" experience, you'll probably get a better Vue.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

This year is Ferrari's 60th anniversary, and Ferrari is doing Rossa-themed things all over the world to celebrate. In Britain, the Silverstone race track will play host to Ferrari Racing Days the weekend of June 8-10. Among the range of festivities will be Ferrari Great Britain's attempt to break the world record for the "Largest Parade of Ferraris." The current record is 128, and based on what they have planned, updating the Guinness entry sounds perfectly doable. In addition to a round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli for F430 Challenge cars, the FXX will be appearing in the UK for the one and only (official) time, there will be races for historic road and race cars, a demonstration of F1 cars, and on display will be at least forty Ferrari F40's. The weekend will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the UK Ferrari Owners Club. If that doesn't attract every Ferrari from Land's End to John O' Groats, we don't know what will.

[Source: Ferrari]

After 17 years, Nigel Mansell is returning to the wheel of a Ferrari. The former world champion will be driving an F430 GT for Scuderia Ecosse in the second round of the 2007 FIA GT Championship, held at the same Silverstone track where Mansell scored three celebrated grand prix victories.

The old dog can apparently still learn new tricks – at 53 years old, this will be the first time the champ will be racing sports cars. Driving alongside him will be one of Scuderia Ecosse's team drivers, either fellow British pilot Andrew Kirkaldy or Canadian driver Chris Niarchos, to be confirmed before the race this Sunday.

Although he evidently welcomes the new challenge, Mansell's remains understandably apprehensive about his prospects: "The Ferrari is fun to drive, but it remains to be seen how I will get on in a race situation, as ex-F1 drivers tend to go out with a target on their backs!"

The race looks set to gather quite a crowd. In addition to Mansell's participation, the Silverstone race will also mark Jaguar's return to GT racing.

[Source: Auto Express]

Purchasing a multi-million dollar automaker is a good excuse for not being able to concentrate on other matters, but according to Prodrive's team boss, David Richards, the 2008 Prodrive F1 team is, "perfectly on target."

Richards, who is currently in Bahrain after a business trip to Kuwait, took a few minutes to talk to reporters about the future of Prodrive's F1 efforts and the possibility of running an Aston Martin team in the future.

In short, Richards was mum on drivers, but confirmation about Prodrive's pilots, suppliers and sponsors is due during the British GP in Silverstone. The rumors of late include an engine and chassis provided by Ferrari, McLaren or Renault.

As for an Aston Martin team, Richards downplayed the idea, but gave the impression that something may come to fruition in the future.

[Source: TSN]

Nokia has an upscale division that goes by the name Vertu, which happens to make some pretty nifty phones. They aren't for everybody -- not with pricetags that sound like the down payment on a Porsche -- but they will certainly appeal to those of us who are interested in automobilia. One line of phones in particular should prove irresistible to motorsports aficionados. Vertu's Racetrack Legends series consists of six limited-edition phones, each featuring a different racetrack on its shell. The final two members of the set were just released, depicting Monaco and the Nürburgring.

Like the previous issues (Monza, Silverstone, Indianapolis and Le Mans), the new models each have a uniquely-colored casing (yellow for Monaco, titanium gray for the 'Ring) with a map of the track etched into it. Available for around $6,400 each, they make quite a stocking stuffer. If you really feel like splurging, you can get the whole boxed set. The box alone probably costs more than most of our cars. It's made of carbon fiber, with three drawers under the display level for the cases and oth accessories. Stylish and exclusive, the limited edition ractreack phones are limited to 1000 units each. Limited or not, six grand is an insane amont of money, but hey, to each his (or her) own.

[Source: Vertu via Sybarites]