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Cargo ship carrying 1,200 Jaguars and Land Rovers deliberately run aground [w/video]

A cargo ship carrying a load of new cars out of Southampton has run aground in the English Channel in between England and the Isle of Wight. The vessel apparently suffered some sort of failure just 45 minutes after leaving port that caused it to list heavily to the starboard side before the crew deliberately beached it on Bramble Bank to prevent the ship from capsizing altogether. The vessel, called the Hoegh Osaka, is a 590-foot car carrier weighing some 57,000 tons and registered in Singapore. Although several automakers (including Honda and Bentley) were reportedly looking into whether they had cars on board, the vessel is said to have been filled to approximately one-third its capacity, with 1,400 vehicles on board – including 1,200 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, 65 Mini models and one Rolls-Royce Wraith. 70 to 80 pieces of construction equipment were also said to be on board. The Hoegh Osaka was en route from the southern British port of Southampton to Bremerhaven, Germany. Fortunately, no major injuries have been reported. The crew was mostly airlifted by helicopter off of the beached ship, with two crew members evacuated by lifeboat. One crew member reportedly jumped over 25 feet off the ship into the water before being immediately retrieved by rescue workers. According to the Daily Mail, two crew members were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, including a broken leg. It may take several days, if not longer, to extract the vessel from the sand bank and ascertain the damage to the ship and its cargo. An early attempt to free the ship with tugboats failed, meaning that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency may have to wait until more favorable high tides to try again before towing the ship back into the port. Bramble Bank, where the vessel was run aground, is a well-known obstacle to maritime navigators. The Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground there in November 2008 with 1,700 passengers on board, but was quickly freed by four tugboats and was able to continue on its way. Two local yacht clubs also play a cricket match there every year at low tide. The vessel's operator, Hoegh Autoliners, praised the skill and quick thinking of the crew in acting to prevent the ship's capsizing by running her aground on the soft, sandy shoal. Watch the clip below for aerial footage of the beached ship, courtesy of the BBC. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2019 Jaguar I-Pace Review: The EV age is approaching

It feels like we're anxiously inching up the initial mountain of a roller coaster track – click, click, click. On the other side is a massive plunge into a widespread electric future where EV's aren't just acceptable alternatives to gas-powered cars, they're superior. There's indeed a veritable train of luxury EVs coming soon, clicking up that track, but the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace is the first from a big-name luxury brand to crest it, providing that first tinge of anticipation for the ride to come. It's wildly fun, surprisingly practical and a more polished product than the perpetually rough-around-the-edges Teslas. It also reimagines what Jaguar can be while also staying true to key elements of its past and present. Driving the silky, effortlessly torquey old Jaguar XF Supercharged was intoxicating, and so is the I-Pace, albeit it in a different and indeed superior all-electric way. Its torque flattens you into the enveloping sport seats slathered in red leather, yet it's responsive without feeling overly caffeinated or neck-snapping. Like other Jaguars, it also provides a little audible pomp to the driving experience. It's no barking F-Type R, but its Active Sound Design system pipes into the cabin a deep, purr-like noise when in Dynamic mode that, if not exactly akin to an actual exhaust system, is much closer to it than the usual high-pitched electric motor whine (you can hear it in the accompanying video). Jaguar recognizes that we expect noise and g-forces to go together. And that goes for g-forces in a straight line as well as around corners. The I-Pace resolutely sticks to even marginal pavement like – well, I've already used the roller coaster metaphor above, so what the hell? – it's on rails. It has the perfect recipe for astonishing grip: all-wheel drive; sticky summer tires on 20-inch wheels pushed to the corners; a heavy battery mounted low and in the middle of the chassis; a 50:50 front-to-rear weight balance; and an available adaptive air suspension that constantly adapts to the road. Oh, and it was engineered by Jaguar, a company widely renowned for its superior-handling cars and SUVs. Steering feel could perhaps be increased a smidge, but through the wheel and the seat of your pants, you do experience what the I-Pace is doing. That adaptive suspension also sops up bumps shockingly well (another Jaguar trait) despite those pretty 20-inch wheels adding some impact harshness (ditto).

Ecurie Ecosse collection brings in millions

It's rare to see an entire racing team's collection go up for auction at once, but that's just what happened this past weekend at Bonhams' new headquarters in London, where there Ecurrie Ecosse collection brought in top dollar (or pound, anyway).
The collection, whose consignment we first reported on back in September, included a smattering of Jaguars, other classic racers and an iconic transporter truck, all decked out in the same blue and white livery of the Scottish flag. After reportedly feverish bidding on Sunday, the 1952 Jaguar C-Type sold for £2,900,000 ($4.75m), the '56 short-nose D-Type for another £2,600,000 ($4.26m), and the transporter for a shocking £1,800,000 (nearly $3 million) - all to the same unnamed American collector. A 1952 Jaguar XK120 roadster went to another buyer for a record £707,000 ($1.16m).
With Ringo Star's Facel Vega selling for £337,500 ($550k) and Michael Schumacher's Benetton B194 fetching another £617,500 (just over a million), the auction total skyrocketed to £16,861,630 ($2.75m), which Bonhams described as "a roaring success". Scope out the press release below for more info.