ISSUE
18 SUMMER 2023
24
£10
HOURS OF LE MANS
And 24 of the most exciting wins from 100 years of the world’s greatest motor race
PRINTED IN THE UK
ISSUE
18 SUMMER 2023
HOURS OF LE MANS £10
PRINTED IN THE UK
And 24 of the most exciting wins from 100 years of the world’s greatest motor race
ISSUE
18
24
SUMMER 2023
HOURS OF LE MANS
And 24 of the most exciting wins from 100 years of the world’s greatest motor race
£10
PRINTED IN THE UK
A N N I V E R SA RY AU CTI ON 8-10 JUNE 2023 REG IST ER TO B ID
2004 Porsche Carrera GT
Estimate: $1,500,000 - $1,800,000
+1 313 312 0780 ⊲ broadarrowauctions.com
Visit broadarrowauctions.com to review the lots on offer and register to bid either in person, online, or over the phone.
1971 Porsche 914/6 'M471'
1969 Porsche 912
1999 Porsche 911 Classic Club Coupe 'Sonderwunsch' Factory One-Off
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup
Estimate Upon Request, OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE
Estimate: $150,000 - $175,000 OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE
2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Weissach Package
1987 Porsche 944 GTR Fabcar
1959 Porsche 356 A 1600 Cabriolet
1953 Porsche 356 'Pre-A' 1500 Coupe
Estimate: $525,000 - $550,000
Estimate: $375,000 - $425,000
Estimate: $180,000 - $230,000 OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE
Estimate: $100,000 - $120,000 OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE
Estimate: $175,000 - $225,000
Estimate: $225,000 - $275,000
Clockwise from top left
1950 FERRARI 166/195 INTER BY VIGNALE The only Spider ever produced
1928 BENTLEY 4½ LITRE HARRISON TOURER
Confirmed by Dr Clare Hay as the last surviving example
2009 ACURA ARX – 02/1 LMP1 6 victories with Gil de Ferran in the 2009 American Le Mans Series
1953 ASTON MARTIN DB3S/5
Unparalleled period history with Collins, Brooks, Parnell and winning with Stirling Moss at Goodwood
1931 BENTLEY 8 LITRE Silent Bloc
One of only 25 short chassis 8 Litre Bentleys produced
1939 TALBOT LAGO T26 GS
Four appearances at Le Mans including 2nd overall in 1951
1962 JAGUAR E-TYPE (CUT 8)
The last of the famous Protheroe-prepared Jaguars
1954 HWM JAGUAR
One of the initial three Jaguar- engined sports racers
2000 LISTER STORM GTM002 FIA GT Drivers’ Championship winner in 2000
1963 ISO BIZZARRINI
The works prototype and 1964 Le Mans test car
1955 PORSCHE CARRERA SPEEDSTER 356 PRE-A
Raced extensively in Californian SCCA events
14 Queens Gate Place Mews, London SW7 5BQ +44 (0)20 7584 3503 cars@fiskens.com www.fiskens.com
8th & 9th July 2023
THE LIMITED-EDITION TRIPLE-FOUR RACING CHRONOGRAPH IS MORE THAN A BEAUTIFUL WATCH It’s a Swiss Chronometer with heritage features that offer a journey of discovery, inspired by iconic automobiles and featuring details paying homage to British motorsport history. Designed by the legendary Sir Terence Conran, and limited to just 500 units. www.brooklandswatches.com
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26 COMING SOON From concours to rallies and racing, we’ll set you up for summer
33 S TA R T E R Barn find of the year? Plus Goodwood’s heir apparent, Ro 80s across the desert, forgotten Le Mans art car, ten years of Bicester Heritage
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THE 24 BEST LE MANS RACES
C R E AT I N G T H E B U G AT T I V E Y R O N
WHO DESIGNED T H E M I U R A?
WHEELS OF FORTUNE
To mark its centenary, we look back at some magical moments in the world’s greatest endurance-racing event
Developing the original hypercar proved to be a complex challenge in almost every mechanical and aerodynamic sense
Gandini or Giugiaro... we probe both sides of the story, and consider the subject to now be closed
From Hawthorn and Hulme to Hunt and Häkkinen, these historic steering wheels have great stories to tell
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COBRA 39 PH
LUDVIGSEN ON... ASA 1000 GT
THE ORIGINAL VENICE CREW
Victories, bust-ups and revamps – the story of the ex-Willment Cobra V8 regarded as a “good friend” by Jack Sears
Was the ‘Ferrarina’ a flop? We lift the veil of mystery from this Italian adventure into thinking small to go big
Team behind the Shelby Mustang GT350 have come up with an ‘old and improved’ model for the 21st century
183 ACQUIRE Buying a DeLorean, collecting first-offthe-line cars, watches, art, old slides, vintage synthesisers, books, products and more
208 T H E L AW Y E R : FA C S I M I L E O R FA K E ?
166 156
210 T H E C U R AT O R : O N S A FA R I I N K E N YA
212 THE RACER: AT I C E S T M O R I T Z
214 MY HERO: BRIAN JOHNSON
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I N VIT I N G CO NS I G NM E NTS
1930 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Sedan Estimate: $1,600,000 – $2,000,000 Engine no. J208
1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta
Estimate: $1,900,000 – $2,300,000
+1 313 312 0780 ⊲ broadarrowauctions.com
Editor’s welcome
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OH HOW WE LAUGHED WHEN ART director Peter Allen admitted he’d produced more than 90 versions of last issue’s cover before settling on a few to show to the team. And now look what we’ve done! Peter has created three different front covers for this issue, each one an homage to a famous Le Mans poster, in celebration of the centenary of the 24 Hours. I’m hoping there aren’t 90 drafts of each one clogging up our storage drive... What a year it’s going to be at Le Mans, though. Entry tickets for the 24 Hours event in June sold out last year, which is unheard of, and attendance at Classic Le Mans in July is looking to be an all-time high. In addition, so many other events around the world are also celebrating the centenary. Le Mans is like that. It seems to capture the imagination like no other race. If you’ve been, you’ll know how it feels to be stood trackside in the middle of the night, hearing the first screams of a car, or cars, approaching at high speed, then watching the lights burn through the darkness and seeing brake discs glowing briefly orange at the approach to a bend, before
the sounds fade and there’s just excited chatter – until the next cars do the same all over again. It’s simply magical. At this year’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting, the sound of the GT1 cars being demonstrated took me straight back to Le Mans of the 1990s and early 2000s, waking up in my tent in the early hours to the distinctively different sounds of the cars and thinking, ‘Ah yes, the Astons/Listers/Corvettes/ Vipers etc (delete as applicable...) are still running’, and then falling asleep again for another few minutes. It immediately filled me with nostalgia, and made me yearn to be back at La Sarthe. I hope our feature on the 24 greatest Le Mans races will do similar for you.
David Lillywhite Editorial director
RM UP-01 FERRARI Ultra-flat manual winding calibre 1.75 millimetres thin 45-hour power reserve (± 10%) Baseplate, bridges and case in grade 5 titanium Patented ultra-flat escapement Function selector Limited edition of 150 pieces
Contributors M I C K WA L S H AC Cobras have been a passion for Mick since childhood, and they’ve also provided some of his greatest drives – including a road trip to Italy’s Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti. As a boy he raced a slot car modelled on 39 PH, so taking this legend back to Brands Hatch was a dream assignment.
W I L H E L M L U TJ E H A R M S Based outside Cape Town, South Africa, Wilhelm has been reporting on and testing new and classic cars for 17 years. He is a contributing writer for UK, US and German motoring titles, and has also had a decade-long stint at South Africa’s oldest automotive magazine, CAR.
E VA N K L E I N When LA-based photographer Evan latches onto an assignment, you know there won’t be any half measures. After talking about the Mustangs built by the Original Venice Crew, he rounded up these ex-Shelby guys and their cars for a superb shoot at Willow Springs.
Who keeps Magneto staff members – and their use of punctuation – in line? That’ll be managing editor Sarah, one of the team’s unsung heroes. She’s also the most hardcore of them all, with more classic bikes and cars than the rest – all of which are ridden/driven in all weathers.
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ILLUSTR ATIONS PETER ALLE N
SARAH BRADLEY
The finest cloths in the world.
Holland & Sherry welcomes Savile Row Concours. 31 Savile Row London W1S 3PT
020 7437 0404 orders@hollandandsherry.co.uk @no31.hollandandsherry
hollandandsherry.com
Who to contact
Editorial director
Managing director
David Lillywhite
Geoff Love
Managing editor
Art director
Advertising sales
Sarah Bradley
Peter Allen
Sue Farrow, Rob Schulp
Staff writer
Designer
Accounts
Elliott Hughes
Debbie Nolan
Jonathan Ellis
West Coast US contributor
Lifestyle advertising
Winston Goodfellow
Sophie Kochan
Contributors in this issue Pietro Bianchi, Jonathon Burford, Axel E Catton, Nathan Chadwick, Sam Chick, Tavis Coburn, Robert Dean, Kyle Fortune, Rick Guest, Sam Hancock, Richard Heseltine, Matt Howell, Dave Kinney, Evan Klein, Dale LaFollette, Preston Lerner, Karl Ludvigsen, Wilhelm Lutjeharms, Andreas Meyer, Peet Mocke, Rick Noël, Clive Robertson, David Salmerón, Ricardo Santos, Steffi Schließke, John Simister, Joe Twyman, Steve Wakefield, Mick Walsh, Rupert Whyte Single issues and subscriptions Please visit www.magnetomagazine.com or call +44 (0)208 068 6829
HOTHOUSE MEDIA Geoff Love, David Lillywhite, George Pilkington Castle Cottage, 25 High Street, Titchmarsh, Northants NN14 3DF, UK Printing Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE, UK Printed on Amadeus Silk supplied through Denmaur as a Carbon Balanced product. Made from FSC® certified and traceable pulp sources Specialist newsstand distribution Pineapple Media, Select Publisher Services Who to contact Subscriptions and business geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk Accounts accounts@hothousemedia.co.uk Editorial david@hothousemedia.co.uk Advertising sue@flyingspace.co.uk or rob@flyingspace.co.uk Lifestyle advertising sophie.kochan2010@gmail.com
©Hothouse Media Ltd. Magneto and associated logos are registered trademarks of Hothouse Media Ltd. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Hothouse Media Ltd. Hothouse Media Ltd. uses a layered privacy notice giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information. For full details, please visit www.magnetomagazine.com/privacy/
Magneto [mag-nee-toh] noun, plural mag·ne·tos 1. Electrical generator that provides periodic high-voltage pulses to the spark-plugs of an internal-combustion engine, used mostly pre-World War One although still fitted for emergency back-up of aircraft ignition systems. 2. Fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. 3. Great quarterly magazine featuring the most important cars in the world.
ISSN Number 2631-9489. Magneto is published quarterly by Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur. The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.
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Magneto
FIND FIND US US AT AT THE THE 2023 2023 CONCOURS CONCOURS ON ON SAVILE SAVILE ROW ROW -fope.com fope.com
More from Magneto
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C O N C O U R S O N S AV I L E R O W
2 - F O R -1 L O N D O N C O N C O U R S T I C K E T S
Bigger and even better than last year, on May 24-25, 2023 the Magneto team brings you the world’s greatest cars on London’s Savile Row – renowned for its bespoke tailoring. Visitors will be able to browse the cars and tailors’ displays, as well as enjoy talks, craft demonstrations and live music. Entry is free. www.concoursonsavilerow.com
The three-day London Concours (June 6-8, 2023) is a top collector car event held in the oasis of calm that is the City’s Honourable Artillery Company. Added attractions include Supercar Day and the Porsche RS celebration – and now you can get 2-for-1 tickets with the promotional code MAGNETO23. www.londonconcours.co.uk/tickets
SUBSCRIBE TO MAGNETO
MAGNETO HOLDALL
Don’t miss out on any issues of Magneto! You can subscribe for one year for £48 ($90) or two years for £84 ($151), including p&p. Magneto is now delivered in new, stronger cardboard packaging to ensure your copies arrive in perfect condition. www.magnetomagazine.com or telephone +44 (0)208 068 6829
This stunning Magneto collaboration with Jordan Bespoke celebrates our award-winning covers on its lining. The holdall is hand-made in Italy using Bridge of Weir leather, the straps are crafted from 1960s-spec seatbelt webbing, and colours include Black, Racing Red, British Racing Green and Classic Tan. It costs £830.00. www.magnetomagazine.com
Magneto
A new generation of tailors serving a new generation of gentleman Bespoke & Ready to Wear clothing, made by hand
LO ND O N
N EW YO RK
STOC KHOLM
Coming soon
CONCOURS ON SAVILE ROW May 24-25, 2023 Spectacular collector vehicles? Exquisite hand-tailored style? Bespoke craftsmanship, fine hospitality and chic guests? All will be on show in London’s exclusive Mayfair, where this free two-day extravaganza – from Magneto publisher Hothouse Media – promises to be even more dazzling than last year’s inaugural event. Now extending into nearby Burlington Gardens, it will feature a unique mix of classic sports, GT and race cars, new hypercars, concepts and oneoffs, and exotic two-wheelers. The likes of Mercedes-Benz, Alfa, Morgan, Bentley, Lotus, BRM, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, Ducati and Norton will be attending with fascinating machinery. Explore the wares of the Savile Row tailors, wonder at how tradition meets cuttingedge design, and enjoy the live music and talks on the central stage. Ticketed VIP packages will give access to seminars, soirées, meet-and-greets plus exclusive displays and tastings. The nearby Royal Academy of Arts will bring a whole new dimension to proceedings, and host a Gala Dinner as well as a round-table discussion to consider Cars As Art. www.concoursonsavilerow.com Magneto
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Coming soon BELOW London Concours provides an oasis of classic car calm at the City’s Honourable Artillery Company.
