STELVIO PASS! MARKING 200 YEARS OF EUROPE’S GREATEST DRIVING ROAD
EPIC AUDI R8 GT3
GT3 IS THE NEXT BIG THING IN HISTORIC RACING THIS IS ONE OF ITS HEROES
ROCKETSHIP ESTATES
SIX INSANELY FAST WAGONS, FROM AUDI RS2 TO JAGUAR XFRS
e F1 star’s 5000 QV that proved the 195mph claims were true
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‘GT3, THE RACING CODE THIS AUDI BELONGS TO, IS THE NEXT BIG THING IN THE OLD CAR WORLD’
AUDI R8 LMS ULTRA, HISTORIC RACER
LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH 54
195mph on the autostrada! This very Countach 5000 QV upheld Lamborghini’s claim to build the fastest car in the world
THE OLD STORY CONTINUES 68
Celebrating ten years of Polo Storico
‘TULIPWOOD’ HISPANO 72
Incredible 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Torpedo, fresh from victory at Pebble Beach
STELVIO PASS AT 200 80
‘The greatest driving road in the world’ achieves a landmark anniversary
ROCKETSHIP WAGONS 84
Loads faster: Audi RS2, Volvo 850 T-5R, Alfa 156 GTA, BMW E61 M5, Mercedes C63 AMG and Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake do battle
THE OCTANE INTERVIEW 96
Forty years with the nationally important motor museum paid for by all those DIY car manuals: Octane meets Chris Haynes
LANDMARK ’68 PORSCHE 100
Discovered in a barn, now restored: the very first long-wheelbase, fuel-injected 911
INSIDE ARTCENTER 108
Exclusive access to where designers are made
AUDI R8 GT3 112
Hero of the big new historic racing category PLUS all the other eligible contenders
EVENTS & NEWS 18
Glamour at Salon Privé, Monterey, Concours of Elegance and more; top dates for your diary; vote for the 2025 Car of the Year
COLUMNS 43
Leno, Bell, Bayley and Coucher: sage words in the legendary motoring voices of Octane
LETTERS 51
Ferrari 400s: most underrated of all?
OCTANE CARS 124
The diverse fleet of Octane’s markets guru
OVERDRIVE 130
Devalliet Mugello 375 F roadster tested
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 134
Colin Chapman protégé Peter Arundell
GEARBOX 136
Graeme Hunt, stalwart London classic dealer
ICON 138
Fort Knox, symbol of impregnability and riches
CHRONO 140
Watches fit to wear the Lancia badge
BOOKS 142
A Rolls-Royce book comes out of the shadows
GEAR 144
From tanks to turntables and plenty more
THE MARKET 148
Insider tips, auction news, Porsche Cayman
GT4 stats, cars for sale, Alfe a GTV guide
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 178
Adventurer Levison Wood
Celebrate the finest in classic and collector motoring—where distinguished achievements in restoration, craftsmanship, and heritage converge under one roof. Be part of a world-class evening of recognition, elegance, and discovery.
SCAN TO BUY TICKETS OR CONTACT IHMA@HOTHOUSEMEDIA.CO.UK
Nominations now open—submit your entry at historicmotoringawards.co.uk
Friday November 14 2025
The Peninsula London
James Elliott , Editor in chief
WHY IS A SUPERCAR that offers drivers an almost masochistic experience so important as to merit such a fanfare? Well, yes, it’s true that there are elements of the Countach that make driving it a challenge, but the sublime rewards that it offers when you break through the wall more than compensate. That V12! Plus, for every hero there must be an anti-hero and in car terms the Countach is it, obstinately created as much to define what it wasn’t – a Ferrari – as what it was, a piece of design so radical that it was every bit as maverick as Ferruccio’s upstart company itself. If ever a car embodied the insurrection of its owner, the Countach was it. And if ever a car was conceived as anti-establishment but instead became the establishment, the Countach is also it.
A while ago in Autobiography (Octane 254), Lamborghini’s Alessandro Farmeschi argued that the Countach is far more important than the Miura because, even half a century on, its silhouette can be seen clearly in every Lamborghini halo supercar since. He is right, of course, but it goes far further than that. When people first saw the Countach they may have assumed it was just another dose of pointy prototype show-car extravagance from Gandini at Bertone, but this was the one that stuck, this was the one that defined the shape of the supercar for a generation. A generation throughout which the tenacious Countach remained in production, of course, even if carrying ever more accoutrements as it aged. The headline stats – roughly 2000 cars built over 15 years – don’t even begin to tell the story of the Countach’s impact on redefining what people wanted and expected from a supercar.
FEATURING…
MASSIMO DELBÒ
‘Driving a Countach is always emotional, but driving it by Lake Maggiore is the cherry on the cake. What will remain with me from that day is the crowd clapping as the Countach passed them by. Not bad for a car that was designed in 1971.’
This very special example proved the Countach’s 195mph claim. See pages 54-64
STEVEN BENNETT
‘This is a significant Porsche 911 by any measure: first recorded prototype LWB car, first with fuel injection, lost and then found in a barn in Scotland. But ultimately, for me, it was occupying the very seat where Jo Siffert had once sat that made it very special indeed.’ Porsche 911 E prototype: pages 100-106
EVAN KLEIN
‘Cars are giant emotional purchases. The outside gets you in, and once you’re in, it completes the mood. A good interior designer is harder to find than an exterior designer. You could staff an entire design studio with ArtCenter graduates.’ Evan got exclusive access to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. See pages 108-110
RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal
Skeletonised automatic winding calibre
55-hour power reserve (± 10%)
Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium
Function selector
Patented butterfly rotor
Case in Blue and Pastel Blue Quartz TPT®
ISSUE 270, ON SALE 23 OCTOBER
Stephen Bayley on the Streamline Moderne icon by Figoni et Falaschi
Automotive Artisans R 33
Exclusive drive of the Alfa T33 homage driving fans wild
Kamm 912 c
Super-light carbon-bodied Porsche tested
Swallow Doretti
Californian racer on the Max Balchowsky connection
Lindsay LMP 2 675
Le Mans racer finally makes it to La Sarthe after 24 years
(Contents may be subject to change)
Editor-in-chief James Elliott james@octane-magazine.com
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A collector’s car is more than just a vehicle — it’s a story on wheels, a tribute to craftsmanship, a legacy in motion. It deserves more than to be locked away in a garage. In THE CARSAFE® Network, your automotive treasure is kept in a climate-controlled, discreetly monitored environment, whether for a season or a lifetime. Our state-of-the-art facilities in Basel, Zurich, Gstaad, Geneva, St. Gallen, Monaco, and London ensure that your vehicle remains in perfect condition. Always protected. Always ready.
27-31 August
The 20th anniversary of Salon Privé, at Blenheim Palace and presented by Aviva Private Clients, was hailed by many as the finest yet. Winners included (right, from top) the Auriga Collection’s 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Spezial Roadster by Sindelfingen (Best of Show), Anne Brockinton Lee’s 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Coupe ‘Super Fast’ Prototype (Runner-Up and People’s Choice), and Santiago Martinez’s 1952 Vignale Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinetta (Ferrari Racer of the ’50s). For Supercar Saturday and the Lockton Club Trophy, more than 1000 classics swamped Blenheim’s North Lawn, while 8000 visitors flocked to Sunday’s Grand Finale for supercar displays, parades and a ‘concours de vente’, the Prix d’Honneur won by Eric Broutin’s De Tomaso Pantera Gp4.
17 August
Without question, the most prestigious date on the classic car calendar, so important that more than a week of events and auctions (see page 148) have grown up around it. With special classes for 2025 including everything from Moretti and Invicta centeneries to Virgil Exner creations, the winner from the 229 delectable entrants presented to 20,000 visitors was Penny and Lee Anderson Sr’s fabulous 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo (see page 72 for the full story).
Rolex / Tom O’Neal
Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance 14 August
The official Pebble Beach events always kick-off with the Tour d’Elegance on the Thursday before the concours. Although the route has in the past been blighted by wildfires and landslips, it usually begins at Pebble Beach and travels via 17-Mile Drive and Highway One to Big Sur before returning to Pebble Beach. It may look like a fun drive for the entrants, and it is, but it also serves an important purpose, quite apart from providing an amazing spectacle to the thousands who line the route. In the event of a tie on the concours lawn, a car that has successfully completed the Tour gets the nod.
Rolex / Tom O’Neal
FROM TOP
Rolex Monterey
Reunion 13-16 August
Walt Brown Jr’s 1987 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe hangs on through the legendary twisting Corkscrew during practice for the Hurley Haywood Trophy race at the WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca. The track is just 15 miles due east of Pebble Beach, though the desert-like conditions couldn’t make it more different. This race festival companion event to Pebble Beach was founded by Steve Earle in 1974 based on his mantra: ‘Cars belong on the track, not the lawn.’
Rolex / Stephan Cooper
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering 15 August
The place to be on the Friday of Monterey Week is The Quail Lodge Golf Course near Carmel. Tickets are in huge demand and allow visitors to enjoy the finest refreshments and cuisine as well as a stunning selection of cars, including a drive-in by racers from Laguna Seca. With a special 30th anniversary celebration of the Ferrari F50 in 2025, Best of Show went to Art Zafiropoulo’s one-of-three 1996 Ferrari F50 GT1. Jim Utaski’s 1959 Maserati 3500GT (see Octane 252) claimed the Art of Bespoke award presented by Octane’s sister title, Magneto.
Rolex / Tom O’Neal
The news that this would be the final Silverstone Festival before a radical format change – one that will see the race meeting splitting away and CarFest taking over the August Bank Holiday slot – did little to dampen the spirits of attendees, or the ferocity of the relentless on-track action for which it has become renowned. Among the drama was the John Spiers / Nigel Greensall Shelby Cobra losing a wheel at Luffield in practice. Michael Stokes / Silverstone Festival / Peter McFadyen
LATE-PRODUCTION P400 S WITH AIR-CONDITIONING AND VENTED DISC BRAKES
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP
Bentley Drivers Club Silverstone 9 August
The Moore / Pike Bentley 3 Litre ‘Blade Wing’ finished 15th in the Pre-War Bentley race at the meeting that also included the Aston Martin Owners’ Club St John Horsfall Trophy, FISCAR, sports cars and Morgans.
Chris Tarling / Yellow Hound
Aintree Grand Prix
70th reunion
9 August
There was an impressive gathering at the Liverpool racecourse, and what’s le of the motor circuit, to mark the anniversary of its first British GP in 1955 – Stirling Moss’s first home win.
Actuarius Art
Lime Rock Historic Festival
2 August –1 September
A terrific event on the US’s East Coast that draws rich grids, plus a well-contested concours and huge displays of cars and motorcyles to Connecticut.
Lime Rock Historic Festival
Grampian Rally 8-9 August
Richard Spink and Kathryn Grewer in their Ford Escort Mk2 during round four of both the British Rally Championship and the Sco ish Rally Championship. The event o ered a tough test in hot, dry and dusty forests in the region inland from Aberdeen.
Ben Lawrence
Sea and Air Freight
Worldwide Customs Brokerage
Race and Rally Transportation
International Storage
UK and European Trucking
Vehicle Registration
5-7 September
Best of Show at Hampton Court was the famous Phantom of Love (below left), a 1926 Rolls-Royce built for a Woolworths heiress and boasting an interior to rival Versailles. The Levitt Concours for female collectors was won by a 1904 Peugeot Type 64B, the Club Trophy by a 1952 Aston Martin DB2 Graber Drophead, and the Thirty Under 30 concours by a 1983 Toyota Sprinter. The 15,000 visitors also enjoyed a 75 years of F1 display, including an ex-Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196R. Charlie Brenninkmeijer / Tom Shaxson
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT RADwood 23 August
Celebrating the neon 1980s and ’90s at Bicester with Hagerty. The Show ‘n’ Shine was sold out, with 65 proud owners. Matthew Pitts
Classic Days Rittergut Birkhof 1-3 August
The muchanticipated second attempt to revive the popular Schloss Dyck event in Germany went down a storm and hopefully has found a new home.
Günter Biener
GRRC
Family Day 10 August
Wonderful (and very hot and busy) event at Goodwood for its most loyal supporters and their families.
Jonathan Sharp
Suffolk Cloverleaf 5-8 August
Starting at Tuddenham Mill near Bury St Edmunds and finishing at the Talbooth Restaurant in Dedham, this fun event was based around Kesgrave Hall. Gerard Brown / Rally the Globe
Julian Grimwade memorial 12 August
A poignant tribute event was held at Brooklands for one of the vintage and classic car world’s most irrepressible and popular characters. There were parades of his cars and others, plus three minutes of motoring noise!
Michael Stokes
The John Haynes Classic 7 September
This inaugural festival honouring the late workshop manual mogul John Haynes, and held at the Sparkford museum he set up with wife Annette in 1985, was a huge success… once the morning’s torrential downpours had passed. It attracted 2000 visitors and over 300 classics, ranging from pre-war people’s cars to modern hypercars. There were displays from 11 car clubs and a motorcycle club, a live stage and more. Haynes Motor Museum
Hot Rod Hayride 1-3 August
Taking place at Bisley, which is rather better known as a shooting range, this familyfriendly event had bands, DJs and clubs as well as half-oval and Wall of Death action. There were also a showfield, stalls, a flea market and a soapbox derby. Chris Tarling / Yellow Hound
Passione Engadina 21-24 August
More than 140 crews were transfixed by the unique scenery of the Upper Engadin as the popular event welcomed a non-Italian guest marque – Porsche – for the first time. Fittingly, the Eleganza in Movimento concours, chaired by Lorenzo Ramaciotti, was awarded to the 1967 Porsche 910/6.
Passione Engadina
Every Mile a Masterpiece
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Superb accommodation, with a balance of experience & downtime, this is a refined European road trip designed for comfort and discovery.
25-27 September
Spa 6 Hours
The endurance race that gives this event its name always serves as the finale, so get tickets for the Saturday if you want to see it. 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
26-28 September
The Founders’ Run
Pre-war cars and motorcycles cruise from Figueira da Foz to Lisbon, roughly following the route of Portugal’s first motor race, held in 1902. fundadores.pt
27 September
Ironstone Concours d’Elegance
At Ironstone Vineyards in California, visitors enjoy one of the most diverse concours fields you’ll find anywhere, featuring commercial vehicles and tractors as well as cars and motorcycles. ironstoneconcours.com
27 September – 1 October
Grand Prix de Champagne
A regularity rally in France’s most famous wine region. classicevents.nl
27-28 September
Classic Car Boot Sale
Classic vehicles and sellers of vintage goodies gather at King’s Cross in London. classiccarbootsale.co.uk
27-28 September
Ardennen Rennen
Air-cooled VWs and Porsches are hustled through the Ardennes. ardennenrennen.be
28 September
The Boston Cup
In the USA, 100 hand-picked cars decorate Boston Common. thebostoncup.com
28 September
Simply Italian
Fiat 500s and Ferrari F50s rub shoulders at Beaulieu. beaulieu.co.uk
28 September
Brooklands German Day
The grounds of Brooklands
Museum are taken over by German vehicles. brooklandsmuseum.com
2-5 October
Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week
The concours itself, held at one of Rhode Island’s grandest properties, is complemented by seminars, an auction and a tour. audrainconcours.com
3-5 October
American Speed Festival
Exhibition laps and time-trial action on the M1 Concourse circuit in Pontiac, half an hour outside Detroit. m1concourse.com
3-5 October
Legends Grand Prix
Historic single-seaters, sportsprototypes and GTs put on a show at the Salzburgring. legends-gp.com
3-5 October
Estoril Classics
The various championships organised by Peter Auto reach their climax at Estoril. peterauto.fr
3-5 October
Barber Vintage Festival
The track at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama hosts a top-drawer race meeting for classic motorcycles. barbermuseum.org
3-25 October
Amazon Adventure
The crews will begin their trip in Suriname and cross into French Guiana before heading deep into the Amazonas region of Brazil for a once-in-a-lifetime driving experience. bespokerallies.com
4 October
HERO Challenge 3
The last of HERO’s one-day regularity rallies in 2025 is based at Chepstow Racecourse. hero-era.com
5 October
Pioneer Run
Pre-1915 motorcyles trundle from Epsom to Brighton, joined for the first time by pre-1931 machines as the inaugural ‘Pioneer Plus Run’ is held. sunbeam-mcc.co.uk
5 October
Bicester Motion Scramble
‘Reboots and restomods’ will be the centre of attention at the final Scramble of the year. bicestermotion.com
5 October
Haynes Breakfast Club
‘BMW vs Mercedes’ is the theme for October’s Breakfast Club event, but all cars are welcome. haynesmuseum.org
5-11 October
Modena Cento Ore
A thrilling 1000km rally starting in Rome, finishing in Modena, and featuring races at tracks including Imola and Mugello. modenacentoore.canossa.com
8-12 October
Zoute Grand Prix
A show, two auctions, a tour and
two rallies, all taking place in and around Knokke-Heist in Belgium. zoutegrandprix.be
9-16 October
La Carrera Panamericana
Crews tackle a 4000km route running from San Luis Potosí to Oaxaca in Mexico, and including over 750km of speed sections. lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx
10-12 October
Veterama Mannheim
More than 4000 traders pack the Maimarktgelände exhibition site in Mannheim with vehicles, parts and automobilia. veterama.de
11 October
VSCC Welsh Trial
The VSCC kicks off the trialling season in Presteigne. vscc.co.uk
11 October
Willow Springs Reimagined
Cars are displayed at the USA’s oldest permanent paved racing circuit, including some rarities from the Petersen Museum. willowspringsraceway.com
11 October
Japanese Classic Car Show
Held at Marina Green Park in Long Beach, California, and with a celebration of the BRE racing team and its Datsun 240Zs. japaneseclassiccarshow.com
12 October
The Restoration Show
Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire hosts a cracking autojumble. restoration-show.co.uk
12 October Cars & Coffee
The last Cars & Coffee gathering of the year at the Classic Motor Hub in Bibury. classicmotorhub.com
12 October
Brooklands Motorsport Day
Competition cars of all ages are parked up at Brooklands. Many of them will also stretch their legs on the adjacent Mercedes-Benz World circuit. brooklandsmuseum.com
16-19 October
Targa Florio Classica
Mercifully less strenuous than the original Targa Florio, this regularity rally allows crews time to enjoy Sicily’s scenery and food as well as its roads. targa-florio.it
17-19 October
Villa La Massa Excellence
Villa La Massa in Tuscany hosts a show for outstanding modern (1990s and later) supercars. villalamassa.com
23-26 October
Auto e Moto d’Epoca Bologna Cars, motorcycles, automobilia and spare parts fill Bologna’s exhibition centre. autoemotodepoca.com
25-31 October
Marrakesh Tour
Crews in post-1949 classics and modern sports cars explore the Atlas Mountains and the desert landscapes around Marrakesh, where the event starts and ends. rallystory.com
Secure your place; make travel plans
14 November
This is the only global awards ceremony in the classic and sports car world. Taking place at the Peninsula Hotel in London, the event was sold out last year as the winners were revealed for 14 awards selected by an international jury, plus Car of the Year decided by Octane readers and also the Lifetime Achievement Award. Book your table now. historicmotoringawards.co.uk
Flying Scotsman
23-26 April 2026
Starting and finishing at the regal Gleneagles Hotel, the strictly pre-1948 (cars not crews!) rally (pictured above) will travel north through the Cairngorms and Aberdeen, then on to Inverness. It is famed for tough driving and inclement weather, covering 600 miles in three days. It says something that vintage Bentleys are the most successful cars on the event and four-time winner William Medcalf the top driver. hero-era.com
Nordic Challenge
28 June – 10 July 2026
The third ‘Challenge’ from Rally the Globe and its most northerly yet, starting in the Copenhagen area of Denmark then crossing into Sweden over the Øresund Bridge. After a few days in Sweden it heads to the rally stages of Finland, then on to Norway. Mainly, but not wholly, on asphalt; some 120 crews have already registered their interest. rallytheglobe.com
Chantilly & Chateaux
September 2026 (dates TBC)
From £1999 per person, this is a great opportunity to enjoy Chantilly Arts et Elegance Richard Mille with a well-planned route to take in other highlights. The tour starts on the Côte d’Opale and travels to Chantilly via Compiègne Forest, Pierrefonds and Monet’s gardens at Giverny. There will be exclusive parking and a gourmet picnic at Chateau de Chantilly plus four-star accommodation nearby. backwatertours.co.uk
Picking your favourite will help decide a winner at the prestigious International Historic Motoring Awards
THE CONTENDERS for the Car of the Year at the 2025 International Historic Motoring Awards presented by Lockton have been revealed – and your votes will help decide the winner. A team of experts have selected the eight historic cars that have made the biggest impact over the past year. In their view, all eight have, in one way or another, blown away enthusiasts across the globe, whether it be for breaking new ground in concours or on track, being newly rediscovered or freshly restored, or even for being a fascinating restomod or an historically important new-build.
Now a public vote will decide the winner, which will be revealed in front of key figures from the classic and performance car world at the International Historic Motoring Awards ceremony, which will be hosted by Amanda Stretton at the Peninsula London on 14 November.
All you have to do to play your part is pick a favourite from the list and vote here: historicmotoringawards.co.uk/vote. Around 400 guests will attend the glitzy awards evening, for which tickets can be booked at the event’s official website (historicmotoringawards.co.uk), where there is information on all the awards, the judges and much more.
1. Blue Bird
It’s been a glorious year for the original Blue Bird, the first of Sir Malcom Campbell’s record-breakers. The 350hp Sunbeam, which was the first car to break 150mph, returned to Pendine Sands in Wales to mark the centenary of its triumph on 21 July, albeit it at a slightly more docile pace. Not content with that, the National Motor Museum’s pride and joy also took Best of Show at the Heveningham Concours in Suffolk.
2. Alfa Romeo 158
Wherever you have been this year you are sure to have seen the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship celebrated, and core to it all is the ex-Nino Farina, Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 in which the Italian won that first championship. Most poignant appearance of all, however, was at the Silverstone Festival, the venue where 158s dominated the first points-scoring F1 race in its inaugural season, with Farina taking the victory.
3. Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo
Created in 1924 for racing driver and aperitif heir André Dubonnet and one of the most spectacular cars ever built, Penny and Lee Anderson Snr’s Hispano-Suiza went straight from a three-year restoration at RM Auto Restoration in Blenheim, Ontario, to the winners’ circle at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Its body, created by the NieuportAstra aviation works, is formed from narrow mahogany strips, fastened by 8500 rivets to resemble an aircraft fuselage. Read the full story: page 72.
4. Mercedes-Benz W196R Stromlinienwagen
This streamlined 1954 Silver Arrow became the most expensive racing car ever sold (bearing in mind the Uhlenhaut coupé never actually competed) and the second most valuable car ever sold at auction when it went for a sensational €51,155,000 at RM Sotheby’s. Driven successfully in period by both Fangio and Moss, it was donated in 1965 by Mercedes-Benz to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Museum, which sold it, along with other treasures, to refocus its collection on its core subject: Indy cars.
5. Boreham Motorworks
Alan Mann 68 Edition
This Ford Escort MkI Continuation is the fulfilment of every Gen Xer’s dream, a perfect copy of the 1968 British Saloon Car Championshipwinning Ford Escort XOO 349F driven in ’68 and ’69 by Australian Frank Gardner. Best of all, it’s being built by the original team, headed by the son of its creator, with several of the original engineers. It’s also fully sanctioned by the original manufacturer and FIA-approved for historic racing.
6. Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3)
It takes something special to win the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, especially in 2025 when it was awash with top-table contenders including Ralph Lauren’s fabulous 1938 Alfa Romeo 8c 2900B Mille Miglia Spider. But the winner of the ‘Trofeo BMW Group – Best of Show’ was the Auriga Collection’s Vittorio Jano-designed 1932 Alfa Romeo Tipo B, which was run under the Scuderia Ferrari banner during the 1934 season with Achille Varzi, Guy Moll, Louis Chiron and Antonio Brivio. Competition cars are coming into their own at concours, it seems.
7. BRM P5781 ‘Old Faithful’
This 1961 car went down a storm when it was brought over by Miles Collier’s Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, where it now lives. Graham Hill’s F1 World Championship winner has been in the UK all year, appearing at Silverstone, the Oulton Park Gold Cup, Goodwood, the Royal Automobile Club Concours and more as motorsports fans across the country celebrated 75 years of Raymond Mays’ BRM.
8. BMW M1 Andy Warhol Art Car BMW, not surprisingly, is cautious about displaying its precious and priceless art cars after the 1979 BMW M1 Procar painted by Andy Warhol was doused with flour by protesters in 2022, but it was out and about in public this year to celebrate 50 years of the BMW Art Cars. This included appearances at Pebble Beach, The Bridge and in a glass case on the National Mall in Washington DC as an inudctee into the National Historic Vehicle Register.
The announcement that former McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt is to take the motoring reins at auction house Bonhams Cars is just one of two huge moves in the UK classic car auction scene, with a third one imminent but under wraps. While rumours abound that James Knight, the department talisman for decades and more recently a consultant, has resigned for pastures new, it was natural for Bonhams to find a new figurehead. And there are few people more experienced in UK motoring than Flewitt, who, before his eight-year stint at the helm of McLaren, had already served in high-ranking roles at Ford, Volvo, and Rolls-Royce & Bentley. After leaving McLaren in 2021 Flewitt worked as a consultant to the likes of Vertical Aerospace, Ricor Global Limited, and Halcyon and Longbow Motors.
It is expected that his appointment as Global Motoring Chairman will stabilise Bonhams, which, following decades of stability under Robert Brooks and Knight, has had a turbulent time since its 2018 acquisition by private equity. Bonhams has pledged that Flewitt will actively represent the company at events and live auctions across the globe. He will be based in London and report directly to its Global CEO, Chabi Nouri, who conceded that the appointment comes at a ‘pivotal time’ for Bonhams Cars. Flewitt’s brief, in Bonhams’ words, will be ‘expanding the department’s global presence, strengthening relationships with clients, and collaborating with the Bonhams executive team to define and execute the department’s strategic roadmap’.
Mike Flewitt said: ‘I’ve long admired Bonhams Cars for its rich heritage and influential presence in the motoring world. Its history, events, and sales have always stood apart in the automotive world. I’m excited to bring my experience to the team and to play a role in shaping its future.’
The Flewitt news came shortly before the revelation that Peter Wallman, Chairman of RM Sotheby’s UK and EMEA operations, has ended his second stint with the Canadian company. Another big move, widely rumoured but not yet confirmed, is expected in October as more North American auction houses target the UK and Europe for expansion and new sales.
MORE THAN 22,500 people flocked to the UK’s New Forest for the Beaulieu International Autojumble on 6-7 September. As usual, the event fields were bursting with motoring spares, automobilia, books, bikes and vintage treasure, with seasoned autojumblers and first-timers coming together to buy or sell their wares.
The new classic car park was a huge hit, with daily winners being a 1958 Morris Cowley Half-Ton Van on the Saturday and a 1965 Alvis TE21 on the Sunday, while Bonhams Cars showcased a selection of cars and automobilia, including Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 and Maserati Khamsin.
Another selection of classic vehicles was displayed in the main arena, while custom guru Andy Saunders showed his latest creation, the Daroo 1/3, a painstaking recreation of the Dodge Daroo that took the hot rod world by storm in 1967 before vanishing, and based on just six photos.
In the main autojumble, the Best Stand Award – which is really more a ‘spirit of the event’ trophy – was awarded to Edward Day, who arrived in a 1943 Bedford QL truck and received his trophy, donated by Lolly Lee in honour of her late father Terry, from Lord Montagu [above].
Highlight of the weekend came on the Sunday, when the National Motor Museum’s Sunbeam 1000hp Land Speed Record car reached the next stage in its bid to return to Daytona beach in 2027 for the centenary of its 200mph run – by firing up its 22.5-litre Matabele V12 aero engine publicly for the first time in 90 years.
Special-edition Volantes
To mark the 60th anniversary of Aston Martin using the term Volante, the company’s bespoke division, Q by Aston Martin, has developed 60 special 60th Anniversary Editions for both DB12 and Vanquish Volante.
Trophy for top rubber
The Pirelli P Zero E has become the first tyre to receive the ADI International Compasso d’Oro Award, specifically in the Design for Mobility category. The prestigious industrial design award was established in 1954.
Calder car is a poster star
The poster for next year’s Rétromobile, in Paris from 28 January to 1 February, features Alexander Calder’s BMW Art Car, reflecting one of the themes of the show: 50 years of BMW art cars. It will also be 50 years since Marc Nicolosi’s first Rétromobile in 1976, an event being marked with a New York edition in November and a new Paris show – the Ultimate Supercar Garage –next-door to Rétromobile.
Get your skates on… Entries are invited for The ICE, the concours-cum-ice-racing event in St Moritz. The event will take place on 30-31 January and, as in previous years, take over the entire town for ‘two days of style, culture and elegance’. New classes for 2026 include Birth of the Hypercar and Legendary Liveries. See theicestmoritz.ch.
Museum given Aventador Lamborghini has donated a 2011 Aventador Coupé to the Petersen Automotive Museum as the California facility seeks to expand its modern car content. The car was the first Aventador in North America and was used for secret preview events in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles.
Privé 2026 is go go go!
After achieving a record attendance of over 28,000 for its 20th anniversary edition on 27-31 August, a remarkable hike of 35% over last year, Salon Privé has already confirmed its return to Blenheim Palace for 2026 and announced the dates. Next year’s event will take place on 2-6 September. For details, see salonpriveconcours.com.
