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Camille Jenatzy drove La Jamais Contente, an electric torpedo of his own design, to 105.88 km/h at Achères on 29 April 1899, the first car past 100 km/h. The record stood almost three years and fell to a steam car before petrol caught up. In 1903 he won the Gordon Bennett Cup for Germany in a customer's Mercedes 60 hp, after a factory fire destroyed the works cars.

Formula 1 has published its 2027 calendar: 24 races from Bahrain on 14 March to Abu Dhabi on 12 December, with ten sprint weekends instead of six. Monaco hosts its first sprint on 5 June, Portugal and Turkey return, Zandvoort is gone, and the Le Mans weekend of 12 and 13 June has no grand prix on it, sitting between Monaco and Portimão.

McLaren has confirmed a performance SUV, its first front-engined car, as part of a £500 million investment from Abu Dhabi's L'IMAD. The money funds a second UK assembly plant, two in-house engines and transmissions, and at least 1,000 direct jobs by 2032. The SUV is due before 2030. In 2016 CEO Mike Flewitt said an SUV ticked none of McLaren's three boxes.

Volkswagen has revealed the ID.3 GTI: 326 hp and 545 Nm to the rear wheels, 0-100 km/h in 5.6 seconds, 200 km/h, a 79 kWh battery and up to 601 km. It beats the Golf GTI Edition 50 by 1 hp and replaces the ID.3 GTX Performance, which used the same motor. Pre-sales open in the first quarter of 2027, and there is no price yet.

Porsche Wireless Charging, the 11 kW inductive system first shown in Munich in 2025, is now orderable in Germany and other European markets for the Cayenne Electric. The ground plate needs no wallbox, transfers energy at about 90 percent efficiency and costs £4,750 in Britain, with a full system near €7,000. Porsche's own footnote excludes China.

Nissan is bringing the Kicks e-Power crossover to Europe and will build it at Sunderland with a £170 million investment, the plant's tenth model in 40 years. The Japanese version has a 143 hp front motor and a 1.4-litre generator engine on the Juke's CMF-B platform. It arrives after Nissan shelved the electric Qashqai promised in 2023 and as Sunderland closes one of its two lines.

Reports of an FIA plan to revive GT1 with today's halo brands are real, but far more modest than the name suggests. According to DailySportsCar, the FIA has held early, informal talks with a few hypercar makers about a certification framework, though officials insist it would mean timed “Time-Attack”-style display events, not circuit racing. A leaked Gordon Murray Automotive customer letter paints a bolder picture the FIA has not endorsed.

Renault Trafic Van E-Tech electric is International Van of the Year 2027, chosen unanimously by 26 jurors at IAA Transportation in Hannover. It carries an 81 kWh battery, an 800-volt system that adds 280 km in 20 minutes and a claimed 470 km range that has not yet been homologated. The panel van reaches customers at the end of 2026, and its load volume tops out at 5.8 m³.

The Zoute Grand Prix Gallery by EY returns to Knokke-Heist from 7 to 11 October with 23 prestigious brands, from ultra-rare hypercar builders like Bugatti, Koenigsegg and Pagani to electric names like Rimac and bespoke luxury from Rolls-Royce. The theme is the collector cars of tomorrow: the rare, hand-finished, deeply personalised machines that could return to Knokke in a few years as sought-after auction lots.