CAVALLINO CLASSIC MODENA
LE MANS 24 HOURS
May 12-14, 2023
June 10-11, 2023
Outstanding event pays homage to the hometown of Enzo Ferrari. www.cavallino.com
It’s the big year – be on the spot to celebrate the legendary endurance race’s centenary in style. www.24h-lemans.com/en
The world’s most beautiful concours, on Lake Como, Italy. www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com
HAGERTY HILLCLIMB May 27-28, 2023 All-action event at Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire, UK complete with ‘run what you brung’. www.hagerty.co.uk
GREENWICH CONCOURS
CINCINNATI CONCOURS June 10-11, 2023 Celebrating Porsche, Corvette and VW Beetle among other great cars. www.ohioconcours.com
FOUR SEASONS DRIVE EXPERIENCE: GENEVA/MEGÈVE June 12-18, 2023 Luxury travel for car enthusiasts in the Mont Blanc area, with scenic drives, top cuisine and insider access to celebrated sites. https://canossa.com
June 2-4, 2023
MILLE MIGLIA
US East Coast event (below right) offers something for everyone. www.greenwichconcours.com
June 13-17, 2023
RALLYE DES PRINCESSES
Legendary regularity race passes through Italy’s most beautiful parts. www.1000miglia.it
June 3-8, 2023 All-female rally through France, staged by Richard Mille. www.richardmille.com
CARRERA RIVIERA June 4-15, 2023 From Normandy coast to Cannes, this rally takes in stunning roads, exhilarating vistas, historical sights and countless vineyards. www.rallytheglobe.com
LONDON CONCOURS June 6-8, 2023 Three-day oasis of calm at the City’s Honourable Artillery Company, also with supercar day and Porsche RS celebration. www.londonconcours.co.uk
THREE CASTLES June 6-9, 2023 Wonderfully relaxed and popular rally around North Wales, UK. www.three-castles.co.uk
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CONCOURS D’ELÉGANCE SUISSE June 16-18, 2023 Exclusive elegance on Lake Geneva. www.concoursdelegancesuisse.com
BICESTER HERITAGE FLYWHEEL June 17-18, 2023 Hundreds – or thousands – of historic marques at the former World War Two bomber base in Oxfordshire, UK. www.bicesterheritage.co.uk/flywheel
PHILADELPHIA CONCOURS
HERO-ERA SUMMER TRIAL
June 24, 2023
July 21-23, 2023
Concours, gala dinner and Car Corral at the world-renowned Simeone Automotive Museum. www.philadelphiaconcours.com
Returning to some of the UK’s best, quietest roads, around Grantham, Lincolnshire. www.heroevents.eu
LE MANS CLASSIC
SHELSLEY WALSH CLASSIC NOSTALGIA
June 29-July 2, 2023 100 years of Le Mans – at Le Mans. www.lemansclassic.com
HEVENINGHAM CONCOURS July 8-9, 2023 Charitable event with Horsepower Hill, Le Mans centenary display and cars from across the historic, racing and supercar realms. https://heveninghamconcours.com
FESTIVAL OF SPEED
July 22-23, 2023 Competitive action on the famous hillclimb, with displays and a garden-party atmosphere. www.classicnostalgia.co.uk
PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE August 20, 2023 Concours crème de la crème; jewel in crown of Monterey Car Week. www.pebblebeachconcours.net
July 13-16, 2023 Schedule in at least two days to see all this huge Goodwood event has to offer, from hillclimb to rally stage, concours to open paddocks, auctions to stunt areas. www.goodwood.com
GOODWOOD REVIVAL September 8-10, 2023 Celebrations aplenty, including 75 years since the circuit opened. www.goodwood.com
YORKSHIRE ELEGANCE
RALLYE PÈRE-FILS
July 18-20, 2023
September 15-17, 2023
“A right good, fancy car event” taking in the very best kind of hospitality Yorkshire excels at. www.thefastlaneclub.com
Fun and relaxation on luxurious, Monte-Carlo-based regularity event for fathers and sons. https://en.happyfewracing.com
MATT HOWELL / PATRICK WHITE / HAGERTY
VILLA D’ESTE May 19-21, 2023
1990 Porsche 962C #154 Finished 3rd at the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hours race (Needell/Sears/Reid) Participated in a full season of the Japan Sports Prototype Championship Series (Bell/Needell) Ready to run after a full engine-rebuild and is in its original, successful colours
Consignements invited
LE MANS CLASSIC 2023 Auction
Contact
Friday 30 June 2023
+33 (0)1 42 99 20 73 motorcars@artcurial.com
Le Mans, France
artcurial.com/motorcars
www.MonacoCarAuctions.com
Barn find of the year! Palmen Collection for sale
Chat with Charlie March, Goodwood heir apparent
Bicester Heritage marks tenth year with big new plans
Driving the F-type, Jaguar’s last petrolengined sports car
Seven NSU Ro 80s on an epic drive into the Sahara
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Starter
Dutch courage: Inside the Palmen Collection It’d take huge strength of will not to be tempted as this barn-find bonanza, recently uncovered in the Netherlands, goes up for sale. We find out more
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“AT FIRST, WE NEVER LOOKED at the condition of the cars – we were just going: ‘Wow! Who? Fantastic!’” admits Nik Aaldering of father-and-son business Gallery Aaldering. “We’d seen some barn collections over the years, but it was like something out of a book, or a set for a movie.” Their mid-April unveiling of the 230-strong Palmen Collection pretty much broke the classic car internet – and started a feeding frenzy from across the world. For the uninitiated, the collection belonging to the enigmatic Mr Palmen was discovered in two
Words Nathan Chadwick
Starter
Photography Gallery Aaldering
BELOW The patina of long-term storage can be deceiving; this collection was carefully conceived and well looked after, with each car’s engine regularly turned over to stop it from seizing.
OPPOSITE AND ABOVE From an Alfa Romeo Zagato 2600SZ to a Lancia Aurelia Spider, the rarities in the 230-strong Palmen Collection of cars almost beggar belief. They were accumulated over many decades by an enigmatic
enthusiast – who was originally a dealer in exotic and luxury cars – from the Netherlands. The vehicles will be put up for sale online via Classic Car Auctions.
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Starter RIGHT AND BELOW The Palmen Collection represents some of the best and most diverse marques from Europe, the US and the Far East, including such rarities as this Facel Vega.
warehouses and a disused church in Dordrecht, in the Netherlands. It will be put up for sale online via Classic Car Auctions in May (www.classiccar-auctions.com), concluding in early June. It is a wide-ranging selection, with several Facels, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, Lancias and Ferraris, but you will also find cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Ford, as well as more esoteric marques such as Tatra, Monica, Moretti and Matra – and much more besides. “We had heard about the collection a few times via a reliable source, but he was never able to confirm what was in it because he was never allowed to enter it,” recalls Nik. “Then we were contacted and told the collection was going to be sold – of course, we jumped on it ‘with two legs’.” For the sake of Mr Palmen’s privacy, most of the details about his life have not been shared. However, in the mid-1960s he was a dealer in exotic and luxury cars. His first acquisition was a yellow Lancia B20, and he subsequently used his knowledge gained through 36
Magneto
his experience in the industry to guide his collection. “He knew what he was doing; he wasn’t a hoarder who chucked them into a garage,” says Nik. “He put stickers into the windows by year, and turned the engines over regularly to stop them from seizing. He was also a smart guy – when he bought a Ferrari, he bought one with a great history, such as an original Dutch car, or a 365GT 2+2 ‘Queen Mary’ from the first or second owner. Those were his car-dealer roots. He was a good businessman, because if you see what he paid for the vehicles at the time, he never bought one too expensively.” Nik describes Mr Palmen as an introvert – indeed, not even his neighbours knew of the collection. “He had an office above the collection, with a bed where he’d sleep sometimes,” Nik says. Underneath the layers of dust, the quality of the cars surprised the Aalderings. “My dad (Nico) – 70, having seen the whole classic car world in a nutshell, and me – 42 , and in the business since I was 19... we were like two boys,” laughs
‘He knew what he was doing; he wasn’t a hoarder who chucked them into a garage’
Nik. “Normally you will see a guy who buys cars, and puts them in a windy chicken house and they get damp. Instead, we were surprised just how good the vehicles were.” Aside from five or six examples, most models are in need of mere mechanical refreshment rather than full-on restoration. “You could carry out a reconditioning and then use them as they are to keep the originality intact,” Nik says. For him, the barn find is about more than selling cars: “With the same money we invested in this collection, I could have bought ten expensive Ferraris that would have been way easier to turn around and make money with. This collection has more to do with our enthusiasm. The discovery, and feeling the emotions, are way more important to us than the financial part.” The auction starts on Friday, May 19 and will be run in three parts. The first closes at 8pm on Monday, June 5; part two at 8pm on Tuesday, June 6; and part three on Wednesday, June 7, also at 8pm. See a list of the cars available – in addition to 50 other lots – at www.magnetomagazine.com.
Find Your Passion.
It’s difficult to recall what came first; my love for car design or my pursuit for the perfect driving experience. Through the years, I developed an immense passion for prolonging the analog feel behind the wheel and third pedal. It’s that passion that afforded me joy in both creating and sharing the thrill with other enthusiasts. And, yes, the rumor is true, I wholeheartedly support efforts to #savethemanuals…one 911 at a time. I’m Peter Nam and that’s what you’ll see reflected in my life.
Peter Nam Founder and President
For free personal car care advice, go to Meguiars.com
Starter
Words Elliott Hughes
LEFT New venue will feature a mezzanine cafe and venue space overlooking automotive firms and craftspeople.
Great Northern Classics Exciting new automotive hub in the Midlands will be a base for skills learning and enthusiast gatherings
THE FORMER ROLLS-ROYCE Heritage Centre in Osmaston, Derby, UK is being transformed into a brand-new automotive hub for the Midlands called Great Northern Classics (GNC). Work on the vast, 80,000sq ft Victorian-era building began in early 2023, and it is estimated that the site will open its doors to the public in August. Once the £3.5 million renovation project is completed, GNC will bring around 120 skilled jobs to the locality. In charge of the project is its founder Shaun Matthews, alongside directors Derek Latham, 38
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Mike Copestake and Rob Jones. One of the site’s main draws is a new mezzanine that will offer visitors a space for events, a café and gallery viewing. The glazed mezzanine overlooks almost 30 configurable letting units that will be occupied by automotive firms and craftspeople, the first two of which are already confirmed. “The whole point is that visitors can see, hear and smell what is going on in the workshops,” explained Shaun. “We are creating somewhere for the next generation of specialists and enthusiasts.” Complementing the workshop
‘Visitors can see, hear and smell what is going on in the workshops’
facilities are a huge area for secure, dehumidified vehicle storage, a private conference suite and an outdoor space tailored for car-club meetings and motoring events. Shaun’s inspiration for GNC came from his own engineering background as an apprentice for electrical goods manufacturer EKCO Cole, before becoming the co-owner of Deb Group, the company behind Swarfega. “Late in my career, I noticed that whenever I wanted to hire someone skilled, they were always about five years younger than me; the UK has been experiencing a skills deficit since the 1980s,” he said. Shaun’s assertion is backed up by the UK’s Federation of Small Businesses, which found that 80 percent of small firms were finding it difficult to find applicants with the appropriate skills in 2022. “What makes the problem even worse is that traditional skills will be lost as people get older and don’t pass them onto the next generation. I wanted to do something about that, and also create something that will offer apprenticeships in all aspects of restoration.” Great Northern Classics will offer approximately ten dedicated places for aspiring apprentices by securing a £1.25m loan from the Turning Point investment group to the Derby Enterprise Growth Fund. Trainee positions made available by GNC tenants will supplement this with an on-site apprenticeship school binding it together. The 4.2-acre Victoria Ironworks site on Osmaston Road was once an iron foundry built by Eastwood, Swingler and Co in the 1850s. It was used to manufacture beams for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Singapore market hall, railways in Japan, Sweden and St Petersburg, and hundreds of bridges in India. For more information, please see www.greatnorthernclassics.co.uk.
A U C T I O N S & P R I VAT E B R O K E R A G E
Don’t Wait Until The Beginning Of Summer To Contact Us
FRIDAY AUG 18 SATURDAY AUG 19 LIVE AUCTIONS OFFICIAL AUCTION HOUSE OF THE PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE®
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FRIDAY 1 SEPT LIVE AUCTION OFFICIAL AUCTION HOUSE OF THE CONCOURS OF ELEGANCE HAMPTON COURT PALACE
1960 FERRARI 250 GT SWB BERLINETTA COMPETIZIONE SOLD for £7,762,500 London Auction 2022
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Now Inviting Consignments CONTACT OUR SPECIALISTS TO LEARN MORE: INQUIRY@GOODINGCO.COM Pebble Beach® and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance® are trademarks and service marks of Pebble Beach Company. Used by permission.
G O O D I N G C O .C O M
+ 1 . 3 1 0 . 8 9 9.1 9 6 0
Starter
Words Nathan Chadwick
Taking it to extremes If you’re looking for a truly tough motoring challenge, an all-action endurance rally could be the answer. Here are some of the world’s ultimate events that will push you, your navigator and your car to the absolute limit CARRERA PANAMERICANA
PEKING TO PARIS
MONGOL RALLY
LEJOG
What does it involve?
This recreation of the legendary 1950s borderto-border race on open Mexican roads arrived in 1988. Every October, 60 cars travel 1900 miles from southern Mexico to the top of the country, in a week. Each day involves transit and speed stages, plus closed-road sections.
Well, other than the clue being in the title of the event, this ultimate, more-than-month-long event takes in deserts and mountains in a 14,000km adventure across the world’s largest land mass. Such is the demand that it’s running in 2025, too.
The rally starts in Prague and finishes in the Mongolian capital and sub-editor’s nightmare that is Ulaanbaatar. How you navigate this 10,000mile route is completely up to you – some people have travelled via Iran and Pakistan, others have gone via the Arctic Circle.
Described as Europe’s toughest endurance rally, LeJog takes you from mainland UK’s most southern tip to its most northern part in just 75 hours, covering around 1500 miles in the process.
How did this madness begin?
First launched in 1950, it ran for four years until the high speeds and dangerous roads claimed too many lives – 27 in all. In today’s revival, modified classic cars prove extremely effective competitors.
The first occurred in 1907 – of the five teams, Prince Scipione Borghese and Ettore Guizzardi won in an Itala. Re-enactments began in 1990 following the fall of the Soviet Union.
What kind of peril will I face?
The speed stages take place on regular Mexican roads, with regular Mexican traffic. Still, at least there’s a speed limit – er, 144mph.
In 1992, Evan MacKenzie, then the MD of Penrite Oils Europe, formed an idea with John Brown for a rally in the style of long-distance events from the 1920s to ’50s. A year later, 47 cars entered LeJog’s first staging.
Daily stages measure around 400km in distance, with some reaching more like 650km. You will be sleeping under the stars in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Oh, and expect dust – lots of dust.
2023’s rally, which is pencilled in for JulyAugust, is under review due to the ongoing war and land-border issues. Even if you do avoid potential shelling, if you break down all indications are that there would be no back-up from rally HQ. Not reassuring...
Tiredness is a big problem, as is the grimy weather of an average British winter. Dodgy fish and chips are best avoided, too.
What cars are involved?
Anything street legal built up to 1972 is welcome. However, the car to have appears to be a Studebaker, which has knocked up at least 18 victories so far...
There are three main classes: up to 1920, 1921-1947, and 1948-1975. Some categories may be subdivided into classes based on engine size.
Ideally, your car needs a capacity of 1.0 litres or less, although the organisers offer an extra 0.2 “if you’re weak”. Bikes and scooters up to 125cc are welcome.
Pre-1991 cars are allowed, and you’ll need an RS Clubman licence, which is free. You can also rent a car from Hero-ERA.
Summing up
Pink Floyd made a film about some of the band members’ involvement in the 1991 race. Your GoPro footage might not cut it in comparison.
Don’t just pack your ‘brave pills’ – take some ‘patience pills’, too, especially if going with a spouse. You will be sharing the same car for a month, after all...
Any rally that describes itself as “motoring stupidity on a global scale” has to be worth a shot, no?
The intelligence of sheep varies from region to region in the UK. Keep this in mind...
Sign me up!
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December 2-5, 2023 www.heroevents.eu
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Starter
Words David Lillywhite
Photography Porsche
The Interview Charlie March What have you been up to lately? I’ve been living in New York for two years doing my MBA, mostly focused on finance. I’ve also just started fundraising for a venturecapital fund, investing in earlystage logistics and mobility tech. Does the responsibility for Goodwood weigh heavily on you? Generally I feel very good about it. It’s an amazing place, and I’m so fortunate to be a part of it. The idea of running the business doesn’t weigh heavily, but what does is the responsibility for everyone here. How did it feel growing up on the Goodwood Estate? I never realised how different it was until I was ten or 11. I’d go to my mates’ houses because they were allowed to go on their computer for longer than I was, and they would come to my house because it was better for hide and seek. And then I started to realise, oh, wait, this is a bit weird [laughs]. And you have grown up with all these car events, too. Yes, there were two Festival of Speeds before I was born [in 1994]. Since then I’ve been around all of them, and I’ve been to every Revival. One of my very earliest 42
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memories was my parents dressing me up for the Revival and no one else being dressed up. And now everybody is dressed up and everyone feels a part of the event.
The Duke of Richmond’s son is heir apparent to the Goodwood estate – and all the car events that go with it
How will you keep the car events here relevant in future? They seem to be evolving with the times and the younger generations feel just as much a part of them, so we just need to stay modern. All my friends who come love them – even though they didn’t see the cars racing in period. We’ve always worried about what happens when the older drivers are no longer able to compete. But you see the younger ones coming in – all these ex-F1 drivers come down, they do one test and they fall in love with it. Why do they love it so much? It’s just fun! These drivers have had such a stressful few years in F1. Here they can get in a car that they can just enjoy; they’re always going to be competitive, but they can somewhat relax, enjoy the car and drive in a totally different way. Speaking of driving, please tell your teenage BMW E30 story. [Laughs] It was the old course car from here. I was on top of a hill with a friend, and I forgot to put
the handbrake on. It went down the hill and crashed into a wall. We tried to rebuild the BMW, and I remember my dad pulling up in a car and looking at me. I was caught red-handed. It was really bad! We raced the Austin A35 together. What have you done since then? I’ve done Jaguar Mk1, Mini, E-type and Ford Capri. They’re fun for me because there is less pressure. There’s nothing worse than making mistakes on your own track. Are you still racing? Unfortunately, it is hard to manage, being out in America. I did the Porsche Sprint Challenge in 2021, which was great. I really enjoyed it, and I felt like I learned a lot.
