Sports

Manchester United face rivals Leeds United in the Swedish capital of Stockholm on Saturday afternoon.  The Red Devils will face the newly-promoted Premier League side in their first friendly of the summer, before embarking on a tour of the United States on Tuesday. Ruben Amorim is under pressure to improve his side this term, after

It’s been a pretty rough year if you’re a fan of Need for Speed. With EA going all-in on a new Battlefield, it has put the series on ice and development on new content for NFS Unbound has officially ended. Things just got worse, as a decade-old entry into the series will be taken offline. Truthfully, Need for Speed Rivals will never be remembered as one of the greats of the series. Although its gameplay was remarkably similar to the cops-and-robbers style racing of the original NFS titles and then still recent Hot Pursuit, it didn’t really hit the same, and nor did its awfully cheesy storyline with alternate endings. Need for Speed Rivals in-game screenshot Really, its most remarkable point was being the first entry into the series to arrive on eighth-generation consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One. You could also pick it up on PS3 and Xbox 360, but we probably wouldn’t bother. It was also the first developed by Ghost Games, later followed by Heat, before Criterion took the NFS licence back. Online was a core part of Rivals when it launched in 2013, with its AllDrive system, turning the single-player elements of the game into multiplayer races. That will cease to function when servers are switched off on 7 October 2025. Good news, though, is that you will still be able to race against AI if you so wish. Need for Speed Rivals in-game screenshot For now, Need for Speed Rivals is still available to purchase on digital storefronts, but don’t be surprised to see it removed from sale once its servers are pulled. That’s happened with previous NFS titles, namely The Run, Shift, Carbon, and Undercover, all removed from sale in 2021. Keep a close eye on the future of more NFS titles in the coming years. 2015’s Need for Speed relied entirely on online features, so it may become completely unplayable when its servers’ date with death arrives.  Read More

Think ‘rally homologation special Mitsubishi’, and you’ll inevitably think of the Lancer Evolution. Anyone who knows about the brand’s performance exploits, though, knows it’s not the only one. When the company wanted to excel in a very different kind of rallying, it built the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, and now there’s a rare opportunity to own one in the UK. Based on the three-door third-generation Pajero (known as the Shogun in Britain and the Montero in Spanish-speaking countries for… reasons), the Evolution version was built specifically as a basis for Mitsu’s contender in the production-based class of the Dakar Rally and other long-distance rally raid events. Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution – side To that end, it underwent some fairly serious re-engineering compared to the standard car. It got a wider track, longer-travel shocks, independent double-wishbone suspension and Torsen LSDs on both axles, plus a faintly ridiculous spoiler that was fitted because the competition car had to have the same silhouette as the roadgoing one. The biggest change, though, was the engine. The Evo received Mitsubishi’s 3.5-litre 6G74 V6, complete with MIVEC variable valve timing. It pushed an official 276bhp, but this was when Japan’s ‘gentleman’s agreement’ on power outputs was still in effect – unofficially, there’s a good chance it produced more. Said power was sent through either a five-speed manual or five-speed auto, with the vast majority of cars – somewhat unfortunately, including this one – optioned with the latter. Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution – interior All these changes had a profound effect on the racing version, with the Pajevo sweeping the top three spots at its Dakar debut in 1998, and very narrowly missing out on another win the following year. Around 2500 roadgoing Pajero Evos were made, the bare minimum to satisfy homologation rules, and all were sold new to the Japanese market. A small number have made their way elsewhere, though, with this one, carrying an indicated 42,500 miles, coming to the UK in late 2015. Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution – rear Since then, it’s spent some time SORN’d, and has had a lightly patchy MOT history, but all the major things seem to have been rectified in recent years. It’s also, per the ad on Collecting Cars, been fully undersealed, and has a healthy service history from its lives in both Japan and Britain. The ad also points out that all nipples have been greased, which is nice, but we’re not sure what it’s got to do with the car. Anyway, if you fancy chucking in a bid and really confusing people when you tell them you own a Mitsubishi Evo, there are currently six days left on the auction, with bidding up to £5000 at the time of writing.  Read More