Hot Wheels winner
A father and son’s 14-year build of a 1982 BMW E21 3-Series has won the UK leg of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour at the Gravity Show at Birmingham’s NEC. Paul and Ethan Foster’s car beat 200 other entrants and will now go forward to the European final. The eventual global winner will be inducted into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends and be immortalised in a 1:64 diecast.
One of the most heralded launches during Monterey Car Week was the reveal of the new LFG collaboration between beach buggy company Meyers Manx and Porsche guru Richard Tuthill. Unveiled at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, the limited production (to 100) carbonfibre off-roader features a six-speed sequential gearbox and 4WD with front, centre and rear LSDs. The first 20 cars built will take part in the inaugural LFG Baja Tour in 2027 to honour the 50th anniversary of Meyers Manx winning the first Mexican 1000 (now known as the Baja 1000).
Carlo celebrated
A new Belgian museum dedicated to Abarth and rally cars has opened in Lier, south-east of Antwerp. The museum has some 160 Abarth and other rally cars, plus a central display paying homage to Carlo Abarth via a freshly recreated 1950 204 Sport, the first all-Abarth race car to be built by Cisitalia.
Murray’s Special debuts
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles, a spin-off of GMA dedicated to one-off commissions, limitededition special designs and heritage-inspired continuations, has revealed its first two stunning models. Inspired and informed by the F1’s 1995 Le Mans win, the pair have been dubbed GMSV S1 LM and GMSV Le Mans GTR.
Sydney supercar sign-ups
Aston Martin Sydney, Bentley, Lamborghini Sydney, McLaren, Polestar and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Sydney have confirmed they will be at the eighth edition of the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance. They will be joined by more than 50 vintage and classic vehicles in the concours on Cockatoo Island from 27 February to 1 March 2026. See sydneyharbourconcours.com.au.
Ojjeh collection bought
The sensational Mansour Ojjeh McLaren collection has been sold en masse for an undisclosed sum and to a single buyer by Tom Hartley Jnr. Each of the 20 McLaren supercars is the final chassis of its model, including the last F1, specified in a bespoke shade of Yquem now usually referred to as Mansour Orange.
Stuart Turner RIP
The former BMC and Ford competitions boss who guided both through their rallying halcyon days via the Mini and Escort always modestly credited the cars and the drivers rather than his own skills, acquired in a career that, whether journalism or after-dinner speaking, always involved his first love: rallying. He later authored a typically modest and witty autobiography called Twice Lucky. See a full obituary and article on his favourite drivers here: octane-magazine.com/ category/news, plus an interview with Turner and fellow Comps Managers Marcus Chambers and Peter Browning here: octanemagazine.com/articles/features/ bmc-competitions-managersthree-of-a-kind.
David Bishop RIP
While running British Motor Heritage, David recovered the jigs and tools for the MGB and launched bodyshells for the B and then the Midget. The availability of the MGB bodyshell enabled the development of the RV8, in which he played a significant part. Before retirement, he negotiated BMH’s move to Witney and, when BMW decided to sell BMH, formed a team to acquire the business, using Longbridge tooling to produce shells for the Mini and Clubman. BMH exists today largely due to David. Nick Morrick, friend, colleague and former Chair of BMH.
A MAJOR POLICY about-turn by the DVLA has brought relief to thousands of classic owners after years of lobbying from classic car interest groups. The changes address the anomalies in vehicle registrations that have existed since the 1980s and should prevent a huge number of cars unfairly being assigned Q plates. The move has been welcomed by the industry as well as bodies including the Historic Vehicle User Group, which can lay claim to starting the process, the Historic & Classic Vehicle Alliance (HCVA), which has pushed hardest to force it through, the ever-present Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) and others.
The timeline of events was that in 2024 then Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper invited consultation while speaking at an event hosted by the HCVA at Bicester (see Octane 254). His ‘call for evidence’ centred around people’s experiences in dealing with the DVLA, in particular on registering historic, classic, rebuilt, and electrically converted vehicles in the UK. It got 1350 responses. As a result, the frustrations of owners denied a registration, or even having one taken away, came to the fore and prompted changes to be made from 26 August. These include:
• Like-for-like repairs and restorations will no longer require notification to DVLA, providing the vehicle’s appearance is the same as when it was originally manufactured and there are no changes to the log book (V5C)
• Vehicles that have been subject to significant structural modifications will be able to keep their original Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and registration number, but the registered keeper must notify DVLA of the changes
• Vehicles that have been converted to electric power will also be able to retain their original identity, but the registered keeper must notify DVLA of the changes.
Explaining the change in heart, Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood, said: ‘We know how much love, time and effort goes into keeping classic cars – and we’re right
Left and below left
Classics are now less likely to lose their identity through restoration or modification; Baron Harper, then a Conservative MP, kicked it off.
behind the community. These changes are about cutting red tape and making life easier for enthusiasts, whether you’re restoring a vintage gem or converting it to electric.’
DVLA Chief Executive, Tim Moss, added: ‘These updated policies support historic vehicle keepers, and the wider industry, with clearer registration processes that reflect modern restoration and modification practices, helping safeguard the UK’s rich and wonderful automotive history.’
Expert motoring barrister Richard Clegg said that the policy change means that fewer vehicles will now end up with Q plates, which are issued when the DVLA questions a car’s age or identity, calling its history and provenance into question. He said: ‘If a vehicle is assigned a “Q” registration number, any original vehicle registration number becomes invalid, which casts doubt on its provenance. The new policy is intended to be more accommodating of significant structural alterations to a vehicle and electric conversions when it comes to them keeping their original registration and not receiving a “Q” plate. Major restorations and EV conversions ought soon to be less of a headache in terms of maintaining provenance for the owners of the 3.1million classic and historic vehicles in the UK and those undertaking the work.’
All the key classic car trade organisations and lobbying groups welcomed the moves to make it easier for enthusiasts and the trade to register repaired, restored and modified vehicles. Dale Keller, CEO of the HCVA, said: ‘It is testament to the hard work of the HCVA and others that the Government has listened and acted with pragmatic changes that place the retention of historic identity at the forefront of registration policy, a move that will be welcomed by all historic vehicle specialists, owners, and historians.’
Keller continued: ‘The positive impact these changes will have should not be underestimated in how they will support specialists and owners in protecting the UK’s historic vehicle industry, enabling over three million historic and classic vehicles to be kept roadworthy, relevant, and enjoyed by future generations.’
The FBHVC was similarly ecstatic, commenting: ‘The Federation is very encouraged by these outcomes, not only with the revised policies but also with a clear change to a more sympathetic and pragmatic approach to the registration difficulties sometimes faced with older vehicles.’
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Ireally enjoyed the Gordon Murray issue (Octane 267) for a couple of reasons. One, he’s one of my heroes; two, I own a number of the cars he was principally responsible for; and three, he visited me at my garage, which was one of the thrills of my lifetime.
Over 30 years ago I bought one of the rst cars he developed, the Rocket, built by the Light Car Company along with Chris Cra , and powered by a Yamaha Genesis ve-valve 1000cc motorcycle engine that produced 147bhp and weighed only 835lb. Amazingly, it came with a 12-speed gearbox. Actually, it’s a six-speed sequential with a two-speed (plus reverse – bikes don’t get one) nal drive.
It debuted in 1991 and cost as much as a Porsche 911. You see the problem right there, trying to convince the wife to get an impractical car or a really impractical car. e Rocket was for nothing other than having fun – and what great fun it is.
I believe I own the only one in America – I had to import it in pieces and put it together and register it as a home-built automobile. Remember, there’s no airbag or any safety equipment of any kind and no way it could pass either emissions or crash tests. I had to import it in six crates and then show photographs of myself and my guys building it.
Unlike modern supercars, where 100mph feels like 40mph, in this thing 40 feels like 120mph. Plus, the passenger sits behind the driver. e car is so skinny you never cross the double line. It has almost the same dimensions as a co n – if you had an accident they could lower the whole thing into the ground. e car resembles a Vanwall racer from the 1950s. You can hug the kerb when going round corners and even if a guy in a Viper coming the other way goes wide you still have plenty of room le in your lane – which happens to be the most common accident in America when driving on twisty roads… e birdcage-type chassis is the real genius of the Rocket. e ride is extremely smooth. You’re so low to the ground that passing Honda Civics look like Peterbilt trucks. e only time I got into trouble with this car was on the 210 Freeway in Los Angeles, on an on-ramp, when I noticed a huge tractor-trailer truck in the middle lane. I let him pass and eased over, not realising he was pulling a second trailer. Suddenly I was under the second trailer between the wheels. Luckily, I didn’t panic and maintained speed
to keep between the wheels, then eased back over in the right-hand lane as soon as I could. And believe me, it doesn’t get much scarier than that.
My second Gordon Murray automobile was the McLaren F1. I’ve talked about this so many times and won’t re-hash it. Su ce to say it’s still one of the most intimidating cars and keeps drawing interest because I realise I’m not good enough to make it do what it’s capable of. If I ever did damage it, it literally costs a house to repair. Unlike the P1, the F1 has no safeguards: no traction control, no ABS – just pure driving. In fact, the last time I took it out I got on the highway, downshi ed to pass a guy, oored the accelerator and slid sideways across two lanes.
My third Gordon Murray car was the muchmisunderstood Mercedes SLR-McLaren. Many say it had too much Mercedes and not enough McLaren. As a GT I think it’s terri c, but for some it’s too heavy for light work and too light for heavy work. Why does it need electric seat adjusters? I used the electric seat only one time, the rst day I bought the car to put the seat in the position I wanted, and have not touched that bu on since. Why does it need two 30lb motors when you could set it manually? is is just a small example of the frustration Gordon must have felt. Remember, this is a guy who sprayed iron lings on aluminium to save a couple of ounces over iron magnets in the Kenwood stereo.
e key to Gordon’s success is le ing him run free and only then do you evaluate what he’s done. When the T.50 was announced almost ten years ago I remembered the experience I had trying to get the F1 into the country. It cost me a fortune in legal fees and I predicted it wasn’t going to get be er. e latest tari instability only made the problem worse.
e T.33 is an amazing automobile but the T.50 is still the one I wanted. If I did order a T.33, every time I looked at it I would think: it’s nice, but it’s not the T.50. e lure of that giant fan in the back is too cool to forget. To this day I still can’t get a straight answer on whether or not it will be California-legal. It’s nice, though, to see a genius rewarded well. e creator is still around to enjoy it. ink of all the great artists that died penniless and forgo en and only became famous a er death. Most people never get to meet a genius. I got to shake his hand.
Jay was talking with Jeremy Hart.
‘GORDON MURRAY VISITED ME AT MY GARAGE, ONE OF THE THRILLS OF MY LIFETIME’
BY DEREK BELL
21ST – 27TH APRIL 2026
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 combining the magic of Provence with a weekend of 5-star hospitality in Monaco, hosted by Derek Bell and his wife Misti.
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 and head into Monaco for a packed programme of historic racing, and superb hospitality throughout the weekend.
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
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a seismic victory
In all the excitement of dashing about these past few months, it is only in the dog days of summer that I have stopped to think about a seismic event that occurred in June 1975. I say that with a heavy dose of irony, but it was a big deal for me.
I cannot believe that it has been 50 years since I won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the rst time. When you are a racing driver – a sportsperson of any description – you are constantly looking forward. You celebrate success, but momentarily. You are already thinking ahead to the next contest, which is how it should be. Don’t rest on your laurels and all that.
Having hung up my helmet as a professional driver 20 years ago, my perspective is di erent. As I have mentioned more than once in this column, I had no great a nity for Le Mans as a young gun. I rst raced there in 1970 with Scuderia Ferrari and it was just another race, albeit one that had history. I appreciated that but it was a macho bullring of a place. e race was exhausting, too, not least because there were only two drivers. In addition, you didn’t have cool-suits, power-steering and hot and cold running masseuses on standby. It was hard work.
I never wanted to be a sports car driver. I came to love the category, but my focus during the early part of my career was always Formula 1. Of course, there were periods when I dovetailed single-seaters and racing with a roof over my head, but, bit by bit, sports cars took precedence. Nevertheless, pickings were slim by the mid-1970s.
I had raced for Gulf during 1974, and nished fourth at Le Mans alongside Mike Hailwood despite the gearbox tearing itself apart. I still don’t know how we managed to nurse the car home. e point is, I was out of Formula 1 before the year was over, and there wasn’t much in the way of any kind of programme therea er.
To tell the truth, the 1975 running of the 24 Hours wasn’t a classic of its kind. A lot of the big manufacturers had pulled out, including Matra, which had dominated for the three previous seasons. e Gulf team decided to enter late in the day; it was the only race in its schedule that year.
I was paired with Jacky Ickx, who was, of course, a multiple Grand Prix winner in addition to being one of my heroes. e sister Gulf GR-8 was driven by
Vern Schuppan and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. Our closest rival was Ligier. Its JS2s were similarly powered by Cosworth-Ford DFV V8s.
Jacky and I started from pole and we had great pace from the start. I did the opening stint before handing the car over. By the third hour, we led the sister Gulf by two seconds. It hit problems at nightfall, though, and our lead kept ge ing bigger although our car similarly began to have vibration problems to the point that the exhaust system shook itself apart. We were forced to pit for repairs and that allowed the Ligier of Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chausseuil to claw back time.
In spite of all that, we came out ghting to win by a lap. Remarkably, 30 cars were still running at the end. I appreciate that doesn’t sound amazing given that Le Mans cars these days tend to have bulletproof reliability, but it was a di erent story back then.
It was Jacky’s second victory following his 1969 success; that had been the year that he famously sauntered over to his GT40 at the start rather than running. It was a good result for him as his career in F1 had plateaued, although he went on to enjoy one hell of a renaissance in sports cars.
It also represented the fourth win for the team principal, John Wyer, the rst of which had been with Aston Martin way back in 1959. Sadly, Gulf Research Racing was disbanded shortly therea er, but the cars and manufacturing rights were acquired by American entrepreneur Harley Cluxton. He kept the ame alive into the early 1980s under the Mirage banner.
I had a lot of success in the junior formulae. Unfortunately, my career in Formula 1 didn’t quite live up to expectations, but I am proud of what I achieved in sports cars. More than anything, winning in France in 1975 was the start of a fantastic partnership with Jacky that stretched to two further victories at Le Mans. He was the great all-rounder and we still have a wonderful bond.
Jacky isn’t someone who tends to open up about much, though. He keeps his cards close to his chest. I found out subsequently that he had wri en to Wyer asking to drive for Gulf at Le Mans in 1975. What’s more, he speci cally asked for me to be his teammate. To this day I don’t know why, and he hasn’t been forthcoming.
I’m just glad that he did.
‘IN SPITE OF MULTIPLE PROBLEMS, WE CAME OUT FIGHTING TO WIN BY A LAP AT LE MANS’
Why
Burgo Partridge was the son of a junior member of e Bloomsbury Group.
I have been reading his classic 1958
A History of Orgies. Here he describes the 18th Century ‘posture girls’ whose vocation was to stand naked and simply be admired by salacious men. I am told something similar exists in Japan today: women strippers do not jiggle about, but present themselves stationary for examination by men using magnifying glasses. And that’s the totality of the transaction. By the time you read this, I will have been to the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court and the Concorso d’Eleganza at Varignana, outside Bologna. Here, the cars are separated from the act of driving and presented rather as Mr Partridge’s posture girls. Of course, I’ll y to Bologna. And, ironically, I will go to Hampton Court on the train because driving across London is all but impossible.
Driving has become a horrible chore of threading an expensive wasting asset through legal, moral and practical obstacles. Between me and my regular tennis game ve miles away are 37 tra c lights. I recently accelerated to 26mph to avoid a wobbling Lime Bike and was sentenced to the cruel and unusual punishment of a Speed Awareness Course.
Yet even I know that driving at its best can be an aesthetic experience. First to notice this was, of all people, Marcel Proust, who wrote about a road trip from Cabourg to Lisieux, published in Le Figaro in November 1907 under the title Impressions de Route en Automobile. It clearly anticipates his great romaneuve, which we know in English as Remembrance of ings Past. A car journey inspired one of world literature’s GOATs! I have my own remembrance of things past, which include wonderful drives that I will now list so as not to appear a jaded spoilsport.
A red MG Midget, Liverpool to Manchester one quiet Sunday morning, responding to a request from a girlfriend, done in less time than it took Radio 3 to play Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto.
A Bentley Continental, metallic blue, London to Nice via Fréthun, Reims, Troyes, Mâcon. I should have tried the historic Route Napoleon, but was in a hurry so used the autoroutes. I le Vauxhall at eight in the evening and did a steady 140mph on empty roads. Breakfast on the Promenade des Anglais not much more than 12 hours later.
A brown Ford Mustang, Los Angeles to San Francisco and back in a day. Not the original Mustang, but a 1980 car that Car & Driver still described as the ‘best thing since overhead valves’. It had a 4.2-litre V8 with a measly 130hp, but that was enough to get me arrested for speeding while blasting through Santa Barbara.
A Rolls-Royce Phantom, navy blue. I picked up my daughter and ve university friends from Museum Road, Oxford, and chau eured them to Blenheim Palace not far away. Once it was parked, the rain was tropical and we all sat in the back – eight of us in all – with ample space, more than ample Champagne and lots of smoked salmon for the whole a ernoon. My wife drove home.
A Fiat nuova cinquecento, Positano Yellow, from Taormina to Savoca (where Coppola lmed the wedding scene of e Godfather in the Bar Vitelli), 22km on the SS114 Orientale Sicula, stopping at Forza d’Agro for the best pizza in all Sicily. e li le Fiat – 23bhp – could be driven at-out on these mountain roads. And that’s a marvellous feeling.
Audi ur-qua ro, white, from Crissier, Switzerland, to Chalons-en-Champagne. At Crissier I lunched at Frédy Girardet’s famous restaurant, where he demonstrated the pliability of his famous mashed potato table-side. Maybe it was my digestion’s failure to negotiate them, but I can never forget the orange glow of primitive digital instruments indicating speeds now illegal as a roaring ve-cylinder turbo made ordinary tra c seem at a standstill.
So there are some Proustian recollections. Cars not as passive posture girls, but as exciting companions on interesting journeys. When at tra c light number 24 on my way to tennis, I sometimes despair at the prospect of never having another interesting drive. But just as regulation and automation threaten to condemn real driving to history, there emerges some hope of analogue experiences being rediscovered, even sancti ed.
e New York Times reports that cigare es are becoming newly fashionable because they o er ‘embodied experience’: raw, tactile, direct pleasures unavailable online. And appetites for embodied experience are bound to grow. If cigare es can be revived, there may be hope for real driving. And those static posture girls of the concours can, in the right hands, become dynamic. I certainly hope so.
‘I DESPAIR AT THE PROSPECT OF NEVER HAVING ANOTHER INTERESTING DRIVE’
The alpha-male appeal of the Alfa Romeo
Observing that ‘every car enthusiast should own an Alfa Romeo’ has become a cliché among motoring journalists. Let me con ate that view and own up to having owned four: a 1959 101-series Giulie a Sprint, a 1964 105-series Giulia saloon, a late-1970s Alfasud and an Alfa Sprint of the same era. is month’s Buying Guide features the Alfe a GTV, a model I haven’t owned, though I’ve driven a few. When at varsity, years ago, a friend had one and he’d let me take him home when he’d had too many beers. Where I grew up, Alfa Romeos were regarded as a bit racy. e types who drove them were alpha males with a bit too much ready cash and slightly-too-tight trousers. Ford Cortina and Mercedes-Benz drivers kept well clear of them. Alfa Romeo SA was active in the South African racing scene and especially so in the production Group N class. So the cars were relatable: race ’em on Sunday, buy ’em on Monday. Because I was born and brought up in Cape Town, I was a snob. (Now I live in sarf London, not so much.) Capetonians think their locale is the best in the world and the rest can, just, you know, go away. We all went to the same schools and university and dated the same bikini girls. And those awful (annoyingly wealthy) types from up north in Johannesburg were beyond the pale. With our noses in the air, we knew that ‘one had to make money in Jo’burg to live in Cape Town’. Of course, being Capetonians, we were perpetually skint, but the place was so beautiful that it didn’t really ma er.
During one varsity holiday, I managed to blag a job at a friend’s family-run hotel in Ple enberg Bay. ink Rock in Cornwall or Nantucket in Massachuse s. So three friends jumped into my capacious Alfa Giulia berline a and we sped up the Garden Route at a heady 80mph, arriving in Ple ’ six hours later. My friends were all well over six feet tall, so two were appointed as nightclub bouncers and the third a barman. e owner looked at me and, realising I wasn’t pre y enough to be the cocktail waitress, threw me a white jacket and appointed me as the nightclub manager.
Mamma mia, this turned out to be the third best job I’d ever cracked. I’d saunter around in my white jacket, spy a pre y girl or two in the entrance queue, give the bouncer the nod to whisk us in, then snap
ngers at the barman to serve ‘gin, lime’n’lemonade’ all round. My goodness, did it work!
Until the one fateful evening when an Alfe a GTV roared up to the club entrance in a squealing cloud of dust and tyre-smoke. An irate dude jumped out, ran around to the back of the car and opened the (surprisingly practical and useful) tailgate, grabbing a wheelbrace, then running directly at me at the discotheque entrance, intent on a bit of GBH. Naturally he was a person from that frightful Johannesburg place and was driving an Alfa. Fortunately my two bouncers arrived JIT with the barman in tow. We got the dude headlocked into the men’s lavatory and, once he’d been relieved of his wheelbrace, le a bit of claret smudged on the white tiles. Alfa Romeo drivers…
Driving the gorgeous-looking Bertone-designed Alfe a GTV was interesting. e twin-cam engine was as snortingly amusing as always. And with its rear-mounted transaxle gearbox, the chassis was beautifully balanced. But the resultant long and complicated gearshi mechanism was not quite up to the job. And the steering was strangely squishy, less than razor-sharp on my favourite test track, Rhodes Drive under the lee of Table Mountain. e Alfe a was not set up as an outright sports car. at’s until Alfa shoehorned its 2.5-litre V6 under the bonnet, creating one of the best-sounding cars ever.
Meanwhile those ash dudes over in Jo’burg (the Chicago of Africa) teamed up with Autodelta in 1984 and created the GTV6 3.0, of which just 212 homologation specials were constructed for Group 1 racing at Kyalami circuit against the likes of the BMW 535i and Ford Sierra XR8. Smashing stu ! e Sa a Alfa V6 engine dispensed with the civilised fuel-injection system, replacing it with old-tech, fuel-gobbling Dell’Orto carbure ors that added about 20bhp over the stock 2.5. e gearing was lowered, and the bonnet replaced with a glass bre job that included a large jockstrap hump to clear the induction chokes. David Beckham would be proud. If you go to your library and dig out Octane 62 (August 2008) you’ll nd the A ican Animals feature starting on page 84, for which I got to drive the GTV6 3.0 against a Sierra XR8 and BMW 333i with friend David Lyons, a well-known South African enthusiast, driver and collector. And my choice of the three? e operatic Alfa Romeo.
‘ALFA DRIVERS HAD TOO MUCH READY CASH AND SLIGHTLYTOO-TIGHT TROUSERS’
Get ready for the London to Lisbon Rally in Spring 2026; an epic journey through France, Spain, and Portugal. Starting 19 May in Weybridge, crews tackle regularities and tests en route to Le Touquet, Le Mans, Limoges, and Toulouse. Conquer the Pyrenees on the rally’s longest day to reach Pamplona for a rest, then explore historic Burgos and León before sweeping into Galicia. Cross into Portugal for the famed Caramulo Hillclimb and a grand finish in Lisbon. With stunning roads, charming stopovers, and a vibrant community of enthusiasts, this is your chance to embrace motorsport spirit and European adventure in one unforgettable week.
WHAT A PLEASURE to see the Ferrari 412 featured so comprehensively in Octane 268. I have owned a black manual 412 for the past 13 years –the actual cover car from Fast Lane magazine’s March 1988 issue [inset right] that was referred to in your article.
Bought from Forza 288 to replace a 328 GTS, my ex-Chris Evans, former Maranello demonstrator 412 has been a pleasure and privilege to own, being such a rare Ferrari. The experience hasn’t been cheap – a stainless steel exhaust system and rebuild of the fuel injection system were particular ‘highlights’ – but regular use and annual attention at John Pogson’s Italia Autosport has ensured that it is probably the best example extant.
While collectors may prize low mileage, using these old V12s is more important to keep them fit and reliable. Mine has taken my wife and me on honeymoon to the Loire valley, to Spa, and to Chantilly for my 50th birthday. It has become part of the family and it brought my new-born son home
from the hospital – how many kids can say the first car they ever travelled in was a Ferrari?
As you suggest, these cars – the best of the 400 series – are often forgotten and definitely undervalued, but increasingly those in the know see them as something truly special. As with the 250 GTE and 330GT before them, four-seater Ferraris seem to take longer to be properly appreciated.
The only aspect I would take issue with in your article is fuel consumption, which isn’t as bad as typically reported. I regularly get 18-20mpg without hanging around, although I achieved much less when keeping up with a friend’s 599…
Peter Vaughan, Lincolnshire
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Gordon’s guitars…
Many thanks for an excellent, illuminating feature on the great Gordon Murray in Octane 267.
As a gigging guitarist, though, my interest was piqued by the mention of his having designed guitars – presumably for his own use, as I’m unaware of any such thing having been marketed.
If his enlightened approach to vehicles is anything to go by, I anticipate that he’d have designed something quite special. If there’s any further information available, I’d be keen to learn more.
Connor Flys, Buckinghamshire
…and his Porsche
As well as being enthralled by Gordon Murray’s back story and subsequent achievements, I was also gratified that a man who demands such high standards in a motor car chose to own and drive, as one of very few modern-ish cars in his collection, an early Porsche Boxster S. I hardly need mention that I also own such a car – a 2002-model 986S [below].
Brian Verey, Kent
Very interesting to read James Elliott’s article about the Lotus Three-7 in Octane 268 [pictured next page] because I was involved with Clubman cars about the time it was first seen. I was also taken by his mention of the earlier 7½ with independent rear suspension.
In about 1970 I got involved with a Series 1 that had been
converted to IRS with the Elite differential, and its body had also been substantially reduced in height. The engine was a 1000cc Cosworth MAE and it was fitted with a pair of 40DCOE carbs. If I remember correctly, it seemed to peak at just over 9000rpm and idle at about 3500rpm.
My first event was a sprint at Blackbushe on 28 March 1971 and I managed a 2nd in class. No information was provided about the history of the IRS car and so I was wondering if it was the 7½.
The photo [below] shows it with my S2 behind to give an idea of its size. What do you think?
Tim Moores, Hampshire
We suspect this may be one of a handful of copies that were made of the original 7½ – but would love to be proven wrong. MD
Your Bugatti Veyron coverage in Octane 268 reminded me of a conversation I had in a hotel in Japan, at a time when I was visiting regularly for business.
I arrived at the hotel in time for dinner, so after checking in went straight to the hotel restaurant, which was full of single business people seated at tables for two. I immediately struck up a conversation with an older gentleman to the left of me.
‘I work for a transmission company called Ricardo; we’re looking for some very high-spec bearings,’ he told me when I asked what brought him to Tokyo. As a fellow gearhead, I had many questions about transmissions in general, with which he happily engaged.
Later, he mentioned he was working on ‘a very interesting project, that when released will be the most powerful production car in the world’. However, no amount of beers or sake would make him reveal anything more.
Enter the Veyron, with Ricardo’s transmission that helped enable the delivery of that colossal 987bhp and 922lb ft. Special bearings, indeed.
Ross Martindale, Cannes, France
It was a very Goodyear I was surprised and pleased to see a story on the 100th Anniversary of the Goodyear blimp in Octane 267, since I live in Uniontown, just south of Goodyear’s HQ in Akron, Ohio. Not far east of here is Wingfoot Lake, the home base
satisfy both the existing and new markets, confusion took over. They currently satisfy neither.
As Chinese manufacturers succeed in more global markets, it will be interesting to see how they lead in design terms.
John Arnott, Toronto, Canada
Make it make sense!
I have been many times to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum but not since it was remodelled, as described by David Lillywhite in Octane 264. David mentioned how cramped it used to be and this picture [below] from 1995 gives a good idea of what it used to be like.
for the Goodyear Airship Operations, and it’s not unusual to see a blimp from time to time. However, this June there were three blimps in town, which is very rare, and while out driving I caught all three being readied for flight [below]. Goodyear had decided to repaint Wingfoot One, the Akron-based blimp, in a 1920s all-silver livery as a tribute.
At the Lake you can get quite close to the blimps and the safety fence is only about 4ft tall.
Eric Langreder, Ohio, USA
You can’t please everyone Stephen Bayley decries in Octane 267 the lack of ‘beauty’ in cars since the 1970s.
As a practising industrial designer since the 1960s, I think I have a plausible explanation. Anyone over 70 in Europe or North America had their notions of beauty formed from classical and modernist European models: quite different from the aesthetic sensibilities in various parts of Asia. As markets for autos grew in Asia and manufacturers tried to
The article also brought back memories of when I did work for the Speedway shooting film and video. Like the time I turned around in the pits and my camera lens almost hit Ashley Judd in the head. Or when I ended up breaking the winning car – but that’s a story for another day.
Mark R Turner, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
the hood
Our 1987 Porsche 911 cabriolet recently came back from having a new roof fitted by The Hood Guys in Birmingham. Now, every time I enter the garage, I can smell 911 again. My 1967 Mini Cooper S has a distinctly different smell, and I wonder what makes the distinctive aromas when the materials used in most cars are very similar?