‘Goodwood is an amazing place, and I’m so fortunate to have it’
And the big question: when will you take over at Goodwood? Dad and I speak about that a lot, and it changes each time. We have different ideas depending on what I’m doing and what he’s doing. A lot of it depends on how he’s feeling over time and how quickly he wants me to come back. I’ll probably come back in between five and ten years’ time, and do a few years with him as a transitional period – but it is his passion, he’s not going to stop completely.
Entries invited Important Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia Chichester, Sussex | 14 July 2023
ENQUIRIES +44 (0) 20 7468 5801 ukcars@bonhams.com bonhams.com/fos
’41 DPX’ – The ex-Peter Sellers/ The Wrong Arm of the Law 1961 ASTON MARTIN DB4GT COUPÉ Chassis no. DB4GT/0157/R £2,200,000 - 2,600,000 *
* For details of the charges payable in addition to the final hammer price, please visit bonhams.com/buyersguide
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Words David Lillywhite
Photography Alamy
ended his racing career, but also helped him run his property business – the couple would ride around London on a scooter, collecting rent. At car events, the pair were near-inseparable, with Susie prompting Stirling when his memory failed him (due to his 1962 head injuries), organising their many social engagements and keeping him in line when he cheekily referred to “crumpet”. In his autobiography Stirling Moss: My Racing Life (by Simon Taylor and published by EVRO), Stirling is quoted as saying: “I simply could not operate without Susie. She looks after me, organises me, travels with me on all my working trips around the world, knows where I have to be
‘Susie has never stopped being the best thing that ever happened to me’
Farewell to Lady Susie “I simply could not operate without her,” Sir Stirling Moss said of his beloved wife. Now they’re both gone
LADY SUSIE MOSS WAS THE powerhouse behind Sir Stirling, always at his side at social engagements and appearances, supporting him at every event and through every interview, but shunning the limelight that she felt only Stirling deserved. She was just 69 years old when she passed away on Saturday March 18, 2023; her older sister Tina has said that Susie died of a broken heart. She’d rarely been seen in public since Sir Stirling passed away in April 2020, except at Goodwood’s special tribute to Moss in 2022, when she was driven around the track by the Duke of Richmond. Born in 1953, Susie Paine, as she was then, first met Stirling in 1958. He was at the height of his fame; she was just five years old at the time and living in Hong Kong. Her father was a wine and spirits merchant, and her mother worked for the Rootes Motor Group and was assigned to look after Stirling and then-wife Katie when they visited the British colony. When Susie was 17 she moved to London, and Stirling met her off the boat. Although he briefly dated her sibling Tina, Stirling became firm friends with Susie – and eventually their romance blossomed. When they married in 1980 she was four months pregnant with son Elliot. It was Susie who not only helped to keep Stirling in the public eye, years after the 1962 crash that 44
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at any time, and never loses her sense of humour, even if I lose mine. She makes sure that my life works. Susie and I have been together for 38 years, married for 35, and she has never stopped being the best thing that ever happened to me.” (Thanks to the BRDC for highlighting this quote; Susie was made an honorary member of the BRDC in 2008, much to Stirling’s delight). Susie nursed Sir Stirling in his final years until his death, and had rarely been seen out and about since, her health failing. We’ll miss her sparkling wit and the kindness she showed everybody she met. Our sincere condolences to son Elliot, sister Tina, stepdaughter Allison and the grandchildren.
Learn more about this NSX-R GT and other world-class cars in our inventory on our new website
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Starter
Words David Lillywhite
IT WAS JUST OVER NINE years ago when I first visited Bicester Heritage, by which point work had been underway on the derelict and vandalised buildings of the former RAF bomber base for several months. The idea, I was told by director Dan Geoghegan, was to create an historic-vehicle skills hub occupied by restorers, dealers and specialists. In my subsequent article, I wondered at the feasibility of such a huge project, but I ended with “...however crazily ambitious it seems, Bicester Heritage looks promising. Very promising indeed”. Never did I expect it to grow so quickly in scale and popularity as it did, though. Sitting down with Dan almost ten years after the deal to buy the site for £3.4m was signed, it’s clear that he had the vision from the start. “I came to look at the site in 2012,” he says. “So I had a ninemonth lead-in, where I gave up my job and thought, this is it, this is the opportunity, so let’s get on with it… and 1000 hours later, I got the tender into the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The rest is history. “It was so sensitive within the MoD because it was the last and best untouched pre-war bomber station remaining. In 2008 it was described by Historic England as,
of all the defensive estates, the one most at risk of inappropriate development. I had to write a business plan to show we are good, upstanding members of the human race, we’ve got good intent and we can back this up both professionally and financially.” And it worked. There are now over 50 companies incorporating around 100 separate enterprises on site – and Bicester Heritage has also become one of the UK’s most popular motoring-event locations. “We have got people who still want to come, so that’s a very good thing,” says Dan. “Our original core businesses are still here. I think the greatest pleasure really is seeing those companies do well and achieve their goals. It’s been a good ten years, although it has not always been plain sailing.” In addition to the restored and converted historic buildings of the Bicester Heritage site that formed part of the original plan, there’s also now an area of new units. “What we hadn’t anticipated when we walked through the gate was the opportunity to do more than the built environment we inherited,” explains Dan. “And so, through demand, we were able to look at what was an old coal yard, behind the station HQ, and think what might we do there, because
ABOVE AND RIGHT Renders of the hotel and Experience Quarter, and how they sit on the 444-acre site. Note the tracks for trying out cars old and new, and the size of the Wilderness Quarter.
Heritage
Bicester’s big plans As Bicester Heritage marks its tenth anniversary, we look at the steps the celebrated automotive hub is taking to expand and cement its future
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Experience
Wilderness
Hotel Experience tracks
Airfield
Innovation
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we thought the cluster could grow. “We also had a side issue, in that most of the units in the heritage quarter are 2000 to 5000 square feet. There’s just a single 10,000 square-footer, and because it was the only one, we had a lot of demand. So I thought maybe we should erect more buildings of 10,000 square feet; not the typical units with a 25-year lifespan, but buildings that would sit well and be here for another 100 years. “We got a unanimous planning approval in December 2019. In March 2020, we all went into lockdown. But we delivered 70,000 square feet of brand-new buildings practically completed by July ’21. Our first two tenants were Motorsport UK and HERO-ERA.” What’s interesting now is that not all the businesses are solely in the historic sector; Motorsport UK is one such example, but EV maker Polestar, Zapp Electric Vehicles, Zero Petroleum and Hispeed, making inverters for EVs, are also now based at Bicester. This leads to talk of what happens next, because Bicester Heritage occupies only a fraction of the site that was bought – around 20 acres of a 444-acre total. Some of this is the still-active 48
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airfield, but around it there will be specific new areas and a hotel. Combined, this goes under the banner of Bicester Motion. “We now find ourselves with consents for an additional million square feet around the site,” says Dan. “So we have the Heritage Quarter, but also the Innovation Quarter, the Experience Quarter, the Wilderness Quarter and the airfield – five quarters, as we like to say. We can create a leading location for anything that moves.” The Wilderness Quarter will include an off-roading area, but will be mostly about walking, cycling and nature – there are already three lakes there. The plan for the Innovation Quarter is for it to be the base for yet more cutting-edge businesses, while Dan likens the Experience Quarter to a first visit to an Apple Store, but for car sales. Planning consent has been received for the Innovation Quarter, with the aim to start works in 2024. The application for the Wilderness Quarter will go in this summer – and the outline planning permission for the Experience Quarter came in the day before I met with Dan. As for the hotel, plans have been around
ABOVE The Scramble and other events bring in all ages of cars and enthusiasts; artist’s impression of how the proposed Innovation Quarter could look.
‘If you love it, we’ll love it, whether it’s a Fiat Panda or a Ferrari SWB’
for several years but are now on hold, as Dan explains: “We realised as we saw these other opportunities in innovation and experience that the hotel we would have built in, say, 2018 would have been very different from the hotel we’d build today. So we have said, let’s see how the rest of the site is going to look, and then we’ll know how the hotel should function.” The initial funding estimates to develop Bicester Heritage proved correct, but it’s now time for a second round of equity raising. The Innovation Quarter will cost around £40m and the hotel £30m40m. The Experience Quarter will be £50m; including the Wilderness Quarter, Dan currently estimates investment of £200m. It’s going to be exciting, but it will be hard to match the thrill of the past ten years. So what does Dan think has been the greatest achievement so far? “I remember saying that ‘if you love it, we’ll love it’, whether it’s a Fiat Panda or a Ferrari SWB. Historic cars are perceived to be a rich man’s game, so we decided to lower the drawbridge. And I think we’ve done that. It’s great to see the youngsters here – but we’re not finished yet.” See www.bicestermotion.com.
H O N O U R A B L E A R T I L L E R Y C O M P A N Y, E C 2
JOIN US FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE GARDEN PART Y IN THE HEART OF THE CITY
TIM SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY
6–8 JUNE
B E S P O K E A U T O M O T I V E – B U I LT T O R A C E F O R T H E R O A D – G R A N D T O U R I S M E – E V O L U T I O N A E R O G O L D E N A G E C O U P É S – 6 0 Y E A R S O F L A M B O R G H I N I – T H E C A R S T H AT B U I LT L A N D R O V E R P O R S C H E R S C E L E B R AT I N G A N I C O N – S U P E R C A R D AY
T I C K E T S AT LO N D O N C O N C O U R S.C O.U K
PRESENTED BY
Starter
Words David Lillywhite
Photography Luc Jolly, Steve Brooks
TEN YEARS AGO, FRENCH team OAK Racing commissioned sculptor Fernando Costa to create a Morgan-Nissan LMP2 art car on the twin themes of the Le Mans 24 Hours race and road safety. The result was a distinctive but heavy four-wheeled sculpture, along with a second race-weight car that used a vinyl wrap to recreate Costa’s work. With the approval of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest as the official 90th anniversary Le Mans art car, the racer was contested in the 24 Hours by gentleman drivers JeanMarc Merlin, Jacques Nicolet and Philippe Mondolot; the latter even had a new helmet made, which included part of the artwork. At this year’s Rétromobile show in Paris, both the sculpture and the race car reappeared as part of the event’s celebration of the Le Mans centenary. The artworks faced each other on the stands of
Aguttes and Ascott Collection respectively – and Costa was reunited with the two. We spoke with Fernando on the Ascott Collection stand alongside the race car, which is now for sale. He recalled the project fondly: “I met up with [team owner] Jacques Nicolet, and he said: ‘I love your work with the road signs. Can we bring you a car for you to work on?’ “I really enjoyed doing it, and after Le Mans we went to Fuji, Austin, Bahrain, Shanghai – all around the world – with it. It got a lot of attention – children loved the road signs.” The car that Jacques Nicolet handed over was one of OAK Racing’s Morgan-Nissan LMP2 chassis, which had previously raced four times at Le Mans and achieved top-three class finishes in both 2008 and 2010. Costa attached a 120kg steel skin over the Morgan’s carbonfibre
bodywork with around 1000 rivets, and then used more than 20,000 individual welds to fix 250kg of road signs to the steel over the course of two months. The signs included several from Le Mans, including Arnage, Hunaudières, Indianapolis and Mulsanne. The finished sculpture – which was almost double the original weight of the 400kg car – was then scanned to create a vinyl wrap for a second Morgan-Nissan LMP2 car, chassis 01-17, which already had extensive American Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship history. Sadly this version’s race was ended in the 21st hour. However, it went on to run around the world in the WEC during the rest of 2013, after which it was bought by one of its drivers and kept in his private collection. For more information on the race car, visit www.ascottcollection.com.
FROM TOP Costa created the clever art car using a Morgan-Nissan LMP2 chassis as a base. The fullrace version competed at Le Mans.
Race to buy Le Mans art car Be quick to get Fernando Costa’s Morgan-Nissan LMP2 machine from 2013 anniversary year
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The Object Bosch magnetos The pioneering ignition device revolutionised automobiles and set Bosch on the path to global dominance in the automotive field
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Words David Lillywhite
Photography www.legacyandart.com
THE MAGNETO WAS ONE of the automotive world’s most important inventions. Heck, we even named our magazine after it. Its introduction accelerated the development of the internalcombustion engine by replacing the temperamental hot-tube ignition systems of the day. It harks back to 1887, when Robert Bosch built a low-voltage magneto ignition device for a stationary engine belonging to a customer, based on an existing
design. However, it wasn’t capable of running at the higher speeds required by car engines. In 1897 Bosch successfully installed a new high-voltage version in a three-wheeler. Then, in 1902, the company unveiled a high-voltage magneto using a spark plug, which changed everything. Soon there was a large demand for this more reliable system, not just for new cars but to retro-fit to existing vehicles, too. Such was the magneto’s success
‘The new highvoltage magneto using a spark plug changed everything’
that 10,000 had been made by 1901, and one million by 1912. The units pictured here are a replica of the first Bosch magneto, plus the 10,000th example and the one millionth. All are usually displayed in the company museum in Stuttgart, but will be shown in London alongside other artefacts to mark 125 years of Bosch UK. The free exhibition will take place on June 14-18 in the Pavilion Gallery, Cromwell Place, London. www.cromwellplace.com
ADVERTISING ADVERTISING FEATUREFEATURE
Bosch Bosch UKUK Sparking Sparking innovation innovation forfor 125 125 years years From its From arrival its arrival in Britain in Britain in 1898 in to 1898 today’s to today’s world-beater, world-beater, this pioneering this pioneering automotive automotive giant has giant always has always led theled way the way
1897
18971897
LOW-VOLTAGE M AGNE TO IGNITION DEVICE
LOW-VOLTAGE LOW-VOLTAGE MAGNETOMAGNETO IGNITION IGNITION DEVICE DEVICE
In 1887, Robert Bosch built a low-voltage magneto ignition device for a stationary engine at the request of a customer. By breaking an electric circuit with the aid of a movable lever, it generated an electric spark to ignite the air-fuel mixture. In ’97, Bosch successfully installed a greatly improved device on a three-wheeler.
In 1887, Robert In 1887, Bosch Robert Bosch built a low-voltage built a low-voltage magneto ignition magneto ignition device for device a stationary for a stationary engine at the engine request at the request of a customer. of a customer. By By breaking an breaking electrican electric circuit withcircuit the aid with the aid of a movable of alever, movable it lever, it generated generated an electrican electric spark to ignite sparkthe to ignite the air-fuel mixture. air-fuelInmixture. ’97, In ’97, Bosch successfully Bosch successfully installed ainstalled greatly a greatly improved device improved device on a three-wheeler. on a three-wheeler.
BOSCH BELL TYREPRESSURE SENSOR
HIGH-VOL HIGH-VOLTAGE of twoTAGE coils on the MAGNETO MAGNETO IGNITION armature,IGNITION it generated SYSTEM SYSTEM WITH a high-voltage WITH current. SP SPARKARK PLUG PLUG This was conducted to a spark plug via After After just a few months just aa simple few cable months of of development development work, connection, and work, the the chief engineer chief jumped engineer the gap at at Bosch, Bosch, Gottlob between Gottlob its electrodes Honold, Honold, presented the presented in the form of a spark. the high-voltage high-voltage magneto magneto ignition ignition system, also system, also known known as the electricas the electricarc arc ignition. ignition. By means By means
Bosch launched the CAR RADIO Bosch bell in 1923 of two the to protect motorists coils on In 1932, the Autosuper armature, it generated 5 – or AS 5 for short from the danger a high-voltage current. arising from low – heralded the advent This was conducted tyre pressure. As of the car radio. to a aspark plug via air escapes, tyre Developed at the a simple cable becomes wider, and Bosch headquarters connection, and located in Stuttgart, here it pressed a lever jumped the gap Germany, it was that hit a bell to alert between its electrodes the driver. Bosch’s bell unveiled at the in form of a spark. was thethe predecessor International Radio Exhibition in Berlin. of the sensor It was the first car technology that has become invaluable in radio to go into mass today’s automobiles. production in Europe.
1902 1 902
1923
1913
BOSCH AUTOMOTIVE LIGHTING SYSTEM This system comprising headlights, a generator, an alternator regulator and a battery was the first complete electrical system from Bosch. In the automotive-lighting system, the electricity
for the headlights was supplied by the battery (and protected from over-voltage by the regulator), which received the current from the dynamoelectric generator. Also, it was in production for motorcycles from 1921 and bicycle lights from 1923.
