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India’s Business Standard reports that Jaguar may return to Le Mans racing. Ratan Tata is quoted as saying:

We want to hit the Le Mans race, for which we are already re-examining whether we can bring back the Jaguar brand to its earlier state.

Ford withdrew Jaguar from the famous race because of cost. Accountants should not be allowed to run a car company!

Alistair Weaver reports on Sky.com that David Smith, Jaguar Land Rover’s new CEO, explained to him how the bureaucracy of the Ford empire is a thing of the past, and that the board new consists of just three people. Smith said:

We can make decisions in minutes that would have taken several meetings at Ford. This will mean we can bring vehicles to market faster.

I really like the direction that Jaguar is moving.

The Coventry Telegraph reports on a public meeting is being held at the Jaguar Social Club on Friday, July 25, to give residents the opportunity to discuss the options for the former Jaguar site in Browns Lane with city planners.

The proposal for 10 new business units and 68 homes on the 100-acre site has raised several concerns, including access to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Museum.

What is it about Bradford and Jaguars? As reported here in April, they had a parade of famous Jaguars led by Stirling Moss in a D Type Jaguar, and Easier Motoring now reports that the two-day Bradford Classic will be opened with Norman Dewis accompanying the Le Mans 24-hour race Jaguar that he crashed on the Mira test track in 1971 at 140 mph after earlier breaking the lap record at 161 mph for a drive through Bradford city streets.

Motor Trend reports thatJaguar will release a limited anniversary edition XK60 at the British Car Show to celebrate 60 years of the XK series. Details are sparse, but Jaguar promise that it will be special.

Sadly, it is only for the UK market.

There are reports from Autoblog, Jalopnik, PistonHeads, Motor Authority, and GT Spirit that the new Jaguar XF-R made a surprise appearance at the Goodwood hillclimb today. The Jaguar sports upgrades to the suspension and brakes, new 20 inch all-black wheels, black front grill and new hood with two double air vents. Reports vary between a 4.2-liter and 5.0-liter V8, but agree on 500 hp from the supercharged engine.

The Jalopnik site has a short video of the XK-R in action.

Technabob reports on some very silly Mini USB memory sticks available from Vavalo in August … a 1:48 scale replica of a pukka mini with a USB drive in the boot and headlights that turn on when the drive is plugged in, what could be nicer?

I really need the police version!

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is on from July 11th to 13th, and one of the highlights is the auction of this 1954 Jaguar D-Type, the first production car of this model, by Bonhams. It is expected to go for between $4 to $5 million.

By the way, the video introduction on the Goodwood Festival of Speed website is well worth watching.

Update: 12 July 2008 :

The Press Association reports that XKD509 sold for a record £2,201,500 following frantic bidding at the auction held at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester. At current exchange rates that’s just over $4.4 million, which means that the estimate was spot-on.

Sometimes the machines strike back and provide a chuckle in the midst of a busy day … the last page of a set of shipping documents was chewed up by the sending fax machine, it was the Straight Bill of Lading!

Thanks for bringing your work home, Jan.

Wired’s Autopia reports that Volkswagen is to start producing a limited run of the super-frugal One Litre Car concept in 2010, two years ahead of predictions. The cost of carbon fibre is apparantly dropping faster than anticipated, making the tandem two-seater with a coefficient of drag of 0.16 viable earlier.

Even with an estimated price $40,000 range, the gas savings at 1l/100km will make it very attractive.

With dimensions of 11.4 feet long, 4.1 feet wide and 3.3 feet tall it should be very stable, and not at all wobbly, despite the number plate!