In the grand scheme of ultra-exclusive limited-run track-only supercars that most mere mortals will never get the chance to even see, let alone own, the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento stands out more than most. Debuting at the 2010 Paris Motor Show before entering a production run of 20 a couple of years later, its curious name translates as ‘Sixth Element’. That, on the periodic table, is carbon, which, woven together into an extremely light, strong fibre, is what nearly all of the Sesto Elemento is made of. Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Thanks to a tub, body, wheels, suspension and more made from carbon fibre, the Sesto weighed in at just 999kg. That, paired with the 5.2-litre, 562bhp V10 from the Gallardo Superleggera, made it a complete hooligan, capable of hitting 62mph in a quoted 2.5 seconds, and a top speed of… well, nobody really knows. A lot, though. But you already know all this. Why, in 2025, are we talking about a limited-edition track-only supercar from 13 years ago, most examples of which have long been stashed away in temperature-controlled subterranean lockups? Well, that bit about it being track-only is no longer true, at least for one of the 20 examples. That’s because British specialist Lanzante – they of McLaren-fettling fame – have made a Sesto Elemento road legal, showing off the finished product at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We don’t know a whole lot about the conversion or how much work it took. Presumably, the powertrain itself didn’t need a whole lot of changes, since it’s been lifted straight from a road car anyway. Typically, these things involve making sure all the lighting fixtures and instruments meet road regulations, fitting some less angry tyres, and of course sticking some number plates on. The Sesto, we imagine, would have been an easier starting point than some more recent track-only Lambos like the Essenza. And just in case you needed further proof that this thing’s ready to pop down to Tesco in, there’s footage of it being driven right there on public roads, currently on trade plates. Whoever’s behind this, we applaud them greatly and hope they use their new road car to its fullest potential. Read More

There have been many reasons for the slowdown in demand for electric cars over the last couple of years, but one of them is doubtless the fact that lots of countries – Britain included – have scaled back or entirely removed grants and incentives that were previously introduced to spur on adoption. Now, though, they’re making a return in the UK. After the previous Conservative government removed EV grants in 2022, the current Labour administration has set aside £650 million that’ll see up to £3750 taken off the price of EVs, up to a certain cost threshold. That funding is planned to run until the 2028-29 financial year, although could end sooner if high demand sees it all used up. Renault 5 The grant works a bit differently to last time, though. Under the old system, buyers applied for a fixed £1500 grant towards EVs priced up to £32,000. This time, it’ll be the manufacturers themselves doing it, with applications open from tomorrow, Wednesday 16 July, and the upper price threshold has been raised to £37,000. The amount knocked off will be variable, too. That’s because the reductions will be split into two bands, based around currently undisclosed ‘sustainability criteria’. In other words, cars manufactured in more sustainable ways will be eligible for the full £3750 grant, while EVs in the lower band will get only £1500 knocked off their list prices. Abarth 600e Which Car Throttle-friendly EVs could you soon be scooping up a taxpayer-funded discount on, then? Most versions of the Alpine A290 will theoretically be eligible, although the range-topping GTS sits on just the wrong side of the threshold at £37,500. Its equally loveable Renault 5 sibling, which currently starts at £22,995, could be about to get even more affordable, though. The 237bhp base model Abarth 600e just squeaks in at £36,985, and Fiat’s streamlined equipment levels mean that besides some swishier paint, there are no cost options to push that above the threshold. The hotter 276bhp Scorpionissima version, though, won’t be eligible. Mini JCW Electric The 255bhp Mini JCW Electric, meanwhile, has a decent bit of headroom with its £34,905 list price. Remember, though, that all these hypothetical discounts rely on the manufacturers themselves applying for them, and the government signing off on them. And before you ask, no, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N does not cost under £37,000. Sad face, we know. Read More

Maseratis and killer depreciation: name a more iconic duo. The Italian brand’s cars have always had a bit of an unfortunate tendency to start haemorrhageing value the second they leave the dealer. That’s perhaps one of the reasons there hasn’t been many takers for the MC20, the company’s first proper supercar since the MC12. Or rather, it was the MC20 – it’s just had the tiniest of facelifts along with a name change that’s seen it rechristened as the MCPura. Maserati MC20 – side Nothing gamechanging, then, but we’ll take any vaguely topical excuse to start browsing the classifieds for mid-engined Italian supercars and pass it off as work. So, the MCPura – as is an irritatingly standard practice for supercars these days, Maserati hasn’t given us a price for its renamed car, but all estimates place the price of the outgoing MC20 at around £230,000 (although precisely nobody is ordering any new supercar without a plethora of expensive options anyway). That means that this blue 2022 MC20 we’ve found on Auto Trader – the cheapest one on the site at a £129,995 list price – represents a discount of at least £100,000 over a brand new MCPura. That’s pretty significant, especially because besides the name and some very, very minor tweaks to the styling and aero, nothing’s really changed on the MC20/Pura since it launched in 2020. Maserati MC20 – interior This car has the same 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 as the MCPura, making the same 621bhp and 538lb ft, and will manage the same quoted figures of 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds and a 202mph top speed. It’s done 14,000 miles – reasonably high for a three-year-old supercar, but really not a lot in the grand scheme of things. It’s had its first MOT, although the plates are obscured in the ad, so we can’t see if anything was flagged up. The sparsely-written ad, meanwhile, doesn’t give any ideas of options fitted. Maserati MC20 – rear But none of that’s strictly relevant – this is a nearly new, mid-engined Italian supercar with a six-figure discount compared to a factory fresh one. The MC20’s high asking price is likely another reason it’s not been a runaway sales success, especially when its engine and interior lack the supercar drama of things like the Ferrari 296 and Lamborghini Huracan. It is imbued with a superb chassis and a surprisingly feisty attitude, though, and we can’t help but feel that at this price, it’s worth much more of a look. We pity the first owner that took such a hit in depreciation, but they’ve done the next one a big, big favour. Read More

