Audi R18 TDI dominates Le Mans 2011 test day

Le Mans echoed to the sound of racing cars on Easter Sunday as teams took part in the sole scheduled test day, and Audi's new R18 coupe dominated the LMP1 class. Le Mans 2011: classes and rules changes The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the organisers of the annual 24-hour race, made several changes to the competition classes and technical specifications for Le Mans 2011, aimed at reducing costs, raising lap times and ending the dominance of turbodiesel endurance racers. Out went V10 and V12 engines in the LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype) class, and in came new capacity limits for all engines, intake restrictors and lower turbo boost limits on existing turbodiesels. Naturally aspirated petrols units are now limited to 3.4-litres, turbo'd petrols can be no bigger than 2.0, and turbodiesels are restricted to 3.7-litres.

New MINI to be revealed on 18th November – Sir Alec Issigonis’ birthday

The new MINI will be revealed on 18th November A couple of weeks ago, MINI revealed the MINI Vision Concept at the MINI Design Studios in Munich which previews the new Mk3 MINI, although it wasn’t a physical car, just a projected hologram. But the real new MINI isn’t far from a reveal, and MINI has announced that it will arrive on 18th November, which just happens to be the 107th birthday of the creator of the original Mini – Sir Alec Issigonis. The reveal will take place at the MINI Plant in Oxford with a party in London the same evening to celebrate, and on the 20th November the new MINI will be revealed in public at events in Los Angeles and Tokyo ahead of the Tokyo and Los Angeles Motor Shows.

MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.