Joe Rocket Motorcycle Boots on 2040-parts.com

Bedford Autodrome to get Ariel Atoms for 2012

Corporate track-days at the Bedford Autodrome will get lairier in 2012 - Somerset-based Ariel has announced it’ll supply ten cars for the PalmerSport track-day events next year. Stopping short of the unhinged Atom V8, the PalmerSport-spec cars get the normally aspirated 245bhp Civic Type-R engine, and some key changes to set it aside from the Joe-Public Atom. The Palmer-spec car will get a Sadev paddle-shift sequential gearbox, which swaps ratios in 60 milliseconds, whilst some choice chassis mods optimise the Atom for its full-time track-toy brief.

MG name stands proud again at Longbridge

The company that runs the remnants of former UK automaker MG Rover has dropped a reference to its Chinese parent from its name. NAC MG UK has changed its name to MG Motor UK to emphasize the MG name, a company spokesman said. Nanjing Automobile Company or NAC bought MG Rover's assets in July 2005, three months after the UK's last domestically owned volume carmaker collapsed through financial difficulties.

TVR Griffith gathering set for June 24-26 at Mid-Ohio

If our story last month on the TVR Griffith whet your appetite for these rare Brits, set your nav system for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, and be there June 24-26. The Griffith Motorcar Club International will be hosting Richard “Dick” Monnich, the first TVR importer in the United States and the catalyst for the Ford 289-powered TVR Griffith, as part of the fifth-annual Gathering of Griffiths & TVRs. Event organizer and former Griffith factory test driver Mike Mooney claims all three Griffith body styles will be present, along with a British-produced TVR 500.