Caterham Cars is evoking the elegance, class and rich motorsport heritage of Monte Carlo with the latest Special Edition of its similarly timeless sportscar, the Roadsport 125 Monaco.

The latest incarnation of Caterham’s iconic Seven remains true to Colin Chapman’s original 1957 design in both its lightweight philosophy and its bespoke, retro styling.

Harking back to the golden era of motorsport, the Monaco features Caterham’s brushed aluminium bodywork, with black nose and wheel guards, while the familiar red and white of the Monegasque flag form a motif that runs the length of the car.

In the cockpit, the theme is naturally continued, with hand-tailored black leather interior featuring red highlights pairing with the black body trim to capture a colour scheme reminiscent of the roulette wheels found in Casino Square complete the evocative ‘50s feel.

The Monaco is the latest in a series of entry-level Caterham Special Editions which traditionally suffer little or no depreciation – the Beaulieu launched in 2001 now typically sells for more than its original list price.

For just £20,995, the Monaco combines Caterham’s thrilling performance and driving experience with a unique touch of European flare and glamour. However, the first 20 cars to be ordered are available for just £19,995.

Under the skin, the engineering is pure Caterham. The 1.6-litre Ford engine produces a top speed of 112mph and a power-to-weight ratio of 227bhp per tonne.

The 5-speed gearbox propels the lightweight 500kg chassis from 0-60mph in under six seconds and full weather kit means the Roadsport is thoroughly enjoyable in any conditions.

Options include the wide SV chassis and a lowered floor for extra comfort in the cockpit, while all black trim is also available.

Please visit www.caterham.co.uk or call 01883 333 700.

Right, who is getting sick of this?

Once upon a time a carmaker would tease you with a car under a cover, a silhouette, or something that could actually be identified as an automotive part.

Lamborghini has for the last few years taken the mickey out of the ‘teaser’ taster, with close-up abstract images of a bit of a bumper or maybe an exhaust pipe or two.

Here’s the latest, coceivably for the next Murcielago. It isn’t even the car, but a com-gen. There will be five more released in stages before the actual car is revealed at the Paris Autosalon. I’ll let you guess what it is, because I’m not wasting my time.

F1 is throwing an ’80s party and we’re all invited. Formula 1 teams are close to finalizing all-new regulations for 2013 that will likely see the return of ground effects cars and turbo engines, just like in the early 1980s.

Several think-tanks have been set up to figure out ways to improve the spectacle of F1 racing and ensure it becomes more environmentally friendly. Smaller, turbocharged engines and suction cup bodywork seem to be the top choices right now.

On the engine side, the latest plan seems to be for 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo engines to become standard. With power boosts from numerous energy recovery systems, these little four-bangers should produce around 650 horsepower. Part of the engine plan may also be a limit of just five engines per driver per season.

To further increase F1’s green credentials – and return the sport to advancing street car technology – teams may also see limits on their fuel flow rates. Getting the most performance out of an engine at any given fuel economy rating strikes us as a very good thing for manufacturers to focus on.

On the chassis front, Williams co-owner Patrick Head and former Ferrari designer Rory Byrne are working with the FIA to develop concepts for these new car rules. Teams would like for the cars to be better able to pass one another than the current generation of machines – and ground effects seem to be an attractive option at the moment. Fans would rejoice at the even the notion of more passing potential.

The new regs still need to be ironed out and voted on, but we think the FIA is headed in the right direction.

It looks like Lotus might have a surprise in store for people attending next month’s Paris Motor Show. Word is spreading that in addition to the pair of Evoras we already know about, Lotus will also be unveiling two front-engine hybrid vehicles. Lotus has promised to offer more gasoline/electric sports cars, so we think this rumor is entirely believable. Edmunds’ Green Car Advisor thinks that one of the front-engine hybrids will be a four-door hatchback and the other will be a two-door coupe.

Lotus debuted its Evora 414E Hybrid (pictured) concept earlier this year, but unlike that mid-engine concept, the two front-engine models will only have engines on board as generators for the electric motors. Word has it they will use a 47-horsepower, 1.2-liter, three-cylinder engine specifically designed to provide power to electric-drive hybrids. More details to follow during the Paris show later this month.

Lotus has been quick to remove the whole reason for the Evora’s existence in order to enter it for the European GT4 championship.

The Evora, a 2+2 sportster for the road, has been modified in-house as a pure rollcaged racecar, the Evora Cup GT4. Four examples have already been handed out to NFS Racing Dubai and Scuderia Giudici - the latter team having led the current championship for some time and already has a 2-Eleven Lotus in its stable.

