It’s called the Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype, and it represents – or teases – the Honda-owned luxury marque’s next steps in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTP championship, using a hybrid powertrain in a chassis built by race car designer ORECA, of Italy, which has been an Acura partner during its history of sports prototype racing. The ARX-06 – the model name stands for Acura Racing eXperimental, generation 6 – will continues Acura’s IMSA heritage, which dates back to 1991, and will feature exterior design themes penned in-house by Acura to demonstrate the race’s cars production lineage.

The new prototype wiill have an electric-capable powertrain that’s mandated in IMSA’s LMDh category. Acura swept all three IMSA DPi championships in both 2019 and 2020 – Driver, Manufacturer and Team – and has also won the last two consecutive runnings of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, most recent with a 1-2 overall placing. As the ARX-06 prepares for its 2023 debut, Acura has re-upped with its longtime IMSA partner teams, Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing, to campaign the new hybrid prototype once it’s ready for combat.

Stellantis, the global corporation that now owns Chrysler and a whole bunch of other automotive brands, has focused much of its North America output at Canadian assembly plants for generations now. One of the biggest, located in Brampton, Ontario, is the point of assembly for vehicles based on Chrysler’s current L-platform for large vehicles, namely the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. Those are some popular nameplates, and their production is scheduled to end once Brampton begins retooling for a new line of vehicles, a process set to start in 2024.

While no product announcements are forthcoming as yet, Chrysler has disclosed that vehicles riding on its next large platform, known internally as STLA, will have their production switched to another Canadian plant, located in Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River from the eponymous Michigan auto capital. Both moves are part of Stellantis’ plan to invest $35 billion in electrification and software development globally. Stellantis expects Windsor to support battery-electric vehicle final assembly across multiple platforms, while tooling up Brampton for a 2025 resumption of production utilizing a new, yet-to-be-announced vehicle platform.

A significant design study from a major automaker is always noteworthy, but the rollout today of Buick’s new Wildcat EV concept cars also denotes some major changes in the way Buick does business and promotes itself. First, Buick has also disclosed that the Wildcat is a harbinger of its plan to commit to a full portfolio of all-electric models by the end of the decade, removing the historic brand from internal-combustion power permanently. To that end, Buick is teeing up a marketing campaign based around a modern, minimalist version of its fabled tri-shield logo. This is a very big step for Buick and, by extension, General Motors.

The Wildcat EV’s forward-leaning nose and trapezoidal grille are a hint of what future Buick offerings may look like as GM continues to transform the brand. The dramatic concept incorporates semi-swing door assemblies that allow access to its 2+2 bodywork, and blade-type taillamps that offset the slit-like headlamps. Could this be the template for a revived Riviera, we wonder out loud?

We’ve kept you apprised here about the freshened-for-2023 Toyota GR86 sport coupe, a tight little point-and-squirt machine that also lends its basic platform to the Subaru BRZ. Toyota has significantly upgraded the production version of the GR86, including a Special Edition with model-specific Solar Shift paint color, and a standard engine that substantially boosts both displacement and output to 2.4 liters and 228 horsepower, with the special edition limited to just 860 production units. Another piece of news that’s at least as big concerns what you can do with a GR86 after you take delivery.

Speed Sport, for which I’m a contributing writer, today carried Toyota’s announcement that a spec racing series for the GR86 will take place in 2023 to be called the GR Cup, and which will be contested and organized by SRO Motorsports Group. I profiled SRO Motorsports for a soon-to-be-published profile in PRI Magazine. SRO Motorsports is the world leader in presenting marque-centric GT racing events at road circuits on five continents, led by its signature event, the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa at the famed Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. According to Speed Sport, the GR Cup will comprise seven events in the United States spread among seven well-known road courses. SRO Motorsports presents this kind of marque-oriented road racing for aspiring racers throughout the world, with heavy manufacturer support.

