The Stunningly beautiful Aston Martin DB11 has won the T3 Design of the Year Award.

The new Aston Martin DB11 has won the T3 Design of the Year Award, presented annually to the world’s best technology products.

Now entering its 10th year, the T3 Awards is one of UK’s biggest and most prestigious technology awards and celebrates the most transformational products and people each year. Voted for by T3 readers, the Design of the Year Award is presented to the ‘most pleasing looking device, or one that reimagines what a product of its type can look like’.

After receiving the award, presented at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on 28 September, Aston Martin Creative Director of Exterior Design, Miles Nurnberger said: “Exceptional design and cutting edge technology lie at the heart of Aston Martin. We are extremely proud of the work that went into the design of DB11 so it is a real pleasure to accept this award.”

First revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016, where it was heralded by the media as the “rebirth of an icon” and the “star of the show”, the Aston Martin DB11 is the latest in an illustrious bloodline of authentic, dynamic sports cars from the British luxury marque and the first product launched under the company’s ambitious ‘Second Century Plan’.

The epitome of Aston Martin's progressive design language, DB11 is the ultimate partnership of exceptional design and cutting edge technology. The car’s distinctive design features roof strakes that flow uninterrupted from A-pillar to C-pillar, a front-hinging clamshell bonnet, distinctive LED headlights, and the beautiful Aston Martin AeroBlade^TM; a virtual spoiler fed by discreet air intakes located at the base of each C-pillar. In addition to its groundbreaking design, DB11 is the most powerful, most efficient and most dynamically gifted DB model in Aston Martin’s history.

Competition for the Design of the Year Award came from an array of products including the B&W Zeppeling Wireless speaker, Hive Active Heating, the Olympus Pen-F camera, the new Dyson Supersonic hairdryer and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

One of the must-attend events of the Volkswagen calendar is set to take place on the last weekend of July.

• Annual VW Camper & Bus Show takes place at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Ledbury, July 29-31
• Live music and festival atmosphere all weekend
• Soapbox Challenge and dog show among added attractions
• Best of show awards promised for all types of classic VW

One of the must-attend events of the Volkswagen calendar is set to take place on the last weekend of July, with fun and entertainment promised for VW Camper and Bus enthusiasts of all ages.

The Volksworld VW Camper & Bus show, sponsored by VW parts suppliers Custom & Commercial and specialist insurers Carole Nash, takes place from 29th – 31st July 2016 at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Ledbury, Herefordshire and is a family and dog friendly event.

Among the weekend’s attractions will be one of the show’s traditional highlights, the Soapbox Challenge, with teams of up to four entering their home-made gravity-propelled four-wheelers in a downhill run against the clock. Entries are still open and anyone wishing to participate should email camper.show@kelsey.co.uk if they fancy a laugh-a-minute budget motorsport challenge.

In addition, the show promises live music all the way, with a mix of bands performing on stage throughout the weekend and a bar on site. The Friday night will be a Sixties themed event, with Sixties tribute band the Del Sharrons and Elvis tribute act Gordon Davis, plus a live DJ, while on Saturday the daytime will be taken care of with an Oompah band and fire performers, followed by an Eighties-themed tribute band and live DJ.

There will be prizes on offer for enthusiasts exhibiting their vehicles, be them Beetles, split-window campers, early and late bay-window vans, Type 25’s, T4’s, T5’s and other VWs. On Saturday, the awards will be in the Rust-and-Prime category for the not-so-shiny examples that are loved among the vee-dub scene, while on the Sunday there will be a more traditional Show’n’Shine.

Dogs are more than welcome at the Camper & Bus Show – indeed, they will be invited to participate in competitions of their own! Events will include dog agility, best looking pooch, doggy fancy dress and dog/ owner look-a-like competitions.

Meanwhile, family fun will be taken care of by the VW Bouncy Bus – a large inflatable ‘bouncy castle’ in the shape of the iconic van. Along with dedicated kids’ rides and entertainment, including the magical entertainerVan Man, the children’s attractions will all be free of charge.

There will be other family-themed events throughout the weekend, along with a thriving retail village offering all sorts of VW and camper themed goodies.

There’s still time to take advantage of Early Bird ticket offers, including a weekend adult ticket for just £39* to include an entire weekend’s camping (Under 16’s go free). For more information, or to buy tickets, go tohttp://www.volksworldshows.com/camper-and-bus-weekend-home  

The 54th Austin 7 Rally at Beaulieu holds one of the longest unbroken runs for a one marque club at the same annual event.

The 54^th National Austin 7 Rally takes place at Beaulieu on Sunday 3^rd July and holds one of the longest unbroken runs for a one-marque club using the same venue for its annual event.

For one enthusiast the event will mark a particularly significant milestone. Bertie Fowler, who bought his first Austin 7 in 1966, will be attending his 50^th rally.

He purchased the 1936 ‘Nippy’ (one of the relatively few production sports models that Austin made) at the age of 19, negotiating the £90 deal in darkness by the Derby Grandstand at Epsom racecourse. It was, he says, ‘the best buy I ever made’.

Years of happy motoring followed, even in the face of what Bertie describes as ‘the usual Nippyisms’ of the doors flying open when negotiating fast corners.

The car came off the road in 1976 and lay under sheets in his garden shed for several decades, but in recent times has been expertly restored by Robert Foreman and Chris Gould (who is a living legend in the world of sporty Austin 7s).

