One of the anniversaries that the auto industry will mark in 2023 is the 40th year of Mitsubishi Motors North America as an independent brand, a status it attained after years of having its vehicles serve as captive imports of the company that was then known as Chrysler. The occasion calls for some special editions of Mitsubishi’s current flagship vehicle, the Outlander SUV. The Three Diamonds marque is offering a special edition from a luxury standpoint, plus a new plug-in hybrid variant.

The seven-passenger Outlander will be offered in a 40th Anniversary edition that will be immediately recognizable by its black-and-tan leather interior treatment, which extends to the Outlander’s headliner and roof pillars. It’s the same accommodations offered by the SEL Premium Package, with an accompanying black-and-bronze exterior paint treatment. The 40th Anniversary models, including the PHEV hybrid, will also offer all-wheel drive as standard equipment, with prices starting at a base of $39,995.

Look at it this way: It took 70 years for the Chevrolet Corvette to morph from a fiberglass-body boulevardier all the way into today’s mid-engine exotic despite years of experimentation. And relocating the powertrain to the middle of the car also freed up space for a modern battery pack. Just that quickly, and right in time for the Corvette’s 70th birthday, Chevrolet has announced that a hybrid Corvette, the E-Ray, will join the Corvette lineup for 2024, and will have the added distinction of being the first production Corvette equipped by the factory with all-wheel drive.

If you’ve tried shopping for one lately, you know the waiting list to order an eighth-generation Corvette can be a long one, with the Z06 variant not even officially introduced yet. The coming of the E-Ray may mitigate it somewhat, especially once buyers realize that the E-Ray will squirt from zero to 60 MPH in a claimed 2.5 seconds. The E-Ray will be the only production sports car on the market combining a naturally aspirated V-8 internal-combustion engine with a battery-assisted hybrid driveline. The E-Ray will go on sale later this year, with a base MSRP of $104,295.

One of my writing clients is Speed Sport, the oldest continuously publishing journal of motorsport history in North America, which can trace its roots to 1934 when the pioneering racing journalist Chris Economaki founded it as National Speed Sport News, originally a one-page report tacked on to the back of his daily newspaper in New Jersey. Today, Speed Sport is the digital destination for all sorts of motorsport news and history from across the continent. A lot of important people in motorsport make it part of their regular reading. That’s why it was so gratifying to represent the publication in the Pocono Raceway-sponsored Writers Contest that just concluded at the 50th annual convention of the Eastern Motorsport Press Association in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. And it was even better to come away with a win in the contest.

The winning entry was the story that I wrote for Speed Sport on the life of the late Phil Walters, a towering talent who walked away from the sport at the pinnacle of his international career after the spectator catastrophe at Le Mans in 1955 that left more than 80 dead. Walters was a kid from New York City who gravitated into the Midgets on both sides of World War II, where he raced under the pseudonym of Ted Tappett so his family wouldn’t learn what he was doing. He set records that still stand today before becoming a top-tier road racer and actually winning a verbal offer from Enzo Ferrari to join his firm’s Formula 1 team. But for fate, Walters could have been one of the all-time greats, especially from the United States. It was especially gratifying to win the cooperation of the Walters family in this project.

Hyundai Motor North America has been on a roll in some of the lower echelons of production-based road racing, and plans to campaign five race cars in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, where it will pursue a fourth consecutive series championship in 2023. The race car involved is the Hyundai Elantra N TCR sedans, with four previous Hyundai champions among the driver lineup. The cars will be fielded by Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian and Delly Motorsports, with the driver contingent led by Robert Wickens, who is still recovering from devastating injuries sustained in and Indycar race at Pocono.

Bryan Herta Autosport will field one Elantra for returning back-to-back series champions Taylor Hagler and Michael Lewis, with Wickens being newly teamed with Harry Gottsacker. Mason Fillipi and Mark Wilkins will also drive for Herta. The Hyundai teams will also contest the TC America series powered by Skip Barber Racing School in the SRO Motorsports America campaign, with those entries coming from the Ricca Motorsports stable.

In recognizing that Carroll Shelby, the father of the Cobra, would have turned 100 years old last week, we mused about how long it would take for the Shelby universe come up with a salute to the founder that’s all its own. Here’s the answer: Shelby American, now based in Las Vegas, has announced a very limited – to 100 copies – special edition of the 2023 Ford Mustang, naturally, that recognizes the founder’s birthday. The 2023 Carroll Shelby Centennial Edition Mustang is an exclusive tribute to the man, with specialty treatments to the interior, the chassis and of course, the powertrain.

At its heart is a supercharged Black Hat version of the 5.0-liter OHC V-8, mated to a Borla cat-back exhaust system, and rated at an estimated 750 horsepower. To provide the necessary grip, specific 20-inch lightweight alloy wheels and sticky performance radials are specified. Inside, you get a Shelby-spec interior leather package, Shelby door sill plates and bespoke floor mats, among other goodies. The whole package is wrapped in custom body adds, with a model-specific rear spoiler. Remember, only 100 are set to be produced, with the package price starting at $49,995. In addition to the car, we should add.