Removing those rear pews, amongst other heavy consumer items such as radio, aircon and unnecessary metal, the GT4 Cup car has lost about 440 pounds of pork, leaving only 2623 pounds to be flung around by the 360 horses of the ex-Toyota V6.

Arrived Wednesday around noon and headed straight to the Jet Center to get my credentials. Another year of Classic Car Week in Monterey was about to begin. It’s the single most impressive gathering of collector cars in the world – a series of events that stretches from Wednesday night’s McCall’s Motorworks Revival to Sunday’s crowning of Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the most prestigious concours around. In between there are dozens of unveilings, parties, races, auctions and other concours.

There are actually events stretching back several days and ending well after Pebble, but the primary events are McCalls, the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, Concorso Italiano, The Quail - A Motorsports Gathering, Concours d’LeMons, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and Pebble. I made it out to all but LeMons this year and snapped about 5,000 photos and a few videos to chronicle it all. It’s taken an extra week, but those photos have been separated into event-specific galleries and I even added a Highlights album for those of you who don’t necessarily have hundreds of hours to peruse the entire collection. Here are the links to get you to where you want to go:

McCall’s Motorworks Revival
Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance
Gooding Preview and McLaren MP4-12C debut
Concorso Italiano
The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering
Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Random Awesomeness from Monterey
Highlight Gallery from Monterey 2010

McCall’s was its usual incredible self with the hoity toity shopping for new jets all while being wined and dined by some of the best restaurants and caterers in California. Oh, and there were some cars there too. Many of the other events during the week give McCall’s a sneak preview by bringing cars to the Jet Center for the party. Lotus showed off its new Exos T125 open wheel car for customers as well as the GT4 Cup edition of the new Evora. Heck, I even got to meet Lotus driver Takuma Sato.

The Tour on Thursday morning is always a special event as well. It’s our first look at the cars that will be competing in the Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday and the views of the cars whistling along 17-Mile Drive and PCH are spectacular. Seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and sometimes event tasting the cars thundering by is like no other experience in your life. Well, the races at Laguna Seca come close, but these are road cars on some of the most scenic roads in the world.

Concorso and Quail on Friday are like Abbott and Costello. Concorso is for the car clubs and those who like to see quantity, while Quail is for the select few who prefer quality above all else. Both have their charms, but seeing a line of 200 Ferraris at Concorso is always amazing, as is watching a whole class of cars from the track come driving into and out of Quail for lunch. It makes for a long day, but both should be on your bucket list.

We usually devote Saturday to the track, and this year was no exception. It’s hard to explain it, but unless you’ve been to a vintage car race, you might not understand how awesome it really is. Imagine your favorite race cars from virtually any era – Cobras, Mustangs, Porsches, Ferraris, Bugattis, whatever. Now imagine a field full of them…check that, imagine 19 classes filled with 30-40 of them in each grouping. Now imagine that that Cobra is the ultra-rare Cobra Daytona Coupe and that the Porsche is a 917K. Yep, that’s the RMMR. Only Goodwood comes close to this type of gathering, and even that classic British event can’t match the appeal of Laguna Seca and its iconic Corckscrew.

Sunday means Pebble and the close of the week. We generally get up at 4 am to get to the 18th green by 5 so we can be a part of Haggerty’s Dawn Patrol. They hand out coffee and donuts and hats to those insane enough to get there early enough to watch as the contestants arrive and take their position on the fairway at the Links. Featured marks fill about half of the field and there are often dozens of cars that are display-only, but that still leaves about 75 cars that are being seen for the first time at Pebble or anywhere else most likely. It’s extremely exclusive and many of the cars are being shown for the first time after undergoing multi-year restorations.

We try to figure which cars might have the best shot at Best of Show so we can be sure to have some extra shots of them, but this year was a bit of a surprise, the honors went to a 1933 Delage D8S that was stunning, but a bit too monochromatic for our tastes. Still, the judges know a lot more about these matters than we do and the car is definitely beautiful and deserving. To be honest, we spent more time perusing the Ferrari SWB class and the Jaguar XK-SS class this year. Of the 16 Jags to leave the factory, twelve were here on Sunday. For someone who likes this car, seeing one is a lifelong memory. Seeing more than one in the same place at the same time is almost unheard of. Seeing a dozen of them together – as the commercial says, “Priceless.”

Scattered throughout the week were some pretty significant debuts as well, including the new McLaren sports car, the new Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, Boss 302 Mustang, the aforementioned Loti, the Ferrari 599 GTO, and the Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid to name a few of the better ones. We skipped the auctions for the most part this year but apparently not everyone did. There were dozens of records set as some amazing vehicles crossed the blocks at Gooding, RM, Russo & Steele, Bonhams and Mecum this year. Well, enough talk, let’s get to those pictures. Enjoy, and please leave comments if you have any thoughts or questions you’d like to share.