I well remember back in the ’70s the smell of my 105-series Alfa Romeos – I think it was mainly of rust…
Philip Rushforth, Worcestershire
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Please include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited for clarity. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Octane.
First owned by racing driver Pierluigi Martini, this Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole proved Lamborghini’s reputation for building the fastest car of the day
Left and above
Let’s face it, if you saw this in your rear-view mirror as it closed in on 300km/h, you’d move out of the way; interior remains as it was in 1986, when this car’s first owner Pierluigi Martini routinely saw such speeds.
It is a beautiful day on the shores of Lake Maggiore, although a summer storm is bruising the sky as I drive out in this 1986 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole. If every Countach is a special car, this one – chassis number FLA 12894 – is more special than most, though its unusual past is unknown to the people whose heads are turned by it on the refined Stresa promenade. Even though I try to keep a low profile, the vision of this Countach thrills the crowd. Phones are held aloft to capture the moment, an Audi RS driver waves while turning ahead of me and gives me the thumbs-up, and a group of gentlemen simply erupt in applause as I pass. And this is 2025 – things could all be so different in another car or, indeed, another place.
All of this makes me think once more of the effect the Countach must have had in 1971, when it was first displayed at the Geneva motor show. Shown as an ‘ideas’ car, just to see if the market was ready for such a revolutionary shape, it drove everybody crazy. Every car magazine of the time put the yellow LP500 Countach prototype on its cover, making it one of the best-known show-cars in history – and leaving Lamborghini with a problem to solve. Quickly! The market not only wanted it, but craved it, immediately and without considering that the show car was very far from being ready to be manufactured in series. It took Lamborghini’s legendary development driver Bob Wallace a good three years of hard work to hone it for the road. And that was merely the beginning of a long career, during which the Countach evolved continually.
The best description of its birth was given to me by Bertone’s late chief stylist, Marcello Gandini, who was credited with the creation of its astonishing outline: ‘The Miura was still selling well, indeed the Miura SV was launched at the same Geneva motor show, but with Lamborghini, pushed by the spirit of Ferruccio, we dared to be brave and different. The new engine position, new body-shape made of
Below and right
The Qua rovalvole arrived in 1985, though stylistically it was mostly as per the LP400 S of 1978; scissor doors were deliberately di erent and became emblematic of the marque.
edges and corners, di erent door openings… Yes, the unusual “scissor” doors were just the result of the will to create a new concept, and to bring a revolutionary trait while facilitating entry.’ en, in 1978, the Wolf LP400 reshaped the clean lines of the early cars, ultimately leading to the LP400 S series. is car, intended to be a one-o custom-made for Canadian Formula 1 team owner Walter Wolf, was created to enhance the potential of the Countach. Developed in consultation with Ingegnere Giampaolo Dallara, who had le Lamborghini to start his own company only months earlier, this Countach was equipped with the new ultra-low-pro le Pirelli P7 tyres that allowed a bigger braking surface and forced a revamp of the suspension se ings. Not only that, the bigger tyres demanded angular extensions to the wheelarches, linked with a front spoiler. is new look, subsequently copied by the 400 S that followed to satisfy customer requests, is what ended up in poster form on the bedroom walls of millions of teenagers, and set the reference point for the supercar business for the next two decades.
e Qua rovalvole arrived towards the end of Countach production, being launched in 1985, equipped with a V12 engine of increased capacity (up to 5167cc) and with four valves per cylinder. Perhaps surprisingly, given where demand now lies, the Qua rovalvole was the rst Countach o cially imported into the USA, as a consequence of Chrysler’s ownership of the company from 1987, and as a result it was available with two forms of fuel feed: six vertical Weber 44 DCNF carbure ors for an output of
‘THIS
Clockwise, from above
In 5000 Quattrovalvole form the Countach reached its peak, thanks to a 5.2-litre 48-valve development of its V12 engine; interior is uncompromising, characteristic; racer Martini was granted a discount in return for acting as a test-driver.
‘ I PICKED IT UP THE DAY AFTER I WON MY FIRST FORMULA 3000 RACE’
– Pierluigi Martini
455bhp (metric) and, for the USA, Bosch fuel injection and 420bhp. There were two basic series of Quattrovalvole, the second arriving in 1988 and sporting skirts along the sills, complete with strakes that imitated the style of its Ferrari Testarossa rival.
The car you see here, FLA 12894, was delivered on 13 June 1986 to its first owner, Pierluigi Martini – then a Minardi Formula 1 driver and later a Le Mans winner. It is red with dark brown (Marrone Testa di Moro) dashboard and Champagne leather seats, and was first registered with the plate EE 426 AK. The Italian ‘EE’ plates (for escursionisti esteri) are made to provide a temporary registration for foreigners who want to drive their new car in Italy before exporting it to, and registering it in, their legal country of residence, thus avoiding Italian sales and registration taxes. Pierluigi Martini was a resident of Monte-Carlo.
‘Of course I remember the Countach,’ a smiling ‘Piero’ Martini tells me, as he refreshes his memories of the car. ‘I was its first owner. Back then I was on very good terms with Lamborghini’s general manager Ingegnere Giulio Alfieri, sales director Ubaldo Sgarzi and sales
manager Enzo Moruzzi. I also knew the guy in charge of the press department, Daniele Audetto. We made an agreement that I could buy this car at a discount in return for developing the model and promoting it in the media. I remember the date I picked it up, because it was the day after I won my first Formula 3000 race.’
Piero recalls an incident linked to a British journalist, who had written in Fast Lane magazine that, based on his calculations, the Countach was not capable of passing 280km/h. ‘After Valentino Balboni declined, Audetto asked me if I felt like taking the English journalist out in my Countach with me, with some instruments so he could verify, and experience live, that the car could do much more than what he had said. Of course I felt like it! We hit the highway from Modena towards the Brenner Pass. The target of the journey was to show him the maximum speed of the Quattrovalvole.’
Conditions were less than perfect, however. ‘It was mid-summer and the highway was busy with trucks and holidaymakers creating a lot of slow traffic. I have to admit that he played his role of “Iceman” well, never showing a sign of fear, but to me, it was very challenging.
Because of the traffic, whenever I tried to keep the gas pedal down to the floor for at least a kilometre, I had to stop because of a slower vehicle cutting my path. We tried again and again, a couple of times I even ended up putting a couple of wheels on the grass at the side of the highway, without success. We hit 300km/h several times, but not the declared 315 that would have confirmed the Countach as the fastest production car. Then, once, briefly, we saw 306km/h, but he really pissed me off, telling me that it was because we got a tailwind…
‘So, with 35ºC outside, we headed towards Parma, on a different highway, this time with three lanes, hoping for better traffic conditions, still without success. Heading back, I spotted an opportunity and managed to keep the needle on the 320km/h mark for almost the full kilometre but, 150 metres from the end of the test, a small van came out into the third lane to overtake two trucks.’
Yet still he didn’t give up. ‘I couldn’t take any more, I simply didn’t lift my foot. I decided to go right, with the slower truck on my left, passing it while driving on the emergency lane. We finished the
kilometre with an average speed of 314km/h, and finally the English journalist dropped his head. But to me this remains one of the biggest “code browns” of my driving career. 314km/h had never seemed so fast to me… At this point, we were both very tired, and in Modena, we decided we’d had enough and left the highway, with him now trusting Lamborghini’s declared 315km/h maximum speed.’
Any consequences? ‘The outside temperature was too high, as well as the engine’s, and as a result Lamborghini had to change the head gasket. I would just like to underline that my Countach was completely stock; the only thing I’d changed was a suspension modification, lowering it a bit and fitting slightly stiffer anti-roll bars.’
That brave and stubborn English journalist was Peter Dron, then the editor of Fast Lane and also the brother of the late racing driver and Octane columnist Tony Dron. ‘I remember the time very well,’ says Daniele Audetto, who organised the occasion. ‘The agreement with Piero was for him to spend some of his time driving journalists or test-driving the car for magazines. During that year, I believe, FLA
1986 Lamborghini Countach
LP5000 Quattrovalvole
Engine 5167cc rear/mid-mounted 48-valve V12, DOHC per bank, six Weber 44 DCNF carbure ors Power 449bhp @ 7000 rpm Torque 369lb @ 5200 rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar Brakes Vented discs, four-pot calipers
Weight 1490kg Top speed 195mph 0-62mph 4.8sec
Peter Dron on that definitive high-speed run
Having expressed doubts about the Countach’s performance in Fast Lane magazine, of which I was the editor at the time, I was invited to the factory in 1986. A er a flat-out drive through France and Italy (you could do that then) I spent three days in and around Sant’Agata, Lamborghini’s hometown. Day One began with the typical Italian welcome. PR boss Daniele Aude o: ‘Hello Peter, nice to see you. We expect you next week.’ I produced a sheaf of faxes proving it was the agreed day.
I toured the factory that morning. In the a ernoon it was the max test. For insurance reasons I was assigned a ‘test driver’, who said ‘My name is Piero’. A er several bends on a narrow road leading to the autostrada we slowed, entering a village. I asked if he had done any motor racing. ‘I won a Formula 3000 race last Sunday,’ replied Pierluigi Martini, future F1 driver.
At over 160mph, distant dots rapidly become solid objects. I was sure that the li le Fiat would pull out to pass the lorry… and it did. ‘Piero’ blasted past on the hard shoulder without li ing. The recorded max (195mph) proved controversial but a few years ago Harry Metcalfe drove his Countach to Sant’Agata and investigated. He wrote in evo that the figure was credible.
Next day I shared a di erent Countach with Valentino Balboni, Lamborghini’s famous o cial test driver. I had the Peiseler fi h wheel and electronic box with me. I got Valentino to do the acceleration tests. Two runs in each direction, reaching 140mph... on a straight, flat public road! His 0-100mph times (with a mean of 10.0sec) were within a tenth of a second. Real precision.
I had arrived as a sceptic. I le as a convert. If I were a squillionaire, I would own a wingless 5000 Qua rovalvole, the best Countach.
12894 was the most featured one, appearing in countless magazines, including the September 1986 issue of Fast Lane. And none of them was as challenging as the task posed by Peter Dron.’
Dron had written to Audetto a long and detailed letter that set out to prove that, with the power output declared for the Quattrovalvole, its aerodynamics and gear ratios, there was no way the car could have been capable of passing 280km/h. ‘He mocked our declared maximum speed of 315 as a PR number!’ says Audetto. ‘That was quite an insult, as for Lamborghini to provide its customers with the fastest production car was a declared status symbol.’
Still, as the magazine’s own cover declared ‘Countach at 195mph’, honour had been saved. ‘When Piero come back from the test drive, he looked as he did after an F1 race, so I imagined something had happened, but to me the most important target of the day was achieved, as the reputation of Lamborghini in front of the whole English press was saved.’
Then, in August 1988, the car was registered in Italy and sold in October to Sicily, where it was re-registered. In 1995 came a new owner, again in the Forli area, who kept it in regular use until January 2022, when it was exported to Germany, entering the collection of its current caretaker. He bought it because, in his own words: ‘I’d been looking for a good Countach for a long time, but I wanted a car that had never been tampered with and, if possible, with an interesting history. This one ticked all the boxes, and it is amazingly original, too.
During its life only the wheels were replaced, with a set of the wrong series, something that I promptly corrected.’
All these past adventures come to my mind while I’m at the wheel, not so fast as Piero but appreciating that same soundtrack and the endless torque of the V12 pushing hard into my back. The early Quattrovalvole is my favourite type of Countach, as it offers more space in the cockpit than earlier cars, plus a front spoiler that’s high enough to allow you to drive on normal roads without so much fear of scratching it, and its body is the pure shape of the pre-25th Anniversary series.
The view ahead is perfect, to the side less so, while as for seeing out to the rear… well, forget about it. A good Countach is stiff but not hard, while its clutch and gearbox, especially once warmed up, do not demand superhero efforts. The brakes are efficient and easy to modulate, though on wet tarmac it is quite easy to lock the front tyres if you jump on the pedal as you might in a modern ABS-equipped car. But for me the best aspect of the Countach Quattrovalvole is when, after I’ve returned home, my nine-year-old son spots it in the garage and immediately asks to be taken for a drive in it.
The Countach’s charisma seems to be immune to the passage of time and of the generations, appealing to the young of today just as it did four decades ago, maybe more. And to the next person who tells you that youngsters are not interested in cars any more, simply suggest that they try a Countach and see what happens.
e lasting influence of the Countach – and its creator (pictured) – is remembered by designer Peter Stevens
ONE OF THE problems that car designers have when visiting a motor show is talking to other designers. Not about the weather but about each other’s work. Former students in senior positions at wellknown car companies still enjoy the validation of the Prof, hoping to hear me say ‘Well done’ or ‘ at has come out well, despite the CEO.’ I have a tendency to comment bluntly if I think something is derivative, or that the designers have lost control of surfaces and detailing. Occasionally a few good friends used to sit around a er hours and discuss a famous designer who seemed to have lost the plot. Some of us still do this, particularly online. ere was always a general opinion that Giorge o Giugiaro had produced very good work, mostly his rational output – Fiat Panda, VW Golf – but less so such projects as the twin-cockpit Aztec. Yet when it came to Marcello Gandini, rarely did anyone put their hand up in praise.
However, when I was a young design student, what really caught my a ention was the Gandini-designed 1968 Bertone Alfa Romeo Carabo. It certainly in uenced my plans to become a designer: so fresh and di erent from anything I had seen before. But coming from a product design background, like so many Royal College of Art Vehicle Design students, made us critical of Gandini ‘show cars’, such as the Lancia Stratos Zero and Lamborghini Marzal.
When, at the 1971 Geneva motor show, the very rst iteration of the Lamborghini Countach LP500 was presented, we were surprised to learn that it was going to be a production car. Like many other designers I was impressed by its bold proportions, simplicity, and clean surfaces. It had what came to be known as a ‘Gandini rear wheel opening’, something that never bore any relation to the shape
of the front wheel opening. It was extreme, but seemed to suit the image that Lamborghini was developing for itself. It almost said ‘Look at me: I am not a Ferrari.’ at was the objective, and Gandini was just the man to pass on that message.
In production and then developed further, it sprouted all sorts of ducts, air-intake boxes and outlets. ‘ ere,’ we all said: ‘a stylist, not a designer.’ But there is no doubt that young designers were emboldened by the car, not because it set a new direction for form or outline but because it gave two ngers to the accepted, but dated, Ferrari and Maserati design languages. e designers at Porsche o en criticised the Countach and pointed out many of its failings, probably because they knew that they were trapped by the 911 aesthetics.
What made the Countach so immediately di erent? Following on from the Miura, with its ground-breaking transverse mid-engined chassis layout, the Countach was another radical departure from what had become the conventional ‘occupants-engine-gearbox’ layout. It had the gearbox ahead of the longitudinal V12 engine, between the occupants. at pushed the driver and passenger so far forward that the nose and windscreen formed a continuous line. e engine cover was tall, higher than the rear wheelarches, but this unusual layout allowed Gandini and Bertone’s model-makers to produce a dramatic side pro le.
Between Giugiaro, Gandini and Paolo Martin at Pininfarina, the long-lived Italian sharp-edged wedge design language was established. It captivated marketing people, board members and customers during the 1970s and early 1980s. And there is no doubt that from it came a number of memorable cars.
John Mayhead visits Lamborghini’s Polo Storico division, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary
Photography Lamborghini
WALTER RENALDO SMILES at me, his round glasses on his round face doing li le to disguise the physical strength of this 74-year-old, a characteristic that is still very evident in his thick forearms that rest on the desk. ‘I was always strong,’ he tells me proudly. ‘My rst job was to deliver cranksha s – sometimes 200 per day – and they are 35kg each.’
When Walter joined Automobili Lamborghini in 1966, the company was just three years old and based, as it still is, at Sant’Agata Bolognese. Ferruccio Lamborghini chose the site for two reasons: not only was it a deprived area that he hoped to improve with the injection of jobs that the company would bring, but it was also a snub to Enzo Ferrari, just 20km up the road in Maranello. And, as Walter tells me, whereas Enzo was famously aloof, Ferruccio was the opposite. ‘He was always polite and caring, a real gentleman,’ he says. ‘Even when times were hard, the workers were always paid.’
Times have indeed been hard at Lamborghini. Having become bankrupt in 1978, it passed through the ownership of French brothers Patrick and Jean Claude Mimran, then Chrysler, which sold it on in 1994 to Megatech, a joint venture between the Malaysian investment group Mycom Setdco and V’Power of Indonesia. Four years later, it was sold to Volkswagen Group, which placed it under the control of Audi. Since then the brand has been transformed, with more than 10,000 cars produced in 2024, combining handbuilt a ention to detail with modern production facilities that hint at the German owner. To put the gure in context, that’s roughly the same quantity of Lamborghinis that were built in total from the creation of the company up to the end of Diablo production in 2001.
Walter only le full-time employment in 2010 but still works here on a temporary basis. He’s not alone: Lamborghini Polo Storico, the department that deals with the certi cation, restoration and promotion of its classic models, employs many retired specialists on a part-time basis, valuing their lived experience. ey provide truth
Clockwise, from top right Mayhead meets the Polo Storico team; archive houses invaluable historical documentation; assessment involves a total stripdown; Bertone’s original LP500 show-car; V12 in safe hands at Sant’Agata.
when questions arise about past production methodology, design evolution and parts used, details that were often not captured by the record-keeping of the time.
‘Classic’ is a flexible term, defined by Lamborghini as a car that started production more than 30 years ago and finished production no less than 20 years ago, so the Diablo is in but the Murciélago has a few years left to wait – although the Polo Storico archive team is already compiling records for that model. Much of its work relies on the efforts of one previous employee, known only as Ingrid, whose distinctive handwriting noted the production details on build sheets and the options fitted on Lavori Speciali documents. Her most important contribution now makes up the archive’s most prized possessions: thin, square-ruled school notebooks in which she listed the engine, gearbox and chassis numbers of every car. ‘Miura’ she wrote on the flowery 1960s cover of one book. In it are the details that every Lamborghini researcher worldwide would kill for.
Ironically, as the production line modernised throughout the 1980s and 1990s, fewer records were kept, and Ingrid’s notation became rarer. There was then little concept that these might be important historical records, and so, today, piecing together exactly how a particular car left the factory is a job akin to archaeology.
Lamborghini trusts two men to recreate that story. Rodrigo Filippani Ronconi heads the archive and Francesco Gulinelli is chief classic engineer; both men seem obsessed by the brand. They accept any classic Lamborghini with an owner prepared to pay the €7000 plus research fee, strip it to its constituent parts, and trace its story through the metal stampings, papers and memories that make up its life. Unlike other famously pernickety classic departments, they understand that cars change over time and accept changes for what they are: a car with a correct replacement engine will be marked ‘Authentic’ rather than ‘Original’ but otherwise it won’t detract from the car’s status. Colour or trim changes, practical or safety updates
‘THEY PROVIDE TRUTH WHEN QUESTIONS ARISE ABOUT PAST METHODOLOGY’
such as seatbelts, electric fans and fire suppression systems are similarly noted. The team’s findings, along with over 300 photographs, are then presented to Lamborghini’s Historic Committee and legal department, who decide on the status of the car and sign off publication of a book detailing the car’s life, which is then delivered to the owner, with an offer of rectification for any issues identified. This, the factory restoration facility, makes up the final part of the Polo Storico jigsaw. The team currently accepts around four or five customer cars per year for full restoration, each taking an average of two years to complete. With the average Hagerty Price Guide value of a Miura P400S currently sitting at £1.85m, it’s no surprise that this model is Polo Storico’s most popular commission, given that costs start at ‘a few hundred thousand euros’, according to Gulinelli. I get to experience the results for myself on a drive through the northern Apennine mountains in a variety of Lamborghinis from Polo Storico’s own fleet. The Countach 25th Anniversary is as expected: an assault on every sense, ridiculously impractical but one of the most exceptional cars I’ve ever driven, akin to piloting a spaceship. Reversing the Countach, almost completely blind, around a corner into a tight single-track road to allow space for an oncoming car is nerve-wracking, to say the least.
‘LOCALS
AS WE PASS, SUCH IS THE LOVE FOR THIS MARQUE’
Clockwise, from top left Lamborghini 400GT leads Countach 25th Anniversary and Diablo VT 6.0 SE on Polo Storico convoy; our man enjoys the Jarama most; gloriously gold Diablo is the last made – and a former Octane cover star.
The final Diablo ever produced, a 2001 VT SE 6.0 in glorious Oro Elios, was almost as stunning but much more practical (and co-starred on the cover of Octane 210). The long gears mean I rarely escape into third gear or more around the tight turns of the Futa Pass, but the steering is much sharper than expected, the power never lets up and nor does the noise of that wonderful V12. Locals literally stop and clap as we pass, such is the love for this marque here.
The 400GT is much quieter than its two later siblings, but Lamborghini’s trademark idiosyncrasy still shines through. There are curves everywhere, even at the front edges of the side windows, and the doors are eight inches thick at the A-pillar. The interior is of its era, covered in switches and Veglia dials as much as hide, and the seats are comfortable, but the engine is too quiet for my liking.
I really like the unsung Jarama. This was Ferruccio Lamborghini’s favourite model, and I can see why, combining superb handling and a proper roar from the V12 with a design that grows on you the more you look at it. It’s no Miura, and the brakes leave quite a lot to be desired, but you can’t have everything. And I’m not complaining: a few days hosted by the team at Sant’Agata Bolognese, driving some of my automotive heroes and meeting the passionate team entrusted with their preservation, has been an unforgettable experience.
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This fabulous ‘Tulipwood’ 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C has just won the Pebble Beach Concours. David Burgess-Wise recounts its remarkable life story
‘It’s like a fine piece of furniture,’ said Lee Anderson Sr as his 1924 8.0-litre HispanoSuiza H6C ‘Type Sport’ was voted Best of Show at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. ‘When we get it home, we’re going to put it in the living room and sit in it.’
The mahogany body of his Hispano had proved a crowdpleaser at the Concours and obviously bedazzled the judges, too, for the car was up against stiff opposition – a 1933 S-Type 4½-litre Invicta with Corsica drophead coupé coachwork, a two-seater 1939 Maybach SW38 Spohn Sport and a 1956 Maserati 200SI Fantuzzi open sports racer – but, even as the finalists lined up at the foot of the final ramp, the Hispano towered, literally and physically, above the rest.
Let’s get one thing straight about the Best of Show Hispano-Suiza: for many years, everyone – including commentator Amanda Stretton announcing the winner –has called it the ‘Tulipwood Hispano’. That’s akin to describing a lovely lady by the material her undergarments are cut from, for while there is tulipwood in the construction of the Hispano’s lightweight bodywork, it’s the unglamorous yet essential substrate beneath the car’s external skinning.
Tulipwood, for all its exotic overtones, is a poplar hardwood (liriodendron tulipifera) from the Eastern United States, ‘frequently used’, says a timber merchant, ‘for kitchen cabinets’. Woodworkers love it for its resistance to splitting when nailed. It’s very strong for its weight and ideal for laminating. That’s why tulipwood, layered in whisper-thin strips set diagonally at alternating 90º angles and laid over thin formers, was used by the makers of this Hispano’s coachwork, French aircraft manufacturer Société Nieuport, to build light yet strong monocoque fuselages for aircraft such as its record-breaking NiD-42 S sesquiplane racer.
The only difference was that those fuselages were clad in doped fabric; the lightweight body that was commissioned from Nieuport-Astra by aperitif scion André Dubonnet for his new 8.0-litre Hispano-Suiza H6C ‘Type Sport’ was skinned in carefully fitted strips of Honduran mahogany, pinned to the tulipwood monocoque beneath by 8500 aircraft-type aluminium rivets, each hand-hammered through tiny brass washers to secure them on the inside (it’s the yellow glow of the varnish that makes the rivets look like brass). Best of all, the bodyshell, mahogany skinning included, weighs only 160lb – that’s no more than the weight of an additional passenger.
The reason why André Dubonnet chose a Hispano-Suiza automobile and commissioned an aircraft manufacturer to build its body surely lies in his background in aviation. Like so many of society’s gilded youth, the teenage Dubonnet had volunteered to serve in the Great War. He joined the balloon service in May 1916 and then transferred to aviation, where he was rapidly classed as among the best pursuit pilots, ‘leading the pilots who have confidence in him cheerfully into combat’. He flew a Hispano-Suizaengined SPAD XIII biplane with the famous SPA3 – the ‘Escadrille Cicogne’ – whose flying stork emblem was adopted as the radiator mascot of the post-war Hispano-
Suiza cars. He finished the war with six victories, a Médaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre to his credit.
Come peacetime, Dubonnet purchased a 32CV 6.6-litre Hispano-Suiza, a car with an overhead-camshaft straight-six engine that drew on the technology of the firm’s wartime aero-engines. He drove it from Paris to Nice in 12hr 55min, an average of 41mph, won the Boillot Cup at Boulogne and was victorious in the Autumn Grand Prix at Monza.
Then came his purchase of the 8.0-litre ‘Boulogne’ H6C #11012, one of three factory-built surbaissé (dropped), ‘short’ (11ft 1.5in!) chassis, fitted with a lowered radiator and a 52-imperial-gallon fuel tank.
Despite its mahogany-clad bodywork, which seemed better-suited for the concours circuit than the race circuit, Dubonnet had the car prepared for the 1924 four-lap (268.5 miles) Targa Florio and the concurrent five-lap (335.5 miles) Coppa Florio, a dual event of countless corners over arduous Sicilian mountain terrain for which, with its long wheelbase, three-speed transmission and 3.0:1 final drive ratio giving 100mph at 3000rpm, it would seem to have been manifestly unsuited.
The French newspaper Le Vélo commented: ‘Dubonnet, great driver that he is, did everything one could have done on such a circuit with a long and heavy touring car: he was firm favourite before the start, but under his weight of 1900kg, his tyres were sacrificed. He didn’t benefit from a fine organisation like Mercedes or Alfa Romeo, but nevertheless found a precious help in the person of his friend Léo Nathan. As for the Hispano-Suiza, it aroused unanimous admiration, particularly on the part of the German engineers.’
Dubonnet – who had taken the precaution of carrying a metteur au point from Hispano-Suiza’s Bois-Colombes factory as riding mechanic – started first and, despite halfa-dozen punctures, finished sixth in the Targa and fifth in the Coppa, taking 8hr 36min 18sec to cover the entire distance and finishing only 19 minutes behind the winning Mercedes of Christian Werner (see Octane 259).
After its brief but distinguished competition career, Dubonnet equipped his Hispano for road use, fitting headlights, skimpy wings, a shallow windscreen, a small passenger door and a searchlight on the passenger’s side.
Yet soon he parted with it, and the Hispano briefly belonged to a ‘Monsieur Coty’ – probably perfume magnate’s son Roland Coty, who had driven an Oméga-Six in the 1924 Le Mans 24 Hours – until early in 1925, when Alexander Keiller, newly very rich after selling his share of the prosperous family marmalade business, was speeding down a long French road and overtaken by a car travelling even faster – so ordered his chauffeur to give chase. They eventually found the car parked outside a hotel, negotiatons ensued, and Keiller ended up as owner of the Hispano, which he nicknamed ‘Hippy’ and registered ‘XX 3883’ in London; it was good for an easy 100mph.
He was to own the car for some 25 years, putting it into storage in a coachbuilders’ premises in Plymouth during the war; its tail suffered superficial damage from a bomb splinter
Above and below
In spite of its weight and proportions, the Hispano-Suiza acquitted itself well in the 1924 Targa Florio; it was also the star of the Brooklands car park at the 1925 Whitsun Bank Holiday Monday Meeting.
during an air raid. At some stage before the war Keiller had replaced Dubonnet’s glorious flowing wings with doubtless more effective but definitely prosaic cycle wings.
Sometime during 1950 the writer ER (Rodney) ForestierWalker, author of such gripping yarns as A History of the Wire Rope Industry of Great Britain, discovered the Hispano stored in a King’s Road warehouse belonging to coachbuilder Hooper; he contacted Keiller, was invited to tea at his house and succeeded in buying the car. In March 1954 ForestierWalker recalled ‘A Journey to Remember’ for Motor magazine. ‘When it became necessary to visit a mountain farm of mine in North Wales,’ he wrote, ‘I remembered the Targa Florio and thought of a route which would enliven the journey and perhaps help me to sense a little of Dubonnet’s achievement in taking two tons and an 11ft wheelbase round the Sicilian peaks.’
Probably for the first time in its existence, the Hispano set off for Wales with a full complement of passengers and luggage crammed into its ‘slim, very slim’ body. Rodney Forestier-Walker and his wife, the portrait artist Mollie, were in the front (Mollie sharing space with an extra oil tank), their ‘household’ (a secretary and a housekeeper) was squeezed into the exiguous rear cockpit, while the luggage (three small suitcases) was strapped to a carrier in the tail with the cockpit’s one-piece wooden hatch on top.
Forestier-Walker was delighted to find that ‘a full load not only left the splendid handling qualities of the Hispano entirely unaffected, but apparently made no difference to the performance either. To find the Jaeger needle wavering between 85 and 90 up a slight gradient was exhilarating.’
The back-seat passengers, behind their little vee-screen, ‘were loud in their praise of the Hispano and swore it was the most comfortable ride they had ever had.’ (Well, they would, wouldn’t they…)
Then, in 1955, the wealthy American ‘young-man-about Mayfair’ Gerald Albertini, who had been left $2,500,000 by his father, spotted the Hispano parked by the roadside and left a note on the windscreen asking whether it was for sale. It wasn’t then, but six months later Albertini concluded the deal with Forestier-Walker, who had suffered ‘a change of circumstances’; the exchange was done on a quiet Welsh road as Forestier-Walker’s family could not bear to witness the car going.
