It should have been out on the road. Instead, it lives in a glass case in a museum - the British Motor Museum, to be precise. This is R30. More specifically, it’s a 1/4 scale model of an early iteration of the car that was meant to replace Rover’s 25 and 45. Apparently a production-ready prototype existed by 2000 but after BMW abandoned MG Rover, the R30 never saw the light of day. That may not quite be the end of the story, though. More tomorrow…
Just a few sols after successfully sealing the challenging Green Gardens core, Perseverance roved on to the Broom Point workspace to collect another sample called Main River.
Check out this post by Denise Buckner, Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/navigating-a-slanted-river/
By 1999, Rover had spent five years under BMW ownership, and the first major new product to result from the German parent’s investment arrived in the form of the Rover 75. The aging 200 and 400 were given 75-style facelifts and renamed the 25 and 45. But it was widely known that these models from Rover’s Honda era were to be replaced by a new BMW-funded model family, R30. More on that tomorrow. Pic taken (Rover 25): Great British Car Journey, 2025
A rock with a dome-like structure, captured 12 hours ago by Curiosity in the canyon between Texoli Butte and Gould Mesa. It is mentioned in the latest mission update, by Sharon Wilson Purdy: https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4477-4478-bumping-back-to-business/
#Mars Mar. 14, 2025 (Sol 4480)
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Yesterday, I posted a picture of the spectacular jet-powered Rover-BRM Le Mans racer from 1963. Today, we fast forward to the next Rover-BRM car, the Rover 200 BRM, introduced in 1998 to add a bit of zip to the R3 range with a top sporty model. Red quilted leather interior, BRM-typical orange nose detailing. I think the reason they didn’t make this an MG was to avoid diluting the impact of the then-new MGF. Snapped at the NEC Classic Car Show, 2024.
Yesterday, I mentioned that Rover’s management was constantly trying to find ways of making the post-1995 200 (R3) and 400 (HH-R) models fresh and relevant. I shall set out the first of those efforts tomorrow but first, to set the context, we need to look at this, the 1963 Rover-BRM Le Mans racer, which was powered by a gas turbine - basically a jet engine. BRM (British Racing Motors) was a successful F1 team. Snapped: British Motor Museum, 2025.
Yesterday, I mentioned how the 1995 Rover R3 200 series, having originally been conceived as a Metro successor, couldn’t really serve as a full replacement for the R8 models from which it was evolved. This was partially addressed by launching a second, rather staid, car - HH-R, badged as a Rover 400, and based on the Honda Domani. This was available as either a hatch or a saloon. Snapped at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire, 2025 (1/3)
Another rover tipped on the moon. Did they learned nothing from Odysseus?
The direct descendent of the Rover 200/400 R8 series in platform terms was this, the 1995 Rover R3 200 series. Under the skin, R3 was mostly R8, although it adopted the rear suspension from the Austin Maestro. The good news was that it was a pretty decent car. The bad news was that it wasn’t a full-range successor to the R8, having originally been conceived as a replacement for the smaller Metro. Pic: The Great British Car Journey car park, yesterday 1/3
Rover’s highly successful 200/400 series R8 range was available in six different body variants, and these are the final two. Meet the Targa-style cabriolet (red car) and the ‘Tomcat’ coupé (blue and white cars), both captured at the 2024 NEC Classic Car Show. But that old BL/Rover talent for messing things up had by no means been extinguished - it was merely lying dormant, as I shall explain tomorrow.
Today, another couple of examples of Rover’s highly successful R8 range. While yesterday’s hatchback versions were badged as the 200 series, the handsome four-door saloon (white car) and Tourer estate (grey car) were badged as 400s. The system of model naming was the same as BMW’s, so the ‘420’ badge on the estate signifies a 400-series car with a 2-litre engine - although this was before BMW took over Rover. Pics taken: NEC Classic Car Show, 2024.
In 1989, the successor to yesterday’s Rover 200 arrived, a car code-named R8. Unlike the first 200 and the Triumph Acclaim before it, R8 wasn’t an off-the-shelf Honda design but the result of a more genuinely collaborative development effort between Rover and Honda. It was the most successful BL/Rover product of the modern era. Seen here at the NEC Classic Car Show, 2024 in 3-door (red) and 5-door hatch 200 series versions. More R8 tomorrow. (1/2)
Captured by the Mars rover Curiosity, somewhere in the canyon between Texoli Butte and Gould Mesa
#Mars Mar. 5, 2025 (Sol 4471)
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk
Some beautiful long distance vistas acquired by Perseverance today, from her vantage position on the slopes of the rim of Jezero Crater
interactive zoom on the whole mosaic https://zoomhub.net/NVgP2
#Mars Mar. 7, 2025 (Sol 1438)
Credits images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Yesterday, I explained how, in 1981, BL replaced the Triumph Dolomite with the Acclaim, a licence-built Honda Ballade. When Honda introduced the second-generation Ballade in 1984, it was logical that BL should adopt this car as the Acclaim’s successor as well. The big change was that the new car would be a Rover, the 200 series, not a Triumph. Photo taken: NEC Classic Car Show, 2023. (1/3)
Perseverance is getting closer to the edge of the rim of the crater, should soon set wheels on the sands of Nili Planum.
Images captured 3 hours ago
#Mars Mar. 04, 2025 (Sol 1435)
Credit images: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Martian Memories
Opportunity at Naturaliste
Naturaliste is a small crater about 15 meters in diameter on the plains of Meridiani, about 1 km south of Endurance crater. Captured by the Opportunity rover on Mars 2, 2005 (Sol 393); full credits in ALT.
Perseverance rover mission update, on the sampling attempts at the "Cat Arm Reservoir" site. Current target is “Serpentine Lake”, with signatures of minerals like serpentine, which form in the presence of water. The plan is to drive downhill to “Broom Point”, where more discoveries await!
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/cookies-cream-and-crumbling-cores/
Another butte-iful day in Gale Crater!
#Mars Feb. 14, 2025 (Sol 4453)
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Beautiful Martian vistas, captured two days ago by Curiosity
#Mars Feb. 8, 2025 (Sol 4447)
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk
