Octane 268 October 2025

BUGATTI VEYRON

the models from original 16.4 to Super Sport

e 253mph speed demon now breaking auction records DAMON HILL THE 1996 F1 CHAMP ON SENNA, SCHUMACHER  AND LOSING HIS FATHER ‘LOST’ LOTUS THREE7 FASTIDIOUS RECREATION OF A ONEOFF WORKS SEVEN

PAGE

‘WE RETURN TO THE FIELD AND ITS LANDING ZONE, WHERE THE BLIMP CIRCLES SLOWLY AND EASES DOWN. WHAT A RIDE – BUT WHERE NEXT?’ GOODYEAR BLIMP CENTENARY

Features

BUGATTI VEYRON 54

Back in the driving seat after 20 years – just as collectors start to take note and invest

VEYRON EVOLUTION 66

Which is which and what’s what for each

THE OCTANE INTERVIEW 70

1996 F1 champion Damon Hill, OBE, on Senna, Schumacher – and his father

LOTUS THREE-7 76

Obsessional recreation of the ‘lost’ works Seven – and the man who made its legend

MERCEDES-BENZ 680S 86

Highly original supercharged 1920s tourer

LANCIA ROAD TRIP 96

From Italy to the UK in a 37-year-old Delta HF Turbo… bought sight-unseen

FIGHTING FRAUD 102

How a new register for classic cars aims to keep them safe from cloning and theft

LUXURY GT FACE-OFF 106

Britain versus France: Gordon-Keeble and Facel Vega fight for national honours

GOODYEAR BLIMP 116

Centenary celebration flight over Le Mans

FERRARI 412 120

Why the cognoscenti love Maranello’s bargain

Regulars

EVENTS & NEWS 16

Exceptional Porsches and Unexceptional others; dates for your diary; bespoke Bugatti and International Historic Motoring Awards COLUMNS 41

Leno, Bell, Bayley and Coucher: the Octane legends put their motor musings on paper LETTERS 49

Enjoying the Mille Miglia – in an MGF OCTANE CARS 132

The editor goes the extra mile in his Triumph OVERDRIVE 138

Road trip to Le Mans in a Ferrari Roma GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 142

The Chequered Flag founder Graham Warner GEARBOX 144

Classic car photographer Tim Scott ICON 146

Most famous film star? The MGM lion CHRONO 148

How engines and watch movements are linked BOOKS 150

Focusing on a double Le Mans-winning Ferrari GEAR 152

Stuff you might need, stuff you just want

THE MARKET 156

Insider tips, auction news, Testarossa stats, cars for sale, Porsche 968 buying guide

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 194

Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola

WHERE HERITAGE MEETS HOSPITALITY

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WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR

Heavyweight credibility

I WAS A BIT sniffy about the Veyron when it first came out, for all sorts of now seemingly irrational reasons: it looked a bit squashed, a sledgehammer to crack a nut, not a real Bugatti, should have been badged a Bentley (which it was far more akin to in ethos – I banged on about that in my welcome to Octane 213), and, most importantly, it was not a McLaren F1. For the then more youthful me, you see, the apex of road car design had been reached a decade earlier: a naturally aspirated V12, lightweight, truly analogue, ingeniously engineered and simplified for its record-breaking speed rather than bulked-up and massively complicated. An early Breguet Perpétuelle versus an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. Just look at the weight comparison: 1140kg for the McLaren, 1838kg for the Bugatti. Which of the two do you think Ettore would have wanted to put his name to?

That said, I was a bit sniffy about a lot of things back then, and sadly remain the same in essence, but I have definitely mellowed on the Veyron. Maybe less mellowed than simply toned down my purist snobbery masquerading as insight. As Bugatti’s benchmark record-breaker marks its 20th anniversary, I no longer see the 16.4 as some steroidal bully punching down on the F1’s well-deserved status at the zenith of motoring, but instead as a sort of disciple complementing it. In a weird way even complimenting it, too, Bugatti’s polar opposite approach to the same goal almost conceding that it couldn’t compete with what Murray and McLaren had achieved. If you still need some convincing, you will find plenty in this issue to do the job. John Barker, who road-tested the Veyron new, revisits it via a very special early car, John Mayhead assesses the model’s market progress over the past two decades, and Matthew Hayward outlines all the different variants and evolutions. But most of all, if you want some irrefutable proof that the Veyron deserves to be shrouded in greatness, read Robert Coucher’s column on page 46, in which he relates a tale of Rowan Atkinson driving his own F1 and then a Veyron at Rockingham Motor Speedway. Now that is insight.

FEATURING…

JOHN BARKER

‘It’s years since I’ve been up close with a Veyron. If anything, it seems more extraordinary now that VAG built a 1001ps, 250mph supercar. It’s still ludicrously fast and unmistakably German in its thorough engineering and lack of flamboyance –a landmark car whose time has come.’

Back behind the wheel: pages 54-64

ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS

‘Talking to Damon Hill about the death of his father and the resulting trauma and depression he’s dealt with was a privilege, partly because I was a huge fan of his in the ’90s, but also because my father died out of the blue when I was young, too. I felt we had a connection, there.’

The Octane Interview, pages 70-75

ROBERT COUCHER

‘I’ve driven half-a-dozen Bugatti Veyrons, including blasts around Monterey with Andy Wallace, to the Mille Miglia in Italy, and on deserted Andalusian roads – but the day I spent with Rowan Atkinson was the most amusing…’

See page 46. And read Robert on Facel Vega and Gordon-Keeble on pages 106-114

James Elliott , Editor in chief

PAUL HARMER

Skeletonised automatic winding calibre

55-hour power reserve (± 10%)

Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium

Declutchable variable-geometry rotor

Oversize date and 24-hour display Case in grade 5 titanium and Quartz TPT®

A Racing Machine On The Wrist

NEXT MONTH

ISSUE 269, ON SALE 25 SEPTEMBER

Why it’s still the most spellbinding supercar of all

Purebred Porsche

Driving the very first 1968 911E

Epic adventure

London to Melbourne by 1925 Bean

Hardcore Audi

On track in the R8 GT3 racer

Where stylists learn their craft

Inside the ArtCenter College of Design

(Contents may be subject to change)

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-chief James Elliott james@octane-magazine.com

Associate editor Glen Waddington glen@octane-magazine.com

Art editor Robert Hefferon roberth@octane-magazine.com

Markets editor Matthew Hayward matthew@octane-magazine.com

Founding editor Robert Coucher

Contributing

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ZOUTE GRAND PRIX CAR WEEK

8-12 OCTOBER 2025

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Ignition

Megaphonics 2025

3 August

Over 5500 people flocked to Boxengasse – an events venue near Bicester set up by Frank Cassidy specifically with Porsche meets in mind – for this Stuttgart-focused gathering. The numbers made getting in challenging, but what treats awaited once the queuing was over. As well as 60-plus exhibitors, in Boxengasse’s two main ‘boxes’ and courtyard there was a stunning display of no fewer than nine Group C 956s and 962s, a host of other delectable sports-racers including 904, 906 and 908, a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.1 turbo and, to top it off, the famous Gulf-liveried 917K that was used in the filming of Le Mans. Megaphonics is one of those events where the private cars are almost as good as the displays, with everything from 356 Carrera to 959.

Porsche

Noosa

Concours d’Elegance

19 July

Noosa is the most chic resort on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, in southern Queensland, and once a year its main drag, Hastings Street, hosts a multi-million-pound line-up of 50 rare and iconic classic cars. This year’s stars ranged from Peter Harburg’s glorious Sunoco-liveried Porsche 917/30 to Aston Martin DB5, a fine selection of Lamborghinis including Miura and Countach, and even a rotary-powered Mazda Cosmo. Best in Show was a Bugatti Type 57 Atalante.

Iain Curry

Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring 2-3 August

Not only is Tunbridge Wells a hotbed of the UK classic car industry, but in October 1895 it hosted the UK’s first public motor show, then called a ‘horseless carriage exhibition’. This year’s event was co-organised by Aston specialist Dylan Miles, and all the dealers and specialists from the town and the surrounding area banded together to flood the Georgian Pantiles area with sensational cars and motorcycles, plus a live stage, exhibitors and other entertainment.

Freddie Atkins

FROM TOP Concours of Elegance Germany

25-26 July

The second outing of this swish event in Tegernsee was no less impressive than the first and the event seems already to have a strong following and a bright future. Best of Show was this beautifiul 1932 Austro-Daimler Bergmeister, the owner of which was presented with a handmade Meissen porcelain vase by Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of the event’s presenting partner A. Lange & Söhne. Tim Scott / Fluid Images Goodwood Festival of Speed 11-13 July

The Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac heads into the sunlight and back to the startline at the mammoth annual hillclimb cum motor show cum concours hosted by the Duke of Richmond in West Sussex. This year’s Gerry Judah was a tribute to design great Gordon Murray (as was Octane 267, the corresponding issue), while a further highlight was a superb F1 anniversary celebration that included Nigel Mansell being reunited with his 1986 championshipwinning Williams FW11. Best of Show in the Cartier Style et Luxe concours was a Bentley MkVI Cresta II bodied by Facel-Métallon. Joy Richings

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT

Classic Nostalgia 19-20 July

Shelsley Walsh hosted its 14th running of this superb event, which had a big tribute to Colin McRae. Star cars included JDHT’s ferocious 1984 TWR Jaguar XJ-S. Shelsley Walsh

Eifel Klassik 24-26 July

Thierry Neuville had his first experience as patron of the brilliant ADAC rally festival; Yannick Neuville had a showstopping moment on the special stages.

Eifel Rallye Festival

Festival of the Unexceptional 26 July

Simon Packowski’s 1992 Skoda Favorit Forum doubled up to take both the Concours de l’Ordinaire prize and the People’s Choice Award at the 14th running of the superb Hagerty event at Grimsthorpe Castle. Matthew Pitts

Alfa Revival Cup 25-27 July

Davide Bertinelli dominated again as the seres visited Imola as the guest of Peter Auto (see p24).

Canossa Events

Super Touring Power 3 28-29 June

Luke Bennett’s unusual V8 Mercedes at Brands Hatch. Ben Lawrence

Ypres Historic Rally 28-29 June

Gorgeous Parc Fermé in the Belgian city.

Ben Lawrence

Sea and Air Freight

Worldwide Customs Brokerage

Race and Rally Transportation

International Storage

UK and European Trucking

Vehicle Registration

FROM TOP Imola Classic 15-27 July

After a seven-year gap, Peter Auto returned to Italy for Imola-Classic at the Automodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The historic EmiliaRomagna circuit hosted some 230 race cars in nine Peter Auto grids, as well as the Alfa Revival Cup.

Photo Classic Racing

Carrera Andalucia

23 June – 3 July

Rally the Globe’s sixth ‘Carrera’ hosted 25 crews in pre-’77 cars on an all-asphalt rally that started and finished in Malaga, but was mainly inland. Total distance was 2200km over 11 days in soaring temperatures that caused a few cars to struggle, but they all made it. Pre-war winners were Steve and Jenny Verrall in a Frazer-Nash BMW; classic honours went to Ean and Alison Lewin in a Ford Escort RS1600. Gerard Brown

Dolomites Grand Tour 27-29 June

The entry list for this trip through mountain scenery was dominated by Ferraris, but with a fair number of other Italian supercars and even a British McLaren. The route started in Cortina d’Ampezzo and visited a host of passes, including Falzarego, Giau, Sella, Pordoi and Tre Croci. Off the road it was just as stimulating, including a meal by Michelin-starred chef Norbert Niederkofler. Canossa Events

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT VSCC Prescott Short Course Hill Climb 2-3 August

Charlie Martin in Neil Dyer’s supercharged 2.3-litre Bugatti T35B. Peter McFadyen

Yorkshire Elegance 22-24 July

A 1964 Ferrari

275 GTB, the first UK right-hand-drive example, was Best in Show at the impressive festival at Grantley Hall. The Fast Lane Club

Equipe Classic Racing Donington 6 July

Stephen McKie’s MGB and Rob Cull’s Zakspeed Escort RS1800 in practice. Peter McFadyen

Brooklands Summer Classic 27 July

There was a fabulous turn-out at the Surrey Speedbowl for the popular gathering and autojumble. Michael Stokes

Bromyard Speed Festival 26-27 July

The non-competitive hillclimb in memory of Jeremy Holden attracted 250 cars. Joy Richings

BTCC Croft 2-3 August

Typically tight action at the British Touring Car Championship – Ash Sutton won. Joy Richings

Supercar Owners Circle Classic Andermatt 27-29 June

Enthusiasts toured the Swiss Alps with immense style. Chedi Andermatt Hotel

FROM

Oulton Park Gold Cup 25-27 July

Centrepiece of what is always an excellent motor racing festival in Cheshire was a once-in-a-lifetime assembly of BRMs to mark the 75th anniversary of the Bourne marque. They included the legendary V16 and many competing, such as BRM P48-7 and BRM P261-2.

Jeff Bloxham

Nicky Grist stages 12 July

Will Rowlands made a rare gravel outing in his Escort Mk2 for this event in mid-Wales, which included round three of the BTRDA Historic Cup and round four of the HRCR Stage Masters Rally Championship. A strong contingent of historic cars lined up in Builth Wells for a day when scorching temperatures topped 32°C and made conserving tyres a massive challenge over notoriously abrasive gravel roads.

Ben Lawrence

The Royal Automobile Club Concours 9 July

The club held its inaugural concours open to selected non-members at its Woodcote Park estate and golf course in Epsom. Judges included Octane’s Derek Bell, Peter Stevens and Alan Titchmarsh, and Best of Show was a unique 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Boat-Tail.

Royal Automobile Club

Dates for your diary

27-31 August

Salon Privé

At Blenheim Palace, and for the first time featuring a ‘concours de vente’ (at which all the cars are available to buy) in addition to the main concours d’elegance and a display of some 1500 sports cars and supercars.

salonpriveconcours.com

29 August – 1 September

Lime Rock Historic Festival

The racing at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut is complemented by a concours and a massive display of cars and motorcycles. limerock.com

30 August

Zoute NextGen Rally

Running through West Flanders in Belgium, and for crews featuring at least one member aged 18-50. zoutegrandprix.be

30 August Rustival

Rustival returns to the British Motor Museum, the organisers again welcoming ‘all vehicles of all ages in all conditions – from clapped-out to concours!’ britishmotormuseum.co.uk

30 August

VSCC Mallory Park

The VSCC’s final race meeting of 2025, featuring the Club’s famous handicap race for Edwardian cars. vscc.co.uk

31 August

Brooklands American Day

US-made vehicles take over the grounds of Brooklands Museum. brooklandsmuseum.com

1-5 September

Scottish Malts

Crews enjoy some of the best roads and distilleries in Scotland, following a 950-mile route that starts and finishes at Gleneagles. hero-era.com

3 September

Veloce 2025

At Goodwood Circuit guests will meet famous faces and enjoy passenger laps in rare classics. veloce-events.com

5-7 September

Classic-Gala Schwetzingen

In Schwetzingen, Germany, and with dedicated concours classes for Abarths and Alpines this year. concours-delegance.de

5-7 September

The Concours of Elegance

Sixty of the world’s finest cars gather at Hampton Court Palace to contest the main concours, which will again be supported by the Levitt Concours for cars owned and entered by women. concoursofelegance.co.uk

5-7 September

Caramulo Motorfestival

This free festival in central Portugal is organised by the Museu do Caramulo and always features cars from the museum’s excellent collection. caramulo-motorfestival.com

5-7 September

Radnor Hunt Concours

Shooting brakes, station wagons and panel vans are to have a special class at the 2025 edition of this concours in Pennsylvania. radnorconcours.org

5-7 September

Dix Mille Tours

The various Historic racing series organised by Peter Auto travel to Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France. peterauto.fr

6-7 September

Beaulieu International Autojumble

The enormous sale of motoring bits and bobs returns. beaulieu.co.uk

6-11 September

The Derek Bell Tour

A jaunt through Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, led by Octane’s Le Mans legend Derek Bell. v-events.co.uk

7 September

The John Haynes Classic Honouring the man behind the Haynes Manual books and the Haynes Museum. Attractions at the museum will include a display of classic vehicles that have been the subject of a Haynes Manual. johnhaynesclassic.co.uk

7 September

Regis Tour and Picnic

Starting near Chichester, and as usual raising money for the Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance. bognor-regis-mc.co.uk

7 September

Shere Hill Climb

Classics head for the Surrey Hills to tackle a mile-long course. sherehillclimb.co.uk

8-13 September

Colorado Grand

Pre-’61 cars set out from Vail for a 1000-mile blast through the stunning Rocky Mountains. co1000.com

12-14 September

Goodwood Revival

Before the first of 13 superb races gets underway, Goodwood Circuit will host the largest ever parade of VW Type 2 Split-Screens. goodwood.com

12-14 September

Cobble Beach Concours

d’Elegance & Motoring Festival

Held at Cobble Beach golf course in Ontario, Canada, and including a class for classic microcars. cobblebeachconcours.com

Goodwood Revival, 12-14 September | Image: Jack Beasley

13 September

The Bridge

An exclusive show at the golf course on the old Bridgehampton Race Circuit in New York State. thebridgehamptons.com

14-19 September

Classic Marathon

Running from Divonne-les-Bains to Biarritz, on roads last driven by Classic Marathon crews in 2010. hero-era.com

17-20 September

Icons Mallorca

Three rallies precede ‘The Grand’ concours on Vida golf course. iconsmallorca.com

18-21 September

Gran Premio Nuvolari

The rally celebrating Tazio Nuvolari starts and finishes in his hometown, Mantua. gpnuvolari.it

18-21 September

Bernina Gran Turismo

Challenging hillclimb drawing delectable exotics to the famous mountain pass between Poschiavo and St Moritz. bernina-granturismo.com

18 September – 16 October

Islands of Japan Marathon

Crews will follow a 7000km route from Hokkaido to Kyushu. rallytheglobe.com

19-21 September

Circuit des Remparts

Vintage and classic cars slide around Angoulême, the walled hilltop town in western France. circuitdesremparts.com

19-21 September

Padre-Figlio / Padre-Figlia

Father/son and father/daughter crews in Ferraris engage in some friendly competition on this rally in France’s Rhône-Alpes region. happyfewracing.com

19 September – 11 October

Monaco to Athens

Crews take in 11 countries in all, plus marvellous Alpine roads. destination-rally.com

20 September

VSCC Prescott Long Course

The climax of the VSCC’s 2025 Speed Championship. vscc.co.uk

20-21 September

Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races

The Vintage Hot Rod Association roars down the Welsh beach. vhra.co.uk

20-21 September

Kop Hill Climb

Cars and bikes blast up the hill in leafy Buckinghamshire, while soapbox racers whizz down it. kophillclimb.org.uk

25-27 September

Spa 6 Hours

The endurance race that gives this event its name is always the finale, so best book tickets for Saturday. spasixhours.com

26-28 September

Concorso d’Eleganza

Varignana 1705

In Italy's Motor Valley, the Palazzo di Varignana hosts a concours for exceptional pre-1973 cars. varignana1705.com

BOOK NOW!

Secure your place; make travel plans

Peninsula London Motor Week

25 October – 3 November

Experience the thrill of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run – and the surrounding events – with a luxurious stay at The Peninsula London – perfectly situated by the Hyde Park start. Special offer for stays from Saturday 25 October to Monday 3 November, including the safe care of your car, breakfast for two guests, and benefits including a useful check-in from 6am and up to 10pm check-out! peninsula.com/en/london/special-offers/rooms/ london-motor-week

The Flair

30 April – 3 May 2026

Second edition of this top-end rally, promising ‘timeless cars, exceptional places and rare encounters’. Supporting Sir Jackie Stewart’s Race for Dementia charity and with space for just 60 cars in three classes, the route includes ‘rolling hills, charming villages, and the waters of Lake Geneva’. Early bird discount until 31 October. le-flair.com

Italy Off the Beaten Track

18-25 September 2026

Exploring the lesser-known Le Marche region, full of hidden gems and great roads, this tour costs from £2999 per head with stays at two historic hotels in stunning locations. The route explores the Sibillini National Park in Umbria and the Gran Sasso national park in the high Appenines, where bears still roam and eagles still fly. backwatertours.co.uk

Silver Fern Rally

27 November – 4 December 2026

Again combining the lure of the Land of the Long White Cloud and its magical attractions with the best gravel roads to make it ‘rally heaven’. For 2026 it is moving back to New Zealand’s North Island and the Bay of Plenty region around Rotorua – rich in Māori culture – and beyond for seven days and 2700km, including 43 special stages. silverfernrally.co.nz

Beaulieu International Autojumble, 6-7 September | Image: Beaulieu Enterprises Ltd

Bugatti goes bespoke

New Solitaire programme to be launched with one-off Brouillard

BUGATTI HAS BECOME the latest motor manufacturer to offer a ‘bespoke’ programme, allowing wealthy customers to order unique cars for the ultimate in exclusivity. The news came as the company revealed the first fruit of the personalisation programme, the Brouillard, named after Ettore’s horse.

The company has called its new programme Solitaire and, in its marketing, trades heavily on the fact that vintage Bugattis were often bodied in-house instead of coachbuilt elsewhere, as was the more usual practice.

Dubbing it a ‘celebration of grace and elegance, rooted in the unique artistry and heritage of the Bugatti story’, the company likens the new scheme to Jean Bugatti bringing coachbuilding

in-house. That led to the Type 57 Atlantic and variants on the same platform, such as Galibier, Stelvio, Ventoux and Atalante, offering options on key factors that included body style, number of doors and roof type.

MD Hendrik Malinowski said: ‘The Programme Solitaire allows us to authentically explore the unique visions of our clients, giving us more flexibility to explore different interpretations of long-established Bugatti design elements. On a one-of-one, we have much more freedom in the reinterpretation of what a Bugatti is, while maintaining the same absolute dedication to perfection in every detail; there will be no compromise to performance, quality or design. Each precious Solitaire will be unique and

Above and below

Bugatti launches Programme Solitaire at Pebble Beach; the Brouillard is the first example of its ‘one of one’ approach.

peerless, offering a level of attention to detail not found in even the most exclusive automotive creations.’

First off the non-production line was this creation for a fanatical Bugattiste who collects not just the ancient and modern Molsheim cars, but also the sculptures of Rembrandt Bugatti and the furniture of Carlo. The Brouillard was due to be unveiled during Monterey week along with Programme Solitaire, which has pledged to make no more than two cars a year, using the 1600hp quad-turbo W16 engine and current carbon and aluminum chassis.

According to the release about the Brouillard, its ‘proportional mastery follows principles akin to classical art’. It continues: ‘The lower third of the vehicle is rendered in dark tones that visually connect to the car’s shadow. Much of the perception of a car comes from its upper two-thirds, helping in this case to create the perception of a lighter, more dynamic silhouette –appearing both lower and longer – while making the wheels appear proportionally larger.’

The Brouillard certainly mixes form and function impressively, such as air intakes feeding through radiators creating a pressure drop for greater airflow through the radiators to optimise cooling efficiency. The rear diffuser maximises functional surface area, while the rear ‘duckwing’ spoiler is fixed.

The interior is probably where personalisation is easiest and most obvious, with tartan elements, green-tinted carbonfibre and machined aluminium, plus an abundance of horse motifs in door panels and the unique custom seats. There is even a miniature sculpture of Ettore’s horse Brouillard in a glass insert in the one-piece aluminium gearknob.

Bugatti design director Frank Heyl said: ‘To make something look simple is incredibly complex. The design has to integrate all of the technological aspects, thermodynamics and aerodynamics of a 1600hp hyper sports car, while also following a core ethos – established both by us and the client – that the Brouillard was [to be] imbued with dignity.’

He added: ‘The bond between Ettore and Brouillard was deeply special. He saw in Brouillard a mirror of his own creations; the curves of the horse’s body, the muscular flanks, the perfect proportions – these were all elements he tried to capture in the steel and aluminum of his cars. So here, the aesthetics of this car abstain from sharp lines in favour of more reflectionbased surfaces that mimic a kind of athletic muscle, like a trained horse. It’s heavily focused on sculptural surfaces and organic shapes, as the vision of a tendon underneath the skin. Enormous power and complexity, hidden by a veil of dignified simplicity.’

AND MOLSHEIM IS ONLY THE LATEST…

The inexorable rise of ‘bespoke’ is not a new phenomenon, those that can afford it have been craving individuality since time immemorial. It is one of the reasons why coachbuilding was so popular with customers in the first place – they could tailor a car exactly to their needs rather than buying the production car that most closely fit them – and even when virtually all motoring became ‘off the peg’ special editions, trim specs and any other factor that separated a car from the herd commanded a premium. Doubly so when cars started to become collectable.

But the truth is that bespoke never really went away. Long after the demise of all but the hardiest of coachbuilders, names such as Ghia still resounded and added kudos and prestige to mainstream cars, if not value and rarity. And through it all most prestige manufacturers could be persuaded to create something unique if the money was right and it was a customer worth keeping happy – though the public didn’t usually see the results and the manufacturers tended to deny everything.

Now, however, bespoke is an industry in its own right. The truth is that most rare-breeds builders are happy to personalise cars mainly through spec and trim and you probably didn’t even know some of these existed. There’s Aston Martin’s Q division, Mercedes-Benz Manufaktur, Land Rover SVO, McLaren MSO, Ferrari Tailor Made, and Lamborghini Ad Personam, as well as options with BMW and (on hold for now) Jaguar. However, the big two, which openly offer to build whatever car you want from scratch rather than merely personalising one of theirs, are Rolls-Royce via its Bespoke programme and Bentley Mulliner, which even now trades under the slogan ‘Nothing is impossible’. To which list we can now add Bugatti. It won’t be the last.

Above and below Rolls-Royce unveiled the one-off Sweptail at Villa d’Este in 2017; other options include unique trim and detailing.

Decadence at the palace

WHAT IS BEING billed as the most decadent motor car ever created is expected to be one of the star cars as Concours of Elegance returns to Hampton Court on 5-7 September. The one-off 1926 Rolls-Royce Phantom I, known as ‘The Phantom of Love’, was ordered new by Woolworths UK finance director Clarence Gasque as a gift to his wife, heiress to the Woolworths fortune, and is an extraordinary motoring love letter. Taking nine months to complete and costing a then-astronomical £6500 (at a time when the average UK house price was just £500), it is fabulously original and features a Marie Antoinette-inspired Rococo interior with Aubusson tapestries, gilt decoration and porcelain vases.

The event, presented by A. Lange & Söhne, will also feature an off-the-radar private collection of legendary Porsches and Ferraris. All owned by a single enthusiast, the collection will be going on display to the public for the first time and includes a Ferrari F40 LM and 333 SP, as well as a Targa Florio-winning Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche 935 homage and Porsche 911 GT1 EVO.

In total the main concours, at which the Best of Show is decided by the entrants, will host some 60 cars, while there will also be a Junior Concours for scale cars, ‘30 under 30’ show, plus the all-female Levitt Concours. See concoursofelegance.co.uk.

Scottish Amelia honoree

Dario Franchitti MBE will be the honoree at The Amelia in 2026. The four-time IndyCar Series Champion, three-time Indy 500 winner and Rolex 24 at Daytona winner is currently director of brand and product for Gordon Murray Automotive; see Octane 267 for his insight into the T.50.

Corkscrew climb queen

Christine Sloss became the first woman to win the Corkscrew Hillclimb at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca when she piloted her Ferrari SF90 XX Spider to victory on 9 August. She posted 29.535sec, ahead of Ned Bacon (Porsche 911 RSR) and Gardner Nichols (Rivian).

Bentleys at Blenheim

Here are a few of the last-minute additions for Salon Privé. Bentley is entering a duo of Mulliner coachbuilt classics from its Heritage Collection, a 1953 R-Type Continental and 1961 S2 Drophead Coupé, while there will be special displays for Ferrari 250 GTOs as well as McLaren F1s. Other rarities include Pegaso Z-102, 1953 Ferrari 212 Europa and 1933 Hispano-Suiza J12 ‘Labourdette’ Roadster. On Friday 29 August, the show is promising the largest hypercar display seen on the South Lawn.

Two-litres get a series

European 2 Litre Sports Cars finally have a series of their own (again) with the inaugural round of Motor Racing Legends’ new formula taking place at Navarra, Spain, on 10-12 October. The cars, from 1970, usually packed Cosworth or BMW engines and pitted the likes of Chevron, GRD, Lola and Marc against works Alfa Romeos, Alpine-Renaults and Porsches in 300-600km enduros. Four race meetings are planned for the 2026 season.

Shere pleasure

The popular Shere Hillclimb is on 7 September. Having started with just a handful of cars in 2013, the non-competitive event up a mile of closed road near Guildford in Surrey now attracts over 300 entrants and 4000 spectators. Brooklands is promising to bring the Napier Railton plus around 20 historic motorcycles. See sherehillclimb.co.uk.

Rhode Island threads

A host of experts and star guests have been lined up for the series of seminars during Audrain Motor Week, which culminates in the Newport Concours. Topics for 2025 include ‘Behind the Driver – Running a Winning Race Team’, featuring Ray Evernham (championship crew chief and team owner), Tony Kanaan (team principal of Arrow McLaren IndyCar) and Donald Osborne; while Jay Leno, Ford Mustang marketing manager Jim Owens and Bob Tasca III (VP Tasca Automotive Group) will tackle ‘Ford – Total Performance Returns’. See showpass.com/o/ audrain-concours/ for more.

Silverstone sculptures

Escapade Silverstone, the trackside hotel and restaurant at Silverstone circuit, has unveiled a new sculpture park comprising 12 motorsport-inspired pieces exclusively by British sculptors. It’s the first permanent sculpture park with rotation of works in any F1 circuit. Curated by Renata Fernandes (see Octane 241), the pieces include Jonny Ambrose’s ‘Skeletal’ Porsche 917K sculpture. Jacques back 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve is to make his Goodwood Revival debut on 12-14 September in the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) TT Celebration. Having driven Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 B3 at the Festival of Speed this year, he will pilot the ’63 AC Cobra known as the Hairy Canary at the Revival.

JEFF BLOXHAM

TONY CAMPBELL

Blue Bird anniversary

The National Motor Museum took the Sunbeam 350hp Blue Bird to Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, Wales, to mark the centenary of its World Land Speed Record there when Sir Malcolm Campbell achieved 150.766mph on 21 July 1925…

Bluebird anniversary 2 …while, two days later, the Bluebird K7 hydroplane returned to Ullswater in the Lake District for the 70th anniversary of Donald Campbell achieving his first World Water Speed Record.

Aussie rules

Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance will return to Cockatoo Island from 27 February to 1 March 2026. Each day will have a different focus, including ICE Friday, Hyper Saturday and NEV Sunday. See sydneyharbourconcours.com.

Tandy honoured

British racer Nick Tandy has received the RAC’s Segrave Trophy for his achievements in endurance racing. His record in claiming victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nürburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and the Daytona 24 Hours is unique.

Museum hits big numbers

Opened in July 2023, Germany’s Nationales Automuseum (nationalesautomuseum.de), which showcases the Friedhelm Loh collection in DietzhölztalEwersbach, has clocked up 170,000 visitors in just two years.

Fiorenzo Fantuzzi

Coachbuilder Carrozzeria Fantuzzi, renowned for its outré takes on exotic cars, was founded in 1939 by Medardo and Gino Fantuzzi and was taken over and run as a bodyshop and restorer after Medardo’s death by his son Fiorenzo, who has recently died.

Anders Ditlev Clausager

This Danish-born archivist and author came to the UK in 1974 to study automotive design at the Royal College of Art. He worked at VW before joining British Leyland and in 1979 became BL Heritage’s archivist, making him the British Motor Museum Trust’s (BMMT) first archivist. He left the BMIHT for the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) in 2000, which soon moved to Gaydon, too. He also wrote, co-wrote or edited 35 books.

Ercole Spada

Ercole Spada’s most famous work was for Zagato, Ghia and BMW, notably the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Alfa SZ, TZ and Junior Z. You can read a full obituary and 2011 interview with him here: octane-magazine.com/news/ ercole-spada-obituary-influentialitalian-designer-dies-aged-88.

Patrick Hawkins

The founder of Taunton’s County Classics Motor Museum died on 6 August, aged 68. Having collected cars from the age of 11, Pat Hawkins amassed about 200 cars and motorcycles before finally opening his museum in a former department store in Taunton town centre in 2023.

Victor Riley

The grandson of car company founder William Riley has died. Victor dedicated much of his life to preserving the memory of the Coventry marque, which could not have had a finer ambassador.

