Motorclassica is celebrating its landmark 10th year as Australia’s premier automotive exhibition this weekend, showcasing the widest range of exotic, historic, vintage and collectible cars. 

ForceGT was there to check out what’s hot this year at the event’s venue at the heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, Melbourne. On display were some of the finest cars from all eras, right from the early days of internal combustion engines in the first half of the last century, to the latest supercars and hypercars, plus everything in between.

As usual this year, the exhibition greets visitors at the main entrance with the Australian International Concours d’Elegance where a varied array of exotics feast the eyes. Lined up along the outside foreground of the majestic Royal Exhibition Building were the latest from Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren and Porsche.

The Ferrari 488 Pista is no doubt the star of the Concours d’Elegance, draped in lusty Ferrari red and packing an uprated version of the 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 from the 488 GTB that develops a fire-breathing 530kW of power at 8000rpm, and 770Nm of torque at 3000rpm. The Pista takes just 2.8 seconds to reach 100km/h from standstill, while 200km/h dashes by in just 7.6 seconds. Flat out, the Ferrari nudges a lofty 340km/h.

Parked alongside it, the striking blue Lamborghini Aventador S did well in drawing admirers – us included – away from the Ferrari. It’s powered by a stonking 6.5-litre V12 with a whopping 544kW and 690Nm that are enough to launch the raging bull from 0 to 100km/h in just 2.9 seconds.

The indoor space plays host to car club displays, number plate auctions, anniversary celebrations for Citroen, Abarth, Mini and Australian sports car maker Bolwell, as well as new car displays from manufacturers including Porsche, Alpine, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.

A Japanese sports car display takes up a part of the lower level celebrating 60 years of sports car evolution from the land of the rising sun. On display were handpicked classics from Mazda, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, including Japan’s first sports car, the 1952 Datsun DC-3, the legendary Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 and ultra rare Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 Nur Spec. Also showcased was a range of rotary powered Mazda RX models including the RX-3 and RX-7, and a 1966 Honda S600 roadster.

Check out the rest of the display in the photo gallery below.

The post Motorclassica 2019: Classics to Supercars and everything in between appeared first on ForceGT.com.

What’s better than having cool cars, friendly people and good food all gathered in the same spot? A car show with a twist, Custom Cars & Coffee is where hundreds of proud owners come to show off their pride and joy, while having a chat over a cup of coffee, and meet new and old friends.

The last event was held in the past weekend at the Caribbean Gardens and Market in Melbourne, Victoria. It’s the same vibe but hyper-caffeinated by the caliber of rides that show up – from European exotics and track specials to American muscles and hotted up JDM machines – it’s all there.

Check out some of the cool cars we saw while roaming the lawn at Custom Cars & Coffee.

BMW E92 M3

Quick Spec: 4.0-litre V8; 309kW/400Nm; 6-speed manual/7-speed DCT; rear-wheel drive

Toyota 86

Quick Spec: 2.0-litre boxer-4; 152kW/212Nm; 6-speed manual/6-speed auto; rear-wheel-drive

Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R

Quick Spec: Twin-turbo 2.8-litre in-line 6; 244kW/397Nm; 6-speed manual; all-wheel drive

Subaru WRX STI

Quick Spec: Turbocharged 2.5-litre boxer-4; 221kW/407Nm; 6-speed manual; all-wheel drive

McLaren 570S

Quick Spec: Twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8; 419kW/601Nm; 7-speed DCT; rear-wheel drive

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

Quick Spec: Turbocharged 2.0-litre in-line 4; 214kW/392Nm; 6-speed manual; all-wheel drive

Lamborghini Huracan

Quick Spec: 5.2-litre V10; 449kW/560Nm; 7-speed DCT; all-wheel drive

Lotus Europa S

Quick Spec: Turbocharged 2.0-litre in-line 4; 147kW/272Nm; 6-speed manual; rear-wheel drive

Nissan 370Z Nismo

Quick Spec: 3.7-litre V6; 260kW/ 374 Nm; 6-speed manual/7-speed auto; rear-wheel drive

Honda NSX

Quick Spec: Twin-turbo V6 + 3 electric motors; 427kW/ 646Nm; 9-speed DCT; all-wheel drive

The post Ten Cool Cars we caught at Custom Cars & Coffee appeared first on ForceGT.com.

The second Driver Dynamics track day of the winter season took place last month at Sandown Raceway, 40 minutes southeast of Melbourne. The cold but dry weather presented the perfect track day condition for more than 30 enthusiasts who turned up on the day, looking to cure their itch for speed.

The pit lane saw a good mix of cars, from hot hatches and all-paw performance to V8 muscles and track day specials. The cool temperature throughout the day kept engines and brakes happy, allowing some seriously quick laps around the 3.1km circuit.

