British Rally ace Tony Pond in one of the mid-engined, 4WD Metro 6R4 Group B rally cars, circa 1984,  flat out on a stage in the Welsh Forests - watch the trees flash past at close to 100 mph!

Ford’s Marcus Gronholm regained the lead of the World Rally Championship with a victory on the Italian Rally over the weekend. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Loeb throw away an early lead after going off the road and planting his Citroen in a roadside ditch. Gronholm had also suffered problems during the event, with a spin, suspension damage and even a detached wheel, but managed to keep it on the road.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1. Gronholm (Ford)
2. Hirvonen (Ford)
3. Sordo (Citroen)
4. H. Solberg (Ford)
5. P. Solberg (Subaru)
6. Gardemeister (Mitsubishi)
7. Sthol (Citroen)
8. Hanninen ( Mitsubishi)
9. Latvala (Ford)
10. Atkinson (Subaru)

Kevin Harvick once more proved that he can rise to the occasion for NASCAR’s big events. Following on from his victory at the Daytona 500, the RCR driver emerged as the winner at this weekend’s non-championship, winner takes all, All Star Challenge race.

 Harvick overtook Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch on the start of the last of four 20-lap segments to grab the lead and never surrendered it despite two cautions and the huge pressure Jimmie Johnson put him under during the last 15 laps of flat-out racing.

Mark Martin looked a contender for victory in the closing stages in what appeared for a moment to be a three-way battle for the top prize of the night. However he lost contact with Johnson’s bumper in the last few laps.

This week former World and IndyCar Champion Nigel Mansell has been once more behind the wheel competing in a sports car race. He has also been making headlines suggesting that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone should buy the Silverstone circuit, home of the British GP.

So I thought it might be appropriate to include some on-board footage of Nigel at speed around Silverstone in his Williams, complete with commentary from the man himself.

Saturday evening’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the tight Richmond track was called because of rain, but the delay didn’t seem to damped the spirits of the Hendricks team who continue to dominate any race where they run the new Car of Tomorrow design. Sunday’s rescheduled race, under sunny skies, was dominated by the team with three Hendrick’s drivers, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch running strong at the front all day. In the end it was Johnson who emerged victorious after passing Busch on a restart with just 19 laps left to run.

In the last few laps Jeff Gordon dropped back behind local driver Denny Hamlin, with Gordon later admitting that despite leading most laps during the day his car just wasn’t good enough at the end to keep up with the front runners. The only car that looked like it could hold with the Hendrick cars was the #29 of Kevin Harvick, but his changes of a victory were squashed in a pit lane incident when as he was leaving his pits he collided with David Ragan, who was entering his pitstall a little further down pit lane.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)
2. Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)
3. Denny Hamlin (Chevrolet)
4. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet)
5. Kurt Busch (Dodge)
6. Ryan Newman (Dodge)
7. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet)
8. Tony Stewart (Chevrolet)
9. Clint Bowyer (Chevrolet)
10. Matt Kenseth (Ford)