Top judges sign up for Awards

Now is the time both to nominate for the IHMAs and to reserve your table

A STELLAR LINE-UP of judges is being assembled for the 2025 International Historic Motoring Awards, Presented by Lockton. Already signed up by chief judge David Lillywhite are the likes of Jay Leno, Sandra Button, Amanda Stretton, Wayne Carini, Bruce Meyer, Carol Spagg and Christian Philippsen, with more to be announced soon. The judges will have the task of picking a winner for each of 14 categories – covering everything from rising stars to personal achievement, museums to motorsport – from shortlists whittled down from all the nominations by a team of industry experts.

Two more trophies, for Car of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award, are decided by public vote and an expert jury, respectively. Last year readers of Octane and Magneto magazines awarded Car of the Year to Fritz Burkhard’s ex-King Leopold of Belgium 1934 Bugatti Type 59, which tore up the form guide to take overall victory at Pebble Beach despite proudly wearing its battlescars. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to retiring couple Sylviane and Patrick Peter, who have for decades been responsible for many of Europe’s finest historic events, including the Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic and Richard Mille Arts et Elegance Chantilly. In a special surprise on the night, their trophy was handed over by their sons, who were at the event without their parents’ knowledge.

With fewer than 100 days to go until the

spectacular ceremony at the Peninsula Hotel in London on 14 November, record numbers of nominations have already been received, but there is still just under a month for you to enter your favourites (whether they are a previous winner or not), or even yourself. Go to www.historicmotoringawards.co.uk/ nominate/ to find out more, browse the categories and make your nominations.

Don’t miss this chance to honour or be honoured at the most prestigious awards night in the collector car world, the only one that recognises globally and is globally recognised.

Having been launched in 2011, the International Historic Motoring Awards have gone from strength to strength. In 2024 the sold-out event was hosted by Amanda Stretton after a welcome speech by Rowan Atkinson, and the room was packed with 400 guests, with celebrities from the classic and performance car world and beyond, including Richard Hammond and the fastest man on Earth, Wing Commander Andy Green. He said: ‘It was a delight to find that I knew far more people than I had expected! The whole event was thoroughly enjoyable and, based on the response from everyone I talked to, the whole group had a terrific time.’

To be sure to secure a table for 2025 you are advised to book early; contact jasmine@ hothousemedia.co.uk to reserve yours or contact Geoff Love on geoff@hothousemedia. co.uk to explore sponsorship opportunities.

Clockwise, from left Rowan Atkinson addresses the packed room; several classics were inside the Peninsula; Car of the Year; exotics in the quadrangle.

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To be offered at Zoute Concours Auction

Estimate: €2.700.000 - €3.200.000

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4

The Collector

Jay Leno

Is it a racing car? A Mustang? Could be both…

Aabout a year ago I wrote about a chassis I’d seen on display. I was told it was for a new Ford Mustang, but it was unlike any Mustang I’d ever seen. e most traditional part was the 5.2-litre supercharged Predator V8 pu ing out 815bhp and 664lb of torque. at’s a good start, I thought, making it the most powerful Mustang so far. And where the transmission would normally go had been replaced by a dry-sump oiling system, a rst for any Mustang. Another rst was the Tremec eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle, but the really cool part was the rear suspension. e shocks sat low and between the rear wheels rather than the more traditional inline and above them and were capable of going from the so est se ing to the hardest se ing in just 15 milliseconds. e front tyres were bigger than the rears on my Ford GT!

Apparently, this was a project that had been in the works for a long time. e rumour I kept hearing was that Ford wanted to win again at Le Mans, only with a Mustang. e front-engine design and aero just weren’t on the cards, so Ford built a totally new car with a V6 engine and won Le Mans in 2016.

Much like Porsche had sidelined the fabulous V10 and developed the Carrera GT around it, Ford did the same thing with all of its Mustang knowledge and developed the GTD. e active aero was really the cool part: the GTD’s ‘drag reduction system’ (DRS), with its shape-changing rear wing and special aps under the body that open and close depending on conditions, do an amazing job of keeping the car planted. is car was developed with Multimatic Motorsports, a Canadian-based race shop that does amazing work, much like Holman-Moody and Carroll Shelby were back in the 1960s.

I put in my order immediately. You send in a video explaining why you want the car, and you agree to keep it for a minimum of two years, which is no problem for me because I’m not a ipper. ey have a concierge service via which you can talk directly with the people building your car. It’s not unlike talking to the restoration shop that’s doing your classic. And no dealer asking for 50 grand over sticker or any of that nonsense.

I was able to stop by Multimatic any time I was in Canada. e last car I got from Multimatic was my 2017 Ford GT, a car I never get bored of driving.

is time I ordered my car in Lightning Blue with the full carbon performance package as well as the drag reduction system and any other performance options that were available. Also the magnesium wheels, which are much lighter, as well as the titanium lock nuts. Yeah, I know – but they really look cool.

Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, and Greg Goodall, chief programme engineer of the GTD, delivered the car to my garage and answered any questions we had. I think they were as excited about this as I was. Although this is a street car it has many elements of a race car, such as the active aero that has aps around and under the car to handle the downforce to keep it stable at speed. When I asked why the exhaust tips were almost rectangular rather than round they explained that a round exhaust would have upset the air ow at the back of the car. e sexiest part has to be the window where the back seat would go. is allows you to view the suspension working in the rear-view mirror.

Before we went for a ride I was told I had to put 250 miles on it before I could get the full 815bhp. is was to allow the drivetrain to bed itself in. en Jim Farley and I got into the car. Greg had to wait because this is strictly a two-seater. ere isn’t even a trunk, because that space is taken up with the transmission and aerodynamic aids. I loved how the entire rear deck pops out so you can reach the lithium ba ery and cooling fans back there. is Mustang is a long way from my 1965 Shelby GT350, on which if something broke you just xed it with a hammer. at said, I was surprised at how pliant the ride was. I was afraid this would be some kind of hard-assed race car, and to a certain extent it is, but it’s very nice to drive. You can tell that Porsche was the benchmark. I kind of beamed with pride when Farley said they were going to take on Porsche for the record around the Nürburgring. You can see the active aero working though I’m not sure you can feel much at normal road speeds.

I’ve had the car almost a week and I’ve put about 1000 miles on already. is is a car I have not seen advertised yet. If it were, I expect people would be very excited about it and know what it is. You know, kind of like a Porsche or a Ferrari.

Jay was talking with Jeremy Hart.

‘THIS MUSTANG IS A LONG WAY FROM MY 1965 SHELBY GT350. IF SOMETHING BROKE YOU FIXED IT WITH A HAMMER’

MONACO HISTORIC ‘26

A TOUR THROUGH PROVENCE TO THE MONACO HISTORIC GRAND PRIX 21ST – 27TH APRIL

Since 2016 we have been organising tours of the south of France to coincide with the Historic, and we are delighted to be returning in 2026 with a 6-night event that will combine the magic of rural Provence with a full weekend of 5-star hospitality in Monaco.

During the tour, we’ll be visiting the finest hotels in Provence, and driving some of the most spectacular roads anywhere in Europe. Then after lunch on the Friday we go up a gear as we head into Monaco for a packed programme of historic racing, and superb hospitality throughout the weekend.

Our Monaco Historic Grand Prix Tour is really 2 events rolled into one, and it’s a highlight of our events calendar. Entry is limited to just 20 cars (both classic and modern), and we hope that you will join us for an unforgettable week.

For further information, and to receive a brochure please contact Chris Bucknall. chris@v-management.com

01635 867705

v-events.co.uk

The Legend

Derek Bell

Honouring a life lived at high speed

In just a few days I’ll be leaving France and heading to the USA. What had started as an extended break has turned into a bit of a back-and-forth blur since the last Octane column hit the press.

First I hotfooted it to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, where I was a guest of McLaren. I am an old boy with this Formula 1 grandee, even though I made precisely one start in one of its cars. at was in the British round of the World Championship way back in 1969 and I was aboard the four-wheel-drive M9A. It was a er Ferrari had e ectively shut up shop for half a season. Pickings were slim so I grabbed the o er with both hands. Truth be told, it wasn’t really a great car, but a drive is a drive is a drive.

I went on to enjoy success with the marque in Interserie and then at Le Mans. It all counts. It was fun being on the inside, as it were. I enjoyed seeing how a top- ight team operates at this level. Without wishing to blow smoke, McLaren goes about its business with the minimum of fuss. ere are none of the soap opera antics of other squads, just a bunch of commi ed racers who are back on top.

It rained a lot during this year’s British round, and driver penalties came into play, which cost Oscar Piastri dearly. I felt for him, but I was happy for his team-mate Lando Norris all the same. He said beforehand that he would trade all of his previous victories just to make it count on home soil. He was beyond elated to win.

Of course, there have been other rounds since then, but I have reverted back to being a spectator from the comfort of a sofa. at said, I was surrounded by Grand Prix fare once more only a week a er my visit to Northamptonshire because Goodwood observed 75 years of F1 during this year’s Festival of Speed. I didn’t drive any of the cars, but it was an immensely special event for me all the same.

I am of an age at which I am considered a silverback of motor racing. I have been honoured –literally and guratively – several times over the past decade, and it means a lot. Really, it does, but having my life and career celebrated at Goodwood this year was immensely special.

I won’t lie. I wasn’t altogether in control of my emotions at times. At the start of the weekend, Goodwood’s lm crew had descended on my house

at 7am. I had then driven to the circuit with my youngest boy Sebastian in my Porsche 924 Carrera GTS, complete with cameras and mics. On ge ing there, we walked to the Drivers’ Club area and there were three Group C Porsches outside. I spo ed Jochen Mass’s name on each of them and my heart was in my mouth. He was a team-mate and rival in Formula 1, Sports Cars and Touring Cars. He was also a great friend, and someone who loved being at Goodwood. We always enjoyed catching up and pu ing each other straight on who was fastest. I can’t believe he’s gone.

Henry Pearman provided this trio of static 962s from his collection. He also brought along a Rothmans car for me to drive, which was incredibly kind of him. I thoroughly enjoyed driving the car, and never more so than on the Saturday, when I drove up to Goodwood House to be ‘received’ by the Duke of Richmond. It was a bit surreal, and not least because I don’t think I have ever driven a 962 so slowly.

I was asked beforehand what music I would like played for my arrival. I replied that something by Pink Floyd would be great. I like the band, but I chose it because their manager Steve O’Rourke was a dear friend and someone who changed the course of my career.

Steve handed me a drive with his privateer EM team in 1981 when I was at my lowest ebb. He also then gave me dispensation to drive for Porsche when it o ered me an entry at Le Mans that year. He didn’t have to. He could have held me to my contract, but the thought clearly never entered his mind. Jacky Ickx and I won the race and my career was reborn. So many people helped me succeed in racing, and Steve more than most.

From there, it was up to the balcony with my wife Misti, Sebastian, my eldest son Justin, my daughter Melanie, and other members of my family. Looking down on well-wishers is something I will never forget. anks a million to all of those who made it happen.

By way of a parting shot, may I take this opportunity to congratulate Nick Tandy on being garlanded with the C’s Segrave Trophy for his exceptional results in endurance racing. He’s a fellow works Porsche man and similarly of farming stock. Good on you, boy.

‘HAVING MY LIFE AND CAREER CELEBRATED AT GOODWOOD THIS YEAR WAS SPECIAL’

The Aesthete

Stephen Bayley

Worried about erectile dysfunction? Come with me to a railway arch near the Wandsworth Road

Sainsbury’s. ere I passed the neighbourhood garagiste who specialises in wheel-balancing and saw a nearly perfect Fiat Dino. Actually, my wife had seen it rst. She had been to get some Jersey Royals and came back with news from beyond the potato aisle. ‘I have just seen the most beautiful car,’ she said. I replied ‘Oh yes? What was it?’ She said ‘navy blue’. And, a er a thoughtful pause, ‘with tan upholstery’.

Italy’s Years of Lead succeeded e Sweet Life as night follows day. e Anni di Piombo were so-called in reference to the number of terrorist shootings, and suggested the solemn mood of life in the late ’60s and ’70s. La Dolce Vita gave way to grim struggle.

In 1966, the beginning of the leaden years, the Fiat Dino appeared. In 1969, revolutionary students occupied Fiat’s Mira ori factory and the era of terrorist outrages culminated in the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978, followed by the outrageous bombing of Bologna station two years later. (Moro’s body was found in the boot of an Alfa Romeo. At the time, it was said that the head of the Communist Party drove a Ferrari: Italian revolutionaries have great taste.)

But these were years when some of the most beautiful cars were made. e Lancia Fulvia Coupé, a completely original shape, pert and delicate. Franco Scaglione’s Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale, by many estimations the most sublimely beautiful car ever. e Maserati Ghibli, perhaps Giugiaro’s greatest ever design: nothing before or a er was so lovely. is was the context of the Fiat Dino. But if one day I did Mastermind, Fiat coupés might be my chosen subject. Not all of them have been beautiful, but every one has been interesting. ere was the O o Vu of 1952, only 114 made, with bodies from Zagato, Ghia and Vignale as well as Fiat’s own. It was called the 8V because people in Turin thought Ford had commercial rights to the ‘V8’ denomination. e 2300 Coupé of 1962 was by Ghia, unlovely but not boring. en there was the Boano Fiat 850 coupé of 1965, a dwarf bonsai Ferrari. e superb 1971 130 Coupé by Pininfarina’s Paolo Martin was to my eye one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

My Sainsbury’s Fiat Dino appeared in 1966. Reminiscent of the Lamborghini Miura, the design was begun by Giugiaro at Bertone but taken over by Marcello Gandini when the senior man le for Ghia. e Coupé is distinct from the Spider, the la er probably drawn by Filippo Sapino at Pininfarina. Precise a ributions in this area are di cult, like pu ing a La Scala cast list through a shredder. Let’s just agree that it’s art of the highest order. e engine is less di cult to describe. It was derived from Lampredi’s Formula 2 Ferrari power unit and was used both in this car and in Aldo Brovarone’s Dino 246. e engines for both were made in a Fiat factory, which added lustre to Fiat but perhaps dulled some of the Ferrari’s coruscating shine. I am told that in the Dino ‘Fiat’ is cast in or stamped onto the cylinder block. A Ferrari made by Fiat? What an exquisite compromise. It puts me in mind of a dish of peasant pasta dressed with bu er and then promoted to the aristocracy with a li le grated tartufo nero.

Visually, the Fiat Dino suggests a serene yet con dent elegance, which is why it might be a remedy for the dysfunction mentioned earlier. I cannot imagine anything more likely to connect driving to romantic delight in all its varieties.

When this one was made, Italy was brutalised by the Red Brigades while in paci c England we rewarded ourselves with the Austin Maxi. It’s a strange truth that harsh environments cultivate beauty. If the residents had more money, the Andalucian pueblos blancos would have car ports, paddling pools and satellite dishes.

Giorgio Armani went into business in 1975 as the Dino went out of production. e sharper style of Cerruti gave way to Armani’s unstructured tailoring. Just as cars became more so -edged and globular. I wanted to see the car properly. To sit in it and get that antique feel of thin pillars and a structure designed before mandated crash protection made everything so bulky. Did my wife’s navy blue car have the early plastic-rim steering wheel or the later wooden one? Would it have that unique smell of old vinyl, wet carpet and hot oil? Might it take me on an imaginary journey along that lovely road that runs along the shore of Lake Garda?

e next day, I returned to the wheel-balancer to investigate and it was gone. Like a dream.

‘IF ONE DAY I DID MASTERMIND, FIAT COUPÉS MIGHT BE MY CHOSEN SUBJECT’

How Italian beauty was born in hard times

The Driver

Robert Coucher

Remembering a very special track test with Rowan Atkinson

‘I

t won’t start.’ What do you mean? ‘I turn the key and everything lights up, but when I push the starter bu on… nothing.’ e call came in early Sunday morning, mid-December in 2010. e caller was our sometime contributor Rowan Atkinson and the car in question was a Buga i Veyron. My heart sank as I was now stuck with a broken Buga i located heaven knew where with an annoyed lm star at the end of the phone. Calling the Buga i number in Molsheim, I fully expected the place to be switched o and fast asleep. But no. I was connected to an e cient-sounding fellow, likely buried deep in a lair at the heart of the Volkswagen HQ in Wolfsburg. ‘Jawohl Herr Coucher, how can I help you?’ he said calmly. I’m pre y certain I didn’t give him my name…

So I told him about the errant Veyron and could hear him bashing a computer keyboard over the line. ‘Ja, the Veyron is with Herr Atkinson and it is located near Peterborough in a secure garage. All the car’s systems are functional and the data recorder shows Herr Atkinson has not driven it far and he has not over-revved it in any way. Tell him to turn the key and try the starter bu on again.’ So, I relayed the instruction to Rowan on the other line and could hear him mu ering but no W16 re up… ‘Nein, nein, tell him he must push harder on the brake pedal to engage the starter!’ barked Mein Herr down the line. Vroom, the Buga i lit up and all was well. Unfortunately, Rowan later forgot about the Bug’s ride-height adjuster but that’s another £12,000 story.

I know this is a case of ‘Name drops keep falling on my head’ but, let’s face it, every Veyron experience is special and this particular incident was preceded by the Veyron being available to us at the deserted Rockingham Motor Speedway with a McLaren F1 along for the ride. I’d managed to persuade Rowan to pitch up with the promise of untold laps in the Bug, as long as he brought along his purple Big Mac. Amazingly he agreed, as did Buga i Automobiles SAS. ey even sent along their chief instructor, the ever-elegant Pierre-Henri Raphanel, a rather useful driver who, somewhat ironically, raced a McLaren F1 at Le Mans in 1995. e day of the drive in deep December was bright but freezing cold. e circuit resembled black marble as the cars rumbled into the pitlane. Pierre-Henri

looked sceptical and was a li le concerned with the conditions. Being the consummate professional, he glanced at Rowan’s F1 but didn’t go anywhere near it, let alone sit in it. He knew exactly how it was going to behave on this glassy circuit. e polite request of ‘Pierre-Henri, why don’t you have a go in the F1,’ was met with an emphatic Non!

You may have noticed Rowan trundling around Goodwood circuit in his gargantuan Jaguar MkVII, which looks a bit slow. Let me tell you, the man is fast; he’s also very brave. He jumped into his F1 and wheel-spun onto the circuit even though he’d never driven at Rockingham. He got the 6.1-litre V12 up to speed, hanging the backside out through the turns. Pierre-Henri looked bemused; I shouted at snapper Paul Harmer: ‘Get the shots in before he bins it!’

Sure enough the McLaren, a car famous for having absolutely no driver aids whatsoever, piroue ed o the icy track. en again, and again, and once more for fun. Rowan really was nding the car’s limit with gusto, and good for him. ere are not many opportunities in life when you have an F1 and a deserted racetrack for as long as it takes.

Having spun the McLaren around for a while he then did some laps in the Buga i. Standing with Harmer on the side of the track, we could see and hear the Veyron was on a completely di erent level of technology. While the McLaren’s Paul Roschedesigned BMW engine yowled sonorously like a massive violin, the Buga i just seemed to grunt as it smashed itself into the tarmac. It made a locomotive sound that WO Bentley would admire. Big, strong, tough, capable; we could hear the computers locking and unlocking the four-wheel drive system as the car clawed its way around the slippery corners. It was a clicking sound you might associate with a Tiger tank. Elegance and grace? No, just absolute muscle at ridiculous speed.

Pierre-Henri told Rowan that you can lean on the Veyron harder than you think, so he did, and I even got Rowan to write the article (see Octane 80, February 2010): ‘According to Pierre-Henri, you can push the Veyron into corners up to 30% faster than you should and the electronics will always sort you out. irty percent. at’s a huge margin.’

So, again, he did. And how many times do you think Rowan spun the 1000bhp Buga i Veyron around the treacherous, icy circuit?

‘HAVING SPUN THE M C LAREN AROUND FOR A WHILE, ROWAN DID SOME LAPS IN THE VEYRON’

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Letter of the month

A great drive in any car

TWO LETTERS in Octane 267 have prompted me to write: the first from Rody O’Grady about his £2400 Renault Megane 225, which highlights the broad range of cars that you feature, and Gerard McCartney’s about witnessing the Mille Miglia.

Like Gerard and his wife, my wife and I travelled to Italy (in our 26-year-old, 110,000-mile MGF, ‘George’) to see the Mille Miglia and we chose to spend a day watching the cars on the legendary Futa Pass, where we enjoyed a wonderful reception, morning coffee and lunch on the terrace at the restaurant. It has been owned and run by the same family since 1890 and is a magnet for car and motorcycle clubs alike; scarcely a week goes by without some sort of event being held there.

‘George’ didn’t miss a beat during the 2400-mile trip and returned 47.4mpg – not bad for a car so often talked down in the motoring press. Now the head gasket issue has been thoroughly resolved, the MGF is an ideal entry-level emerging classic that beats the rest on value for money, hands down. Rex Pengilly, Dorset

Above and below

LETTER OF THE MONTH wins a Ruark R1 Bluetooth Radio, worth £239

The R1 is perfectly proportioned, beautifully made and deceptively powerful. It’s the perfect bedroom, kitchen or workshop radio.

Marcos matters

In your lead news story, Octane 267, you rightly state that Marcos brand rights and physical assets belong to Marcos Heritage Spares. It acquired them from founder Jem Marsh’s last Marcos business before it closed in 2001 – but today the rights and assets sit with us at Marcos Motor Company, which acquired Marcos Heritage Spares in 2022. The business you quoted as the owner of MHS, Page Automotive, is simply part of Marcos Motor’s parent company, Automotive Vision.

Automotive Vision owns all meaningful Marcos brand rights and assets, going back to car no.1 in 1959, and owns the Marcos Motor Company group – not a ‘claimant’ as you state but the brand guardian, deploying it through Marcos Heritage and sister businesses we’re developing.

As for other ‘claimants’, you don’t get assets by incorporating the name of a failed business, or acquire rights by trademarking an unrecognised logo. Or provenance by posting images of other people’s cars online. With faithful brand stewardship, we think the UK’s SVM/MVM sector can continue to succeed.

Mark Carbery, Board Advisor, Marcos Motor Company

When Lagonda led

As well as 2025 marking 100 years of Invicta cars [Octane 266], it is also the 90th anniversary of Lagonda winning the Le Mans 24 Hours outright in 1935. Apparently 90 is known as the Granite Anniversary, which I suppose is an apposite metaphor for the grit and determination demonstrated by those drivers back in the pre-war years.

The victorious Lagonda M45 was, of course, an English car and

Stirling Moss revisited

Futa Pass in ‘his’ 300 SLR in 2015; ten years later, reader Rex Pengilly did it in his MGF.

driven by two English drivers, Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés, although the latter was of Brazilian parentage.

The opening spread of your Invicta feature in Octane 266 showed Invictas at Brooklands. In the late 1920s, Lagonda would hire Brooklands for its annual fête, where owners could try their luck competing in a number of races and the firm could unveil new models. Almost 100 years on, the Lagonda Club recreates those events with an annual meeting at Brooklands. Last weekend over 30 cars attended [above] and it would be great to see even more there next year.

Richard Branch, Hampshire

AMC’s last designer

I have just read the wonderful article about AMC chief designer Dick Teague [right] by Richard Heseltine in Octane 267.

My uncle, Vince Geraci, worked for Dick as a designer at AMC and was ultimately the head of interior design. Vince has many great stories about Dick and how his team needed creativity to survive against GM, Ford and Chrysler.

In the early 1960s, when Vince was in his mid-20s, he ran the studio that designed exterior portions of the 1966 Ambassador. Fascinating stories include Vince

hosting Giorgetto Giugiaro when he presented a competing design for the AMX/3 (which Dick’s design team ultimately won); it is very unfortunate that the AMX/3 never made it into production. Vince and his team came up with the denim fabric for the special edition Levi’s Gremlin, and worked with Pierre Cardin on the 1973 Javelin and Oleg Cassini on the 1975 Matador.

At 91, Vince is probably the last remaining AMC design executive.

Gerard Geraci, Illinois, USA

Brief encounter

Your very interesting articles on Gordon Murray in Octane 267 reminded me of the one time I was privileged to see a McLaren F1 some years back, being refuelled in the small Welsh border town of Knighton.

It didn’t look that fancy, even with the doors up; it was much more focused, and in this case definitely well-used. There was

Super Simeone staff

I read with great interest the cover feature on barn finds in Octane 266 that included the Shelby Cobra Coupe now in the Simeone Museum [below].

My eldest grandson, who attends school in Philadelphia, works part-time for the museum. The exceptional staff there have him doing all sorts of things to increase his knowledge of historically important vehicles and his personal growth.

For his recent birthday, the staff surprised him with rides in both the Cobra Coupe and a 1952 Cunningham C-4R roadster. He’ll remember it for the rest of his life. A huge thank you to the Simeone Museum for giving him such a special gift. George Kooluris, New York, USA

no desire from me to take pictures, or wait to watch it go. Instead, I went on my way, sure that father and son would continue enjoying their special car on those fantastic local roads.

Some cars make the experience of driving the best it possibly can be, and I have learned from your insights into Mr Murray that he succeeds because he really understands how to deliver that.

Steve Dickinson, Hertfordshire

Cranberry smoothie

Robert Coucher’s excellent report on the 1970 Jaguar XJ6 in Octane 266 reminded me of when I owned a Cranberry Vanden Plas XJ6 Series III in the late 1990s [below], with the amazing factory-spec lambswool overrugs.

The ladies in my office loved this car. It was an excellent touring and highway automobile and I once drove it from Norfolk, Virginia, to Hilton Head, South Carolina.

It certainly symbolised the phrase ‘Grace, Space and Pace’. Henry Christoff, Washington, USA

Make it make sense!

For many years, we have been told about the amount of money car manufacturers have put into producing more aerodynamically perfect vehicles. Why, then, are so many electric vehicles built like the proverbial brick outhouse? Apart from one or two – mostly Teslas – the rest appear to be square and unstreamlined.

We own a small BMW and the quoted range is around 320km but improved design could probably lift that distance significantly. Range anxiety is affecting the number of electric vehicles sold, especially here in NZ where distances between chargers can be greater.

Hybrids have almost become de rigeur – but surely the idea was to get away from internal combustion engines?

Mike Elliot, Otago, New Zealand

Send your letters to letters@octane-magazine.com

Please include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited for clarity. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Octane.

THE

POWER

Our man drove the Earth-shattering Bugatti Veyron when it was launched, so who better to revisit this very special example two decades on?

Words John Barker Photography Charlie Magee

Bugatti

GLORY THE

Conditions were perfect. It was a warm, dry afternoon and we were yards from a lightly trafficked and derestricted German autobahn.

I joined from the sliproad, saw there was nothing in front, checked the mirrors – with hindsight, I have no idea why – and floored the throttle. In just a handful of seconds I went from 80km/h to almost 300km/h, and the massive, unbelievably insistent shove from behind felt constant until I bottled out. It wasn’t only the push that was stunning, it was the seamless and relentless nature of the acceleration, which seemed to compress time and distance. It was literally incredible.

That was 20 years ago. It wasn’t as if I was caught cold by the Bugatti Veyron. I’d come primed for my first experience, driving down to meet the recently crowned world’s fastest car in two of the best supercars of the day: the Porsche Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo, each boasting over 600bhp. And with just one press of its throttle, the Bugatti made their all-out performance seem enthusiastic but futile.

Left and below John Barker first drove the Veyron when it was new, back in 2005, and now he’s back for more; ‘our’ car is the final pre-production prototype, and was involved in high-speed testing – seen here at VW Group’s EhraLessien test track.

In 2005, the Veyron’s numbers were extraordinary. Heck, they are still. The headliners were 1001ps and 250mph but they were so big, so beyond any other car, they were almost abstract. Until you drove it and felt the magnitude of all those 1001 metric horses (or 987bhp) shoving the neartwo-tonne Veyron very rapidly towards 250mph. From a standing start to 70mph, acceleration is close to 1g (060mph takes 2.5sec), and from there to 186mph, which takes just 14sec, it pulls an average of 0.65g. Zero to 250mph takes 55sec. Ludicrous. Utterly ludicrous.

Now, 20 years later, once again I come to drive the Veyron primed. By coincidence I have been spending the last few days in the Lamborghini Revuelto, the new hybrid supercar that boasts a combined peak power of 1001bhp. Will the Bugatti still feel as shockingly fast, as fast as the Lambo?

The first thing to say is that, with the passage of time, the Veyron is smaller than I recall. Wider, though. It was always remarkably compact, perhaps because initially it wasn’t conceived as the fastest car in the world. Having acquired the Bugatti brand in 1998, a year later the Volkswagen Group revealed the 18.3 Chiron, the first concept of what would become the Veyron. It was based on the four-wheeldrive Lamborghini Diablo VT but powered by a W18 engine – three banks of narrow-angle VR6s on a common crank. Naturally aspirated, it was rated at 555bhp. Later that year, the Chiron became the Veyron 18.4, still powered by the W18 but closer to the look of the finished car.

Then, at Geneva in 2000, VAG chairman Ferdinand Piëch stunned the world (and probably a large number of his engineers) by declaring that the Veyron would go into production with 1001ps and a top speed of 250mph. And he knew exactly what he was doing. Pushing engineers to achieve daring and ambitious objectives had been his career-long modus operandi; witness his delivery of the legendary Porsche 917 and Audi quattro. Piëch wanted one more grand project to his name before he was forced to retire in 2002, aged 65, as per VW company policy.

To achieve the power target he was persuaded to drop the W18 in favour of a W16 made up of two banks of narrowangle V8s and boosted by four turbochargers. Still, the gestation of the Veyron would be difficult, delayed and quite public. In 2003, banker, racer and former McLaren F1 owner Thomas Bscher was brought in to help deliver the goods. ‘It was pure chaos,’ he said. ‘Too much drag, over 600 problems with basic packaging… the whole cooling issue was one big unsolved problem and the promised power output existed only on paper.’ Meanwhile, new VW board chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder took issue with the character of the car, deeming it too hardcore, too racerish.

Engineers initially couldn’t get that power out of the 8.0-litre, quad-turbo engine because there weren’t pumps capable of delivering fuel at the rate the W16 demanded: at maximum speed the Veyron would drain its 100-litre tank in 12 minutes. A suitable system had to be developed from scratch. Then there was another issue. To deliver nigh-on 1000bhp, the engine actually needed to produce 3000bhp of combustion energy, the other 2000bhp being lost as heat and noise, requiring an extensive cooling system.

It’s to the company’s credit that, despite these challenges, the Veyron was launched in 2005 and delivered on every aspect that Piëch had promised, including a verified (and staggering) top speed of 253mph (407km/h) – recorded at VAG’s own Ehra-Lessien test facility, about 20km from Wolfsburg. It was said that, even at €1m (£872,000), the company made a loss on each car sold. Piëch denied this, stating in late 2006: ‘We now make money on every Veyron sold. The whole Bugatti operation including the refurbished château cost less than one season for a midfield F1 team.’

Price and performance aside, it was (still is) a supercar like no other, pebble smooth and unmistakably, quietly aggressive while most supercars are brash and bespoilered. The fastest car in the world didn’t need to shout about it.

WE’RE AT FURLONGER Specialist Cars in Ashford, Kent, to discover if, two decades on, the Veyron still has the ability to stagger and amaze. The example laid on isn’t any old Veyron 16.4, though, it’s XP5.5, the very last preproduction prototype, complete with experimental ‘high speed’ vented wings and sculpted doors. ‘These were trialled on the XP3 series,’ says Matt Honeysett, Furlonger’s sales director, but he believes that XP5.5 is the only 5-series car with them fitted. Bugatti didn’t follow through with the design into production, feeling it looked less elegant, though

2005 Bugatti Veyron

Engine 7993cc 64-valve W16, DOHC per bank, four turbochargers, electronic fuel injection and engine management

Power 987bhp @ 6000rpm Torque 922lb ft @ 2000-2500rpm Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch, four-wheel drive

Steering Rack and pinion, power-assisted Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, self-damping hydraulics Brakes Carbon-ceramic discs Weight 1888kg Top speed 253mph 0-60mph 2.5sec

Bugatti

Clockwise, from opposite, top There’s a certain VW Group rationality in here, but finish is on a whole new level; compact and understated, even the wing can be kept lowered; seats wear Ettore Bugatti’s signature; 8.0-litre W16 is sculptural; dash’s digital display will be familiar to some Audi owners – power output gauge less so.

no doubt it helps with airflow. A clue came in a quote from former Bugatti chief technical officer Dr Wolfgang Schreiber: ‘Every cubic inch of air that flows through the car, the drag coefficient suffers and you lose a little speed.’

It’s testimony to Bugatti build quality that, even though XP5.5 has covered 50,000km (30,000 miles), its original paint and trim look virtually showroom fresh. Drop into the driver’s seat and you find a remarkably simple interior with almost Art Deco detailing in the three-spoke steering wheel and machine-turned centre console. Press the start button and the huge engine fires up and idles with a deep, resonant pulse that’s reminiscent of a vast, V8-engined motor cruiser.

