Apex
Weekly.

Sixty years after the Interceptor, Jensen returns with a supercharged V8 GT - but car number one never gets a numberplate.

Jensen International Automotive confirmed on 16 July 2026 that its comeback model, the Interceptor GTX, arrives first as a track-only special rather than a road car. Not a restomod, not a continuation: new from the ground up, hand-built aluminium body over an aluminium chassis, supercharged V8, aimed at what the company calls the ultimate analogue driving experience. Global debut is set for Q2 2026 - exactly 60 years after the original Interceptor. Power, price and production count are still unannounced; reports point to a 6.2-litre supercharged GM V8, the architecture that makes 685 hp in the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing.

Jensen is one of Britain's great lost names - the Interceptor and the four-wheel-drive FF were genuine Aston rivals in the 1960s, and every revival since has failed. This one is led by JIA, the firm behind the well-regarded Interceptor R restomods, with Jeff Qvale, son of former Jensen Motors owner Kjell Qvale, on board. Going track-only first is the strategically interesting part: it sidesteps crash, emissions and type-approval homologation, which is exactly where low-volume startups normally run out of money. Read cynically, it puts a sellable product in the market to fund the road car later; read charitably, it is how a tiny manufacturer de-risks a clean-sheet chassis. Either way it lands Jensen in the same regulatory lane as the Valkyrie AMR Pro and the GMA T.50s. The positioning is a deliberate break with the badge - the original Interceptor was a soft, fast GT, not a circuit weapon. The fully analogue pitch, supercharged V8 and hinted manual are aimed at buyers now paying restomod money for mechanical feel rather than lap times. The real test comes when the covers come off and Jensen finally publishes a number.

Read the original at The Drive →

Passione Engadina turns 15 on 27-30 August: 120 hand-picked Italian classics, two regularity days and a first run down into Italy.

The 15th Passione Engadina runs 27-30 August 2026 in St. Moritz at 1,822 m, themed The Italian Job and limited to 120 invited Italian cars. The field splits into three classes: The Untouchables (built up to 1986), The Challengers (youngtimers up to 2006) and The Lightning Strike (modern cars at the organiser's discretion). The Julius Baer Challenge regularity runs on 28-29 August, with the Ladies' Cup and the Next Gen Cup for drivers up to 25 on the opening day. The organisers list the event as effectively sold out.

Passione Engadina is the Alpine counterpoint to the big static concours: its Eleganza in Movimento judges cars in motion rather than on a lawn, with a jury led by former Pininfarina design boss Lorenzo Ramaciotti. For 2026 the roll call goes well beyond the obvious - Abarth, Bizzarrini, Cisitalia, De Tomaso, Iso, O.S.C.A., Stanguellini, Touring Superleggera and Zagato all get their moment. The route changes this year too: for the first time it drops south across the border into Italy for a stop in Madesimo, a village ringed by 3,000 m peaks, adding genuinely new road to a rally that has spent 15 years on Engadin passes. For anyone based in Bavaria, Tyrol, South Tyrol or Northern Italy this is one of the few high-Alpine events where the driving matters more than the paddock parade. Spectators do not need an entry: from 21-24 August the cars are displayed on Via Serlas, St. Moritz's luxury shopping street, and the class wins are handed out there. Entry to the rally itself is invitation-and-selection based, so the realistic play for 2026 is to watch, then apply early for 2027. Maloja, Julier and Bernina are at their best in the last week of August, before the first snow warnings appear.

Read the original at Passione Engadina →

The 2027 Maybach GLS 680 launches Mercedes' new flat-plane-crank 4.0 twin-turbo V8 - 626 hp combined, more than the AMG GT 63.

Mercedes-Maybach revealed the 2027 GLS 680 on 21 July 2026, and under the hood sits Mercedes' brand-new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with a flat-plane crankshaft. The engine alone makes 603 hp and 850 Nm, with a 48-volt starter generator adding another 23 hp for 626 hp combined, through a nine-speed automatic to all four wheels. Balance shafts smooth out the flat-plane vibrations, and the SUV gets revised steering plus reworked air suspension. Optional E-Active Body Control adjusts each corner up to 1,000 times per second and leans the body into corners by up to three degrees.

The headline here is not the chrome - it is the engine. A flat-plane crank is race-car hardware, the layout Ferrari uses and the one AMG chose for the GT Black Series, and Mercedes has now made it the basis of its next-generation V8. That it debuts in a chauffeur-focused Maybach rather than an AMG says a lot about where Affalterbach's volume actually sits in 2026. At 626 hp combined the GLS 680 out-guns the 577 hp AMG GT 63 Coupe, which makes the AMG versions of this engine an obvious next step. Mercedes has not confirmed pricing, but the outgoing GLS 600 opened around $180,000, so expect the 680 north of that - Bentayga territory. Production runs in Tuscaloosa, with arrival before the end of 2026. For anyone who assumed the AMG V8 was quietly dying off, this is the clearest signal yet that Mercedes has just spent real money keeping eight cylinders alive.