In the introduction to this page, I note that one of my writing clients is Performance Racing Industry, where I’m a regular contributor to PRI Magazine, the monthly journal of the hard racing parts and technology industry. It’s a fascinating and challenging slot, whose assignments allow discussions with industry leaders in North American motorsport. PRI is the racing-based subsidiary of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which was founded in the late 1940s by hot rod pioneers Bob Petersen and Wally Parks and now represents the sprawling North American automotive aftermarket, a $48 billion annual business. PRI is based in Aliso Viejo, California, but a lot of its member businesses do their business in and around the heartland for geographic purposes. Now, they’ve got a PRI home of their very own.

This week, just in time for the Indianapolis 500, PRI cut the ribbon on its new, 42,500-square-foot Membership Headquarters, located on Main Street in Speedway, Indiana, just blocks from the fabled Brickyard and also, the local culinary landmarks known as the Mug N Bun and Charlie Brown’s, two other locations very well known among racing people. Putting down roots in this hallowed locale will give PRI member firms a place to gather, network and relax when they’re doing business in Indy, which can also involve everything from the drags to road racing and short oval racing, all of which now exist in abundance around Indianapolis, home to a host of IndyCar and pro drag teams, among many others. “We’re excited to provide the racing industry with a place to call home,” said Dr. Jamie Meyer, PRI President. “For years, the industry has gathered at the PRI Trade Show to conduct business and celebrate all things motorsports. For the first time, the racing industry has a dedicated place where they can connect all year long.” The new Membership Headquarters will dovetail nicely with the annual PRI Trade Show, which is set for December and also takes place in Indianapolis.

We don’t do that much in this space with current-day NASCAR, mainly because other outlets exist that focus on it specifically. But there’s no way we were passing this up. In the week that NASCAR and Formula 1 constitute two of Memorial Day weekend’s three great motorsports happenings, the upstart NASCAR team Trackhouse Racing, announced a new plan called PROJECT91 to attract drivers from other motorsport disciplines to today’s stock cars, and named its first driver last week, as well. The first PROJECT91 driver will be 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who will drive a third Trackhouse entry in his NASCAR Cup series debut at the August 21st stop on the road course at Watkins Glen.

Trackhouse Racing is a subsidiary of Trackhouse Entertainment Group, owned by former IMSA and NASCAR driver Justin Marks and Grammy-winning rapper Pitbull. It came to NASCAR by buying the former stock car assets of Chip Ganassi Racing, and fields full-time rides for Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez. The team is on a roll, with Chastain notching multiple Cup wins this year. PROJECT91 closely follows the announcement by Hendrick Motorsports that it will field a Cup-spec Chevrolet Camaro as a special entry at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023. With its fully independent suspension, rack-and-pinion power steering, sequential gearbox and ultra-low-profile wheel and tire combination, the Next Gen car now raced in NASCAR Cup more closely parallels current global racing technology than anything NASCAR’s run in the past. None of these internationalist developments since its adoption are coincidental, and that’s a good thing in our book.

There used to be a time when the only person who walked into a bank looking for a fill-up was John Dillinger, or someone like him. There’s nothing nefarious, to be clear, about this new arrangement we’re discussing here. Bank of America – full disclosure, we’re customers – has entered into an intriguing partnership with Electrify America, which we told you last week is aligning with Lexus to provide quick-recharge capability for its vehicles at Lexus dealerships. It’s got nothing to do with selling cars, but Electrify America has already begun work on doubling the number of fast-charging stations outside Bank of America financial centers by the end of 2023.

At the beginning of this year, Electrify America had installed 172 EV chargers like the one you see above outside 46 different Bank of America locations. That total is now expected to reach more than 350 chargers at more than 90 financial centers by the end of 2023. Bank of America plans to increase the number of charging stations in states where they already exist, including Florida, while adding new locations across an expanded area that will include Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. In addition, the bank recently announced plans to finance a fleet of EVs for the Wayne Health Mobile Unit in Detroit.