It’s a little nervy conducting such a special car. There’s more torque-converter-type slip at low speed than I recall, suggesting first gear is very long, while the turning circle is famously lousy and visibility is compromised by the very fat A-pillar and mirror combo. Considering the Veyron’s speed potential, the ride is decent at town speeds. Hydraulic suspension allows the ride height to be adjusted in a matter of moments. Select ‘handling’ mode and it drops by 45mm while raising the massive deployable rear spoiler (in ‘regular’ mode, both happen automatically at 137mph).

If you want to see whether your Veyron can crack 250mph, you need to insert the ‘Topspeed key’ in the slot between the seat and door. In this mode the car adopts its most aerodynamic form: the rear spoiler stows flush, the front diffuser panels close and the ride height drops by

65mm at the front and 70mm at the rear. In this trim there is zero downforce on the front axle and just 40kg on the rear. Oh, and although the engine is officially rated at 1001ps, it actually makes 1050ps, just in case there’s a bit of a headwind when you’re attempting to max it out. Really.

Circumspection is required at the moment because the roads are patchily damp. Just a tentative brush of the throttle produces a massive swell of torque that the car rides like a wave, teleporting towards the horizon with a low rumble. It’s a tantalising, thrilling glimpse of its enormous potential and, as the sun dries the roads, the right opportunity presents itself. The hammer goes down. I’m pleased to report that, all-out, the Veyron is as thrilling and terrifying as ever – and as ballistic as today’s upstart Lamborghini. Its acceleration rapidly crosses the threshold between fast and theme park crazy and goes on to pull that trick of super-powerful cars by seeming to accelerate harder the faster you go.

In the passenger seat, Honeysett chuckles. He’s driven multiple Veyrons and clearly still gets a buzz from full boost. Furlonger is mainly a Ferrari and Lamborghini specialist but has been a Bugatti EB110 specialist for many years, too. ‘Honestly, when XP5.5 turned up, we didn’t know too much about it. We’d sold a few Veyrons since 2015 but a friend educated us about the XPs. It came to us for storage to start with and then we took on the servicing. We’re very proud to have it and we’ve shown it at a couple of events, including the most recent Goodwood Festival of Speed.’

Above Without the rear spoiler deployed, there’s a pebble-smooth subtlety to the Veyron’s appearance – it doesn’t advertise its other-worldly performance potential.

‘ITS

ACCELERATION

RAPIDLY CROSSES THE THRESHOLD BETWEEN FAST AND THEME

PARK CRAZY’

He continues: ‘The owner acquired it from the factory. It was the press car, running the press plate WF EB 525, and was at Ehra-Lessien along with four other cars when they verified the top speed. I was told they all did 400km/hplus. It came with a letter from Bugatti confirming its status as the last 16.4 prototype, full chassis number ending 55055, internally referred to as XP5.5. Before the sale its engine and gearbox were fully rebuilt and it was tested to make sure it could achieve 407km/h. When we had it all apart we found loads of chalk writing “5.5” on the wheelarches and things like that. There was clearly a batch of parts that came together. It’s unquestionably the real deal.’

For a few years Furlonger sold the odd Veyron, but otherwise practised managed avoidance because they are so famously expensive to repair. ‘We did get a customer’s car in and at their request dropped it off at Bugatti for inspection.  But the vehicle’s level of engineering complexity is reflected in the budget you need in order to put things right when they go wrong.’ And they will go wrong, just like every car does at one time or another.

‘Simon Furlonger and I are both from engineering backgrounds, so we know that complex things don’t necessarily have to be complicated. We took a pragmatic approach to this cost problem and bought a Veyron, and over a period of two years our workshop stripped it, scrutinised it, slept with it, ate with it, got angry with it, and laughed with it, and got to know it inside and out. We found all 16 oil drain plugs, we sucked all 24 litres of engine oil out with a vacuum pump, we became one with it, we trusted it, and it trusted us! Now we have everything we need: tools, tech data and parts, and can service and repair Bugatti Veyrons alongside our existing vehicle parc of F40s, F50s, Diablo Jotas, etc.’

Bugatti services Veyrons with the mindset that every car would be doing 250mph every day. But 20 years on, Furlonger takes an informed, more pragmatic approach. A major service at Furlonger costs £7500 plus VAT, and includes front and rear decks off, wheels and brakes off, all the fluids changed, including those for the four-wheel drive system’s Haldex couplings, and more. The only thing they’ve yet to do is strip down and rebuild a gearbox but it’s on the horizon: ‘We will do it.’

For me, the gearbox is almost as impressive as the extraordinary power. I doubt the Veyron would have been viable without the DSG gearbox, which was developed by Ricardo in the UK. Mike Everitt, who led the project, described it as ‘like balancing an elephant on a beach ball’ and also took pleasure in telling the Bugatti engineers that their engine was ‘a significant actuator on our gearbox’. Late on in the project, it was decided that the engine would not be torque-limited in first, the tyres would be 25% grippier and the car would be heavier. This required that the gears be made from vacuum arc remelted steel, the strongest available and hugely expensive.

Another unexpectedly impressive aspect of the Veyron is its handling. Honeysett guides me to some excellent roads and, although they look better-suited to a hot hatch, XP5.5 tackles them with such agility and composure that it feels like it weighs only 1500kg. The weight distribution is decent, 45:55 front:rear, but there’s still more than a tonne over the rear axle – almost the total weight of the McLaren F1. The steering is clean and accurate and the car feels so well-balanced, so neutral, that you can hustle it with

remarkable confidence. You just have to be aware of how much speed you’re gaining between the corners.

It’s a measure of how much confidence the Veyron inspires that you soon find yourself using the magnesium paddles to select gears manually for maximum throttle response. If you floor the throttle with only a few revs on the tacho, brilliant as the ’box is, there’s a pause before the car finds the appropriate gear and spools up the turbos. Think of it as the time it takes to pull back the elastic band on the most enormous catapult.

Four-wheel drive is supported by traction control, which is pretty blunt in its behaviour. It jumps in when I pull out from a bumpy junction, cutting power for a long moment. Maybe it’s better described as a power outage than an ignition cut but, given that the boost builds like you’re throwing petrol on a bonfire, any slip can’t be allowed to escalate.

No question, what Bugatti achieved with the Veyron 20 years ago was remarkable and impressive. Not only did it nail its targets, it made a thousand horsepower seem accessible and useable. So much performance is always going to be shocking but the Veyron is as calm and stable as you’d want it to be. There are more exciting supercars, more tactile, more visceral, more vocal and more engaging supercars, but the Veyron’s place in automotive history is assured.

Honeysett values XP5.5 at £5m and reckons an entry-level car is now £1.3-1.4m, up to £2.5m for a Super Sport. ‘They’re undervalued when we’re selling F50s for £4.5m. The Veyron is a more important car in the motoring world, and not many were built: 450 in total, 254 of them the original, pure 16.4s.’ Meanwhile, the all-new Bugatti Tourbillon is in the final stages of development. Powered by an enormous 8.3-litre, naturally aspirated V16 engine, it will offer an electrically assisted 1800bhp and will get from rest to 250mph in only 25 seconds. That’s half a minute faster than the Veyron. I think Ferdinand Piëch would have approved.

TO Furlonger Specialist Cars, simonfurlonger.co.uk, and Egon Zweimüller.

COLLECTABLE FROM THE OFF

Even at its low point, the Veyron was a record-breaker

It won’t surprise many readers to hear that the Bugatti Veyron is, in valuation terms, an exceptional car. Most models take decades from launch to be tracked by the Hagerty Price Guide, a mark that they’ve made it as ‘collectable’, but the Veyron was tracked by the US guide from day one, such was the impact of this era-defining car.

Values of the Veyron 16.4 have fascinated since its launch, with peaks and troughs linked to model development. Introduced at €1m, around $1,250,000, its price rose as demand outstripped the tiny 50-car-per-year production. Then the Grand Sport arrived in 2009 and became the ‘one to have’. Values of the 16.4 slipped to relative bargain levels before briefly spiking again. Other models were then released: the Super Sport in 2010, the Grand Sport Vitesse in 2012. From 2011 until the end of standard production in 2014, values of the 16.4 remained lower than the original recommended retail price.

The eagle-eyed among you will note that I’ve used Hagerty’s top ‘concours’ value rather than the usual Condition 2 ‘excellent’ price, as this makes most sense when tracking from new when all cars are by default in concours condition and with delivery mileage. Once the model has been discontinued, those that have survived in this condition become the ones to collect, and it’s no surprise that values have risen steadily since then as a result, other than a brief dip during Covid and a mini-boom after, in common with many other collectable cars. For the past 12 months, values have been flat while the majority of the market has fallen, marking the Veyron out as a particularly resilient collectable model. That said, the demand for the very best is not reflected in cars that have experienced a harder life: Hagerty’s Condition 4 ‘fair’ value for the Veyron is currently $1m and has fluctuated by less than 5% since September 2016, having been outpaced in real terms by inflation.

The longer-term outlook for the Veyron is good. The Hagerty Collectability Algorithm scores it within the 91st percentile and it’s an iconic car for the generation that remembers the journalistic fervour accompanying its launch. That is reflected in the ownership demographics: 73% were born before 1965, compared with 65% across all the cars insured by Hagerty.

As far as UK values go, two book-ends are well worth mentioning. The lowest publicised price paid was for a 2006 Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4, sold by BCA in 2010 for £625,000 – at the time a UK record for a modern production car at auction and the highest value ever achieved by BCA on a single vehicle. More recently, a new record was set during this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. As the Cartier Style et Luxe concours celebrated the Veyron’s 20th anniversary on the lawn outside the Duke of Richmond’s family pile, a 2007 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 sailed past its £800,000 upper estimate at the Bonhams sale to achieve a record-breaking £1,527,000, making it the most valuable sold so far at auction – and, at $2.07m, cracking the $2m mark. John Mayhead

MYTH&MAGIC

Which is which and what’s important about all the Veyron editions

Words Matthew Hayward

THE WORLD WAS a very di erent place when the Veyron was launched back in 2005, and I’m not just referring to the fact that it was delivered with an accompanying HP Palm Pilot to access its digital features. In so many ways Buga i was a gamechanger in the rare ed hypercar and luxury car waters in which it preyed, both in terms of the rapid evolution of the Veyron itself and also in how it took to a new level the bespoke customer experience that’s now commonplace but was then embryonic.

Even though Buga i would build a total of only 450 Veyrons, it soon became clear that there was a demand for unique versions tailored speci cally for special VIP customers. Ultimately, this would lead to no fewer than 20 special editions and three spin-o variants – each more expensive than the last.

Notable early special versions included the Veyron Pur Sang – of which the ve examples built featured a visible aluminium and carbon bre nish – as well as the four Hermès editions created in partnership with the French fashion house, and which sported a full ‘bull calf’ interior. One-o s bearing the names of legendary Buga i drivers such as Jean-Pierre Wimille and Malcolm Campbell also came towards the end of the standard coupé’s production.

In total, 252 ‘basic’ 16.4 Veyron coupés were built before the targa-topped Grand Sport took over in 2009. By this point, the price had risen to £1.4m. Although not something ever originally planned by Piëch, it was considered at the time to be a bit of a step-up from the original car. Not only did the lack of a roof help to heighten the driving sensations, but the updated model brought in a considerably sti ened chassis – with higher-strength carbon bre.

Its fabric roof was rated only for speeds up to 100mph, but with its hardtop in place the Grand Sport would still do the full 253mph. For those who dared to try topless, you

would nd a 229mph limiter in place. e rst 30 examples went to existing Veyron owners, with 58 built in total –including, of course, several special one-o versions such as the Sang Bleu and L’Or Blanc, which included unique porcelain interior ings.

As a result of the SSC Ultimate Aero coming along in 2007 and swiping the Veyron’s Guinness-veri ed speed record, something had to be done to reclaim the top spot. In 2010 Buga i launched the £2million Super Sport – a coupé model with power output increased to 1183bhp and a revised aerodynamics package. e result was a phenomenal 267mph, con rmed at Ehra-Lessien a er being averaged over two runs in the same year.

In order to release that extra power from the W16 engine, Buga i engineers ed larger turbochargers, as well as matching larger charge-coolers and more e cient inlet manifolds to allow a remapped ECU. e result was a boost of almost 20%, in a car famously endowed from the start with 1001ps! e seven-speed DSG twin-clutch gearbox required reinforced internals to cope and, while road tests at the time con rmed that there was more turbo-lag, a considerably harder and more sustained gut-punch of acceleration followed, all looked a er by a chassis that was lightly tweaked and more than capable of handling the extra power with minimal fuss. Fun fact: the tyre valves used in the bespoke Michelins required sti er springs, as the centrifugal force at speeds above 260mph would cause air to escape from the standard ones.

But there was a problem. Some time a er the Guinness representatives had witnessed and veri ed the Super Sport’s top speed run, the record’s validity was called into question. It turns out that the standard Super Sport was ed with a 258mph electronic speed limiter that could not be disabled – even with the use of the speed key. e ve World Record

Clockwise, from above Ferdinand Piëch sketched his engineering concept while on a train in Japan in 1997; complex W16 block is worthy of the Buga i name; final Veyron built (foreground) and Veyron No.1; Super Sport World Record Edition celebrated 267mph top speed; No.1 again (foreground) at the 2005 launch.

Clockwise, from right Grand Sport Vitesse heads for a topless record; Hermès edition features ‘bull calf’ trim; L’Or Blanc edition perhaps best described as distinctive; Chiron is the Veyron’s even more powerful successor.

Edition cars, finished in the exposed black-carbon and orange colour scheme – in one of which Bugatti’s test driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel achieved the record to Guinness’s initial satisfaction – were built without the limiter. Guinness considered this an illegal modification and nullified the record, but later changed its decision and allowed it to stand, as Bugatti did not ‘alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine’. Including the five World Record Editions, 48 Super Sports were built.

What came next was genuinely a bit of a surprise, although it had been driven by customer demand: the Grand Sport Vitesse. An evolution of the targa Grand Sport model, it received the same 1183bhp Super Sportspec engine and became the final Veyron iteration. It was built from 2012 to 2015, seeing out Veyron production with a total of 92 built. Although its top speed wasn’t quite that of the Super Sport, the Grand Sport Vitesse managed to break a record of its own. In 2013, once again at Ehra-Lessien, Chinese racing driver Anthony Liu piloted the Vitesse to a top speed of 254mph with no roof fitted, surpassing the target of 400km/h.

As well as the eight World Record Car Editions built to celebrate this achievement, the Vitesse was offered throughout the production run in several other special editions. The Legends series included versions inspired by and named after personalities from Bugatti’s history, including racers Jean-Pierre Wimille and Meo Costantini, plus family members Jean Bugatti, Rembrandt Bugatti and, of course, Ettore himself. The production run was finished off in 2015 by the Grand Sport Vitesse La Finale, which featured a black and dark-red carbonfibre finish and harked back to the 2001 Veyron concept.

A year later we would see our first glimpse of the Veyron’s successor: the Chiron. The all-new car moved the game on yet again, significantly so, yet it carried over a very heavily modified version of the 16.4’s W16 engine. From launch it produced 1479bhp, but power swelled to 1587bhp in the Chiron Super Sport 300+. With a longer-ratio gearbox, aero mods and the standard limiter disabled, a frankly absurd 304mph was achieved with Andy Wallace behind the wheel. Although this was not an officially recognised Guinness record, it stands as a testament to the potential of the original Veyron’s engine. The last car officially to use the W16 engine is Bugatti’s track-only Bolide.

THE OCTANE INTERVIEW

Damon Hill

What it’s like to race with Senna and against Schumacher, to become the 1996 Formula 1 World Champion, and to have lost your racing hero father at a young age

Words Adam Hay-Nicholls

DAMON HILL NEVER wanted to be a racing driver. He became one only to try to fill the shoes of his father, Graham Hill, whose luminous life was cut short, leaving behind a young widow, two daughters and 15-year-old Damon. Getting behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car – the place his double World Champion dad had called the office – was, he says, an attempt to connect with the life he knew before it was sent into a spiral by a newsflash 50 years ago, on 29 November 1975.

Damon and his elder sister Brigitte were in the sitting room watching Saturday night TV at the family’s Hertfordshire home. Bette, their mother, was in the kitchen cooking dinner for her husband, who would soon be returning hungry from work. ‘We interrupt

this programme to bring you news that a private plane has crashed on Arkley Golf Course near Barnet in Hertfordshire. The plane hit a screen of trees at around 9:30pm and was engulfed in flames…’

Passenger names were not given, but Damon guessed that it was Graham and some of his Embassy Hill team members returning from a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France. He rushed to the kitchen to relay what he’d heard. Bette fell into screaming hysterics.

Two decades later, the son was fighting for the F1 World Championship. He says he wanted to ‘get back to that place before it all went off the rails. If I could get back to the start again, maybe I could put right everything that went wrong.’

Octane spoke with the 1996 World Champion ahead of the release of a new feature-length TV documentary, Hill (available on Sky and streaming service NOW), which charts Damon’s story from losing his father to reaching the summit of motor racing while suffering from post-traumatic stress, selfdoubt, and a sense that the cosmos was out to get him. Damon was fuelled by a desire to make his dad proud and to stick two fingers up at the world for taking him away when it did.

‘Knowing that a bolt can hit you out of the blue changes the way you see the world,’ explains Damon. His father’s accident wasn’t the first time he’d had to deliver Earthshattering news to his mother. He was seven in 1968 when programming was interrupted by an earlier newsflash: ‘It came on and said Jim Clark had died.’ Clark was Graham’s Lotus

team-mate (Clark won the world title in 1963 and ’65, Hill in ’62 and would do so again that year), and had crashed out of a race at Hockenheim. ‘My mum was passing the living room, caught the name and said “What was that?” So that was the first of two occasions as a kid when I had to break horrific news to her.’

A lack of privacy is what Damon mainly recalls about the six days between the crash and the funeral at St Albans Abbey. ‘The house was invaded by police, press, friends. We arrived [at the service] and there were all these people from motor racing and local people and Graham Hill fans. We just wanted to be with our dad in a private way. And it was too much for my mum. She went to five funerals in a week, including her husband’s. The only reason she didn’t go to the sixth was because two were on the same day. Jesus, that was a tough week.’

The Piper Aztec in which Hill, racing driver Tony Brise, team manager Ray Brimble, car designer Andy Smallman and mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards were travelling was uninsured. Graham’s night-flying and instrument rating had lapsed. He’d taken out loans to support the team. The other men had families, too, so Hill’s estate was vulnerable from every angle. By the end, there was nothing left for Bette and the children. In the film, Damon shares that he’d have gladly swapped places with someone else on that plane. ‘I remember thinking, I would have liked to have been with him. I didn’t want to be here.’

MOTORCYCLES HAD BEEN Damon’s first love, not cars. ‘I loved listening to Murray

Walker commentating on Motocross in a muddy field and people falling off their bikes.’

His dad bought him his first motorbike, presented it in the Brands Hatch paddock and summoned a TV crew. The dashing Hill was a charismatic showman, while Damon was a shy, introverted teenager. The footage shows the youngster thrilled with his new toy, but also uncomfortable with the attention.

Damon started racing bikes when he turned 21, and wore the same distinctive London Rowing Club helmet design as his dad. Money was tight, and he funded his racing and his further education by working as a construction labourer and motorcycle courier in London. ‘I started out sleeping in a van at races, and then I got a caravan, which I considered made me almost professional.’

It was around the same time he went to a warehouse party and met the woman who would become his wife and mother to their four children. Georgie has been his rock for almost 45 years.

‘We’re yin and yang in some ways,’ Damon tells me. ‘I’m always interested to hear how she perceives things and what she thinks. I think it’s a good dynamic in relationships; you’re drawn together because of your differences. Today, people go on apps to find people similar to them. It’s much more interesting to be with people who don’t agree with you!’

His parents’ relationship was similarly rooted. Damon has a double-whammy of sporting DNA, as his mum rowed for Great Britain. ‘Road & Track did an article on my dad’s first race: “There’s this new guy Norman

From far left Young Damon sharing father Graham Hill’s lap with sister Brigitte; on his way to victory (and clinching the Drivers’ Championship) at Suzuka, Japan, in 1994; at Suzuka again, as a race pundit in 2023.

[his first name] Hill and he’s married to the famous oarswoman Bette Shubrook!” He was in the Navy and had taken up rowing. They met at the rowing club. He would ride along the towpath barking into a megaphone to help with her coaching. Then they’d go to the pub. They seemed to have a good time. That was their life in post-war Britain.’

It was at his mum’s suggestion that Damon first tried his hand at racing cars in 1983, aged 23. It was a late start compared with his contemporaries, but akin to his father, who was 25 when he drove a car on track for the first time. ‘Someone had spoken to my mum,’ he says. ‘They’d said “He’s going to hurt himself. You need to get him off a bike.” And it’s true, when you looked around the bike paddock and saw the blokes with broken legs. She said “Why don’t you try it out and see if you’re any good?”

I said OK, but I wasn’t paying for it because all my money went on my bike. She said “No, it’s all paid for. Winfield Racing School at Magny Cours in France. You just have to turn up.” So I thought, great! And I did quite well.’

That’s when the competitive instincts kicked in. ‘Once I get the lasers on stun, I can’t let go. I put all my efforts into finding out how to go car racing to win, rather than going car racing to look like an idiot.’

An illustration? Graham Hill was popular for his witty repartee on the 1960s and ’70s chat show circuit, and ‘mega fun’ at home. But he went racing with absolute seriousness. ‘He took me to a kart track once, in the South of France. It was the first time I’d ever tried it and I lapped everyone. I thought it was brilliant. I went up to him afterwards and said “Did you see that?” He sort of went “Hmm…” I picked up on his reaction. It wasn’t a game. His mates were dropping like flies back then.’

A decade on, as Damon was rising through the ranks of British single-seaters with the likes of Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and Perry McCarthy, he left the clowning around to others. ‘It was nuts, we had a lot of fun as young lads in Formula 3, but you can’t muck about at this. I knew I only had one go at it, and so I was less inclined to take it as lightly as some people.’

By 1991, in parallel with his F3000 season, Damon was moonlighting as test driver for the successful Williams F1 team, and the following year made his first three Grand Prix starts with the struggling Brabham squad. 1992 had seen Hill help develop the mighty Williams FW14B in which Nigel Mansell took title glory. Mansell referred to Hill as ‘the monkey’, there was no glamour to testing, but there was a regular pay

‘I put all my efforts into finding out how to go racing to win, rather than going racing to look like an idiot’

cheque and, to everyone’s surprise, an opportunity. When Alain Prost signed to Williams for ’93, Mansell quit and Hill earned the second seat after the engineers lobbied for him: he was suddenly Britain’s great Grand Prix hope. For 1994, with a hat-trick of wins already under his belt, he would receive an apprenticeship from a third icon, Ayrton Senna, who was at the peak of his powers and replaced the retiring Prost. Then came another bolt from the blue, three races in: the Brazilian was dead and the team was in turmoil.

In that moment, Damon took inspiration from his father: specifically, how Graham had lifted Team Lotus up by the bootstraps when Clark was killed in ’68. ‘The Lotus mechanics were shell-shocked that day, so he organised them, told them what to do, and he led by example. There’s footage of him walking through the woods picking up bits of car and putting them in the truck. Dad had a steeliness that must have come from the war and growing up in the blitz, as did my mother. He was able to soldier on and pull everyone together.

‘When we lost Ayrton, I learnt a lot about my dad. I wasn’t Graham Hill, but I knew we all had a job to do and we had to get on with that job even better than before in honour of the fallen. Williams was heavily impacted by Ayrton’s death, but those wounds were healed in some ways by the victories we took that year [seven in total]. That was the story of ’94: the team picking themselves up and having another crack at it. But there’s no question in my mind that Ayrton would have won that year’s championship for them had he lived.’

Senna’s funeral, where three million Sao Paulistanos lined the procession route, was the first Damon had been to since his father’s. ‘It brought a lot of things back. I wasn’t going to go, but Jackie Stewart told me I had to. It was like my dad telling me. He said I’d regret it if I didn’t, and he was right. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that year. It was terrible what

happened, but on the other hand it threw me into the frontline against Michael.’

Michael Schumacher would prove the defining rival of Damon’s career. The German clinched the 1994 title by a single point in controversial circumstances. He smashed into Hill at the last race of the season, an ugly tactic he replicated with less success against Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. Just before the denouement in Adelaide, however, Damon had given the drive of his life around a wet Suzuka.

‘I had to beat this guy,’ says Damon, recalling how Michael was closing in his mirrors as the laps counted down. He looked to the heavens and said ‘Ayrton, if you’re up there I could use a hand.’ He wasn’t trying to invoke a religious dimension, but he cannot explain what happened next.

‘My foot went to the floor and my hands were moving in a way like they weren’t my hands. There was an extended period when I wasn’t conscious that I was driving at all. The car felt completely autonomous. I was going “Fucking hell, what’s going to happen here?” When we’re tested, I think we can unleash ourselves from the constraints we put on. Everyone has the ability to go beyond what they think is possible, but it takes extreme circumstances to unlock those abilities.’

He’d given his all in 1994 and went into the following season drained. Schumacher, who was nine years younger than Hill, treated him with disdain. He knew how to home in on his competitor’s vulnerabilities. ‘He was trying to humiliate me. And, of course, he had all the credentials to make me look inferior. I just thought that was a slightly nasty streak.’

Damon also disliked the way Frank Williams and the team’s co-owner Patrick Head looked up to Schumacher, as if they’d rather have him in the car than Damon. He’d been further undermined by Williams’ decision to bring Mansell back as Hill’s team-mate for four races in 1994, including the Adelaide finale, and felt underappreciated for all he’d done to

help drag the team back from the precipice that year at Imola. In 1995, Damon drove angry, and anger is your worst enemy in motor racing: it puts you in the gravel trap. Formula 1 is very exposing: ‘If you have even an ounce of doubt, it’ll find the crack in your armour and it’s straight into the central nervous system.’

Damon needed to talk to someone. He wished it could have been his dad. Instead, he went to the Irish psychiatrist Anthony Clare. ‘He said “You’ve done very well, Damon” and all the things your dad might have said. My wife gets upset when I say this, because she was saying those things, too, but I needed affirmation from someone outside the loop. To resolve grief you have to face it, not run away from it. You actually get bored of your own story – that’s how you kill it off.’

Hill faced his demons and delivered on the track in 1996 to be the first son of a World Champion to become World Champion – and did so knowing that Williams would not renew his contract, which brought him a certain sense of freedom. He was now racing for himself, just like in his motorbike days. Did it cross his mind to retire on the spot, unbeaten, as Nico Rosberg – another ‘son of’ – would in 2016?

‘Yeah, it sort of did. My winning average was so ridiculous. It was something like the third best wins-to-starts ratio of all time, I think. But no, I thought I had more to prove and maybe another championship in me. I was wrong there. But we had some good times. We so nearly won with Arrows [Hungary, 1997], and we won with Jordan [Spa-Francorchamps, 1998], so I console myself with the thought that to win with multiple teams is not that common in this sport.’ Hill retired at the end of 1999, aged 39, with 22 wins, 20 poles and 42 podium spots to his name.

Another milestone was approaching: Graham Hill had been 46 when he was killed. Surpassing that age was always going to be daunting, but there was a further breakthrough to make. ‘It wasn’t just turning 46, I had to live

‘Even an ounce of doubt will find the crack in your armour, straight into the central nervous system’

longer than he did after he retired,’ says Damon. Graham Hill had hung up his racing helmet only six months before the fatal crash.

Having lost some of his identity and missing the adrenaline rush of racing, Damon fell into a depression, not uncommon in retired professional sportspeople. There was also this sword of Damocles hanging over him, waiting for him to let down his guard: ‘I mustn’t repeat the same cock-up that happened with my dad. I mustn’t retire and then get caught out by some pitfall. He’d retired, we all relaxed, and then bang! So when I stopped racing, I went into a period of isolation and made sure I stayed away from anything daft. I have never flown a plane for fairly obvious reasons. I won’t go near it. I don’t want fate to have another go.’

When he emerged, Damon succeeded Jackie Stewart as president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, securing the future of the British Grand Prix, before joining Sky Sports F1 as a pundit from 2012 onwards. This season, he’s switched to the BBC, commentating on races for Radio 5 Live. ‘F1 is like the sun,’ he says. ‘It has a gravitational pull and you can’t escape it. For a time I wanted to get away, but I’m quite happy to be in solar-stationary orbit now.’

Damon’s racing career was in part an effort to thank his father. He compares winning the title to making an offering at a temple. But it also proved a way to step out from Graham’s shadow and be his own man.

‘Part of the story is how can you express your love and admiration for your father when he’s no longer there? But it’s also self-expression. It’s saying: “I’m me, I can do this.”’

THE DOCUMENTARY ‘Hill’ is currently available on Sky and streaming service NOW.

Clockwise from above

Hill celebrates his ’96 Championship at Suzuka with Schumacher and Häkkinen; presenting for Sky, 2022 Bahrain GP; with Schumacher, 1994; chasing Schumacher’s Benetton; with team-mate Senna.

BACK TO LIFE

With the unique original seemingly confined to obscurity, Octane tests a perfect replica of the works Lotus Seven racer –along with the driver who moulded its reputation

Words James Elliott Photography Rich Pearce

This page, clockwise, from top left The Three-7 as it appeared at the 1965 Racing Car Show with any chance of production already nixed; the picture that inspired Renton-Skinner’s build, Goss at the wheel at Snetterton in April 1967; Goss’s original helmet was found hanging in a friend’s garage, here next to one of his many trophies, this for the 1969 Lotus Seven Championship.

Fact 1: Lotus never made a works racer out of the Seven. Wrong. Although Team Lotus generally left Sevens to the clubmen, it did dabble in a few stealth ‘factory’ cars, namely the early ’60s car known as the 7½ and the late-1960s S4-based 7X, plus, pretty much halfway between them, one other. Fact 2: all Lotus models are known by their type numbers as they are written as well as their names, so Elan is Type 26, Europa is 47 etc. Wrong again. There is a single car that usurps both these commonly held beliefs and, though currently something of a footnote in Lotus history, in period it was considered significant enough to be assigned a type number all of its own, and it also dominated the Clubman’s championship.

Coming between the 36 (Elan S3 and 4) and 1965 Indy-dominating single-seater Lotus 38s, the Type 37 was most definitely the Three-7 because that was written on its nose in big letters and numerals when it made its first public appearance. It is even listed as Three-7 in William Taylor’s magnum opus The Lotus Book

So what was this near-mythical one-off beast? And why does it matter? We will never really know whether it was hubris, but when Lotus embarked on the Three-7 it was already playing catch-up with scores of privateers who had been uprating the Seven since 1957. Lotus had itself experimented with independent rear suspension with the aforementioned semi-official car that became known as the 7½, an S1-based 1962 upgrade that the Cheshunt works ran and even Colin Chapman had an outing in during the 1962 season.

Three years later, the company schemed to launch a racer for privateers in the new Clubman’s formula for front-engined, Ford-powered racers that, despite punching way above their weight, were at risk of being left behind in the mid-engined revolution. Here was a new battlefield, where the Sevens could skirmish mainly with each other but also selected others such as the disconcertingly rapid Mallocks. With Chapman’s blessing, Peter Warr got to work on devising a car for Nick Syrett’s new formula.

Basing the Three-7 on a strengthened Seven S2 chassis, chassis number 37-R-1 (R for racing, 1 for No.1) had five-

link FJ-style independent rear suspension with an Elite diff, fixed-length halfshafts, alloy hub carriers and parallel lower links, plus discs all round (inboard at rear and with front:rear balancing via twin master cylinders). Power came from a dry-sump Ford Cosworth 1500cc 116E engine fed by twin Weber 40s and good for 125bhp. There were a light-alloy bellhousing and gearbox and, as with the 7½, the wheels were 13x6in magnesium ‘wobbly webs’ with Dunlop R6 racing tyres.

But Lotus is Lotus and the axe had already fallen on the Three-7 by the time it appeared at the 1965 Racing Car Show at London’s Horticultural Halls. Priced at £1350 for the kit and £1450 assembled, it was close to three times the cost of a seriously quick Mallock U2. Such a brief life did not mean that it did not live on in several incarnations, however. With production canned and only the solitary show car in existence, Lotus sales manager John Berry took it on in lieu of commission, got it up and running, added wishbone front suspension and amply proved its potential on the clubman’s circuit. After him it was taken on by Essex clubbie Peter Deal, who sold the Three-7 to up and coming star Tim Goss for £1025 when he traded up to an F3 Brabham in 1966.