1932 1913
BOSCH UK HAS BEEN AT THE HEART OF internal-combustion engineA to explode. on rights, patents and brands were seized – although BOSCH UK HAS BEEN T Based THE HEART OF mobility for 125 years – a cornerstone of automotive a product made Deutz, Robert implemented not before inventing the electric starter in 1914. mobility for 125 years – aby cornerstone of automotive manufacturing across the world, its know-howacross is key improvements to produce the holy grail for the the war, Bosch kept innovating, manufacturing the world, its After know-how is firstly informed by decades of innovation. nascent automotive industry – a reliable ignition with battery ignition in 1920, and in 1921 with the informed by decades of innovation. It allIt beganall in Germany, on November 15, 1886, Germany system. In 1897, Bosch , wason the firstNovember to adapt a invention of the electric horn; the general principle began in 15, 1886, when Robert Bosch opened his first workshop magneto ignition device to a vehicle engine. of the designworkshop is still used today. when Robert Bosch opened his first in Stuttgart. Robert had already served his time at This product would soon become the linchpin Two years later, the Bosch bell tyre-pressure in Stuttgart. Robert had already served his time at a range of German companies, well as with for the business, allowing the company to expand, appeared – the forerunner to today’s tyrea range of asGerman companies, assensor well as with Thomas Edison in the US Edison and at Siemens Brothers to the UK in 1898,and and then in France, pressure monitors – which was followed with the Thomas infirstly the US at Austria Siemens Brothers in the UK, where he UK, learned the craft of and Hungary. Bosch’s office opened in 1906, invention wipers in of 1926. These in the where hefirst US learned theof windscreen craft manufacturing electrical equipment. followed six years later by its first factory in the US. consisted of a rubber-coated lever propelled by an manufacturing electrical equipment. In 1887 Robert built his first Robert magneto ignition That would come to an end in the summer of electric motor via a ignition worm-and-gear mechanism. In 1887 built his first magneto device – a system for– generating the electric spark 1914, whengenerating war engulfed the world and Bosch’s Next came servo brakes,spark which reduced braking device a system for the electric needed to cause the air-fuel in a stationary foreign markets vanished andmixture its assets, property distances bystationary a third, and then there was the Bosch needed tomixture cause the air-fuel in a
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JETRONIC ELECTRONIC GASOLINEINJECTION SYSTEM In 1959, Bosch started to develop an electronically controlled gasolineinjection system. In 1967, the Jetronic was the first set-up of its kind in the world to go into mass production. It optimised power output per unit of engine displacement, fuel consumption, emissions, torque and warm-up behaviour by means of precisely metered, variable injection.
The ESP electronic stability programme uses sensor signals to continuously compare the actual movement of the vehicle with the direction specified by the driver. If a hazardous situation arises that threatens
1967
1995
1978
ESP: ELECTRONIC STABILITY PROGRAMME
ABS: ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM In 1978, production commenced on the first electronically controlled four-wheel anti-lock braking system for cars. ABS reduces the braking pressure if the wheels lock up, before increasing it again – up to 50 times per
direction indicator. This featured an electromagnet that, when activated via the direction-indicator switch, caused an indicator arm to fold out of its housing, at the same time illuminating it. Bosch would also move beyond the automotive realm in the 1920s, starting with an electric hair trimmer and moving on to power tools, fridges and central-heating boilers. However, it was still at the forefront of automotive innovation. In 1932 Bosch launched the first car radio to go into mass production, and four years later the company developed an electric fan heater to not only keep the view clear, but also keep passengers warm. It was during this time that Robert stepped back
to cause a skid, the ESP immediately intervenes. The system helps the driver to stabilise the car by reducing engine torque and briefly braking individual wheels.
ACC: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL Adaptive cruise control is a driverassistance system based on speed control. Once the desired speed is set, ACC brakes and accelerates according to the traffic flow. To achieve this, it uses a radar sensor to monitor the vehicle.
2000 second. This keeps braking distances short, even on slippery surfaces, and ensures that the car can still be steered. Bosch’s pioneering technological approach provided the basis for all current-day brakingcontrol systems.
from the public limelight. The rise of the National Socialists in Germany went against his pacifist ethics and pan-European ideology; he was a socially minded entrepreneur, inspired by his liberal upbringing and his globe-trotting. He donated to charity regularly, and funded schools, colleges and universities, as well as vocational training. He didn’t view his staff as his employees, more as associates. He wanted them to feel that, rather than simply earning a wage, they were a part of the bigger picture. “I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money,” he once said. “I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.” Although he found his firm unable to stop the
2022 DRIVERLESS PARKING SYSTEM IS APPROVED Automated valet parking is the world’s first highly automated driverless (SAE Level 4) parking function to be given official approval for commercial use in Germany.
National Socialists’ demands to commandeer his business for armament purposes via the use of forced labour, Robert and his senior team supported resistance to the Nazi regime and helped rescue Jewish associates and others facing persecution. He wouldn’t see the end of the war – he died on March 12, 1942. However, he had set up his will four years earlier, safeguarding Bosch’s future by ensuring that it remained financially independent and autonomous. He also decreed that a proportion of the company’s profits be used for charitable and social causes. These values still hold true today, with 420,000 people around the world dedicated to maintaining Robert Bosch’s pioneering spirit.
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Celebrating the SL at 70 The seeds of Mercedes-Benz’s SL road cars were sown in 1953 out of a desire to appeal to a new breed of affluent Americans looking for style, performance and exclusivity. The W194 racer was seen as a good basis – and inside a year, the 300 SL and 190 SL debuted at the New York Motor Show
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Words Nathan Chadwick
1954 W198 300 SL C O UPÉ
1955 W121 190 SL
After the 300 SL enters production, it swiftly becomes the world’s fastest production car, beloved of the elite: Glenn Ford, Juan Perón, Tony Curtis, Sophia Loren, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Juan Manuel Fangio are all huge fans. The 300 SL is also successful in racing, with Le Mans, Nürburgring, Mille Miglia and Carrera Panamericana victories – despite walloping a buzzard during the latter.
‘Affordable’ version of the 300 SL arrives, sharing similar styling cues, detailing and engineering, but with a new, four-cylinder engine. Although celebrities such as Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra add glamour, the car becomes infamous as the chosen wheels of Rosemarie Nitribitt, a well connected Frankfurt sex worker who solicits clients in her black 190 SL – before being murdered.
2022 R232
2012 R231
The first SL developed entirely by AMG, it replaces the outgoing model as well as the AMG GT Roadster. A metal roof is ditched for a fabric option, while engine choice is rationed to a 2.0litre mild-hybrid turbo fourcylinder or 4.0 biturbo V8. For the first time since the R107, it’s a 2+2 (well, 2+11/2).
Made almost entirely out of aluminium, the R231 has a folding metal top with a panoramic sunroof. The 12-cylinder smoothie is unavailable, meaning those who like to dabble in dozens are left with the NASCARsounding SL65 AMG, which delivers 621bhp. A 2017 facelift bestows the exterior with a face more in keeping with the rest of the range.
2001 R230 SL In design since 1996, the R230 is one of the first cars to be designed and analysed in a virtual realm via Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE). A range of V6, V8s and V12s is available, with AMG – now in-house – offering ever more potent machines over three facelifts. It’s launched with Lucky Star, Michael Mann’s $7.9m advert starring Benicio del Toro – but owners of cars with the notoriously tricky ABC suspension fitted often feel rather less fortunate.
1963 W113 SL ‘PAGODA’ Designed to replace the 300 and 190, the W113 is intended to provide some much-needed schnell over the 190 at a lower price point than the 300. It is the first sports car with a ‘safety cell’ rigid passenger body and crumple zones. Using a shortened S-Class W112 platform, the car launches with a 2.3-litre straight-six, which grows to 2.5 and then 2.8 litres. It is nicknamed Pagoda due to its slightly concave hard-top.
1957 W198 300 SL ROA D STE R With coupé sales sliding, Mercedes-Benz launches the 300 SL Roadster with slightly more power to offset an extra 125kg of weight over the coupé. It also features the low-pivot-point swing axle that chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut wanted for the coupé but was denied on cost grounds. This addition makes the roadster arguably better to drive.
1989 R129 SL A technological marvel developed without much care for budget; Mercedes-Benz takes a shortened E-Class platform and liberally loads it with all sorts of tech (and acronyms). Multi-link rear suspension improves handling, while a roll-over bar fires into action automatically if the car senses things have gone awry. In 1993, the SL designation moves to the front of the number.
1971 R107 SL Bigger and much more luxurious than the W113, the SL is designed specifically for the US – and the sales ploy works. Two-thirds head to North America. Various straight-six and V8 models are available, with the SLC offering a two-door hard-top on a stretched SL roadster platform. Made famous in Wonder Woman, Dallas, The Rockford Files and The Long Goodbye – but sensitive fans should avoid American Gigolo due to the wanton destruction of the interior of Richard Gere’s R107 SL.
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Starter “THAT RACE REALLY PUT ME on the map,” reflects motor sport star Allan McNish. “It opened the door to all that followed.” A third place at Laguna Seca in 1997 might not seem like a stunning result in the Scotsman’s stellar trajectory, but back in 1996 his single-seater career had drifted into the doldrums. In the space of two years, though, he’d won the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours. The key to it all was a drive alongside Ralf Kelleners in the final round of the 1997 FIA GT Championship in a Works Porsche 911 GT1. That car, now sporting a different livery, will be appearing at the Heveningham Concours in the UK on July 8-9, 2023. Allan’s route to Porsche started in 1995, via Jost Capito (most recently of Williams F1), who invited him to race in the Porsche Supercup. Jost and McNish kept in touch, and Allan’s name was repeatedly mentioned to Jost’s successors and, critically, Porsche Motorsport boss Herbert Ampferer, which led to two tests. Allan signed for Porsche in 1997 as a back-up driver for the Works
Words Nathan Chadwick
Turning point for McNish As Porsche 911 GT1 chassis 004 heads to the Heveningham Concours, racing legend Allan remembers it for one of his most critical on-track battles
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team alongside a season in the US for Rohr Motorsport. Damage to the Rohr 911 GT1 meant McNish got a chance in a Works example. While he had visited Laguna Seca to see Dario Franchitti race there in 1996, he hadn’t driven the car in anger. He says: “I remember asking Dario about the Corkscrew. He said: ‘When you go up the hill, everything’s fine – you turn in, and when you see the tree, you go for it. That’s the point to go down the hill.’ What he didn’t say was that there were five trees, all lined up. Which do you go for?” Despite this, Allan took to the track well, despite it not aligning with his ‘skill set’. “It was very low grip; normally I’m not very good on such surfaces – despite being from Scotland,” he laughs. “But it needed a lot of precision, and it required you to attack it to get tyre temperature. That worked for me.” Against the dominant MercedesBenz team, McNish and Kelleners lined up fourth behind three CLK GTRs – but within a few corners, Allan was leading: “I had to get stuck in. I ran around the outside of one and let it roll around the
outside of the second in the double left-hander. Then I nudged up on the inside of Bernd Schneider, who made it a lot easier by sliding off the road a bit.” From there, Allan built a gap of four seconds. “We had the speed and performance to win,” he recalls. Yet it wasn’t to be. After handing over to Kelleners, a problem with a wheelnut dropped the car to third place: “You can’t overtake easily at Laguna, and we weren’t the quickest out of slow corners, as the turbo restrictor was right beside the turbo itself. That hampered us coming out of the last corner, which meant [overtaking at] the first corner was impossible.” In the end, Allan would finish third. “It was bittersweet, but I couldn’t have done more,” he reflects. It certainly made the Porsche hierarchy sit up and take notice: “It confirmed to them that it was worth taking the risk on a young kid who thought he was the fastest thing in the world. Ultimately Laguna Seca led to 1998 and everything else – it was my first big knock on the door.” www.heveninghamconcours.com
SATURDAY 27TH MAY, ASCOT RACECOURSE
THE MAY SALE
Fine entries include
1976 LAMBORGHINI URRACO P300 (3-litre) £64,000-£74,000
AN ENTICING SALE OF HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE CLASSICS VIEWING DAYS
Wednesday to Friday 24th-26th May 9am-5pm
SALE TIME
Saturday 27th May Commences 9.30am Doors open 8.30am
REGISTER TO BID
See the website for full details
01753 639170 auctions@historics.co.uk
www.historics.co.uk
ENTRIES ARE INVITED
The Summer Sale Windsor View Lakes Saturday 22nd July Call 01753 639170
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Building the perfect car If you’ve always dreamed of creating a car to your own design, companies such as Envisage can help...
Words David Lillywhite
“I’VE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH to have quite a few supercars, and I have really enjoyed them, but I reached the point where I wanted to exploit my creative side and try to make a car more suited to my personal tastes.” That is David Gomez, of 7X Design, who in 2021 revealed his Lamborghini Huracán-based 7X Rayo – restyled and re-engineered to hit a top speed of 300mph-plus. To do this, he went to one of those hidden gems of the car world, the Envisage Group in Coventry, UK. The company is known within the automotive industry for creating both cuttingedge concepts and show cars, as well as for more traditional coachbuilding – but recently it’s
also made its services available to private individuals and lowvolume manufacturers who might want to create their own cars, or even adapt the styling or the workings of existing ones. David’s 7X Rayo is just one example; others include the Lynk & Co Next Day and the Healeybased Caton – but many of the Envisage projects are confidential. David Gomez is open about the 7X Rayo, which is the second car he has built with Envisage: “For the first car, I hired a very good designer to work with, and then we searched for a good coachbuilder that could convert our design from a 3D model to a real car. And after looking, we ended up selecting Envisage because of its
LEFT AND BELOW Lynk & Co concept and the Healey-based Caton at Envisage.
experience with car manufacturers and show models, so we thought it was a good fit. For the second one, the Rayo, we built the car with Envisage again because we had such a good experience with it.” Managing director of Envisage Technologies, Nick Colledge, fills in the detail: “We can offer a complete solution, or we can take someone’s design and follow it right through to paint and delivery. “We will build a 20-30 percent scale model if required, we’ll work in partnership or collaboration with designers, whether that’s remotely or co-located in our studios. We can work with carbon or aluminium, we will redesign the interior, advise on material selection and ensure that the vehicle meets legislation, legalityand homologation-wise. We can organise everything.” The breadth of what is possible ranges from the hand-formed aluminium bodies produced by Envisage for Jaguar’s D-type and XKSS Continuations, to the Lynk & Co Next Day concept. The latter model was wholly manufactured by Envisage, right down to the car’s futuristic deployable Human
Machine Interface driving controls – and there were a few surprising touches such as the use of recycled denim in the cabin. David Gomez’s 7X Rayo falls in the middle of these, adapting the Huracán for his own uses. “We wanted to do a very, very fast car,” he says. “We chose the Huracán because it’s small and light relative to other supercars, it has four-wheel drive and its engine is very tuneable. We got a 2000bhp tune on it, so we wanted to improve the aerodynamics so we could go faster and safer. “We did 50 CFD simulations to make sure we had the right aerodynamics and downforce, and then we took it for a shakedown at the MIRA test track.” David says the Rayo reached 450km/h (280mph) before feeling unsettled. Now the design has been tweaked, and he’s aiming for 500km/h (310mph) this year. Meanwhile, he’s planned another project, this time a full carbonfibre chassis with a Nissan GT-R engine, to develop at Envisage. We suspect there will be plenty more going on that we don’t hear about. www.envisagegroupltd.com
OPPOSITE AND ABOVE The Huracán-based 7X Rayo was built and developed at Envisage.
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Words Nathan Chadwick
Rolling with the punches Nicholas Mee celebrates 30 years in business – and sees many reasons for the Aston world to be cheerful
FROM ABOVE From salesman (pictured with Wensley HaydonBaillie) to owner of one of the world’s most esteemed marque specialists, Nicholas Mee has been immersed in the Aston Martin arena for all of his adult life.
