Friday Fix: Autocar's best of the week
Ian Callum Vanquish 25
We round up this week's hottest stories, pictures and videos for you to devour in your Friday lunch break
As the working week draws to a close, you no doubt want to catch up with everything that has happened in the world of motoring over the past few days.
So we’re bringing you our favourite videos, stories, photos and quotes of the week all in one place. Here are today’s picks:
*HOT NEWS*
After several setbacks and a series of false starts, it looks like the team reviving Britain's lost TVR brand now has a hope of bringing the V8-powered Griffith sports car to market. We met with bosses Les Edgar and Jim Berriman to hear their 18-month plan to get off the ground for good, and to find out what could follow the long-awaited flagship.
*TVR revival: New CEO details hybrid supercar and motorsport plans*
*VIDEO OF THE WEEK*
"They don't make 'em like they used to", or so the saying goes. But can that really be true of Renault's feisty Nurburgring-attacking Megane RS hot hatch flagships? We pit the new Megane RS 300 Trophy R against its R26R and 275 Trophy R to see how exceptionally they perform on the road, and which does it best.
*PHOTO OF THE WEEK*
The new, third-generation Bentley Flying Spur certainly looks the part, but with more to prove than ever before, can the four-door sibling to the brilliant Continental GT prove itself worthy of a five-star road test verdict? We put the £170,000 luxury cruiser through its paces to see if it can sustain one of Britain's best-loved car brands through one of its most difficult periods yet.
*Bentley Flying Spur road test*
*QUOTE OF THE WEEK*
"There was a perception that much of what we planned was aesthetic, but the way the car drives, feels, goes, stops and sounds is actually where a lot of our efforts have been focused."
The Vanquish 25, the debut model from ex-Jaguar designer Ian Callum's new Callum design group, might look near-identical to the original Vanquish, but its developers are confident its worth the extra £400,000 outlay. Beyond the altered styling, tweaks include a lowered ride, widened track and bespoke tyres in the name of 'fixing' Callum's original design for the car.
*Ian Callum's Vanquish 25: production version revealed *
*FROM THE ARCHIVE*
As well as being one of the most visually stunning cars on the market, the Cosmo coupé was the first model Mazda sold in the UK. And what's more, it was also propelled by a revolutionary type of powertrain that's now become inexorably linked with the Japanese manufacturer: the rotary wankel. We look back to 1968, when we got behind the wheel of the two-seater that "handled like a Porsche".
*Throwback Thursday: 1968 Mazda 110S first drive*
*POPULAR OPINION*
Why has Renault re-signed F1 legend Fernando Alonso over the up-and-coming Formula 2 talent already on its books? The 39-year-old, having spent two years away from the grid and not won a GP since 2013, will take Daniel Ricciardo's vacant seat next year, which seems like a controversial choice, but at the end of the day, Renault really has to start winning again.
*Opinion: why no rookie for Renault's 2021 F1 campaign?*