Goss, whose father owned the famous ‘Ham&High’ (Hampstead & Highgate Express) had been at school with Autosport founder Gregor Grant’s sons (Gregor and Don) and spent his teens with them indulging his obsession for motorsport. In 1962 his brother Stephen bought a Lotus 7 S2 kit that they built in a friend’s garage over a weekend

and, when Stephen went to South America in 1964, Tim borrowed the car and won his class in his first ever race. He went to university in Grenoble, during which time he hillclimbed a Mini Cooper S and did some of the French national rally championship, but in 1965 his aunt died and left him £1000, so Stephen put him onto what he called the ultimate racing Lotus 7: the Three-7.

Goss and the car had an immediate impact: ‘My first race in it was at Cadwell Park. I qualified on the second row of the grid, but when I went to start, the battery was flat – I had no idea that there were no innards in the dynamo, to save weight, so it hadn’t been charging. Everyone else shot off into the distance, then my mates gave me a push-start and I caught up and finished third. Which was quite a debut for us both.’

It was in an outing on the short course at Mallory Park that Goss found the Three-7’s sweet spot and in one day set new class records, not only for Clubman’s but Formule Libre and sports cars, too, with a 38.6sec lap. In his first season with the Three-7, Goss finished as championship runner-up to Chevron pilot Howard Heerey, but secured four wins, 14 other podium finishes and seven lap records. In 1968 came a period of ‘financial consolidation’, though Goss’s one race that season ended in victory at Mallory Park, and he ran the Three-7 successfully in the 11-mile Chamrousse International hillclimb.

There were dramatic changes in the pipeline though, as Goss explains: ‘The 1969 season was to see the Clubman’s Formula rules change from 1500cc to 1600cc to

Above left Three-7 engine was originally a Cosworth 1500cc but Renton-Skinner has stuck with the Holbay it later acquired. Peter Prové talked him out of making it too peaky for street use, but it still has a handy 142bhp at the rear wheels.

‘Every gearchange and burst of power requires a tweak of the wheel as the Three-7 squirrels along with spellbinding acceleration’

accommodate the new Ford 120E crossflow engine. The Three-7 was by then five years old, so along with uprating the engine I decided to drastically redesign the suspension and do away with the old Formula Junior stressed diff casing and fixed driveshafts that had proved to be the car’s weakest link [the lugs on the Elite diff tended to snap off with any flex], and build a parallel trailing-link doublewishbone system incorporating an Elan diff.’

With the upgrades done by Jim Donnelly of Silvertune Engineering and the then-black Three-7 sitting on much wider wheels, Goss dominated the season, scorching to both Clubman’s and Lotus Seven titles with 14 wins and five further podiums from 19 races. So dominant was Goss that he was buttonholed for a works drive and sold the Three-7 to Peter Valdar for £900 while going on to win the championship again himself in Lotus’s prototype 7X. Goss then moved on to the European F3 championship in a March 713M, giving up his job at British Leyland in the process, while Valdar in turn sold on the Three-7 after a couple of years to Ashley Devonshire, reputedly for just £500.

A 30-year spell in storage followed for the Three-7, then further modification, road registration and, almost inevitably, auction, allegedly when Devonshire needed a new kitchen. When sold by Coys at the Design Centre in Islington in April 2001, it came with a £14,000-20,000 estimate. Goss himself bid to £22,000 to reacquire his car, but it rocketed past and the gavel came down at £56,520 including commission. We can only speculate why the price was so high, but the fact that it is the only Type 37 in existence and some people are known to collect sets of Lotuses by type number is a likely explanation. Either way, it disappeared into a Dutch collection and hasn’t been seen since. Keeping the car under wraps is entirely the owner’s right, of course, but the prospect of this already little-known yet heroic Lotus Seven being entirely forgotten spurred one devotee to build a replica. That man is Miles Renton-Skinner, who started work at Rod Jolley Coachbuilding when he was 18, went to Roach Manufacturing, then set up vintagecars.com and later the renowned coachbuilder Ashley & James.

He says: ‘I’ve had a few Sevens, an S2 in my early 20s that I restored, then I had an S3 that I built up for my dad’s retirement present. As a member of the Historic Lotus Register I got their magazines and one month on the back was a picture of the Three-7 as it was when Tim started racing it in 1967, and I fell in love with it. When I found out that it still existed, but not in that form and hadn’t been seen in a long time, I knew I had to build a replica. Simon Taylor put me on to Tim, who has been fantastically helpful in helping me get it right.

‘When the car was first raced, it didn’t have the Lotus Eleven-style diff; then they raided all the F3 stuff and that to me was the best form because it had all the mods – rear diff housing, front suspension modified, anti-roll bar mounted at the bottom. At the Racing Car Show it had a Cosworth engine and at some point it acquired a Holbay, which is the spec it has now. It was built by Peter Prové and he didn’t let me have it quite full-race spec. It’s a 1600, forged pistons, dry sump, Farndon crank, twin Weber 40s and a straight-cut four-speed ’box with Quaife internals. The upshot is that we’ve got 142bhp at the wheels, and about 160 at the flywheel.’

Clockwise, from opposite Goss back in the driving seat; simple dash and controls; diff assembly was a weak point (lugs snapped) and was revised; kart-like responses.

Renton-Skinner does not hurry his projects – his Lotus Eight is 12 years in and counting – but after seven years the Three-7 replica was finished and ready for Goss to have a go and bring back memories of the original.

Goss is a dapper gent, all easy charm and sprightly energy that defies his 79 years as he hops into the Three-7 and barrels off down the road. The former Rover service director’s on-track career didn’t end with F3, of course, and he carried on competing – his drives seamlessly morphing from contemporary to historic en route – up until three years ago, when he bowed out after racing an MG at Snetterton: ‘For the first time ever I didn’t get an adrenaline rush. I was just doing it. What’s the point if I’m not getting that thrill? I never expected that to happen because up until then racing was a drug.’ A drug of which big hits included the Nürburgring 1000 and 500k, British Sports Car Championship, BOAC 500, four British Saloon Car Championships, Touring Cars and more.

And now Renton-Skinner’s Three-7 replica. Because there is no question that Goss got a huge rush from it: ‘It really brought back memories, it feels just like the original. When I got into it I thought, even if it does feel like the original I’ll never remember it, the last time I drove it in this guise being in 1968, but it all just came flooding back. I’d really like to drive it around a racetrack now.

‘The clutch is pretty violent, but once you’re used to that it’s quite responsive; it’s stiff, a bit go-karty, it turns in beautifully and you can only imagine how good it would be when set up. Of course the colour of the exhaust is wrong, it was red, and it didn’t have headlights on it…’

So keen is Goss on revisiting his past that Octane’s turn in the car ends up late in the day as the sun dips

over the New Forest. No hardship there. The racing clutch makes close-quarters manoeuvring a nightmare but, once you have completed the 15-point, 11-stall turn to exit Ashley & James’ yard and hit the open road, everything changes. The Lotus grabs the tarmac and leaps down it angrily and hungrily, scrabbling along the rural road as you bang through the gears via one of the shortestthrow levers I have ever encountered. Plenty of cars have more travel from in-gear to the neutral plane than this has from gear to gear, every change and burst of power requiring a tweak of the wheel as it squirrels along with spellbinding acceleration.

It is stiff, so very stiff, but when you are so low and your centre of gravity is at about cat’s eye height, potholes and the imperfections you get on road are always going to play havoc with your suspension, steering and spinal column. The stiffness just exacerbates that.

The handling is otherworldly, but you really do need to establish a rhythm and reach a plane where you are not thinking, not least with your pedalwork. Although nowhere near as tight as in an S1, there’s still very little room in an S2’s footwell for the broad of foot and the steering column is still intrusive. If you pause to consider where to put your feet, it’s already too late.

Once you get it all together, however, you long for a flat surface and a Mallock to aim at. In fact, the weirdest sensation is having to constantly remind yourself that this is a replica and not the genuine, unique Three-7. That is a feeling that endures long after the driving is over, through the research phase and even into the writing of this story. What greater praise (and validation) can there be for a replica?

Renton-Skinner and Goss became firm friends during the process of recreating the Three-7 exactly as it was during the latter’s ’67 season.

Above

UNDER PRESSURE

As Mercedes-Benz braved a new era, so its supercharged 680S tourer faced a rarefied audience. Massimo Delbò is powerfully persuaded

Photography Evan Klein

The 1920s were not easy years in Germany. World War One had left the country impoverished and economic inflation was rife. It was a time of consolidation, as the nation’s industrialists analysed the situation and tried to work out solutions for a more stable future. And that included the formation of Mercedes-Benz in 1926.

Carl Benz’s Benz & Companie Rheinische GasmotorenFabrik patented what became recognised as the first commercially available motor car in 1886. DaimlerMotoren-Gesselschaft was founded in 1890 by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach and began to produce cars under the Mercedes name in 1902. Both had become fierce competitors, but the market wasn’t big enough for each to prosper and so, with the support of Deutsche Banke, the two firms began to talk and in May 1924 signed an agreement of mutual intent. On 29 June 1926, DMG and Benz & Cie merged, becoming Daimler-Benz and employing the Mercedes-Benz trademark for its vehicles.

Among the board of directors were engineers Fritz Nallinger (who would become the father of Mercedes’ diesel engines) and Ferdinand Porsche (as technical director, who replaced Paul Daimler) representing Daimler, while Benz engineer Wilhelm Kissel, as one of the strongest supporters of the merger, became the coordinating director. The intervening period had seen a flurry of activity, so the new company could hit the ground running with exemplary products. And the supercharged Mercedes would play an important role in providing much-needed commercial success.

The idea for the supercharger, then a new concept, came originally from Paul Daimler (son of founder Gottlieb) and was finished by Ferdinand Porsche. In 1924, he designed the supercharged alloy-block, overhead-camshaft sixcylinder engine. The supercharger was actuated via a series of levers by flooring the gas pedal, providing peak power for a few seconds in specific situations such as overtaking –prolonged use would have blown the engine! The increase in power was massive, and in the first version, the 6.3-litre Mercedes 24/100/140 PS (renamed Type 630 after the merger), the supercharger added 40bhp to the original 100. There followed a seemingly never-ending evolution, the first result of which was the 26/120/180, or 680S, with its engine enlarged to 6789cc. It appeared in 1927, with 120bhp when normally aspirated and 180bhp when the pressure was (quite literally) on.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the USA was on a path to establish itself as the most significant financial power in the world. In 1927, with the stock market setting record after record, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, from New York to Paris

Opposite and above Early days for a Mercedes-Benz, yet there’s no mistaking its identity; spectacular supercharged straight-six.

in the Spirit of St Louis. With that heroic e ort, suddenly the distance between the two continents seemed smaller. e Holland Tunnel opened, linking New York City with New Jersey, and Ford ended production of the Model T, which for 19 years had been pu ing America on wheels. Cars were already a coveted status symbol, and the ght for the top end of the market was between Duesenberg, Iso aFraschini, Rolls-Royce (since 1921 manufacturing in Spring eld, Massachuse s) and Mercedes-Benz.

Of the la er, what customers appreciated most was not only the power of the engine but also its tractability.

External exhaust pipes helped shi heat from under the bonnet, and gave the car a sporting look regardless of the body-style speci ed by the owner. Indeed, as was the tradition in that era, owners could order the body that best t their taste and requirements from coachbuilders all

around the world, yet Mercedes-Benz itself o ered the opportunity to have the chassis dressed at its own bodyshop, the Sindel ngen Karosserie, headquartered within its Sindel ngen plant.

e Sindel ngen factory was founded in 1915 by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellscha to build aircra bodies and engines, then cars from 1919. Following the merger, body construction for the new group was relocated to this production unit, mainly of passenger cars that had previously been assembled in Untertürkheim. From the autumn of 1928, a er the construction of a press shop, body production moved from one-o to series manufacture, increasing the appeal of standard bodies to the market.

Against that background came the birth of MB 680S, serial number 40548. One of around 150 built, it was ordered on 24 May 1928 from the Mercedes-Benz Company

of New York, with a standard Sindel ngen four-seater Open Tourer (O ener Tourenwagen) body. It arrived in the USA on 20 September, equipped with engine number 71812 and body number 35945, and on 16 January 1929 was sold to Z Arthur McElroy, a resident of Ardsley-onHudson, New York. He had traded-in a Cadillac and collected his new car on 28 January.

More o en than not, buyers of such cars are prominent gures of their times, so it’s unusual that li le is known of this rst owner, although it’s possible that he was related to descendants of a prominent New York State family. John McElroy had been the president of the Albany Insurance company and been married to Mary Arthur McElroy, sister of and sometime First Lady to Chester A Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, whose wife died before he took o ce in 1881.

‘Cars were a coveted status symbol, and Mercedes-Benz fought for the top end of the market’

Above and opposite Highly original interior expresses a period interpretation of luxury; impressive proportions sent a message to other road users.

Li le is known either of the car’s early years, though there are pictures of it from the 1950s on the West Coast of the USA. It was described in 2013, in an article wri en for the Classic Car Club of America Museum, as one of the ‘Sea le Mercedes’, identi ed by its engine number and pictured in September 1957 in Oakland and in 1959 in San Francisco.

e note on the pictures indicates a $3000 asking price and that an important transformation had already been carried out: the body had been chopped at the rear, making it a two-seater with a luggage rack over the rear axle.

ose photographs led to the discovery of another, dating back to 1948-1950, proving that the bodywork had already been modi ed even then. Today it is impossible to establish who carried out this not insigni cant work, or when, but he was certainly a professional, based in the USA, who knew what he was doing and how to do it, and is believed to have made the changes during the late 1930s to early 1940s.

ere are further periods of unknown history up until 1979, when the 680S, by then 52 years old and a coveted

classic car, appeared in a Coys of Kensington London auction catalogue. It was bought by the Wagner family, passionate German collectors and known for being among the most competent custodians of early Mercedes-Benz Kompressor cars. In 1980 they began a very careful process of mechanical restoration and the car remained in their care until 2021, when it was bought by its current German owner.

‘I bought it because it is so amazingly original,’ he says. ‘It’s de nitely one of the most original 680Ss in existence, with the original manufacturing number stamped on every possible mechanical part and most of its body.’

A er more than 80 years with the revised tail, it would be inappropriate to return it to the original con guration, as doing so would erase the real story of the car – it has spent much more time as a two-seater than a four-seater. en there is the provenance: ‘ e car came from Rolf Wagner, with whom it stayed for more than 40 years, and he is considered the real guru on these models. Indeed, the car

1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S

O ener Tourenwagen

Engine 6789cc OHC straight-six, alloy block, single Mercedes three-jet carbure or, Roots-type supercharger

Power 140bhp @ 3200rpm; 180bhp @ 3300rpm with supercharger Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Worm and sector

Suspension Front and rear: beam axles (live rear), semi-elliptic leaf springs, friction dampers

is in excellent mechanical shape, and I love to drive it as much as possible. A couple of years ago I had it at Pebble Beach, where I drove the Tour and the following Kompressor Tour. I have enjoyed spirited drives on California roads, and in Italy, and to numerous events all over Europe. And it has always performed amazingly well, almost without a hiccup.’

Almost? ‘I have to say that because once we ran out of fuel, but I can’t blame the car… I learnt something, too: running out of fuel on a Kompressor car means that you empty the fuel system and to put in a few litres is not enough as you have to re-pressurise the whole system, and releasing the air takes time, e ort and competence. It is not the nicest of things to do at the side of a road.’

It is with these words in my ears that I sit behind the steering wheel. A quick check of the fuel gauge – yes, there is enough! – and I begin the starting procedure. Pushing the bu on, the car roars into life. You look above the wooden rim of the steering wheel and, far away in front of you, at the end of the bonnet, lies the three-pointed star. It is like driving a big station wagon from the rear seat, but you very quickly get used to that. e clutch is not too heavy, and it’s quite progressive in action. Taking o , the torque helps a lot; it’s not di cult, you just have to feel the vibration coming through the transmission and adjust your le foot gradually as it takes up the drive.

rough second and into third gear and you enter a di erent world, moving fast, without apparent e ort from the engine, and the car becomes highly reactive to inputs at the accelerator. A wonderful roaring sound surrounds you and you feel almost invincible as you select fourth gear; other road-users move out of your way and the road feels smoother as the car gets into its stride. en, suddenly a van cuts in front of you and you remember that the braking system is more than 90 years old! It works well enough to slow you down, but demands a lot of e ort.

A er several kilometres on a beautiful twisting road, I’m back safe, the only casualty some insects spla ered on the metal mesh protecting the grille. Taking a walk around, I wonder at how the racers of the period competed in these giants, four-wheel dri ing on gravel roads while maintaining unlikely average speeds.

A few days later, the 680S stays the night in my garage and I can’t resist spending some time in there with it. It’s a chance to dream about being out once more on the open road, enjoying the immense pleasure of driving this pre-war car, a pleasure that few others of the era could be er.

Brakes Hydraulic drums Weight 1780kg Top speed 100mph

Top and above

Rear bodywork was modified early in the Mercedes’ life, transforming a four-seater tourer into a two-seater.

Only the brave

Buying a 37-year-old Lancia Delta HF Turbo sight-unseen from Bologna might seem reckless to some, but how about then driving it straight back to the UK via the Alps?

Words and photography Richard Head

Road trip Lancia Delta from

We didn’t see the blue flashing lights at first, but when we heard the sirens, we knew we were in trouble. We stopped and two Police Nationale officers came over. One tapped the bumper where a numberplate should be. ‘Où est la plaque d’immatriculation?’

It had started three weeks before when my friend Tony Heyworth sent me a link to an ad for a 1988 Lancia Delta HF Turbo and asked

for my thoughts. We often discuss fantasy cars for our dream garages, and a non-Integrale Delta was an interesting proposition. This rare survivor looked good – though it was in Italy!

The logic of location seldom enters our theoretical purchase debates.

Yet this was different. Tony was obviously smitten as he asked Daniele Cherubini at Royal Garage for details and obtained a quote for transporting it to the UK. A week later and he’d

broken the first rule of fantasy car browsing: he bought the damn thing! The quote to ship it to the UK was £1400 and I suggested a road trip would be far more fun – and cheaper.

So, a few days later and we’re arriving at Royal Garage near Ancona on the Adriatic coast. Daniele welcomes us with an espresso (of course), talks Tony through the documentation and the Delta is driven out of a warehouse. It’s the first time he’s seen it in the

metal and it doesn’t disappoint. If you can judge the quality of a car by its interior, this is a good one. Declining a further espresso, Tony jumps in the driving seat and we’re off: destination England via a route I’d planned that would take in some of the greatest vistas in Europe. But we’ll come to that.

Think Lancia Delta and most will visualise a white Integrale in Martini colours being driven sideways by Scandinavians on a rally stage. After all, Integrales of various evolutions won the World Rally Championship six years in a row from 1987 and the Delta is the most successful individual model ever to compete in rallying. Tony’s HF Turbo obviously goes without the competition pedigree of the Integrale 8V (they were both on sale in 1988) as well as those swollen wheelarches and four-wheel drive.

It’s also down on power, being a 1.6 rather than a 2.0-litre, but, while the Integrale has the edge in performance and desirability, even the least illustrious example costs three times as much as an HF Turbo, and

the most desirable are over ten times the price. Oh, and we aren’t Scandinavian, either.

We stop at the first petrol station, where the attendant admires the Delta as he fills it up. In broken English he asks how long we have owned it. ‘Ten minutes,’ Tony tells him. Then he accelerates away and we’re introduced to the ethereal whistle of its turbocharger.

We arranged our trip to coincide with Auto e Moto d’Epoca in Bologna, Europe’s biggest classic car and motorbike show. Being the epicentre for Italian cars, it is an appropriate stop for this classic Lancia and a great place for Tony to stock up on spares that would be much harder to source in the UK. By late afternoon our legs and wallets are exhausted, we load up the little hatchback and head north.

It’s raining and rush hour when Tony entrusts me with my first drive. I’m tentative but the Delta soon feels familiar. Narrow pillars make for great vision out, the pedals are straight ahead and well-spaced, and the 1.6-litre engine is spirited. It doesn’t take long to realise the dominant characteristic of Tony’s

Turbo is its turbo. It’s dormant at low revs, but as it spools up on acceleration there is a definite kick, which we feel through the seat, accompanied by that whistle. Magnifico!

We list the Lancia’s foibles: when indicating left the stalk won’t stay down; the voltmeter, cigarette lighter and one fog-light aren’t working; the steering wheel obscures the useful parts of the speedo and rev-counter, and there is a rattle from the dash, but besides these snags, and wind noise that would drive a Rolls-Royce engineer to distraction, it could be a modern car.

We overnight by Lake Como, which has been prime real estate for a thousand years, and it shows. Wordsworth, Shelley, Liszt and, er, George Clooney have all sought inspiration here. It’s lined by glorious villas and verdant gardens and the climate is renowned as being most generous, though not today. We find a hotel and a quiet trattoria and enjoy simple spaghetti dishes with Lugana wine.

Next morning we cross into Switzerland under a lowering sky. While Lake Como is

unequivocally Italian in a crumbling, chaotic yet endearing way, Lake Lugano is tidy, neat, affluent, contemporary, and indubitably Swiss. The absence of recognition and love for the Delta in Swiss quarters is noticeable; while Italians appreciate its style and freely give the thumbs-up, the Lancia cuts little ice among the high-performance cars on the Swiss side. Style? Just look at it – from any angle. It’s a Giugiaro masterpiece!

In the 1980s the HF was going head-to-head with the Golf GTI. They cost about the same, but the Lancia had arguably better performance, outsprinting the Golf to 60mph on the way to a higher top speed. It lost the sales battle though; now there are fewer than 30 HF Turbos on UK roads. It’s far rarer than the homologationspecial Integrale.

Just before the Gotthard tunnel we leave the E35 motorway and take the A2 mountain pass to Airolo, and from there on to Via Tremola. This twice-bypassed cobbled road is the original pass, the one taken by mules and stagecoaches since 1832. It’s raining, it’s slippery and we’re in the clouds, so cannot see how perilous the drops are as we negotiate the numerous switchback hairpins. Would we prefer an Integrale’s four-wheel-drive surefootedness? Perhaps, if we’re honest, at least a little. We don’t meet any other cars and feel we’re having a proper adventure. In our minds’ eyes we’re emulating Kankkunen, Ericsson, Saby, Auriol… The practice is rather more prosaic. Approaching the top section, we round a bend to find a red and white barrier across the road. The Swiss authorities deem it too much of an adventure in this inclement weather and they’ve closed the top of Tremola. It’s an anti-climax,

compounded when we pull into the San Gottardo Panorama Caffe at the top of the pass. The visibility here is even worse. We look for the silver lining and find it in a friendly sales assistant at the souvenir shop. Helpfully, she points into the opaque cloud. ‘On a clear day if you looked over there, you’d see this view…’ she says, holding up a postcard.

At Hospental we take a left onto the Furka Pass, where Goldfinger was filmed in the summer of 1963. We stop at the Belvedere Hotel, which features in a scene as Bond in his Aston Martin DB5 trails Goldfinger and his henchman Oddjob in a yellow-and-black 1937

Clockwise, from opposite, bottom left Tony strikes the deal with Daniele at Royal Garage; epic Susten Pass; new owner Tony checks the oil by Lake Como; Alpine hairpins galore; a chance to buy spare parts in Bologna; enjoying the drive.

Rolls-Royce Phantom III. As we turn and head to Andermatt, I discourage Tony from reenacting Bond’s car chase with Tilly Masterson in her white Mustang convertible.

The road levels out after Realp and runs beside the railway. It’s here that Bond manoeuvres his Aston alongside the Mustang, extends his three-pronged knock-offs and shreds the Ford’s tyres, sending her into a ditch. No such shenanigans for us! We stay in a hotel opposite the old Aurora gas station in Andermatt where James drops off Tilly.

That evening we’re in a bar, on cloud nine following our Alpine pass adventures, when we’re disturbed by a rhythmic cacophony of bells. It gets loud, very loud. We go outside where about 50 men, six abreast, with blackened faces, dressed in sackcloth and carrying huge cowbells, are swaying towards us. It’s a ‘You’re not from around here, are you?’ moment. It turns out that, long ago, residents recognised that the Gurschen Forest protected Andermatt from avalanches, so since 1397 it’s been protected in turn by the Woldmanndli. Today is the traditional day these men came down from the forest. The Woldmanndli reenactors are a dedicated bunch as, from our beds, we hear them marching round the town, in diminishing numbers, until 3.30am.

The weather has been dismal so far, but next morning the sun is shining. Having driven the Furka the day before, we take the Susten Pass

today. It runs parallel to the Furka but further north. While it doesn’t have the Bond associations, it’s more scenic and a better driving road, with 26 bridges and tunnels hewn into the rock massif.

On this road in perfect conditions Tony gets his first chance to stretch the HF – as in ‘High Fidelity’, like the Stratos. He tears along the dotted line marking the boundary between road and oblivion. Superb balance and excellent traction out of the tighter bends inspire confidence as he plays with all 136bhp. The sound of the turbo whistle reverberating off tunnel walls makes us smile.

At the top we’re rewarded with an epic vista. The 46km Susten Pass confirms Tony’s HF as a spirited and characterful hatchback; it’s hard to imagine the Integrale experience really being so much better. From the grin on his face, it’s obvious he’s fallen for the diminutive Delta and

any concerns about buying a 37-year-old Lancia sight-unseen have evaporated.

Which is good as, after enjoying the Italian Lakes and the Swiss Alps, it’s now all about grinding out the miles to get home. We take motorways to cover big distances. The Lancia takes it all in its stride, easily cruising at the 130km/h limit. We make it to Nancy but, as we try to find our hotel, we notice there is a rumble from the engine that wasn’t there earlier.

It’s on leaving Nancy the next morning that we’re stopped by the police. With schoolboy French and hand gestures Tony explains that he’s just bought the car and we’re driving it to the UK. The two printed pages stuck in the windows are the export plates. He shows them the Italian registration documents, his receipt and driving licence and eventually convinces Nancy’s finest that everything is legit. With a Gallic shrug, they wave us on our way.

We motor north, our ears tuned for incongruous sounds. Something is struggling as the engine is noisier. As we cover more miles the rumble is joined by a whine. We debate which failing components could cause these noises. Tony consults the workshop manual he bought in Bologna, and we reduce our cruising speed to 100km/h. A failing water pump bearing would rumble and, as it acts as an engine mount, its noise would be amplified. The whine sounds gearboxy. There’s not a lot we can do except press on regardless.

We make the obligatory detour to the Circuit Reims-Gueux, then head north up the A26 to the Channel Tunnel, accompanied by rattle, rumble, whine and whistle. We feel like rally drivers nursing a wounded car to the end of a stage. At the Channel Tunnel we brace

‘The sound of the turbo whistle reverberating off the Alpine tunnel walls makes us smile’

ourselves for an interrogation by Customs Officers. Surely, they’ll notice the lack of traditional numberplates and pull us over. We drive through their shed with expressions of fixed nonchalance and emerge unstopped.

Once on English soil we know the Lancia will make it to the end. It has covered almost 2000km and, although it’s limping, it’s nothing a good service won’t remedy. Nearing home, I remember a question Tony posed as we first hatched our drive-it-back plan: ‘Am I being stupid?’ There are lots of reasons not to attempt something like this, but the risk:reward ratio is definitely skewed towards the good side.

The perils of Via Tremola in rain and fog notwithstanding, I’m not certain that an Integrale would have been sufficiently rewarding to justify its higher price. But what we know for sure is that this has been an audacious first drive that made us feel good, and that’s what classic cars are all about.

Clockwise, from opposite Stopped by les flics in Nancy; a coffee stop to check the route; 37-year-old Delta held its own through the Alps.

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Is the history of your classic car what you think it is? Welcome to a new era in combatting fraud

HENRY FORD IS supposed to have proclaimed more than a century ago that ‘history is bunk’. There’s some doubt as to whether he actually uttered this pithy remark, but what we do know is that, when it comes to old vehicles, many owners and collectors reckon you can never have too much history. Whether your old car is worth a few grand or a king’s ransom, why wouldn’t you want to know whether it is what it purports to be?

Tracing the minutiae of a car’s past is something that Julian Radcliffe now specialises in. His own past is as a specialist in art fraud, and with the Classic Car Register he aims to piece together as much history on as many classic cars as possible, from across the globe. He says: ‘I set up The Art Loss Register and The Watch Register in the 1980s, to protect collectors and investors against theft and fraud. Those registers have become invaluable in combatting criminals, and a classic car-owning friend suggested that there should be a similar worldwide register of classic vehicles, so we’re now setting one up. It will encompass far more than just cars: classic tractors, motorbikes and much more will be on the Register.

‘It’s not just about piecing together a vehicle’s history; keeping tabs on stolen classics is another key facet. There are also the issues of ownership and identification. When there’s a dispute over these, we can add value because we have experience of dealing with such disagreements. I’ve

TRANSPARENT TO BE

Words Richard Dredge Images Adobe Stock

negotiated paintings worth over £30million and it’s easy to think that these things are irreconcilable, but once they’re red-flagged it brings everyone to the table.’

You could be forgiven for assuming that Radcliffe is talking about only top-tier classics, worth at least a small fortune even if not a large one. But that’s not the case: the average recovery value from the watch register is £50006000, while even in the art world it’s just £6000-7000. As a result, Radcliffe is aiming to capture the history of all classics at least 40 years old, which is clearly an enormous task. As he puts it, a vehicle’s value won’t be a barrier to entry because this shifts over time.

He continues: ‘It took 25 years for the Art Loss Register to become profitable, but it’s now the go-to resource for the industry because there’s nothing else like it. Setting up such a register for classic cars is a huge job, but with our expertise we know that we can do it. We certainly have the support of auction houses, because 150 or so of them around the world are already using our databases.’

Much of the information collated by the CCR is in the public domain, but scattered far and wide. For example, Radcliffe’s team has digitised upwards of 1000 auction catalogues that cover more than half-a-million records of cars sold as far back as the 1960s, and it also draws upon in excess of 700,000 independent assessments of vehicles sold at auction in the US since the 1990s.

Rob Hubbard is the MD of Iconic Auctioneers. He says: ‘The main bonus of the Classic Car Register, to us, is the ability to see what’s on a stolen list. We do an HPI check on all cars that we sell, but it’s a lot harder to pin down the provenance of anything brought in from Europe or the US, because they don’t have an HPI equivalent.

‘The Register will also be incredibly valuable if it’s able to piece together the history of a vehicle. When people buy a classic car they want to know as much as possible about its past. A vehicle with a full history is far more desirable and valuable than one without; a complete set of documentation can massively increase a car’s worth. As an opening gambit the Register’s 40-year cut-off point makes sense, to limit the workload. But it will have to look at newer cars in time, because so many of the vehicles that we’re now selling are less than 40 years old.’

Hubbard raises the spectre of GDPR rules causing problems for Radcliffe’s team, which aims to digitise vast amounts of documentation around ownership and maintenance. It’s no problem for you to know who has worked on a car, but in the UK, info relating to previous owners within the last 25 years has to be redacted, although anything before this is fair game.

Despite taking on such an enormous task, Radcliffe isn’t fazed. Even at this embryonic stage the Register has notched up several successes. When the Ferrari Thin Wall Special

was recently being prepared for sale, there were gaps in its history. By scouring its archive the Register found a 1994 auction catalogue with a ve-page description of the car. Meanwhile, a 1972 Ferrari Daytona hidden away in Switzerland was con rmed to be the one stolen in Monza in 1977. A er almost half-a-century, the Register was able to work with Ferrari authority Marcel Massini to join the dots.

CERTIFIED AND ANCIENT

How to prove your car really is what the factory built

Radcli e’s aim is for the Classic Car Register to become the standard resource for anyone buying a classic car, but there’s a long way to go. He’s working with RM Sotheby’s on a standard way of describing a car, using a consistent format and terminology. Numerous classic car clubs are being lined up to feed their archives into the Register, and there will also be the option for owners to submit information about their own vehicles. e CCR team will soon be hi ing the road to take part in events, where they can speak to owners and collectors to spread the word about this potentially fabulous new resource, and the intention is to ramp up awareness of the Register signi cantly in the coming months.

Radcli e adds: ‘With the Art Loss Register we had some big recoveries, but the art trade didn’t support it as promised. e insurance companies did support it, though, so we know that if people can sell without involving us, they will. Eventually we became invaluable and now we do half-amillion paid searches each year, but it has taken a long time.

e Classic Car Register needs to be the de nitive database, so we must have a high proportion of the data that people want. At a recent RM Sotheby’s sale we had 30% of the cars for sale on our database, and we had information that they couldn’t get hold of.’

e intention is to increase that percentage signi cantly and then to make the database not only accessible to all but also a ordable to use – once it is complete.

