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Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R F1 car sells for £19.6 million (video)

Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R F1 (pictured) sells for £19 million The Goodwood Festival of Speed is all about cars and performance, but it’s not just cars on the ground and on the hillclimb. Goodwood is a Mecca for wealthy petrolheads as well as those who can only lust after the finest motoring metal – classic and current – so it’s a sensible place to run an auction for high-end cars. And you can’t get much more ‘high-emd- – at least in terms of value – than Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R Formula One car which went under the hammer yesterday at Bonham’s Goodwood auction, and reached a world record auction price of £19,601,500 (including premium – £17.5m before).

Cost of garage labour falling

THE AVERAGE labour rate at both franchised and non-franchised garages has fallen compared to 2012, according to new figures. An annual survey of 12,000 cases conducted on behalf of Warranty Direct has concluded that the average labour rate in 2013 is £74.70, a fall of 9.84% from £82.86 in 2012. Less encouraging is the overall trend of rising labour rates, with the average having increased by 33% over the last ten years.

Audi Q8 Coupe SUV and Audi A9 coupe on the way

It looks like Audi are to fill more automotive niches with the Audi Q8 Coupe SUV and Audi A9 coupe planned to extend the Audi range. The idea that Audi would jump on the coupe SUV bandwagon has been around for some time. In fact, we reported almost two years ago that Audi would be launching a range of coupe SUVs to slot in between their regular SUV offerings and would use the Q2, Q4, Q6 and Q8 monikers.