Sebastien Ogier Cancels Retirement From World Rally Championship

Sebastien Ogier cancels retirement from World Rally Championship

Six times world rally champion Sebastien Ogier announced on Friday he had shelved retirement plans and signed up for another year with Toyota after a COVID-19 affected 2020 season.

The 36-year-old Frenchman is still in the running for a seventh title but is 14 points behind Welsh team mate Elfyn Evans with one round remaining, the Monza Rally in Italy next month.

Paul Newman's 1979 Championship-winning Datsun 280zx Race Car For Sale

Paul Newman's 1979 championship-winning Datsun 280ZX race car for sale

Actor Paul Newman's other great passion was auto racing, and unlike some with boldface names who dabble in the sport, Newman didn't just race, he won. He also co-owned racing teams. An early highlight of his decades-long motorsports career was during the 1970s and '80s driving for the Bob Sharp racing team, which campaigned Datsuns/Nissans. This Datsun 280ZX racer was driven exclusively by Newman during the 1979 season. In it, he won races at Summit Point, Watkins Glen, Brainerd (Minn.), Lime Rock, and Road Atlanta, culminating in an SCCA National C-Production Championship. (That same year he would race at Le Mans, finishing second in a Porsche 935.) Now restored to its '79-season spec and livery, this ex-Paul Newman racing car is for sale at Motorcar Classics on Long Island.

The car is sold with documentation including the notarized bill of sale from Bob Sharp. After Newman's race-winning season, the 280ZX was sold in 1984 to a privateer, who campaigned it for several more years before putting it into storage. At the time, it was just another used-up race car. Eventually, though, it was exhumed and brought back to its original condition. Recently, the car turned some laps at what was effectively Newman's home track, Lime Rock Park in northwest Connecticut, at the Lime Rock Vintage Festival.