Says Radcli e: ‘ e Classic Car Register isn’t just about protecting value, it’s about preserving legacy. Many classic cars are of huge sentimental value to their owners; they connect generations and represent engineering excellence. eir histories deserve to be safeguarded with the same care and rigour we bring to ne art and heritage timepieces. We believe that the Classic Car Register will be transformative for the classic car market. It will become the norm because it will save people time and money.’

FOR DETAILS, see classicprovenance.com.

‘THE AIM IS FOR THE REGISTER TO BECOME THE STANDARD RESOURCE FOR ANYONE BUYING A CLASSIC CAR’

A plethora of car-makers and other organisations have responded over the years to demand from owners to pin down the history of their cars. One of the first was the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT), which launched the Heritage Certificate in the 1990s. For £52 the BMIHT can confirm the build spec for owners of Aston Martins, Austins, Land Rovers, MGs, Morrises, Rileys, Rovers, Standards, Triumphs and Wolseleys; details are at tinyurl.com/d48f4tma. If you own a Jaguar you need to pay £78 to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (tinyurl.com/wvajypdb).

The Rootes Archive Centre Trust (RACT) o ers a similar service for owners of Commers, Hillmans, Humbers, Singers, Sunbeams and Talbots, as well as some Chryslers. It charges £50; details are at tinyurl.com/ywz796rv.

Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia, under Stellantis, o er a certificate of origin or a certificate of authenticity; the former is a BMIHT-style piece of paper priced at €70-120, whereas the la er involves the car being inspected to ensure it’s genuine. This has to be done in Italy and costs between €600 and €12,000 depending on the car’s age and value, and on top of this you have to fork out another €450 for the book that documents your car. You can apply via stellantisheritage.com/en-uk/ classic-services.

Ferrari’s Classiche programme (ferrari. com/en-EN/auto/o cine-classiche) is perhaps the most highly regarded of all. There are no half-measures; your prancing horse is inspected in Maranello or by an approved Ferrari dealer, and an entire book is produced that details every aspect of the car. Open to any Ferrari that’s at least 20 years old, Classiche starts at around €6000 and runs to three times as much.

Lamborghini’s Polo Storico scheme was created to meet Ferrari head-on, with similar pricing; see lamborghini.com/en-en/ ownership/classics for more.

McLaren also has a certification programme (cars.mclaren.com/gb-en/mso/ heritage), but only for F1 owners. It involves an inspection at Woking, which results in a book being produced that guarantees the car is everything it should be. Finally, the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club (rrec.org.uk/ about/archive-services) also o ers certificates to owners, priced from £60.

SANG-FROID

Facel Vega takes on Gordon-Keeble. Is it a case of ‘sacré bleu’

VERSUS

TRUE BRIT

or ‘by Jove’? Robert Coucher is our GT judge Photography Paul Harmer

t’s the sound that gets you. e deep burble of serious cubic inches loa ng contentedly through England’s capital turns heads, eager to see what’s rumbling through the quiet, earlymorning streets. Most people have never seen a Gordon-Keeble GK1 and this 1964 example in Iris Blue is one of the rst of only 99 made up to 1967. As for this 1963 Rouge Vaumol Facel Vega Facel II, it may be one of 180 built but it’s still as rare as an uneaten French snail. Clearly both are strikingly a ractive, having been beautifully styled by leading designers of the day. A young Giorge o Giugiaro penned the very British GordonKeeble, conceived in Slough and built in Southampton, while the Facel II’s design was the work of Jean Daninos, carried out in the Paris suburb of Colombes.

Seen in action on the street, these elegant, sophisticated boulevardiers deserve interesting engine sounds to match. Something like a re ned 3.0-litre straight-six, possibly with double overhead cams and a row of carbure ors. e vocals would be aristocratic and of a high timbre. But no. e 6.3-litre Chrysler-sourced V8 in the Facel and the 5.4-litre Chevrolet-sourced Corve e lump in the ’Keeble have a much wilder soundtrack that hints at something more challenging than simply cruising around and looking smart.

Born in 1906 in Paris, Jean Daninos was a true renaissance man, being an ice skater, engineer, designer and entrepreneur, in 1939 se ing up FACEL – Forges et Ateliers de Construction d’Eure-et-Loir – to serve the military aeronautical industry. He worked for a time with Citroën and then started making short-run special bodies for Ford, Simca, Delahaye and Panhard, before se ing out to design and build his own car, the rst being the baroque Facel Vega of 1955. at was followed by the larger HK500 in 1954 and the four-door Excellence, all powered by large American V8s.

In 1959, realising there were not enough well-heeled buyers to a ord such extravagance, he came up with the smaller, more sensible yet still stylish Facellia. It featured a 1.6-litre twincam four-cylinder designed by former TalbotLago engineer Carlo Mache i. Unfortunately the engine was a failure, and it was replaced with the e ective and robust Volvo B18 in the renamed Facellia III, but all too late. Daninos himself liked the Facel II most. ‘ e HK500 was the most interesting car we made, but the Facel II was the best – it was totally elegant.’ e idea was to produce ‘Le Coupé 4-places le plus rapide du Monde’ – the fastest four-seater coupé in the world. With its 383ci Chrysler

Hemi V8 mated to a smooth, three-speed TorqueFlite automatic gearbox, the 390bhp Facel claimed a top speed of 135mph and could out-accelerate Aston’s DB4 and Merc’s Gullwing. The tubular chassis featured independent suspension at the front (though a rudimentary live rear axle was carried over from the previous HK500) plus adjustable Armstrong Selectaride dampers and thennewfangled Dunlop disc brakes on all four wheels, as well as Hydrosteer power steering. There were electric windows and radio aerial, making the Facel extremely luxurious but also extremely heavy, weighing in at 1880kg.

The smart-looking Gordon-Keeble came about when John Gordon of the struggling Peerless company got together with race engineer Jim Keeble, a former RAF pilot. In 1959 they created the Gordon GT after they had shoved a massive Chevy V8 into an unsuspecting Peerless – previously powered by a more modest Triumph TR engine – for a United States Air Force F-101 Voodoo fighter pilot. Top gun! Following on from that, the prototype Gordon GT featured an advanced spaceframe chassis with independent front

suspension, de Dion rear and disc brakes. This running rig was then dispatched to Turin, where Bertone built the body, which had been designed by Giugiaro.

The interior was, naturally, styled like a classic fighter-jet cockpit with a plethora of gauges, toggle switches and quilted PVC. The car appeared on the Bertone stand at the Geneva motor show in 1960, simply as a Gordon. It then crossed the ocean to Detroit, where it was shown to the Chevrolet management, who agreed to supply Corvette engines and gearboxes for it.

For production, the engine was upgraded to the improved and slightly larger 327ci 300bhp Corvette V8, and the steel bodywork was replaced with high-tech glassfibre, initially made by Williams & Pritchard. It was priced at £2798 – and every car lost money, so construction ran out at 99 (plus one more assembled a year later from parts) before the company went bust, twice over.

So what we have are two high-speed grand tourers from the 1960s, each wearing handcrafted coachwork and both powered by powerful Detroit V8s. Although styled by

an Italian, the Gordon-Keeble is unmistakably British. The twinned headlamps are stylised as if to suggest an aggressive expression, but the rest of the coupé bodywork is understated in the vein of period Aston Martins, also designed by the Italians. The wheels, styled to resemble Dunop racing rims, are a deft touch and the twin rear exhaust pipes add intent.

Then, of course, there’s the tortoise badge on the bonnet. It goes that a tortoise wandered onto a Gordon-Keeble photoshoot, peed on the car and hey presto! Another story is that the emblem represents the leatherback sea turtle – the fastest of its breed in water.

The Facel II you see here is rather special. having covered only 11,749 miles while part of a Middle Eastern collection for a decade, so it remains in incredibly original condition. It was then brought to the UK and sympathetically reconditioned – quite a lot of desert sand had to be removed. Better that than rust.

The large and solid driver’s door opens helpfully wide, revealing what looks like a luxury boudoir. What an opulent interior. The car is low, and you have to get down and negotiate that broad, dished, wood-rimmed

Clockwise, from right Jet Age interior is comfortable yet focused; Corvette V8 offers plentiful thrust via a manual transmission; elegant outline was penned by a young

Giorgetto Giugiaro.

1964 Gordon-Keeble GK1

Engine 5354cc 90 º OHV V8, Carter four-barrel carburettor

Power 300bhp @ 5000rpm

Torque 360lb ft @ 3000rpm

Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Marles

worm-and-roller Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers. Rear: de Dion axle, trailing arms, coil springs, telescopic dampers, Watt linkage Brakes Girling discs, servo-assisted Weight 1440kg

Top speed 140mph 0-60mph 7.0sec

1963 Facel Vega Facel II

Engine 6286cc 90 º OHV V8, Carter four-barrel carburettor

Power 355bhp @ 4800rpm

Torque 440lb ft @ 3300rpm

Transmission Chrysler TorqueFlite three-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive

Steering Power-assisted worm-and-roller

Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, adjustable Armstrong lever-arm dampers

Brakes Dunlop discs, servo-assisted

Weight 1880kg Top speed 135mph 0-60mph 7.8sec

1960s

steering wheel when clambering aboard. Once ensconced, you take in the sybaritic appeal of the apparently full-width ‘burr walnut veneer’ dashboard, which is actually a painted e ect!

e artisan-applied nish was a signature element of Facel Vegas, partly due to the fact that Daninos considered wooden dashboards to be hazardous in an accident.

e dash is elegantly curved, housing eight Jaeger instruments and lots of heating control levers. e polished plate for the auto shi er is a work of art, as is the bold cigar lighter. With all this curvature going on, the impression is one of piloting a speedboat rather than a grand cruiser. With its long, low lines, rakishly cutback wings and those rear tail-lights so elegantly ‘frenched’ in, along with an expansive glass canopy atop, the Facel has the look of a Venetian vapore o swishing along at speed.

Start it up and a Riva motor launch soundtrack assails you, as the 383ci V8 awakens with a lazy drawl. As expected, the Facel moves o consummately, its weight notwithstanding. In tra c you just give it a gentle prod and the car lunges at any gap in the ow, ably assisted by good outward vision, huge torque and the power steering.

e Chrysler transmission is remarkably smooth, sliding gently into top without any thunk or lash. And with servo-assisted fourwheel disc brakes, stopping power is encouraging. e car is capable of 135mph and does the 60mph dash in 7.8sec, so it remains pre y quick even though it’s best to maintain its sang- oid by easing along at an eight-tenths canter, rather than nailing it into unseemly understeer through tight corners.

It’s no surprise that the F1 team principal Rob Walker enjoyed a Facel II in the day, for his long, fast trips between European racing circuits during the season, as had a certain Stirling Moss in the preceding HK500 model. Ringo Starr bought his Facel II o the stand at the 1964 Earls Court Motor Show, just as the company was going bust.

Dial-in more speed and the functional suspension provides a at and controlled ride. is is obviously helped by the car’s weight steamrolling bumps, but it is impressive all the same. Also impressive is the feeling of solidity the Facel imparts. e coachwork is tight and ra le-free and all the switches and xtures are of high quality. is was a very expensive car when new and feels the same today.

‘START IT UP AND A RIVA MOTOR

LAUNCH SOUNDTRACK ASSAILS

YOU, AS THE 383CI V8 AWAKENS WITH A LAZY DRAWL’

In comparison to the overstated Facel II, the Gordon-Keeble looks restrained – like a British Lancia Flaminia, with those staggered lamps. This GK1 has had only three owners and has covered just 55,000 miles. It was owned by a meticulous mechanical engineer for decades, who kept detailed records of its history. Then, in the 1990s, the car was restored by marque expert Ernie Knott.

As a result, its glassfibre coachwork is smooth and ripple-free. The body’s silhouette is low-key but lovely little details such as the ‘Gordon-Keeble’ and ‘Bertone’ badges, as well as the twin chrome fuel-filler caps on each rear wing, add a little bit of jewellery.

Climbing into the GK1 is like entering a saloon car rather than something more sporting. It sits higher than the Facel II and the seating position is more conventional, with knees bent not outstretched. The blue leather driver’s seat is comfortable and in some respects its interior is even more raffish than the French car’s. The black leather-covered dashboard is festooned with multiple Smiths instruments, toggle switches and knobs, and the wood-rimmed steering wheel is a work of art. There’s even a small, bespoke ‘BRADEX Jet Fire Extinguisher’ fixed to the beautifully quilted under-dash. Elsewhere, sprouting from the central console, the mighty Hurst shifter indicates that this is a car to be driven. Hard.

Fire-up the high-performance Corvette 5.4-litre V8 and the sound is instantly more aggressive than in the muted Facel II. That

shifter snicks into first gear with a bit of a shove and the clutch comes up deftly. The engine has immediate kick and spins-up deceptively quickly; designed to rev, it’s tuned to whack out 300bhp at 5000rpm. Hang on to the high ratios and soon you are flying. With 360lb ft of torquey thrust, this 1440kg coupé is a proper sports car.

The big V8 is set well back in the chassis for balance, the steering is communicative, the all-wheel servo’d disc brakes are immense and the suspension, with that de Dion rear end, feels taut and precise. This 60-year-old machine is quick even by today’s standards (0-60mph in 7.0sec; a 140mph top speed) but, most importantly, it can be driven fast with total confidence. The story goes that Jim Keeble took every GK1 off the production line for testing and if it couldn’t pull 140mph along the runway at Eastleigh Aerodrome (Southampton Airport now) adjacent to the factory, it went back for a fettling until it did.

The Facel II is a flamboyant, comfortable and relaxing tourer that’s equally capable of covering large distances at high speed. The handsome Gordon-Keeble is elegant but with a twist of British bloody-mindedness. Under that svelte styling lurks a racing chassis and a powerful engine – a consummate grand tourer, but also a fast and willing sports car. I’ll take the GK1, please.

THANKS TO to Graeme Hunt Ltd for both cars; the Gordon-Keeble is for sale, graemehunt.com.

DEMOCRATISATION OF THE GT

Once the preserve of the few, Facel Vega and Gordon-Keeble are becoming more attainable GTs of the 1950s and ’60s have struggled in recent years, especially if they lack a strong motorsport pedigree and/or a prancing horse or three-pointed star on the bonnet. There are so many fast, safe, comfortable and stylish 1970s and 1980s cars – superb at the job of transporting occupants elegantly across continents – that anything older can feel a little limited to all but the most adventurous. Their challenge is compounded if the manufacturer is now lost to history.

The cars built by Facel Vega between 1954 and 1964, and those by GordonKeeble from 1964 to 1967, fall firmly into that category. It’s no surprise that Hagerty insurance policies worldwide show a near-total ownership demographic of those born before 1965 for both marques. The Facel Vega HK500 has the ‘youngest’, with just 9% younger than 60 years old, and neither marque shows up on Hagerty’s Power List, tracking notable celebrity or movie cars. That may be a reason why both have relatively low scores in Hagerty’s Collectability Algorithm: FV models range from the Facellia (30.23 percentile) to HK500 (53.83 percentile) and the GK1 is a little higher, on 66.54. Both marques have been on a downward trajectory for the past few years, with GK1 ‘excellent’ values slipping from £95,100 in August 2021 to £78,100 today, and all Facel Vega models dropping from an average of £152,680 to £122,500 over the same period.

That’s a shame, because the cars built by both Facel Vega and Gordon-Keeble have a huge amount going for them. They are very rare – the companies were both producing cars for a handful of years –and the models limited; the GK Club reckons 90 of the 100 GK1s built still exist, and for the Facel II it’s about double that. Both have powerful V8 engines, with correspondingly high performance, and offer opulent, comfortable interiors. If the aim of grand touring is to drive fast, arrive rested and attract admiring glances, then you still can’t go far wrong.

The slip in values may open them up to new owners who were once unable to afford them, but it’s a crowded space at that price point, full of cars that are likely to retain their value a little more robustly. Longer-term, values are likely to continue a gradual descent.

John Mayhead

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RUBBER UP

It’s 100 years since the first Goodyear blimp took to the skies. Octane takes a celebratory flight

Words Damien Smith Photography Goodyear

THE HOWL OF a British V12, the growl of an American V8. Even up here the dominant soundtracks that accompany the Le Mans 24 Hours are all too distinct as miniature Aston Martin Valkyries and Cadillac Hypercars scurry along the thin ribbons of road down below. From the gondola’s open-hatch window, this is the most striking real-time view we’re ever likely to experience of the world’s greatest endurance motor race. Down there, the racers pound away around the vast Circuit de la Sarthe, oblivious to the Goodyear blimp that drifts almost silently above them. Up here, the trio of four-cylinder 200bhp engines and their spinning propellers offer a lightly thrumming backing track to our unspoilt serenity. It’s all happening on the ground, with thousands still perched on spectator banks and glued to grandstand seats as they soak in the race’s early exchanges. But we’re detached from it all, aloof from the intensity. Talk about a bigger-picture perspective.

Goodyear is celebrating 100 years of its blimp, which is why Octane has hitched a literal Le Mans ride of the century. Near-ubiquitous in the skies above race circuits for decades, the airship plastered with the winged foot logo of the American tyre and rubber giant is enjoying a pleasing revival for what is surely the coolest, most novel and stand-out advertising billboard ever dreamt up by commercial Mad Men.

But promoting the brand wasn’t the sole motive behind Goodyear’s blimp. The company’s interest in airships can be traced back to 1912 –

14 years after it had been founded in Akron, Ohio – when Goodyear engineers developed a fabric for lighter-than-air aircraft. Inspired by the Wright brothers’ pioneering flights, airships were considered the future for long-distance travel. In 1924, Goodyear forged a partnership with Germany’s leading airship manufacturer Zeppelin, the two companies working on the creation of large, semi-rigid airships. In 1925, the first Goodyear blimp was ready to take to the skies.

By the early 1930s, two iconic Goodyear airships were in operation: Akron (1931) and Macon (1933), both of which were designed to be used for both commercial and military purposes. Meanwhile, the unique Airdock base – then the largest freestanding structure in the world – was established in Akron. Soon routes were being drawn up for transatlantic flights as the age of the airship approached its zenith.

That didn’t last long, of course. Advances in aeroplane technology, and with it the rise of commercial aviation, sucked the air out of the industry, and then in 1937 came notoriety. Did someone say Hindenburg? On 6 May that year, 36 people – 35 on board and one member of the ground crew – were lost when the hydrogen-filled airship exploded while attempting to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. It remains the defining image of such transport. Guess which heavy-rock riffs were playing in our heads as we boarded the very much non-flammable helium-filled blimp in a field near Le Mans. Cheers, Led Zeppelin.

Clockwise, from opposite Goodyear’s N2A airship was a fixture above race circuits from 1972 to 1986; the latest marks the Goodyear blimp’s centenary; it offers a new perspective on racing.

Reduced to a pre-war relic of mass airborne transportation, the airship remained a valuable marketing tool to Goodyear. By the mid-20th Century, its blimp soared above the Olympic Games and the Indianapolis and Daytona 500s. During the 1960s, it became a much-used stable and stationary aerial camera platform, providing bird’s eye TV pictures of major events and sporting fixtures. An expansion into Europe with the Europa airship made it part of the scene at Le Mans and in the skies above Formula 1 Grands Prix into the 1970s and ’80s. Aside from motor racing, it flew over iconic locations such as London’s Big Ben and Rome’s Colosseum, and provided aerial coverage of two British royal weddings.

At the beginning of the current decade, Goodyear pumped fresh helium into the concept with a new four-airship fleet established in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and three more operating in the US. The modern Zeppelin NT is the largest semi-rigid airship in the world, at 75m long, 19.5m wide and 17.4m high. Its three engines – two mounted on the flanks, one at the tail – enable the blimp to reach speeds of 125km/h (78mph) over a range of 900km, typically at an altitude of 300m (the maximum is 3000m), with capacity for 12 passengers, plus crew.

We’re bussed out to a field 40 minutes from the track for our ride. Smiling ground crew greet and brief us before we’re led out into the middle of the landing zone. The blimp circles above us, then gently descends amid a buzz of propellers. The pilot has pinpoint control via the inverted-Y, rear-mounted, fly-by-wire controlled ‘ruddervator’ fins as the blimp touches down on its single gondola wheel and tail wheel.

Structure-wise, the outer material is comprised of polyurethane, polyester and a strong, protective film supplied by DuPont and called Tedlar. To ensure helium retention, the finished, shaped ‘envelope’ is secured using space-age heat seal technology. Ballonet airbags inside it maintain the perfect shape and assist with trim and weight distribution, while the air valve and blower allow the pilot to exhaust and add air when needed. A new water ballast system holds up to 185 gallons and allows the pilot to reduce weight while in flight.

We are beckoned in pairs: two passengers must board at a time as two from the previous ride depart, ensuring an even balance of weight. Up the steps and inside, the gondola resembles a basic aircraft cabin. We buckle into our seats and watch the pilot and navigator prepare for lift-off –which, when it comes, couldn’t be smoother or more gradual.

Once the blimp has reached its travelling altitude, we are free to

unbuckle and roam the gondola. The two window hatches are opened and we’re cautious not to lean out too far. Within a minute or so, Stade Marie-Marvingt looms into view. Home to Le Mans FC, the stadium is situated on the inside of Tertre Rouge, the fast right-hander that leads on to motor racing’s most famous straight. And there it is, Les Hunaudières, once known as Route Nationale 138 – aka the Mulsanne. There are the two chicanes that since 1990 have broken up its old 3.7-mile blast, but up here we can ignore them. Boy, it’s a long straight. In fact, just take in the scale of the whole 8.4-mile circuit. We know it’s big, from countless expeditions by foot and by car to its best viewing spots through the years. But up here its epic proportions crystallise.

Watching tiny cars racing through the landmarks – Mulsanne Corner, Indianapolis, Arnage, Porsche Curves, Ford Chicane – is a novelty at this distance. Again, there’s that strange sense of detachment. It’s almost hard to imagine at such range that a real-life human being is belted tight inside each mini-projectile. Then one of the McLaren LMGT3s skates off across the Porsche Curves gravel, narrowly misses the barrier and rejoins. Which one? At this height, who knows?

The back of the paddock looks much less hectic than from among the throng. And look, parallel to the start/finish straight, there’s the airport with a private jet taxiing for take-off. When it launches, its steep angle of ascent soon carries it away and out of sight. More disconcerting are the TV helicopters chasing cars down the Mulsanne – beneath us. Our pilot and navigator keep us well out of range and not once do we feel buffeting or turbulence. It’s just so still and peaceful up here.

But hold on, what’s that? A large oval within the infield, not far from the football stadium. How have we never realised there’s a racecourse in the middle of the Circuit de la Sarthe? Is the Hippodrome des Hunaudières something we knew, but have forgotten? Whatever, it’s disconcerting when we thought we knew this place so well. And beyond the golf course at the bottom of the Mulsanne, something else unexpected. A pond – in the shape of 1990s-era Silverstone. How wonderfully odd. After an hour, which feels like much less, our air crew steer the blimp away from the circuit, and the clamour of hard-revving racing engines quickly fades. We return to the field and its landing zone, where the blimp circles slowly and eases down. What a ride – but where next? How about Indy. Or Daytona. Maybe Spa, or even better, the majestic Nürburgring. Back on terra firma, we’ll never see racing the same way again.

Above, from left

Panoramic view of the track is assured; gondola is surprisingly narrow; crew share space with 12 passengers.

The Ferrari 365, 400 and 412 series are often overlooked – but they were always a rock star’s model of choice

Words Mark Dixon Photography Barry Hayden

Ferrari 412 Rock star’s

My life is really great at the moment and I seem to spend a huge amount of time thinking back to the times when my main mission seemed to be to f*ck it all up.

Looking back to driving 180 miles per hour in a Ferrari down the M4 or some drunken cocaine-fuelled day… I would not put money on any of my great moments. But, like any man, I have had some times.’

So said Pete Townshend, reflecting in The Big Issue in late 2019 on his life as co-founder, lead guitarist and chief songwriter of British rock band The Who. Townshend lived the archetypal rock-star life, although he came through it relatively unscathed compared with, say, his fellow band-member Keith Moon, who died at the age of just 32. Moon is well-remembered for writing off his 1972 Dino 246 Spider within a month of buying it – although the story goes that he wasn’t driving; he’d simply tossed the keys to a couple of biker friends outside his local pub, and they put it into a ditch…

Townshend’s choice of Ferrari was rather less obvious. In 1981, at the age of 36, he bought a nearly new 400 automatic from London dealer HR Owen and had it turned into a convertible by EG Autokraft. Maybe it was his influence that led to the Rolling Stones acquiring three 400s in 1983 for Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman as part of an eight-strong Ferrari ‘fleet deal’ after their Tattoo You European tour. Townshend owned his 400 for about five years and followed it with a Daytona Spider (probably influenced by fellow rock guitarist Eric Clapton, who was a Ferrari tifoso), a 550 Maranello and a 550 Barchetta, before coming full

circle with the 412GT pictured here, which he bought in early 2008.

You certainly needed a mature rock star’s income to afford one of these big V12 Ferraris. They were flagships of the range, with commensurate running costs – you can get a 400 down to single-figure mpg fuel consumption if you try hard enough – which helps explain why in later years they became what now seems ridiculously cheap to buy. A journalist friend bought a usable 400 for £5000 in 2003 (‘It was scruffy but reliable… and unsaleable, I just about got my five grand back’); recent invoices for the ex-Townshend 412 show nearly £70,000 spent on it. As my friend’s £5000 daily driver proves, it’s lack of use that accounts for much that goes wrong with this type of car.

The 412 was the last iteration of a classic front-engined, rear-wheeldrive V12 Ferrari that was introduced way back in 1972 as the 365 GT4, a Pininfarina-built, angularly styled 2+2 that superseded the more swoopy 365 GTC/4 on which it was based. The wedge-nosed 365 GT4 would evolve into a 365/400/412 model line that became Ferrari’s longest-ever seller, lasting from 1972 to 1989. He may not care to be reminded of it now, but designer Peter Stevens said back in the day that the 400 was ‘the most beautiful production car of all time’.

The easy way to tell them apart is that the 365 has six rear lights while the later cars have four; the 412’s rear end is also pitched higher to give more boot space and a more purposeful appearance. Naturally, their mechanical underpinnings changed a fair bit over that 17-year production run, too. The 365 featured a six-Weber but mildly detuned 4390cc wetsump version of the Daytona’s engine, giving 320bhp; that was upgunned to 4825cc and 340bhp for the 400 that superseded it in 1976. All the 365s had manual transmission but, reflecting the big coupé’s appeal as a grand

Ferrari 412 Rock star’s

‘These big V12 Ferraris were flagships of the range, with commensurate running costs – which is why in later years they became ridiculously cheap’

Clockwise, from opposite Orange graphics on blackfaced dials are very much of their time; 365 has six rear lights, 400 and 412 have four; rear seats are tight for legroom; boot was enlarged for 412.

1989 Ferrari 412GT

Engine 4942cc front-mounted V12, DOHC per bank, Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection

Power 340bhp @ 6000rpm Torque 332lb ft @ 4200rpm Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering ZF worm and roller, power-assisted Suspension Front and rear: unequal-length double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, front anti-roll bar, self-levelling at rear Brakes Vented discs, ABS Weight 1805kg Top speed 155mph (claimed) 0-60mph 6.4sec

tourer, for the 400 there was an automatic option using GM’s TH400 gearbox – and it would outsell the manual 400GT by a ratio of two to one. It was a similar story for the 412 that replaced the 400 in 1985, with manual cars remaining in the minority, even though the three-speed TH400 was showing its age by then – it had first appeared in 1967.

In 1979, the 400’s six Webers were replaced with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection to meet stricter emissions requirements. The resulting 400i had less power – 310bhp instead of 340bhp – but the situation was redressed with the slightly bigger engine of the 412. The injected engine wasn’t noticeably more economical, however, with Ferrari’s official 1989 figures showing 9.8mpg in urban driving and 21.3mpg at a constant 56mph –making the contemporary Testarossa practically an eco-car at 28.3mpg! Curiously, the automatic 412’s economy was marginally better than the manual’s at all speeds.

Not that fuel consumption was likely to worry anyone who could afford to buy a 412. In the UK, in January 1989, both versions retailed at £80,194 including taxes, when a 328 GTB cost £47,697. This particular car, chassis 79932, actually cost its first owner £82,020 on 30 March 1989, including a tailored cover and – probably very wisely – a 24-month extended warranty. That sum was near-as-dammit the average price

of a house in London at the time… although not a house in W8, where the 412’s purchaser lived, a Dr Konrad Goess-Saurau.

As built and delivered, chassis 79932 was finished in Verde Scuro (metallic dark green) with VM3997 Crema interior – cream leather, to you and me – and it’s one of just 21 manual cars sold new in the UK. Dr Goess-Saurau kept it only until 18 April the following year, when he sold it to a Bruce Ward, who seems to have been a car dealer, for a substantial £115,000; Mr Ward then resold it six months later with only 5139 miles on the clock to a Mr R Godin (father of classic car and motorcycle specialist Anthony Godin) for £74,500. Go, as they say, figure.

When Pete Townshend bought the car in 2008, the mileage was around 17,400 and he clearly didn’t do much tearing up and down the M4 in it before selling it in 2017, because an invoice to him that year shows the total as 18,383. The next owner spent the aforementioned £70,000 at GTO Engineering having it totally recommissioned, repainted and retrimmed, and now the car is in the care of Neil Dickens of Cotswoldbased The Hairpin Motor Company. Its mileage is still under 20,000. Whatever financial pain was necessary for the last owner to get it to its current state was clearly worthwhile, because this is a gorgeous example. Some, this writer included, might wish it still retained its original metallic

dark green paint but there’s no doubt that the current dark blue (actually a Rolls-Royce shade called Velvet Blue) suits it very well indeed. If ever there was a car that deserved not to be painted in ‘Retail Red’, it’s a 412.

Back in 1972, the 365 GT4 that introduced this series had a slightly uneasy combo of 1960s glittery switchgear, ashtrays and wood veneer with very-’70s square-boxed black-dial instruments, but, by the time the 412 came along, that had been tidied-up into a blocky package that’s as evocative of the 1980s as power ballads and big hair. It’s very high-spec, with central locking, push-button electrical releases for bonnet, boot and fuel filler flap, power seats and windows, and separate knobs for the splitlevel air conditioning – glance upwards and you’ll see circular adjustable air events set into the roof, just as in a commercial airliner. Only the tall and spindly chromed gearlever with its spherical gearknob harks back to Ferraris past, but it somehow looks (and feels) just right.

The 412 gives the impression of being a big car – but, by today’s standards, it’s not. It’s nearly seven inches narrower than a modern-era Mini and its three-box shape with a comparatively huge glass area makes it a doddle to position, even on British B-roads. There’s ample headroom for tall drivers but the pedals are massively offset to the right, such that the clutch is directly underneath the steering column. You don’t notice this so much when driving, although osteopaths might have something to say about what it must do to your lower body.

Firing up that big V12 involves none of the unnecessary theatre that characterises today’s supercars: simply twist the key, wait a few seconds while the starter motor spins furiously as fuel is pumped into those dozen cylinders, and then the motor catches easily and idles smoothly. Quietly, too. There’s just a trace of a pulse that tells you this is a ‘proper’ engine but the exhaust note is notably subdued. It’s a trait that’s maintained as you move up through the gears; this V12 never howls or snarls (although it may well sound more dramatic to those being passed) and, while its voice takes on a harder edge the more you press it, it’s always a genteel, turbinelike companion. Ninety miles per hour (don’t ask) is a relaxed cruising speed, the engine turning over at a little under 4000rpm, which is a long way off its 6500rpm redline, and there’s not much wind noise either. For once, here is a GT that really does satisfy as a continent-crossing express.

Clockwise, from opposite At first glance, the 412 looks a large car – but it’s actually nearly seven inches narrower than a new Mini; engine bay busy enough to strike fear into any DIY mechanic; Blaupunkt retro DAB radio looks perfect in this oh-so-’80s interior, right down to its fiddly buttons.

Some GTs seem to work better as automatics – having owned both manual and auto versions of the early Porsche 928, I’ll heretically propose that car as an example – but, paradoxically, the 412 is not one of them. It helps that this example’s shift is relatively pleasant: it needs decisive movements and it’s not particularly slick, but it’s not a chore to use. Likewise the clutch is not oppressively heavy, either.

By the time this 412 was built, it was the sole Ferrari still to have only two valves per cylinder rather than four but, cylinder heads aside, it’s basically a V-format version of the flat-12 Testarossa engine in a milder state of tune. Its quoted 0-60mph time is 6.4sec and the practicable top speed about 140mph; you’d be pushing the revs well beyond the redline to get to the claimed 155mph. But more important than bar-room bragging statistics is the way the V12 delivers its goods: smoothly, instantly, reliably, with over 300lb ft of torque available from just 2000rpm. On the extremely hot day of our photoshoot it never fluffed or failed to restart instantly on demand.

