Along with its announced plans for Formula One next season, British sports car maker Lotus is also looking at expanding its racing efforts to include IndyCar, GT and Le Mans racing. Newly appointed company CEO Dany Bahar made the announcement to employees, stating that Lotus is studying expanding its racing efforts under a new corporate outlook.

Bahar, who comes from working for Red Bull’s Formula 1 team and as the former head of marketing for Ferrari has ambitious plans to return Lotus to its former position as a motorsports leader, using motorsports as a way to brand the company’s road cars, while using technology gained from racing efforts to help improve those very cars and develop new ones.

Lotus has made known plans to field a two car Evora team at next years Nürburgring 24 Hour race but now it appears as though as more long term plan may be coming into place.

No official decision has been made but we expect to see Lotus cars racing in the European and American Le Mans series in the near future.

[Source: AutoCar]

There couldn’t be a more perfect venue to debut the latest Bentley product and successor to the fabulously-regal Arnage than the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Accompanied by bagpipers, the “Grand Bentley”, now officially named the Mulsanne, drove up on to the awards show platform – a stage many Bentleys have graced before.

Many past Bentleys have taken their names from the famous Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans race track and this Bentley is no different. Whereas the previous Bentley flagship, the Arnage, was named for a tight corner, this car is named after both a corner and a straight. On the long Mulsanne straight race cars have to slow from over 200mph to 65mph, then run through the a tight chicane and down the second half of the straight.

Bentley is keeping tight-lipped about much of the rest of the details of its new flagship until its auto show debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show this September.

What we do know is that it will continue to use a twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V8 engine that has almost been completely redesigned to no doubt make even more horsepower and torque while using less fuel.

As for the design of the car, it’s as familiar as the engine, with a massive flat nose, huge circle headlights and plenty of chrome.

GALLERY: 2010 Bentley Mulsanne

In  class normally dominated by Porsches, Ferrari showed its motorsports might at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this past weekend. Not only did Ferrari claim the top spot on the podium, it claimed all the others. As a matter of fact, Ferraris clinched nine of the top ten GT2 Class spots with position number five going to the Spkyer C8 Laviolette GT2R driven by Jarek Janis, Tom Coronel and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

The GT2 Class win went to car No. 82 F430 GT of the Risi Competizione Team driven by Jaime Melo, Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer after completing 328 laps. This is the second year in a row a Risi Competizione car has won its class at Le Mans. The second Risi car, driven by Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Eric van de Poele finished third. Between them was the BMS Scuderia Italia’s Ferrari with Fabio Babini, Matteo Malucelli and Paolo Ruberti at the wheel. The fourth position also belonged to Ferrari with British team JMW Motorsport and drivers Robert Bell, Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Sugden driving.

“I’m proud of this wonderful result. Four cars from Ferrari on the first four places in such a prestigious race is a great satisfaction and I want to congratulate the teams on the result; the teams have worked so hard to prepare the best way possible for this race. I especially want to thank Giuseppe Risi, who with his team has gained the second success in a row,” Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said. “It was a tough race, especially at the beginning when the cars from Ferrari had to fight against very strong competitors like the Porsches. When night fell Risi’s car took over the lead and didn’t cede. I’m especially pleased by the fact that nine out of ten F430 GT which started into the race crossed the line; this is not only a sign of competitiveness, but also of the car’s great reliability.”

As mentioned, Ferraris then rounded out the top ten, with actor Patrick Dempsey piloting the Advanced Engineering car to a ninth-place finish with the help of co-drivers Joe Foster and Don Jr Kitch.

Subaru recently announced it would not compete in the 2009 WRC Series due to economic concersn, however, new “no turbo” rules for 2011 would most likely have seen the Japanese automaker pull out anyway.

The World Rally Championship’s governing body, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has just confirmed that as of 2011 competing vehicles must use non-turbocharged naturally aspirated engines – a move that has series veteran and all-star Sébastien Loeb considering a new career path.

The new rules will allow for certain aerodynamic changes to the Super 2000 (or S2000) cars, however, the decision to move away from turbocharged powerplants was made to open up the series to more manufacturers – including Skoda, Abarth, Peugeot and Proton – by making it less expensive to run a competitive car.

