Steve Davies

An important era in British motor racing ends this year with the final Formula Palmer Audi Championship races having been run bringing a close to the popular series using Audi engines after 13 years.

Now that Group Lotus and Genii Capital have gazumped 1 Malaysia Racing with their black/gold livery, they've now clothed Renault F1's 2010 car in the new design to show us just what to expect in 2011.

Complemented by its new-for-2011 Pirelli slick tyres, it will make a stunning contribution to the F1 grid and should be a front-runner now that drivers Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov have had their race seats confirmed. The Russian has signed a new two-year deal with the recently rebranded squad, which was announced this morning.

Radical Sportscars today announces the SR3 SL, a new trackday and road-focused roadster that spearheads Radical's 2011 product line-up. The SR3 SL will be formally unveiled at the Autosport International Show on 13 January 2011, held at the NEC, Birmingham.

Three Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s will be at the starting line for the 24-hour race in Dubai (UAE) on 15 January 2011. This first test event in 2011 also marks the completion of the development programme for the racing version of the gullwing model.

McLaren have confirmed today that it plans to return to GT sports car racing from 2012. McLaren and CRS Racing will supply and support a limited number of GT3 racing cars based on the McLaren MP4-12C high-performance sports car for European-based privateers.

The Aston Martin GT4 Challenge will return in 2011, with an increased number of races and an expanded grid. The one-make race series which is fundamentally based around the V8 Vantage road car provides the first step on the GT ladder.

Already a firm favourite amongst driving enthusiasts for its chassis and engine, the Mégane Renaultsport 250 is now turning it's hand to privateer rallying in the shape of the Mégane Renaultsport N4. Developed for racing on asphalt, it draws upon a rich heritage of group N-homologated Renaults stretching back over a quarter of a century, including 5 GT Turbo, R11 Turbo, R21 2l Turbo, R19 16V, Clio Williams and Clio Renaultsport.

Bear with us on this one, since it may at first glance seem a little confusing. Renault who used to own and run the F1 team called Renault F1, pulled out of the sport at the end of the 2009 season at the peak of the economic downturn. Shortly after it was announced that Genii Capital, led by Gerard Lopez, had bought a majority stake in Renault F1 and it was this team which competed in the 2010 F1 season with drivers Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov.

This morning with the announcement of the partnership between Group Lotus and Genii Capital, Renault finally step back from being an F1 team owner into being purely a supplier of engines and technology. This new supply company will be called Renault Sport F1.