This laid-back performance is complemented by a relatively soft ride, perhaps a little underdamped but a welcome travelling companion all the same, and a pleasantly roll-free cornering attitude; the understeering bias of the previous 400 was dialled back for the 412, and the steering tweaked to be more direct. It’s a car you can hustle when you’re in the mood without ever feeling that it’s just waiting to bite you. Yes, ultimately you could corner faster in a Testarossa – but would you want to roll the dice and find out whether your own limits are higher than the car’s?

While we’re unlikely to see those heady days of a sub-£10,000 Ferrari ever again, buyers don’t quite seem to have cottoned on to the 400 and 412 yet. Worldwide auction results in 2023-24 show nice cars still hovering around the £50,000-70,000 mark, which is less than similar examples of the contemporary 328 GTB – a car that was pitched far below the 412 in period. Neil Dickens has since sold our feature car for considerably more than that, however, for it’s an exceptionally fine example and arguably still undervalued even at ‘top money’. Whoever bought it clearly has good taste and an appreciation of quality.

Back in 1989, Fast Lane magazine featured a then-current 412GT on its front cover with the strapline ‘The Forgotten Supercar’. The writer of the accompanying article, Peter Dron, drily remarked that it might be more sought-after if, like its Daytona predecessor, it didn’t have power steering and you needed the biceps of a superhero to wrestle it at speeds below 100mph. He concluded: ‘The 412 is really too subtle to be described as a supercar. In fact, it may be that it is altogether too subtle ever to be properly appreciated in an age of raucous vulgarity.’

You could say much the same about its classic status today: are you a 412 or a Testarossa kind of petrolhead? With apologies in advance for the contrived segue, to quote a song lyric by this particular car’s famous previous owner: ‘Who are you? Who who who who?’

THANKS TO Neil Dickens at The Hairpin Company, thehairpincompany.co.uk, +44 1249 760686.

‘Buyers don’t quite seem to have cottoned on to the 400 and 412 yet, with nice cars still hovering around £50,000-70,000’

ONE EMAIL. ALL THE STORIES, NEWS AND CARS THAT MATTER. THAT’S THE OCTANE WEEKLY DIGEST. SIGN UP AND NEVER MISS A STORY THAT MATTERS.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT, HCVA MEMBER:

AUTOHISTORIC

AUTOHISTORIC LTD ATTRACTS clients from all around the world who seek meticulous maintenance and exacting restoration services for their beloved pre-war cars. With a deeply ingrained passion for cars and engineering, Gregg May and Michelle Hunter head up Autohistoric. Gregg is a qualified engineer with over 20 years’ experience and a lifelong love of classic automotive engineering. He grew up around classic, sports and race cars of all ages. GT40s, Cobras, and Jaguar E-types all featured, before he turned his attention to the pre-war era. Michelle is an experienced automotive professional with over 18 years in management and a deep passion for veteran and vintage cars that started at a very young age. She also has a love of anything with a V8 on board.

With a dedicated team of talented engineers who understand the historical significance of these pioneering vehicles, Autohistoric takes pride in maintaining authenticity, and repairing and restoring damaged components. Where this is no longer possible, Autohistoric reproduces obsolete or missing parts using a multitude of traditional or modern methods. As well as restoration and preservation, Autohistoric takes huge satisfaction in the sympathetic upgrade of veteran, Edwardian and vintage vehicles to better meet the demands of modern usage, without compromising historic integrity.

Autohistoric has an established reputation for supporting customers with tailored maintenance schedules, event assistance, specialist storage and the supply of bespoke products to enhance the pre-war car experience. Being a keen advocate of sustainability and succession, Autohistoric is committed to ensuring pre-war cars can be enjoyed by the next generation, and is aligned with the work carried out by the HCVA to protect and preserve our passion and industry for future generations. The foundations of the modern motor car, pre-war vehicles and the pioneering engineers that created them have left a legacy that Autohistoric is proud to protect.

Autohistoric: specialists in the preservation and restoration of veteran and vintage vehicles. +44 (0)1825 873636 www.autohistoric.co.uk

Organiser of Yorkshire Elegance, sponsor of the 1000 Miglia, plus vehicle sourcing, storage and tours. +44 (0)1924 427836 www.thefastlaneclub.com

World-renowned Aston Martin specialist and official Heritage Parts Partner established in 1983. +44 (0)1332 371566 www.astonengineering.co.uk

The world’s foremost global historic motoring events company, running rallies for classic and vintage cars. +44 (0)1869 254979 www.hero-era.com

Helping to keep your Jaguar on the road.

+44 (0)1746 765432 www.sngbarratt.com

537706

(0)1588 672711 www.britpart.com

Hot topic

SHINING A LIGHT ON PRE-WAR VEHICLES

A lot has been written about changing trends and declining demand and values for many pre-war vehicles. Supporting the awareness and preservation of our earliest vehicles, most of which are now over 90 years old, remains important within HCVA campaigns.

The HCVA recently welcomed the VSCC and National Motor Museum Beulieu as our latest associate members, with both organisations doing so much to keep pre-war vehicles in the public eye.

The HCVA supports the incredible work of the VSCC and its programme of active events that keep these vehicles alive.

Meanwhile, at Beaulieu the World Land Speed Record-breaking Sunbeam 350hp car turns 100 this year and is out and about running at various events, to be followed by the planned fully running restoration of the fearsome Sunbeam 1000hp in time for its 2027 centennial celebrations.

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it was thrilling to see a strong historic field, including HCVA members Georgina Wood of P&A Wood driving the famous Napier Railton courtesy of Brooklands Museum, and Julian Majzub of Blockley Tyres putting in a scorching time in a Maserati Tipo 26M. But beyond these highest-profile events and exotica lies the reality of a declining awareness and interest in the very vehicles that started it all. Being seen is being relevant, and the HCVA will host a display of member pre-war vehicles at Bicester Scramble on 5 October, where HCVA experts will be engaging with the public on all things pre-war. The world of crash gearboxes, ignition advance and grease points can be daunting to the uninitiated, but, with an experienced guide, the underlying simplicity is soon mastered.

If our oldest vehicles end up as static museum exhibits we will be in danger of losing the necessary skills and the industry that support owners. We are fortunate in the UK to have a world-leading specialist network, via the HCVA, that supports owners in keeping the pre-war fleet on the road.

Help us shape the future of our past as a trade member or supporting owner and enthusiast at www.hcva.co.uk.

Dale Keller, CEO

Octane Cars

The trials and

tribulations

of the cars we live with

Marathon man

1965 Triumph 2.5 PI James Elliott

I HAVE DONE the Hope Classic Rally at least three times, but never previously in my own car. Embarrassed about the condition and lowly status of my classics, I once borrowed a lovely sidescreen TR from Hurst Park, while last year I leapt at the organisers’ kind offer to drive an Aston Martin DB6. Who wouldn’t?

When the lovely Marina Hamilton asked this year if I wanted to tag along, I tentatively asked if my Triumph would be appropriate: partly because it is now so much nicer post-resto by JGD Classic Services and Peacock Prestige; partly because I can’t get enough of driving it and had a

secondary mission later that day; and partly because I reasoned that taking my own car would leave one more car for the charity to farm out to a proper paying guest. I needn’t have worried, of course, for they are simply not the sort of folk who would ever judge a car or an enthusiast like that.

The rally – in which participants can bring their own car or take pot luck with one of the exotics loaned for the day by super-generous supporters and insured by Hagerty – was marking its tenth anniversary on 27 June with a meandering run from Wotton House Hotel near Guildford to Dunsfold Park, for

; enjoying the glorious grounds of Sibton Park for the Heveningham Concours; Southside Hustle beside Wimbledon Common; first time at Luton Hoo’s Classics in the Walled Garden won’t be the last.

a splendid lunch at The Ledmore’s new Fire Station. Then a lap of the track before crews wended their way back to the hotel for a dinner and charity auction, all supported by a raft of big-hitters such as Tuthill, Icon Solutions, Add Mustard, GTO Engineering, JLR Classic and Mack Logistics.

As ever, it was a fabulous day and raised bucketloads of cash for WeSeeHope (weseehope.org.uk), a charity that changes thousands of children’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa. Go to hopeclassicrally.org, register for 2026 and you can add your weight to the cause.

I had to skip the dinner because, as soon as the rally portion of the day was done, I headed straight up to Suffolk for the Heveningham Concours. I’ve always been vocal that if you have windows you don’t need air-con – but you do have to be moving,

‘As soon as the rally in Surrey was done, I headed to Suffolk for the Heveningham Concours’

and well over an hour pretty much stationary at the Dartford Crossing challenged my mood somewhat. Either side of that the journey was great, even though the Triumph seemed to suffer fuel starvation on the A12 when it dropped to under a quarter-tank.

I rested the car, filled up, put it down to the extreme heat and carried on with no issues to have a great weekend and a marginally more tolerable journey home (45min stationary at Dartford, on a Sunday!).

The Triumph then had only two days’ rest before it was off again. Chris Overton, whose Lotus Seven S4 I had driven for a story decades ago, had invited me to Classics in the Walled Garden at Luton Hoo. Seeing as I had never been but my late friend and colleague David Evans had always raved about this summer’s-evening meet, I said yes instantly. It was another hot one for this gathering and, as I queued to get into the event and the fuel fell below a quarter-tank, the spluttering to a slow death started again. After a short rest at the side of the road (in which I pretended to be taking pictures of passing classics), the Triumph started up and was fine once more. After a brilliant evening among the classics both in the Walled Garden and packing out the adjacent paddock – I’ll take a picnic next time – and a fill-up, everything was fine again.

After 600 hot and testing miles over just a handful of days, the seven-mile round trip to my beloved Southside Hustle that Sunday felt almost fraudulent.

OCTANE’S FLEET

These are the cars –and ’bikes – run by Octane’s staff and contributors

JAMES ELLIOTT

Editor-in-chief

• 1965 Triumph 2.5 PI

• 1968 Jensen Interceptor

• 1969 Lotus Elan S4

ROBERT COUCHER

Founding editor

• 1955 Jaguar XK140

GLEN WADDINGTON

Associate editor

• 1989 BMW 320i Convertible

• 1999 Porsche Boxster

SANJAY SEETANAH

Advertising director

• 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio

• 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante

• 2007 Mercedes-Benz SLK200

MARK DIXON

Contributing editor

• 1927 Alvis 12/50

• 1927 Ford Model T pick-up

• 1942 Fordson Model N tractor

• 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in

ROBERT HEFFERON

Art editor

• 2004 BMW Z4 3.0i

DAVID LILLYWHITE

Editorial director

• 1971 Saab 96

MATTHEW HOWELL

Photographer

• 1962 VW Beetle 1600

• 1969 VW/Subaru Beetle

• 1982 Morgan 4/4

BEN BARRY

Contributor

• 2007 Mazda RX-8

MASSIMO DELBÒ

Contributor

• 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230

• 1972 Fiat 500L

• 1975 Alfa Romeo GT Junior

• 1979/80 Range Rovers

• 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SL

• 1985 Mercedes-Benz 240TD

SAM CHICK

Photographer

• 1969 Alfa Romeo Spider

ROWAN ATKINSON

Contributor

• 2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom

Clockwise, from opposite top Hope Classic Rally included a lap of the Dunsfold track in Top Gear lay-out

BERTHOLD DÖRRICH

Contributor

• 1939 Alvis 12/70 Special

• 1958 Austin-Healey Sprite

• 1972 Porsche 911T

ANDREW RALSTON

Contributor

• 1955 Ford Prefect

• 1968 Jaguar 240

RICHARD HESELTINE

Contributor

• 1966 Moretti 850 Sportiva

• 1971 Honda Z600

PETER BAKER

Contributor

• 1954 Daimler Conquest

• 1955 Daimler Conquest Century

• 2005 Maserati 4200GT

• 2008 Alfa Romeo Brera Prodrive SE

DAVID BURGESS-WISE

Contributor

• 1924 Sunbeam 14/40

• 1926 Delage DISS

MATTHEW HAYWARD

Markets editor

• 1990 Citroën BX 16v

• 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four

• 1997 Citroën Xantia Activa

• 1997 Peugeot 306 GTI-6

• 2000 Honda Integra Type R

• 2002 Audi A2

JESSE CROSSE

Contributor

• 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390

• 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth

MARTYN GODDARD

Photographer

• 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy

• 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII

DELWYN MALLETT

Contributor

• 1936 Cord 810 Beverly

• 1937 Studebaker Dictator

• 1946 Tatra T87

• 1950 Ford Club Coupe

• 1952 Porsche 356

• 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL

• 1957 Porsche Speedster

• 1957 Fiat Abarth Sperimentale

• 1963 Abarth-Simca

• 1963 Tatra T603

• 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS

• 1992 Alfa Romeo SZ

EVAN KLEIN

Photographer

• 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider

• 2001 Audi TT

HARRY METCALFE

Contributor

• 20 cars and 15 motorbikes

To follow Harry’s adventures, find Harry’s Garage on YouTube.

A new

dawn

1934 Sunbeam 25

Peter Baker

IT WAS A case of right place, right time. I was driving back from London on the M40 when a friend called to say that what looked like a half-reasonable 1934 Sunbeam 25 Touring saloon had popped up for sale on a wellknown website. I stopped at Oxford Services and called the number. Blow me down, the seller lived only four junctions further north. Even better, he was home, and yes, even though it was a Sunday, he was more than happy for me to view the car.

It was love at first sight. I looked across a disused barn and immediately knew we would be spending the rest of our lives together: long bonnet, low-cut windscreen, a pair of front-wingmounted spare wheels, and chromium-plated headlamps the size of dustbin lids.

Also present were a full-length sunroof, ribbed running boards, a compartmentalised rear trunk designed around a travelling toolkit (think grease gun, multiple spanners stamped with maker’s

name, and a brass tyre pump) and two fitted suitcases. If proof be needed this Sunbeam was indeed a grand tourer, both cases carry faded 1937 Swiss and German customs stickers; inside, instantly discernible behind that overwhelming richness of leather, Wilton and walnut, the faint aroma of cigars, whisky and Eau de Cologne.

Sunbeam, in the hands of Louis Coatalen, was devoted to race-winning and breaking records. A Sunbeam was the first British car to win a Grand Prix, and in 1927 Henry Segrave broke the Land Speed Record (203.79mph) at Daytona Beach in the Coatalen-designed Sunbeam 1000HP. However, as we all know, motor racing doesn’t come cheap, and financial difficulties, exacerbated by the Wall Street

Crash of 1929, put paid to future plans and in July 1935 the company was sold to the Rootes brothers.

I admit straight away to being very excited – but there was a drawback. The 3.3-litre straight-six was seized, and nothing would persuade it to free up. However, a chat with Daniel Hunter at Whitsun Motorsport led to him agreeing not only to collect the car but to do whatever needs doing to get it back on the road. And that’s how I became the proud owner of a ’30s Sunbeam 25.

So far there’s some moderately good news regarding the engine. Daniel has removed the cylinder head and sump – I think they call it ‘top and tail’ in the trade – and had a good poke around. Both the head and crankshaft are OK, and with luck the cylinder walls can be honed. That’s the good news.   However, a porous head gasket has allowed condensation to damage at least two of the aluminium piston tops. This is bad news because a source of replacements has yet to be found, even via the Sunbeam Talbot Darracq Register.

There is, however, a faint ray of light. Daniel is convinced the current pistons are not original, and a club member believes they could be from a Fiat 124. Hmm. Maybe I should change my Christian name to Sherlock?

Above and left

Love at first sight of this beauty, but a seized engine has revealed damaged pistons – tricky to source.

Window of opportunity

1999 Porsche Boxster Glen Waddington

REGULAR READERS might remember that my Boxster’s electric hood became a bit erratic last summer. Happily, a replacement header-rail microswitch fixed it, plundered from a used latch module that had gleaned some central locking sensors for another lucky owner, all sorted by my mate Stuart Templeton (templetonsgarage.co. uk). All was well for months, then just a couple of times I had an issue with the windows, which would drop in preparation for the roof to be lowered without me even touching the hood latch. I also had a cracked windscreen and an impending MoT. No problem, insurance to the rescue. For an additional excess, my RH Specialist Insurance policy allows me to go via a local specialist –except that mine called back to say he was struggling to source the correct ’screen. So off we went to the recommended fitter, National Windscreens. I’d had mixed experience with mobile fitters and was happy to contact my nearest depot (20 minutes away, in Northampton) and arrange to turn up there first thing, thus avoiding a potential wait. Their fitter, Matt Arrowsmith, soon had the old ’screen out and carefully prepped the aperture, cleaning it thoroughly before fitting the new one, and ensuring that the integrated radio antenna

was properly connected and working. A previous inspection had shown that an all-important fixing clip was missing (likely the result of a less-than-professional prior replacement) and a new one had been ordered from Porsche, all at no further cost to me.

In it all went, the procedure completed courteously and professionally in three hours. Nice to have a clear view out, and I noticed that Radio 4 reception (often tricky in these parts) was much better than before.

The only difficulty concerned the weather: suddenly extremely wet. And, you guessed it, the window thing happened again – only they couldn’t be raised this time! You can drive a Boxster with roof down and windows up in a downpour and stay dry if you don’t stop. Roof up and windows down? No dice. I got soaked!

Anyway, the Boxster went to Stuart the next day, flew through its MoT and was serviced at the same time, all fluids flushed and renewed, including the brakes. But there was a delay. A new microswitch was on back order at Porsche. Although it showed up as in stock with various thirdparty vendors, it turned out to be ‘to special order’ in those cases, too. So we have another used but serviceable microswitch in place and everything is once again in full working order.

Rubber souls

1967 Mercedes 230 and 1982 500SL Massimo

Delbò

EVERY ARTIST HAS a period.

Picasso and van Gogh each had a blue one… so why shouldn’t classic cars have theirs? In spring 2025 the Delbò fleet had its tyre period, with two of the Mercedes both needing new shoes. It was hardly a surprise; in fact, taking advantage of a show discount at Bologna Auto Moto d’Epoca, I’d placed my order with Musso Gomme of Turin last October. If you need a non-racing classic car tyre in Italy, this is where you go, and it proved a wise decision because I not only got the discount but avoided a price increase in January 2025, too.

The reason for the delay fitting the tyres was my fault: too busy before the winter, and salt on the

roads during it. Which is why, when the cars came out of hibernation, Turin was the first destination for each of them. I’m proud to point out that the tyres didn’t need to be replaced due to their age but because of wear. The 500SL’s set of Michelin 205/70 VR14s lasted ten years and 17,112km; not a particularly high mileage but including four Modena Cento Ore classic rallies and hot laps on the most beautiful Italian racetracks. After 16 years and 34,814km, the 230 received four new Michelin ZX 6.40-7.00 SR13s, complemented by four new Michelin inner tubes.

While at Musso Gomme, we had a touching moment remembering that the last set

of tyres on the 230, which were fitted during the car’s restoration, were installed by the late Mr Lino, father of the current custodians of this family ’shop that’s been in business since 1934. Two sets of classic Michelins don’t come cheap but both my cars were originally delivered with them and I’ve always felt safe choosing this brand – and very pleased that its classic programme includes these two sizes.

I have a personal affection for Michelin, too, because in 2005 I had a chance encounter with the late Edouard Michelin, then in charge of the family business. He told me he thought one of his biggest personal triumphs was convincing the board to set up the classic programme, not just to generate income but as a tribute to the firm’s history and the collectors of classic cars all over the world – and I’m always happy to help prove that he was right!

‘The automatic ’box in my 225,000-mile Volvo XC70 feels as though it’s about to pack up for the second time and I’m seriously contemplating going back to a classic for daily use – maybe a Rover 3500 P6?’

Mark Dixon

‘While using my Audi A2 as a camera car for tracking shots recently, I noticed a jerkiness in throttle response that suggests the engine mounts are worn out’

Matthew Hayward

‘We’ve been making the most of summer in the BMW, including a 400mile round trip up north to see my folks, all in a day and without issue. Adjusting the fan-belt has cured a very annoying squawk, too’ Glen Waddington

‘The build of my ’68 Mustang GT 390 is moving into its final stage, after which it will be time to prep the 390ci V8 – which requires some very careful pre-oiling –to get it running’

Jesse Crosse

‘The absence of brake fluid in the Studebaker has been resolved and miraculously the brakes worked straight away –I didn’t even have to bleed them. Time for a drive around the block!’

Delwyn Mallett

Top, above and right

New Michelins for two MercedesBenzes don’t come cheap, but both were fitted with them originally and the correct tyres remain available.

THE FINEST CAR STORAGE, AND SO MUCH MORE.

Since 2016 we have provided 5-star storage and concierge services for our clients in the UK and around the world, taking care of all the details and time-consuming tasks that come with multi-car ownership.

But when you store with us you also have access to a range of complimentary services, all aimed at making your car life not just easier, but also more enjoyable. Last year we organised 11 tours through Europe and the UK (including 3 private tours), and we sourced and sold over £14m worth of cars for our clients. Meanwhile our sister company V Engineering continues to build on its reputation as the finest independent McLaren service centre in the UK.

We now have capacity for 400 cars at our state-of-the-art facilities just off the M4, west of Heathrow.

To find out how we can transform your car world please contact Ben Hadfield. ben@v-management.com 01635 867705 v-management.com

Overdrive

Other interesting cars we’ve been driving

Via Roma to Le Mans

2025 Ferrari Roma Spider Wayne Batty

I TEND TO sort emails like someone ripping defective products off a conveyer belt at blur speed. If it’s selling, yelling or not compelling, it’s instantly deleted. ‘Subject line: Ferraris to Le Mans’ was cause for pause. I’d been to Le Mans ten years prior and had driven Ferraris before, the first being the ‘last of the manuals’ California, and most recently, six older wonders from the Classiche fleet. This, though, would be a first taste of Maranello’s current crop.

Assembling at Ferrari UK’s office in Slough, we’re handed keys to a Roma Spider. Finished in Celeste Metallizzato over Cuoio Toscano leather, it’s a visual treat. Bar the crisp edges of the ‘power’ bonnet, the body’s comprised entirely of large-radius curves, with voluptuous rear haunches filling the mirrors.

Planning some al fresco driving means leaving the boot divider panel in place. I soon realise it’d be easier to stuff the actual Michelin man into a briefcase than slot my luggage and the eight-layer fabric roof in there. Fortunately the ‘cavities’ behind the front seats are as charitable as Ferrari calling this a 2+2!

As road trips go, Slough to Le Mans – the quickest way – is a couple of motorways split by an underwater train ride. Not exactly a dynamic challenge, but a decent test of the Roma’s touring nous, and 611bhp from a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 proves sufficient motivation for both the Roma and my general well-being. While there are faster Ferraris on sale (faster Hyundais even), briefly flooring the throttle, absorbing the thrust and seeing the delight of the exotics-en-route-to-LeMans bridge watchers releases great schools of endorphins.

Transmission shifts are pretty seamless, though the gearbox is a little reluctant to change down in comfort mode, like it’s drunk on

Opposite, left and below Roma is handsome with roof up or down, but going topless engages all the senses; total immersion on the road is followed by supreme involvement at the track; château accommodation seems appropriate.

‘It hasn’t taken long to fall for the Roma’s steering ’

the barrels of available torque. It sobers up with each twist of the manettino dial, though you could just use the paddles.

It hasn’t taken long for me to fall for the Roma’s sweet steering. I’m less happy that its wheel is riddled with switchgear, though. Starting a Ferrari should leave more of an impression than a fingerprint, and, while I get to grips with the indicators, I give up trying to feel my way around the haptic touch pads. Those have been axed on the Amalfi, recently announced as a model update.

Roof up, the cabin is coupéquiet, appropriately premium and comfortable. The architecture is sculpturally superb apart from the central touchscreen, which has an aftermarket vibe.

After a couple of hours, we stop for fuel out of convenience rather than necessity before continuing on to the Château d’Oyre, an Australian family-owned and run gem that proves the perfect out-of-town base from which to attack Le Mans. Memories of

barbecue dinners, 2am race updates, morning pastries and great coffee will linger long.

From an intimate Ferrari media room overhanging the pitlane, all-time tennis great Roger Federer calls on drivers to start their engines. Le Tricolore waves them away. The first hour provides an opportunity to rate each car’s exhaust note. The Cadillacs, quick in qualifying, sound flatter than I’d hoped but still better than all the other Hypercars bar the soul-stirring Aston. I love the aural insanity of the LMP2 cars, too, but as they’re separated only by livery, not shape, they’re harder to relate to.

Three hours in, it’s clear the race will be between Porsche and Ferrari. A quick walk around the village reveals a far more commercial atmosphere than I recall, with off-track entertainment playing a larger role, too. I console myself by acknowledging that the great race will likely live on because of it, just like Ferrari built a Purosangue

so cars like the Roma can survive. On Sunday I’m invited into the Ferrari garage. Headphones, wired into the driver/team comms, relay an imminent pit stop. Fuoco jumps out, Molina climbs in while the car is refuelled. I’ll never tire of the anger and violence of hissing jacks and pneumatic wheelguns as fresh rubber is prepared for torture. Pit stops ought to be pure chaos; instead they’re a choreographed dance that ends in snaking wheelspin and fire-spitting engine roar.

Despite the best efforts of Ferrari’s own number 50 and 51 cars, it’s the ‘customer’ 83 car, also run by AF Corse, that looks threateningly fast. And, following Pier Guidi’s pit-entry mistake in 51, 83 takes the lead and holds on to claim an emotional victory for Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson. Finishing just 14sec ahead of the Porsche is enough to earn Ferrari its third win in three years, meaning it gets to keep the trophy. If only all emails ended this way.

Ocean drive

2024 Volkswagen California Ocean

Robert Hefferon

WHOEVER COINED the phrase ‘don’t mix business with pleasure’ certainly wasn’t offered the use of a VW California Ocean for the week. Handily, that’s not a mantra I live by, and I was quick to point out to the Octane chaps that my bucket-list plan to roam around Scotland – home of wild camping and stunning scenery – qualified me best, therefore I should take one for the team. And so, with family on board, our rough plan soon becomes reality. An early start and the long slog from Northamptonshire gives me time to familiarise myself with the

camper. I’m eminently aware that Octane regulars are more used to reading about long drives in cars tuned for the hairpins, twists and turns, a bit of heel ’n’ toeing and getting that rear end out – but who doesn’t also love an elevated driving position, fingertip-light steering and creature comforts?

Still, nobody buys a camper just for those; it’s about the holistic experience offered by a van with windows that sleeps four. In this range-topping Ocean trim there is a 201bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine twinned with a seven-speed DSG transmission, for a 0-60mph sprint in 10sec. So it’s punchy for a vehicle weighing around 2500kg, but there’s also a calmness about it: relaxed yet hasty if needed, comfortable, quiet, smooth gearchanges, confident brakes. There are, of course, various assistants and sensors; my favourite for this near-400-mile schlep is the adaptive cruise control, which

takes care of things for most of the way to our first overnight stop in The Trossachs.

The joy of the camper is that it immerses you in your surroundings: widescreen viewing of the best that nature can offer through the windscreen as you drive; stop and your lounge is under the awning, furnished with cleverly stowed table and chairs that slide into the boot and below the bed. The kitchen sink is in the rear with a fridge and gas stove; the pop-up roof is the second bedroom, with windows on three sides, so you never wake up and forget where you are.

Transforming the van into night mode means sliding the rear seats forward, lying them back as far as they go, and unfolding the mattress, which is like a parcel shelf when not needed. It’s quite easy, but you need to shift your luggage about to create space. A quick get-away is never really an option, either, but it’s all in

keeping with the relaxed vibe and no-rush attitude. Holiday mode. Road speeds are a little lower over the border, where singletrack roads with passing bays are the norm, engendering friendly ‘thank you’ waves between fellow campers and locals. We rarely venture much beyond 40mph and enjoy the relaxed pace as we meander through ever-changing scenery with an approximate route in mind: The Trossachs, then the Isle of Mull, Glencoe, Highlands and the Cairngorms, with the freedom to alter our plans as we fancy.

Sold-out ferry routes, loch-taxi technical issues and long detours can’t keep us from Mull, although Storm Floris is on the way as we head west to our beachside location, and we’re advised to park a few rows back from the seafront with tail to the wind, given the roof’s wedge shape. Biblical rain wakes me at 2.30am as hefty wind gusts rock

the van, and my thoughts turn to the pop-up roof. Frantic online searching suggests it can handle anything that’s thrown at it, as long as you can sleep with the noise of flapping canvas. After too much time awake, I close it in favour of the insulated van and bed below, much to the delight of my wife and daughter.

We survive the onslaught and push inland the next morning. The camper is compact enough that small towns are no problem, yet it’s big enough to be comfortable when, after losing a day to the winds, we pull up unplanned and spend the night in a nature reserve.

Sensors allow you to see if you’re on level ground and help live adjustments with wheel chocks, while a second battery runs the interior lights, sink pump and fridge, which can all be monitored and operated via an inbuilt touch panel or an app that syncs to the van. It recharges with the engine on or when you plug in at a campsite. Scotland’s relaxed camping rules and welldistributed public toilet blocks encourage this way to explore; views of stags roaming in the hills make it an unforgettable evening.

We carry on up to Durness, dipping onto sections of the NC500 route, stopping at waterfalls and viewpoints, camping by beaches that would shame the Caribbean, eating fresh seafood at a five-star roadside bothy, seeing wild otters and Highland cows, crossing the glorious Kylesku bridge, and driving to the top of barren hills that will become ski resorts in a few short months. We share the route with Porsches, Ferraris, a Morgan, even an E-type, all enjoying this wild end of The British Isles, but I would question whether they really experienced Scotland, or just those few miles of tarmac. Owning a camper is not a replacement for a classic but a whole different experience; admission is steep at £80,000 but what it offers in return is priceless.

The drive home takes more than ten hours, our peaceful bubble bursting as we rejoin the motorway, the hills giving way to flat farmland and delivery depots, yet the camper stays on form. We swap seats to have a rest when the camper can’t, and it keeps on going to average an impressive 32.5mpg over 500 miles. It’s been quite the adventure.

Clockwise, from top left Mull before the storm; stunning Kylesku bridge; great views and roads by the lochs; wedgy profile, lots of glass; Durness bay through the cinematic windscreen; pop-up top ready for a night in the Cairngorms; passing fellow campers; Highland cows and morning view at Knocken Crag nature reserve.

Gone but not forgotten

Words by Richard Heseltine

Graham Warner

Formula 1 entrant and the man behind The Chequered Flag sports car emporium

GRAHAM WARNER wasn’t one to distil a story into an attention-grabbing soundbite. Instead, he would unspool a long, meandering yarn festooned with detail. Interruptions would wither and die on your tongue as he trawled forensically through childhood memories. Either that, or he outlined his views on early jet-fighters and the threat of flameouts, or recalled his friend Jim Clark, to whom he gave his first start in a single-seater. Later, matters might turn to the crux of the latest article he was researching. He would then drop subtle hints as to why you really should write his biography.

After all, he didn’t want to write about himself. Autobiographies were self-serving, he reasoned. A biography? That was a different kettle of fish. Warner was variously a pilot, a racing driver, a car manufacturer, a wheelerdealer, a rally entrant, a marque concessionaire, an aircraft restorer and an aviation historian. He was an overachiever and someone used to getting his own way. He could be brusque, jaundiced and aloof. On the flipside, he was at times extremely generous, caring, amusing and emotional. He was a walking contradiction, and someone who engendered warmth and respect in those who benefited from his patronage.

Born in South-West London on 31 May 1929, Warner dreamed of two things: joining the RAF and becoming a racing driver. All of which was a world away from his early life in Lavender Hill, Battersea, where he lived above the family drapery. His father was also a Conservative Party candidate for the borough council. One of Warner’s earliest memories was of picking up broken glass from where bricks had been lobbed through the shop window (this hastened a move to Twickenham). Then World War Two changed everything. His eldest brother, Alex, made the ultimate sacrifice after his plane was shot down following a bombing raid on Stettin.

Warner idolised Alex. In June 1947, the headstrong 17-year-old left home and headed north to the Recruits Training Centre at RAF Padgate, Cheshire, in a bid to emulate him. He was going to become a pilot. Three years later, he was flying aircraft such as the Meteor IV and the Vampire. However, he then suffered a hernia while cranking his Riley Nine. A lengthy spell spent recuperating gave him time to think. He decided that he didn’t like being told what to do so would have a stab at being a racing driver instead, the only flaw in the plan being that he had no money.

No matter, he joined the motor trade in London, which was akin to the Wild West during the early 1950s. He was taken on by an

outfit that was financed by some ‘colourful’ characters, visits from the law becoming an almost weekly occurrence, which prompted Warner’s move to a more upmarket establishment. Then, in December 1956, he formed his own dealership, which he promised would sell only sporting cars. The Chequered Flag became an institution in Chiswick for the next three decades.

The ’Flag rocketed into the public eye in 1958 after it went motor racing. The team principal finally ventured trackside aboard an Austin-Healey 100S, the stable soon encompassing a Tojeiro-Bristol, a brace of Lotus Elevens, and, most famously, the Lotus Elite ‘LOV 1’ with which Warner became inextricably linked. He also branched out into manufacturing Formula Juniors under the Gemini banner. Ironically, having launched The Chequered Flag as a means to an end –it would pay for his motorsport – his driving career petered out as a result of the success of his business.

Nevertheless, he continued to field cars for the likes of Jackie Stewart, Mike Spence, Bob Bondurant, David Hobbs and Ian Ashley, enjoying a particularly close relationship with the latter. However, he pulled out of racing in 1968 after running the semi-works McLaren F3 and F2 programmes. While the ’Flag continued to boom, Warner branched out into other arenas, not least the music business. He was great friends with blues legend Alexis Korner, who introduced him to his future business partners; the same one who, by his own admission, ‘turned him over’.

The 1970s saw Warner attempt to import the Brazilian Puma sports car, only to get stamped on by Ford, which owned the rights to the name. He also had a go at F1 without success after Ashley demolished his Brabham BT42. Then there was rallying, Warner battling naked aggression from the works Lancia team to run the Stratos in the UK.

Despite all of that, The Chequered Flag adventure ground to a halt in 1984 as the result of a reverse takeover. Warner then returned to his first love, aviation, overseeing the restoration of a Bristol Blenheim that took to the skies in May 1987, only to plummet to Earth shortly thereafter.

Displaying remarkable fortitude, Warner and his team then set about restoring it a second time. He generally eschewed discussing his former life in the automotive world and was in his ninth decade when he changed his tune, only to suffer a stroke while A Chequered Flag – The Graham Warner Story was being written. He died in May 2014, aged 84, shortly after it was published.

Tim Sco

Former City broker turned professional car photographer (fl uidimages.co.uk) who loves London, Lotuses and Lambrettas

1. My first car was this black VW Beetle called – and signwri en – ‘The Black Adder’. When I photographed Rowan Atkinson’s McLaren F1 in the studio, he joined me for the day and signed this photo, adding ‘Blackadder – Human Version’. He was so charming, it was a very special day’s work, and it was a nice link back to where my motoring journey began.

2. I bought my Billingham photographer’s bag 25 years ago and ever since, from nightclubs to racetracks all over the World, it’s been my constant companion. It’s built like a tank; all it needs is its annual run through the washing machine by my mum to be back to its best.

3. My late father could see that my City ‘career’ wasn’t thrilling me and bought me this Fuji S2 Pro digital SLR, which set me on the path to where I am today. Digital tech has come a long way, and I now use Nikon’s latest, but this still takes a decent picture.

4. The Lotus Elan steering wheel is large and dangerously flimsy, so be er now as an ornament than a practical item. A constant reminder as I gaze longingly at it of the pleasure my li le 1965 S2 Elan gives me.

5. This trophy is from the Concours of Elegance, an event with which I am enormously proud to be involved. In December 2011 a small group of us met in the Chinese Dining Room at Buckingham Palace and conceived a Concours for 60 cars at Windsor Castle to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee in September 2012. The inaugural event exceeded even our high expectations and we are still going strong, though at Hampton Court Palace now.

6. I still recall handing over my cash in sweaty 12-year-old palms to buy my first LP, All Mod Cons by The Jam. The opening chords of the Rickenbacker on Billy Hunt still thrill. Weller, sharp and surly on the cover; the inside sleeve a Lambre a wiring diagram. Inspiring stu .

7. This 1966 5513 Rolex Submariner was a pat on the back to myself for making it to 50 years old. It’s the finest timepiece I’ve ever clapped eyes on, but sadly I only wear it on special occasions these days because I live in London…

have been in my life. Happy memories and

8. ‘Cars I Have Loved’ is a picture created by my talented brother Simon of the vehicles that have been in my life. Happy memories and adventures in every one of them.

Music is a great passion and I love hi-fi kit, so pu ing this system together was a terrific pleasure. Linn turntable, and Naim for everything else. Vinyl, CDs, streaming… all bases are covered. A skilled childhood friend then built an American Black Walnut cabinet to house it all. British-made, top to bo om!

9. Music is a great passion and I love hi-fi kit, then built an American Black Walnut cabinet

10.

colour changes/rebuilds. The colour is inspired

wheels might be considered an adventure!

I still get a kick out of my 1966 Lambre a SX200 a er decades of ownership and multiple colour changes/rebuilds. The colour is inspired by Aston’s ’50s sports racers and it has lots of ‘custom’ touches such as a period Smiths chronometric rev-counter, and a tuned 230cc engine, although anything over 60mph on 10in wheels might be considered an adventure!

FELLOWES FINE CARS

1937 RILEY SPRITE - 2-SEATER SPORTS

ONE OF 51 EXAMPLES BUILT - ‘BKW 769’

Presented in its original specification of Battleship Grey with a Red interior Highly original example which retains its rare under trays & interior

Sympathetic restoration carried out in the current ownership to retain originality whilst benefiting from an engine rebuild by sporting Riley expert, Keith Pointing Eligible for the Mille Miglia, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood & numerous other series & tours

Words by Delwyn Mallett

The MGM lion

A roaring mainstay from the dawn of Hollywood to the present day

LEO THE LION, perhaps the most enduring Hollywood creation, announced his movie debut in 1917 not with a roar but a look of feline indifference.

Samuel Goldfish was born Szmuel Gelbfisz in Poland in 1879. A glove-maker and salesman, in 1913 he formed a film production company with his brother-in-law Jesse Lasky, a vaudeville producer, and the aspiring director Cecil B DeMille. They started shooting the first full-length movie to be made in Hollywood, an obscure outlier district of Los Angeles.

Goldfish left in November 1916 and hooked up with Broadway producer brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn in another production venture, which they named Goldwyn Pictures by amalgamating their surnames. Sam was so taken with the company name that soon after he legally changed his own name to Goldwyn.

Howard Dietz, a successful librettist, became publicity director of the company and is credited with introducing the slogan Ars Gratia Artis (‘Art for Art’s Sake’) and choosing a lion as the company symbol for no better reason than that it was the mascot of his alma mater Columbia, and he liked it. The logo

graphics were designed by Lionel Samson Reiss, another Polish émigré, a commercial artist and art director at Paramount Studios.

Hollywood being a business where monumental egos constantly collided, in 1922 Goldwyn once again bailed out of his company, but the name and the lion logo stayed. By 1924, following further acquisitions and amalgamations, Goldwyn Pictures was merged with Metro and Meyer. Not only did Sam Goldwyn play no part in the new company but Louis B Meyer, whose name was also in the title, was merely an employee, albeit a very well-paid one. In fact, he became the first US executive to be on a million-dollar salary and, from 1937, was the highest-paid executive in the US for nine consecutive years.

Within a few years of the merger MGM had become the most successful and prestigious studio in Hollywood, and the lion ‘bumper’, as the titles are known, a much-loved indicator of quality and prelude to an eagerly anticipated hour or two of escapism.

Curiously, the first MGM lion, named ‘Slats’, was neither African nor American but Irish, born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. Slats was filmed before the advent of the talkies and lacked a roar; in fact he looked rather bored

Left Jackie, MGM’s second lion, in the studio in 1928 – the start of a career that ran until 1975, despite Jackie dying in 1935.

with the whole thing, wondering why he was reclining inside an elaborate lifebelt.

Sound arrived in 1928, as did a new ‘Leo’ called Jackie. In keeping with the smoke-andmirrors illusions of Hollywood movies, Jackie was filmed silent and his roar dubbed on later – at least four different times and with some roars provided by a stand-in lion. Jackie was a star in his own right, appearing in over 100 movies and touring the country in a giant motorised red-and-gold cage on wheels, in which he was put through his paces by trainer Mel Kootz. During his touring days Jackie survived two train wrecks and a ship sinking. Perhaps uniquely for a lion, he also survived a plane crash, when his bulk brought down an overloaded light aircraft in the Arizona mountains. Jackie came to a somewhat ignominious end: retired to the Philadelphia Zoo, he died of natural causes in 1935 and a taxidermist turned his skin into a rug.

The MGM logo has became such a familiar part of popular culture that it has been parodied dozens of times. Perhaps the earliest pastiche and certainly one of the most amusing was created for the 1935 Marx Brothers comedy A Night at the Opera, in which Leo dissolves into Groucho and then Chico, who mime to the roar, and finally Harpo, who, famously mute, instead of roaring squeezes his trademark bulb horn. Other notable parodies included MGM’s Tom & Jerry cartoons, which started with the lion morphing into a miaowing Tom, and 1963’s The Pink Panther, in which the panther pops up in the cartouche after the lion’s roar.

One parody that MGM certainly would not have approved was that for the 1979 adult movie Candy Goes to Hollywood, when Leo was replaced by ‘actress’ Carol Conners, whose first boyfriend, incidentally, was Elvis Presley. More family-friendly and released in the same year was The Muppets Go to the Movies, in which Fozzie Bear occupies the cartouche, retitled ‘Metro Goldwyn Bear’.

Leo’s roar went stereophonic in 1982 and, in a further example of Hollywood’s lack of regard for verity, the roar is that of a tiger, considered to be more ferocious. Leo was given a new hairdo in 2008 courtesy of CGI, when his mane was treated to hair extensions to give him the full Farrah Fawcett. In 2021 Leo became immortal, replaced by a CGI version in a redrawn golden cartouche.

Students of film trivia can indulge in a 1hr 22min 33sec compilation of the evolution of the lion logo on YouTube – rather longer than the bumper itself, originally 14sec and shortened to 10sec in the late 1950s.

1987 BMW E30 M3 – WTCC Brancatelli/Cecotto POA

Grp A ex Johnny Cecotto, Gianfranco Brancatelli car, chassis number 1 Raced by myself in Historic NZ Events and other drivers like Denny Hulme, Brett Riley, Paul Radish and a winner in this part of the world of Bathurst 1000km.

1971 McLaren M8E POA

McLaren M8E with F body as raced by many famous drivers in the USA and campaigned by me in NZ Historic Sports Car events.

WE HAVE HISTORY FOR EACH OF THE CARS WE ARE OFFERING

1969 Surtees Formula 5000 TS5 chassis 02 POA Surtees Formula TS5 chassis 02.F5000 ex James Garner USA, Jackie Pretorius S.A and myself NZ, Australia, UK. We would trade a supercar late model road car on this model.

1984 Mazda 84g-07

Mazda WEC POA

Mazda 84G Rotary 13B we ran this at Goodwood in 2019 the only one in the world Chassis number 7 signed by the March constructors at Goodwood while we ran the car in UK.

by Mark McArthur-Christie

Motor mania

The manual-winding Unitas 6497 is an engine for the wrist that robustly transcends snobbery

THERE’S A POWERFUL symmetry between car engines and watch movements. Zenith’s El Primero with its 36,000 vibrations per hour (5Hz) beat rate is the Watchworld equivalent of the Type 26 Elan’s 1558cc twin-cam inline four. Tourbillons mirror the fragility and temperamentality of some of the more exotic Italians. In turn, the Unitas 6497 is a brick-solid Volvo four-cylinder B18.

Because watches were just watches before the internet’s obsession with dates and serial numbers, very few firms kept detailed records. You’d need a time machine and a tour of the Vallée de Joux’s postquartz crisis factory skips to know exactly when the first 6497 came off the bench, but it’s likely to have been around 1950. Since then, watchmaker Unitas, then Ebauches SA and finally their successor ETA must have produced tens of thousands of ’em.

You’ll find the cal. 6497 – functional and undecorated in finest B18 tradition – in base-model Glycines. You’ll see it tuned and tweaked à la Ruddspeed as Panerai’s OP I, II, X and XI in everything from the PAM111 to the PAM292. And you’ll spot it in lightweight, B20E form as the skeletonised and decorated wonders Michal Molnar and Igor Fabry turn out from their Slovakian atelier.

There’s proper heritage here, too. If you’ve ever looked at a 6497-powered Panerai and wondered why its subsidiary seconds dial is at 9 o’clock, it’s because the 6497 derivative powering it was intended for pocket watches. Turn your 6497-powered wristwatch so that the crown is at 12 and you’ll see the sub seconds is exactly where you’d expect a pocket watch’s to be.

The almost identical cal. 6498 was built for pocket watch use, too, but in this case in a hunter case. Because a hunter’s protective case is usually sprung-pivoted at 6 o’clock, to open it you hold it with the crown (which you push to open the case) opposite at 3. Transpose a 6498 into a wristwatch and you’ll see the sub-seconds at the more conventional 6 o’clock.

Given its history, it’s not surprising that the 6497 is not a wear-andforget auto: you have to wind it yourself. There’s something involving and satisfying about taking time to wind your watch each morning, a sort of meditative few moments before you launch into the day. And the winding mechanism on these is so well-engineered and smooth

ONE TO WATCH

that getting them going is a pleasure for anyone who takes enjoyment out of mechanical things and their operation.

This lack of a winding weight and all the gubbins that goes with it makes the 6497 a Volvo-like paragon of reliability and fuss-free to get serviced or fixed – all the more so as most watchmakers cut their teeth on them in training.

Practically, it’s an eminently regulatable movement. It can be a little hard to set accurately (it’s non-hacking), but once you do you can often see remarkable performance. There are plenty of reports of chronometer performance from a standard 6497. Not shabby for a movement that costs less than a service on some modern cars. Those large bridges and baseplate make for a stable platform indeed.

Like the B18, the 6497 is a beefy old thing; it’s 16.5 lignes (36.6mm) across and 4.5mm deep. That means watchies sometimes tend to be a bit sniffy about it, regarding it as a bit of a cheap, unremarkable old tractor. That’s very unfair. The fact that it has both survived near-asdammit unchanged from the 1950s and been the base for so many variations is a testament to how well-designed it was from the start. You can pick one up for just over £400, yet it’ll give movements costing ten times that a run for their money.

Kemmner Mechanik

An excellent and cheap way to wear a Unitas 6497 on your wrist

ONE OF THE more interesting ways to snag a 6497 is in one of Roland Kemmner’s excellent-value Mechanik watches. Kemmner was Fricker’s chief production engineer – the firm that supplies cases to firms such as Mühle, Stowa and IWC – before he left to set up his own watchmaking workshop near Pforzheim. He always seemed to have a remarkable supply of new/old-stock movements, particularly 6497s, and put them into high-quality cases at frankly daftly cheap prices. Sadly, he seems to have shut down his workshop so now it’s secondhand only. Prices are all over the place, but seem to start around £250.

Book of the month

Ferrari 275 P 0816: The Only Ferrari To Have Won Le Mans Twice

KEITH

BLUEMEL, Porter Press International, £125, ISBN 978 1 913089 67 2

Producing a large-format and premium-priced book about a single car is never an easy task, however meritorious the subject. Porter Press has plenty of experience with this genre, however, and the team of author Keith Bluemel, editor Lianna Bruhlman – who between them sourced all the images – plus, of course, designer Martin Port are to be congratulated on creating something that doesn’t feel the slightest bit stretched to ll its generously sized pages.

It does help that Ferrari 275P, chassis 0816, has a unique claim to fame as being the only Ferrari to have won Le Mans twice, and in successive years. In fact, in its three outings as a works entry during 1963-64, it won all three races – the third event was the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours – in the hands of three di erent driver pairings. Clearly it was exceptionally reliable.

Chassis 0816 was originally built as a 250P sports racer and the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1963 was the only event in which it competed in that con guration, driven to victory by Lorenzo

Bandini and Ludovico Scar o i. Upgraded from 3.0-litre 250P spec to become a 3.3-litre 275P for the 1964 season, it came home rst at Sebring in March, in the hands of Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli, before taking victory again at Le Mans with Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella. From 1965, retired from front-line service (and brie y repainted gold to run as a privateer entry at the Sebring 12hr in 1965), it had a less-successful second career in the US before becoming part of Pierre Bardinon’s museum collection at Mas du Clos, near Aubusson in central France, for almost ve decades. Since 2018 it’s been owned by the notable Ferrari collector, Brandon Wang. While the majority of the images focus on chassis 0816, of course – and they are truly stunning shots used large for maximum e ect, whether from back in the day or specially taken more recently – its sister cars are also welldocumented here, along with all the events that the 250/275/330P series took part in during 1963-64. So this is actually a comprehensive overview of this type of Ferrari, the chapters helpfully divided into the events in which 0816 competed and those in which it didn’t. In lesser hands, such a solution might have looked like ller, but the clear presentation and outstanding design actually make it satisfying rather than disappointing – there’s much more here than the history of a single car. Variety is further added by driver pro les, descriptions of relevant venues, a compete set of race results for the 250/275/330P models and more. It all adds up to an exceptionally well thought-out and easy-to-navigate book that is likely to surpass any preconceptions – a very pleasant surprise.

Driving the Dragon

Thanks to its investment in EV technology, China has had a massive impact on the global car market recently, which makes this in-depth study of how its car industry has developed supremely relevant. The author moved to China in 2004 and, three years later, after blagging a drive for Auto Express in a Chinese-made Rover 75, started writing about the native car industry full-time. This well-illustrated softback describes all the myriad marques – and concludes that all is not as rosy for China as it may appear…

MARK ANDREWS, Veloce, £19.99, ISBN 978 1 8364 4033 8

The Citroën DS Machine – Goddess – Myth

A very personal take on the Citroën DS, this Australian-published 70-page softback is neither a regular history nor an autobiographical work but something inbetween. So, you get the basic facts about the car interlaced with long digressions down cultural rabbitholes, including the experiences of the author who has been a serial DS owner since the late 1970s. At around £17 Sterling, it’s one for Citroën completists or fans of the quirky.

JAMES NICHOLLS, Vivid Publishing, $35 AUD, ISBN 978 1 923078 91 8

Dear Family… A True Motor Racing Romance

This collection of handwritten letters from American actress Louise Collins-King to her family begins on 1 April 1957, not long after she had met and married British racing driver Peter Collins. Exactly 18 months to the day after their first date, he died during the German Grand Prix at the Nurbürgring, on 3 August 1958.

We know from the start, therefore, exactly how this tragedy is going to unfold, which makes Louise’s chatty, happy notes to home incredibly poignant. The tone of her subsequent letters is obviously much more subdued but includes revealing glimpses of how others reacted, not least Enzo Ferrari: ‘I have never seen him as upset as he is now over Peter’s death. He said that since his own son died, he regarded Peter as his son and wanted to give us the villa and to give Peter part of the Ferrari factory.’ Not everyone is remembered so fondly.

Each letter is reproduced full-page, with family snapshots and period images facing them, but leaving aside the emotional drama it’s the insight they give into the mundanities of day-to-day life on the international racing scene – holidays, cars, parties with friends – that makes this such a fascinating book. On 28 July 1958, Louise writes how she and Peter witnessed team-mate Luigi Musso’s fatal crash at Rheims, before excitedly moving on to describe the house they’ve just bought and all their plans for it. Six days later, Peter himself was killed.

GUY LOVERIDGE, Douglas Loveridge Publications, £40, ISBN 978 1 9001 1323 6

Wayne Carini Steering Through Life

Now looking like a favourite uncle straight out of Central Casting, Wayne Carini was running a successful prestige car sales and repair shop when TV came calling – and his show Chasing Classic Cars became a huge global hit. This entertaining, profusely illustrated hardback tells how he got to his present superstar status and doesn’t skate over the challenges, such as caring for his beloved autistic daughter Kimberly and her sister Lindsay. Upbeat and rewarding.

WAYNE CARINI, Dalton Watson, £51.33 inc p&p, 978 1 956309 04 1

Formula One: The Circuits Then and Now

The concept here is simple: potted histories of 34 race circuits from around the world, extensively illustrated with images that show how they have evolved – and, in some cases, disappeared completely.

Many of the ‘now’ images date from some time ago, in fact, and (quite understandably) they rarely match the historic views exactly – one exception being side-by-side shots of the harbour at Monaco, showing how much the land has been extended since 1959.

In compensation, the author has included lesser-known circuits such as the Norisring at Nuremberg, once a Nazi parade ground, where today’s spectators watch DTM races (it’s never actually hosted F1) from a huge monolithic Fascist stone tribune. In this case, the ‘then’ shot shows a burnt-out Sherman tank in 1945 on what’s now the start/finish straight.

Nicely produced, well-written and clearly laid out, this hardback is excellent value.

FRANK HOPKINSON, Ivy Press, £30, ISBN 978 0 7112 9848 4

by Chris Bietzk and Sophie Kochan

1945 Coupe de Paris poster

A fabulous find, this: an original and extremely rare poster promoting the first major race meeting of the post-war period. The event, held in Paris on 9 September 1945, was organised to raise money for returning French PoWs and was thus headlined by the ‘Coupe des Prisonniers’, open to cars of 3.0 litres and up. An estimated 100,000 spectators lined a 1.75-mile course in the Bois de Boulogne park to see drivers including Raymond Sommer, Maurice Trintignant and Jean-Pierre Wimille do ba le, with Wimille coming out on top in his unblown Buga i Type 59/50B – to the delight of E ore Buga i, who had pulled up to watch in his enormous 12.8-litre Royale. The poster has survived in very fine condition, and is accompanied by an even-be er-preserved race programme. $8785. vintageautoposters.com

Laco Frieda

Laco, famous for its pilot watches, is celebrating its centenary by giving away 100 examples of this neat 42mm Flieger, named a er Laco co-founder Frieda Lacher and featuring a textured, brick-red dial. The brand is not making the watch available to buy, so if you’d like one hurry over to Laco’s website to find out how to enter the prize draw. Available as a prize only. laco.de

Randolph DriveWorks

Aviator sunglasses

Designed specifically for drivers, these glasses from Massachuse sbased brand Randolph feature semipolarised Zeiss lenses that reduce glare without making screens and digital dash displays unreadable. £310. randolphusa.com

Compiled

Cambridge Audio P100 SE wireless headphones

Outwardly there’s li le to di erentiate these from the already excellent P100 headphones, but here you get a more comfortable headband plus ‘DynamEQ’. This adjusts base and treble levels to give a sense of fullness at all volumes, but it can be turned o if you prefer a more neutral sound and no party tricks. £249. cambridgeaudio.com

1:18-scale resincast Broadspeed GT by Cult Scale Models

Writing in Motor Sport in 1966, Gerry Phillips described the Broadspeed GT as looking ‘incongruously pseudo-AngloItalian’ before admi ing that it ‘rather grows on one’. Indeed, show us a person who is not charmed by the Mini Cooperbased oddity and we’ll show you a liar… We suspect, then, that this new o ering from Cult will be a popular one. £198.95. grandprixmodels.com

964 Gut Check

canvas print by

Stephen Selzler

Though it respected the shape and design philosophy of its forebears, the 964-generation 911 represented a real leap forward. Everything from the suspension to the cabin heater was newly engineered or refined, and this colourful, X-ray-like artwork by Porsche enthusiast Stephen Selzler reveals some of the car’s architecture. From $465 (18x24in, unframed) stephenselzler.com

Lego Shelby 427 S/C Cobra

A new, 1241-piece model of the icon created almost by mistake. It was 60 years ago this year that Caroll Shelby ran into a spot of bother, failing to get enough examples of his competition-spec 427 Cobra built in time to homologate the model for that year’s racing season. Ever the entrepreneur, Shelby eventually stuck windscreens on 29 of the completed cars and flogged them as street-legal ‘Semi-Competition’ Cobras, giving a small group of buyers the chance to scare themselves silly. £139.99. lego.com

Seiko Speedtimer 6R Compact Countdown

A curious addition to the Speedtimer family in that it is not a chronograph, but we’re not complaining; this 39.5mm watch, with a rotating inner countdown bezel, is a cracking design. White and black dials are available, and there’s also a Datsun-branded edition inspired by the Seiko-sponsored 240Z that won the East African Safari Rally back in 1971. £850. seikoboutique.co.uk

1950s French fighter jet wind tunnel model

Antiques dealer King and Country, now installed at the St James’s location that was for many years home to Pullman Gallery, has turned up an extraordinary and mysterious wind tunnel model of an experimental fighter jet. Made from walnut in France in around 1950, it is vast – 2.1m from nose to tail, with a wingspan of 1.75m – so be sure to measure up at home first if you’re interested in acquiring it! £39,500 kingandcountry.co

‘Framebuilding 101’ course

If you’ve ever fancied building a bicycle from scratch, the East London workshop of bike manufacturer Stayer is the place to start. The company o ers a week-long introduction to framebuilding, at the end of which you’ll walk away with a rideable steel frame of your own design. £1500 per person, plus materials (‘around £450 as a guide’). stayercycles.com

Land Cruiser x Howler Brothers snap-button shirt

The founders of Howler Brothers have previously spent time exploring the jungles of Costa Rica in an old Land Cruiser, and they have now teamed up with Toyota to pay tribute to that indomitable 4x4. The pick of the resulting collection is this classic snap-bu on shirt, with stripes that on closer examination resemble o -road-tyre tracks. $95. howlerbros.com

US Rubber Co public information poster

Featuring jollier artwork than many public information posters made during World War Two, this interesting survivor of the 1940s was printed at a time when spare car parts and especially tyres were desperately scarce in the USA. Most of the country’s rubber supply had been cut o by Japan and the remainder was hoovered up by the war e ort. Drivers were urged to stick to ‘Victory Speed’ – 35mph –in an a empt to double the average lifespan of a set of tyres. £150. stephanieconnell.com

About Time by Rebecca Struthers & Alom Shaha

Watchmaker Struthers and her co-author, teacher Shaha, a empt to ‘infect the next generation with a passion for mechanics’ in this new kids’ book about the science of telling the time. We bet the vast majority of grown-ups will find it educational, too! £14.99. dk.com

Edited by Matthew Hayward

The Market

BUYING + SELLING + ANALYSIS

Ford Escort and Bugatti Veyron smash UK records

Interesting month for UK sales, with some exciting Bonhams and Historics results

IT’S FAIR TO say that we’ve all become a little desensitised to extraordinary auction results, but sometimes they still catch us off-guard. A weekend message from James Elliott, showing a picture of a relatively normal-looking Mk2 Ford Escort along with the caption ‘just sold for £242,000 on the hammer, £276,848 with fees’, did just that. After a quick double-take, and a grumble about ‘crazy Ford prices’, I tried to figure out what was going on. The Escort – sold by Historics Auctioneers during its £3.6million Summer Serenade auction – is a particularly rare RS1800 road car, with 25,000 miles and press fleet provenance. A very special car for the right buyer, clearly, but the final price was still over £100k more than top estimate – setting a new benchmark. With a few other stand-out results, the 70% sale rate felt strong in the current market. Rarer, more modern classics performed well, such as a 1992 Venturi MVS 260 Coupé at £30,888 and a 1994 Lamborghini Diablo VT at a healthy £265,408. The picture for 1950s and ’60s British cars was less rosy.

There were invigorating results for Bonhams at its Goodwood Festival of Speed sale, too, adding up to one of the auction house’s best returns at the venue in recent years. With total sales of £10.2million, the top-seller was the headliner, a delivery-mileage 2023 Mercedes-AMG One at £2,456,600. More of a surprise was the world-record price of £1,527,000 achieved for a 2007 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Coupé. Estimated at £500,000-800,000, this 770km Swiss-market car was hotly contested.

The big surprise of the sale, however, had to be the Mazda RX-7 FD from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It’s difficult to argue against the appeal of a genuine movie car, but it’s also fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised when it sold for £911,000! See John Mayhead’s take opposite.

The first of the Monterey auctions is just kicking off as we go to press. It’s an interesting situation this year, with fewer cars offered overall than in 2024, plus a continued shift to more modern vehicles. You can keep up to date with the results online, and we’ll take a deep dive next month. Matthew Hayward

£2,456,600

2023 Mercedes-AMG One Bonhams, Chichester, UK, 11 July

£1,527,000

2007 Bugatti Veyron Bonhams, Chichester, UK, 11 July

£1,330,955 ($1,757,500)

1955 Mercedes-Benz

300SL Gullwing

Bring a Trailer, New York, USA, 30 July

£941,313 ($1,270,500)

2021 Lamborghini Aventador

LP770-4 SVJ Roadster

Bring a Trailer, Houston, Texas, USA, 11 July

£939,091 ($1,267,500)

2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 PCARMARKET, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 11 July

£911,000

1992 Mazda RX-7 FD Veilside Fortune ‘Tokyo Drift’ Bonhams, Chichester, UK, 11 July

£908,577 (€1,050,500)

2024 Aston Martin Valour Collecting Cars, Memmingen, Germany, 29 July

£866,200

1957 Mercedes-Benz

300SL Roadster Bonhams, Chichester, UK, 11 July

£722,676 ($983,500)

2019 Ford GT

Bring a Trailer, Largo, Florida, USA, 7 July

£717,200

2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta Collecting Cars, Newbury, Berkshire, UK, 20 July

e power of the silver screen

Starring in a fi lm can push a car’s value through the roof – but the eras are shifting forwards

IN EARLY JULY, I watched as an orange and black 1992 Mazda RX-7 crossed the block at the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed sale. It sold for a total price of £911,000, over 2000% more than Hagerty would usually value this model in top condition. What made this car special wasn’t the bodykit by famed Japanese customiser Vailside, nor engine work by the Tomisato-based motorsport tuner RE Amemiya. No, it’s because it starred in the 2006 movie e Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Dri Hagerty’s Power List tracks such celebrity cars, and, although the RX-7 smashed its pre-sale top estimate of £350,000, it isn’t a record: the Bulli Mustang still holds that title with a $3.74m price, nearly 16,000% more than a ‘standard’ 1968 Highland Green Mustang in (optimistically) ‘fair’ condition. Neither do the 12 Fast and Furious car sales that Hagerty has tracked place the franchise at the top of the list: barring a few one-o s, Smokey and the Bandit, Bond and Batman (excuse my alliteration) all tend to return a bigger upli in values.

But the Mazda had something else going for it: the car ticked nearly every collectable box going at the moment. Last month in this column, I talked about the current demand for modi ed cars: tick. Modern performance classics are still gaining value as Gen X spends on its childhood automotive heroes: tick. It’s road-registered, and therefore usable and eligible for events everywhere: tick. Plus, it’s a JDM car, with all that means for a US market seemingly desperate to spend money on the stars of that genre.

In the same week that the RX-7 sold, RM Sotheby’s announced the upcoming sale of a 1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R NISMO 400R at Monterey in August (est: $900,000-1.1m). OK, it’s probably the most collectable Skyline out there, but that’s huge money and would put the RX-7 in context.

e Nissan Skyline GT-R model also has a strong Fast and Furious pedigree: the record sale for any car

from the franchise was set in May 2023 when Bonhams sold a Bayside Blue R34 GT-R driven by Paul Walker in the 2009 movie Fast & Furious 4 for $1.37m (US). People love cars with stories, and what be er story than a blockbuster movie they can watch on the big screen, especially one with a hero driver they can emulate.

But the power of the movie may be reducing. Of the top ten prices paid publicly for lm or TV star cars, just one has been within the last two years: the $1.655m paid in August 2023 for the 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary that starred in e Wolf of Wall Street. is was the car that wasn’t crashed and so was then worth nearly $500,000 without its star billing. As the money shi s from Baby Boomers who remember the rst James Bond DB5s and Gen X with their poster cars, we’re moving into Millennial territory. e Nissan Skyline GT-R NISMO has its own cultural reference for a more recent audience, having starred in the original Gran Turismo video game. It will be interesting to see where the money goes from here.

Le : most influential movie franchises on automotive values. ‘Delta’ is the increase in comparison to a standard Hagerty value of the same model at the time of sale. Only sales of three or more cars from a franchise included.

Below: top ten public sales of cars used in or associated with movies or TV shows, with the prices in US dollars or Sterling according to sale venue.

John Mayhead Hagerty Price Guide editor, market commentator and concours judge

Cars Batman Bulli Bond Risky Business Wolf of Wall Street

CARS

MOVIE POWER

White wonder

Mecum, Monterey, USA

6-18 January 2026

IN THE WORLD of regular Ferraris, there was a time that any classic model painted in Rosso Corsa was worth a marked premium over a similar model painted in any other shade. In recent years, the market has shifted to favour cars in ‘unusual’ factory colour schemes – which is why a ’70s model in Viola or Verde Germoglio will now cost you more than a red one. With only 36 factory GTOs, those in the market probably aren’t too fussy about colour – yet this car’s unique factory Bianco paint is an important part of its story.

Mecum will be offering chassis 3729GT –the only 250 GTO painted white at the factory – at its Kissimmee sale next year. Delivered new in May 1962, it was ordered by British

racer John Coombs as part of a calculated effort to provoke Jaguar into developing a more competitive E-type racer.

The GTO made its debut at Brands Hatch driven by Roy Salvadori, and came second to Mike Parkes’ GTO. It was then campaigned by Graham Hill in the RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, again placing second. Jack Sears then took the wheel, and ended up owning 3729GT for more than 30 years.

Mecum has opted not to give an estimate, but the last time a GTO was sold at auction (a later-bodied car, by RM in 2018) it made $48million. More recent private sale figures are rumoured to be in excess of $70million, so this will be a very interesting sale. mecum.com

A living AngloAmerican legend

Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 13 Sep

IF YOU’RE A regular at the major historic events, then you have likely seen ‘13 COB’ being driven in anger. A legend in the world of competition Cobras, it really made its mark during the 1970s and ’80s, when it was campaigned by Martin Colvill of sports car dealer Bell & Colvill. Competing in over 100 races, ‘13 COB’ took 12 outright wins and 44 class victories. Perhaps even more significant is the fact that the chassis that underpins this ’66 car – CS 2131 – was originally the one found under AC’s 1963 works Le Mans entry. It’s expected to fetch £1.5-2million at the Bonhams Revival sale. cars.bonhams.com

1971 Austin Kimberley X6 Manor Park Classics, Runcorn, UK 6 Sep, manorparkclassics.com

An interesting footnote in the story of BLMC’s a empt to compete in the Australian market, the Austin Kimberly was a rebodied version of the ADO16 ‘Landcrab’, running on a longer wheelbase. It was also the first car to be fi ed with a transverse inline six-cylinder engine. It’s being o ered in ‘very original condition’, with no reserve.

1930 Bentley Speed Six Gooding Christie’s, California, USA 20 September, goodingco.com

This is just one of the many highlights from Gooding’s sale of the late Stan Lucas collection, which is a real pre-war treasure trove. Owned by Lucas since 1980, the Bentley retains its matchingnumbers engine and original fabric-covered Vanden Plas coachwork. This one is estimated at $1.75-2.25million, and all are o ered with no reserve.

Also Look Out For…

A er being included as a discretionary sport at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, skateboarding will formally become part of the Olympic programme at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Quite something, given that it has more than once disappeared from popular culture entirely and was for years a pariah sport, considered antisocial and intolerably dangerous. Apart from at a single park in Oslo, skateboarding was actually illegal in Norway between 1978 and 1989! e moment that set the sport on course for Olympic recognition came on 27 June 1999, at that year’s X Games event, when vert-ramp god Tony Hawk – the acceptable face of skateboarding – became the rst person to land a 900, an airborne spin of 2½ revolutions. e footage was shown

1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 RM Sotheby’s, Munich, Germany 18 October, rmsothebys.com

Bought by Racing Team Holland in 1966, this was one of only 52 customer 2.0-litre 906 models built by the factory. It raced extensively throughout Europe until 1971, with class and overall wins at Zandvoort, Zolder, Aspern, Welschap and Sne erton. Restored in 2013, it now uses a race-tuned 911 engine, but also comes with a correct 901/20-type Carrera 6 flat-six. Est: €1.8-2.2m.

1990 TVR 400SE WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK 13 September, wbandsons.com

This is one of only 242 400SE wedge models built, featuring a 275bhp 4.0-litre version of the versatile Rover V8. Showing 79,000 miles, this Monza Red car has been with the current owner for seven years, and has benefited from a top-end engine rebuild, wheel refurbishment and paint correction, among other recent bills. Guided at £8000-12,000.

by mainstream sports-news outlets, bringing skateboarding to a wide audience just weeks before the release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, a video game that would inspire many youngsters to try the sport for real.

Hilariously, the 900 that took Hawk a decade to nail has since been done by kids as young as seven (li le ’uns have certain advantages when it comes to executing aerial spins), but Hawk remains the most important gure in skateboarding, which is why Julien’s Auctions expects his 1999 X Games board to fetch $500,000-700,000 when it is o ered in LA on 23 September.

Thought you’d like to know: Piprahwa Gems (see Octane 264) returned to India via private sale, to be placed on permanent public display; Citizen Kane Rosebud sled (see Octane 266) sold for $14.75m; Star Wars Death Star fragment (see Octane 267) sold for $5120.

28-30 August

Worldwide Auctioneers, Auburn, USA

30-31 August

ACA, King’s Lynn, UK

Lucky Collector Car Auctions, Tacoma, USA 3-5 September

Mathewsons, online 5-6 September

Bonhams, Beaulieu, UK

Manor Park Classics, Runcorn, UK

6 September

Classicbid, Schwetzingen, Germany

10 September

Charterhouse, Sherbourne, UK

H&H Classics, Newark, UK

Osenat, Lyon, France

13 September

Barons Manor Park Classics, Southampton, UK

Bonhams, Goodwood, UK

WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK 17 September

Brightwells, online 19-21 September

Mecum, Chicago, USA

20 September

Dore & Rees, Chippenham, UK

Gooding Christie’s, Long Beach, USA

Historics, Ascot, UK

Morris Leslie, Errol, UK 20-21 September

Bonhams, Los Angeles, USA

28 September

Artcurial, Vernon, France Hampson, Ta enhall, UK 2-4 October

Mecum, Indianapolis, USA 3 October

Bonhams, Newport, USA

Ewbank’s, Send, UK 8-9 October

RM Sotheby’s, Hershey, USA 8-10 October

Mathewsons, online 9 October

Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK (motorcycles) 9-11 October

Vicari, Biloxi, USA 10 October

Broad Arrow Auctions, Knokke-Heist, Belgium 11 October

Agu es, Brussels, Belgium

Barons Manor Park Classics, Southampton, UK 11-12 October

Bonhams, Sta ord, UK (motorcycles)

AUCTION DIARY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Ferrari Testarossa

There’s a special place in every Gen X heart for the Miami Vice legend

IN THE AUTUMN of 1986, two years a er its unveiling at Paris’s Le Lido nightclub on the eve of the Paris motor show, things got noisy for the Ferrari Testarossa.

First Sega released its new arcade game Outrun, complete with state-of-the-art graphics and Ferrari’s agship V12 in Spider form. No ma er that just one Spider had been made, for Gianni Agnelli: the digital red Testarossa Spider was an instant hit.

A month later American TV cemented the legend. To prise Sonny Crocke and Ricardo Tubbs out of the C3 Corve ebased Daytona Spider replica used in the rst two seasons of Miami Vice, Ferrari o ered a new Testarossa for lming. A er a repaint in white to make the most

HAGI Value Tracker

BMW 507

As with the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster, the driving force behind the BMW 507 was New York importer Max Ho man, who persuaded BMW there was a market among America’s high-rollers for a high-priced, exotic European open sports car. en-and-now comparisons are unavoidable. When deliveries started in June 1956, the 124mph 507, powered by a3168cc V8, was priced at $8988 – Ho man’s target was $5000, for forecast annual sales in the thousands. It was also considerably more than the then-current 300SL Gullwing, priced at $7295. By 1959, its nal year of production, the price for a 507 had risen to $10,500, just $428 less than a counterpart 300SL Roadster. e higher-than-expected price pushed Ho man’s sales targets beyond reach, and BMW

of night-time shots, the car was introduced to ’Vice viewers in an episode titled Stone’s War is had a huge impact on me. I was a sno y teen living near Staines, where espadrilles, linen suits and pink sunsets were rare. Ferraris less so, due to Maranello in Egham, to which I’d persuade my dad to drive me to see what was on the forecourt. Years later I drove a Testarossa for the rst time on a perfect day on winding Cotswold roads following a friend in a 250 Pininfarina. e car was everything I’d wanted it to be and, when I stopped at a garage, a kid came over. ‘Cool car,’ he said. It really is, and I’m not alone in thinking that. Gen Xers like me account for 38% of Hagerty owners of the Testarossa, seven

points above the average. As we reached our 40s, demand soared: in early 2015, the top ‘concours’ Hagerty Price Guide value was £90,000; today, it’s £207,000. Prices have uctuated, but early models like the Miami Vice car, with knock-ons, high single mirror and excellent history, have remained popular. e outlook is fair: the number of younger owners is lower than average, although the cost of the car (and insurance) is likely to be a factor in keeping numbers down. Yet, for a model that was not a factory racing car, is not that rare and doesn’t have a huge number of options, its prices have been remarkably resilient and are likely to remain so.

John Mayhead

7177 180mph 4943cc

5.2sec $645,000

to the brink of bankruptcy, with sales of just 252, against 1858 for the 300SL Roadster. Despite that, BMW developed the model, with improvements such as front disc brakes thanks to input from John Surtees, whose BMW 507 set an auction record for the type of £3,809,000 in 2018.

at is an aside, but perhaps some vindication of Ho man’s vision, for today the BMW 507 is still broadly pitched in the same ballpark as the 300SL Gullwing and Roadster, and in fact a tick up. Growth, though, is not part of the recent story. Over the past ve years, the 507 has returned negative compound average annual growth of 0.16%, with prices oscillating around the £1.5-2million mark. Meanwhile the Gullwing and Roadster, though generally selling at slightly lower price points, have posted gains over ve years, though not approaching the 4.10% ve-year compound annual growth of the HAGI Top 50 index, which includes all three models. In other words, none of these

cars is among the leading growth contributors and both MercedesBenz 300SL models and – even more so – the BMW 507 are be er value than ve years ago, in relation to the market and also in real-money terms, with in ation factored in.

ough the 507 sold at a loss new, it has paid dividends for BMW, with the Albrecht von Goertz shark-nose styling and gills eventually working their way into BMW’s modern design language as a signature motif for

models such as the Z8. Indeed, HAGI research reveals big social media engagement, with 507s earning far more clicks than 300SLs. If Ho man were still around he might say: ‘I told you so.’ at suggests that, if there were as many 507s around as there are 300SL Roadsters, it could be in the same ballpark. HistoricAutoGroup.com

Lamborghini

Aventador Roadster

23k Miles, Stunning In Launch Colours, With Full History & Carbon Pack

£169995.00

MG Roadster Fully Restored, Stunning £18995.00

Lamborghini Countach Anniversary 23k Miles, Stunning With Full History And Long Term Ownership

£499995.00

Ferrari 512TR

31K Miles, Stunning & Rare, £199995.00

Ferrari 328GTB Rare Rnd , 50k Miles, Stunning With Full History

£69995.00

Porsche 911 997 Manual Coupe, History And In Great Condition

£24995.00

TVR Chimera

33k Miles, Stunning In Fine Condition

£17995.00

Honda NSX Manual, low miles, stunning with full history

£99995.00

2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

POA from Girardo & Co, Oxfordshire, UK

YOU WOULD BE forgiven for thinking that this black and orange Veyron was one of the ve World Record Edition Super Sports (see feature, page 66).

At a glance that’s exactly what it looks like, but delve deeper and it stands apart. Buga i actually calls this a ‘one-of-one’ special commission, which was speci ed for a prominent Middle Eastern customer.

e most obvious di erence between this and the WRE cars is the ma carbon nish to the body, unlike the gloss carbon of the record cars. It’s ed with the correct optional WRE wheels, which along with the contrasting sections of the bodywork are nished in orange. It’s actually a unique shade, slightly lighter than the cars that inspired it.

e interior is a mix of black leather and Alcantara, with orange stitching. An embroidered panel on the transmission tunnel reads ‘1/1 in the world’.

Delivered to its rst and only private owner in 2011, the Super Sport lived in Switzerland and has covered a mere 1012km from new. Most recently serviced in February 2025, it comes with the remainder of the Buga i Passeport Tranquilité four-year service plan, a €60,000 package – the next three services are covered as part of the deal.

As you would expect, its condition is described as exceptional, making this a prime example of the fastest Veyron – nished in a livery that pays tribute to the actual record-breaker. Super-cool. girardo.com

How have you got to where you are today? Hard work! I was very lucky to have exceptional mentors in Robert Brooks, Malcolm Barber and Jamie Knight, then you have to live and breath the items you sell and always go the extra mile for clients. What cars are most in demand? Quality. Low mileage. Originality. It’s that simple. What’s the next big thing? Ferrari F355, they have just started to pick up in value and I can see these going sky-high. Not in red, for me, but the more elegant blue. What cars are shockingly good value at the moment? BMW M3 E46. Perfectly balanced and you can still pick up an absolute jewel for circa-£30k – no-brainer! What can’t you understand the hype for? Modern ba ery-assisted hypercars. What do you currently own? 1913 Vauxhall 30-98, 1924 Vauxhall 30-98, 1932 Austin 7 Special, 1960 Jaguar Mk2 3.4, 1990 BMW 320 Race car, 2003 BMW M3, 2006 Range Rover Supercharged; and, as for bikes, 1929 Douglas S5, 2003 Buell XB12R and 2003 Yamaha R1

What’s your dream car? e Ecurie Ecosse C-type Jaguar.

1929 Austin 7 Chummy Tourer

£13,000

Restored in the late 2000s, this Seven still looks fabulous and comes with a surprisingly complete history. A great way into the world of pre-war cars. classicmotorhub.com (UK)

1992 Mercedes-Benz 500E

€68,500

Still one of the coolest supersaloons ever made, the 500E was famously built at the Porsche factory. This blue-black metallic example has covered 90,804km. mo-vendi.de (DE)

1967 Citroën DS21 Safari

$38,000

This US-market DS is perhaps the perfect usable classic. Over $20k spent on mechanical work in 2021; the tidy original paint and interior trim remain. lbilimited.com (US)

2001 Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 VT $20 per share

An interesting example of the first Audi-era Lamborghini, this VT is fi ed with a factory GT bodykit and exhaust. One of three 6.0 VTs finished in Blue Ely, this one has just 9168 miles. mcqmarkets.com

Rob Hubbard MD and principal auctioneer at Iconic Auctioneers, having started with Bonhams Motor Cars in 2008.

Porsche 968

Porsche’s swansong front-engined sports car was also one of its best

THERE ARE FEW Porsches that go more unsung than the 968. As the final incarnation of the transaxle lineage, it’s an incredibly well-sorted drivers’ car that was known for out-handling the 911 when it was new. It didn’t sell in huge numbers, however, and although the lighter Club Sport made a fairly inexpensive track-day car for a while, nicer examples have now become seriously collectable.

Tracing its roots all the way back the 924 of 1976, the 968 was the third and final incarnation of the four-cylinder transaxle model line – consisting of a front-mounted, water-cooled engine and rear-mounted gearbox for almost 50:50 weight distribution. As the 924 evolved into the 944, and the car became more powerful and better developed, it soon gained a reputation as one of the besthandling cars money could buy. It was a huge success for Porsche, too, with 163,192 sold worldwide.

When it came to developing an S3 version of the 944, Porsche’s engineers in effect came up with an almost entirely new car – the company claimed that 83% of parts were updated – so the bosses decided to launch it as a new model.

While the 924 and 944 were built in Audi’s Neckarsulm factory, production of the 968 took place in Porsche’s own Zuffenhausen plant. The standard coupé and cabriolet models went on sale in August 1991, their all-alloy 3.0-litre 16-valve twin-cam four-cylinder engine similar to the 944 S2’s, though VarioCam variable valve timing and Motronic management took power from 208bhp to 237bhp. Outside was a more rounded look, with 928-esque headlamps and red-tinted tail-lights. October 1992 saw the introduction of the

lightweight Club Sport model. Power remained the same but, thanks to a serious diet – reduced sound insulation, wind-up windows, deleted rear seats and lightweight Recaro buckets up front – it weighed around 80kg less. A 20mm lower suspension set-up and larger 17-inch wheels, bigger brakes and wider tyres made it much more track-ready.

Today Porsche would surely charge extra for such a model but the CS, with its reduced equipment tally, cost less to buy than the standard car! Towards the end of production, the UK-exclusive Sport added electric windows, central locking, the rear bench and comfort seats. They remain a good-value buy.

Thanks to the standard car’s punchy naturally aspirated engine, there was no real need for a top-spec Turbo model. However, with plans to launch a racing 968 Turbo RS in 1993 and the need to homologate it, Porsche proposed 100 roadgoing Turbo S models. Considerably more hardcore than even the Club Sport, the Turbo S was lower, stiffer-sprung, equipped with a set of glorious Speedline split-rim wheels (like the 964 Turbo’s) and fitted with a more aggressive bodykit. Under its bonnet was an eight-valve, single-cam, turbocharged version of the 3.0-litre four-cylinder, producing 305bhp. After a year of production, however, only 14 cars had been built – as well as four racing RS versions – before Porsche pulled the plug.

In total, Porsche built 12,776 examples of the 968, making it comparatively rare after the 944 and far less numerous than its hugely successful Boxster successor. Finding a good example today isn’t difficult, but prices have really crept up. Still a bargain next to a 964, though… Matthew Hayward

THE LOWDOWN

WHAT TO PAY

The most accessible models – generally high-mileage cars with a Tiptronic gearbox –start from around £12,000, in either coupé or convertible form. Tidy cars start closer to £15,000; low-mileage cars command £25,000 and up.

The best Club Sports are now fetching upwards of £40,000, though usable and reasonably tidy examples can be found from the £15,000 mark. Good history is key. The UK-only Sport models are still a popular choice, and tend to command slightly less than the full CS.

If you want one of the 14 Turbo S models, then expect to pay upwards of £500,000…

LOOK OUT FOR

Although the engines are generally very reliable, this does rely somewhat on fastidious maintenance. Regular oil changes are a must. One of the biggest ongoing service costs will be the timing belt and water pump change, which needs to be done every four years.

Gearboxes are pretty strong, but listen for a noisy diff pinion bearing.

Galvanised from the factory, the 968’s bodywork is generally pretty rustresistant. A car that was used as a daily driver on salted roads might show signs of corrosion around the rear wheelarches and on the sills.

The suspension should feel taut, refined and well controlled. The CS (or any car running on the MO30 suspension package) will be considerably firmer. Any slop or crashiness most likely means that the original Koni dampers need a refresh.

Check that the pop-up headlights work correctly, as a sticking mechanism can be tricky to repair.

The dash and interior are much the same as a 944’s and generally wear well. Check for signs of damp – usually due to a leaky sunroof or tailgate.

PETER BRADFIELD LTD

PETER BRADFIELD LTD

PETER BRADFIELD LTD

BRADFIELD LTD

PETER BRADFIELD LTD

PETER BRADFIELD LTD

Bentley 4½ Litre Blower 1934

See Website for more details

Concours types and ‘try-hards’ need not apply but will suit any number of bounders, blaggards or cads

as badges of honour and has appeared with distinction on at least three Flying Scotsman Rallies and raced at the Good

y Racing has maintained it. However, a number of previous owners have taken a dogged delight in willfull

a Short Chassis Speed Model still fitted with its original Vanden Plas coachwork. It has been upra

1925 Bentley 3-4½ Litre

ork and it has accordingly developed a depth of patina you could drown in. Its bears its battle-scars and witness marks

ine giving it a good turn of speed and mechanically feels good on the road. The talented Mr. Getle

1934 Frazer Nash TT Replica Outstanding condition, unparalelled evocative history, matching numbers.

1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25 Roadster by Park Ward

Unique and gorgeous. In superb condition with documented history.

YK

One of only 77 built, highly

1925 Bentley 3-4½ Litre

YK 1360 is a Short Chassis Speed Model still fitted with its original Vanden Plas coachwork. It has been upra ine giving it a good turn of speed and

1954 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica Ulimate specification, period international comp history, eligible for everything.

However, a number of

and ‘try-hards’

YK 1360 is a Short Chassis Speed Model still fitted with its original Vanden Plas coachwork. It has been upra ine giving it a good turn of speed and mechanically feels good on the road. The talented Mr. Getle y Racing has maintained it. However, a number of previous owners have taken a dogged delight in willfull ork and it has accordingly developed a depth of patina you could drown in. Its bears its battle-scars and witness marks as badges of honour and has appeared with distinction on at least three Flying Scotsman Rallies and raced at the Good Concours types and ‘try-hards’ need not apply but will suit any number of bounders, blaggards or cads

need not apply but will suit any number of bounders, blaggards or cads.

The talented Mr. Getle y Racing has

bounders, blaggards or cads

badges of honour and has appeared with distinction on at least three Flying Scotsman Rallies and raced at the Good Concours

taken a dogged delight in willfull ork and it has accordingly developed a depth of patina you could drown in. Its bears its battle-scars and witness marks as badges of honour and has appeared with distinction on at least three Flying Scotsman Rallies and raced at the Good Concours types and ‘try-hards’

See Website for more details

and with an international history. Mechanically sorted with matching numbers. 1939 Frazer Nash BMW 328

3’ is fresh from a 400,000 Euro restoration and must be one of the best. In the right hands will

www.bradfieldcars.com

1954 Frazer Nash Le Mans Mk II

race

Invicta S Type by Carbodies

original

1954 Frazer Nash Le Mans Mk II

matching numbers, well

Nash Le Mans Mk II

2024 PORSCHE 911 (992) GT3 RS “VAT Q”

A one owner car with delivery mileage finished in black with black interior and special Sonderwunsch department Neodyme decorative film. Extensive options including the Weissach pack with a carbon fibre roll cage, 20”/21” inch forged magnesium GT3 RS lightweight alloys, Clubsport package, front axel lift system, Porsche ceramic composite brakes (PCCB) with black callipers, rear park assist with reversing camera plus much more | 27 miles

2024 PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4 RS

A one owner car finished in black with satin black wheels and black interior. Extensive options including the sought after Weissach pack, Clubsport package, Porsche ceramic composite brakes (PCCB), front axle lift, reversing camera, interior trim package with yellow decorative stitching. This car also has full PPF coverage including the windscreen | 2,006 miles

C HARLES P RINCE

1938 Alvis 4.3 Litre Short Chassis. Fabulous concealed hood coachwork by Whittingham & Mitchel. This unique motorcar retains its original high compression engine and high ratio back axle. It has a full history, and is restored to the highest standards. Fitted with overdrive.Original fitted stopwatch and radio.

1929 Bentley 4.5 Litre Tourer. A rare late pattern chassis car. Very reasonably priced.

1935 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model 2 seater by Gurney Nutting Full history. Excellent rebuild.

We are always eager to buy important collectors cars.

All cars can be seen tried and tested at Quin Hay Farm Petersfield Hampshire GU321BZ or in central London. Please see our website for full stock photos videos and details. Valuations always available.

Vincent Haydon Cars

LOTUS 7 SERIES 2 / LOTUS 37 1965

As featured on pages 80-88 of this magazine, this replica built by a well known coach builder and Lotus restorer, Miles Renton-Skinner. The chassis frame built up by Ken Nicholls and Miles Renton Skinner to exacting standards. Painted in the original Shelby Metallic Blue. Ideal as a collector’s piece or ready for some competition use.

The car has cost in excess of £60K and the advertised price makes it excellent value. The Lotus 37 has a current V5 Registration document and MOT which allows the car to be driven on the road.

Serious enquiries only. Price: £36,995.00.

Delivery can be arranged including export and shipping paperwork. Contact: Vincent Haydon 07860 391320 / 01590 682508 or Email haydon555@btinternet.com

All Lotus Elan/Europa/+2 and any model Lotus required with low mileage and full service history.  Also buying classic Lotus, everything from concourse/basket-case, unfinished projects or parts.

AS Motorsport ltd

Poplar Farm, Bressingham, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 2AP

Tel: 01379688356 Mob: 07909531816

Web: www.asmotorsport.co.uk

Email: info@asmotorsport.co.uk

ASM R1 Stirling Moss tribute car enjoying track time at Goodwood.

ASM hand build bespoke versions of the R1 roadster, inspired by the Aston Martin race cars that won Le Mans and the world Sportscar championship in 1959. Contact us for details of commission builds and stock.

Porsche 993 Cabriolet Manual

1996 Varioram, Sports seats, A/C, 17” wheels++ 83000mls with full history. All books, keys, etc. Beautiful example £59995

Ferrari 355 F1 Spider

1998 22900mls fsh

Will include service/ new cam belts (just due now). Sold with all books, keys, tools, etc. Really beautiful example

£79995

Ferrari 355 GTS Manual

1990originalUKsuppliedRHDcarinRossoCorsawithcreamleatherinterior, blackdashandredcarpets.34000mlswithafullydocumentedservicehistoryand justsubjecttoafullrecommissionincludingafullmajorcambeltservice,newtyres ++Absolutelybeautifulthroughoutandsoldcompletewithallbooks,tools,keysetc lkroundvideosareavailablebyrequest

1998 35000mls with fFsh, (just serviced with new cam belts). Sold with all books, tools, keys, etc. Really beautiful example £124995

MustangConvertible

E Type V12 Roadster Manual

Absolutelystunning1966modelwithitsoriginal289ci(upgradedtofastroad) engineand4speedmanual,grounduprestoredinitsoriginalspecificationand colourschemeonly8000mlsago.Featuresinclude:Powersteering,power brakes,powerhood,GTpack,Ponyinterior,Rostylewheels++allconfirmedinthe paperworkfile.Superrarewithitsoriginalmanualgearbox.Ajoytobeholdand

1973 with only 29000 mls Recent recommission and almost concours condition throughout. Complete with original keys, books, Heritage Certificate, jack kit, etc £99995

Mercedes320SLV6

AsimplystunningR129modelinAzuriteBluemetallicwithmushroomsoftnappa leatherinterior,withnavysofttopandpanoramicglasshardtop.Genuine10700mls fromnew!!Stillonitsoriginaltyres(spareunused),Iwillsupplyandfitanewset whensold.JustservicedbyMercedesBenz,youwillprobablyneverfindanother likethiscar.Soldwithallbooks,keys,toolsetc VideosavailableonWhatsAppby request

1980 Genuine22000mls, OriginalUKsuppliedcarwithonlythreeformerkeepers.wonderfulhistory confirmingthemileage.Recentfullmajorserviceincludingcambelts,newtyres, fullydetailed,andsoldwithallbooks,tools,keys,etc

Derby Plating Services Ltd Est. 1979

Derby Plating Services Ltd Est. 1979

Derby

Plating

Services

Ltd Est. 1979

Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.

Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.

Specialist electroplaters, polishers and metal finishers.

Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards

Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards

Re-chroming to the highest concours and show standards

148 Abbey Street, Derby DE22 3SS

148 Abbey Street, Derby DE22 3SS

Tel: +44(0) 1332 382408

Tel: +44(0) 1332 382408

148 Abbey Street, Derby DE22 3SS

Tel: +44(0) 1332 382408

Email: info@derbyplating.co.uk www.derbyplating.co.uk

Email: info@derbyplating.co.uk

Email: info@derbyplating.co.uk www.derbyplating.co.uk

www.derbyplating.co.uk

CFS ethanol-free fuels ensure premium performance whilst being storage stable for at least three years. Our unique blend won’t affect carburettors or injectors, fuel lines, pumps or tanks and ensures easy starting. CFS fuels don’t absorb moisture which can cause corrosion or rust in fuel systems during storage.

CFS storage fuels are excellent fuels to run on all the time – cleaner burning, easier starting, smoother running and better throttle response. For all types of vintage, classic and modern vehicles.

Available to order from 650+ garden machinery dealers in the UK.

THE ORIGINAL COVER COMPANY

Filter out all dissolved minerals for NO water

� 7 litre filter produces 400 litres, 14 litre filter produces 1100 litres of pure water

� 0ppm pure filtered water leaves no ugly watermarks even when your car is left to dry in bright sunlight

� Eliminate drying swirls, save time for driving

� Refillable & reusable filter saves money long term

Email:

1963 Aston Martin Project 214 (Perfect tool room copy)

Owned and raced by me for the past 20 years. 175 MPH on the Mulsanne. Accepted for numerous high-profile events. Race Ready £525,000

1952 Aston martin DB2 Le Mans lightweight

Beautifully prepared, acres of interesting detailed history, Perfect for Tour Auto and Mille Miglia eligible. Not expensive at £225,000

2007 Aston Martin DB9 Volante Finished in Derwent Green with Biscuit interior. Only 16,500 miles with a detailed service history, mainly with “Works”. Undoubtedly the best available, £45,000

Interview by Tamara Hinson

Mario Isola

Motorsport director at Pirelli and volunteer ambulance driver

I WAS 11 WHEN I got into motorsport. Nobody in my family was really into it, but I started watching F1. My hero was Gilles Villeneuve. At that time you couldn’t race karts until you were around 12 or 13 – now you can start much earlier. I was 12 when my father got me my first one, and a year later I started competing, nationally then internationally. I did that for ten years, but it’s expensive, and one day my father told me I needed either to find a sponsor or stop racing.

I didn’t find a sponsor but I still had this huge passion for motorsport, so I decided to study mechanical engineering. Before I finished my studies I went for an interview with Pirelli – they were looking for an expert on track tyre quality, but during the interview they asked me about my experience, and I mentioned my love of karting. A few weeks later they called me up and told me they had another possible opportunity for me, as a test driver – my dream job!

They invited me to Vizzola Ticino, which is a small track close to Milan, where we test tyres. They put me behind the steering wheel, told me to show them what I could do, and I did a few laps. Then we had lunch and I was expecting some feedback, but they didn’t say anything! I thought, OK, it’s been a fun day

but it’s over. Then a few weeks later they offered me the job as a test driver.

After a few months at Pirelli I realised I wanted a role that was slightly different – less samey. I spoke to my boss and he offered me a position in the design department, so I started designing tyres for road cars, then I focused on winter tyres. I found it really interesting, and was there for a couple of years.

At the time, Pirelli was in discussions with Superbike to be the official supplier, and I put my name in the hat for a design role on that side of things. My boss told me he didn’t know I was interested in motorsport. I said: ‘Of course, that’s my passion!’ He suggested I stick with four wheels but work on the rally side of things, instead, and I ended up designing tyres for GT racing.

I was in charge of the Maserati project, and in 2005 the Maserati MC12 won the FIA GT Championship. The project ended and I was asked to oversee Pirelli’s motorsport activities. In 2010 there were talks about Pirelli returning to F1, and if you’re passionate about motorsport, that’s obviously the dream!

What do I love about my job? I love speed, I love driving, I love competition and I love the technical stuff. Motorsport is a great training ground. At Pirelli we use it to train

young people across various departments, whether it’s teaching them about logistics or supply chains. In motorsport, you can’t have a single delay because it could affect a championship. You’re always under pressure, but it energises you – sometimes too much!

At home, I drive a BMW X1. I love fast cars, especially Ferraris, and I’ve driven a few on trackdays. But sadly supercars aren’t really ideal for driving around Milan. I’ve also got a Honda motorbike, which I’ll often take to Sardinia – I love the seaside.

I’m also a volunteer ambulance driver. I started doing it when I was 18. Some friends suggested trying it, but I wasn’t really interested. I did the training and my plan was to learn something new, then stop. I’m 56 now so I’ve been a volunteer for 38 years! I enjoy meeting people from different walks of life. You discover different realities, you become great friends with other volunteers, and you share experiences that can be quite tough. I became a team leader, and I realised there was a lack of information when it came to certain aspects of the role. So in 2004 we created the first formal course for volunteer ambulance drivers, and 20 years later we’ve trained 10,000 people. For me it’s important to take different experiences and to make them useful – for example, I was a driving instructor for 15 years and that’s partly why I wanted to teach other ambulance drivers. Other volunteers include a taxi driver who teaches people about the best way to drive through busy cities, and there’s a highway patrol policeman who teaches volunteers what he’s learned through his job.

I love to see new things and to learn from other people. At Pirelli, I’ve been lucky enough to do several different roles in motorsport. I’ve never been bored, and you definitely need passion because it’s not necessarily easy to be with your colleagues all the time! You’re with them at the track, and then at the hotel. If I didn’t have that passion, I wouldn’t be able to spend 24 weeks a year away from home. But I have no idea what else I’d do.

STARS OF '74

1974 JAGUAR E TYPE V12 6 LITRE ROADSTER

An amazing drive like no other E Type. This original UK RHD example features an ultimate specification including 6 litre fuel injected TWR Jaguar engine with Ö hlins dampers, AP brakes etc. Last sold and maintained by Eagle. Fully sorted and in superb condition.

1974 FORD CAPRI RS3100

A UK RHD example of this homologation special in concours order following a fully documented restoration by a highly regarded RS specialist to original specification. Supplied by the only Ford RS dealer in Cornwall where it has remained with just four owners from new.

HOROLOGICAL MACHINE N°8 MARK 2

Supercar-inspired drivers’ watch in titanium and sapphire crystal, body panels in CarbonMacrolon

Automatic movement, lateral display

Jumping hours and trailing minutes

Reflective sapphire crystal prisms

247 components

mbandf.com