
(Reuters) - The earliest known New York Yankees jersey worn by slugger Babe Ruth was sold for $4.4 million on Sunday, a record for a piece of sports memorabilia.

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Ferrari, Specialty, Racing According to the timing sheets for the Nürburgring 24-Hour race, the now-hybridized P4/5 Competizione set a lap time of 6:51 during qualifying. That would make it faster than the "Production-Derived Sports Car" record of 6:58.16 set by the Ferrari 599XX in 2010, and the fastest Ferrari-powered vehicle to ever run the 'Ring. In case you don't remember, the 700-horsepower 599XX was also a purpose-built, track-only racer driven by a test driver. On the other hand, we don't have specs on the P4/5 Competizione to compare, but that doesn't make the achievement itself any less impressive. The only car ahead of the P4/5 Competizione in the not-street-legal category is the Pagani Zonda R, which rocked a 6:47.50. Glickenhaus himself told Jalopnik he thought the feat was "pretty cool" and that Ferrari was welcome to challenge it.James Glickenhaus claims fastest lap by a Ferrari ever on the 'Ring originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 20 May 2012 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you've got the cash to place on the hood (or nose cone, as it were), most any Formula One team will sell you one of their old race cars. After all, they're not using them anymore, and it's a good way to raise funds to develop next year's car. But not McLaren. The team from Woking - one of the most successful in the series - doesn't sell its old cars, though with 176 grand prix victories, twelve drivers' championships and eight constructors' titles, you can bet they'd fetch a pretty penny. Instead, it keeps them all warehoused at a facility, location undisclosed, simply called Unit 2. The warehouse contains some 75 grand prix cars, an untold number of the team's sports cars from other racing series (like Le Mans, Can-Am and Indy), and various road cars it's produced over the years, like the legendary McLaren F1, the SLR it built for Mercedes-Benz, and the new MP4-12C. But while none of these cars are for sale, Unit 2 will soon be depleted of much of its stock. Their destinations? The 35 global dealerships that McLaren Automotive has opened or will open by year's end, like the one pictured above in Düsseldorf. Each showroom is to get a racing car to display alongside the road cars it has for sale, and many of them will be location-specific. The dealer in Monte Carlo, for example, will display the 1993 MP4-8 that Ayrton Senna drove to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. The dealer in Brussels will reportedly display the 2004 MP4-19 with which Kimi Raikkonen won the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix. And the Philadelphia showroom will display the 1976 M26 that James Hunt piloted to victory at the US Grand Prix that year. So if you want to see a piece of McLaren racing history, better call up your nearest dealership and find out when their show car is due to arrive. Just don't go looking for Unit 2, because even if you can find it, chances are they won't let you in.McLaren dispersing top-secret Unit 2 collection to showrooms originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 May 2012 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

On July 22, adolescents will briefly stop texting in order to celebrate their favorite movies, TV shows, musicians, sports stars,

Filed under: China, Crossover, Aston Martin, Luxury Automakers are usually pretty decisive. They either build a car or they don't. But Aston Martin has embarked down a bumpier road with Lagonda. Aston bought the Lagonda marque way back in 1947, but after operating it as a separate brand for a few years, it let the brand peter out in the 1950s and 60s. The moniker was revived as a nameplate on a handful of Aston Martin sedans beginning in the 1970s, but that was pretty much the last we saw of it until the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. That's when the British automaker unveiled the rather unusual concept vehicle (pictured above) to revive the Lagonda name once again as a separate brand. It was meant to test the waters, and the response was not favorable. So it had appeared that AML was dropping the L from its initials and the entire project along with it. But as a stand-alone niche automaker looking to stay afloat in a rapidly amalgamating industry, Aston needs to produce more than front-engined, rear-drive, two-door GTs. And the Rapide sedan apparently isn't going to be enough, so it looks as if that the Lagonda project could be back on the table. According to Autocar, the real impetus, however, could be coming from emerging markets in Asia - particularly China, but also the Middle East and Russia. The timing for a high-end luxury crossover built by a company known for its exotic sports cars, however, could prove to be good timing or poor: Maserati, Lamborghini and Bentley are all entering the segment in the coming years, so if Aston wants to get a slice of that lucrative pie pioneered by Porsche, it had better get those wheels in motion.Chinese demand could prompt Aston Martin to press on with Lagonda revival originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 May 2012 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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