Driver Dynamics track day is held on average once a month and provides qualified high performance driving instructors, safety crew including a fully equipped First Intervention Vehicle (FIV), flag marshals, lunch and refreshments. You get a minimum of 20 minutes of free lapping time per hour, and you can have as much professional high performance driver training as you like.

Visit Driver Dynamics for track day schedule

Check out a selection of photos from the event below.

The post Event: Driver Dynamics Track Day at Sandown Raceway appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Toyota has earned a vital victory in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, scoring the top two places on the podium ahead of the most important race of the season, next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

In a thrilling finish, the #8 crew of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson took the chequered flag less than two seconds ahead of the #7 Toyota and third place finisher Porsche.

It was their second consecutive victory in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) after bagging top honours in last month’s season opener at Silverstone.

The result extended their lead in the driver’s championship and Toyota is now leading the contest against Porsche for the manufacturer’s title.

The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi led for much of the race, but two full-course yellow flags at inopportune times played into the hands of their #8 Toyota teammates.

The drivers of the winning Toyota admitted their good fortune at the Belgian track where they lost a chance at victory 12 months ago due to an engine failure.

“We certainly had some luck today because those two full course yellows gave us around a minute in total on the #7 car,” Davidson said.

“Mike and Kamui were blindingly quick from the start of the weekend and we didn’t have an answer, so they deserved the win. But for the team it’s a fantastic result and great preparation for Le Mans.”

Spa was the first race for the #9 Toyota driven by Super Formula champion Yuji Kunimoto, Stéphane Sarrazin and Nicolas Lapierre.

They finished fifth in the new car, gaining valuable data on preparation for Le Mans using a low-downforce aerodynamic configuration.

The two Toyotas that battled it out for victory were running in high-downforce configurations.

Toyota Gazoo Racing now heads to Le Mans for the 24-hour endurance classic on June 17-18, preceded by an official test day on June 4.

Watch Toyota’s 1-2 finishes at Spa in the video below.

Watch the final lap as the No. 8 @Toyota_Hybrid holds off its teammate for the win! #WEC6hSpa pic.twitter.com/JerPclsOw0

— SPEED (@SPEED) May 6, 2017

The post Watch Toyota’s thrilling one-two victory at the 6 Hours of Spa [video] appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Toyota has announced it will add a third car to the grid for the famous Le Mans 24-hour race in June in a bid to accelerate its World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign.

The move underlines Toyota’s determination to win the French endurance classic for the first time after it was denied victory last year through a heartbreaking last-lap mechanical failure.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing team will also field the additional car in May at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, a vital lead-up race to Le Mans.

Toyota’s other two TS050 hybrid race cars will compete in all nine rounds of this year’s championship with Toyota seeking to add to its 2014 manufacturer’s title.

The team’s winning goals will be strengthened by significant upgrades to the hybrid powertrain including the 2.4-litre twin-turbo direct-injection V6 petrol engine, motors/generators and batteries – advances Toyota plans to bring to its mass-produced hybrid vehicles.

Stéphane Sarrazin, who has been part of the Toyota WEC team since its first season in 2012, will bring the benefit of his experience as the lead driver of the third car. Two other drivers are expected to be named soon.

Argentinian sensation José María López will join the team alongside WEC race winners Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

López, 33, competed in GP2 before moving to the World Touring Car Championship where he has won the past three titles.

The 2014 drivers’ world champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson will again team up with Kazuki Nakajima, the only Japanese driver to earn pole position at Le Mans.

Team president Toshio Sato said entering three cars for Spa and Le Mans represented a new challenge for the team.

“We are working hard to be prepared and we are inspired to win,” Mr Sato said.

Toyota Gazoo Racing also confirmed its wider motorsport schedule for 2017, a highlight of which has been Toyota’s return to the World Rally Championship (WRC) with two Yaris WRC rally cars.

The post Toyota to race three cars at Le Mans 24-hour race appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Porsche has secured a second consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship title with a victory at the six hours of Shanghai International.

It’s the fourth win of the 2016 season with one round remaining for the No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid crew of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley.

Porsche took a commanding victory in front of 55,000 spectators, leading for the vast majority of the six hours at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The only serious concern for the winners was when Brendon Hartley had to pit for a new nose section after hitting a large ball of rubber in the second hour.

The battle for second position raged throughout the race between the two Toyota TS050 HYBRID entries and the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

In the end it was the No.6 Toyota of Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, currently second in the Drivers’ championship, who took the 18 points ahead of their team mates. Some bold decisions on tyre strategy played out to edge the Japanese cars ahead of the No.2 Porsche, but two punctures for the No.6 undoubtedly denied Toyota a chance for victory.

