• Watkins Glen International has announced that Jaguar Cars North America will sponsor the United States Vintage Grand Prix weekend, one of the largest vintage racing events on the national calendar, September 9-11, 2016. Jaguar has a storied history at Watkins Glen, and SVRA’s U.S. Vintage Grand Prix presented by Jaguar kicks off on Friday September 9 with practice and qualifying rounds, and continues through Saturday and Sunday with 11 race groups competing on the 3.4-mile circuit. For further information, please visit www.theglen.com
• The 52nd Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or, the oldest meeting for historic cars in Europe, fulfilled its promise again on June’s first weekend at France’s Dijon-Prenois Circuit, as more than 270 cars filled nine grids to the delight of the 14,000 spectators on hand. Some 20 pre-war machines—Alfa Romeo 8Cs, Aston Martins, Bugatti T35 and T37s, Delahaye 135Ss, a Maserati 8CM, Rileys and Lago Talbots—contested the Legends Trophy. Other categories included: Formula Junior, steppingstone to F1 in the ’50s and ’60s; Sixties Endurance, where a field of 60 GT cars included Fords, Ferraris, Porsches and Jaguars; the Heritage Touring Cup and Under Two-Liter Touring Cars; the Trofeo Nastro Rosso for superb Italian cars, a pair of Classic Endurance Racing contests for prototypes and GTs from the mid-’60s to the ’70s; and the fastest class of all, for Group C cars from the “Golden Age” of endurance racing such as the Peugeot 905 and Porsche 956 and 962,
• Among the cars set to be offered for sale at Bonhams’ annual Quail Lodge Auction, scheduled for Friday August 19 on the grounds of the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, as part of Monterey Classic Car Week, is a 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Grand Prix Two-Seat Racer previously owned and campaigned by Lord Howe and once driven by the legendary Tazio Nuvolari. Never publicly offered for sale, in the present ownership for more than 30 years, unseen publicly for more than 20 years and with just two owners since the 1950s, this Bugatti is one of the finest examples in existence. For complete information please visit www.bonhams.com/quail.
• In order to smooth the processing of Historic Technical Passports (HTPs), the World Motor Sport Council’s FIA Historic Commission has approved a plan to simplify the system. As part of this simplification, ASNs will be charged a single fee per HTP regardless of the type of car commencing on January 1, 2017. In addition, the change involves all HTP applications being invoiced, as opposed to only those that result in an HTP being issued. The fee has been reached by taking the average fee under the current system and reducing it by ten percent to help encourage further growth in participation in Historic motor sport. These changes are subject to the approval of the FIA General Assembly in December.
