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Since August 1905, the Midland Automobile Club has run annual hill-climb events outside the village of Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire, England. The course has remained entirely unchanged in the more than a century since, making Shelsley Walsh the oldest surviving motorsport course still used to this day. Last weekend saw the course host the club’s annual Classic Nostalgia event, where a ton of motorsport’s finest machines took turns running up the hill. Among the stars of the show was a particularly special British racing icon: the BRM V16. For those who are unfamiliar with this bit of automotive history, the BRM V16 is a Formula 1 racer built by British Racing Motors starting in 1947. Despite some initial teething issues, the car would race until the end of the 1954–55 season, with drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González taking the helm in different races.

As the name would suggest, the car is powered by a 1.5-liter V-16 engine that is said to have produced 600 horsepower at 12,000 rpm in period. BRM was a brand-new company in 1947, and it was decided that such a technical engine would do wonders in highlighting British engineering might at the time. Part of that immense horsepower output from such a minuscule displacement came from the two-stage centrifugal supercharger riding atop the engine, which was designed and developed by the blokes over at Rolls-Royce. As you may know, the luxury automaker had some fairly recent experience with building these sorts of blowers, thanks to the Merlin V-12’s service in World War II aircraft. In fact, former BRM employee and restoration specialist Rick Hall told Top Gear that the BRM V16 engine is largely a scaled-down variant of that monstrous Spitfire powertrain.
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The small-displacement engine combined with that supercharger makes for quite an auditory experience, which was on full display at Shelsley Walsh. Septuagenarian status aside, the BRM V16 stormed up the course in proper anger. Thanks to the number of gearheads present for the festivities, we have a few clips of the action to pore over. If there is one thing that these old race cars make certain, it’s that motorsports has lost something special in the modern era. The engineering and speeds may be more extreme than ever, but there’s nothing in motorsports today that sounds like this thing.

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As new-car prices rise and demand continues to outstrip supply, some dealers have been known to raise the price of their offerings, and some are doing it by tens of thousands of dollars. Some dealers are also placing orders with false names to increase their supply.Ford has been trying all year to get its dealers to stop overcharging customers by issuing stronger and stronger warnings. Last week, Ford had to update its definition of a “broker” and warned all of them that flipping a new vehicle for a large profit could result in not getting more of that model in the future.GM has had to issue similar warnings to its dealer network, and said this week that some warranties for popular models could no longer be transferred to a new buyer if the car was resold within the first year.Too many people are taking advantage of the new-car shortage by selling their own just-purchased, highly in-demand vehicles. In many cases, dealers are in on the actions, and affected automakers are not pleased.Social media has been full of people posting new-car window stickers that show dealers are adding $20,000, $30,000, or even $50,000 to the asking price of a new model, under the guise of a “market adjustment.”

Ford’s taken the most heat for these markups, and has also tried multiple times to get its dealers to knock it off. In January, according to Carbuzz, Ford admitted that a “limited number” of dealerships were requiring customers to pay more than the agreed-upon price for the 2022 F-150 Lightning electric truck, even after the order had been placed. The price gouging was “negatively impacting customer satisfaction and damaging to the Ford Motor Company brand and Dealer Body reputation,” Ford said in a letter to dealers. That letter also warned that any dealers caught increasing prices might not get all the Lightnings they and their customers had ordered. Other popular Ford models getting marked up were the Bronco, Bronco Sport, F-150 Raptor, and the Mustang Mach-E. As far back as December 2021, Ford’s Mike Levine suggested customers look for a dealer that won’t pull any fast ones about pricing:
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In February, Ford CEO Jim Farley said during an earnings call that around 10 percent of its dealers were responsible for these extra charges. Farley said the automaker knew which dealers were causing the problems and repeated the threat about future allocations.Ford said in May that it would implement a stronger name-match policy, requiring a higher percentage of sales to be delivered to the person for whom the dealer originally told Ford had ordered the vehicle. This change was meant to prevent dealers from using a fake name to order a vehicle, then flip it by selling it for more money to another, real customer.Despite all of these new rules, Ford had to send an even stronger letter to dealers last week. The automaker has now changed the definition of who is considered a broker, and warns that any broker (now, basically, anyone who might be involved with ordering and flipping a popular model) will be punished. A first offense could result in not getting vehicles in a future order at a 1:1 ratio. So, overcharge for a Lightning today and your next Lightning order will be one vehicle short. A second strike means a dealer might not get any more of that model to sell for the current or next model year, Ford said.GM Limiting Warranty TransfersFord isn’t the only automaker dealing with these problems. GM North America president Steve Carlisle sent a letter to dealers in January that warned the “small minority of bad actors” who were price gouging that GM might not send them the vehicles they were allocated in the future. Last week, the automaker escalated its efforts to stop dealers and individuals from reselling their sought-after models. Corvette Blogger reported on a letter to dealers that describes the new tactic is to limit the transfer of some warranties for “certain high-demand models (as identified by GM) if the vehicle is resold within the first 12 months of ownership,” making flipping far less appealing. The list of affected models includes the Corvette Z06, GMC Hummer EV, and Cadillac Escalade V.
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The Mercedes V-class isn’t a very interesting car, at least from the factory. It looks like virtually every other van on the road, and the most powerful engine you can option is an uneventful diesel motor. GAD Motors, a German tuner shop that specializes in high-performance builds, decided to spice up this V-class with the drivetrain from a Mercedes-AMG GT R. It looks awesome. The CarSpyMedia YouTube channel caught GAD Motors testing its AMG-ified van on the Nürburgring, giving us our best look yet at just how capable this V-class can be. It sounds wonderful and, despite the gigantic body and presumably heavy curb weight, actually looks quick.