“IF YOU STAND STILL, YOU die,” says Nicholas Mee, as we sit down to reflect on 30 years of the business that bears his name. Nicholas himself has been immersed in the Aston Martin world for much longer, joining the sports car marque as a salesman in the 1970s before rising through the ranks to become a direct report to CEO Victor Gauntlett. He left in 1991 – hardly an easy time to launch a new business trading in luxury cars – but then Nicholas had some luck. “I got a call from Victor,” he chuckles. “He pulled out a list of 30 of his cars, and asked me how much I was going to charge him to sell them.” Established in 1993, his firm was a key part of the South Kensington dealer set until its 2018 move to Hertfordshire, when it redeveloped a derelict farm into a cathedral to all things Aston. Today, despite shake-ups at Gaydon and in the wider market, Nicholas remains cautiously optimistic about the 62
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brand itself, praising the direction Lawrence Stroll is taking it. As for any negativity, he does appeal for context. “Its global reach is much higher than it was 25 years ago,” he says. “That puts Aston Martins further up the worldwide collecting list than they would have been.” Not that there aren’t challenges – the Aston arena’s recently been flooded with a Middle Eastern collection returning to the UK. Has this skewed the market? “To some degree, but less dramatically than people may think,” Nicholas says. “A lot were projects when they went out there. They’ve been there for ten to 15 years, and kept in a shed, looked at by a couple of guys who don’t know what they’re looking at.” Nicholas thinks education is key. Restoring one of these projects could end up costing twice what an already good car would. He’s seen some in his workshops and around the UK, “and they’re not pretty!”. The bigger long-term challenge, is generational change: “We’ve seen
‘Aston Martin’s global reach is much higher than it was 25 years ago’
a downward trend on DB4s and DB6s, but it’s difficult to work out whether it’s related to those cars, or part of a general market trend.” The big issue will be the 1980s and ’90s cars, before the brand’s ’00s resurgence, when sales were low; Nicholas admits they lack the broad appeal of Ferrari or Porsche. “It’s something we talk about a lot,” he admits. “However, the cars are rare, which will always add value.” He sees growth in the ’00s models as being a good bet for the future, such as the Vanquish Mk1. “They’ve been in the doldrums, but they’ll have their day,” he says. As for the business, the next step is consolidation, especially with a busy servicing department, but the event world does appeal. “They’re not going away, particularly as the world evolves towards EVs,” he concludes. “With older cars, you’re going to want to get up on a Sunday morning and have a blast. Are you really going to do that with a Tesla?” www.nicholasmee.co.uk
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Last of the breed A 75-year run of petrolpowered Jaguar sports cars is about to come to an end, with these run-out V8 F-types
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IT’S NOT LIKE WE DIDN’T know this was coming. But here we are, looking at the outgoing special-edition versions of the lastever internal-combustion Jaguar sports car. How strange is that? What an irony, then, that this last F-type is named the 75, to commemorate the anniversary of the XK120 – the Big Cat’s very first sports car if we’re to overlook the SS models. After the XK120 came the XK140, XK150, C-type, D-type, E-type, XJ-S, XK8, XK and, finally, the F-type in 2012. That’s quite a journey. On the way there were Le Mans wins, the road cars’ transition from pure sports to grand tourers – and back – and the mixed fortunes and ownership of the Jaguar name. Now
it’s Jaguar Land Rover, owned by the Indian industrial giant Tata. The F-type has been a success, truly worthy of carrying on the next letter in the alphabet from the fabled E-type. Commercially, it’s sold around 10,000 a year in Coupé and Convertible forms, which is roughly a third more than the E-type ever managed. But after 2024, no more F-types will be produced; in its place, an EV sports car is promised. Will it be good? Who knows, although Jaguar’s first EV – the I-Pace – was right up there with the best upon its 2018 launch, making the fact that it hasn’t so far been followed up even more frustrating. One thing is for sure, though – no EV sports car will sound anything
Words David Lillywhite
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Photography Jaguar
X K 1 2 0 1 9 4 8 –1 9 5 4
Named after its record-breaking 120mph top speed, it now feels cramped but has an appealingly sporty, almost-Vintage feel. First use of the XK six-cylinder.
THIS SPREAD F-type 75 sees out a glorious era in style – and provides every driving thrill you would expect.
C –T Y P E 1 9 5 1 –1 9 5 4
The competition evolution of the XK120 and a true giant-killer, famously winning at Le Mans. Also a great road car if you’ll excuse its obvious lack of frills.
X K 1 4 0 1 9 5 4 –1 9 5 7
like as good as the F-type 75. How do I know? Because I drove two of them across Spain, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, along the length of the Pyrenees. You can still buy the 2.0-litre F-type P300, but the 75 edition Coupé and Convertible models are V8 only, in 450PS (444bhp) specification with either rear- or all-wheel drive, or 575PS (567bhp) with AWD. Prices are from around £78,000, or $79,000. Starting in the 575PS may have been a mistake, but wow, this is a quick car! It delivers 186mph and a 4.1-second 0-62mph sprint with an appealing old-school violence, even with the slickness of the eight-speed automatic ’box. It is loud, too, especially in Dynamic mode, at which point the openedup exhaust emits a symphony that
bounces off the rock faces of the Spanish mountain passes. Jumping from the satin-black 575PS Coupé into the green 450PS Convertible initially feels like a step down. The lower-power unit needs to be revved harder, but actually it suits the natural character of the F-type, particularly when matched with rear-wheel drive. You could hardly accuse the car of being slow, either, with 0-62mph in 4.4sec. These Jaguars are not finely honed lightweights; the drop-top weighs a hefty 1781kg. Just like the E-type in its day, the F-type is a sporty grand tourer that can flounder on the limit but delivers plenty of fun before that point. Has Jaguar given up on internal combustion too soon? Maybe. Is it worth you snapping up the last of the F-type V8s? I reckon it is.
Little changed from the XK120 except for detail improvements that improve the overall driving experience – yet still cheaper to buy than its predecessor.
D –T Y P E 1 9 5 4 –1 9 5 7
Another Le Mans winner, even more famous and successful than the C-type, yet still eminently driveable on road and track. Has a Jag race car ever looked better?
X K 1 5 0 1 9 5 7 –1 9 6 1
A big step on in civility from the earlier XKs, already moving into grand-tourer territory – with a much-improved soft-top for the convertible versions.
XKSS 1957
They came about because the D-types weren’t selling – but this road-car conversion is sublime. Steve McQueen’s patronage just added to the legend.
E –T Y P E 1 9 6 1 –1 9 7 5
Beautiful but flawed in early form, E-types quickly improved before losing a bit of sporty appeal with the V12 Series 3 – but even that’s now appreciated as a fine GT.
X J – S 1 9 7 5 –1 9 9 6
Now firmly into GT territory, but let down by its build quality, the XJ-S is today better understood and loved for its quirks and seamless power delivery.
X K 8 1996–2005
An attempt to recapture the spirit of the E-type, not altogether successfully – but a great looker boasting decent dynamics, particularly in potent XKR form.
X K 2005–2012
All-aluminium construction, V8 power and Ian Callum gave this the edge over the previous XK8s, and now make it look like a real modern-classic bargain.
F –T Y P E 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 2 4
Truly an E-type for modern times, variously available with straightfour, V6 and V8 power. Production is due to end in 2024 – to be replaced by an EV sports car.
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Starter
Words Kyle Fortune
Photography Rick Noël @Sprite_Photography
FROM LEFT SR3 XXR spec hones this already superlative racer into a serious Porsche beater.
Radical hits the bullseye We target Silverstone in the British racing-car specialist’s latest track weapon, the SR3 XXR
RADICAL MOTORSPORT IS the world’s second-biggest racingcar manufacturer after Porsche. You might not have heard the name, but if you’ve been to a track you’ll almost certainly have seen its wares; the British firm exports 90 percent of its output to its 33 global dealers in 21 countries, with 12 Radical Cup championships running across four continents. The SR3 is the company’s core offering, sitting between the SR1 entry-level racer and the SR10. The new SR3 XXR builds on that hugely competitive, tubular-framed, two-seater set-up with the latest development of the RPE (Radical Performance Engines) four-cylinder unit in either 1340cc or 1500cc form. There has been a marginal power gain, but the key development goal for the engines was improved durability, with the running time between rebuilds increasing from 40 to 50 hours, and the oil-change requirement being extended from six up to ten hours. Elsewhere, the changes to create the new SR3 XXR are focused on boosting driveability, engine 66
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‘In any hands it’s a wickedly quick, capable racer – and in the best, it’s otherworldly’
cooling and aerodynamic stability, with incremental gains in every area. Aero improvements include a central spine inspired by LMP cars to aid high-speed cornering agility, while the redesigned side pods and front-wheel venting help clean up airflow along the sides and feed the now-bigger radiators. The front splitter and rear diffuser have also been reworked, and are now optionally offered in carbonfibre, making the car around 20kg lighter overall. Other options bring greater configurability to suit owners’ requirements, including AP Racing brakes, a Halo-inspired Cockpit Safety Structure from the previous SR3 XX, as well as extended data logging, air jacks, bigger fuel tanks and a Convenience Pack that boasts an extra silencer, radiator fan and oil pre-heater. The Generation 5 version of the high-revving, Suzuki-derived RPE motor is now controlled by driveby-wire, which enables a softer rev limiter, improved throttle control plus the possibility of a pitlane speed limiter. In all, the SR3 XXR’s spec reads very much like the
serious racer it presents itself as. And so it proves on the track, Magneto strapping into the new car at Radical’s pre-season session around Silverstone circuit. This is a big track, but the SR3 XXR is more than up to the job, its 262bhp 1500cc powerplant revving with ferocious urgency up to 11,000rpm, yet delivering a surprisingly muscular surge of low-rev torque. The six-speed paddleshift swaps gears as quickly as your fingers ask for them, and the sensational AP discs enable ever-later braking as confidence builds. Meanwhile, the level of grip, stability and traction into, through and on the exit of corners is difficult to comprehend. It’s an incredible machine, yet for all its serious racing spec the SR3 XXR remains unintimidating and approachable. That means in any hands it’s a wickedly quick, capable racer – and in the best, it’s otherworldly. It is not difficult to see why Radical has so little trouble selling so many cars – and with these improvements, there’s little doubt it will be selling even more. Look out Porsche…
MARATHON
27 Jan to 23 Feb 2024
Discovering the trails of South East Asia, this Marathon explores the stunning mountains and coastlines of Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. The 8,500km route is packed full of gems including Angkor Wat, Chiang Mai, the Mekong River, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Sa Pa, the Tram Ton Pass and Halong Bay.
in partnership with
22 to 24 March 2024
6 to 9 May 2024
For the third running of our weekend rally for vintage and classic car crews from two generations we will explore Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales.
The fifth running of this prewar only event, four days weaving a fantastic route along Ireland’s scenic and traffic-free roads, enriched with wonderful Irish hospitality and charm.
Preregis ter
16 to 27 June 2024
The fifth in Rally the Globe’s Carrera series will take us through the varied landscapes of southern Germany, with occasional trips over the border into neighbouring Austria. Super smooth asphalt roads and spectacular mountain views are on the menu.
For full details see www.rallytheglobe.com or contact us on info@rallytheglobe.com or +44 113 360 8961
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Words Axel E Catton
FROM LEFT 1968 Hobby magazine inspired this epic Ro 80 Moroccan tour. The actual Saharan portion
A road less travelled Seven Ro 80s set out for an epic drive into the Sahara. What could go wrong? Er, not much actually...
was aided by Abdul and friends, leading the team in their SUVs and lending a helping hand when needed.
THIS PAGE Vast Todra Gorge didn’t phase the intrepid crew – or the cars, which suffered very few mechanical maladies overall.
‘After eight days and 3000km, seven undefeated gladiators enter the Sahara’
why don’t we recreate that?” What started as a small group led to a gang of 14 club members and seven Ro 80s in spring 2023, some of which are lined up at Lindau’s Felix Wankel Institut. “The oldest is from 1968, the year Hobby went to Africa,” explains Andreas Meyer, second chairman of the club and one of the tour’s central planners. Meyer and his colleagues have planned the 2400km (1500-mile) trip well, concentrating on the ’68 tour’s main locations. Hotels have all been booked via the web from home; it’s hard to imagine what planning such a tour over 50 years ago would’ve entailed, using airmail and fighting language barriers. Prices for rooms range from €90 per night in the north for businesstype hotels to €27 in the Sahara. On the very first night I realise we’re not in Kansas anymore. The discussions are distinctly technical and clearly rotary-engine focused. “What’s your pressure?” is an accepted conversation starter in these circles. “Eight in the front, ten at the back,” is the laconic answer. “How do you check it?” “With the
original NSU tool.” “Is it accurate?” “Of course: I have calibrated it before.” Ah, makes sense. After the first day’s trip to Morocco’s capital Rabat, I have to correct my views of this North African country. The coast roads are excellent, the surface smooth, the traffic light – just as in 1968, when Hobby raved about “fast roads with very little traffic obstruction”. With daytime temperatures of 20ºC, the Ro 80s don’t have to work hard. Neither do we, because there is 4G reception everywhere. The team has organised for Moroccan SIM cards loaded with 100 dirhams (about €10) that will cover the entire two weeks. With its half-million population, Rabat gives us a taste of urban Moroccan reality. A mix of southern European-style architecture and oriental market hubbub shows how the country deals with the diverse influences of the centuries. Arabs, Berbers, Europeans; a melting pot of the most diverse cultures. In the morning, before leaving for the south, Gunter has to take care of his car’s accelerator pump Magneto
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AXEL E CATTON, STEFFI SCHLIESSKE, ANDREAS MEYER
SOME CARS HAVE HAD TO live with a bad reputation since new, justified or not. One of them is the NSU Ro 80, despite it once having been declared Car of the Year. In addition to a two-disc rotary engine and a semi-auto ’box, Claus Luthes’ forward-thinking saloon featured a particularly modern, wedge-shaped body that still looks attractive today. “A reputation for poor reliability still haunts the Ro 80 – at least among those who aren’t familiar with it,” explains Gunter Olsowski, first chairman of the Ro 80 Club International. “In fact, the initial difficulties were soon under control. At that time, NSU dealers were frankly over-challenged with the new luxury car’s servicing aspects.” True fans, however, have always known about the Neckarsulm flagship’s reliability. This was reason enough for Olsowski’s surprise phonecall a few months ago: “We’re going to the Sahara!” In 1968, the German magazine Hobby had set off for Morocco with a Ro 80 and a Citroën DS for a so-called super test. “We thought,
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THIS PAGE Brigitta Kolland was one of two female Ro 80 owners on the seven-car tour.
– it’s still working, but not always well. While the other teams load their vehicles, engineer Hubert Schönhammer quickly replaces the part in the hotel car park. Now off to Casablanca. Many associate this city with Bogart and Bacall: Here’s looking at you, kid. Yet the 2023 reality could not be more different. With 3.4 million people, it is Morocco’s largest city. We pass some rather poor neighbourhoods before we get to the city-centre hotel, chosen for its safe underground car park. In the morning, we meet Rafik Lahlou and his team from the Moroccan Classic Car Association, who lead us on a short drive along the coast to where the country’s only Formula 1 Grand Prix was held, in 1958. Returning to the association’s headquarters, we’re given a taste of real Moroccan hospitality, with a superb meal. Our new friend Abdelouahad leads us with his Dacia Duster to Marrakesh, via the motorway. Here, our futuristic gliders show off their best attributes; front-wheel drive means the comfortable saloons pull as straight as any modern car. The five-seaters’ comfort, generous load space, soft suspension and subdued engine noise make them good cruisers. Only excessive wind noise dates the design from the 1960s. After almost 600km (370 miles) 70
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it’s time to check fuel economy. It ranges from 13-13.5 litres per 100km (21-22mpg), with just one nudging 15 litres (19mpg). Oil is checked meticulously, though, with about a litre replenished every 1000km. Marrakesh (pop. one million) is one of Morocco’s most popular tourist destinations – and at 34ºC in March, it’s our hottest point so far. The colourful Medina and market are in stark contrast to the new business architecture. Once more, we encounter overwhelming friendliness. A smile says “nice to have you here”, with no need for any words. No question this often comes with the intent of financial benefit, but who’d argue with that? It’s a very similar experience at the seemingly never-ending police controls. We pass a checkpoint about five times a day, yet the law enforcement does not seem to be after us, because we’re continually waved through with a wide grin. Our trip towards the Sahara brings us over the Atlas Mountains,
‘There was one breakdown – the Dacia had to stay behind due to clutch damage’
replacing hot weather with snow, yet the 2260m Tizi n’Tichka pass is no challenge for our fleet. After an evening in Aït Benhaddou, where movie are often filmed, Morocco finally presents itself as we had imagined it. Built-up areas make way for wide-open spaces and sand – lots of sand. Because none of the cars has air-con, we drive with the windows open, which now takes its toll in the desert. At the end of the first week, we reach our most southeastern stop, the Kasbah Erg Chebbi, a former fortress on the edge of the Sahara now specialising in desert tourism. Abdul and his colleagues enjoy our colourful line-up, and offer to lead us in their Jeeps to the places where Hobby took its legendary desert pictures 55 years ago. The team breathes a sigh of relief at the ‘overcast’ weather forecast – how wonderful. It’s a pleasant 26ºC as we head off on the short route to Taouz in the south, the last stretch of asphalt road before the Algerian border. Finally, after eight days and some 3000km, seven undefeated gladiators enter the Sahara. It was all going so well – but suddenly Walter Till brings his phoenix-red 1975 Ro to a stop. “It just went out, on the washboard track,” he says. The team soon realises that the battery cable has shaken loose. It’s
reattached and we’re ready to go – but now Walter’s car is stuck. No problem; this NSU is front-wheel drive, weighs just 1200kg and there are half-a-dozen willing pushers. Then it starts to rain. Only lightly, but enough for the wipers to come on for the first time on this trip. It leads to the tour’s only non-repairable damage; the wiper motor on Andreas Meyer’s ’68 has failed. He can’t stop laughing: “That’s not even an original NSU part; it’s off a VW Golf.” As many parts as the team has brought, no one had thought of a wiper motor. Over the next days the caravan heads north once more to the Atlas Mountains, where we stay in a Austrian-style chalet in the rather artificial-looking Ifrane ski resort, built by French occupiers in 1928. A true out-of-body experience. Next are the royal city of Fez and Chefchaouen, the ‘Blue City’, before we arrive back in Tangier 11 days later. In the end, the logbooks document no real damage. One accelerator pump replaced, contacts cleaned and then replaced, and one automatic choke adjusted. So were there really no breakdowns? “Okay, yes, there was one,” Gunter giggles. “We had to leave our Moroccan friend’s Dacia behind with a damaged clutch.” But all seven Ro 80s arrived home just as they had left – only dustier.