Read the original at Carscoops →

On 29 Aug 2026 the Stelvio's 48 hairpins close to motor traffic 08:00-16:00 for Stelvio Bike Day; 6,772 riders came in 2025.

The 24th Radtag Stilfserjoch / Stelvio Bike Day runs Saturday 29 August 2026, closing the pass road to all motorised vehicles from Trafoi to the 2,758 m summit between 08:00 and 16:00. The same eight-hour ban applies on the Lombard side from Bormio to the top and on the Swiss link down to Santa Maria in the Val Muestair, so every approach is shut at once. The classic South Tyrolean ramp from Prad climbs 24.96 km and 1,848 vertical metres, averaging 9-11 percent with 48 numbered hairpins. Last year drew 6,772 cyclists despite low temperatures.

The Stelvio is the second-highest paved pass in the Alps and, for most drivers in the region, the single most iconic road on the map. Losing all three approaches for a full working day in late August is the kind of detail that quietly wrecks a weekend route if you only find out at the barrier in Trafoi. There is no mass start and no registration, so traffic on the closed sections builds from around 06:30 and stays dense until 16:00. Anyone planning to cross that day needs a real alternative: the Umbrail on the Swiss side is also shut, which pushes traffic onto the Reschen, the Ofenpass or a long detour via the Gavia and Tonale. The closure sits inside a wider pattern - Stelvio Night in late June, and Sellaronda Bike Day shutting Sella, Pordoi, Gardena and Campolongo on 12 September. For the pass communities a car-free day is now one of the strongest tourism assets the road has. Best plan for drivers: take the pass early in the week, or come back after 16:00 on the 29th, when 48 hairpins are empty and the light is at its best.

Read the original at Nationalpark Stilfserjoch →

Porsche readies a manual-only 911 GT3 with a factory ducktail spoiler, reportedly capped at 100 units and premiering 1 August.

Spy shots show a barely disguised red 911 GT3 (992.2) lapping the Nurburgring with factory driver Joerg Bergmeister, wearing a ducktail rear spoiler moulded into the bodywork with an integrated third brake light. A leak from Porsche's Austrian site points to the name '911 GT3 Bergsport', a run of just 100 cars, and a debut on 1 August 2026. It is expected to keep the manual gearbox and the current GT3's naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six, which revs to 9,000 rpm and makes 502 hp. Porsche has not officially confirmed the model, power or price yet.

The ducktail is Porsche folklore: it first appeared on the 1972 911 Carrera RS 2.7, the original road-legal homologation special, and has since become shorthand for lightweight, driver-first 911s. Reviving it on a limited GT3 signals a heritage play aimed at collectors and enthusiasts rather than lap-time chasers. The name Bergsport literally means mountain sport, which lands perfectly for an audience that lives for Alpine passes. It slots alongside recent purist specials like the 911 S/T, all built around the same high-revving flat-six and three pedals. A 100-unit cap would make it one of the rarest current GT3 variants, guaranteeing allocation battles and strong residuals. The minimal camouflage and a top factory test driver suggest Porsche wants the buzz to build ahead of the reveal. For drivers in the German-speaking Alps this is close to a home-market halo car. Expect official numbers and pricing in the days before the 1 August premiere.

Read the original at Zero2Turbo →

180 classic cars from 14 nations run 900+ km and 50 special stages through Styria's Alps, 22-25 July, based in Groebming.

The 34th Ennstal-Classic runs 22-25 July 2026 from its home town of Groebming in the Styrian Enns valley, drawing roughly 180 pre-1996 classics from 14 nations. Over three driving days crews cover well over 900 kilometres across Alpine passes on a route built around 50 timed special stages, mixing light-barrier sprints with precision average-speed sections. The 2026 edition adds a Wednesday check-in with a full paddock programme at the Groebming Motorpark, a new relaxed Touring format capped at 10 entries, and the Porsche Design Grand Prix showcase in town. It stays a regularity rally, not a flat-out race, and raises money for the Wings for Life charity.

The Ennstal-Classic is one of the most prestigious classic-car regularity rallies in the Alps, often called the Austrian answer to the Mille Miglia. Its reputation was built by the names that have driven it: Stirling Moss, Niki Lauda, Derek Bell, David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel have all taken part. The appeal is the machinery and the roads in equal measure, threading valuable pre-war and post-war classics through Styria's Dachstein and Soelk country. Unlike a track event, the format rewards discipline and navigation, so the driving is precise rather than reckless, which suits the older iron. Groebming turns into an open-air museum for four days, with a paddock, evening events and the Porsche Design Grand Prix that let spectators get close for free. For anyone in the wider Alpine region it is an easy weekend target, roughly two hours from Salzburg and within reach of Munich. The 2026 route again links some of the best driving roads in the eastern Alps. Live status pages and a livestream mean followers who cannot attend can still track the field stage by stage.

Read the original at Ennstal-Classic →