Monterey Car Week

This weekend sees the start of Monterey Car Week, a special automotive week that is full of exciting events, auto shows, rallies, concours and car auctions that culminates at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on the 26th.

There are two major motoring bodies that will be unveiling new models that piqued our interest, and in today's blog post, we bring you details on these latest cars. 

The new Lamborghini Aventador SVJ will have it's official unveiling during Monterey Car Week. The newest super sports car form the famed Italian marque recently set the lap record for production cars at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, in a time of just 6:44.97 minutes. 

The Aventador SVJ is made of lightweight materials that contribute to the excellent weight-to-power ratio of only 1.98 kg/hp. Furthermore, Lamborghini's patented ALA 2.0 active aerodynamics system with aero vectoring guarantees handling and downforce. 

"Its tenure as the Nürburgring lap time record holder, even before its unveiling [this month], endorses Lamborghini's competence in applying superlative design engineering and ground-breaking technologies. The SVJ is a super sports car at the zenith of performance, while also ensuring unrivalled driving pleasure." – Stefano Domenicali, Automobile Chairman & CEO. 

It may cover an older model, but we have an impressive new tome! Our newest Lamborghini book, due for release in October, is all about the Lamborghini Murciélago. This book, written by Dr Thillainathan Pathmanathan, a lifelong Lamborghini enthusiast, examines the Murciélago in detail, while casting a look back through the marque's troubled history, to understand how the Murciélago came into being. This exceptional work touches on the people and organisation involved in the production of this iconic car, before examining each of the model variants, and discusses the joys and tribulations of ownership. 

BMW are another marque set to reveal a new car this week – rumour has it, it's a redesigned Z4. Monterey would be a meaningful venue, as BMW has a pattern of revealing concepts and production cars at this event; last year they showed 8-series and Z4 concept cars. 

So far as is known, the new Z4 will pull plenty of its design from the concept cars displayed last year, with a more forward face, and sweeping lines at the rear. As for power, BMW confirmed that a Z4 M40i will use the company's 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged inline-6. Engineers also focused on reducing the car's mass; despite the car being nearly 3 inches wider than its predecessor, the new Z4 will weigh nearly 50kg less. 

BMW's mystery reveal is set for August 23. In the meantime, if you are interested in owning a Z4, then you should first invest in our newest Essential Buyers Guide, which covers the Z4 E85 Roadster and E86 Coupe 2003-2009 – including the M and Alpina Roadster models. Packed full with loads of good advice from marque expert David Smitheram, and described as a "must have" by the Z4-forum and the BMW Car Club GB, this is the complete guide to choosing, assessing and buying the original BMW Z4.