Gerald Albertini, who in 1957 was to marry Laurel, the widow of HWM founder John Heath, put in hand a restoration, with coachwork handled by Panelcraft of Putney – successor to Corsica Coachworks – and the mechanical side handled by the great Hispano-Suiza technician George Briand. Apparently, the car had covered only 17,000 miles and little was worn apart from the clutch.
‘After its competition career, André Dubonnet equipped his Hispano for road use’
Albertini also commissioned a scale model of the car that was displayed in a glass case at his London home.
He made a few minor changes (to suit his physique) and one major one, employing veteran boat-builder Harry Day of Kingston-upon-Thames to make a set of mahoganypanelled pontoon wings to replace the cycle wings that Keiller had fitted. Describing the car in the article ‘Boulogne de Bois’ for The Autocar in 1960, Ronald ‘Steady’ Barker called the new wings ‘an exquisite affectation’.
Restoration finished, in 1957 Gerald and Laurel Albertini undertook an extended tour of France and Italy. In 1963 I saw the car for the first time when it was chosen to represent the year 1924 in the parade celebrating the golden jubilee of the RAC Country Club near Epsom (I represented 1927 with my Clyno tourer). A year later the Hispano crossed the Atlantic, purchased by the noted Bentley collector E Ann Klein; subsequent custodians include Richard E ‘Jerry’ Riegel Jr, in whose ownership it appeared in the 1965 ‘Sports Cars on Review’ exhibit at The Henry Ford museum and at the 1969 New York Auto Show.
In 1973 the Hispano was acquired by John Warth, who subsequently sold it to (Lord) Anthony Bamford and then brokered its sale to racing driver ‘Mike Sparken’ (Michel Poberejsky), who registered it in France as 2396 EA 92.
Subsequent custodians included a London-based Greek shipping executive who held it for only a year before selling it in 1983 to an American owner, who commissioned an eight-month restoration, after which it was exhibited at the 1986 Pebble Beach Concours, where it was awarded the Alec Ulmann Trophy for ‘Most Significant Hispano-Suiza’. Later, it changed hands again and was displayed in the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, where I saw it once more in the 1990s. Fast-forward to 2022, when the Hispano was acquired at auction by businessman, philanthropist and antique wood boat collector Lee Anderson Sr. It was the wood that attracted him to the car: ‘I’ve always loved varnished wood, and when I saw this I said, “My gosh! This is right in my wheelhouse! This is what I really like.”’
Anderson sent the Hispano-Suiza to RM Auto Restoration in Blenheim, Ontario, with the enlightened instructions to return it to the appearance it bore when André Dubonnet roistered over the long straight roads of France in the early 1920s.
Says Don McLellan, President of RM Auto Restoration: ‘It was a privilege to be entrusted to restore such an important piece of history. Our entire team took this very seriously and got it all together in only 20 months.’
While most of the original mahogany skinning was retained, the very lowermost strips had to be replaced because of rot and damage, as did some upper strips damaged by shrapnel during the war, using old-growth Honduran Mahogany found at a Canadian vintage wood supplier. RM’s woodworker used shavings and sanding dust from those lower strips to fill cracks and damage on the original mahogany strips still on the car, leaving those scars from the Hispano’s long and eventful life
This page and opposite The Hispano is imposing from any angle, but the painstakingly restored mahogany finish of the bodywork is its most arresting aspect.
visible as evidence of its colourful history. Off came the pontoon wings, an ‘exquisite affectation’ too far, to be replaced by lissom flowing wings to the original pattern. These were built from featherweight aluminium in-house, using vintage photographs as a guide. The original bracing irons, which fortunately had been only slightly modified in order to support Gerald Albertini’s teardrop wings, were repaired and retained.
Finding parts for the Hispano proved very difficult, but in a brilliant piece of lateral thinking RM sent two of its team to the Czech Republic – where, of course, Škoda licencebuilt Hispano-Suizas in the 1920s – on a hunting mission, and they returned with much of what was needed.
The rear windshield was fabricated in-house from photographs, while eBay provided original Blériot headlights (Forestier-Walker had replaced the originals with Lucidus lamps) and the huge spotlight. However, Blériot wing lights could not be found and these were recreated in-house.
The effete cream upholstery was a prime candidate for replacement, and luckily a four-inch fragment of the original alligator hide trim – clearly visible on the 1920s photo of the Hispano taken at Brooklands – was discovered under the modern leather on the front seatback. The precious fragment was included in the restoration book that RM compiled for the car’s owner and the Pebble Beach judges to prove the authenticity of the material.
‘The incredibly detailed chassis is spectacular,’ says Don McLellan, ‘but unfortunately it’s all covered up by the body and belly pans. It retains its Birkigt-designed brake boost system, powered by the transmission. All the components, fasteners, shafts and linkages are either painted or nickelplated and highly detailed, with part numbers stamped into nearly every nut and bolt. Even the nuts holding the headlights on the forks have part numbers in plain view.
‘The drivetrain is all original, with engine block serial #1! It has been rebuilt where needed, and some porous bits of
the aluminum castings repaired. The radiator was rebuilt overseas with a new core and the German silver radiator shell restored and straightened.’
The quest for originality even led RM to recreate the original-equipment Pognon spark plugs after a handful of Pognon plugs found on eBay were all damaged or slightly different. ‘We use modern internal components,’ says McLellan, ‘but retain the glazed and fired porcelain “Hispano-Pognon” insulator and external housing. We have plans to make them available to other Hispano-Suiza owners as well.’
The car now rides on authentic RAF wire wheels with 33x6 tyres rather than the chunky rubberware of the pontoon wing era, while the unusual ‘Steigboy’ silencer system evident on period photos was recreated in the RM workshops. ‘The sound of the exhaust through the “Steigboy” system is unique – very deep and loud! Steigboy exhaust systems were designed to be efficient at scavenging the exhaust pulses to increase power… or so it claimed. Does it help? Who knows?’
On the road, the Hispano-Suiza proves ‘a thrill to drive –fast with incredible torque and power,’ declares McLellan. ‘Once warmed up, it will start immediately by only turning on the ignition, and swinging the ignition timing lever left and right a couple times – no need for the starter motor!
‘Steering is easy; shifting with double-declutching is simple – the shifter is outside the car, behind the sidemount wheel. The rearmost nickel-plated lever outside the car is the headlight dipper actuator.’
As the Hispano-Suiza arrived on the winners’ ramp to collect its ‘Best of Show’ award, flying confetti sticking to the radiator like the winged insects that once dashed against the speeding car on the long straight highways of France, Concours Chairman Sandra Button declared: ‘This Hispano-Suiza, meticulously handcrafted, light, and lovely, ticks every possible box.’
André Dubonnet would have been very proud.
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Join Octane as we celebrate 200 years of the Stelvio Pass, one of the most famous roads the world has ever known
Words Andrew English
AN OVERDRIVE HELPS of course; first gear, then second, click into overdrive and then out and down into first again for the next hairpin. The rev-counter swings up and down and, depending on your tyres and differential, the inside wheel spins or chirps. And if it all feels a bit strained when you start off in Stilfs (or Stelvio in Italian) in the Southern Tirol, don’t worry: you’re going to be supremely well-practised after the 48 hairpins on the northern side of one of the most famous Alpine passes, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.
The Stelvio Pass or, as the Austrians call it, the Stilfser Joch is the highest paved eastern Alpine pass. Peaking at 2757m (9045ft), it was created two centuries ago to link Lombardy –now part of Italy but then part of Austria – with the rest of that country. This was because the 1815 Congress of Vienna had redrawn Europe’s Napoleonic borders and annexed Alta Valtellina and Lombardy Veneto to the Austrian empire, leading to the need for a direct route between the two. It lay so close to Switzerland that during the First World War, in the battles known as ‘the White War’, shells
Clockwise, from above
Depending on who’s counting, there are between 75 and 88 hairpins; best enjoyed roof down, wrapped up; unlike in the 1920s, today the pass is often closed in winter; local bus drivers have always been hardy types; the restaurant at the top is something of a tourist trap.
fired between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian lines were landing in neutral Switzerland and both sides had to agree to shell each other only on strict angles of attack.
The chief engineer was Carlo Donegani and he did a fine job with the tunnels and stonewalled corners – each and every one numbered. On the southern side, the high school in Sondrio is named after him. Depending on who is counting and from which side, there are a total of between 75 and 88 hairpin corners, although some are more hairpinning than others, notably those on the northern side.
Construction started in 1820, employing pioneering techniques, and it opened in 1825, considered the pride of Austria. As a piece of socio-political road-building it was a triumph, although post-war border changes in 1919 meant that both sides of the pass then belonged to Italy, which reduced its political significance.
Despite its location and general air of heroicness, motorsport events there have been limited. Between 1926 and 1939 it was the host of the Corsa Internazionale Dello Stelvio hillclimb and it was (still is) part of the countless Liège-Rome-Liège road rallies. It was also first used as a stage for the Giro d’Italia cycle race in 1953 and has been ever since.
There’s no great filmography of the Stelvio, either. The Italian Job featured the Grand St Bernard Pass and, while just about every budding Fellini has their own GoPro footage of the climb, there’s precious little else in celluloid tributes apart from Alessandro Melazzini’s 2014 Stelvio. Crossroads Of Peace, which you can see on Amazon Prime.
Yet somehow the Stelvio has entered popular imagination as one of the greatest-ever driving roads. When Alfa Romeo produced an SUV known as the Stelvio, it ill-advisedly planned an early spring launch on the pass, which was closed by snow so they had to cross the Alps
via the Brenner Pass instead, which as a car name doesn’t roll quite so lightly off the tongue. Moto Guzzi produces a motorcycle called the Stelvio, and, when Jeremy Clarkson and co did the Stelvio for BBC’s Top Gear, they pronounced it the world’s best driving road.
Every year thousands make the pilgrimage to this motoring Mecca, though none quite like the three-times Indy 500 winner, 13-times Pikes Peak winner and all-round American treasure, Bobby Unser on the 1990 Pirelli Classic Marathon. Unser (who in his own words ‘never went slow for nobody’) manhandled a powerful, Lister-tuned black E-type up the pass one minute faster than anyone else in the rally, before running through a small village and colliding with a school bus…
Most of us travel north to south in an altogether more gentle way and, in my experience, the eye-popping radiator temperatures and thinner air at the top (where there’s almost 30% less oxygen going into the engine and through your radiator and lungs) are exciting enough. I ran my old ex-Neil Revington Triumph TR3a up there in Malcolm McKay’s 2019 Liège-Brescia-Liège rally; we hit the hill at midday on a scorchio Italian bank holiday, which goes together with a cammy high-performance engine like a Nutella-andpenguin sandwich.
The valiant old car boiled three times on the way up, crawling behind an ancient, smoky Mercedes bus with ‘One Life, Live It’ stickers on the back. Even when we got past, there were motor caravans (which aren’t strictly allowed on such mountain roads) so big they required three-point turns on some of the tighter corners, with puffing cyclists, terrifying rollerskiers, classic cars (including what seems like half the world’s surviving population of original Minis), supercars growling and
yelping, and bikers of all descriptions (there is a rumour that every BMW GS motorcycle ever built has been up the Stelvio).
And we saw a muskrat, which came screaming across the road in front of us and disappeared into the ground like the Thunderbirds mole. I’d never seen one before. What on Earth does it eat, 2.5km in the sky? After that, three German-registered BMW motorcycles gently tipped over on a tight hairpin in front of us, which, while not funny at all, really, really was, especially when a load of geezers from Sarf London on a fleet of Lambrettas rolled up and manhandled the machines upright.
At the time I wrote that it felt like an overcrowded festival of human endeavour, internal combustion and bad driving. And when we finally got to the top it was a struggle to park amid the queues to buy Stelvio fridge magnets and overpriced ice cream. A lesson learnt in terms of timing, then. And where to stop: barely 500 metres down from the peak on the Italian side was a fine restaurant, the proprietor of which confessed that he struggled to keep going because his restaurant isn’t at the top (even though it enjoys better views).
So happy birthday Stelvio. It’s an extraordinary thing and quite the mightiest piece of civil engineering, with some incredible views and a sense of achievement guaranteed, even if it isn’t all tail-slides and twiddly bits. If you are determined to tackle it and perhaps glimpse what Liège-Brescia-Liège leaders Honore Wagner and Abbes Donven saw early on the morning of 19 July 1958 through the screen of their Fiat 500 Abarth as they gave it everything up the Alp, you need to get up early – and watch out for the muskrats.
1
CHECK WHETHER IT’S OPEN
Between November and April, chances are the Stelvio will be closed because of snow and ice. Even if you are there between May and October, weather conditions can close the pass. Also, there are days when the pass is closed for special events such as cycle races. Check with local sites (such as www.bormio.eu/en/alpine-passes) for information.
2 TRAVEL EARLY
By 10am on most days, the pass will be filled with a caravan of slow-moving traffic. Get there at daybreak, especially on a weekday, and you are more likely to find it peaceful and quiet.
3 DON’T EAT AT THE TOP
The top of the Stelvio is a tourist trap. Travel a bit farther down the slope on the southern side and you’ll find good roadside hostelries and a warm welcome.
4 DRESS FOR THE TOP
Even if it’s warm and sunny at the bottom, it’s unlikely to be so at the top, so keep a fleece and warm hat to hand.
5 CHECK YOUR CAR AND FUEL CONTENTS
With almost 30% less oxygen in the air than at sea level, your radiator fans might spin faster, but they carry a much smaller volume of air through the coolers. The engine will be down on power and, depending on your carburation, will run rich. Fill the tank, too. From Bormio to Stilfs is about 30 miles and it’ll take you about 90 minutes to cover. It’s a long walk if you run out of fuel.
6 CONSIDER WINTER TYRES
You don’t have to have winter tyres fitted but, if you are at the margins of the pass’s open dates, they are certainly worth considering.
7 EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Muskrats will shoot across the road, buses will stop for sightseers to take photos, motorbikes will tip over, cyclists can fall off and roller-skiers will lose control. And all that can happen right in front of you in one single ascent.
8 CONSIDER ANOTHER PASS
Other Alpine passes exist. Consider, for example, the Vršič Pass (or Passo della Moistrocca), a 1611m slog through 50 hairpins running north-south into the Trento valley. Or the 2211m Passo di Pènnes, a lovely unspoilt road that links Innsbruck with Bolzano. Usually as clear as a whistle, though without endless switchback hairpins, it has a decent restaurant at the top and is quite beautiful.
9 TREAD LIGHTLY
Stelvio is a precious area, loved by its inhabitants who take a great deal of care of its environment and wildlife. Consider yourself a guest, behave accordingly and take your rubbish home with you.
10 HONE YOUR DRIVING
Inclinations on the inside of tighter hairpins are very steep so try to avoid them and take a wide turn. Hug the inside and, on a bike, you can fall over; in a low-slung classic you can ground out and even lose an exhaust. Look up the road when entering the corner and prepare to stop if you can see something larger than you entering from the other direction. Be gentle with the brakes and the gears, and try to be smooth into and out of the corners.
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Super-estates were once all the rage and are now under threat. Are we missing out? Octane takes six of the best to the Peak District to find out
Whoever decided that drivers should have either practicality or performance clearly lacked vision.
For much of its existence the estate car or stationwagon was just a practical workhorse. Aside from odd occasions when coachbuilding concerns would cra a tiny run of exotic long-roofs, the estate – at least in Europe – was almost never seen as exciting. A reputation it might not have shaken, were it not for the Germans…
Audi’s reputation for fast estates is well-earned. Just as stablemate Volkswagen wrote the hot hatch blueprint with its original GTI, Audi took a parallel path with the RS2 Avant. It might not have been the rst ‘fast estate’, as such – it wasn’t even the rst to emerge from Ingolstadt – but it was one of the rst truly desirable ultra-high-performance four-door wagons, aimed squarely at press-on motorists.
anks to some Porsche magic in the mix, and the inherent allure of Audi’s image, the RS2 turbocharged – quite literally – the performance estate niche proper from 1994. Soon no maker’s range would be complete without an eye-wateringly rapid estate and the RS2 set in motion a genre that would reach its high-water mark post-millennium – just before the trend for massive engines and guilt-free performance headed for its last gasp.
Of course, the RS2 couldn’t have had be er ingredients. Audi had made an enviable name for itself o the back of its 1980s World Rally Champion image and in the
turbocharged 200 qua ro Avant we saw the creation of a related fast estate, even if it was more exec express than ame-spi ing gravel monster.Realising it had missed a trick and hoping to create something be er able to compete with BMW’s M3, Audi went down the road to Porsche. Its timing couldn’t have been be er, with Porsche’s order books far from full during the early-1990s recession.
For the RS2, Porsche tweaked Audi’s 20-valve turbo vecylinder – li ed from the 80-based S2 Avant – and increased its repower by nearly 100bhp to 311bhp. at and Audi’s motorsport-honed all-wheel drive system resulted in the world’s fastest estate car of the time, dispensing with 60mph from rest in a claimed 5.4 seconds and limited to 163mph. It’ll come as no surprise to learn, then, that the RS2 is a riot to drive. e soundtrack conjures images of be-winged WRC behemoths; it’s an engine note that demands you leave it in a lower gear, just to let it all bellow out. If you can resist your inner infant (di cult, admi edly) you can ride peak torque of 302lb , which arrives at an eminently rational 3000rpm; peak power follows in a rush at 6000rpm.
e RS2’s ride o ers a decent compromise between sporting and sensible, most welcome on less than perfect tarmac. Sure, the odd jiggle and crash will remind you that you’re in an old performance car, but the impression is one of surprisingly modern competence and solid quality. at’s the family car side of things; the rally heritage means that huge levels of grip dictate the RS2 experience. Planting the
‘THE RS2 SET IN MOTION A GENRE THAT WOULD REACH ITS HIGH-WATER MARK POSTMILLENNIUM’
throttle hard at the apex – don’t get greedy before or you’ll run wide – sees the RS2 dig in and fire you out with pace that still feels impressive. Peel your right foot from the bulkhead, and it returns to premium estate mode, and not necessarily an overly expensive one. Despite the Porsche DNA you can still bag an RS2 from just £25,000. Mind you, the very best command three times that.
Rivals? Well, it’s largely peerless. You could have bought a BMW M5 wagon (E34) from 1992, but only in left-hand drive. A few years later, AMG offered its V8-powered C43 wagon, but that was neither quite as fast nor as special. The RS2 utterly altered the long-roof landscape, and though its tiny production numbers didn’t impact your average consumer – only 2900 were built, just 180 in right-hand drive – the blue touch paper had been lit. Even sensible old Volvo got in on the act.
A go-even-faster 850 (the turbocharged T-5 existed already) was revealed at the 1994 Geneva motor show, barely six months after the RS2’s Frankfurt debut. The Swedes had come to the same conclusion as the Germans, around the same time, that sexing up its wagon range would have a halo effect on sales.
Simply adding an R to the T-5 moniker disguises the level of effort involved. The T-5R wasn’t a homologation model,
as the 850 was already competition-compliant – at least for the British Touring Car Championship. Volvo, with partner TWR, memorably (though largely unsuccessfully) campaigned an 850 estate during the 1994 BTCC season. The top-performing roadgoing 850 T-5R – available as estate or saloon – sold well as a result, and the idea of its limited production was soon abandoned.
In common with Audi, Volvo had sought the expertise of Porsche, the Stuttgart crew giving a hand with both engine (another turbo ‘five’) and chassis development. The result became reality within a budget of just 15million kronor (just over £1million) and a timescale of nine months from draft to delivery.
The stiff ride of the Volvo comes as an immediate shock, if you’ll excuse the pun. Its damping feels harsh, perhaps thanks to preconceptions of the marque’s older, comfier wagons. This one features automatic transmission, which was commonly fitted, and the steering feels a little slowwitted, too. Thankfully, there’s plenty of grip on offer, so once you adjust to this Volvo’s slightly unorthodox way of going fast, you can make swift progress.
Better news is that performance still feels strong, the T-5R offering deep reserves of torque with surprisingly sonorous vocals, its turbocharged 243bhp 2.3-litre five-
cylinder singing a very similar song to the Audi’s. It’s down by 68bhp compared with the RS2, though that’s still enough to launch you to 60mph in 6.7sec and on to 155mph.
With just under 7000 built and the credibility borne of BTCC heroics, there’s serious desirability here and that means the best T-5Rs sit around £27,000, yet there is still happy hunting between £12,000 and £18,000.
Alfa Romeo’s output in the 1980s and 1990s was a bit of a mixed bag. For its all-new 1990s saloon, however, Alfa wanted a fresh start. The 156 fulfilled that brief beautifully, not only looking cutting-edge and gorgeous – thanks to Centro Stile Alfa Romeo and its lead designer Walter de’Silva – but also proving to be impressive to drive. This sexy new saloon range could once again go toe-to-toe with the likes of BMW and, in that company, a go-faster 156 was essential.
It was crowned the GTA, Alfa’s famous Gran Turismo Alleggerita moniker chosen to reignite recollections of its lightweight racing lineage – the tag wasn’t wholly accurate, mind, as the 156 GTA Sportwagon weighed 1485kg, with 52% of that bulk over its V6-equipped nose. Speaking of which, above all else, this Alfa’s characterful 3.2-litre ‘Busso’ engine beguiles from the off, with a baritone bellow that proves ever-present, especially when you go searching for its 250bhp power peak, which arrives at 6200rpm. That’s backed by a very useful 221lb ft wallop of torque from 4800rpm.
Figures never tell the whole story, though, as the GTA’s six long ratios mean you don’t really need to work the ’box too
hard to keep the engine performing. The tall sixth gear greatly aids cruising, but third gear in particular proves pivotal. Leaving it there and extending the throttle between corners is key to swift progress.
There’s an open differential as standard, though most have had a torque-biasing LSD added, and a Torsen-type limited-slip is fitted here, which helps iron out a lot of the car’s inherent understeer in tighter bends, though we’d still prefer to dial down the fidgety steering a bit, as it seems overly direct.
The GTA Sportwagon arrived in 2002, a year after the saloon, and there’s great news for potential GTA owners as prices haven’t escalated through the ceiling in the way of many of its contemporaries. The very best cost around £18,000, with higher-mileage, enthusiast-owned examples still out there for under £10,000. That makes the GTA the entry-level car of our estate collective, though the thrilling driving experience it offers in no way reflects that.
Because BMW didn’t produce an M3 E46 Touring –aside from a single M-Power prototype – the Alfa’s closest rivals in period were the slower Ford Mondeo ST220 estate or the larger, more expensive Mercedes C32 AMG. By the late 2000s, performance estates were pumping out more power than many a supercar had been making a generation earlier. The Audi RS6 of 2002 boasted a ridiculous (for the time) 444bhp and 413lb ft of torque, sent, of course, to all four corners. The bar had been raised to the stratosphere with Audi’s position as maker of the world’s fastest estate seemingly unassailable. That’s when BMW M muttered ‘hold my stein’…
BMW was deeply embedded in Formula 1 during the fourth M5’s gestation and the thoroughly bonkers decision
‘THE M5’S V10 REVS TO 8250RPM AND MAKES A RIDICULOUS 507BHP’
was made to equip its next super-saloon (and Touring) with a V10 engine. Mirroring the powerplants it supplied to topflight motorsport, the 5.0-litre S85 V10 in the E61 – cast at the same Landshut foundry as the F1 blocks – revved to a titanic 8250rpm, making a ridiculous 507bhp without a turbo or supercharger in sight. Even in a car that weighed two tonnes, that was enough shove for a 0-60mph sprint in just 4.8sec and, derestricted, a whopping 204mph top end! With such a masterpiece of a powerplant – winner of Engine of the Year 2005 – the M5 wagon can hardly fail to impress. Low down the rev-range, the soundtrack is muted by effective sound-deadening and a plush cabin. The leather, dashboard and switchgear still look and feel premium, and even the ride isn’t overly jarring, at least not in its most comfortable setting. Dial it up a few notches and the
increase in firmness aids focus. When you’re in the right frame of mind, the crisp engine, sharp yet weighty steering and confidence-inspiring damping all coalesce to provide you with the perfect platform to attack a challenging road.
With clear stretches of tarmac – essential as this thing likes to launch at the horizon – the E61 feels as fast as any road car needs to be: it’s prodigiously powerful and, oh, the noise this thing makes! Feed it revs and the motor emits an unmistakably old-school F1 wail. It even looks fast.
We didn’t know it at the time, but this era represented the pinnacle of internal combustion; it’s been fewer cylinders and smaller displacements ever since. As only 1009 E61 M5s were made (222 in right-hand drive), these uberestates certainly hold their value. When you can even find one for sale, expect to pay around £30,000.
Today, it seems AMG’s reputation for making monstrous muscle cars is eternal. In fact, although the Affalterbach firm’s renown for rapidity was there from the start (in 1967), it took decades for this tuner-turned-manufacturer to find a performance niche. Rather than chasing BMW’s scalpelsharp chassis dynamics and screaming six-cylinder engines – although it certainly did that, too – AMG’s corner of the market turned out mainly to be making brutally fast, V8powered super-saloons and coupés.
By the late Noughties, this formula was paying dividends. And just three years on from its buy-out by Mercedes-Benz, arguably AMG’s most, er, AMG-ish model arrived. The C63 AMG was developed fundamentally to finish off the M3, a tall order in any era but especially when the BMW product in question was its 4.0-litre V8-powered E92.
Where the AMG product certainly won out was in its steroidal, DTM-baiting styling. There’s no confusing the C63 AMG with its diesel cousin. Huge, flared arches, deep, sculpted splitters front and rear, and brakes that look big enough to haul in a 747 are less-than-subtle clues that this is one fast Benz. Within, the cabin is awash with premium plastics and hides, the Alcantara-wrapped sports steering wheel falls ideally to hand, and superbly supportive seats prove to be equally comfortable. Steering feels direct and weighty, characteristics not often associated with older Mercedes-Benz products.
In keeping with both the Alfa and BMW, this AMG’s engine dominates. Beckon its 6.2-litre lump into life (that 6.3 badge pays misleading homage to the Waxenberger 300 SEL of the 1960s) and you’re met by a deep growl from under the bulging bonnet. The extremely potent 451bhp of naturally aspirated grunt was a good deal more than the 414bhp offered by its contemporary M3 and RS4 rivals, and the ante has been further upped here with AMG’s desirable Performance Pack Plus option, offering a 480bhp engine tune and additional sporty trim. It works in parallel with the C63’s phenomenal mechanical grip and (thankfully) upgraded 390mm front discs that are more than capable of reining in the fun.
As for values, there’s no getting away from the fact that a lot of first-generation C63s have fallen on hard times, with some higher-mileage examples scraping perilously close to the £10,000 barrier. Having said that, cream always rises to the top and those in the best condition, like this one, cost around £25,000.
Jaguar’s first official performance estate arrived extremely late to the game – somewhat surprisingly, as the famous British manufacturer seems ideally placed to trot out a fast
‘THERE’S NO CONFUSING
Left and below
You can’t buy a new Jaguar at the moment and few are more useful than this one, which will surely appreciate; Silver Arrow lives on, though with a bigger boot.
wagon. Regardless, we had to wait until 2014, but it was well worth it. The supercharged XFR-S Sportbrake was a real supercar slayer, sporting the same 542bhp V8 engine as the stupendous XKR-S coupé. It had the ability to dash to 60mph in a frankly absurd 4.4sec, its prodigious power finally losing the battle with wind resistance at 186mph.
Aside from its bottled-lightning engine, its chassis also got the full R treatment, with bigger brakes (380mm discs), stiffer and lower suspension (coils at the rear rather than air) and much meaner aero than its diesel-powered XF wagon progenitor.
As this is a grown-up Jaguar (sort of), there’s less of the child-like gargle of the AMG’s exhaust and auto-blip on start-up. Still, though far from obnoxious, the soundtrack is deliciously devilish. The intake note and supercharger whine are more notable, poking their audible presence above the car’s substantial soundproofing.
You’re immediately aware of this Jaguar’s size, especially on rural routes. The car’s considerable length (just 34mm shy of five metres) can make it a little awkward in tight spots, and its considerable weight (1987kg) can’t be entirely disguised either. The ride’s on the firmer side, of course, but that’s only really noticeable around town. On the open road, it’s very close to offering an ideal blend of stability and pliancy, something Jaguar has historically managed to master. The compliant nature of the chassis set-up helps telegraph the car’s limits well in advance of you exceeding them, and the electronic differential out back also does a great job of apportioning power under full throttle, especially out of bends. All this adds up to a fantastic cross-
country companion when you’re ‘on it’, and a comfortable and rare tourer when you’re not.
When new less than a decade ago, this Jaguar went toeto-toe with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S and Audi RS6, and was priced as such at £82,305. Now it’s the rarest of our super-estates – with only 61 thought to have been produced in total – and it’ll still cost you £40,000 if you can find one. Surely the only way is up?
THE HEYDAY OF the (mostly) naturally aspirated superestate might be behind us, but there are still a few eyewateringly fast long-roofs on sale. BMW offers both its latest M3 and M5 as Tourings, though the days of Audi’s V10-powered RS6 are now a distant memory. MercedesAMG is still in the mix, with its current hybrid C63 S E Performance getting to 60mph in a scarcely believable 3.4sec. As the name suggests, it comes with electric-motor assistance, but the big old V8 was first reduced and boosted, then made way for a four-cylinder turbo.
Every one of the estates highlighted here offers a glimpse of a lost era. They dazzle with dynamics and captivate with engine capacity but, when you’re not going for a local B-road lap record, they also settle down into practical, comfortable and usable load-luggers. If you have room, time or money for only one performance classic to do it all, then each of these end-of-an-era estates has you covered.
