Two UK-based teams have taken first and second place in the Spirit 425cc Class of the Liége-Brescia-Liége microcar rally. Covering 2000 miles through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia, these little kei cars even conquered the Stelvio (not Kev’s dream car, the Alpine road) and Gavia Passes of Italy, some of Europe’s most grueling terrain.

Regulars know that this year marks Subaru’s 50th anniversary, but 2008 is also the 50th anniversary of the Liége-Brescia-Liége. It was started in 1958 during the Suez Canal Crisis, which threatened to cut Europe off from its oil supply in the Middle East. In response, rally organizers wanted to prove that small, fuel-efficient cars could perform just as well as their gas-guzzling counterparts over Europe’s most demanding roads (making it all the more disappointing that we’re still grappling with the same oil issues today). The original allowed only cars 500cc or under, and the intense schedule meant almost three non-stop days of driving. The modern rally is a bit more leisurely - 10 days, and cars up to 1000cc are allowed.

Congratulations to Jane Puttock, James Ewing, Vic Sayer and Craig Lawson!

[Subaru UK]

One of the greatest gearhead events on the planet will commence this Friday. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is exactly what all of us would be doing if we were so stinking rich that we could invite manufacturers, car collectors and the world’s top drivers to our huge estate, complete with its own hillclimb course, forest rally stage and concours lawn. It’s al going down July 11 through 13 somewhere in England. And once again, we’ll be staying on this side of the Atlantic, envying the limey bastards from afar. Exactly which cars Japanese will emerge from their slumbers in museums and warehouses to make an appearance are not yet fully known.

Last year Goodwood celebrated Toyota’s 50 years in motorsports and Mazda’s 40th anniversary of the rotary. This year the flavor taste more like Europe as both Land Rover and Porsche celebrate their 60th birthdays. In the meantime, go to the Festival of Speed’s official website and watch the mind-blowing movie to get an idea of what this event is all about.

[Goodwood Festival of Speed]

As you know, the recent passing of Ove Andersson really hit the world of motorsports hard. If you’re in the Los Angeles area this weekend, please consider stopping by the Toyota USA Museum, where a tribute to the rally racer and founder of Toyota Team Europe will be held. Details after the jump.

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We all know of the recent untimely passing of rally legend and Toyota Team Europe founder Ove Andersson. If you would like to express your thoughts about this tragic loss, you can do so by signing a memorial book at Toyota USA HQ, the Toyota USA Museum, or at Toysport. Or you can email tribute_to_ove@toysport.com and your message will be included in the book, which will be sent to Toyota Motorsport GMBH (formerly TTE) in Cologne, Germany in time for the memorial service on July 1.

You can read Toysport founder Joel Luz’s words about Andersson after the jump. (more…)

Last week the world of motorsports lost one of its greats, Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver and a key figure in Toyota’s worldwide racing endeavors. He started out with his native Saab but went on to race Lancias and Renault Alpines before sliding behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica 1600GT in 1972. His own Andersson Motorsport team eventually became Toyota Team Europe, and was responsible for Toyota’s WRC efforts straight into the 90s. After that, Andersson and TTE led the automaker’s Le Mans and Formula 1 undertakings.

Although mostly retired, Andersson died doing what he loved, rallying. It was during the South African Continental Milligan Rally that the Volvo Andersson was driving collided head on with a car attempting a pass on the wrong side of the road. So let’s send him off with a gallery of photos from his rallying days and remember him as best we can, charging through the dirt in a Celica. (more…)

We’ve been browsing through the back entries on this new Speedhunters site and came across this awesome image of a KP61 Toyota Starlet leaving the terra firma. This rear-wheel romper was part of the recent Sol Rally Barbados 2008 held on that Caribbean island. There’s some old school Toyota love shown at this event, plus the 90s AWD rally monsters. Check out more pics here.

[Speedhunters, Image: JustBajan.com]

Several readers have posted this nugget of awesomeness in our forums now, and with good reason. The Celica you see in the pic above is the end result of the most thorough, intense restoration we’ve ever seen for J-tin. It started life as a Group B rally car that competed in the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally of 1985 - when nearly all of that nation’s billion or so people were still riding bikes - enduring 2500 miles of dings and dents on unpaved terrain. Then it was left to rust for about 20 years.

At that point, most people would have written it off, but not the artisans at Makela Auto Tuning of Finland. By the looks of it, every body panel, seam, floorboard and frame rail was recreated from fresh steel. Metal is like putty to these people. We tried to comprehend the amount of effort and man-hours the restoration must have taken, but only reminded ourselves of grade school when we first learned about the concept of infinity. There’s really no point in even trying to describe it, so just check out their gallery. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, that’s over 300,000 words right there.

The best part is that as of January 2008, these mad Finns have begun work on a second Hong Kong-Beijing Rally Celica. If possible, this car looks to be in even worse condition that the first one, apparently composed of one part metal and 3 parts rust. This time, they’ve cut the car down to the bare frame and are doing nothing short of rebuilding it from scratch. It’s like the Bionic Woman, but with cars.