Bugatti

In the midst of a global pandemic the success of Gooding & Company’s “Passion of a Lifetime” auction on the weekend seems like a miracle. Eight cars topped US$1 million and $45,231,210.76 was realized in just 90 minutes … at just over $500,000 a minute.

After the first big online-only foray by the biggest automotive auction cluster on Planet Earth, it's clear that automobiles are not particularly suited to online-only auctions, but that significant strides were made in the right direction.

Watchmaker Jacob & Co and carmaker Bugatti have teamed up again to produce the Twin Turbo Furious 300+ wristwatch. With styling inspired by the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ hypercar, the new timepiece is available in a limited run of three units.

Last time Bugatti made a black car, it literally called it "the black car." It did so, however, in French, which as we all know confers a certain unwashed classiness to things, and La Voiture Noire quickly became the most expensive new car ever to be sold, at a horrific US$12.3 million.

Bugatti has broken the production car speed record with a timed run of 304.773 mph by the Bugatti Chiron.

The Monterey Car Week auctions left the collector car world in a state of shock. Sales totals were expected to be similar to 2018 when 850 cars sold for US$370 million but when the hammer fell for the final time in Monterey, just 770 cars had fetched $245 million – a shortfall of 80 cars and $125 million, or 34 percent down. Here's a car-by-car glance.

"The Quail – a Motorsport Gathering" was already a world class automotive lifestyle event and concours of gravitas, but this year "The Quail" played host to 11 major vehicle debuts and could rightfully boast to have the world's highest concentration of Ultra High Net Worth Petrolheads.

Bugatti chose today's Quail Motorsports Gathering to introduce its latest hypercar, the Centodieci. All 10 cars in the limited production run have already been sold at €8,000,000 apiece. The Centodieci's 8.0-liter W16 engine produces 1,600 hp and has an electronically capped 380 km/h top speed.

​Porsche’s circular 12.6 km (7.8 mile) test track at Nardò in Italy has been renovated and is again open for business. More than just the banked high speed test track, the Nardò Technical Center contains 20 test tracks on over 700 hectares, and has been used by 90 automotive companies in the past.

The 2019 Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille ​was a triumph in many ways, most importantly in the turnout of exclusive automobiles from 16 manufacturers including significant debutant models. For McLaren it was doubly so, as its new​ Speedtail took out "Best in Show."

Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este has been held annually at the palatial 16th-century villa on Lake Como since 1929.​ As a setting for a celebration of automotive heritage, there could be no finer location, as the former royal residence is world-renowned for its terraced Renaissance gardens.​

The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, now in its 24th year, is a multi-faceted diamond, with many ancillary events combining to offer something for everyone, regardless of which genre of automobiles an individual might be interested in.