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Le Mans 2010: a picture gallery by Alex Tapley

Last month I returned from my second consecutive Nurburgring 24hr race, so I was excited to be getting my first taste of Le Mans last weekend. Two very similar concepts, yet the endurance races at the Ring and Le Mans differ hugely, and both excite for very different reasons. I just hope they stay that way. Here are some of my favourite pictures from the weekend: 1.

Florida man claims ownership of long-lost Cunningham Corvette

A Florida man says the long-lost 1960 Chevrolet Corvette race car that made a brief public appearance in Carlisle, Pa., last week was owned and raced by his father in the 1970s, and claims the car belongs to him. The challenged ownership of the maroon-colored car--one of three raced in the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans by Briggs Cunningham and valued by some collectors at more than $1 million--could be the reason organizers of the Corvettes at Carlisle show canceled a planned public display on Aug. 24 less than 30 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.