Aside from having timeless looks – it didn’t become a hot rod icon for nothing – the 1932 Ford was guaranteed a ticket to immortality because it also introduced Ford’s valve-in-block V-8, the fabled flathead and the first truly successful mass-market engine of its kind, to a beleaguered motoring public at the Depression’s lowest depths. So the fact that it became a landmark car is almost something of an accident. The production car, and the countless hot rods it inspired, are being recognized on the 1932 Ford’s 90th birthday, which is being celebrated next month in a very big way at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

“Ford Fever: The Deuce Turns 90” is the theme of a special celebration, with some genuine luminaries as special guests, that the Petersen has set for June 11th. The exhibition will include a brace of highly memorable 1932 Fords, including the one seen above, the Doane Spencer roadster, arguably the most influential and aesthetically flawless Deuce hot rods in history. Some other legendary Deuces in the house will be the Bob McGee and Ray Brown roadsters, both pioneering hot rods in their own right. Attending worthies at the Deuce gala are set to include Henry Ford III and the recipient of the Petersen’s Hot Rod Award, ZZ Top frontman and rodding elite Billy Gibbons, who is promising a 45-minute presentation as he wails on one of the custom guitars that form the other part of his lore.

It’s a pity that so many people don’t know about it, but the endless, flat stretches of the American prairie that comprise the state of Nebraska are home to two excellent museums of relevance to us, located within reasonable driving distance of each other via Interstate 80. They’re teaming up to present a unique show of high-performance automotive exhibits and the nation’s flying arsenal against totalitarianism, all in one place, and fittingly taking place over Father’s Day weekend, June 18th and 19th. The location is the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum, located in a gleaming glass-front edifice about halfway between Lincoln and Omaha off I-80, where America’s decades of nuclear deterrence are recognized.

The show’s co-organizer is the Museum of American Speed, established by the late Bill “Speedy” Smith at the business he founded in Lincoln, Speedway Motors, a major retailer of both hardcore racing and hot rod components. Literally anything could show up at the SAC museum, given the fact that the Smith collection numbers more than 600 historic racing engines, about 150 vintage race cars, and countless speed components, some of them one-of-one creations. We guarantee Dad will like this event, and if you happen to miss it, both the participating museums are must visits for anybody motoring across the Cornhusker State.

Unless you’ve been seriously occupied otherwise, you likely already know that RM Sotheby’s, the auction house with offices in Blenheim, Ontario, has shattered, forcibly dissected and otherwise blown to smithereens the existing world record for a historic automobile sold at auction. The winning bid for one of the two 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupes ever produced came to all of 135 million euros, which translates to about $142 million in U.S. currency, obliterating the previous record of $70 million spent at Bonhams in Monterey for a 1963 Ferrari GTO, one of the 35 purebred racing coupes ever built.

What’s even more amazing is that the out-of-sight winning bid – allegedly placed anonymously by phone – paid for a car clearly built for racing but which never actually turned a competitive lap. The Uhlenhaut coupe is a closed version of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR sports racer, itself based on the W196 Formula 1 monoposto. A brace of works 300 SLRs came to Le Mans in 1955, intending to dominate the race, only one of them was involved in the worst loss of life in motorsport history when it caromed into the packed crowd and disintegrated. Mercedes-Benz pulled out of the race a few hours later, ending its factory participation in motorsport for decades. The coupe was under development already to run in the next Carrera Panamericana down the spine of Mexico, which also never happened because the organizers bailed out after the Le Mans catastrophe. Here’s some perspective: Florida is dotted with brokers who specialize in selling executive aircraft. You could buy your very own personal fleets of bizjets for what this car cost. The remaining coupe will stay in the Mercedes-Benz archival collection. If you missed the sale, and want to learn more about this stunning car and the man who created it, Dalton Watson Fine Books offers a comprehensive biography of Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the brilliant Daimler-Benz engineer and designer.