The ongoing saga of Balance of Performance (BoP) took some dramatic steps in the early part of 2024. The FIA and ACO presented their new method of balancing the Hypercars to the media at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Qa

Hybrid powertrains were introduced to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2022, at the behest of the manufacturers who felt they needed to race what they sold for the road. However, following a decision to closely examine what is needed to make

Jedis posted the fastest lap of the season at two UK circuits last year, Brands Hatch Indy and Silverstone International. That news will come as no surprise to many on the British club racing scene, for this potent little racecar has been punching ab

A decade ago, a new era began in Formula 1. High-revving, naturally-aspirated V8 engines had had their day. Since then, manufacturers no longer talked of engines, but of Power Units. Mercedes High Performance Engines therefore became Mercedes High Pe

Peugeot has bowed to the inevitable with the updated version of its FIA World Endurance Championship contender, called the 9X8 2024. As expected, the Hypercar has been equipped with a rear wing as part of a major upgrade package for the first time. T

The first SuperVan, built for Ford by Terry Drury Racing in 1971, was a decidedly analogue affair, featuring a tube frame chassis and the engine and gearbox from a GT40 mounted in the load area. It was used as a promotional tool, even lapping the Nür

One of the great paradoxes of motor racing is for something that professes to be a technical sport, it has the most Jekyll and Hyde relationship with technology of any area of engineering I have encountered. A few classic examples are Balance of Perf

Today’s Formula 1 teams manufacture over 9000 3D printed parts each season. Yet to accurately print these components requires a whole realm of engineering practices, known as Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM). This is essentially the methodolo

The FIA will concentrate its sustainable powertrain efforts on the promotion of hydrogen stored in liquid form. After the first FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting of the year, the global motorsport body gave further details on its preferred strate

In the high adrenaline world of motorsport, the quest for speed, efficiency, and precision is part of the game. At the heart of this pursuit lies the complex and sophisticated realm of control systems – a convergence of mechanical innovation, electro

Looking through the list of manufacturers competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year, it’s an impressive array of some of the biggest names in the motoring world. Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche, Peugeot, BMW and Lamborghini, to name just a

When the GT3 category was launched, it had a wide variety of competitors. It was a class that featured the likes of Morgan’s Plus 8, resplendent with a wooden dashboard, as well as Corvette’s C5 Z06 and Aston Martin’s DBRS9. The idea was to provide a

On 24 June 1951, Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead scored a historic debut victory with the Jaguar C-Type in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Designed as a competition car from the outset, the C-Type ushered in a new era at Le Mans of purpose-built racecars t

Having finally achieved its goal of an outright win on the Dakar with its RS Q e-tron, Audi has put an end to its rally-raid programme after three years. The German manufacturer had considered entering this year’s FIA World Rally-Raid Championship se

Having been in this business for nearly three decades now, one of the things that amuses and frustrates me in equal measure is the dysfunctional relationship motorsport has with technology. This is put into even sharper relief given how racing promot

Formula 1 has just passed the midpoint of the current technical regulations cycle. Ground effect cars returned in 2022 and now have two seasons under their belt, but they still have two more to run before the hotly anticipated power unit overhaul arr

In the United States, where V8-powered muscle cars were born in the 1960s, and hang on to this day, the bespoke road racing platform created for them has been the Trans Am Series. In the beginning, it was home to stars like Parnelli Jones, Mark Donoh

Formula E last had a support series with the somewhat bizarre Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. Featuring an arrive-and-drive format, the races had a VIP driver each round and, to be honest, as proficient as the I-Pace is, it was never really cut out for street

It’s not unusual for engineers and drivers to talk about tyres. Whether it’s blaming them for a lack of pace, complaining about not having enough of them, or worrying about their condition. But in 2023 there was more tyre chat than ever at British ci

When Pablo Picasso said it took him 10 years to understand how kids paint, and then an additional 10 years to learn how to paint as kids do, he operated with a few basic colours instead of fiddling around for days on end with 27 shades of turquoise a

Aston Martin has been involved in GT3 racing since the start of the category with the DBRS9 model through to the Vantage that shared a platform with a GTE car. Now, for the 2024 season, as the GTE category has finally died off and the GT3 regulations

In the United States they say sidewalk, in Britain we say pavement. They say cookie, we say biscuit. They say stock car, and we say hot rod, which is especially confusing for ‘car guys’, but that’s another matter. That’s simplifying it, but in essenc

All-electric racing may not be taking off at the same rate as EV road car sales but, over the past decade, motorsport has provided a valuable proving ground for the technology. Though the spotlight is often turned on hardware, the honing of energy ma