These rules may also be to blame for other manufacturers leaving the series. Several months ago Subaru announced that it would not compete in the 2009 season, stating economic concerns, however, it is just as likely that the the company had no intention of running with the new rules (which don’t take effect until 2011).

Turbochargers are set to return to the series in 2013, but mated to smaller 1600c (1.6-liter) engines.

Five-time WRC Champion Sébastien Loeb, who’s contract with Citroën is up at the end of this season, has expressed his displeasure with the new rules and his desire to try his hand at other forms of motorsports.

“The excitement will not be the same,” Loeb told AutoWeek. I always said it would be better with the turbo, and this is how I feel.”

“We don’t have to decide anything until 2011,” he continued. “When that comes, maybe I can move to something more interesting.”

What exactly he might move to is the Le Mans series, as Loeb is already scheduled to test a Peugeot 908 HDi Le Mans prototype this year.

“Sébastien’s contract is up at the end of this year,” a Citroën source told AutoWeek. “There’s really nothing for him to prove to stay on in WRC. He has won every rally and broken every record. Maybe he can leave at the end of 2009 and start racing straight away next year.”

[Source: Autosport and AutoWeek]

Built to celebrate the tremendous success Corvette has had in racing over the past decade, General Motors has announced the launch of the GT1 Championship Edition.

The GT1 Championship Edition Corvette will come with racing inspired graphics, including driver flags and the series championships. The car is available in either black or Velocity Yellow, with black headlamps.

The body of the car will be painted in the ZR1 style with a spoiler and chrome wheels (yuck… really?).

Inside the interior will be swathes in ebony leather with yellow stitching and will feature GT1 embroidery on the seats, instrument panel and center console armrest..

Under the hood, the engine cover will have a special carbon look with yellow Corvette lettering.

The GT1 Championship Edition will be offered as either a coupe, convertible or Z06, with just 100 of each model being made in each color for a total of 600 units.

All models will receive a navigation system and both coupe and convertible will include the Z51 Performance Package and performance exhaust with an optional automatic transmission with paddle shifters.

Pricing is listed as $65,310 for the coupe, $71,815 for the convertible and $86,385 for the Z06. The GT1 Championship Edition Corvette will go on sale in the Spring.

The GT1 Championship Edition Corvette was create in homage to the successes of the C6.R racing Corvettes which took the ALMS GT1 Manufacturers Championship for 8 years, claimed over 70 victories in the series and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 5 times.

2009 will make the last year for the C6.R in racing.

Corvette GT1 Championship Edition:

Official release after the jump:

Assuming you just watched the above trailer, we’re sure you’re as excited as we are to view the full 96 minutes of Audi’s efforts to clinch yet another victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The documentary will air on ESPN from 8 p.m. till 10 p.m. on Friday, March 20 – the day before the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Audi, which has competed with its R8 and R10 race cars in the ALMS series and at Sebring in the past will bring its new R15 race car to Sebring but will not compete in the remainer of the 2009 ALMS series.

As though you needed any other reason to watch the high production quality documentary we should tell you that Mr. Audi A8 himself, Jason Statham, aka The Transporter, is the video’s narrator.

Official release after the jump:

Think of it as Spyker’s version of a Porsche GT3. Unveiled at the LA Auto Show, this stripped down special edition of the Spyker C8 Laviolette weights just 2,805 lbs and makes a significant 400hp thanks to its Audi-sourced 4.2-liter V-8. Spyker claims this is good for a 0-60 mph sprint of 4.5 seconds (which sounds underrated) and a top speed of 187 mph.

The car was built to pay homage to the Spyker Squadron GT2 cars that have ran at Le Mans since 2002 and even participated in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Only 24 of the C8 Laviolette LM85 vehicles will be made and they come with some very special add-ons. Included with each sportscar, every owner will receive a Chronoswiss 24 Hours Pilot Watch. Every owner will also be invited to the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans to be special guests of Spyker Cars.

Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85

Official release after the jump: