Peter James Insurance Blog
The BSA MC-1 250. It could have been a contender!
The UK produced a constant stream of champions and challengers during the first fifty years of the World Championships but no British bikes at all for them to ride! You have to go right back to 1952 and Geoff Duke on the 350 and 500cc Manx Nortons to find...
Goodwood Revival Reflections 2023
The Goodwood Revival’s 25th Anniversary was a combination of time travel and motorsport excellence, presided over by the venue’s very own ‘Timelord’, motor racing enthusiast Charles March, the current Duke of Richmond and Gordon. We popped along to experience the weekend, so here are the highlights and memories from...
The attraction of traction – how the Brits championed 4×4 in sports cars
From just before World War two until the mid-1990s, a small group of engineers, Harry Ferguson Research Limited, pioneered the 4×4 technology that is still used in many cars today. This small team had a profound effect on both road and competition cars. A BRIXMIS Senator can be seen...
Origins of the VW Golf: How an equine experience named an automotive icon!
A manufacturer may well spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a new range of cars but if they choose the wrong name, it could destroy that new car on launch day. Considering how important it is, there have been some brilliantly terrible car names such as the ‘Isuzu...
Nortons at the beach – the Daytona years
The overhead-camshaft single-cylinder racers known as Manx Nortons were never officially called that name by the factory but, as every enthusiast of the marque is aware, they earned it for their continually successful performances in the Isle of Man TT from the 1930s onwards. On the other side of...
The AJS Porcupine – The first world champion
Ask any classic motorcycle enthusiast which marque first brought a 500cc World Championship trophy back to Britain and it is odds-on that most would answer with Norton. That would be a logical and unsurprising result given the many wins scored by that company’s relatively simple but hugely effective single-cylinder...
The XK engine – 75 years of smooth power!
Jaguar’s Legendary XK engine is 75 years old and is the bedrock on which the company was built. It continues to bewitch car enthusiasts the world over with its glorious blend of power, sound and beauty. History will record the 20th century as the era of the great...
Origins of the VW Golf: The saviour of the ‘people’s car!’
How Italian styling, NSU’s engineering expertise and Audi’s engines made VW one of the world’s largest car makers. The enormous Volkswagen Group now encompasses some of the great marques of motoring history including, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Seat, Skoda and Audi. In recent years it has vied with...
Peter James Insurance are delighted to sponsor the inaugural Pride of Ownership competition at MX-5 National Rally
We are delighted to announce sponsorship of the inaugural Peter James Insurance Pride of Ownership competition taking place at the MX-5 National Rally at the British Motor Museum on 17th September 2023. At the club’s 29th annual National Rally, visitors to the event will be able to cast their...
Harris Mann 1938 – 2023: The classic car world bids fond farewell to a styling hero
The automotive world has lost one of its most pivotal designers – Harris Mann, who has passed away at the age of 85. Harris Mann was born in London in 1938. He worked at Duple, the (American) Loewy Consultancy. Then after some time out of the country for National...