Like your estate cars small and electric, but find that the MG5, Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer and Peugeot e-308 SW aren’t quite posh enough? There’s good news for you, as the third-generation Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake is here, and while it’s launching with pure EV power, there’ll soon be a hybrid too. Like its swoopy saloon sibling, the Shooting Brake comes with a choice of two EV powertrains. The entry-level 250+ gets a single rear axle motor, making 268bhp and 247lb ft. That’ll hit 62mph in 6.8 seconds and top out at 130mph, but the real headline-grabbing figure is its range on the WLTP cycle – 473 miles. That’s not quite the quoted 484 miles achieved by the equivalent saloon that makes it the longest-range EV on sale in Britain, but it ain’t half bad. Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake – rear Want a bit more poke? You’ll need the dual-motor CLA 350 4MATIC, which ups power to 349bhp and torque to 380lb ft. It drops the 0-62mph run to 5.0 seconds, although top speed is the same 130mph as the single-motor car. Peak range, meanwhile, drops a little to a quoted 454 miles. Both electric versions use the same 85kWh battery pack, which can charge at up to 320kW and claw back 193 miles of range in 10 minutes on such a charger. As for the hybrid, Merc’s yet to reveal details, but it’s entirely logical to expect it’ll be the same setup as the saloon, a mild hybrid with a 1.5-litre turbo four-pot paired up with a titchy 1.3kWh battery. Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake – interior Inside, too, it’s entirely identical to the saloon besides the shape. That means it comes with Merc’s brand new in-house operating system, which drives many screens. Go the whole hog with ticking option boxes and your dash can become a 38.25-inch wall of screen, broken up into three displays: a 10.25-inch instrument display for the driver, a central 14-inch infotainment screen for everyone and an extra 14-inch screen just to keep the front passenger happy. Estate-ish stuff? Boot volume is 455 litres with the back seats up and 1290 litres with them down, both drops versus the old CLA Shooting Brake, although the new EV compensates with a 101-litre frunk. Standard-fit roof rails, meanwhile, can support up to 75kg of stuff. Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake – interior Its party piece, though, is the panoramic glass roof. This not only comes with the usual UV protection and optional electrochromatic trickery we’ve come to expect from these things, but the glass itself features 158 integrated light modules, giving you a Rolls-Royce-style starry sky effect at night (although the stars here are of the three-pointed variety, natch). They light up in the same shade as the interior ambient lighting. The CLA Shooting Brake will launch fully in Europe next March, although exact UK specs and availability are yet to be confirmed. The saloon, though, kicks off at £45,615 here – expect a modest increase on that to get into the longroof. Read More