THANKS TO Audi UK, Volvo Cars UK, Andy Glanville, Chris Jeffrey, Gareth Newton and Mike Phillips.
THE OCTANE INTERVIEW
As the Haynes Motor Museum celebrates its 40th anniversary, its founder’s son Chris Haynes recalls life with his father – and growing up in petrolhead heaven
‘DID I HAVE A CHOICE?’ splutters Chris Haynes in mock indignation when I ask him whether he had an interest in cars as a child. Well, sometimes the enthusiasm of the father is not passed down to his offspring… but, as it happens, Chris and his elder brothers Marc and John – always known as ‘J’ to distinguish him from their dad – all inherited that gene. Just as well, since all three have been closely involved with their father’s legacy, the Haynes Motor Museum that was set up 40 years ago.
‘I was 12 when the museum was founded in 1985,’ explains Chris. ‘The success of the Haynes Manuals had allowed my father to build up a significant car collection, which was dotted in sheds and barns all over the place. One of the impulses to set up the museum was that someone asked him where his AC Cobra was, and he couldn’t remember! But, of course, things were very different in the ’70s and ’80s.
‘At the time, two very significant car collections were being sold off because their owners had died, and my father thought that was a horrifying prospect. By setting up a charitable trust, he could donate his cars to the trust and keep them in one place, and give something back to the motoring world that had given him so much pleasure and success.’
Many readers will have some acquaintance with the John Haynes story; how he realised that factory workshop manuals were too technical for the average car owner, so set out to publish his own. The 250 copies of his first
booklet Building a 750 Special, run off on a Gestetner duplicator when he was 16, sold out in ten days but things got into gear during a posting to Aden with the RAF in 1964, when he helped a friend rebuild an Austin-Healey Sprite and produced the first recognisable Haynes Owner’s Workshop Manual about it.
Back in the UK, with John doing the mechanical work, copy, photography and art direction, his wife Annette typesetting the words and running the office, the fledgling business expanded into a global empire that allowed John – and Annette, who was and is just as much a petrolhead – to indulge their passion for cars, leading to the 350-plus collection now based in the museum.
Although his father had a lot of very desirable motors, Chris rarely got to drive any of them. ‘By the time I could drive, most of them were in the museum anyway, and, to be honest, I was probably a bit too straight to misbehave. The first car I drove on the road was a Mini Moke that my dad let me borrow and take to Devon for a surfing holiday. I had a great time parking nose-in outside pubs in my shorty wetsuit; then, while my mate went in to order the pints of Guinness, I would go around to the back of the Moke, lift it up – I was a big lad, a rugby player – and walk it into the space.’ He laughs. ‘Remember, I was 17, so I was like, “Alright, girls?”’
Chris says his classic car epiphany came when he offered to drive his father-in-law’s
MGB to the Haynes workshop so a minor electrical fault could be fixed. ‘I was used to driving relatively fast cars – I had an Alfa 155 and I’d modified the suspension, it was just so quick – but the MGB made me realise how much fun driving slowly could be. I was drifting around roundabouts at all of 20mph, playing with the revs and feeling it slipping and sliding beneath me, and it dawned on me how much more reward you get with an old car than you do from driving ridiculous supercars at anything less than lunatic speed.’
More than 30 years on, Chris has built up his own enviable collection of cars, from a 1903 Haynes-Apperson (no relation – it was built by US pioneer Elwood Haynes) via Mike Hawthorne’s Ferrari 250 GT to a trio of ’80s hot hatches, to name just a few. But he put the graft in, too. ‘I was in my late teens when one of the museum’s main halls was being built, and unfortunately the structure had been erected before the concrete floor was poured. So I spent a summer wheelbarrowing liquid concrete inside to lay the floor by hand. That was hard work but I loved it.’
During his gap year after school, Chris asked whether he could help out in the Haynes museum workshop. ‘Like my dad, I enjoy fixing stuff. My proudest moment came when I was assisting our late chief mechanic Simon Taylor in restoring a vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom in front of visitors to the museum, and one of them wrote in the visitors’ book: “It’s so lovely to see that you use genuine RollsRoyce engineers to restore your cars”!’
‘I spent a summer wheelbarrowing liquid concrete inside to lay the floor by hand’
Clockwise, from top left Chris and his dad in Malibu, California, 1975; aerial view shows museum’s size; US cars are a Haynes passion; Chris grew up with these cars; racing his Porsche 911T in 1998; with daughter Chrissie in his original Aston Martin Ulster prototype.
After a few months in America and a spell in higher education back in the UK, Chris returned to the museum to help his brother, Marc, in managing it. Marc was born with syringomyelia, a degenerative spinal condition, and became a wheelchair user from the age of five. Despite his disability, he was an ultracompetitive racing driver and became the first paraplegic to obtain a racing licence from the RAC MSA, competing in Porsche 911s and then a Ferrari 360 Challenge.
Chris followed suit, racing with some success over four seasons, in the last of which J also joined the team and all three brothers shared the same grid. Today, the GT Cup Championship that Marc founded is run by Chris, J and Hannah James as a tribute to Marc, who passed away in 2016, aged 48.
‘Marc was a stubborn mule, with a determination that he would let nothing beat him,’ says Chris with thinly disguised emotion – the three brothers were always close, even though Marc and J were several years older than Chris. ‘When I started, I was basically acting as his legs so he could do his job, and I looked after the conferencing, the Haynes Classic Tours of the early ’90s and so on; whatever needed to be done to help our very small team in running the museum.
‘Towards the end of that decade our offices overlooked the front carpark and I would see people drive in, look at the building, turn around and drive out again, and I remember saying to Marc: “We need to do something about what the museum looks like.” Over
about six years, my father very generously donated money and eventually we built what you see now. The new building opened in 2014 and a couple of years later I had a really humbling moment when a local businessman thanked us for having put Somerset on the map. I’d never even thought about that but it definitely brought new investment to the area.’
What made the new building financially possible was the family’s decision to build it themselves, a process that had started right back in 1985 when John became unhappy with the work being done to erect the original museum by a big firm. He asked a local builder, Mike Strode, who had been building him and Annette a house, to take a look – and the result was that Mike was employed as the contractor and Haynes Developments Ltd has built every museum extension since. It enables them to keep costs down such that, when an architect friend visited the new building and estimated that the build must have cost £10-12million, Chris grinned and replied: ‘No, mate, because none of you lot were involved!’
Today, Chris is the museum’s Chair of the Trustees, a role he’s fulfilled since late 2019. He’d just come through major surgery for prostate cancer and had already delegated most of his role as chief exec to his deputy, Chris Scudds – ‘He is a much more professional manager than I ever was!’ – who then became CEO. Before his cancer diagnosis at the age of just 47, Haynes had been effectively juggling three roles: running the museum as CEO, managing the property business and overseeing
the GT Cup Championship that had been set up by Marc.
‘I’d always said, after Marc died, that I’d take on the CEO job purely on a temporary basis while we transitioned from being a charitable trust to a charitable company limited by guarantee – before that, the trustees held personal liability for the museum, which was less than ideal. It was all part of the plan developed with my brother and endorsed by the trustees to turn the museum into a standalone legal entity that would continue long after we had gone.’
The museum has now been self-sustaining for some time. John Haynes senior died in 2019 at the age of 80, and a year later the family took the difficult decision to divest itself of the publishing business. The museum workshops also operate as a separate business called Haynes Heritage Engineering under the ownership of the charity, which receives the profits. Anyone can bring a car in for work; it’s perfectly possible to, say, book your classic in for a service while visiting the museum if you give them sufficient notice.
The museum itself now has Arts Council accreditation and Chris naturally has ideas for how to further its charitable purpose by expanding and improving the interpretative displays – he feels the motorsport gallery, for example, could be greatly enlarged, and he’s very keen that young people should be given the chance to work on older vehicles.
But does he ever regret not having done something completely different as a career? ‘When I was younger, I was quite good at art
and I thought about going into the theatre and stage design,’ he muses. ‘That didn’t come to anything, but I did the design for the old “Dawn of Motoring” display of shop frontages here at the museum and similar projects. I’d completed an HND in Leisure Studies at Loughborough, which bemused my father –who asked sarcastically “Does that involve an armchair?” – but ironically made me the most appropriately qualified person at the museum!
‘Oddly enough, although I enjoy driving my cars, I’m probably the least-connected person in the classic car world – I’ve never been one for the “vol-au-vents on the lawn” type of event. I’ve never even been to the Goodwood Festival or Revival! Ultimately, most of my life has been devoted to my own family and to continuing my parents’, and latterly Marc’s, legacy. After my father died, I read the comments about him on social media: “John Haynes, what a legend… It was because of him that I could afford to run a car…” and so on, endlessly repeated. I found that incredibly humbling.
‘We also found that dad had been carrying around in his Filofax a 1927 quote by carmaker William Morris, and it’s one that I also now hold dear. “To any man worth his salt, the desire for personal gain is not his chief reason for working. It is that desire to achieve, to be a success, to make his job something worthy of his mettle and self-respect…”’
Haynes Motor Museum is located just off the main A303 at Sparkford, near Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7LH, haynesmuseum.org.
Porsche redefined the 911 in 1968, with a longer wheelbase and fuel injection. This ex-Jo Siffert 911 E is the very first of them
Where even to start? To all intents and purposes, this is nothing special. A white (well, Light Ivory) 1968 911 E. Beautifully restored, yes, but beautifully restoring Porsche 911s has been a ‘thing’ for a good few years now. The year denotes that it’s an early long-wheelbase (LWB) B-model 911, which is kind of significant. And ‘E’, of course, means Einspritzung, in reference to Porsche’s first series-production mechanical fuel injection system.
Slide behind the characteristically wieldy, four-spoke steering wheel and the driver’s seat feels bouncy; the vital controls have a spring-loaded action, from the over-centre, cable-operated clutch to the organ-pedal accelerator, opening and shutting the six spring-assisted throttle butterflies. To start, tickle the hand-throttle situated between the front seats, to prime the pump. Twist the key and the air-cooled flat-six churns and catches with a shriek, settling to a fast, off-beat idle, punctuated by the odd sniff and cough. No seatbelts to worry about in 1968, so pull back and left on the dog-leg Type 901 gearbox, ease the clutch to the biting point and trickle out into the London traffic, building up sufficient momentum for the tricky upshift to second. Jo Siffert would probably have made a better fist of it, I’m sure.
Come again? Now that’s a bit more special. Yes, Siffert did operate these very controls, possibly not in London, but then he was just one of three competitive custodians of this 911 E. And that’s merely to scrape the surface of this remarkable 911’s history.
So we’ll start at the beginning, then. An early long-wheelbase 911? How about the first long-wheelbase 911. The VIN number doesn’t lie: 11920001. And first LWB 911 also equals first fuel-injected 911. First with magnesium crankcases, too. For Porsche pervs, this is a very significant machine, one that has also survived against many odds, too, which we will come to. Curious also, that it should be right-hand-drive. After all, it seems very unlikely that this 911 of many firsts would have rolled down the production line with its steering wheel on the ‘wrong’ side and bound for Blighty.
Unlikely because it didn’t and it wasn’t. Not surprisingly, this 911 E was a pre-production prototype (or versuch), built several months before official production began, a test bed for the various new technologies to be introduced beyond the extra 57mm added to the wheelbase (up from 2.211m to 2.268m) in an effort to combat the oversteer tendencies that could catch out those who lacked Siffert’s skills. This was achieved relative to the back of the cockpit but not the drive unit, simply by lengthening the rear suspension’s trailing arms. That means the rearward overhang of the engine behind the back wheels was reduced slightly. Enough to make a difference. The magnesium crankcases were also part of that drive, reducing the overall weight of the engine, further curbing the pendulum effect on handling. To improve matters further, a magnesium gearbox casing arrived later, too.
Mechanically significant was the Bosch MFI six-plunger sequential mechanical fuel injection system, a direct technology trickle-down from racing 911s and sports cars. In this first production-engine version, the pump was belt-driven off the left-hand camshaft. The amount of injected fuel was sensitive to throttle opening, engine speed, barometric pressure and temperature. The system also allowed for overrun cut-off down to just above idle speed, an early aid to economy. Fuelling was adjusted mechanically by a toothed rack, moving a plunger up or down relative to ports in the pump.
In ‘E’ spec the new 2.2-litre flat-six boasted 140bhp, a useful 30bhp
‘WAS THIS 911 E SITTING IN THE PADDOCK WHEN ITS OWNER JO SIFFERT CONTESTED THE BOAC 1000KM AT BRANDS IN 1970?’
up on the 110bhp base 911 L on carbs and just 30bhp shy of the 170bhp 911 S, which would also sport the newfangled Bosch fuel injection system. Newfangled? Well, not really, though obviously it was new to the 911. German aviation and automotive engineering had long been ahead of the curve when it came to this sort of fuelling technology, from the pre-war Auto Union and Mercedes Grand Prix cars to the wartime Messerschmidt Bf 109 fighter ’plane, which could keep a Spitfire at bay thanks to its continuous flow of fuel during negative-g manoeuvres.
And while the new 2.2-litre engine was obviously more powerful than its 2.0-litre predecessor, that was in part down to its capacity and compression ratio increase. In short, Porsche didn’t make too much of the introduction of fuel injection in relation to potential power-releasing properties, but more its efficiency. Of course, MFI would gain legendary status in fuelling the 2.7 RS engine and finally the 2.7 Carrera MFI of 1975, before being replaced by the Bosch CSI system for a US-emissions mandated clean-up, which arrived with impact bumpers and weak-asBudweiser fuel.
All this was trialled in this pre-production prototype over a period of months, complete with steering wheel on the left-hand side, behind which Porsche development drivers subjected it to an arduous 44,000km of hard motoring. Usually pre-production anything is parked in a corner, or simply crushed, when its work is done. This development car, however, was converted to right-hand drive by the factory and then sold to the British aviator and racing driver, Robert (Robs) Lamplough.
Lamplough raced in sports cars, F2 and in a number of nonchampionship F1 races in the late ’60s and early ’70s. He never raced a Porsche but, as he tells Octane, he bought the 911 E via Porsche AFN in Isleworth. ‘I had a relationship with John Aldington,’ says Lamplough. ‘This was one of three prototype 911s that came my way. I collected it from Stuttgart on the understanding that it would be without the usual guarantee and spares support.’ Lamplough had already owned a 2.0-litre with lightweight seats that turned out to be an ex-Richard Attwood
Clockwise, from opposite Looks like all the LWBs that followed, from here; dash-top is as per SWB 911s; correct trim was sourced during restoration; injected 2.2 is a piece of Porsche history.
Targa Florio car, and was gifted a 2.7 RS in lieu of payment after driving it for filming duties. ‘I kept that one for years.’
As intimated, there were three well-known racers documented as early owners of this 911 E, and all were connected. Lamplough recalls driving the 911 from Stuttgart to Switzerland, where it remained until he sold it to Paddy McNally, an Autosport journalist in the ’60s and early ’70s who, despite the rigours of working on a weekly magazine, also found the time to manage James Hunt and Niki Lauda, not to mention race in production saloons and Porsches. Crucially for his Sunday Times Rich List entry, McNally founded Allsport Management, and went on to control all F1 trackside advertising, plus the F1 Paddock Club, the corporate entertainment arm of the mighty F1 juggernaut that we know today.
Having worked on Autosport myself, albeit in the ’80s, my recollections are of very long days and nights – though I also remember a lady called Faye, queen of the typesetters at the repro house where Autosport was diligently created, who was rumoured to have stepped out with Jo Siffert. And – clearly – I didn’t spend enough time moonlighting!
McNally sold the 911 to Siffert, the car’s most distinguished custodian, and also the one most associated with Porsche, as a works driver with wins in the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona and Sebring 12 Hours in the same year, driving the Porsche 907. He scored a series of wins in the 917, not least the 1969 Can-Am Championship. Factor in his victory on the 1970 Targa Florio with Brian Redman in a 908/3 and Siffert was Porsche royalty. True, he couldn’t hold a candle to Pedro Rodríguez at Brands Hatch in 1970, when the Mexican decimated the field in a 917 in treacherous conditions at the BOAC 1000km race. Siffert and team-mate Redman alternated between second and third, before Redman slithered off into retirement. Perhaps this 911 E was sitting in the paddock at Brands Hatch that day. Equally it’s a tragic reminder that Siffert lost his life there in October 1971, in a non-championship F1 race. Still, this is where Siffert sat, and it’s hard not to be wowed by that fact as I take the wheel and consider that, while we’ve tackled some of this
911’s history, there is a second Porsche Fake or Fortune? meets Time Team element to this story, without which the above might never have been discovered. Enter the ‘911 found in a barn’ yarn.
Immaculate as this historied car is now, back in 2011 it turned up on eBay as a barn-find in Scotland. Yes, really. Post-Siffert and having passed through a number of UK owners, then into obscurity and on into decrepitude, it surfaced in a remote part of Ayrshire. Devoid of any real history, save for its all-important factory build document, it was discovered by Porsche adventurists Brendan Mullen and Mike Birtwhistle. The duo would eventually uncover its unique history, encouraged by its versuch status suggested by the paperwork.
It certainly didn’t look promising. Painted in black, with a ducktail spoiler and – look away now if you’re easily offended – a vinyl roof, it was at least largely complete. The missing bonnet and interior were in an adjacent pigsty, the engine on a bench in a shed. There was, though, enough to convince the duo that they might be onto something. Not least the chassis number, which matched the engine and contained the important zeros followed by a one. The meticulously kept records in Stuttgart confirmed its significance.
Aware of the restoration task ahead, Mullen and Birtwhistle decided to sell the car via eBay. Well, why not? They had, they felt, uncovered enough of its history to prove with some certainty that it was a prototype 911 E and, likely, the very first 911 E. Nicknamed ‘Eve’ for obvious reasons, its arrival on eBay prompted a forum meltdown among the early 911 community.
It would take a brave man to bid – or just an extra couple of glasses of wine and a shot of ‘he who dares, wins’. He who dared? That was New
‘IMMACULATE AS THIS HISTORIED CAR IS NOW, BACK IN 2011 IT TURNED UP ON EBAY AS A BARN-FIND IN SCOTLAND’
Zealand Porsche collector Martin Butler, who took the precaution of dispatching Lee Peacock of Autoclassica to employ his expertise in inspecting and verifying it to the best of his abilities.
That was enough to convince all concerned, and for Martin to ping a last-minute bid of £37,000 – either a lot of money or an absolute bargain, depending on which way you look at it. Certainly, in today’s market it’s very much the latter. In the frenzied Porsche scene now, well, you could probably treble that price.
From barn to restoration, it’s an amazing story for Porschephiles and historians. The immediate clues, such as the short-wheelbase indicators, horn grilles and dashtop are the low-hanging fruit. Deeper in, and more and more details were revealed. Some are crude, like the flattening of the upper crossmember on the left-hand side of the engine bay to accommodate the MFI pump, and the letter ‘B’ hand-drawn on the base of the rear seat bowl, confirming that this is the first B-model 911. The car also retains its original versuch tags, with factory prototype numbers, along with the standard VIN plate. While the body was being stripped down, the prototype build number was revealed stamped into a plate on the left-hand door jamb, the number also scribbled on the metal instrument housing, in crayon. Also plain to see was the factory conversion to right-hand drive, with careful consideration given to retaining the VIN in its original location.
Not the work of a moment, restoration commenced in 2015, with Autoclassica taking on the bulk of the bodywork and running gear, the aim being to salvage as much as possible of the original car, while Gary Cook at GDC Automotive applied the original shade of Light Ivory paint. Southbound Trimmers sourced the correct red corduroy trim inserts and carpets. Remarkably, the leather on the steering wheel responded to a clean and restitch; a tangible connection with its past.
Well-known Porsche expert Nick Fulljames took on the engine build. Again, the numbers speak for themselves: 6290001. To decipher: ‘6’ indicates a six-cylinder engine, ‘2’ dictates E specification, while ‘9’ equals 1969 model year. The zeros and that solitary ‘1’ confirm that this is the very first flat-six of its kind, with its mechanical fuel injection and magnesium engine casings.
Talking all things MFI, the Bosch pump that sits above the engine was devoid of the usual type tag and its spec was therefore something of a mystery. A development pump then, and rebuilt and calibrated to 911 E spec by Fulljames, who is something of an MFI whisperer when it comes to setting up these complicated devices. Certainly it purrs smoothly and picks up well on our drive through London and clears itself properly as we exit on the Westway for a final blast along the M4.
Restoration finished in 2023, some 11 years after that eBay auction, and since then this super-significant 911 has been largely on tour, including a six-month stint at Autoworld in Brussels alongside key exhibits from the Porsche Museum for a special display celebrating 75 years of the marque. That is recognition indeed and a long way from the mystery 911 found in a barn.
THANKS TO Hexagon Classics, hexagonclassics.com, where the 911 is for sale.
ArtCenter has been seducing car enthusiasts for decades. Studebaker Avanti, Corvette Sting Ray – both were styled by its alumni. The Riviera, Bronco, Corvair. All ArtCenter. Then, more recently, Boxster, Miata and Viper.
ArtCenter College of Design dates back to 1930, when it was founded in downtown Los Angeles as ArtCenter School. Its Automotive Design Department was established in 1948, it became ArtCenter College of Design in 1965, and it moved to its present Hillside Campus site in Pasadena in 1976. Founder Edward ‘Tink’ Adams was an advertising man and ArtCenter’s first president. He was frustrated by the poor work of recent art graduates and set about changing it. At his school the teachers were working professionals, who could bring students up to the level of what was to be expected of them in the outside world. In 2024, ArtCenter’s new Mullin Transportation Design Facility opened in the heart of Pasadena.
We arrive during mid-terms for a personal viewing with department chair Marek Djordjevic and instructor (and Lexus designer) Ian Cartabiano; Marek you may know from his Rolls-Royce Phantom VII design. He’s a visionary for the department, a proper car guy. He believes ArtCenter’s success is because it stays true to Tink Adams’ vision. Southern California is a hub for international car design, with satellite studios for worldwide brands; an incredible 94% of ArtCenter’s automotive students find jobs upon graduating.
But the process is gruelling, with sleepless nights – you are not allowed to fail. Marek graduated in 1991 and in 2005 took his parents for a ride through Beverly Hills in the new Rolls-Royce he’d designed. When he was given that job he knew it wouldn’t be easy. His was the first Rolls under the stewardship of BMW, the first of the new century, the only one on sale for Rolls-Royce’s centenary.
‘Just to be accepted is an accomplishment,’ he says of his arrival on campus fresh from Belgrade, in what was then Yugoslavia. His class was small, just six students, and motivation was high: succeed or return to serve in the military. The school maintains a very high percentage of international students, with each culture bringing different sensibilities to the mix.
‘You must have courage in design,’ says Marek. ‘As trends change, it’s our responsibility to prepare our students for every eventuality and challenge that may come their way, especially in technology, so much more than when I was a student. Experiments we’re doing now [show] a more talented student gets better results using AI – it’s not a replacement for talent, it’s an enabler. When you do a sketch we ask AI ask for variations, as if you had a team of designers working with you.’
Marek is looking beyond his graduates, too. ‘We are hoping to develop a new master’s programme for leadership positions in the industry,’ he says. ‘Right now we have designers who have no training in leadership and time management, how to handle a portfolio for a car company, define, develop, and maintain a successful brain language. You’re lucky if you have a mentor; we must create design philosophies that work for each company.’
Ever wondered what it’s like to study at the legendary ArtCenter College of Design, to become a leading car designer? Octane finds out Words and photography Evan Klein
Opposite and this page
Ian is with his students today. The course is divided into eight semesters, generally taking three to four years. During semesters six and seven, students apply for internships, working in the field and returning to apply and prepare for the real world. ‘We find that, when the students return, they have better practical skills, they’re more efficient, more prolific, more targeted,’ he says.
Ian takes interns up to three times a year at Toyota’s design centre in Newport Beach, and has just approved another for the autumn from the Alfa Romeo class we’re visiting today. ‘The interns are included in an actual project, and [on] self-initiated projects; we split them up so they learn what it’s like to work with a team, fully embedded in the design experience doing real work. The downside: it’s secret, your-eyes-only design. The personal projects are something they can present at their graduation show. And yes, they get paid, and fully
recognised for their creativity. It’s a good chance for us to try new talent, and definitely a way to be fast-tracked into a position.’
At the graduation show, students debut their work online and industry leaders are invited to see the presentations. ‘Everybody gets the same chance, and more people join because they don’t have to travel,’ says Ian. ‘I tell my students that half of design is selling your ideas. We have a presentation instructor who helps the students learn how to present their ideas.’
Today the students are presenting their mid-term proposals, the featured marque is Alfa Romeo, and both Ian and Marek watch and critique. Just outside the classrooms sit Ian’s Alfa Romeo Montreal, along with collector Joe Tseng’s SZ and RZ.
‘It’s important for the students to see these automobiles up close,’ says Ian. ‘The tools of design have changed, but the result is the same: an automobile is a threedimensional object that lives in the outside world. In the first semester we start with visual communication, then the building blocks: drawing shapes, rendering shapes, building models, clay and digital. Drawing from analogue to digital. One of my requirements now is that students make a short animated movie, a mood board – what is the environment for the automobile, who are the buyers, what is the feeling? Automotive is all about feeling. The first few weeks for the Alfa Romeo project are dedicated to brand history, research, and emotional core values.’
Clockwise, from above
Students learn all aspects of visual communication, including clay modelling; Cartabiano critiques; 3D model presented by a student as part of mid-term assessment.
‘The featured marque is Alfa Romeo. Just outside the classrooms sits a Montreal’
Of course, ArtCenter is about the end game, designing what’s next, and the graduates enter into a supercompetitive environment. ‘The first year on the job is a lot like the first year of ArtCenter: when you start working there’s still so much to learn,’ says Ian. ‘We don’t expect home runs right out of the park, but there’s always an exception. We had one graduate that ended up designing the new FJ Cruiser within his first year of working with us. The first year you learn how to be professional. It’s exciting, a shared experience for both of us.’
It all begins with that first, short semester, going from zero to a physical model in just 14 weeks. But it’s not about the now. It’s about a decade from now. ‘It’s important for us to stay one step ahead of the industry,’ says Marek. ‘It’s a two-way street; the students leave to participate in internships, they come back with a better grasp of what is expected of them. We give them skills, a community that results in lifelong relationships. This is a life-changing experience. ArtCenter is a door-opener. Employers know what to expect from our students.’
all that old? How can such a thing be classified as a historic racing car? Its period competition era was only five minutes ago, surely.
Actually, the sleek Audi R8 LMS Ultra you see here dates back to 2012. That’s already 13 years ago. A blink of the eye for many of us, maybe, but in the fast-paced world of cuttingedge contemporary motorsport it’s ancient history. Much like the Jaguar D-type, in fact, when it gained a new lease of life as a ‘historic’ racer in the mid1960s – a little more than half a decade after it was last seen winning the Le Mans 24 Hours.
There’s an echo here. Especially as this Audi – plus Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Corvettes, Aston Martins and more – represents what classic motor racing instigators predict will be the 21st Century equivalent of how 1960s GT racing is considered today. Generations brought up playing Gran Turismo on their Playstations won’t necessarily relate to Jaguar E-types and AC Cobras. It’s cars like this that will speak to them – the historic race fans of the future. Which is why GT3, the racing code this Audi belongs to, is the next big thing in the old car world.
The category will hit its 20th birthday next year. Created by endurance racing tsar Stéphane Ratel, the GT3 premise was built around accessibility to amateur drivers and privateer teams, both in terms of financial outlay and the ease of racing on the limit. It has been
phenomenally successful, with more than 20 of the world’s car manufacturers building cars including, emphatically, Germany’s big four: Audi, BMW, MercedesBenz and Porsche. That’s because customer demand for cars based closely on road-legal models has been insatiable, with both national and international GT3 series thriving in almost every corner of the world.
Adopted also by blue riband endurance races such as the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hours, GT3 now stands unopposed as the premier form of long-distance Grand Touring racing, in the wake of the demise of the GT1 and GTE categories as their technical sophistication (and therefore costs) spiralled to unsustainable levels. GT3’s ascension was complete last year when the ultimate blessing was bestowed: finally, the Le Mans 24 Hours bowed to the inevitable and adopted a category it had previously dismissed as too ‘dumbed down’. Its own version, dubbed LMGT3, is now the sole Grand Touring class for both pros and ams at the biggest race of them all.
Meanwhile, the first generations of GT3 are having their own D-type moment. British-based promoter Motor Racing Legends has launched its GT3 Legends series this season for 2006-12 cars, while on the Continent Peter Auto has just announced a collaboration with Ratel’s SRO organisation to run the 2006-13 GT3 Revival Series next year. Grids will be large and diverse thanks to the proliferation of suitable cars.
Think of the LMS Ultra as an ‘evolution’ version of the Audi R8 GT3 –and the modern equivalent of what the Jaguar D-type represented in the 1960s.
‘THE
GENERATION DOESN’T RELATE TO E-TYPES AND COBRAS’
Pro racer-turned-dealer Sam Hancock was among those to spot the GT3 opportunity early, predicting that it will mirror the growth of Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) at historic race meets. ‘The definition of the word “historic” needs updating because of so many “youngtimer” categories. I’ve been speculating for a long time about GT3 and its potential in historic racing,’ he says.