At the top of any motorsport enthusiast’s bucket list ought to be a visit to one of the historic gatherings held annually at the Goodwood Estate in Great Britain. The organizers tend to recognize major milestones in the sport, with two of this year’s being the centennial of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 60th birthday of the Porsche 911, both huge happenings. They’ve also focused on 2023 as the 100th anniversary of the late Carroll Shelby’s birth, announcing today that Shelby’s lifetime and accomplishments will be the tribute subject at the Goodwood Revival, set to take place September 8th through 10th at the historic estate and hillclimb.

Could you have asked for a better photo of Ol’ Shel, decked out in the bib overalls that formed his driving uniform, while better-attired officially look on a little disdainfully from the background? Today is indeed Shelby’s 100th birthday, the outset of a life that saw him do everything from capture Le Mans as a driver to create groundbreaking sports cars with gargantuan Ford engines that are still be produced in tribute fashion to this very day. As predicted now, Goodwood will mark Shelby’s remarkable life with a full-on Cobra presence that will include a field of the cars taking part in the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration. Meanwhile, the Whitsun Trophy event at Goodwood will host a number of examples of the Ford GT40, whose design Shelby played such an integral part in refining when Ford was bent on global motorsport conquest. If you like old race cars from all over the world, being exercised at full gallop, then Goodwood is positively paradise and well worth the airfare and transportation costs to get there.

It’s always gratifying to start a new year with a new endeavor in journalism. Accordingly, we’ve just had our first article published in Tazio, a recently launched premium-quality quarterly magazine, based in Belgium, that focuses on the international history of motorsport. The magazine’s motto is “Slow stories about fast cars.” You’ve got to respect that. It’s a philosophy that great racing cars of the past are entitled to deep-dive historical analysis to determine what made them that way. My own entry was a feature on a car that transformed the Indianapolis 500 more than 70 years ago.

Designed and built by the great fabricator Frank Kurtis, the Cummins Diesel Special of 1952 snatched that year’s 500 pole position with the Chicago Midget ace Freddie Agabashian in the low-slung hot seat. The first Indianapolis race car of any kind powered by a turbocharged engine, the Cummins likely would have won the race if rubber debris hadn’t been sucked into the turbocharger inlet to choke the engine. To research the story, we spoke to sources in Cummins’ archive and engineering team, and even to the last surviving family member still in the business. This multi-page story is the kind of coverage that’s Tazio’s speciality, and we’re proud to be affiliated with the title. As you may have already guessed, Tazio takes its name from Tazio Nuvolari, the preternaturally gifted Italian racing champion of the 1930s, who excelled on both two wheels and four.

One of the biggest trade shows extant is CES 2023, the former Consumer Electronics Show, which is now going full bore in Las Vegas. Since motor vehicles have increasingly become electronic playthings, it makes sense that a growing number of new vehicle reveals are now taking place at the show, as well. Here’s an example, as Stellantis picked CES 2023 to unveil its Ram 1500 Revolution concept, the corporation’s take on an all-electric full-size pickup, and a clear indication of how the next generation of Ram truck styling will look when the prototype makes it to production sometime in 2024.

The Revolution is built on Stellantis’ new STLA body-on-frame platform for full-size battery-electric vehicles, will styling cues, including the large saloon-type door openings in the cab, that will be adopted directly via the next generation of full-size Ram trucks. One industry-first feature of the concept is three-row seating inside the cab. The Revolution is capable of adding 100 miles of range in 10 minutes using 800-volt fast charging. The Revolution’s dual electric motors give it all-wheel-drive capability, and all-wheel steering is part of the package.

It’s been generally known for several months now that Michael Andretti has wanted to join the Formula 1 ranks as a team owner, having set up a Special Purpose Acquisition Company to raise funding for the venture. Not everyone believed it would actually happen, given the rarified gigabuck reality of F1 that makes the bar exceptionally high for anybody interest in joining the circus. This week’s announcement that Andretti Global is teaming with Cadillac to form a new team, the series’ second under American ownership, was still a stunner. Cadillac already has a huge footprint in U.S. road racing, and the Andretti name remains magic throughout the world of motorsport. With GM money behind it, this F1 dream should become a reality.

There’s solid reasoning at work here that goes beyond the Haas team’s current presence in Formula 1. An American-based entertainment conglomerate now owns the series, which has since made major inroads into the consciousness of U.S. race fans. The already established F1 race at COTA in Texas has been joined by another F1 round in Miami that was a blowout success in its opening outing last year, plus Formula 1 is now at work building a new circuit in Las Vegas for a third U.S. race set for later this year. According to some published reports, Cadillac will be a branding partner, with the team’s engines initially set to be provided by an existing F1 powertrain supplier, with Renault mentioned as one of the possibilities.

Without question, it will be a bittersweet event, but Dodge intends to sent its current gasoline-fueled generation of muscle cars into retirement with a bang, while teasing the EVs that are coming to replace them. The event is the Last Call performance showcase set for March 20th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will introduce final “Last Call” editions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger, while also unveiling the car in the photo, the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona SRT concept, with its all-electric powertrain. The Last Call editions – instant collectibles, anybody? – will be the swan song of the current, vaunted crop of Hemi-powered Mopar muscle cars.

The Las Vegas happening will feature a day of drag racing, an all-Dodge car show, celebrity appearances and more. Can’t make it? The Dodge Garage will feature daylong livestreaming of the event, including the reveal of the Last Call special editions. If you’ve always wanted a Hemi, now’s the time to join the queue and get ready to ride loudly.