The post Porsche wins second FIA World Endurance Championship Title appeared first on ForceGT.com.

After claiming double podium in Spain, Hyundai Motorsport is shooting for its first Wales Rally GB podium finish at this weekend’s penultimate round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

The team will be fielding three New Generation i20 WRC cars with Thierry Neuville in the #3, Dani Sordo in the #4 and Hayden Paddon in the #20.

The 22-stage Wales Rally GB has hosted the season finale in recent years but has moved slightly earlier on the 2016 schedule. Run over a total of 330.21 kilometres, the rally will offer teams another stern test. Friday’s itinerary comprises over half of the total distance with a staggering 178km of punishing gravel stages.

Although names like Hafren and Sweet Lamb are familiar to rally aficionados, they will be run in reverse direction this year. Saturday features stages that have not appeared on the rally since 1997. Adding to the complexity of the event, there will be no lunchtime service on any of the three days – meaning drivers will have to look after their cars with the unpredictable British weather almost certain to play a part.

All three drivers had a one-day gravel test ahead of Wales Rally GB to prepare their New Generation i20 WRC cars, but the real work starts with shakedown on Thursday, which acts as a precursor to the Ceremonial Start at Colwyn Bay.

Sordo and co-driver Marc Martí head to Wales buoyed by their recent second places in Germany and Spain, which have equalled their best result for Hyundai Motorsport. The duo finished fourth in GB last season, so will be hoping to go one better in this year’s event.

Neuville (#3 New Generation i20 WRC) and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul have been one of the most consistent crews since their win in Sardinia. A trio of consecutive podiums up to Spain have moved Neuville up to joint second in the Championship.

Paddon (#20 New Generation i20 WRC) and co-driver John Kennard enjoyed their most competitive showing on tarmac in Spain but the Kiwi crew will be relishing a return to gravel. Paddon is fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, embroiled in a close battle for second. Just 16 points separate a quartet of drivers vying for the position with two rounds remaining.

The stage action for Wales Rally GB gets underway on Friday 28 October, starting with the 32km Myherin, and runs right up until Sunday 30 October with the Brenig Power Stage bringing the event to a conclusion.

The post Hyundai targeting podium in Wales Rally GB round of WRC appeared first on ForceGT.com.

The Honda Civic Type R driven by Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden has picked up the driver’s crown in the last round of the MSA Dunlop British Touring Car Championship.

The Honda Civic Type R has taken four key championships in 2016 after a treble title success in Europe last weekend (October 1-2).

On top of this, JAS Motorsport-built Civic Type R TCRs, run by numerous customer racing teams across the globe, delivered two prestigious titles in as many days, starting with British driver Josh Files securing the inaugural ADAC TCR Germany crown with the Target Competition team at Hockenheim on Saturday.

Just 24 hours after Files’ success, Kris Richard became the new FIA European Touring Car Cup winner; the Swiss emerging victorious after a pair of second-place finishes in his Rikli Motorsport Civic Type R at Imola in Italy.

The success of Richard, Shedden and Files means Civic Type Rs have now won four major touring car series in 2016 after Roberto Colciago clinched the TCR Italy title with the AGS team a week earlier.

There were two more major victories during the weekend as Colciago (Target Competition) and Kevin Gleason (West Coast Racing) claimed victories in the TCR International Series in their Type Rs at Sepang in Malaysia.

One further title could be won in the coming weeks with Stephane Lemeret leading the TCR Benelux Series after scoring several victories for Boutsen Ginion Racing during 2016.

Philip Crossman, Managing Director at Honda UK, commented: “To have this level of success in one weekend is an amazing achievement for the Civic Type R.  Back to back drivers’ championships in the BTCC for Gordon was exciting enough at Brands hatch on Sunday – but to compound it with the other three successes is outstanding.  The new Civic Type R, which we unveiled at the Paris Motor Show last week, is going to have a lot to live up to!”

The post Honda Civic Type R wins at British Touring Car Championship appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Three different winners across three Toyota 86 Racing Series (T86RS) starts sums up the tight competition the new one-make category brought to the Sandown 500 support roster this past weekend (September 16-18).

The previous domination of Canberra teenager Cameron Hill was broken by a trio of hard-chargers in the shape of Queenslander Will Brown and New South Welshmen Luke King and David Sieders.

Brown, a 21-year-old emerging ace from Toowoomba, managed to combine victory in the first T86RS event with success in Formula 4 open-wheelers over the course of the weekend, confirming his versatility and outright speed.

King broke through for a maiden victory in Race 2, saying he was “absolutely stoked” to stand on the top step of the podium, becoming just the third T86RS competitor to do so.