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Words Nathan Chadwick
Words ACO/Artcurial and Kevin van Campenhout
(Not so) big in Japan – but bigger at Le Mans “WE WERE THE LITTLE amateur team, the sideshow,” says Tiff Needell of the Alpha Racing Team Porsche 962 chassis no. 154, his steed for the 1990 All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. “Japan was very competitive – Nissan and Toyota were going head-to-head at the front, and the 962 was at the end of its days, so it was never going to be a winner.” True – but 154 would defy the odds and finish third at Le Mans in 1990, the last La Sarthe podium for a 962 (discounting 1994’s Dauer). It’s up for auction at Artcurial’s Le Mans Classic sale on June 30. Tiff started that Japanese season with Costas Los, but Los was soon dropped for Derek Bell, at Tiff’s suggestion. “The 962 was out of date, but I was still honoured to drive in Japan,” recalls Derek. His first race, the Fuji 1000km, was cut short by heavy rain, and then a Suzuka World Sports Prototype Championship round saw him come eighth. Then came Le Mans, which didn’t involve Derek. He would be driving for Joest, while the Alpha drivers consisted of Tiff, 72
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Needell and Bell reflect on a small Japanese team’s 962 that, against its season form, beat the ‘Works’ Joest effort at Le Mans in 1990
ABOVE Le Mans 962 comes up for sale at Artcurial’s June 30 auction.
Anthony Reid and David Sears. It was the first year of chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight; Porsche insisted its teams run a long-tail, low-downforce wing. “I thought, do we really need this?” Tiff says. “I compared the new Mulsanne to the old Fuji Speedway – the length of that straight was equal to the three parts before each braking point. We tried it with the highdownforce wing, and it was about 4mph slower [down the straight], but the lap time was the same and it was much easier to drive.” Derek was less convinced: “If Norbert Singer set up a car in a certain way, it was probably right,” he says; he’d tried the short-tail at Le Mans, and it didn’t go well. “I told Norbert we spent so much time coming back to those twisty corners that if I had the shorter body on the sprint car, I could go faster. He told me to have a go. On the second lap, there was a huge bang – the underside of the car got sucked off. [In the pits] Norbert said, ‘it didn’t work, did it?’” Undeterred, Tiff asked Gordon Horn to build a carbonfibre wing
for 154. A largely untroubled run quickly saw the Alpha 962 climb the leaderboard. The team found themselves running fourth with 15 minutes to go – but then the Brun Porsche retired. “There was a panic on the pitwall,” recalls Tiff. “When I came around for another lap, I saw P3. It was emotional.” Afterwards, the mood within Porsche was sombre. “They took us to hospitality to congratulate us through bitter teeth,” Tiff laughs. “Our high-downforce cars had beaten their ‘factory’ cars. I was drunk in about two seconds after being dehydrated for 24 hours.” Derek would return to Alpha for the rest of the Japanese season – but any hopes that Le Mans would signal a change in fortunes were short lived, with fifth the best result, just one more finish and two retirements. Despite the car being off the pace, both Derek and Tiff have fond memories of Japan. “The experience was wonderful,” says Tiff. “I loved it. A different culture, but it felt like a second home.” More details at www.artcurial.com/ en/artcurial-motorcars.
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...BEST LE MANS RACES
In 2023, the world’s greatest – and oldest – endurance-racing event marks its 100th anniversary. This century of driving heroics, engineering genius, excitement, triumph and tragedy has spearheaded the development of automotive technology and witnessed the ultimate in human fortitude. Here are our 24 stand-out Le Mans races Words Richard Heseltine
MOTORSPORT IMAGES / REVS INSTITUTE / GETTY
24 best Le Mans races
24 | The annulment of the 5.0-litre ‘big bangers’ from top-flight sports car racing at the 1971 event proved a boon for Matra; engine capacity was now capped at 3.0 litres. As such, Porsche withdrew in ’72, while Ferrari also sat it out. You could argue that victory for the French squad was thus preordained, not least because the Alfa Tipo 33s weren’t expected to last (they didn’t). This race is remembered as much for the accident that claimed the life of Jo Bonnier as for the enmity between the winners beforehand. Henri Pescarolo didn’t want to drive alongside Graham Hill; the Londoner had never been the same since his appalling accident during the 1969 US Grand Prix, and he was deemed a liability. He wasn’t, and ‘Pesca’ was first to admit it. Neither driver put a foot wrong to win by 11 laps for a Matra one-two. Hill remains the only man to take the Formula 1, Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours titles.
23 | The 1979 running was always going to be a Porsche benefit, the Works team rocking up with a brace of 936 sports-prototypes. Lead driver Jacky Ickx was a pre-race favourite for victory, but he was disqualified for receiving outside assistance. The sister entry suffered engine problems and retired. As such, the race saw a massive scrap between the various Group 5 and IMSA-class Porsche 935s. Offering particular intrigue was the Kremer brothers’ car driven by third-fastest qualifier Klaus Ludwig. He was joined by American drivers Don and Bill Whittington, who were largely unknown outside their homeland. They subsequently gained notoriety, not least with various law-enforcement agencies. Then there was the car driven by entrant Dick Barbour, the brilliant Rolf Stommelen and actor Paul Newman. The Kremer car came first, with the Barbour Porsche second. It may have won but for a jammed wheelnut, which led to a time-consuming fix.
22 | Mercedes-Benz claimed its maiden victory in the 1952 race, with the 300SL W194 prototype of Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess finishing a lap ahead of second-placed Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermayr (a third entry retired in the ninth hour). However, the German cars were assured of victory only at the last gasp. For much of the race, it appeared as though ‘Pierre Levegh’ (Pierre Bouillin) was to pull off a fairy-tale victory by himself. During the night he held a four-lap advantage over his Mercedes pursuers aboard his Talbot-Lago T26C. He refused to yield to his team-mate René Marchand; he reputedly had become aware of a vibration from the bottom end early on and, doubting his wingman’s mechanical sympathy, he chose to stay in the car. He batted away fatigue, only for the T26C to expire with an hour left to run.
21 | Bentley claimed its first win since 1924 at the fifth running of the Le Mans 24 Hours – or rather, the Grand Prix of Endurance. There had been a run of humbling events thereafter, and it appeared that the marque was an unlikely victor given that two cars were wiped out in a crash at Maison Blanche on the Saturday evening. The third car, driven by Sammy Davis and Dudley Benjafield, was also involved, but it continued despite significant damage. They clung on to win after the erstwhile leaders Robert Laly and Jean Chassagne retired their Ariès with a broken distributor late in the day. Davis and Benjafield guided their poor-handling Bentley home to win by 20 laps over the 1.1-litre Salmson.
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20 | Winning at Le Mans isn’t easy, and the 1987 race was a case in point. Derek Bell, HansJoachim Stuck and Al Holbert had won by eight laps a year earlier. Here, however, Jaguar was expected to be strong. It was – for a while. This was the race in which Win Percy backflipped an XJR-6... Yet over half the Porsches lost their engines in the first hour, and it wasn’t plain sailing for Bell and co’s 962C, either. At various points the turboboost gauge broke, so they had no idea what boost level they were running. The battery flattened itself during one of the many caution periods. The windscreen also worked loose, allowing rain into the cabin. But they just kept plugging away, and the Jaguar threat faded. They won by 20 laps.
19 | This event saw a bumper entry, a record number of lady racers (ten) and defeat for Alfa after a four-year winning streak. And despite having already declared bankruptcy, Lagonda took the glory all the same. The race changed complexion at the halfway point, when the Alfas of Roger Labric, Luigi Chinetti and Earl Howe retired. By dawn, the Alfa of Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was half a lap ahead of Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés’ Lagonda, the lead changing repeatedly until the Alfa lost two laps with a misfire. The Lagonda was comfortably ahead when the engine went off song, which obliged Fontés to lap sedately. This allowed Louis-Dreyfus to make his way past. Cue a timekeeping snafu; he wasn’t in the lead, as thought, but merely back on the same lap. The penny dropped with minutes to spare, and Fontés and Hindmarsh claimed honours.
18 | It was a long time coming. The 1959 event didn’t feature much in the way of late-race fireworks, the Works Ferrari of Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill having led for nine hours, and having a commanding lead of three laps, until it retired at 11am on the Sunday. And from that, Aston Martin benefitted. Having tried hard, the Newport Pagnell outfit scored a one-two finish. Carroll Shelby brought his DBR1/300 home ahead of Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frere. The Texan had been batting away dysentery – not that his team-mate Roy Salvadori had an easy time of it, either. He did most of the driving while getting over flu. Trintignant also suffered; the French veteran persevered despite the overheating throttle pedal burning his right foot.
17 | That the 1961 running became a Ferrari benefit was a surprise to nobody; the Italian marque represented a fifth of the 55-strong entry. However, while the Works cars proved blisteringly quick during the April test weekend, not least Richie Ginther’s V6-engined Dino 246SP, it was Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez who shone aboard the NARTentered 250TRI/61. The young Mexicans harried the Works cars towards midnight, only to lose 30 minutes on Sunday morning due to a persistent misfire. They made up the time and more – or at least they did until their car’s engine let go with two hours left to run. They were in second place at the time and gaining on eventual winners Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill, who recorded Ferrari’s fifth Le Mans victory.
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24 best Le Mans races
LEFT Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood’s Porsche 917K took on a legion of Ferrari 512s – and won!
16 | Porsche has won at Le Mans 19 times to date. However, the marque took the better part of two decades to break its duck. Scroll back to 1951, when the sole 356 Gmünd SL finished 19th overall and first in the 1.1-litre category, but an outright win appeared out of reach until 1969. That was the year Richard Attwood and Vic Elford starred aboard their largely untried 917. They led by five laps at one point, only to drop out. The 908LH driven by Hans Hermann and Gérard Larrousse finished second and took class honours. Then, in 1970, Hermann
and Attwood were armed with a 917K, theirs being one of nine examples of the flat-12-engined monster entered in the race (seven started). They were up against a legion of Ferrari 512s. By midday on the Sunday, just 19 of the 51 starters were still circulating. By the end, only seven were classified, with Hermann and Attwood having finished five laps clear of 917-mounted Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen.
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15 | So much guff has been written about this race. There’s the story behind how Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory attempted to break the car that ultimately emerged victorious, expecting the transmission to fail early on (why prolong the agony?). Then there’s the bovine excrement surrounding Ed Hugus having secretly performed a night-time stint in the winning car to pick up the slack, this being a time when only two drivers per vehicle were allowed. The
Ferrari 250LM victor would have been expelled on the spot had this come to light. There isn’t an iota of a scintilla of a nuance of evidence to support the claim made by Hugus in later years, but it has long since become ‘gospel’. What tends to be overlooked, though, is that it was a close race. The expected challenge from the Ford GT40 amounted to nothing (the cars broke), while the Works Ferraris also wilted. By midday on the Sunday, just 14 contenders were still running. Pierre Dumay and Gustave Gosselin appeared to be in control in the former’s privateer 250LM, only for a puncture at flat-chat late in the day to account for the loss of five laps. This allowed the NART car to storm through into the lead – one that it retained to the end.
14 | The 1992 death of the World Sportscar Championship saw what few manufacturers had hung around to the bitter end given a small exemption. They could field their 3.5-litre Group C weapons at Le Mans in 1993. For 1994, however, they were conspicuously absent. GTs were clearly the future, a new equivalency formula being created to entice production car-based models to compete against purpose-built machinery on an equal footing. However, Jochen Dauer exposed and exploited a loophole. The German made a road-going take on the Porsche 962 that featured largely new bodywork – but it was patently still a Porsche Group C car, with all that entails. LMGT1 class machinery was entered – with full Porsche backing – and they finished first and third overall. A race car that had been converted into a road car and then transformed back into a racer had thus ushered in the GT era.
13 | While the late 1970s and early ’80s saw sports car racing in the doldrums, this was the period that witnessed one of the more memorable Le Mans. Neither Porsche nor arch-rival Renault were represented in the ‘big’ Group 6 category during the 1980 event, but there were several crack privateer squads in the field. However, this was the year when the race got underway during a downpour, and the rain continued to fall on and off for much of the 24 Hours. Even the sainted regenmeister Jacky Ickx aquaplaned off the circuit from the lead lap aboard his 908/80 with three hours to go (he went off at the Porsche Curves...). Still, he hauled the car shared with entrant Reinhold Joest back into contention against the Rondeau M379 driven by its creator Jean Rondeau and 1978 winner Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. The latter made a tyre gamble at his final stop and stayed out on slicks following another shower. Ickx, by contrast, opted for something treaded. Then the track started to dry and Jaussaud eked out his advantage. Le Mans native Rondeau had dreamed of winning the 24 Hours since he witnessed the 1949 running as a three-year-old. He remains the only driver to win aboard a car bearing their name.
12 | Toyota may have owned the Le Mans 24 Hours in recent years, but it took forever to nail down that first win. In 2016 it appeared as though all the stars were in celestial alignment and victory was in sight. It had been an epic race between the Japanese giant and Porsche, with both Toyotas taking it in turn to lead when the German car of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb was not. Nevertheless, the TS050 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima was in command in the closing stages. All they had to do was bring it home. The win was theirs – until suddenly it wasn’t. The engine died without warning on the penultimate lap. It did fire eventually, by which time they’d not only lost but weren’t even classified in the final standings. The 919 Hybrid won, with the other Works Toyota second.
11 | The 1982 running of the great race had fallen to the Porsche 956, which marked the first of six consecutive wins for the model and its 962 descendent. It had been a relatively straightforward victory for Works men Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell (their third as team-mates). However, the favourites had anything but an easy run in 1983. For starters, Jan Lammers’ Canon-liveried 956 rammed Ickx only minutes into the race. Jacky limped back to the pits for repairs to the shredded bodywork which, in turn, led to a 12-hour balls-out sprint just to get onto the lead lap. At 6am, Bell slipstreamed past the sister car of Vern Schuppan, Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood to take the lead, only for the engine to cut out seconds later. Three laps were lost while the Brit fixed a loose electrical connection. He and Ickx then put on another charge, and they were in second place at noon on the Sunday. Then, with just one hour left to run, the disc brakes
cracked. Bell was informed that fitting new ones would take at least ten minutes. He could always drive slower… Instead, he ignored the lack of retardation and lowered the lap record twice. Going into the final lap, the sister car was clearly ailing with Bell’s great mate Holbert at the wheel. The American held on to the flag with white smoke bellowing from under the rear arches to lead Bell home for a Works one-two finish.