In addition to the upgraded 900-hp twin-turbo V-8 engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, GAD also installed all of the associated electronics and a new exhaust system complete with catalytic converters and a gas particulate filter so the car could be driven on the road. To slow down the massive people carrier, there are carbon-ceramic brakes from the GT R as well. As with any build this complex, GAD had to fabricate a bunch of custom parts to make everything work together.

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The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 currently under discussion in Washington would spend $369 billion on climate change and energy security, including big changes to electric-vehicle tax credits. If it passes, of course.What matters to car shoppers is that there’d be more money for more electric vehicles: gone would be the 200,000-per-automaker limit, which GM, Tesla, and Toyota have already reached. Used vehicles would also qualify for a $4000 credit, for the first time.The bill would also encourage automakers to use batteries that are sourced and assembled in North America, limiting the value of importing EVs from China. It would also set requirements for what EVs qualify, with price and origin of components among the criteria.The surprise political revival of some parts of the Build Back Better plan brings with it the potential for massive federal action on climate change, drug costs, and corporate taxes. Now packaged as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or IRA, the bill would reduce the federal deficit by over $300 billion, according to President Joe Biden.

It’s the estimated $369 billion in the IRA that addresses climate change and energy security spending that will have a direct effect on the vehicles we buy and drive. The text of the bill is not yet final, and the Senate has not yet voted on it, but we can at least look at what would change in the automotive world if it passes as it is. Here’s a summary of how the IRA would affect the lives of car buyers. In short, middle- and low-income buyers benefit, as do automakers who build their EVs in North America.Changes for BuyersThe biggest change for the auto industry is that the IRA revamps how federal electric-vehicle tax credits work. Right now, the credits can only be applied to the purchase of a new EV and are limited to 200,000 qualifying purchases per automaker before the credits, worth up to $7500 per vehicle, start to phase out. Under the IRA, the credits would not be tied to any automaker but would continue for all qualifying EVs until December 31, 2032. This change most obviously helps General Motors, Tesla, and Toyota the most, since they’re the three automakers that have either already run out of tax credits or are now phasing them out. President Biden emphasized in remarks about the bill that the qualifying factor for $7500 tax credit is “if those vehicles were made in America.”Car buyers would also be able to get the credit as a discount at the time of sale, either as a down payment or as a price reduction, instead of needing to wait until filing their taxes.The bill also sets upper-income limits on who can get the credit. Anyone making more than $150,000 a year (single filer) or a family that makes more than $300,000 would not be eligible. There will also be limits on how expensive a vehicle can be to qualify, with the upper price limit on vans, trucks, and SUVs now set at $80,000 MSRP while all other vehicles are limited to a price of $55,000.For the first time, used EVs would be eligible for a rebate of either $4000 or 30 percent of the vehicle’s sale price, whichever is smaller. The maximum price of a qualifying used EV is $25,000 and it has to be at least two years old. Income limits exist for used sales, too, but they’re set at $75,000 (single filers) and $150,000 (joint filers).

The bill also changes the definition of what kinds of vehicles can get the credit, from a “qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle” to a “clean vehicle,” opening the door for hydrogen or other powertrain types to be considered the same as battery-only EVs from the federal tax-credit perspective.Changes for ManufacturersFinally, and this will take some time to come into effect, the bill requires automakers to use “critical minerals” for their batteries that were extracted and processed in North America or a country the U.S. has a trade agreement with. The bill requires qualifying clean vehicles to use a minimum amount of such minerals, starting at 40 percent for vehicles put into service before January 2024, then going up by 10 percent a year until it reaches 80 percent for vehicles placed in service after December 31, 2026. Similarly, all qualifying clean vehicles need to have their battery components manufactured or assembled in North America at a similar increasing scale, starting at 50 percent for vehicles put into service before January 1, 2024, and growing to 100 percent starting in 2029. Expect to hear about lots more battery gigafactories sprouting up around the U.S. if this becomes law.As for the politics of the bill, given that the bill was revived through a deal with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), there’s hope on Capitol Hill that the bill will pass with all 50 Democratic senators voting in favor, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to vote to break the tie if all 50 Republicans vote against, as is expected. Schumer said last week that he would bring the IRA up for a vote this week.
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