Hancock rose as high as Formula 3000 (now Formula 2) before finding career longevity first in prototype sports car racing, then historics. ‘My gut feeling is that GT3 in the historic market could be really successful, for the same reason that made it successful in modern racing. These are road-derived cars, slightly less exotic than period GT1, GT2 and GTE racing cars, therefore slightly more sensible on purchase and running costs. Driver aids are permitted, so they are more gentleman-driver friendly. You have ABS, traction control and paddleshift gearchanges, which makes them very appealing to amateur drivers, who were always the target. GT3 has that backbone of being pro-am and the cars are attractive to look at, physically spacious inside to accommodate all shapes and sizes, and fast enough to be exciting – but not so fast that they are scary or intimidating to manage.’
That’s why Hancock couldn’t resist this Audi. It’s a prime example of the racing R8, among the most successful models of GT3’s early years. Launched in 2006, the original road car was Audi’s first mid-engined two-seater and confusingly carried the same suffix as Audi’s sports prototype – the one that had won Le Mans five times in six years between 2000 and 2005. It was built on an aluminium spaceframe by Audi Sport GmbH (which says everything about the wider intentions
beyond the road) and was based on the same platform as its stablemate Lamborghini Gallardo.
The LMS racing version hit the track in 2009, by which time GT3 had already gathered significant pace. Powered by a rasping, naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10, the R8 kept to the spirit of GT3 with a focus on Audi selling cars to customers. Indeed, a new Kundenmotorsport department was established on the back of it.
It was built around the same aluminium spaceframe as the road car, and the direct-injection V10 was rated at around 500bhp, fed to the rear wheels via a paddleactuated six-speed gearbox. As per GT3 regulations, the R8 LMS was equipped with anti-lock brakes and traction control, with a front splitter and a full-width rear wing offering plentiful downforce. It quickly set a new GT3 benchmark, between 2009 and 2011 claiming 115 wins and a dozen national and international championships. Among its highest-profile successes were victories in the 2011 Bathurst 12 Hours and Spa 24 Hours.
To keep development costs in check, GT3 regulations were strictly limited to allow for an evolution package only once every three years. Hence the R8 LMS Ultra in 2012, which included cooling and bodywork revisions, new carbonfibre composite doors for added safety, a beefed-up transmission for better long-distance reliability, a revised exhaust system offering higher torque at lower engine speeds, and wider 12in front tyres made by Michelin. At €330,000 plus VAT, the Ultra was a long way from cheap – but it’s all relative. In the rarefied terms of professional motorsport, it was a snip in comparison to the Le Mans-blessed GTE pure racing cars that had little connection to their road car looks.
Customer deliveries began in March 2012, and the Ultra immediately hit the ground running via the factorybacked WRT team, which won the opening round of the FIA GT1 World Championship (confusingly run to GT3 rules by this time). From there, another dozen titles were added to the R8 haul, along with further landmark 24hour wins at Spa and the Nürburgring. In 2015 the next LMS was ushered in, based on the second-generation R8 road car, by which time Audi had produced 130 examples of the original serial-winning racer.
What counts now, given the hundreds (if not thousands) of GT3s in circulation, will be the cars on the market boasting cast-iron and illustrious records of success. That’s where the value will lie, just as it does with the few E-types and Cobras with genuine provenance. And it’s why Hancock was drawn specifically to this R8.
Chassis 0408 is a genuine works car in a code supposedly centred on customers. Owned directly by Audi AG throughout its period life between 2012 and 2016, it was entrusted to the crack WRT team that today has switched German brands and runs BMW’s Hypercars and LMGT3s in the World Endurance Championship.
The car was raced through 2012 in the FIA GT1 World Championship by Laurens Vanthoor – now a Porsche Hypercar ace – and 1998 Le Mans winner Stéphane
Ortelli, the pair winning both the qualifying and feature races at the Nogaro season opener and again in the qualifying race in Moscow later that season. Beyond the world championship, WRT also ran the car in the 2012 Spa 24 Hours, where Ortelli shared with a pair of Christophers – Mies and Hasse. The trio finished second overall to another factory-supported Audi R8.
The car’s active life continued under the Audi Driving Experience banner and it made a final period race start at the 2014 Nürburgring 1000Kms before passing into private ownership in 2016. Sold to an Australian racing enthusiast in 2024, it was sent to Brackley-based preparer Damax, where its chassis was crack-tested and its ’shell returned to the Belgian Audi Club WRT colours it ran in during 2012.
Hancock grabbed his first chance to try the R8 at Silverstone. He admits the amateur-friendly ABS and traction control ‘driver aids’ steered him away from racing in GT3 back in the day. ‘I was put off by an early Aston Martin GT4 experience at the Dubai 24 Hours,’ he says. ‘I promised myself I’d never again go near anything with driver aids because I couldn’t get my head around them. It was painful. Which was a massive career mistake in hindsight, but you live and learn! So at Silverstone I didn’t know what to expect.’
Below and right R8 GT3 is recognisable from the road car, though with significant aero development; engine remains a naturally aspirated, torquey V10 that thrives on revs.
‘CHASSIS
Lo and behold… ‘It turns out that I absolutely loved it! Some of that is because it’s a fundamentally exciting engine: V10, naturally aspirated – what’s not to like? You have more than enough horsepower to put a smile on your face, but not so much that it overwhelms. The chassis is good and could easily cope with another 50-70bhp, but it doesn’t need it. Because it’s a V10 it has very good lowdown torque and the strong throttle response you don’t get with a turbo. The gearshift is immediate and direct, with auto-blip on the downshifts and zero lag on requests.’
Despite all that, it was the braking that really pulled Sam up short. ‘The ABS is just absurd. You can smash the pedal and it’s effective without being jarring.’
Even so, the old aversion to driver aids hasn’t deserted this racer completely. ‘The traction control is on a dial control with 11 settings. I found that I wanted to turn it right down because it was too intrusive, although I ended up using a bit of it. The high-speed stuff at Maggotts and Becketts, I drove exactly as I would in a prototype: really attacking, flat through the left of Maggotts, a tiny bit of braking through the right and then keep it rolling through Becketts. At the Brooklands left-hander, I was braking stupidly late, putting the car on its nose and turning-in on the brakes. You use all the ABS and more there. Really fun. And you have loads of space and can see everything – not like in a GT1 where the A-pillars hog so much of the view and you are pushed so far back in the car that it’s hard to tell where the end of the bonnet
is. It’s just a really pleasant environment. I’m really very tempted to race it.’
But that’s not why he bought it. For someone out there with an eye on the new historic GT3 arenas, this Audi R8 LMS Ultra could be just the ticket.
There is, though, one caveat that hangs over modern GT3 today and has transferred into the historic world: the formula is based around Balance of Performance, the means that Ratel came up with – with a nudge from thenFIA president Max Mosley – to equalise cars of varying shapes, sizes and power sources, from Corvettes to Porsche 911s, from Bentley Continentals to BMW Z4s and on and on. As any endurance racing promoter will tell you, BoP is a headache to manage – albeit a necessary one. Without the system, such proliferation just wouldn’t have been possible. Early signs are that historic promoters are taking it seriously and won’t shake the BoP based on single race results. As in the modern sport, historic racers will learn to live with it.
So will ‘old’ GT3 catch on? Hancock has no doubt. ‘I’m already starting to wonder whether this category is the modern version of the famous 1960s GTs that are so popular and we celebrate at Goodwood on the TT grid,’ he says. ‘There are so many echoes of the past. It doesn’t mean the older cars are going anywhere, but my gut tells me that this is the future of what will become known as historic racing over the next 30 years. This is the generational shift.’
GT3 Legends is open to any car that was originally homologated for GT3 racing before 2012. Here are your choices
Words Matthew Hayward
The obvious staple of GT3 racing, with three versions to consider. First came the Porsche 997 Cup, minimally modified from the Cup series racers that helped Tech 9 Motorsport secure the inaugural FIA GT3 title in 2006. In 2008, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S appeared, based on the 997 GT3 RS road car – with wider bodywork and tyres plus increased downforce. The GT3 R appeared in 2010, Porsche’s first ground-up GT3 racer. Featuring a 4.0-litre engine, it won the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Callaway Competition’s C6-based GT3 car won the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2007, and competed strongly in Europe’s GT3 series for years. An upgraded version of the Z06.R appeared in 2010 with improved aero, drivetrain and a new LS3 V8 engine, keeping the car on pace with newer GT3 entrants.
Developed by Reiter Engineering, the firstgeneration Gallardo GT3 offered a cost-effective racing package in the early GT3 days, earning race wins and proving competitive through the late 2000s. It was significantly updated to LP600+ spec in 2010, keeping the Gallardo competitive until Lamborghini replaced it with the factory-backed Huracán GT3 in 2015.
Making its debut in late 2011, the go-faster Ferrari quickly became a customer favourite. Always competitive in Pro-Am hands, it had relatively few overall wins initially, but notably triumphed at the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour and in Daytona 24. Its large customer base and podium pace established Ferrari as a GT3 mainstay.
Based on the DB9 road car, the DBRS9 was an early GT3 frontrunner and a more affordable version of the full-fat DBR9 that memorably took two class wins in the Le Mans 24 Hours (2007 and 2009). It won the FIA GT3 Teams’ title in 2009 and captured British GT driver and team championships, racking up multiple wins between 2006 and 2010.
Homologated in 2011, the gullwing-doored SLS just sneaks into the GT3 Legends window. It enjoyed notable success over its four-year career, achieving many notable wins – including multiple Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hours victories.
Powered by a 4.4-litre V8, the Z4 GT3 became a popular customer racer. It captured GT titles in Germany, the UK, Japan and the USA, and even scored overall wins in the Dubai and Spa 24 Hours. One of the best-sounding GT3 cars, too.
Built by Kessel Racing, the F430 scored the first-ever FIA GT3 race victory at Silverstone in 2006. It was a popular car with privateer teams and remained in use through 2011. An upgraded 430 Scuderia GT3 came along in 2009 with more power and improved aero – but less reliability.
VIPER COMPETITION COUPE
Adapted by Oreca for GT3 from a spec-series racer, the 8.3-litre Viper claimed back-to-back British GT titles in 2007 and 2008. Its sheer size and older platform saw it eclipsed by newer GT3 cars. The 8.4-litre Series 2 was homologated in 2009, but saw limited use in international series after 2010.
FORD MUSTANG FR500C GT3
Multimatic transformed the Mustang FR500C (originally a GT4 car) for GT3 in 2007. Despite its V8 power and muscular presence, it was outgunned by more agile European rivals.
FORD GT GT3
Matech’s Ford GT brought American supercar style to GT3. It proved very competitive, taking the FIA GT3 Teams’ Championship in 2008. It remained in sporadic use for years, even achieving a top-15 finish at the 2018 Dubai 24H.
THE ODDBALLS IF YOU WANT TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD…
ALPINA B6 GT3
Developed by Alpina rather than BMW Motorsport, the 6-series-based B6 scored wins in ADAC GT Masters and other series.
MORGAN AERO 8 GT3
The roadster-based model ran in the 2008 FIA GT3 European Championship and took podium finishes by the end of the season.
ASCARI KZ1-R GT3
One of the few boutique supercars in GT3, Ascari won the 2009 British GT Championship but the outfit folded soon after.
A featherweight contender, the Exige showed strong pace in bursts but sadly proved fragile. Few were sold, so it was shortlived.
MORGAN
Both factory entries won their debut race at Silverstone in 2009 but later struggled due to Balance of Performance regulations.
The first car ever to receive GT3 homologation, it proved popular in the one-make series but had less impact on the wider stage.
Clockwise, from top left Aston DBRS9 was Le Mans legend DBR9’s ‘baby’ sibling; BMW Z4 GT3 sounds epic; SLS marked the Gullwing’s return; GT3 R is the ultimate eligible 911.
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Pendine’s experts are also privileged to manage a number of important car collections; offering a tailored service to fit individual requirements, be that managing a full nut-and-bolt restoration, race and rally preparation for events across Europe, or successfully representing a car on the lawns of the Pebble Beach Concours.
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Bugatti Owners’ Club and Prescott
Speed Hill Climb: championing motorsport and hillclimbing since 1929.
+44 (0)1242 673136 www.prescotthillclimb.co.uk
Harding Auto Services: 1920s to modern day, road, race and custom.
+44 (0)1483 487626 hardingautos.co.uk
By any standards, the August policy update by the DVLA with respect to historic and classic vehicles was a substantial shift and the culmination of several years of close engagement and expert input by many. Deep concerns by many of you over the UK Government’s treatment of vehicle heritage were a major factor in the formation of the HCVA in 2021. This policy win encapsulates how industry and Government working collaboratively can deliver better outcomes.
In particular, the HCVA had championed the importance of retaining a vehicle’s original identify, whether modified or not, as being in the consumer interest. An increasingly open-minded DVLA seized the opportunity to go further than many imagined by simplifying to two major categories for existing vehicles and scrapping the complexities of the points system and the radically modified category.
‘Repaired & Restored’ allows sensible upgrades, taking advantage of latest materials and techniques, while ‘Structurally Modified’ is everything else, including electric conversions. In both cases, the vehicle will retain its VIN and be eligible to claim its original UK registration or agerelated equivalent. Modified vehicles have a V5C marker so the traceability of the vehicle is maintained, while being clear to all that it has been modified from its original form. The dreaded Q plate, considered the kiss of death by trade and enthusiasts, is retained only for those vehicles with identity in doubt. Another change is the more pragmatic link between the registration process and safety check regime. Historic vehicles over 40 years retain MoT exemption provided they fall within ‘Repaired & Restored’. The ‘Structurally Modified’ category does not impose a mandatory IVA requirement on modified vehicles, but they must pass an initial MoT and be presented annually thereafter. The real win here is that enthusiasts, and the industry that supports them, can invest in repairs and modifications with confidence. With your support, we can make sure historic vehicles stay where they belong: on the road, for everyone to enjoy. Join us as a trade member, fellowship member or supporting enthusiast at www.hcva.co.uk.
Dale Keller, CEO
The trials and tribulations of the cars we live with
THE MAYHEAD ‘FLEET’ of classic cars isn’t what it once was. I’d just achieved the motoring nirvana of having all five cars –more a grouping of waifs and strays than a collection –roadworthy in May last year when an unexpected medical diagnosis made me reassess my life choices. Since then, two cars have left Scuderia Mayhead.
One of the survivors, a 1946 MG TC, may already be known to readers of this magazine as it
featured in Octane 242. Found during the research into my book Goldie, the biography of record-breaker Alfred Goldie Gardner, the car was one of the very first TCs to emerge from the Abingdon factory after the Second World War and was given to Gardner to promote the brand during his record attempts. I later discovered many photographs at Beaulieu showing Goldie using the car to test the routes of his attempts in Italy and Belgium
in 1946, and I believe it was the first car ever to run the Jabbeke speed trials route near Ostend.
The TC’s fascinating life continued when, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it was regularly raced and hillclimbed, winning a stack of silver cups at the hands of MGCC racer Ken Cheeseman.
During my ownership, I’ve driven it at Kop Hill and Brooklands, it has completed two Tour Privés and been displayed at MG100 at Silverstone and Blenheim Palace.
My second vehicle is a 1970 Volkswagen Type 2, a rare right-hand-drive Westfalia Campmobile. ‘Bessie’ has had just four owners from new, and the first collected her from the Wolfsburg factory and drove her around Europe before taking her back to his native South Africa. After one other custodian there, she came to the UK in 2009 and I’ve owned her since 2015.
She’s relatively original, except for a slightly enhanced engine that allows her to keep up (sort of) with modern traffic, plus twin-pot disc brakes inside the front wheels and an uprated sound system. Most importantly, she’s still used for the purpose for which she was designed, taking us on frequent trips to the beach and on regular camping excursions. Bessie isn’t really a classic car, more a member of the family.
Then there’s my 1988 Porsche 944. I bought this car almost unseen for a song about a decade ago, and it remains one of the best
Clockwise, from left ‘Bessie’ the VW Type 2 Westfalia Campmobile, doing what she does best; bargain 944 is currently being refreshed; MG TC is ex-Goldie Gardner, the speed record-breaker, and seen here on a recce with his crew.
cars I’ve ever owned. Although it has the lower-powered 2.5-litre eight-valve normally aspirated engine rather than anything more pokey, it drives exceptionally well and has taken me all over the UK, Ireland and Europe without missing a beat.
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
‘I bought my 944 for a song, and it’s one of the best cars I’ve ever owned’
The 944 is currently in with my friendly local independent Porsche garage to have the suspension refreshed and some new wheels fitted, plus I’m tinkering to sort some of the niggles that had emerged over the years, such as broken sunroof gears and a central locking switch that won’t turn off, and fitting a better gear-linkage kit. I’ll report the outcome in due course.
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
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
JOHN MAYHEAD
Contributor
• 1946 MG TC
• 1970 VW Type 2 Westfalia
• 1988 Porsche 944
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
1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII Martyn Goddard
MY WIFE IS no petrolhead but is a great fan of American country music, so when Facebook flagged up a new local event called Motor Mule, billed as a festival of Americana, country, blues and rock – ‘the fine tuning of guitars and cars’ – it looked to be something we could both enjoy in our Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII.
Yes, the car is as British as fish and chips, but it was sold new in Dallas, Texas, and repatriated to the UK only in 1988. It’s a left-hooker and so would be quite at home among the Detroit iron on display. For an additional touch, I found a small Stars and Stripes flag to fit to the period American radio aerial.
We parked beside a gorgeous 1965 Ford Thunderbird and I was just unpacking my stuff when the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place as a 1932 Ford hot-rod rolled up next to our ’Healey. We could hear the live music from
our parking spot so, after taking a wander around the assortment of classic cars, we sat and chatted and drank tea provided by the hot-rod pilot’s wife, Lesley.
The 1932 Ford’s trunk was like a kind of Tardis, holding a camping stove, a day’s supply of catering and a folding table and chairs. Jeff’s hot rod was immaculate and had survived a recent drive through France to attend the Le Mans Classic.
After lunch we braved the main stage of the festival to enjoy the various bands. Octane readers are probably aware that I was a professional rock photographer in the 1970s and ’80s but I resisted the temptation to shoot the performances until headliner Ian Segal came on at 9pm. The mixture of classics and music worked very well but, despite the show organisers delivering more than 30 acts at a nice venue and with a good selection of food outlets, local support for this first-time event was underwhelming. Let’s hope it survives to next year, when I will certainly be signing up for it again.
2000 Honda Integra Type R Matthew Hayward
FOR A LONG time I was wary of working on braking systems, and I suppose that’s a sensible stance: best to leave alone if you’re not
confident of doing things properly. After help from a capable friend some years ago, I put that fear behind me and now find it a satisfying job.
Aside from the occasional visual inspection, and a replacement set of rear discs and pads a couple of years ago, I’ve had little cause to touch the Honda’s excellent set-up.
1955 Jaguar XK140 Robert Coucher
I WAS DRIVING through London traffic in the XK when I noticed the water temperature gauge rising more than usual. The electric fan is set to cut in at 85ºC, but the temperature carried on towards 95ºC. I switched on the manual override, the fan came on and the water temperature dropped back down. But with the manual override off it went up again, so the electric cooling fan was clearly no longer switching on automatically.
Back to see head mechanic Gary at Graeme Hunt Ltd. He got out his multimeter and determined that the Kenlowe thermostat switch had burnt out, so he called Carbuilder Solutions (good for non-specific components – the XK never had an electric cooling fan from new)
and ordered a new thermostat switch for about £35. He also ordered a £6 relay switch because he wanted to divert the flow of heavy current away from the thermostat switch and the underdash override switch.
After a few hours, the Jaguar fan was operating via the new thermostatic switch with the whole circuit re-wired through a more dependable relay, rendering the XK cool and good to go. The wiring is now of a superior standard and the car is safer as a result.
Thanks are due once again to my local south-west London dealer and workshop, Graeme Hunt Ltd, and to Gary for such a quick turnaround, a bit like Savile Row – a bespoke service, expertly undertaken.
However, with the fronts getting a bit noisy, and the pedal losing a bit of bite, I’ve been collecting parts for a full refresh for a while. Last time I was under the car I also noticed that the rubber flexi hoses looked past their best. I wanted to upgrade them with braided hoses – something that made a huge difference to the pedal feel on my 306. A set of
HEL hoses were sourced from eBay, while I opted for genuine Honda discs and pads.
After carefully removing the old hoses I spent an evening refreshing the calipers, then bleeding everything through using a pressure bleeding kit – an absolute must if you want to do this job on your own. The result? Absolutely fantastic!
1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS Delwyn Mallett
A LOT HAS happened to the RS since my last update, which was over a year ago. At that point the bodyshell was freshly painted and waiting for fitting-up with all the bits that had been previously removed – literally everything except the wiring loom, which had been carefully wrapped but left in-situ, although obviously not connected to anything.
Dash and instruments are now back in, as are headlining, glass and upholstery. A new carpet set – inevitably, as it’s for an RS, in a different and more expensive ‘salt and pepper’ weave – is waiting to go in. I mentioned brake calipers and whether to refurbish or fit new pattern parts in the last report and I’ve opted for new ones and relegated the originals to the spare parts box.
Then, a final hiccup. More rust! Pinholes were discovered in the oil tank for the dry sump. Who’d have thought that something full of oil would corrode? The fact that it is located under the rear wheelarch in direct line of fire for road dirt and spray answers that question. After some effort, a good used one has been found and fitted.
All the engine ancillaries have been removed, cleaned, blasted and refurbished. The throttle
bodies had to be fully stripped as they had seized during the engine’s prolonged inactivity. And… at last! Body, transaxle and engine have been reunited. They’ve led separate lives for the last five years but they have finally been mated.
I will have offended most, if not all, of my Porsche friends by deviating from original and having the engine bay tin-wear finished in red rather than black. The RS engines were distinguished from the ‘cooking’ versions by a red-painted engine shroud and when I first got the car back in the early 1980s and embarked on its first restoration – yes, the ungalvanised body was already rusting – I decided on the ‘hot rod’ look to complement the red wheels and script. Purists will blanche at the sacrilege and it will
‘My 2004 Phantom has been in and out of “the shop”, as Americans say, for most of the last month having niggles addressed. Nothing serious, just… electronic nonsense, really’ Rowan Atkinson
probably devalue the car by thousands, but because it’s my toy and a ‘keeper’ I’m not too concerned. And I just know it will make it go faster.
For some time during the RS restoration, I’ve felt like an ancient mariner searching for a rumoured but as yet undiscovered continent. After years of sailing long past the point of no return, with the only option being to plough onwards and ever deeper into debt, we seem finally to have sighted land. However, we haven’t quite made landfall and there could well be hidden reefs lurking before we make the shore. Hopefully, all will shortly be resolved.
Above and below
Still apart but gradually coming back together; throttle bodies had seized after five years of inactivity.
‘After 40 years in our ownership, the Triumph Herald has been sold to a Scot who owned an identical example when he was 17 and wanted to relive his youth’ Sanjay Seetanah
‘Because I haven’t used the Alvis 12/70 much recently, I’ve decided it may be better off in the hands of another enthusiast and so I’ve taken the difficult decision to sell it’ Berthold Dörrich
‘I mentioned last month that I was thinking of buying another classic as a daily driver, should my “modern” car, the 2006 Volvo XC70, suddenly die. Well, it did – and I have. Full story in the next issue’ Mark Dixon
‘Such has been the disgraceful level of neglect and pathetic speed of progress that someone actually asked if I had sold my Lotus Elan. I haven’t. Update coming soon’ James Elliott
interesting cars we’ve been driving
2025 Devalliet Mugello 375 F Marc Sonnery
TO ASSUME the creation of Hervé Valliet is yet another Lotus Seven imitator would be utterly wrong. A quiet perfectionist and entrepreneur from the Isére region in the French Alps near Grenoble, he has owned numerous sports cars, such as Caterham, Wiesmann, TVR –even a Ronart W152.
Then his desire for a challenge motivated Valliet to create his own car: authentic, rebellious and of high quality. He wanted to build a machine capable of thrilling at legal speeds while avoiding punitive French tax rates, which rise quickly in proportion to engine capacity.
In terms of looks, 1950s cigar-shaped F1 cars were the inspiration. It started with
gathering photos of those aspects he liked and then entrusting the paper design process to Sbarro school of design alumnus José Figueres. When both were satisfied, the process moved on to 3D, which was handled by Frederic Chasseloup, a former Ferrari designer who had drawn the 488’s dashboard.
For the chassis and mechanicals he relied on his own knowledge. Starting at 14 and then for a full 20 years, Valliet successfully raced highly sophisticated radiocontrolled two-stroke 1:8-scale model cars in European and world championships. For the Devalliet Mugello, he employed the same adjustable independent suspension system that keeps the tyres perpendicular to the road
surface regardless of the ride height setting.
The challenge he set for himself was to make a chassis in alloy, not riveted or glued but TIG-welded and varnished for protection. Valliet’s own alloy company, SORI, employs 45 and provides the panels for the chassis. All sections are laser-cut by programmed machine tools so there is zero variation between the cars; only final assembly is left to human hands.
The chassis certainly looks impressive. Structural elements are 3-4mm thick, though the suspension anchor plates are 16mm. Structural integrity is guaranteed by impeccably welded mortice-and-tenon joints. A 1.6-litre Peugeot turbocharged
petrol engine provides 225bhp (metric) at 5500rpm via a Mazda MX-5 six-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential, with shortened propshaft and half-shafts. Michelin advised modern 205/70 VR15 90W tyres on old-fashioned treads. Twin fuel tanks offer a capacity of 34 litres, upright and behind the cockpit. There’s a 300-litre boot, too.
The project started in 2019 and production began in 2022. Valliet knew beforehand which suppliers he would use; where possible all components are made locally. Homologation took 2½ years due to stringent French regulations, but by June this year 18 Mugellos were on the road.
Our test car is set up with a harder edge than standard. It has a
‘The car feels taut and precise, its featherlight 680kg allowing for Formula
‘club’ exhaust: the middle ground. A single customer so far has ordered the quiet version; there is a loud option for extroverts.
The floor-hinged pedalbox is excellent, the result of 20 prototype versions! Gearlever and handbrake are beautifully crafted, the latter resting out of the way in a hollow when not engaged. The interior was designed to be ergonomically unconstrained; for drivers taller than 1.95m, the floor can be lowered.
The power-to-weight ratio matches that of a Porsche Turbo and there is plenty of torque at low revs, fully 221lb ft from 2200rpm, which means wonderful tractability in comparison to some rivals that demand high revs all day.
Out on the road the car feels taut and precise, its featherlight 680kg allowing for Formula Ford-like agility, the gearchange wonderfully precise with short throws. The clutch action is light and soon assimilated. Quick steering means the Mugello darts where you want it to yet is benign when you light up the tyres. Even though this car is set up hard, it is neither unpleasant over corrugated surfaces nor difficult over speedbumps. The Hi Spec brakes, four-pot at the front, stop you in no time. All told, this is a well-rounded and mature sports car that’s ready to put a big smile on your face.
Prices with standard windshield and soft-top start around €98,000 and options for the more adventurous (along with the ‘extrovert’ exhaust) include a low-drag ’screen.
1990 Mazda MX-5
Matthew Hayward
DRIVING IN the UK can be a mixed bag, but if there’s one thing this little MX-5 reaffirms it’s that you can still find joy even in mundane journeys. If you know your Mazdas, then you’ll appreciate that this early UK-spec Mk1 model is about as close to the original British sports car experience as you can get without buying a Lotus Elan.
I first drove this example, which belongs to Mazda UK, last year during the Land’s End to John o’ Groats record run – which saw all four generations complete the 1000-mile pilgrimage using 100% sustainable fuel. After years of quite liking various later MX-5s, my first drive in a beautifully original, low-mileage early one blew me away. So, when offered the chance to spend a bit more time with this example, and take it along to Hagerty’s 1980s and ’90s-themed RADwood event at Bicester, I jumped at the chance.
The run down on a Saturday morning provided a blast of top-down B-road fun before a relaxed run down the A47. Although a smidge more noise from the perky 115bhp 1.6 wouldn’t go amiss, it sounds very crisp, but I think the real magic of this car is its beautiful balance. The narrow and relatively soft tyres provide enough grip, but you can play with the car’s attitude so easily on the throttle. It feels so small on the road, too, you feel like you can drive it quite hard while travelling at lower speeds than a modern EV would reach on the way to the local Sainsbury’s.
This was my first experience of RADwood, and it’s certainly an event that appeals to my Millennial tastes. Arriving early in order to get the MX-5 parked before the general crowds showed up, it was great to see the varied mix of cars appearing. As I was on official judging duty, I took note of some of the best adherents to the ‘Greed is Good’ theme: some fabulous cars and costumes, but myself and the judges were absolutely taken with the blue BMW 840Ci, which was awarded ‘RADdest Car of the Show’. Father and daughter were both dressed appropriately, but the car was also filled with items that dated from the week it was registered. Wonderful attention to detail, and the star of the day.
Ultimately, the MX-5 blended into this crowd well, and I had a few great conversations with fans throughout the day – although I think it lacked the rarity value that made some of the other cars shine. Personal highlights included an Autozam AZ-1, Honda City Turbo and a Matra Rancho.
Generally I can take or leave a convertible – and I’d more often leave it than take it – but I found
the early-morning run to drop the car back at Mazda’s base utterly refreshing. Bitingly cold fresh air, heater on full blast and the full 360º of a cracking sunrise made this one of the most uplifting drives I’ve had in a long time.
Clockwise, from top left MX-5 in its natural element; with RX-7 and others at RADwood; it takes full accessorisation to win; judges make their decision; the winning BMW.