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10 | It was a result that defied expectation. The 1995 running of the 24 Hours was meant to favour the sports-prototypes. The pundits – professional and amateur alike – expected the victor to be one of the Courage or Kremer entries. Meanwhile, lining up ninth on the grid was the fastest of the six McLaren F1 GTRs in the field. However, amid a raft of accidents, technical ‘issues’ for the fancied runners and sodden conditions (it rained for 17 hours), the LMGT1 class McLarens came into play. For a while it appeared as though the Harrods-liveried car of Andy Wallace and fatherand-son duo Derek and Justin Bell was in contention for victory, until its master cylinder failed. Transmission problems hobbled most of the other McLarens, but a brilliant drive by JJ Lehto, plus judicious use of WD40 to the exposed gearlinkage mechanism, anchored the victory for the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing/Lanzante F1 GTR. It was the one that was sponsored by a circumcision clinic…
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9 | With all credit to the drivers who won the 1956 race, it was the efforts of those who placed behind them that electrified. Stirling Moss and Peter Collins shouldn’t have been in the hunt aboard their Aston Martin DB3S against the multi-car Jaguar onslaught, and that’s before you factor in other marques. The Works Jaguar bid went up in smoke early on, two cars being accounted for after a shunt on lap three, another being blighted by a misfire in the first hour. The ageing Aston remained in contention for the duration, being at the top of the leader board for seven hours. Moss and Collins’ nearest challenger was the Ecurie Ecosse D-type shared by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson. Rain during the night proved a great leveller, aiding Moss and Collins against the Scots in the faster car, but the Jaguar got ahead as the circuit dried and remained in front. The DB3S was only a lap down at the end, despite losing a gear.
8 | Audi dominated at Le Mans for much of the 2000s. So much so, it became a bit... predictable. Sure, it made life difficult for itself by introducing diesel power when it didn’t need to, and created some inter-marque rivalry with sister brand Bentley. The problem was, there was little meaningful competition until Peugeot came along. The French concern, which last won in 1993, should have conquered Le Mans 15 years later. Audi was suddenly on the backfoot. Its unexpectedly obsolete R10 TDIs were no match for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs on raw pace. They were five seconds slower in qualifying. Audi still blagged honours, though, in what Autosport likened to a “heist”. The winning drivers Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello played a blinder. They were ordered to cling on until the rain came. Audi expected it, Peugeot did not. During the night, conditions took a turn for the sodden, the leading Peugeots being struck by a problem whereby sand, dust and water formed a crust over the cars’ radiators. Even with
this sorted, they struggled in the rain due in part to their aero set-up, the lead Audi lapping eight seconds faster at times. However, Peugeot moved back into contention once the track dried. Nicolas Minassian, Jacques Villeneuve and Marc Gené were now in control, until it rained again. Then McNish pounced. Once conditions became more favourable, the Peugeot reeled in its quarry at an almighty lick, only for there to be another downpour with two hours to go. It was a brief one, and Minassian chose to stay out on slicks and ride it out, only to spin off just before the Dunlop Esses. Kristensen drove the victorious Audi home with the recovering Peugeot on the same lap.
ABOVE Keeping everything crossed for a Jaguar victory are Lady Lyons left, Sir William Lyons, second from right, and chief engineer Bill Heynes, right.
7 | Jaguar may have recorded a decisive victory in 1953, but Ferrari returned a year later with three 4.5-litre 340 sports-racers. It was out to make up for the previous summer’s disappointment. However, it wasn’t as though Jaguar had been resting on its laurels, either. Coventry’s finest was fielding the new D-type. Throw in other leading Works and privateer squads, and it was hard to pick a winner. This proved to be a race of attrition, too. Of the 57 cars that started, only nine were classified as finishers. Even so, the Jaguar-Ferrari battle proved scintillating. Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt were at the helm of the sole D-type still running by dawn, Maurice Trintignant
and José Froilán González in the lone factory Ferrari still in the fight. It appeared as though ‘The Reds’ had it in the bag, until the heavens opened with two hours to go. The Jaguar started making up ground – even more so after the Ferrari had a strop during the final pitstop and had to be coaxed back to life. Hamilton put in a bravura performance in his bid to chase down the Ferrari, his drive being deemed borderline suicidal (if only by him). González had him covered, though; the Argentinean star led him home by a scant 87 seconds.
6 | It was a race with a very popular outcome, if only for the thousands of British visitors who flooded the circuit once it was over. Jaguar had bagged its first win in the endurance classic since 1957. It had done so after a game of cat and mouse with arch-rival Porsche that had gone down to the wire. The German marque had long since announced that it was switching allegiance
to IndyCar, and this was to be its swansong as a Group C stalwart. It wanted to go out on a high – and the car of Derek Bell, Klaus Ludwig and Hans-Joachim Stuck sat on pole after the latter put in a freakishly brave qualifying lap. They led early on, too. However, for reasons that have yet to be made clear, Ludwig disobeyed an order to pit on his scheduled lap three hours in, and ran out of fuel at the Porsche Curves. He limped back on the starter motor. Cue
an epic comeback drive. It was all for naught, because the Jaguar XJR-9 of Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries bested them by less than a lap. Not only that, their gearbox mainshaft had snapped just 25 minutes from the end. Lammers had instinctively grabbed the first available ratio – fourth – and left it there.
24 best Le Mans races
5 | You want a close finish? 2011 didn’t disappoint. This was another race where Audi and Peugeot went head-tohead, the difference here being that the German outfit had the advantage with its R18 TDI being faster and kinder to the tyres. The 908, by contrast, had better fuel economy in its arsenal. Scroll forward to the closing stages, and Audi’s hopes rested on the car driven by André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler after its other two contenders had crashed out. The top Peugeot of Sébastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud was its only real challenger. In the final hour, Lotterer was obliged to pit twice; one scheduled, the other prompted by a slow puncture. Pagenaud had to do only the one stop, and he pitted at the same time as his German rival had all four tyres changed. They exited the pits with the Audi ahead, and the race was on. It was a sprint to the flag and Peugeot lost out again – this time by a scant 12 seconds.
4 | The Hon Peter MitchellThomson – aka Lord Selsdon of Croydon – was ostensibly the co-winner of the 17th Grand Prix d’Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans in 1949. Victory, however, was anchored by Luigi Chinetti, who stayed out on track in the nobleman’s Ferrari 166 for no fewer than 22 hours and 51 minutes. In doing so, the Italian-born, newly naturalised American claimed his third outright win in the endurance classic, to go with his 1932 and 1934 triumphs. Sterling work by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, with support from local government, ensured that roads had been resurfaced, new pits erected and grandstands built on ground hitherto scarred by German landmines by the time racing resumed at Le Mans for the first time in a decade. No fewer than 49 crews started the race, with minister of transport Monsieur Pineau dropping the flag at 4pm on Saturday June 25. By midnight, Chinetti was in front, but on the same lap as the Ecurie France Vallée/ Mairesse Talbot and the
Veuillet/Mouche Delage. His car’s entrant took over for the briefest of spells during the night, with Chinetti eking out an advantage by dawn. By 11am, the 47-year-old held a three-lap lead, but the Ferrari’s clutch began to slip during the closing stages. Second on the road was the 3.0-litre Delage of Juan Jover and Henri Louveau. The latter chased down Chinetti, yet the ailing 166 held together. It marked Ferrari’s maiden win in the great race, Chinetti and Selsdon also receiving the biennial Rudge Whitworth Cup and Index of Performance Cup, both of these being handicap prizes based on engine displacement. As to why Chinetti stayed in the winning car for so long, it all depends on whose version of history you believe. Its owner, who had finished fourth in 1939, was reputedly taken ill, but some sources insist that his Lordship’s mysterious infirmity was something that little bit more... self-inflicted.
3 |The race was won by Tazio Nuvolari and Raymond Sommer, Alfa Romeo claiming back-to-back honours. However, it was chewing gum that really secured the victory. The 1933 running saw the Italo-French duo stake their claim early on, Sommer breaking the lap record repeatedly during his opening stint. They had a two-lap lead at half-distance, only for their 8C 2300MM to develop an ‘issue’ with its fuel tank. While mechanics performed some judicious tin bashing to straighten one of the front wings, those armed with the petrol churn discovered that a rivet had fallen out of the tank. Cue much gesticulation. The 8C of Louis Chiron and Franco Cortese, meanwhile, swept into the lead, with Luigi Chinetti and Philippe Varent de Gunsburg now in third aboard their similar car. But how to fix the fuel leak? Soap was deemed the answer: it would act as a plug. Except
it wouldn’t – which is when someone hit upon the idea of using chewing gum. Remarkably, it worked, although the delays meant Nuvolari and Sommer were obliged to ‘press on’ somewhat, not that their rivals up front were dawdling. With six hours left to go, the top three Alfas were on the lead lap, only for Cortese to crash out shortly thereafter. Battle raged for the rest of the race, the two lead Alfas taking it in turns to run up front. Chinetti was ahead with just ten minutes left to go, only for Nuvolari to jump him at the last gasp. The winning margin was a mere 401 metres. It remained the closest finish at Le Mans for six decades.
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2 | What was the greatest 24 Hours? It’s subjective. How do you define greatest? However, in terms of drama, the 1969 race had it all. This was the event in which Jacky Ickx famously ambled over to his Gulf-liveried Ford GT40 during the traditional Le Mans start. The mercurial Belgian refused to run, this being his one-man protest following the death a year earlier of his countryman Willy Mairesse (who had crashed on the opening lap while attempting to close the door of his GT40). Ickx thought this method of starting a race heaped undue pressure on drivers so, once in his car, he took his own sweet time doing up his belts, and
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his was the last car away. Porsche was expected to win, and the new 917 dominated for much of the race until the lead car dropped out on the Sunday morning. The JW Automotive GT40, which Ickx shared with Jackie Oliver (whose contribution tends to be forgotten whenever this race is discussed), assumed the lead. However, the final three hours descended into a titanic battle between the blue-andorange car and the factory Porsche 908LH of Gérard Larrousse and Hans Hermann. Ickx and Hermann slipstreamed each other repeatedly, the former planning to be ahead coming out of Tertre Rouge on the final lap. He knew that Hermann would draft past him on the Mulsanne Straight, and that he in turn would use the tow to slingshot by at the end of the straight. The wily 20-something put
his masterplan into action, and it worked perfectly. However, he crossed the line with 15 seconds still to run, so was obliged to do another lap. He re-enacted his Mulsanne manoeuvre a second time, and was the first to the flag with barely 120 metres separating the Ford and the Porsche. It marked the first of six victories at Le Mans for Ickx, and the last for the Blue Oval.
ABOVE Blue Oval win came after an historic drive by Oliver and Ickx – the latter in the first of his six Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
Porsche RLR 962-200 Class wins and podiums at Donington and Spa and driven at Goodwood and Silverstone, all in 2022. Ready to race and available today.
historicgroupc.com
The ultimate endurance racers that defined an era Since October 1982 at the rain-soaked Brands Hatch 1,000 Kilometres, we’ve been obsessed with Group C. From the mid-90s we have rebuilt, restored, raced and shown them by invitation at the world’s best events, winning races and the 2008 Historic Championship, as well as awards at Goodwood, Amelia Island and Rennsport. We occasionally find them new homes too. Discover more at historicgroupc.com
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ABOVE Ickx and co scaled a mountain, bringing the Martiniliveried 936 home to an historic win.
1 | In many ways, you could argue that victory in 1977 largely belonged to Jacky Ickx, even though he had two co-drivers. Nevertheless, the Belgian’s chances of securing the silverware appeared lost early on after his wingman Henri Pescarolo retired their Works Porsche 936 sports-prototype barely four hours in. He had been vying for the lead with Works Alpine-Renault star
Jean-Pierre Jabouille, when he buzzed the engine. The sister factory Porsche of Le Mans rookie Hurley Haywood and Jurgen Barth, meanwhile, had troubles of its own. All appeared lost, until Ickx was installed in this car and told to win or break it trying. This prompt led to one of the greatest comeback drives of all time. Bearing in mind that the Martini-liveried 936 had been lying in 41st place two hours in, it’s fair to say that Ickx had a mountain to climb. At the end of his first three-hour stint, the car was
in the top six, albeit eight laps in arrears. Haywood and Barth drove, of course, but this was Ickx’s race, and he completed the equivalent of five Grands Prix making up ground, using every minute of the allowed allotted time. Not that the Alpine-Renaults were slacking, but one by one they dropped by the wayside and the factory 936 assumed the lead in the 18th hour. Then an issue arose with just 45 minutes left to run. It was a big problem, too. The flat-six had been flogged mercilessly, and a holed piston threatened to end play. The car limped to the pits with Barth at the helm, the mechanics disconnecting the turbo and blanking off the offending cylinder. With ten minutes left, and five laps lost, Barth headed back out. He gingerly completed two more laps and brought the car home for an historic win. Despite the drama, the margin of victory over the secondplaced Mirage M8 was 11 laps.
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Words Wilhelm Lutjeharms
Photography Peet Mocke
Working backwards from a banner figure of 1000bhp is a complex challenge in just about every mechanical and aerodynamic aspect, as Bugatti’s Veyron proved
Reverse engineering
ABOVE Flowing from both a design and an aerodynamic viewpoint, the Bugatti’s smooth, brooding styling shuns the addenda of many modern hypercar rivals.
THIS SPREAD Stunning W16 feat of engineering is shown off to its best advantage at the rear of the Bugatti; the massive, two-plane wing is deployed at high speed.
THIS SPREAD Luxury tied with elegant simplicity and comfort; nods to Bugatti heritage include the steering wheel and engine-turned finish on the centre console.
Bugatti Veyron
ABOVE How all good ideas start – scribbled on a piece of paper. Piëch’s original concept for an 18-cylinder engine was created during a 1997 ride on Japan’s bullet train.