“A Range Rover first, an electric car second” is the line told to us repeatedly over a series of technical workshops. We’ve known for some time that the Range Rover Electric would be coming, with the project officially announced in 2023, but now production is finally nearing. It’s taken ‘several years’ to get to this point, according to some of the engineers who have been painstakingly close to the development of the battery-powered version of the SUV for the last few years. Not to be one to discredit the work of engineers, given that ultimately our work extends to typing some words about cars on a keyboard, but there’s often the impression that ICE platforms turned into EVs is a simple case of removing the engine, placing in batteries and motors, done. For a Range Rover to be a Range Rover, though, it has to be able to properly go off-road, and that means it was never going to be as simple as that, if that first line of this article is to be achieved. Range Rover Electric, rear That’s led to several engineering headaches to solve and many clever solutions as a result. Gone are the mechanical locking differentials; instead, all of the RR EV’s power and traction management is done through software trickery. Two electric motors – one on each axle –  provide a total peak of 542bhp and 627lb ft of torque. That’s distributed across both ends of the car through ‘Independent Driveline Distribution’, and ‘Integrated Traction Management’, dealing with its application on each corner of the car. Then there’s the challenge of protecting its floor-mounted 118kWh battery pack from the elements while targeting a 900mm wading depth to match ICE-powered versions of the SUV, requiring some pretty thick aluminium housing. Oh, and it’s worth noting that 350kW charging is supported in case you were concerned that it would take an age to reawaken its electrons. Air suspension remains as on the base car – the system is already used to handling a shedload of weight, of course – with some tweaks to help retain control of a presumably heavier beast than the ICE car. No word yet on that figure, but early speculation suggests around 2.8 tonnes before you add people into the equation. Range Rover Electric, cutaway For all its mechanical changes, though, the Range Rover Electric looks practically identical to the existing SUV. There’s some subtle reworking of the front end presumably for the sake of cooling, and if you really pay attention, you’ll spot ‘EV’ centre caps on the wheels, although those will be optional to customers if you’d rather not make such a noise about battery power. Even inside, you won’t spot any changes. The gear selector is retained from combustion versions, albeit with the subtle change of S now activating one-pedal driving instead of ‘Sport’ as before. So now you want to know how it drives, don’t you? Early impressions are entirely predictable in summary – it’s a Range Rover that happens to be electric. Sorry, you want more? We do too. Our prototype drive was pretty limited to a short obstacle course laid out within the Goodwood Motor Circuit while the Festival of Speed was filling the air with noise a few hundred yards away, although it’s given us enough food for thought. Range Rover Electric, front Despite relying entirely on software rather than physical hardware for off-road capabilities, all of its modes are present and correct. We stuck with mud ruts for our run, most notably delivering pretty aggressive regenerative braking in one-pedal mode. Not so much for the need of returning charge to the battery, but rather, to give you granular throttle control when conquering rough situations. Even when you’re hanging in the balance on diagonally opposite wheels, or with a sole tyre on a slipper patch, the way the Range Rover Electric is able to manage traction is pretty impressive. On par with the ICE car, which is ultimately all it needs to be. Managing a max of around 15mph while heading around the course, it’s hard to talk much about refinement at this stage. But without any artificial noise piped in, there’s near-silence in the cabin. We get the impression that the electric power will only enhance the on-road Range Rover experience rather than detract from it. We’ll have to reserve full judgment for another day, but the early signs are that ‘Range Rover first, electric car second’ has proven to be the right mission statement. Read More

With the new stripped-back 523bhp M2 CS stealing all the headlines, it can be easy to forget that the regular BMW M2 is a fairly serious bit of kit in its own right, despite being the smallest, cheapest full-fat M car you can buy. Looks like BMW wants to remind us all, though, because it’s teasing a “street legal track day package” for the M2 via its M Performance Parts accessories division. Mostly, these MPP bits tend to have only one effect, and that’s making the cars they’re put on look worse, but here, they look like they should bring some real performance gains. BMW M2 track day package – side Shown off on BMW M’s Instagram on this fairly heavily camouflaged M2, the most obvious addition is a rather large rear wing, complete with swanneck mounts. Racy. We have to assume it’s going to deliver a sizeable bump in downforce, and could come with some adjustability. Elsewhere, there’s a chunky new front splitter that has the possibly unintentional but happy side effect of making the M2 look a bit less like it’s lost some of its bottom teeth in a fight. There’s even a towing eye sticking out of the bumper, a must-have for track day junkies everywhere. BMW M2 track day package – rear Along the side, a new, presumably lighter design of wheel is wrapped in some Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS rubber. If you’re not familiar with this particular member of the P Zero family, do a quick Google and prepare to be amazed at just how little tread you can get away with on a road tyre. Finally, while we can’t see much in the way of changes at the rear (besides the wing, obvs), there presumably are some, otherwise BMW wouldn’t have gone to the bother of wrapping it in eye-melting camo. BMW M2 track day package – side Everything else is guesswork. Whether the interior gets any tweaks, or any more power arrives, remains to be seen, although if the engine is breathed on, we can’t imagine it’ll be a massive leap – BMW won’t want this stepping on the M2 CS’s toes. We do, however, know when you’ll be able to stick all these bits on your own M2: Beemer says it expects the package to be available at some point next year, once a testing programme at the Nürburgring has concluded. Read More