One of just 100, this example, No. 13, combines a rare specification, desirable factory options and tasteful enhancements. Finished in a standout colour combination and supported by a superb service history including recent engine rebuild. A unique opportunity to own a cherished and well-sorted example £39,500
A magnificent example with lovely history, ready to compete with in some of the world’s most prestigous historic race meetings from Le Mans to Goodwood. Fitted with alloy ‘wobbly-web’ wheels and powered by a tuned Coventry-Climax engine. Presented with current FIA papers dated until 2027 £85,000
This is a no-expense-spared, race-ready example of a highly competitive FIA GT car. Eligible for a wide array of top-tier historic racing series. Since its debut in 2022, this Griffith has been a frontrunning contender at the highest level of historic GT racing £249,500
Gone but not forgotten
Words by Richard Heseltine
A star whose meteoric trajectory was halted in an instant at Reims
GRAND PRIX DRIVERS ARE an elite bunch. Naturally, there is a pecking order, but alongside the big stars – the legends we lionise – there are those whose names are not uttered with reverence but who deserved better. Bald statistics offer a skewed picture of a driver’s talent, that’s for sure. Some mobile chicanes have lucked-in and claimed glory while other, conspicuously more talented, drivers have fallen short, sometimes for reasons beyond their control. Peter Arundell is a case in point.
On paper, he achieved relatively little. He started a mere 11 points-paying Grands Prix, which surely marks him out as being just another also-ran, but consider this: the Team Lotus man finished third on his World Championship debut at Monaco in 1963. Yes, it was a race of attrition, but he had qualified sixth. To finish on the podium first time out placed Arundell in rarefied company, but then he did it again in his next race. He came home third in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Just to lend further perspective, it’s worth mentioning that, prior to Arundell, no driver had ever finished on the podium in their first two World Championship Grands Prix. This feat wouldn’t be repeated until 2007 when the Lewis Hamilton/McLaren tsunami hit landmass. A further points haul for Arundell in round four, the French Grand Prix at Rouen, meant that he was lying third in the drivers’ standings among the best of the best. Peter Arundell had the world at his feet… until suddenly he didn’t.
The funny thing is, Arundell had no real interest in motor racing as a young pup. That came later. Born on 11 August 1933, he learned about cars from his father, who had established a garage business shortly after the end of World War Two. While serving his National Service in the RAF, young Peter acquired an Austin Seven and set about turning it into a ‘special’. Returning to Civvy Street in 1955, he joined his father at the family business and saved enough to acquire an MG TC. He also helped establish the Romford Enthusiasts’ Car Club.
The venerable T-series roadster was then breathed on substantially prior to him making his circuit debut, more out of curiosity than anything. In late 1956, Arundell made an instant impression, narrowly winning a race at Mallory Park in the wet. The bug had bitten, and bitten hard. The MG made way for a third-hand Lotus Eleven. Results were such that he appeared on Colin Chapman’s radar. The young charger was invited to the factory
for a chat about a works drive. He drove to Hornsey only to be told that Lotus’s talismanic founder was in a meeting.
This happened three times. Frank Nichols then offered Arundell a seat in a works Elva for a Formula Junior campaign, and he accepted on the spot. The upshot was that he became a superstar in the category, latterly with Team Lotus after Chapman realised the error of his ways. And then came Formula 1. In addition to making an electrifying debut in the World Championship, he also starred in non-series Grands Prix while also competing in junior categories.
In July 1964, the Essex ace with the vermilion helmet was in contention for honours in a Formula 2 race at Reims. It was a typically frenzied affair, and, with just six laps to go, a momentary lapse saw Arundell drop a wheel on the dirt. He half-spun his Lotus 32 and was broadsided by Richie Ginther’s Lola. The American was out on the spot, but emerged unscathed. Arundell wasn’t so fortunate. The Lotus impacted against an earth bank while its hapless driver was pulverised.
Surviving the accident was one thing, living through his stay in a French hospital something else entirely. An operation to repair his leg should have been straightforward, but he picked up infection along the way. He defied expectations and was walking on crutches within a month, so there was every reason to believe he might be fit enough to drive in 1965. However, osteomyelitis set in and, for more than a year, he was in and out of hospitals in the UK, his leg either in plaster or irons. He also endured dramatic weight loss.
Arundell returned to racing in Formula 1 in 1966, but he wasn’t the same driver. His was a dismal year, the perception being that he’d lost his touch. Arundell wouldn’t race again until 1968, when he had two outings in an Alan Mann Escort. After a brief spell managing the McNamara Formula 3 team, he dropped out of motor racing completely to run a motor factors. In the early 1980s, Arundell headed Stateside where he operated a software business, before heading back to the UK a decade later.
Dogged by ill health, estranged from his family, and in reduced circumstances, he died in June 2009. He was 75. So how good was Arundell? The general consensus is that he was better than a number two driver, but perhaps not good enough to be a superstar. The pity is, we never got to find out.
Initially a Jack Barclay salesman and then MD from the mid-90s, he founded his eponymous London classic car dealership in 2001
1. When you are away a lot travelling with work, you need a reliable way of waking you up.
I bought this portable alarm clock from the Hermès shop in Harrods for my wife Be ina years ago, but appropriated it for myself. It is such good quality, plus is perfectly pocket-size and, being Hermès, wakes you up very politely.
2. You wouldn’t recognise my briefcase as Louis Vui on, but it’s been used every day for 20 years so has been pre y good value. It happens to be the perfect size for my ancient MacBook!
3. I have three original Cassandre posters, one of them hand-signed: the Nord Express, Étoile de Nord and, probably the most famous, the Normandie. They are huge and just wonderful.
4. I inherited a studio-quality Transcriptor hydraulic reference turntable from my father and then bought myself another. One has the Transcriptor Fluid Arm and one has the SME III arm. They looked so futuristic that Alex had one in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. I play them through a Quad amp and pre-amp and JBL L100 speakers… perfect for Steely Dan.
5. Bentley made only a handful of these golfing ball markers before shelving them. I got three – mine plus one for each of my sons – but have never seen another since.
6. I commissioned a series of bronzes from Austrian artist Romain Schroeder: Aston DB4GT Zagato, Ferrari 275 GTB/4, Mercedes 300SL Gullwing and Lamborghini Miura. I love the colour and shape of the Miura best.
7. This two-foot tall Spirit of Ecstasy came out of the showroom of Jack Alpe Ltd, a London Rolls-Royce and Bentley secondhand specialist from 1948 to about 2002. When it was created it was a piece of dealership furniture, but they are rare now. It has pride of place in our hall, but we also take it to every show with us.
8. These are my two Louis Vui on travelling trunks that I’ve had for over a decade and which we use whenever we tour Europe, la erly in our Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible. They o er huge space for stacking clothes and work very well. I was lucky to fly on Concorde twice so I thought the tags added a nice touch.
9. I no longer smoke, but have a collection of Dunhill lighters. This one is the prototype of a slender model that never went into production – it is stamped 000/00. I got it from Dunhill in 1996 when they didn’t seem to know what to do with it, so I just made them an o er.
10. My business keys hang on these. The larger wheel is a Ti any limited edition Millennium keyring with 2000 cleverly disguised in the chain links. The smaller one is another Ti any that is now discontinued and was the basis of the logo for my company.
11. I love this working 1930s telephone, which I bought 25 years ago from an ex-BT man who restored them. The only problem is that it doesn’t work when you are confronted with an automated digital system, so you can’t press 4 to speak to a customer service advisor!
1960 ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT £POA
We are delighted to offer this sensational DB4 GT, finished in Sea Green with VM3253 Connolly Green hides, as it was when delivered new. This superb example of the rare and highly coveted DB4 GT, has an excellent history, been the recipient of a world class restoration and has covered only very limited mileage, since completion of the restoration in 2015.
Nicholas Mee & Co Ltd, Essendonbury Farm, Hatfield Park Estate, Hertfordshire, AL9 6AF 0208 741 8822 info@nicholasmee.co.uk nicholasmee.co.uk
by Delwyn Malle
So secure that it can turn away Presidents and the world’s richest man
FORT KNOX, that enduring symbol of impregnability and unimaginable wealth, was in the news recently when President Trump – notoriously xated on gold – and his on/o best buddy Elon Musk were denied access. Conspiracy theorists have forever speculated that the gold was long gone, spirited away by successive governments, and that the pair wanted to know if that was, indeed, fact. e rst and last Presidential visit to the bullion vault was during World War Two, when Franklin D Roosevelt, who had commissioned the depository in 1936, took a tour of inspection. In 1933 – the midst of the Great Depression – it was newly appointed Roosevelt who signed the controversial executive order 6102 banning ‘the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion and gold certi cates’ so all holdings had to be surrendered to the Federal Reserve for a price xed by itself.
By 1936, with tons of gold accumulating, a safe bullion depository became a ma er of urgency. At a time when bank robbers were o en armed with Tommy guns, a secure location was a priority – and what could be more secure than an Army base?
Fort Knox is vast, covering 170 square miles, and is named a er Henry Knox, a Founding Father of the United States and a
senior General during the Revolutionary War. ‘Knox’ is a Sco ish surname derived from the Gaelic ‘cnoc’ for a hillock or hump and in Old English ‘cnocc’, a round-topped hill.
A total of 11 cities in the US are named Knox in Henry’s honour (and 15 States have a Knoxville), as well as two forts, one in Maine and the one in Kentucky that’s popularly con ated with the adjacent United States Bullion Depository.
Louis A Simon (1867-1958), the Supervising Architect for the US Treasury from 1934 to 1939, was responsible for the depository’s design, built in the form of a low ziggurat, its outer walls in granite-lined concrete with Art Deco detailing. Allegedly atomic bomb proof (although it predated the arrival of the bomb by a decade), the important bit, the gold vault, is well below ground level and is said to contain 133.46 tonnes of gold worth $950billion – roughly half of the nation’s total holding.
At times the vault has contained other precious artefacts, such as the signed original Constitution of the USA and, during World War Two, a copy of the Magna Carta as well as medical reserves of opium and morphine.
It’s hard to imagine that any villains would contemplate robbing Fort Knox, but one has
The only US Presidential
to
actually succeeded, if only in science ction – Lex Luthor, evil genius and Superman’s long-time nemesis. However, when Luthor discovered that Superman was o on a mission in space at the time, he returned the gold because he felt that without having had to outwit ‘the Man of Steel’ the heist had not been enough of a challenge.
In 1959 another evil mind hatched a plan to rob Fort Knox. However, in this case the villain, Auric Gold nger, had not bargained on the intervention of MI6 agent James Bond, who thwarts the plan. For the 1964 movie version of Ian Fleming’s novel, the plot was changed and, instead of stealing the gold, Gold nger plans to contaminate it with radiation and as a result increase the value of his own gold pile.
Producer Cubby Broccoli, through a connection in the military, gained rare permission for the director to y over the depository but was severely upbraided when he ignored an instruction to stay at 3000 and dived to 500 to get a be er shot. e movie also famously featured a naked woman (Shirley Eaton) covered in gold paint, and a character called Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). Incidentally, a er nishing his rst Bond novel, Ian Fleming treated himself to a gold-plated Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter. It’s perhaps not surprising that you can buy gold-foil-covered chocolate dollar medallions, or gold ingots stamped ‘Fort Knox’, or assorted padlocks; even a safety boot, or (this being America) a Fort Knox gun safe, though a limited-edition Gibson Les Paul Fort Knox guitar seems to be exploring the outer limits of relevance. However, with a gold- nished body and gold-plated xtures and ings, it does look a million dollars.
Shortly before Roosevelt banned the private holding of gold, the Treasury had minted 445,000 double-eagle $20 gold coins. Suddenly rendered redundant, they were melted down – but around 20 were declared missing. All (or most) of them were eventually tracked down but one escapee, by then again legalised, was sold in 2002 for $7,590,020 (the odd $20 being paid to the US Treasury to ‘monetise’ it as legal tender). In 2021 it changed hands again for a remarkable $18,872,250. e actual value of the gold in the coin is currently around $3300.
Despite the popular view that Fort Knox is where the US stores all its gold, the New York Federal Reserve holds more and, surprisingly, while the UK doesn’t even creep into the top ten of gold-holding countries, the Bank of England ranks number two for gold storage.
by Mark McArthur-Christie
A novelty auction buy turned out to be a potential Lancia works-related gem
A CERTAIN WELL-KNOWN online auction site (other well-known auction sites are available) can feel a li le like the horological equivalent of Ba ersea Dogs & Cats Home. So many appealing li le faces, so many tugs on the heartstrings to pluck one from the pack and o er it a good home. For those a icted with a love of cars as well as watches, it’s doubly dangerous. Add the uniquely obsessive desire for Italian machinery and you’re almost certain to be making space in the watchbox for a new arrival.
is is what happened to Mark Webb when he spo ed a slightly tired-looking double-register chronograph looking back at him from his screen. As a nailed-on Lancista, he’d seen a couple of things everyone else had missed. While almost anyone would recognise a Heuer chronograph, Pronto is hardly a well-known maker. And unless you smell faintly of benzina, there’s a decent chance you wouldn’t look twice at a dial with ‘Aurelia’ on it. Fortunately, Mark did, stopped, and scrolled through the rest of the pictures. When it came to the caseback, he realised he’d found something remarkable.
Caseback engraving can be hit or miss, but here were the crisply cut words ‘1954 VI Coppa Della Toscana’ and, in the middle, the 1929 version of Biscare i di Ru a’s Lancia logo, engraved precisely enough for you to see the ignition advance knob device on the right. Further investigation revealed the seller ran an Aurelia and had bought the watch from Italy a few years before. Sadly, that’s where the thread runs out, as Webb explains: ‘Any further back and its history is unknown.’ e Coppa della Toscana ran from 1949 through to the last race in 1954 and Lancia performed well indeed. In 1953, Aurelia GT 2500s had taken the top three places, with the two winners, Clemente Bionde i and Gino Bronzoni, running an average speed of 118km/h over the 633km road course. In ’54 Roberto Piodi had come third in his class (fourth overall) in the same model. Sadly, the 1950s didn’t share the modern, forensic obsession with record-keeping, so we have no idea whether Webb’s watch was awarded to one of the drivers, and if it was, to whom. Even a detailed search through contemporary images doesn’t reveal any of the drivers wearing even a similar watch, but it doesn’t seem an unreasonable assumption that it went to a wheelman. We do know that Lancia also worked with Leonidas (which later merged with Heuer) to co-brand watches for Lancia’s entries in the Targa Florio around the same time.
As you can imagine, a racing watch from 1954 was in need of a li le a ention. Fortunately, Webb’s address book includes watchmaking god Peter Roberts, so the watch was dispatched for Roberts’ son, James,
to sort out, in exchange for Webb (an electronics engineer) xing his Revox turntable. Webb explains: ‘One of the chronograph levers was broken, the chrono wasn’t engaging and everything was a bit gummed up. It needed an operating lever spring, and a mounted sliding gear. A wheel had broken the pivots on the old sliding gear and the return spring had been replaced by some fabrication in the dim and distant past.’ Restoring older chronographs can be ruinous, but fortunately just £150 snagged all the parts needed.
Rather than tucking the watch safely away in a drawer, Webb enjoys wearing it – especially when taking to the Kent lanes in the Fulvia coupé he’s owned for 45 years. ‘I o en wear it in the car; it’s a bit like a lucky charm.’ It’s always a good thing when a watch nds the home it was meant to have.
Swiss chrono maker was a big deal before take-over by Heuer
ALTHOUGH THE LEONIDAS trademark was registered in 1902, the rm it evolved from started back in the middle of the 19th Century in St Imier. It was a natural choice for ‘racing watches’ simply because the maker had been producing chronographs since the 1920s, rst for horseracing, then aviation and nally for the circuit. Despite looking like a basic coulisse (lever, rather than column wheel) movement, the watches are actually very wellnished indeed and even the bridge edges are bevelled. is one is just 35mm in diameter, but beware if you see an oversize version as some are frankenwatches, powered by Valjoux 76 movements.
Poplar Farm, Bressingham, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 2AP
Tel: 01379688356 Mob: 07909531816
Web: www.asmotorsport.co.uk
Email: info@asmotorsport.co.uk
DAVIDE
BASSOLI, Nubes Argentea, £215, ISBN 978 8 8944 567 52
Even today, when prices for a good Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow have risen to a level vaguely commensurate with their stunning quality, these are still hugely undervalued cars – victims of their own success, because lots of them are still around. So it’s hardly surprising that until now we’ve not had a high-end, top-quality book devoted solely to the model. Now, we have. It was actually a 1980 Shadow II, owned by a friend’s father when the author was growing up in Italy, that kindled his interest in the marque and led to him founding his own publishing house in 2014 devoted to Royces and Bentleys (its name, Nubes Argentea, is Italian for ‘Silver Cloud’). Eleven years later he has come full circle to his rst love – and done it proud. Besides the Shadow, he covers its sister Bentley models, plus the Corniche, Carmargue and the various special versions that were based on it. Retailing his books at a premium (though far from outrageous) price means that Davide Bassoli can allow the generously sized text to
Book of the month
breathe, and devote plenty of space to a fantastic selection of images. From the very rst pages, which showcase evocative colour transparencies taken at the Shadow’s launch to the press inside the Crewe factory on 28 September 1965, you know you’re in for a treat – and so it proves. In fact, the majority of pictures throughout are in colour and, of those, by far the most were taken in period. It’s interesting to note the move away from traditional ‘posing outside a country pile’ shots to a more urban emphasis, in keeping with the Shadow’s re-invention as a practical town car that looked to the future.
ere are dozens of styling sketches, too, plus factory shots of the cars being built and candid snaps from the (then) exotic press launches held in Spain, Sicily and the South of France. Motor Sport’s Bill Boddy refused to be unduly in uenced, naturally, in 1975 being the rst of many to compare the new Camargue to Lady Penelope’s ‘FAB 1’ in underbirds – and was it coincidence that Vic Berris’s glorious cutaway drawing for e Autocar was shaded in pink?
Arguably the most interesting material is found in a series of appendices: for example a 1965 le er from Rolls chief stylist John Blatchley, thanking dealer Jack Barclay for the loan of a Mercedes 600 for evaluation, with an un a ering comment about its inner door shuts being ‘rather roughly painted and le unpolished’. Ouch! However, it’s the appendix about one-o commissions that really catches the eye, not least the bob-tailed Shadows – like bigger BMC 1100/1300s – ordered by regular customer Captain Roderick McLeod in ma black. Two were built but no photos have yet emerged – what happened to them?
Lando Norris
Never judge a book by its cover. e name of the author – a hugely respected motor racing journalist – is a clue that this cheap ’n’ cheerful children’s book is much more than just a comic. e fourth in a series that also includes Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Charles LeClerc, it’s ideal for youngsters wanting to learn more about their F1 heroes, with lots of facts that are breezily but never condescendingly related. Who knows, it could just tempt your youngster away from their phone…
MAURICE HAMILTON, Macmillan, £6.99, ISBN 978 1 03504 392 7
Marque histories are tricky things to write: lots of info to get across in a way that doesn’t cause the reader to fall asleep. As the former road-test editor of Performance Bike and current editor of Bike, Mike Armitage has packed his account of Triumph’s long history with pop culture references, from Marlon Brando through to Tom Cruise, and writes in a pacey style that certainly helps keep eyelids from drooping. At 20 quid, it’s a con dent and perky piece of work.
MIKE ARMITAGE, Michael O’Mara Books, £20, ISBN 978 1 78929 752 2
The past 12 months have seen an unprecedented number of good books about motorsport land on the editorial review desk, so for the sake of balance – about 70% of the books that arrive have motorsport subjects – we’ve had to hold this one back a while.
This history of Italian 1930s immigrant to the USA, Luigi Chinetti, and his subsequent reign over NART suffered a double disadvantage in making it to the print stage: Chinetti’s son, Luigi ‘Coco’ Chinetti, is collaborating with Doug Nye on his own book about his father and so was understandably reluctant to be involved with another work; and the author of the book reviewed here, Michael T Lynch, passed away in 2019, three years into the project. Two years later, his friend and publishing partner in the book, David Bull, also died.
Thanks to the support of numerous people – and wonderful pictures supplied by Dr János Wimpffen – it’s finally seen the light of day. Running to 420 pages, it’s a straightforward and comprehensive account of Chinetti’s life and career, from formative years at Alfa Romeo to a spell in Paris before escaping to America in May 1940, followed, of course, by his intimate involvement in getting Ferrari established there. The glory days of NART are followed through to its sad demise in the early 1980s, and there are plenty of period colour images from all decades thanks to Dr János ‘Time and Two Seats’ Wimpffen. A relatively affordable tribute to a great character.
MICHAEL T LYNCH, David Bull Publishing, $135, ISBN 979 8 9906 140 2 4
Rover P5 and P5B
Have you ever heard of a Rover 2500? James Taylor has, and he gives you the full lowdown about it in this compact but informative so back (it was a tax-break 2.4-litre version of the 3.0-litre Mk1A P5, built specially for Austria; only 25 were made). is, and many other curiosities –the P5 rally cars, one-o coachbuilt estate and convertibles, Royal, government and military Rovers – are covered in detail, plus of course all the ins and outs of the regular cars. Well-illustrated and great value.
JAMES TAYLOR, Amberley, £15.99, 978 1 39812 323 6
Porsche 993 30 Years 1994-2024
Like the Rolls-Royce book publisher Davide Bassoli (see opposite page), Andreas Gabriel specialises in one marque: Porsche. He’s been producing high-quality works – mainly about the air-cooled 911s – since 2011, and this slipcased beauty is devoted to the 993.
Besides charting all the evolutions of the range, which are illustrated with stunning colour images, there’s an intriguing chapter about the stillborn ‘economy’ 993, which Porsche envisaged as a possible entry-level model, fitted with a 3.2-litre flat-six and a simpler ignition system. In the end, a rising economy meant that Porsche didn’t need to offer it – but a few prototypes were leased to selected employees. The verdict is that it would have been one of the great 911s.
With text in both German and English, and interviews with key 993 personnel such as designer Tony Hatter, this handsome work – limited to 993 copies, natch – makes a fitting end to Gabriel’s air-cooled odyssey.
ANDREAS GABRIEL, Berlin Motor Books, €192 plus p&p, ISBN 978 3 9814592 6 5
Compiled by Chris Bietzk and Sophie Kochan
In July, Shunsaku Tamiya, who built Tamiya into the company we know today, died at the grand old age of 90. The firm was founded by his father in 1946, as a lumber supplier, and it began to o er basic wooden models of aeroplanes and ships soon a erwards, but the plastic kits and radio-control vehicles for which it would become famous were the idea of Shunsaku – a man who delighted in ge ing the details right. ‘We were making the moulds for a Porsche 934 Turbo RSR and I visited the Stu gart factory seven times in one year to see how the real car was made,’ he told Jonny Smith in Octane 138. When Porsche sta were di cult about le ing him take measurements of certain components, he went and bought a 911 just to pull it apart! The very first R/C vehicle
Tamiya produced was an M4 Sherman tank, released in 1974, and Shunsaku no doubt got a kick out of the updated version that arrived earlier this year. It features a new gearbox and a Type 540 motor that together allow the controlled-di erential steering of the real tank to be more accurately mimicked.
£876 (full R/C bundle) modelsport.co.uk
The Debut Carbon EVO was among the best-value turntables available… until it wasn’t available anymore. Happily, distributor Henley Audio has persuaded Pro-Ject to put the model back into production for the UK market only –and, amazingly, given the state of the world at present, the model returns with a smaller price tag than before. £449. henleyaudio.co.uk
Even by the standards of Bertone, a styling house never afraid to get weird, the Ferrari 308-based Rainbow of 1976 is a challenging design – equal parts Fiat X1/9, BBC Micro computer and air-conditioning unit – but we never get bored of looking at it. The folks at Tecnomodel must find its oddness compelling, too, for they’re now making models of the concept car in five di erent colours, including the original white. £278.95. grandprixmodels.com
A fun addition to Hedon’s range of helmets, inspired by the Malle Mile motorcycle festival and featuring an empty racing ‘meatball’ on the back that can be filled with a number of your choosing using the accompanying stickers. £549. mallelondon.com
The Oris ProPilot Altimeter –the world’s only automatic watch featuring a mechanical altimeter – has always been an impressive tool, but in this new, limited-edition form, with splashes of colour inspired by sci-fi films and 1980s DayGlo fashion, it’s also a real head-turner. £6100. oris.ch
The bright-eyed cat so frequently seen in Marchal promotional materials was not the invention of Jean Colin (company founder Pierre Marchal came up with the device a er pulling into his garage one night and seeing the eyes of his pet shining in the dark), but with this poster from 1957 the great French illustrator gave us the most characterful iteration of an advertising icon. AUD 8000. vintagepostersonly.com
Glasgow-based Paulin has pulled o quite a trick here, producing a properly usable and unfussy dive watch without abandoning the sense of fun that has always characterised the brand’s designs. The 39.7mm case, which houses a La Joux-Perret G101 movement, is water-resistant to 300m, and the watch has been torture-tested on a trip to the chilly waters of the Outer Hebrides. £1440. paulinwatches.com
The Corgi Model Club has been doing a fabulous job of reissuing choice models from Corgi’s back catalogue, and we’re delighted to see this Series I Land Rover LWB make a return; it brings back fond memories of a very beaten-up original! £34.99. corgimodelclub.com
An excellent, linen-backed example of a famous poster from the 1930s, when E ore Buga i found an unexpected way to turn lemons into lemonade. Buga i had poured a huge amount of e ort and money into the development of the Type 41 Royale, and it showed, but there were few takers for a monstrously expensive luxury car during the years of the Great Depression –so E ore took the vast Type 41 straight-eight and repurposed it to power a revolutionary, streamlined railcar, the Buga i Autorail, which would quickly be recognised as the world’s fastest train. £3500. antikbar.co.uk
In October the Transit marks its 60th anniversary, and coincidentally IXO has just released a 1:43-scale model of one of the coolest of all Transits: the Mk2 used as a service van by the great Irish rally driver Billy Coleman. £52.95. grandprixmodels.com
Manchester-based artist Sam Howson developed an interest in classic Minis during his university years. He got the bug badly enough, in fact, that he bought one and resolved to learn to drive it despite the challenges posed by his cerebral palsy. In the years since then he has produced more than a dozen Mini-inspired artworks, our favourite of which is this irresistibly colourful piece. From £39.95. sh3dart.co.uk
It was in 1932 that former car designer George Carwardine created his first balanced-arm lamp, but it wasn’t until 1935 that he and manufacturer Herbert Terry revealed the archetypical Anglepoise product: the three-spring 1227 desk lamp. Within a few years homes up and down the country had one, and today the 1227 is positively revered, so get a shi on if you’d like one of the 400 numbered examples being made in raw aluminium and brass to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the design. £349. anglepoise.co.uk
Because nobody else can be bothered to produce a high-quality but truly pocket-sized camera anymore, Ricoh has been able to flog variants of the GR III for aeons – but it has finally delivered a successor. The new GR IV o ers be er ba ery life; a redesigned lens (still 28mm-equivalent F2.8) for increased sharpness in the corners; and improved autofocus, noise and dust-removal performance. And, most importantly, it is as tiny as its predecessor, measuring 109 x 61 x 33mm. £1199. ricoh-imaging.com
Edited by Matthew Hayward
hit a huge $432.8million
Ferraris shine in California, as RM Sotheby’s leads with $26,000,000 charity lot
MONTEREY CAR WEEK delivered another extraordinary round of auctions, with five major houses achieving combined sales of $432.8million across four days. That figure makes this year the second highest in Monterey history, eclipsed only by the huge $471.2m total in 2022. The headline moment was without doubt the RM Sotheby’s sale of a one-off Ferrari Daytona SP3 for $26m.
Setting a record for a new Ferrari sold at auction, it was a charity lot that admittedly skewed the overall numbers. All proceeds went to the Ferrari Foundation, and it was this sale that pushed RM Sotheby’s total to $163.8m, comfortably the highest of any auction house. Ferrari dominated the sale overall, taking the top three results and several world records. A 1993 Ferrari F40 LM by Michelotto – one of only 19 examples – sold for $11m, while a 1995 Ferrari F50 in Giallo Modena, which once belonged to Ralph Lauren, achieved $9.25m. Both are record prices for the models.
The freshly rebranded Gooding Christie’s saw sales total $127.8m, led by a very special alloy-
bodied, full-race-specification 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB California Competizione Spyder at $25.3m. Two more California Spyders achieved $7.5m and $7.2m respectively.
Bonhams’ Quail Auction brought in $44.7m, with a 96% sell-through rate bolstered by its headlinegrabbing ‘Future Classics’ hypercar collection. The star was a 2020 Bugatti Divo, which sold for $8.6m – a record at auction.
Now in its fourth year at the Monterey Jet Center, Broad Arrow Auctions has cemented its place as a serious player with a $57.4m total. Heading the sale was a record-setting Maserati MC12 Stradale at $5.2m, the most valuable modern Maserati yet sold.
Mecum, with its largest catalogue, grossed $39.5m. Its top lot was a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder at $2.2m, followed closely by a Lamborghini Miura P400 S at $1.98m.
