A brand-new automotive concours event in Newport, Rhode Island is taking steps to make classic car shows more accessible for the next generation. ‘Bout time!The first-ever Audrian’s Newport Concours Motor Week will be hosted by Rhode Island’s Audrian’s Automobile Museum, and is scheduled to take place over four days in early October.And in a refreshing effort to keep the next generation from getting discouraged by classic car prices that tower higher than their life savings, the event creators have decided to include a 30 Under 30 class. “The 30 Under 30 is a class designed for hobbyists under thirty years of age who have not spent more than $30,000 on their project,” the concours website reads. “This class has been developed to encourage young people to get involved in the hobby of car collecting and restoration.” “By having this officially judged class, it is our goal to foster growth within the collector hobby, by showing young people that collecting and restoring is not just for the affluent, and isn’t limited to cars in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.”The 30 Under 30 entrants will be displayed and judged (by Jay Leno, among other experts) alongside 23 other ‘regular’ classes on the final day of the event, which will include other, much more expensive cars, including the pre-Second-World-War classics typical of concours. Other concours highlights include a Tour d’Elegance.The event should draw a crowd, and not just because there will be millions of dollars of classic cars there; John Legend is also scheduled to perform at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.The inaugural event will take place at multiple venues in Newport from October 3 through 6, with proceeds going to a variety of local non-profit organizations. Entries are closed for this year, but guest tickets are still available on the official
Origin: New concours event welcomes younger entrants with under-$30k class
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Volkswagen says ID 3 to be fastest-charging car in its class
A camoflaged version of the VW I.D. HatchbackElektrowoz Volkswagen is getting the buying public charged up about its upcoming ID 3 electric hatchback, with a new announcement the car can juice itself faster than every other mainstream electric on sale today. Hey, yesterday was Father’s Day. I’m allowed to make dad jokes. According to the company, the ID 3 charging capacity taps out at 125 kW, eclipsing all other electron-fuelled machines save for the snazzy Audi E-tron and Tesla Model X. That’s where the “mainstream” detail in VW’s proclamation comes into play. Customers in about thirty European countries have been laying down deposits to pre-book an ID 3 for an expected April 2020 delivery. When in full production, the hatchback will be available with three battery sizes, which will essentially represent small, medium and large—just like your favourite cup of coffee. The mid-level 58-kWh version will be offered first, coughing up a claimed range of 417 kilometres. Two other trims, driven by 45-kWh and 77-kWh batteries, should be good for 328 km and 547 km, respectively. Sized about the dimensions of a two-door Golf, the ID 3 is the first production car to utilize VW’s new MEB architecture, an electric car platform scheduled to underpin a myriad of models. The brand aims to sell 150,000 electric cars, including 100,000 ID models, by calendar year 2020. By 2025, Volkswagen aims to sell one million EVs. Plans call for 1,500 ID family vehicles to be rolling off assembly lines per day in 2021, with about 10 million vehicles to be produced on the platform during its first product life cycle. That’s some dandy economies of scale. Production of the ID 3 is scheduled to start at Volkswagen’s Zwickau factory near the end of this year. Those who have slapped down a pre-booking will be able to order their cars after it is launched at this year’s Frankfurt motor show in
Origin: Volkswagen says ID 3 to be fastest-charging car in its class
Toyota Gazoo Racing commits to new hypercar class at Le Mans
A production version of Toyota Gazoo’s GR Super Sport Concept is set to be entered into a new hypercar-based class at the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race from 2020. New rules announced by the FIA will allow hypercars such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie and McLaren Senna to race in competition form from 2020 onwards. Toyota’s hybrid concept, revealed last year, looks close to the form that will be adopted by such models and is likely to be part of this new pack. Homologation rules dictate that the top-rung Le Mans hypercars must be strongly related to roadgoing equivalents, meaning reigning LMP1 champion Gazoo Racing will soon reveal a road-going version of last year’s concept. The company says: “Both road and race car are undergoing design and intensive development at the company’s technical centres in Toyota City, Higashi-Fuji and Cologne.” The model’s name has yet to be confirmed. First shown at last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, the concept is based on the company’s World Endurance Championship prototype racer, the TS050 Hybrid. The concept features the same carbonfibre structure as the racing model and has a 2.4-litre V6 petrol engine with electric assistance behind its cockpit. The road-going version of Gazoo Racing’s concept will sit above the new Supra. Gazoo, Toyota’s performance and racing arm, also recently introduced the Yaris GRMN hot hatch, which marked Gazoo’s arrival in Britain and serves as its entry-level model. Gazoo president Shigeki Tomoyama said: “If the e-Palette concept (an autonomous pod that was revealed in Las Vegas) is the next generation of the horse-drawn carriage, the GR Super Sport Concept would be the polar opposite as the next-generation racehorse. Its appeal is more personal, like that of a much-loved horse to its owner. “Despite the differences between the two concept models, both are electrified vehicles equipped with the latest IT technologies and are set to become safe and environmentally friendly connected
Origin: Toyota Gazoo Racing commits to new hypercar class at Le Mans
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