McLaren F1 sells for $8.47 million at Gooding & Co’s Pebble Beach Auction

McLaren F1 chassis #66 (pictured) has sold for $8.47 million There’s been an inexorable rise in the price of classic cars in recent years as rich men realise that certain classic cars not only have huge appeal, but appear to be going only one way in price. Add to that – certainly in the UK – that any profits made on the sale of a classic car you’ve bought for your own enjoyment are tax free, and it’s no shock that values keep rising, and the rarer the car the more they rise. So with only 64 road cars made, the McLaren F1 can be considered a sound investment, with values rising since it first sold in the 1990s for around £640,000 to a new world record auction price set last night of £8.47 million (around £5.42m).

Mickey Thompson: A life remembered

Come celebrate the life and fast times of motorsports legend Mickey Thompson with the people who knew him best: his son, Danny Thompson; his first wife and Danny's mother, Judy Thompson Creach; fellow hot-rod hero Alex Xydias; drag racer Tom Jobe, and turbocharger mad scientist Gale Banks. The event will come in the form of a panel discussion at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif., on May 15 at 2 p.m. The incomparable silver-tongued Dave McClellan will serve as moderator.

Camaro poised to claim pony-car sales title over the Mustang for first time since ’85

With just weeks left in the year, Chevrolet’s hot-selling Camaro looks like a lock to win the pony-car sales title in 2010, topping the Ford Mustang for the first time in 25 years. So far this year--Camaro’s first full sales year since production ended after the 2002 model year--Chevy has sold 75,685 Camaro coupes. Mustang sales totaled 68,264 through the first 11 months of the year.