Monterey 2025 highlighted a healthy, evolving market, with Ferrari remaining the dominant force at the top end – eight of the ten most expensive cars wore a prancing horse. Matthew Hayward
TOP 10 PRICES AUGUST 2025
£19,175,000 ($26,000,000)
2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, California, USA, 16 August
£18,662,438 ($25,305,000)
1961 Ferrari 250 California SWB
Gooding Christie’s, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£8,116,188 ($11,005,000)
1993 Ferrari F40 LM
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, California, USA, 16 August
£6,818,188 ($9,245,000)
1995 Ferrari F50
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, California, USA, 16 August
£6,311,156 ($8,557,500)
2020 Bugatti Divo Bonhams, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£6,006,938 ($8,145,000)
1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Gooding Christie’s, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£5,568,125 ($7,550,000)
1961 Ferrari 250GT Gooding Christie’s, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£5,357,938 ($7,265,000)
1957 Ferrari 250 California LWB Gooding Christie’s, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£4,952,312 ($6,715,000)
2017 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, California, USA, 15 August
£3,938,250 ($5,340,000)
1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Sindelfingen
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, California, USA, 16 August
Insurance stats prove that youngsters are interested in classics – and their favourite marques might surprise you
MANY TIMES OVER the past few years I’ve a ended trade meetings, visited shows or held an impromptu conversation with someone else in the classic car world to discuss the same subject: how do we encourage greater numbers of young enthusiasts to join us?
It’s a tricky subject; when I was in my twenties and thirties, 105/115-series Alfa Romeos (then my models of choice) were plentiful and cheap. I remember buying a cracking 1600 GT Junior for £2000 in the early 2000s, driving it daily for a couple of years, xing the head gasket a er a particularly spirited track-day at Goodwood, and then proudly selling it on for about double the original purchase price, the costs of my motoring having been covered. Another time, I bought most of a Sprint GT (including engine, suspension, interior but minus the actual bodyshell) on the edgling eBay for £50. Today, things are very di erent: young adults are facing unique nancial challenges and there’s a perception that there just aren’t as many cheap classics available as there were in the past.
at’s partially true. e average price of a ‘fair’ condition car in Hagerty’s Classic Index, tracking traditional classic models, more than doubled from £8226 in 2012 (when the UK Price Guide was launched) to £21,460 now. e cheap classic Alfas, rusty RS Fords and shabby Subarus that dominated the market of my youth have indeed nearly all risen signi cantly in value, pushing them out of the reach of many buyers. But in the past few years, the de nition of a classic car has expanded signi cantly: in 2012, almost exactly 50% of models in the Price Guide had a lower value of £5000 or less. Today, despite the guide being much larger than it was 13 years ago, 41% of models are still at that price point. Something else has happened, too. O en over the last couple of years, I’ve wri en about prices generally falling for the traditional classic cars, especially of the old British marques. For some existing owners this may have been unwanted news, but lower values o er an opportunity for buyers,
especially to those who are starting out on their motoring journey. An analysis of cars driven by people between the ages of 21 and 25 and insured by Hagerty in the UK shows that, although BMW, VW and Ford are top, the rest of the top ten includes the great old British marques of Land Rover, Morris, Triumph, MG, Rover and Austin. e popularity of traditional British classics with a younger generation is a great thing for the future maintenance of our national motoring heritage.
Event organisers also report demand from younger people – not just the events you’d expect to a ract a lower age range, such as Dwood, Players Classic or the many supercar events, but also small local car meets. My son, 23, meets with a group of like-minded local enthusiasts and they compare their cars, chat, then drive them out through the winding Sussex and Hampshire roads, usually to a pub car park, where they raise their bonnets and chat again. People who share a love of cars ge ing together to drive: this all sounds very familiar to me.
So, some of the news is good. A ordable cars are still there, young enthusiasts want to take part in motoring events and visit shows, and the number of them is rising. Hagerty data shows that the number of Gen Z drivers (born a er 1997) insured worldwide has increased by three percentage points over the past four years, although that gure may have been boosted by the recent decision to o er cover to all UK classic car owners aged between 21 and 25, so long as they have held their licence for more than three years, own another daily driver, and meet Hagerty’s usual requirements.
What more can the rest of us do to support young drivers? We can drive our cars more, encourage our kids to help us when we tinker with them in the garage, and take them to events that cater for youngsters. Finally, we can engage: my son tells me that genuine interest in him and his car makes a huge positive di erence. A er all, we love our cars but many of us thrive on the social networks that surround the act of driving. It’s what it is all about.
Below: the most numerous models insured by Hagerty for UK clients aged between 21 and 25 (as of August 2025), expressed as a percentage of total cars insured by Hagerty UK for that demographic.
Broad Arrow Auctions, Zürich, Switzerland
1 November
A WASTE OF potential or a miraculous survivor? Whatever your perspective, the fact that this Jaguar D-type was never raced in anger when it was new – and survives to this day in exceptionally original, uncrashed condition – makes chassis XKD 551 something very special indeed.
Built in 1956 but not delivered to its first owner until October 1957, this rare shortnose example was immediately converted to semi-XKSS specification, with the addition of a passenger door and full-width windscreen – and the removal of its central bulkhead. It was soon passed onto its next owner, Aston Martin DBR1 racer James Dawnay, then to Australian Formula 1 driver Paul Hawkins.
By the mid-1970s it still hadn’t been used competitively, but the next owner took the decision to reinstate XKD 551 to the full original D-type specification. At some point the original matching-numbers engine was removed and placed into storage.
The D-type was acquired by the current Swiss owner in 1994, who invested in a full rebuild of the original engine in 2005, which has now been reunited with the car in time for the auction. It has also benefited from a full service by specialist Graber Sportgarage.
Broad Arrow will offer the D-type at its inaugural Zürich sale on 1 November, with an estimate of CHF5.25-6.25million. broadarrowauctions.com
RM Sotheby’s, Zürich 11 October
‘TAILORED FOR SPEED’ is what RM Sotheby’s has named this absolutely incredible sale of 42 cars, to be offered in Zürich – all from a single owner. Hypercar highlights include a full set of Ferrari’s Corse Clienti XX cars, plus 2024 Ferrari Daytona SP3, 2021 Ferrari Monza SP1 and several other Ferraris. From other marques there’s a 2024 Pagani Utopia and a 2021 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37, not to mention a 2023 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport. Our favourite lot, however, has to be one of the most significant Ferrari 333 SP racing cars, estimated to make CHF4m-5m. See the full catalogue at rmsothebys.com
1958 Land Rover Series I 88in H&H Classics, Buxton, UK 15 October, handh.co.uk
Believed to have originally been an RAF service vehicle, this delightful Series I took up civilian duties in 1963. It was rediscovered in 1993 as a dismantled project, then re-assembled and enjoyed before passing to the current owner in 2009, who has further improved it. Amazingly, it retains the original engine and gearbox. It’s estimated to make £10,000-12,000.
2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium 12 October, cars.bonhams.com
This isn’t just any Skyline, but the final and most accomplished factory version of the R34 GT-R, known as the V-spec II Nür. As that name suggests, it was honed at the Nürburgring and received an engine based on the N1 racing unit, with larger turbos and stronger internals. It’s showing just 8959km and, as a result, carries an estimate of €350,000-450,000.
1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB
California Spyder
Gooding Christie’s, Paris, France 28 January, goodingco.com
Gooding Christie’s is already gearing up for its inaugural Rétromobile Paris Auction, this California Spyder being an early highlight. Ferrari Classichecertified, it’s a long-wheelbase example with covered headlights. One of only 23 built, chassis 0923 GT has a well-known history, with a fantastic roster of former owners and event appearances.
1998 Mercedes-Benz CL500 Ewbank’s, Send, UK 3 October, ewbankauctions.co.uk
There’s something about driving a V8-engined Mercedes of this era that can actually reduce your blood pressure – regardless of the increasingly angry modern tra c. This 134,000-mile example has a comprehensive service history, but be sure to set aside some money for ongoing maintenance. It could be a real bargain at the (no reserve) £3000-5000 estimate.
Just before dawn on 28 April 1789, William Bligh, captain of HMS Bounty, was yanked out of bed, tied up and dragged topside by an armed gang led by o cer Fletcher Christian. e most famous mutiny in history had started. e ship was around 1300 nautical miles west of Tahiti, where the crew had spent months gathering breadfruit plants intended to feed enslaved workers in the British West Indies. Bounty’s voyage from England to the South Paci c had been an arduous one, and many of the crew had come to hate Bligh, an awful leader who routinely humiliated his men. When he impugned Christian’s character by accusing him of the , Christian reached the end of his tether. He and his gang bundled Bligh and 18 ‘loyalists’ (most simply wanted to avoid a court martial) into Bounty’s launch and set them adri with just a few supplies. ings looked a bit sticky for the chaps in the launch but, while Bligh was a tyrant, he was also a superb navigator. A er a empting to land in Tonga, where the locals proved to be less than friendly, Bligh charted a course across 3618 miles of ocean to reach the Dutch colony of Koepang, in Timor –purportedly using the very compass seen here, which will be auctioned by Bonhams in London on 15 October. According to the label inside the case, it was acquired from Bligh’s daughter, and if maritime history bu s are satis ed with its provenance, the instrument will surely smash a top estimate of £7000.
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 9-11 October
Vicari, Biloxi, USA
10 October
Broad Arrow Auctions, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
11 October
Agu es, Brussels, Belgium
Barons Manor Park Classics, Southampton, UK
RM Sotheby’s, Zurich, Switzerland
12 October
Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
15 October
H&H Classics, Buxton, UK 16-19 October
Barre -Jackson, Sco sdale, USA 17-18 October
Branson Auction, Branson, USA
Manor Park Classics, Runcorn, UK
18 October
Che ns, Cambridge, UK
Oldtimer Galerie, To en, Switzerland
RM Sotheby’s, Munich, Germany
23 October
Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK
25 October
WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK
29 October
Brightwells, online
29 October – 1 November
Mecum, Fort Worth, USA
30 October
SWVA, Poole, UK
31 October
Bonhams, London, UK
Broad Arrow Auctions, Las Vegas, USA
1 November
Broad Arrow Auctions, Zürich, Switzerland
RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 1-2 November
ACA, King’s Lynn, UK 7-9 November
Osenat, Lyon, France
AUCTION DIARY IN ASSOCIATION WITH
The first high-performance Cayman is bucking the traditional values cycle
IN 2015, PORSCHE released the performance version of the 981 Cayman. Powered by the 3.8-litre engine from the 911 S, mid-mounted and detuned so it didn’t embarrass its big sibling, the track-focused GT4 also benefited from 991 GT3-derived brakes and suspension, and a lowered, aggressive body with a front splitter, underbody and rear spoiler for significant downforce.
However, the GT4 isn’t as uncompromising as the GT3 and, although its long-geared manual gearbox takes a little getting used to, it is almost as comfortable on long drives as it is on the track. Its 2019 successor, the 718 GT4, offers a bigger engine, around 50% more downforce and updated infotainment – but the
Lotus broke the mould, quite literally, with the 1957 Earls Court Motor Show launch of its first ‘proper’ road car, albeit one developed with motorsport in mind. The precocious Type 14 Elite, with its integral chassis-less glassfibre monocoque, was also even more elite than its name suggested. You couldn’t actually buy one before the end of 1958, and then the £1951 sticker price was substantially more than a Jaguar XK150’s. With hindsight, there’s an argument that Lotus should have charged even more.
The Elite’s impressive power-to-weight ratio and wind-cheating form propelled it beyond 110mph, thanks to 75bhp from its lightweight aluminium Coventry Climax 1216cc inline four. Braking was by discs all-round, suspension
original is lighter, has more direct steering and feels more special.
As a result, values of the 981 GT4 are very resilient. Usually, for a limited-edition performance car there’s a spike over RRP when it’s new and in demand, followed by a drop, then a rally when it becomes collectable. The GT4 had a base price of £64,500, the median UK advertised price rose to a peak of just over £83,000 in February 2019, and it’s now around £66,000, so the ‘drop’ hasn’t really happened.
Current values range from £52,000 to the high £70,000s for low-mileage, top-spec cars. And specification is critical to price. Sport Chrono, 918 bucket seats and composite brakes (PCCB) are top of many buyers’ lists, but
dual climate control, interior trim options and the Sound Package Plus also attract higher prices. Standard colours were limited, so anything unusual can add value. Many have been used on track, so maintenance is essential. Small numbers of the lightweight Clubsport variant were produced and these achieve huge prices; in the USA over $200k is possible.
THE NUMBERS
2500
4.4 0-60 seconds
fully independent. As Autocar noted: ‘The road manners of the Elite come as near to those of a racing car as the ordinary motorist would ever experience.’ By run-out in 1963, with just over 1000 produced, the Elite’s price had been reduced to £1662, just below the E-type roadster’s.
Simply put, this Chapman signature piece was a car for the epicure. On the road its prowess came at the cost of cabin noise, but on the track that mattered little. The Elite won its class at Le Mans for six consecutive years.
Interest in the Elite goes in cycles, and over the past five years it has come back into range, with compound annual average growth of 5.15%, bettering the 4.34% achieved by the HAGI Top 50 index of collector-grade cars. Higher-quality road cars that were trading at £50,000-60,000 five years ago are now £70,00080,000, or more for exceptional cars and the high-performance Super versions. But there’s a more rarefied realm that operates at higher altitude – the 20 Le Mans
The 981 GT4 has built a strong reputation within Porsche circles and, unusually, prices seemed unaffected by the 2019 arrival of the 718 GT4. The number on the market has fallen about 50% since 2018, suggesting they are being retained. That, and a relatively young ownership demographic, indicate a strong valuation outlook…
John Mayhead
entrants, not all of which made it to the start line. One, a 1960 2.0-litre prototype, sold at auction in 2018 for £202,500. As for those that raced at Le Mans or in other high-profile events, they rarely reach the open market.
At the start of the Le Manswinning streak in 1959, Elites came eighth and tenth overall and dominated their class against Porsche RSKs and 550s. Should such a provenanced Elite come to market it would likely command a serious six-figure sum.
385bhp
3800cc
£65,965
Median advertised value UK (Aug 2025) mph []
It’s said that Lotus lost £100 on every Elite sold. Had it priced it higher and limited output to 100 instead of 1000, values today would undoubtedly have been nudged up a few ticks into the price chasm between the giant-slaying Lotus and the Porsches it humbled that are now worth so many millions. HistoricAutoGroup.com
WARFIELD, BERKSHIRE, RG42
Willow Farm has commercial use for buying and selling cars and benefits from having exceptional, air-conditioned garaging and showroom facilities for up to 20 cars.
Within the former stable/garaging courtyard is an air-conditioned office, meeting room/lounge, kitchen and gardener’s room. Willow Farm is a fantastic family home positioned in the heart of polo country and could be converted back for equestrian use
// 4 - 5 BEDROOMS
// 2 BATHROOMS
// RECEPTION ROOMS
// TOTAL FLOOR AREA 2,906 - 8,975 SQ FT
// 2 SEPARATE ELECTRIC GATED ENTRANCES
// HIGH SECURITY CAMERAS AND BOLLARDS
// APPROX. 12.41 ACRES
// AIR-CONDITIONED OFFICES, GARAGING & SHOWROOM
// APPROVED FOR COMMERCIAL USE
// DIRECT BRIDLEWAY ACCESS
// FURTHER 1.31 ACRE POST AND RAIL PADDOCK
// GROUNDS WOULD SUIT A ‘STICK & BALL’ POLO PITCH
ENQUIRIES: edward.shaw@knightfrank.com
alex.hancock@knightfrank.com
POA from Ascott Collection, Gazeran, France
IT’S CLEAR THAT there’s currently a huge amount of buzz around historic GT3 racing at the minute, and rightly so (see pages 112-120). If you’re looking for something that is eligible, has provenance and is in e ect race-ready, this Corve e o ered by Asco Collection seems to tick all the right boxes.
Like all GT3 racers, the Corve e was based on a road car, in this case the Z06. It’s powered by a modi ed 7.0-litre LS7 V8. Prepped by APP Racing Engines in Holland, it produces between 580 and 620bhp, depending on the intake restrictors used.
Built for the 2008 European GT3 Championship, this car was piloted by Arnaud Peyroles and James Ru er, who were driving for the Martini Callaway
Racing team. e pair actually went on to win the Drivers’ Championship that rst year.
e Corve e continued competing with the team for two more seasons, a er which it ended up racing in the Italian GT series with RC Motorsport. What is potentially of interest to those looking to campaign the car today is that it received a full update in 2012, meaning it features a revised aerodynamic package and paddleshi transmission.
In 2015 it was sent to Callaway Competition in Germany for a rebuild, and has been used sparingly for track-days ever since. Most recently, the current owner had the car fully restored by Sco Sport – so it’s prepped for the pitlane. asco collection.com
1932 Aston Martin International
£160,000
This rather pre y Aston was the final International built by the factory. Restored in the early 1990s by Ecurie Bertelli, it has won several concours since. ecuriebertelli.com (UK)
1972 Jeepster Commando
€24,900
These cool-looking Jeeps were assembled in Spain, di ering slightly from the US cars. This immaculate example was kept by the first owner until 2021. autosalon-valencia.com (ES)
1972 BMW 2000 tii Touring
$29,900
The Insider
HOW HAVE YOU got to where you are today? I was an engineer on deepdraught merchant ships before becoming a classic car collector, racer and trader. Is the market strong? e cycles go back to the ’80s, each boom stronger than the last. e current market seems to be headed on at least a three-year up cycle. What road cars are currently in demand? Late 1980s to 2000 Ferraris and Porsches with manual ’boxes: 550 Maranello, 964RS, 964 Turbo 3.6 and suchlike. What’s the next big thing? Some Mercedes-AMGs seem most recently to have started to outpace their original low selling price.
What’s shockingly good value at the moment? Alfa Romeos, from pre-war 6C 2500 variants and early post-war models such as the 1900C, CS and CSS variants and most assuredly the SZ, TZ and various GTAs. Same for pre-war Buga is. What can’t you understand the high values for? e new generation of insanely complicated hybrid supercars seem frightfully overpriced. What do you currently own? 1935 FIAT 508CS Coppa d’Oro, 1941 Ford 9N Tractor, 1956 Porsche 356A, 1962 Corvair Monza 900 Convertible, 1965 Ford F-100 Pick-up Truck, 1970 Alpine A110 1600S GR4 Factory Team Car, 2005 Land Rover LR3, 2006 Porsche Cayenne S, 2010 Range Rover Sport, 2018 Audi A8S. What’s your dream car? Any Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 would be a dream come true.
This 28,575km car is a relatively fresh import to the US, a er spending time in Germany and Norway, where the Inka Orange paint was recently refinished. highoctaneclassics.com (US)
Aston Martin V12 Vantage
£2000 per syndicate allocation
The V12 Vantage was a favourite of the Octane team when it was launched and, thanks to low production numbers (rarer than an F40, as The Car Crowd says), it’s certainly one to watch. thecarcrowd.uk
1931 Bentley 4 Litre Open Tourer by Vanden Plas
The ultimate combination for the discerning Vintage Bentley collector. Matching numbers, original unique coachwork, and a full history from new. Beautifully maintained regardless of cost and a veteran of several international rallies and awards. Rarely on the market. Sensibly priced.
1925 Bentley 3/4.5 Litre Le Mans. Excellent history. 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.
These pretty 1970s coupés are often overlooked due to their V6-engined sibling
JUST HOW DO you replace a legendary car like the 105-series Alfa Romeo Giulia? The range of sporting saloons and sexy coupés was not only backed by motorsport success, it also gained a cult following that has barely faded to this day. So what of its successor? Although the much later GTV6 coupé reached iconic status thanks to its fantastic engine, it’s fair to say the earlier four-cylinder Alfetta GT and GTV models have been drastically overlooked.
The story of the Alfetta starts in 1972, with the launch of the four-door models. They were powered by a range of twin-cam four-cylinder engines and offered exceptional handling, thanks to almost 50:50 weight distribution, achieved by mounting the transaxle gearbox at the rear, with a sophisticated De Dion tube rear suspension.
When the Coupé (pictured above) arrived in 1974, based on a slightly shortened version of the same platform, it was offered only with a 122bhp 1.8-litre engine. It was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, Alfa’s brief having been to make this a sleek, sporting coupé, but one with a more spacious and comfortable interior – especially for those in the back seats – than its Bertone-designed predecessor. That determined the car’s fastback profile.
In 1976, this model was replaced by two new divergent offerings: an entry-level 1.6-litre GT and a new 2000 GTV. Minor visual tweaks for the latter included bumper overriders and a GTV-labelled triangular trim panel in the C-pillar. The GTV also got a slightly higher standard spec, such as a leather-wrapped steering wheel, but the larger engine didn’t have more power than the outgoing 1.8, just a minor uplift in torque.
The first power-bulge would come in 1979 with the launch of the GTV 2000 L. An improved ignition system and revised camshafts saw power increase to 130bhp. A plusher interior and revised suspension settings make this currently one of the most sought-after model variants. It’s also worth noting that the GTV was offered in the USA from 1976, with Federal bumpers and a 110bhp engine fitted with Spica mechanical fuel injection, a big change from the carburettor-equipped European-spec cars.
Autodelta had some success rallying the GTV in the 1970s and, while it experimented with Montreal V8-engined Group 4 cars, the competition arm settled on a turbocharged version in 1979. A total of 400 homologation road cars was built.
It was all change in 1980, with a significant update to the GTV. Large plastic bumpers replaced the slender chrome items of the original – a theme that continued throughout the car, with all of the GTV’s chrome replaced by matt-black trim in an attempt to bring this ’70s coupé into the 1980s. An updated dashboard added more gauges and was a marginal ergonomic improvement. Alfa also dropped the Alfetta name and discontinued the 1.6-litre GT in preparation for the launch of the new V6-engined range-topping GTV6.
Finding an early 1.8-litre Alfetta GT in the UK might be a challenge, but expect prices to start from around £8000, rising to £15,000 for something in excellent condition. Prices in Europe vary, however, where a perfect-condition car could fetch upwards of £25,000.
The chrome-bumper GTV 2000 is probably the most sought-after of the regular four-cylinder cars, especially in L form. Average examples can be picked up for £7500-12,000, but a concours car might command upwards of £27,500. Post-facelift big-bumper cars are more common, but values are broadly in the same range.
In contrast, a pre-facelift 1.6-litre GT should range from £7500 at the bottom end to just over £20,000 for a mint example, making it a somewhat more affordable entry point to the range.
For the ultra-rare Turbodelta homologation cars, prices can range anywhere from £30,000 to £60,000, depending on history and condition.
For reference, a perfect GTV6 might command £25,000-35,000.
It would be easy to dismiss the earlier Alfetta GTV models if you are swayed by the charms (and musicality) of a Busso V6, but there’s a visual delicacy that only the original can offer. The slender steel bumpers, uncluttered bodywork and chrome brightwork all serve to present the Giugiaro styling as it was originally intended. They’re still overlooked and offer great value.
Matthew
Hayward
Finding a rust-free car should be a priority, as what might appear to be small corrosion issues can quickly spiral into full underbody restoration. Check the inner wings, wheelarches, floors, sills and suspension mounting points – basically it needs a full inspection on a ramp. Unlike the 105-series, repair panels are not easily sourced. South African cars are a safer bet. Four-cylinder engines are strong and reliable if properly maintained. Good oil is vital! Gearboxes can be a bit of a weak point if abused, so check for grinding synchros or any jumping out of gears. Gear selection wasn’t the nicest, even when new.
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
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
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
Sunburst Yellow (Q department colour) with obsidian black analine hides and contrast yellow stitching, 1 of 61 cars produced, believed to be the only example in this colour, Bang & Olufsen 1000W audio, yellow brake callipers, carbon fibre lightweight seats, black textured tailpipe finishers | 1,375 miles
Cairngorm brown (Q department colour) with ivory rekona and bitter chocolate leather interior and a bitter chocolate hood. Number 69 of 99 produced, a UK supplied 1 owner car, One-77 steering wheel, satin chrome pack, touring pack, embroidered ‘Z’ logo on the headrests | 365 miles
1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT - £275,000
Originally owned by D. Mason-Styrron.
Just 60,000 miles from new. Accompanied by a fully comprehensive
- Driver-focused upgrades including: Power steering, 5-speed gearbox, Telescopic dampers, Kenlowe electric fan.
- Race-inspired enhancements add motorsport character: Twin Brooklands aero screens, Recessed Monza-style fuel filler, Period-style bucket seats.
Lorem Ipsum
1951 Ferrari 212 Inter: Vignale / Drogo, Mille Miglia 1952, 1954. Ground up restoration. Race and Rally ready. Unique one of a kind, matching numbers. Piero Drogo, a subcontractor to Ferrari Factory; wins well-known.
WE WILL BUY AND CONSIGN ALL FERRARI AND ALL VINTAGE SPORTS RACING & GT CARS PARTIAL TRADES CONSIDERED - FINANCING AVAILABLE
MtrClassicNov25octaneHalf.indd 1
350 ADAMS STREET, BEDFORD HILLS NEW YORK 10507 914-997-9133 • SALES@MOTORCLASSICCORP.COM
Appraise: 30 years experience Consulting: Ensuring expert advice and values
AC ACE BRISTOL 1959: Svecia Red with original Red hide interior and matching wet weather equipment. Silver wire wheels. An original UK supplied matching numbered example fitted with overdrive and an oil temp gauge. Original Log-Book. This is a lovely original example that has clearly been well cared for throughout its life. .........................................................................£265,000
FERRARI F8 TRIBUTO 2020: Rosso Corsa with Nero interior. Carbon Fibre trim. Yellow brake calipers. 20” Dark Forged wheels. 17,000 miles only from new. Excellent specification to include parking camera, front and rear parking sensors, full electric seats, suspension lifter and many other features. Recently serviced with a year of Ferrari warranty £199,950
CUSTOM
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
Email: martin@runnymedemotorcompany.com |
Interview by Tamara Hinson
Author, explorer and former Army officer
I’VE JUST MOVED down to Devon and I’m spending a bit of time exploring the southwest in a Jeep Wrangler I’ve been loaned, which is great. I love working with brands that have a connection with exploration and adventure, which Jeep obviously has, and of course it’s quite a rugged vehicle! It’s lovely to drive – I haven’t had the roof off yet because it rains quite a lot down here.
In my twenties I just drove around in my mum’s Fiat Punto. Then I joined the Army and bought an Audi A4, which almost every officer at Sandhurst had. The car park was full of them. In the Army I was in the Parachute Regiment, so we spent most of our time jumping out of planes. There wasn’t a lot of driving involved!
After I left, the Army decided it would be great to do something for a charity called The Ameca Trust – I’m one of its patrons. It was set up in honour of a friend of mine who died at university, and it’s helped build hospitals and maternity units in Malawi. I got together with a load of mates and we bought two Land
Cruisers off eBay, turned them into ambulances and drove them from the UK to Malawi, across 27 countries.
In some ways, it was that drive that led to me doing everything I do now – although everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. The roof rack fell off. We crashed in Sudan, and a wheel came off. We got arrested in Egypt and were under hotel arrest for ten days. We tried to cross the border between Egypt and Sudan illegally and got busted by the military.
One day, a fuel pump broke while we were driving along this 300-mile unpaved road in Northern Kenya. We fashioned a hose, taped it to the fuel tank, fed it through the window and bodged it together. I knew nothing about mechanics and still don’t, but on a trip like that everyone becomes a mechanic – you have to. One of the most memorable moments was in Aleppo, Syria. It was a year before the civil war started and I just remember walking around the souk, and all these locals came over and offered to help work on the vehicles. It was the ultimate road trip.
One of my scariest driving-related incidents took place in August 2015, a date forever etched in my mind. I was walking the length of the Himalayas. In Nepal we reached a village near Pochra. We hadn’t had any major problems, but this part of Nepal was undergoing a bit of a Maoist insurgency at the time. We were told we couldn’t camp where we wanted to, so we jumped in a taxi. As we went along a mountain path, the brakes failed and the taxi shot off a 120-metre cliff [below right]. I broke my arm and the driver broke every bone in his body. It was rainy season, so we were taken in by local villagers until help could arrive. For years I was terrified of getting in a car. Ironically, it forced me to do even more crazy stuff to get over it – I took up paragliding and paramotoring, and then I
turned to motorbiking as a way to start exploring the open road again.
I’ve only had one motorbike – a Triumph Speedmaster, which I bought in 2018. I’ve also ridden a BMW R8, various Royal Enfields and a Harley Davidson Pan America. But I’ve stuck with the Enfield – they’re basic but I enjoy riding them, and I’ve ridden them across Nepal and India. I also did a massive road trip from Ladak to Pakistan via Kashmir, a big chunk of that on Royal Enfields. Wherever you go you’ll always meet ’bikers. I’ve got a mate who’s done a similarly extreme expedition through Afghanistan, and he hung out with the Sultans of Kabul motorcycle club – some of its members are from the Taliban.
If you were to ask me what my dream car would be, I’d struggle. I’ve been so lucky. I’ve had a couple of classic Porsches 911s, one from 1969 and one from ’71. Pre-Covid, when everyone had a bit more money, I bought a secondhand Aston Martin Vantage, although I realised very quickly that I didn’t actually need it. But it was a lot of fun, and I had it for a couple of summers. I’ve driven a lot of Toyota Land Cruisers for expeditions, and I’m loving driving this Jeep Wrangler.
My next big expedition is going to be a three-month road trip through South America on a motorcycle. It’s something I’ve been planning for five years. It’s one of the continents I’ve explored the least. We’ll start in Turbo, Colombia. It’s near the Darién Gap, and close to where I finished my Walking the Americas expedition. Then we’ll travel through the Amazon, following the Andes. I’m not in any rush – I’m going to be studying Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries and seeing what’s changed. There are some big unknowns – a lot of illegal logging, and near the Darién Gap there are cartels and other armed groups – but the most dangerous thing is probably being on the road in the first place!
1973 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 2.7RS TOURING (M472)
One of the first 500, indeed the sixth UK delivered RS. Factory specification and matching numbers. Only four owners from new with a full and comprehensive history.