Project Motor Racing is one of the most intriguing titles to emerge in the racing genre in some time. In a world that’s increasingly dominated by either pick-up-and-play open-world arcade racers or esports-focused sims revolving around a select few racing categories, PMR – developed by nascent developer Straight4 Studios – is promising something genuinely different. There’s a hardcore sim focus, yes, but one with a greater breadth of cars and tracks than many of its competitors, an emphasis on approachability for those at all ends of the market and – something sorely lacking in plenty of modern sims – a properly fleshed-out career mode. To find out a bit more about how Straight4 has set out to achieve this, we chatted to the studio’s chief operating officer, Ryan Hoey, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where a work-in-progress version of PMR was playable for punters. Project Motor Racing By far the most attention-grabbing aspects of PMR so far are its car and track roster, even if what we’ve actually seen of both at this point is quite limited. In terms of cars, there’s the modern GT3 and prototype machinery you’d expect from any self-respecting sim these days, but also a real focus on turn-of-the-millennium sports car racing, an often underrepresented area in the genre. Among better-known cars of the era, like the Aston Martin DBR9 and original Audi R8 LMP car, deep cuts like the Lister Storm and Marcos LM600 can be found among the confirmed list so far. This was Straight4’s goal from day one, explains Hoey. “Our game designer, Austin Ogonoski, came with a list of cars that he thought were the pinnacle of motorsports, especially in the GT side. Our team are geeks – that’s the best way of putting it. They live and breathe motor racing and gaming, so they then put their two pence in, and we came up with a roster that goes from the 1970s right through to the pinnacle of motorsports today.” Everything we have seen so far, though, leans into sports car racing. There’s a huge breadth, from the entry-level Mazda MX-5 Cup car to Lamborghini’s top-flight SC63 Le Mans Hypercar, but so far, the game’s car list hasn’t deviated from that theme. That will change, though. Project Motor Racing PMR was first announced with the working title GTRevival, a nod to the GTR games that many of the team that now makes up Straight4 worked on in the noughties. “We changed that because it pigeonholed us into just GT cars,” says Hoey. “Project Motor Racing has a wider scope, so while we are GT-oriented at the minute, there’s room for expansion. There are long-term plans [for other disciplines].” Those long-term plans also encompass road cars, although don’t expect PMR to go full Gran Turismo 7 and start throwing in family crossovers. “There are some cars here at Goodwood that are technically road cars, but they’re road-legal track cars really. We want to see those cars in the game.” The track list has gone down a similar route to the car roster, with lesser-spotted venues in sim racing like Canada’s Mosport Park and South Africa’s Kyalami already confirmed for inclusion. Project Motor Racing It does raise a question about the better-known venues, though, the ones that everyone expects to see in a racing sim these days. Some pre-release footage has shown a track very clearly inspired by Silverstone, but with generic ‘Northampton’ branding. We’d been unsure if this was a temporary thing while licensing issues were cleared up, but Hoey confirms that a licensed Silverstone won’t feature in the final game. “Northampton will be in the game,” says Hoey. “We’ve tried with every track to license it. It wasn’t that we went out on our own and decided we weren’t going to license Silverstone; we tried, we entered into talks, but the talks didn’t come to fruition.” PMR will, of course, feature online play, and Hoey sees it eventually being used as an esports platform, but much of the early promo has focused heavily on the single-player career mode. This is something Straight4’s poured a huge amount of effort into, and should allow players the freedom to either dive into the top flights with a huge budget or grind their way up from the lower levels, all while dealing with the financial burden of real motorsport (albeit not literally, thankfully – PMR will be a one-time purchase deal backed up by a blend of free and paid DLC). Project Motor Racing “Austin, the game designer, and the team have put a lot of thought into [career mode]. Austin is an amateur racer himself, so he knows the ins and outs of the financial difficulties of having a race team,” explains Hoey. With PMR set to get a current-gen console release alongside PC availability, it should open itself up to a much broader audience. This, says Hoey, is something made ever more possible by rapid improvements in the console field: “In terms of performance, the hardware for consoles in the last few years has come on leaps and bounds, so the gap in that market between PC and console has really shortened.” This will be welcome news to those not prepared to pour hundreds of pounds into PC hardware and sim racing gear, as will the fact that Straight4 is actively working to ensure PMR is approachable to those playing on a controller. Project Motor Racing It all bodes well, then, although you’d be forgiven for thinking lots of it sounds a little familiar: the emphasis on lesser-seen cars and tracks, the in-depth career mode, the spread of platforms and approachability levels. Straight4, as you’re likely aware, was formed from the ashes of Slightly Mad Studios, developers of the Project Cars franchise. It was founded by former SMS CEO Ian Bell, and plenty of the team have come across to Straight4 with him. Hoey doesn’t shy away from the fact that the Project Cars franchise has influenced PMR (the first two games,