Hailing from the NSW Central Coast, King was running in a car borrowed from fellow competitor Garry Holt for this weekend, and said it felt great over Sandown’s high kerbs thanks to a suspension set-up fine-tuned in testing the week prior to the race.

Experienced racer and consistent front-runner David Sieders has been on the podium at some point during each of the three T86RS events runs so far in 2016, and managed to bag a winning points haul in the third and final race of the weekend.

David immediately dedicated his victory to 18-year-old Luke Spalding, a V8 Ute racer closely connected to the Sieders Racing Team who lost a four-year battle with cancer on the Friday night prior to the race weekend.

Invited drivers Steve Johnson, Tony Longhurst and Leanne Tander all progressed up the finishing order over the course of the weekend, with Johnson sneaking onto the third step of the podium in the final race.

“This series is really good fun. I’m getting a better understanding of how to get the most out of the car, and I trust the guys I’m racing with at the front,” Steve said.

“But overall, I’m here to help the young guys, and even though it’s making me feel old that they’re all coming to me for advice, it’s really rewarding. I had a guy tell me he’d dropped his lap time by a second after we spoke,” he said.

Tin-top legend Longhurst also enjoyed his first T86RS experience, working up to a worthy 13th place in the final race.

“It’s been a clear reminder of how sharp you have to be to be really competitive, but I’ve had a ball,” Tony said.

Leanne Tander also steadily worked her way up the leader board, slipping in to the top-10 in the third race.

“With seat time at Winton, and now Sandown, I’m feeling more comfortable in the 86 race car,” Leanne said.

“The standard of racing is getting better all the time, and I’ve had a chance to chat to more of the competitors. It’s been a lot of fun,” she said.

Next stop for the Toyota 86 Racing Series is the Bathurst 1000 weekend, with close to 40 entries, including one from New Zealand, expected to be confirmed in support of ‘The Great Race’ at Mount Panorama.

The post Toyota 86 Racing Series heats up at Sandown appeared first on ForceGT.com.

The Subaru do Motorsport team heads to the Lightforce Rally South Australia next week, with Molly Taylor aiming to consolidate her third place in the Kumho Tyre Australian Rally Drivers Championship 2016.

The Subaru do duo of Taylor and co-driver Bill Hayes enter the Adelaide Hills event on the back of their debut win for the team.

They piloted the Group N production class All-Wheel Drive WRX STI NR4 to victory in last month’s Southern Safari Tasmania, a round of the Eastern Autobody Tasmanian Rally Series.

That confidence-booster has the pair fully focussed on maximising their points in this fourth round of the national championship – the penultimate test of the five-round season.

Taylor and Hayes’ fourth place finish in June’s International Rally of Queensland was achieved in horrendous conditions in Heat Two, which led to stage cancellations – and the pair is hoping for calmer weather in SA.

Molly said: “Our last run out in Tasmania proved we can do it against the odds, with a flat tyre early on costing us time, which we fought hard to recover.

“On the back of the mud in Heat Two in Queensland, we know we’ve got the teamwork happening to challenge harder and that’s exactly what we’ll be aiming to do in SA.

“It’s exciting because there are three night stages on Saturday which I enjoy and I’ve been eating lots of carrots to maximise my eyesight!

“There’s also a good mix of stages over the whole weekend that range from a lot of junctions and cuts in the Mount Crawford Forest to the more slippery wide shire roads, which are super fast.

“We want to apply as much pressure as we can to ensure our current top three place in the Championship.”

Subaru’s newest colour scheme on the WRX STI features a theme based on South Australia’s Murray River, with rich sunset tones marking a temporary departure from the traditional Subaru blue.

The colour scheme is changing for each event in this year’s Championship, paying homage to key lifestyle or recreational activities held in the area where the rally is hosted.

Meanwhile, Molly is training for October’s Noosa Triathlon – her first such event.

With a strong focus on endurance, cardio and strength, she says her program will only complement her rally activity.

“But don’t expect a good triathlon placing, I’ll be happy to finish!” said Molly.

Lightforce Rally SA is Round four of the Kumho Tyre Australian Rally Drivers Championship 2016. It covers 12 stages on Saturday’s Heat One and eight stages on Sunday’s Heat Two. The shortest stage is 5.27 kilometres and the longest 20.14 km.

Subaru has had historical success in SA, with the late Possum Bourne winning five of the rallies between 1992 and 2002.

KUMHO TYRE AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2016

Round 4 – Lightforce Rally SA
9th – 11th September

Round 5 – Kennards Hire Rally Australia, Coffs Harbour
17th – 20th November

The post Subaru do team intensifies points pressure in Adelaide appeared first on ForceGT.com.