In China, it’s the Year of the Tiger. In BMW-land, it’s the year of the M3. So in celebration of this happy coincidence, BMW has ticked the yes box for a limited run of the appropriately but unimaginatively titled M3 Tiger edition.

Twenty-five years of the M3 will be commemorated by a run of 250 ‘Fire Orange’ M3’s, with a metallic orange and black paint job, black 19-inch rims and badging, while the inside inverts the colours with black leather lashings and tiger heads embroidered into the seats.

Jump for joy, then…

Okay, full disclosure – The Jaguar XK-SS is one of this author’s top ten favorite sports car designs of all time. This partially-civilized, D-Type-derived, semi-comp car is just plain awesome. Seeing one of them at a museum or event is like glimpsing the Pietà as you enter the Vatican – Its beauty can overwhelm you if you’re not prepared to see it. Imagine our delight, then, when we learned that the organizers of the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance had put together a small gathering of XK-SS roadsters to celebrate Jaguar’s 75th birthday. It’s their birthday, and we get the presents.

Just 25 of these incredible machines were built during their short run – a tragic fire at the factory took nine of them and halted development of not just the XK-SS, but of the D-Type as a whole. Try as they might, the Pebble Beach folks simply couldn’t get all 16 of the survivors together for this occasion…but how does a full dozen sound? Any event that has one SS in the field is pretty remarkable in our books. Having more than one is almost unheard of. Having a dozen on hand, all in one place at one time…in an almost perfect line on the Pebble Beach golf links with nothing behind them but the course and bay? Sublime.

Why does the XK-SS draw such admiration? Well, all you need do is look at it and you have your answer, but there is much more to the story. When Jaguar withdrew from racing at the end of 1955, they had a few spare D-Type chassis on hand. They also had something of a budget crisis at the time. Why not make a few changes for road use and offer the unfinished cars to the public? Jaguar added an extra seat, another door, a full-width windshield, luggage rack and folding top and the XK-SS was born. It weighed but 2,000 pounds and had the D-Type’s 250-horsepower 3.4-liter straight-six under its shapely bonnet. It only weighed about 100 pounds more than the full-on racer and was sold at a 30 percent discount over the D.

Doesn’t that strike you as something of a bargain for a wild, hairy beast allowed to prowl the street? Steve McQueen thought so. In fact, the legendary actor and racer owned the same example twice. After buying one new, he had the interior customized by artist Von Dutch. He later sold the car but missed it so much that he bought it back a few years later. He had the car in his collection until the day he died. It’s now in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, but was in Pebble Beach for the Concours on that magical Sunday…along with eleven of its friends.

While we had heard rumblings that Porsche was going to show its hot new 918 Spyder Hybrid Concept in  Pebble Beach this year, it had started to seem like the car was only going to be shown to a select few at private events scattered around the Monterey Peninsula during the week.

Well, on Sunday, right in front of the Pebble Beach Lodge, during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the company surprised us by driving the hybrid supercar up to the concept lawn for all to see – and hear. They did a quick turn around after sitting still for a second and as the V8 rumble died away, the car started moving forward again. A couple of people were taken by surprise as they thought the driver may have forgotten to engage the parking brake, but no, the car had switched over to battery power.

This hybrid has been greenlighted for production and it is rumored that the racing RS Spyder’s 3.4-liter V8 will be the engine that adds grunt to the two electric motors driving the front wheels. Expect around 700 horsepower and a price tag over $600,000.

Pebble Beach is fast becoming one of the best places for new car debuts. Besides seeing the McLaren MP4-12C, Fiorvanti SP1, Perana Z-One, Morgan EvaGT, Jaguar XK175, Jaguar XJ75 Platinum, Boss 302 Mustang, Veyron Super Sport, Lotus Exos T125, Lotus Evora GT4 Cup, and so on and so on, we also got to see the new Bentley Continental GTC and GTC Speed 80-11 Editions. These 80-11 models, designed exclusively for the North American market, will be limited to just 80 units each. The “11″ in the title refers to 2011, the model year of these specials.

These are basically trim packages for the Contis, adding things like 20-inch, 14-spoke polished wheels, and red calipers on the Speed, but they look tasteful. While the 80-11 Editions will be available in any Bentley color, they’ve introduced a new color on them as well – Midnight – which will be exclusive to these models. If the wheels or special color don’t tip you off to the special nature of these vehicles, you might be able to spot them by their little Union Jack badges on the front fenders.