Bertie will proudly display the end result at the rally and will join many other ‘Austin 7 Sports and Racers’ which are the theme for this year’s special display.

Several extremely rare and famous Austin 7s will also be attending, including Graham Beckett’s ‘Simplicity’, the Tony Hutchings built OK7095 works racer replica, and several of the Bert Hadley Championship cars being brought along by the Pre-War Austin 7 Club.

The display is expected to be one of the largest seen in recent years and is open to all Austin 7 owners from the UK or Europe. Austins form the core of the event but pre-1975 vehicles of all makes are invited to attend and will have a designated parking area on the rally field.

The National Austin 7 Rally is an ideal day out for enthusiasts and families. Entrance includes access to the whole of the Beaulieu attraction, including the National Motor Museum, Palace House which has been home to the Montagu family since 1538 and the 13^th century Beaulieu Abbey and gardens.  

For entrants wishing to make a weekend of it camping facilities are available and on the Saturday there is an organised run through the picturesque New Forest followed by the ever-popular evening barbecue on site.

The beautiful BMW 507 will open the Goodwood festival of Speed, with Lord March driving it up the 1.16 mile hill.

Goodwood Festival of Speed founder, Lord March, will open this year’s event by driving up the hillclimb course formed by his driveway in a beautiful 1957 BMW 507 sportscar.

BMW is this year’s Honoured Marque and the central theme of the 2016 edition of the Festival of Speed will celebrate the German manufacturer’s centenary.

Lord March will complete the very first run up the 1.16-mile hillclimb at the start of the Moving Motor Show, part of the new Press & Preview day on Thursday, June 23.

The 3.2-litre V8-engined BMW 507 was driven by Hollywood stars Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in its heyday but only 252 were ever built.

With a top speed of 122mph, the 507 was beautifully hand-built and, while it was priced £3,200 when it was first built in ’57, the rarity of the model now means that the example Lord March will drive up the hill is estimated to be worth around £2 million.

Lord March said: “I’m delighted that BMW has chosen to mark its centenary with us. Our magnificent central feature sculpture outside Goodwood House will celebrate BMW’s sporting success and I will be honoured to drive one of the rarest, and most beautiful, BMWs ever built to open what promises to be a terrific show.”

The BMW 507 and Lord March will take to the hillclimb track to open this year’s Festival of Speed at 9am on Thursday, June 23.

FOURTEEN BTCC Drivers to appear behind teh wheel at this years Goodwood Revival - Cant wait.....

Fourteen British Touring Car race winners – including four series champions – are now confirmed to compete at the Goodwood Revival on September 11-13 in a variety of sensational historic sports, GT and saloon racing cars.

Jason Plato, the most successful BTCC racer of all time in terms of race wins, is reunited with TV chef James Martin, star of BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, in the St Mary’s Trophy that caters for racing saloons of a kind that competed from 1960-66.

ALL PICTURES COURTESY OF GOODWOOD REVIVAL - THANK YOU !

Two-time BTCC champion Plato, who currently races for the BMR Volkswagen team, and Martin will campaign the latter’s 1964 Morris Mini Cooper S.

Among their chief rivals will be current Honda BTCC pairing Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, who have four championship crowns between them.

The duo will share their own Ford Lotus Cortina in the race while Neal will also contest the RAC TT Celebration for early-1960s GT machines in a Sunbeam Lister Tiger.

Andrew Jordan, the 2013 BTCC champion, will provide another star attraction as he shares a similar Cortina with his father Mike – himself a BTCC race winner and two-time British GT champion. The Jordans finished second in the St Mary’s Trophy last year in their Austin A40.

Three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, who has returned to the BTCC this year with the WSR BMW team, remains behind the wheel of one of the German manufacturer’s cars at the Revival. 

He drives an 1800 TiSA in the St Mary’s Trophy while his regular WSR team-mate, Sam Tordoff, takes the wheel of a Fiat Abarth 1500S.

Two more BTCC race winners, Jackie Oliver and Darren Turner, will also have TiSAs at their disposal in the St Mary’s and will drive, respectively, a Jaguar E-type and an AC Cobra in the TT.

Steve Soper, the BTCC series runner-up in 1993, races a Cortina while Tiff Needell, whose lone win in the championship came four years earlier, has a Jaguar Mk2 at his disposal and Tom Kristensen, a three-time race winner in the BTCC in 2000, will race a Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt in the St Mary’s as well as the unique Lister-Jaguar Coupe in the TT.

Four more drivers with touring car pedigree; 1970 European Champion Jochen Mass, former German and Italian title-winner Emanuele Pirro, sportscar legend Derek Bell and ex-BTCC front-runner Patrick Watts have also confirmed their drives for the Revival.

Mass and Bell won the RAC TT in, respectively, 1972 and ’73 during a time when the race formed part of the BTCC calendar. 

While both drivers will take part in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy on the Friday night of Revival – Mass in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ and Bell in a Jaguar C-Type – the German will also race a Ford Galaxie 500 in the St Mary’s Trophy.

Pirro will pilot a Mini Cooper S in the latter encounter and an exquisite Ferrari 500 TRC in the Lavant Cup, held exclusively for 1950s drum-braked Ferrari sports racing cars this year.

Watts races a Cooper-Bristol T25 against Mass in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, while Andy Wallace, whose BTCC appearances in 1993 are largely forgotten against a sportscar career that includes a Le Mans victory, will battle against him in a Jaguar C-Type and will also drive a Mk2 Saloon in the St Mary’s Trophy.