IF YOU DIG DEEP, IT BECOMES EVIDENT that the genesis of the Bugatti Veyron can be traced back to shortly after World War Two. In Faster, Higher, Farther, Jack Ewing covers in depth the inside story of the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal. Naturally, the late Ferdinand Piëch is mentioned throughout the book, which also casts a light on his early life as a child. By the age of five in 1942, during the war, he was already visiting the VW factory with his family, experiencing the environment and shifting gears in the unsynchronised ’boxes from the cars of that era. He was not even in school at that stage, but he stated to his mother that he would like to become hands-on and work in a factory with the various machines. This strong will would remain throughout his career; he studied engineering, and was eventually responsible for some of the most significant road and race cars in the industry. Under his guiding hand, the Veyron became without a doubt one of the pinnacles when VW decided to revive the Bugatti brand. As Ewing states, when the Veyron finally saw the light of day in 2005, it was “in the spirit of Ettore Bugatti, fabulously expensive and ridiculously overpowered”. For a petrol-head, the latter statement is debatable. The notion of the Veyron came about, as with many ideas, following a rough drawing on a piece of paper. It was 1997, and Piëch and VW’s head of powertrain development KarlHeinz Neumann were on the ‘Shinkansen’ (bullet) train between Tokyo and Nagoya. Piëch had an idea of an 18-cylinder engine, and sketched out the plan. Working to the headline figures of 1000bhp, 250mph and a 0-100km/h time of below three seconds, the idea was honed into a full-blown car over the next few years. It would eventually take four concept models to reach something that both paid respects to Piëch’s original plan and approached a viable, showroom-ready machine, but in 2001 Bugatti
announced that the Veyron would go ahead into series production. Incidentally, I remember seeing not only that model on the stand at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show but also, even more impressively, the drivetrain on its own display. It was massive. There were numerous challenges along the way. To keep the car as compact as possible, as stable as possible at high speed and as light as possible were just some of the struggles – not to mention negotiating the complexities of the all-wheel-drive system. Since then, the Chiron has come along and upped the ante to new levels in many ways. But whether you can afford the Veyron or not, several enthusiasts still prefer it – after all, it will always be the original. Imported into South Africa by a Cape Townbased collector, the traditionally coloured Veyron seen on these pages stands out from the crowd like few other cars. In fact, there are only three examples of this model in the entire country, and most of them are usually tucked away and rarely seen on the road. Franschhoek is in the heart of the Western Cape Winelands, and the area has some of the best driving roads in the world. These are known not only for their high-quality surface, but also for their visual excitement. One of them is Franschhoek Mountain Pass, a twisting piece of asphalt that snakes upward in true alpine fashion, followed by long stretches of flat road when you leave the mountain behind. Interestingly, during the Veyron’s development phase, prototypes were sent to South Africa for testing. VW has a massive, relatively secretive facility out in the Northern Cape, so to trial one of its vehicles here made complete sense. I’m here with the Veyron. Before the late afternoon light fades, perfectly highlighting the Bugatti’s lines when captured on camera, the key is handed to me. As I walk towards the brooding, hunkered-down car, now – as during
the preceding static photoshoot – I keep thinking about its overall smooth design. Take any modern hypercar, and the number of winglets, aero inlets and outlets, as well as all the other body addenda, demand much of your attention. This is not the case with the Veyron. There is a grille on the nose, a large cut-out in the bodywork behind the front wheel and an intake behind the doors. Both of the latter are optically hidden thanks to the black paintwork. However, nearer the back, things get more interesting. At high speed, or when braking from such velocity, that massive, two-plane rear wing is deployed. Yet the Bugatti is still a very sinuous design, and with the wing lowered the Veyron offers one of the purest back quarters of any hypercar – or just any car, period. When parked, the wing can still be deployed and left in that position. This provides the perfect opportunity to look below it, where you can see part of the exhaust system and rear end of the engine. The brushed air intakes above the motor, which peek out above the roof, are another design necessity, but it is all beautifully integrated into the body and utterly flows with the car’s design. Even the side mirrors don’t extend outward past the body in the way they do on other machines – another clever feature from both a design and an aerodynamic viewpoint. One further highlight is seeing the ‘open’ engine, which is neatly on display and, when the wing is up, will also fill part of the rear view. Peering in a little deeper, you can’t help but be impressed by how the designers have been able to fit this drivetrain into such a relatively small footprint. Calling it a triumph of engineering is an understatement. The door handle is polished metal, and as I drop into the low seating position a few things immediately draw my attention. Firstly, how luxurious but at the same time homogeneous and elegant the cabin is. Then, how the twotone navy-blue and cream interior gives a clean
‘Under Piëch, the Veyron became one of the pinnacles when VW revived the Bugatti brand’ Magneto
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Bugatti Veyron
and relaxing aura – quite the opposite to the driving experience this car promises. There is no large information screen, merely the controls required for the air-conditioning, a leather-wrapped gearlever and two stalks on the steering column. Finally, a steering wheel with no buttons. Needless to say, it is a truly pleasant and rather refreshing place compared with the cabins of several modern supercars. There is nothing to distract my attention from the driving experience. Behind the wheel is a large analogue rev counter, to the right a smaller speedometer (with an even smaller digital display), plus a few other displays such as the power indicator with its needle that swings around the clock to 1000bhp, should I decide to press the throttle to the floor and hold on. I twist the key, then press the button below the gearlever. The starter motor whirrs a few times, and then the engine catches. At first I’m surprised by how quiet it is, although the rumble is rather deep. However, later on I’ll realise that the deep exhaust note is more audible to those standing on the outside. The seat is comfortable, leaning more to the firm and supportive side. However, I reckon you’ll be able to spend a good 106
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few hours in it without feeling any discomfort. I push the gearlever to the right to select Drive, and move off. Within a few metres I realise how planted the Veyron feels and how stiff the suspension is. It’s to be expected, of course: this is a 1900kg (officially 1888kg) car that must be able to handle a plethora of forces up to 400km/h. It is no cushy GT: it is a focused hypercar – especially if you consider what it represented almost two decades ago. The smallest of throttle inputs reminds me that there are four turbochargers in the rear. There is some whistling from them, but less so than in a modern Pagani Huayra, for example. The Veyron still offers a very high level of
‘It is a truly pleasant and rather refreshing place compared with the cabins of several modern supercars’
sophistication, and clearly the idea was to not allow too much noise to enter the cabin. I am sitting pretty much on the floorpan, which means I am very close to the road. Still, I have a perfect view over the first part of the black bonnet, and I can even see the blue wings, too. Thanks to the short nose, I know the front wheels are close to my feet, which makes it easy to place the Bugatti through corners. A bulky and cumbersome machine it is not. The Veyron has already been driven a good few miles before our shoot, so the fluids are well warmed up and the time has come to experience its performance. I decide to push the gearlever again to activate Sport, and at the same time use the steering-wheel paddles to change ratios myself. This gives more control over the engine, allowing me to get a better feel for everything. The steering is light yet precise, and as I dive through the corners the set-up lets me focus on other aspects of the car. I’d expected the weight to make itself felt, but that isn’t the case. Even when using the brakes, the huge (eight-cylinder, 400mm up front) rotors and discs not only give a good pedal feel, but lower the speed decisively. When I press the throttle pedal at 2000rpm
Bugatti Veyron
in fifth gear, I can feel a storm building deep down behind me. There’s an abundance of nonstop torque. I select a couple of lower gears, and press the throttle harder. Within a split second the engine reacts, and the deep burble it produces stays in the cabin throughout the rev range. The red line is just after 6000rpm, but that is virtually irrelevant. It doesn’t matter where in the rev range you find yourself, there are always copious amounts of torque (and, to an extent, power) on offer. When you switch to the next gear it simply continues, and then, as quickly as the car has gone through the range (obviously not at the rate of a smaller, naturally aspirated performance engine), it’s likely you’ve reached the end of your straight piece of road anyway. On a clear stretch with no traffic, I’m past 125mph within seconds. A while later, on the same road, the Veyron hits a comfortable 180mph. As impressive as the acceleration is, what impresses most is how stable the Bugatti feels at these speeds. Bearing in mind its age – and the fact that several supercar rivals dance around slightly at such velocity – the Veyron just keeps adding feathers to its performance cap. Because you know how fast it is, the car does 108
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entice you to see how much you personally can eke out of it. But then, you would be missing the enjoyment of experiencing it through the corners. It might be on the heavy side, but fitted with incredibly wide (265 front, 365 rear) tyres, it offers a high level of mechanical grip combined with the all-wheel-drive system. I rarely have to look in my rear-view mirror, but when I do, it is rather to appreciate the view over the metal covers of the masterpiece that is that 8.0-litre, quad-turbo, W16 engine. For a moment I think about the Veyron’s kerbweight. Back in the mid-2000s, 1888kg was rather heavy for a sports car. How times have changed. Today, even a BMW M3 tips the scales
‘Bearing in mind its age, the Veyron just keeps adding feathers to its performance cap’
at 1840kg. In that sense, as in several other ways, history has been kind to the Bugatti. I press the throttle a few more times and start to giggle; this really is an otherworldly performance. Having spoken to other Veyron owners in the past, as well as seen people share online the running costs of these cars, that comes as no surprise. Even today, but especially two decades ago, this was engineering on another level, and keeping such a special model on the road will never be cheap. Before I get out, I adjust the seat back to its original position – there is a mechanical lever underneath. This might be a small point, but it illustrates that Bugatti still wanted to keep the weight as low as possible for obvious reasons. It’s the same with regard to the level of luxury. It is extremely well appointed, but if you want the most lavish car on the planet, you’ll need to look elsewhere. However, if you want to experience one of the pinnacles of automotive performance – an all-round engineering marvel that had several geniuses scratching their heads for some years – the Veyron must be at the top of your list. Special thanks to The Archive (www.thearchive. co.za) for making this drive possible.
The co-authors of definitive tome The Lamborghini Miura probed both sides of the story – and came to the conclusion that the subject can now be considered closed
Words Steve Wakefield
WHO DESIGNED THE MIURA? GANDINI OR GIUGIARO
Photo Pietro Bianchi
KIDSTON SA / MAGIC CAR PICS
Who designed the Miura?
SO WHO REALLY DID DESIGN THE Lamborghini Miura? Marcello Gandini, surely? That’s the accepted fact, although an alternative history exists that promotes the influence of preliminary sketches by Giorgetto Giugiaro, Gandini’s immediate predecessor as Bertone’s chief stylist. Gandini’s official appointment occurred on November 1, 1965, just before the as-yet-unnamed Miura’s mid-engined chassis and drivetrain made a sensational debut at the November 3-14 Turin Motor Show. Steve Wakefield, one of the international team behind the award-winning and definitive Kidston work The Lamborghini Miura, tells both sides of the story – and how the book’s co-author, Jon Pressnell, came to the conclusion that the subject can now be considered closed. Straight-talking Ferruccio Lamborghini used the 1965 Turin Show as a sort of reverse beauty parade to court Italian carrozziere that were able and willing to clothe his new creation. Whichever styling house was chosen, it was likely that the final design for the mid-engined supercar would take key components from the state-of-the-art Ford GT40: central two-seater cockpit with wide screen, shallow, sloping nose with lights set into the wings, compact clamshell engine cover, abrupt, cut-off tail topped by a full-width spoiler, and some way of showing the exotic multi-cylinder powerplant underneath. The GT40 had a Perspex engine panel; the Miura was to have its own trademark slats. Lamborghini’s established body supplier Touring had been offered the opportunity already, but ongoing financial crises ruled it out. The chassis had been presented to company head Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni well before its eventual public launch in November, and the Milanese carrozzeria even made a model, the Tigre, with a buttressed rear pre-dating the production Ferrari Dino. The ever-practical Ferruccio – as related by his
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right-hand man and the company’s wheelerdealing commercial director Ubaldo Sgarzi – then made a decision: “Let’s go to Turin, and talk to Pininfarina, to Bertone.” On visiting the Lamborghini stand in Turin that November, Nuccio Bertone – according to Luciano Greggio’s history of the styling house – was apparently told in characteristically plain terms by Ferruccio: “You at last! Everybody has been here because they all want to body this chassis. Aren’t you interested?” Bertone was, but a degree of courtship was required, remembers Gian Beppe Panicco, Bertone’s long-standing PR man. Sant’Agata sent several cars, 350GTs or 400GTs, to Turin for approval, to “convince Bertone that the product he made was reliable and well conceived, and hence to persuade him to work on this brand-new, ground-breaking chassis.” The truth probably lies somewhere in between, and those first informal conversations developed into a sound commercial relationship that lasted for many years, producing the Miura, Espada and Countach. In all likelihood, Bertone and Lamborghini had been in discussion throughout the year. Ghia was also in the frame, but with Pininfarina so close to Ferrari, Bertone was the logical choice. In interviews for the Kidston book, Gandini is dismissive of the ‘courtship’ story. He recalls how a meeting was indeed held during the show, at Bertone’s factory, with himself, Nuccio and commercial director Enzo Prearo from the styling house, and Ferruccio, Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani from Lamborghini. “This was to discuss a possible collaboration. The car didn’t have a name. Bertone had seen the chassis on the Lamborghini stand – everybody had seen it. Both were as interested as the other. Bertone was not one to miss an opportunity. There weren’t long discussions – an agreement was easily reached. Nuccio
THIS SPREAD The model of Touring’s Tigre design (below), and (opposite) one of Bertone’s undated Miura sketches, signed by Gandini, showing the trademark details around headlights, sill and B-post.
‘I DID THE MIURA – AND I DID IT ALONE – IN JUST THREE MONTHS’
jumped at opportunities – that was one of his strengths. He had a company of 2000 people to look after, and he had to look to the future.” To produce a (non-functioning) car that four months later shook the automotive world in Geneva begs the question: how much work had been sketched out before the deal was sealed with Bertone in late 1965? And if that work pre-dated Gandini’s arrival, was it indeed accomplished by Giugiaro? As Jon Pressnell put it in the Kidston Miura book: “If the project was in fact mooted with Bertone some good time before the 1965 Turin show, even if only in the vaguest of terms, then Giugiaro might conceivably have produced some preliminary renderings, as a basis for discussion. The timescale is such that nothing more would have been possible. “There is, however, no evidence that this was the case. Furthermore, the story of Giugiaro’s involvement is clearly fanciful, owing its currency largely to a 1966 article by Jean Bernardet in French magazine L’Equipe; it should be noted that Bertone wrote to the magazine refuting the suggestion.” The issue did not go away, and in 1996 journalist Peter Robinson interviewed Giugiaro on behalf of Classic & Sports Car. In the course of the conversation, Giugiaro produced a roll of photostats. “I was looking at the unmistakable shape of the Miura,” Robinson wrote. “There were impressionistic three-quarter front and rear sketches, as well as detailed draughting drawings of the front and rear profile. All carried the Giugiaro signature and were dated October or November 1964. The draughting
blueprint was numbered 10001064.” “When I left Bertone, I didn’t have a chance to follow the building of the car, but the original of these drawings stayed behind,” Giugiaro explained to Robinson. “Gandini took my sketches and finished the car – 70 percent of the design is mine. Not even Nuccio Bertone knows all of this. When I replaced [Franco] Scaglione, I worked on my own, often at home and at weekends. One day I should have shown them, but it would [have] hurt Bertone.” The dates – if one assumes them to be correct – are significant. Twelve months before Lamborghini presented the exciting midengined chassis in Turin, it can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that Giugiaro did not have access to the drawings or thoughts of Dallara, Stanzani and Bob Wallace, for whom the Miura idea was still gathering momentum as an after-hours project. In a brief May 1975 Autocar article on Dallara, Italian correspondent Gianni Rogliatti stated: “I still recall seeing the first drawing of the Miura chassis one hot August day in 1965, when Dallara had decided that the Lamborghini V12 engine could be fitted transversely in a new chassis.” Karl Ludvigsen backed this up in the August 1967 Car and Driver, in which he spoke of Dallara having prepared complete drawings for the chassis “by the summer of 1965”. More recently, Dallara has confirmed certain dates: the project was initiated in January 1965, he says, with drawings of the chassis and powertrain completed by June and chassis construction underway at Marchesi by August. Bertone muddied the waters somewhat
THIS PAGE The full-size model commissioned by Fabrizio Giugiaro from his father’s sketches in 2008.
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when it presented line drawings at the time of the Miura’s launch, supposedly as alternative designs that had been considered at the same time as Gandini’s proposal. Gandini’s assistant Piero Stroppa is sceptical, suggesting that they were put together after the event, possibly to promote the idea that a measured process of reflection had taken place before Gandini’s design had been selected. One of the drawings features lift-up, gullwing doors. As previously mentioned, the GT40’s influence can be seen in these sketches and the final lines of the Miura – any mid-engined design of that era bore a resemblance to the car that had just started to win major motor races. Additionally, for some years after Gandini had left Bertone relations were difficult and, in this period, Nuccio Bertone on occasion subtly downplayed Marcello’s role – as in, for example, suggesting that he had changed details on the Miura when Gandini was supposedly on holiday. None of this, of course, is to detract from the credit due to Bertone for recognising and cultivating the talents of his young and then largely untested designer, who would bring such extraordinary élan to his business. Back to 1965. Accepting that Giugiaro had drawn up the bare bones of a mid-engined GT coupé bodystyle, this is most likely to have been a largely abstract exercise. If this analysis is correct, and the originals of these drawings were at Bertone when Gandini took over, it is certainly conceivable that he would have seen them. Pressnell writes that, if so: “He might at the very least have subconsciously assimilated something of their general direction. But even
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if this were the case… to go from there to the notion of the final design for the Miura being ‘70 percent’ Giugiaro is nonetheless a somewhat creative exercise in extrapolation.” The arguments rumbled on – and for Giugiaro’s 70th birthday in 2008 his son Fabrizio sponsored the construction of a full-scale model based on the controversial drawings. The ‘Giugiaro Miura’ turned out to be nothing like a Miura; in fact, if it resembled anything, it was a Bizzarrini P538. Indeed, it was described as having begun life as a study for a Bizzarrini, before allegedly being proposed by Nuccio Bertone as a starting point for what would become the Miura. After media coverage, most notably in US trade publication Automotive News, Gandini sought to put the record straight. “I did the Miura – and I did it alone – in just three months. Any alleged influence by Giugiaro in that car is simply not true,” he told Luca Ciferri in a February 2009 interview, published – after legal pressure – as a follow-up for the US business paper. “Giugiaro left very few sketches behind before leaving Bertone. The only thing we later used – but only after substantial modifications to the front and to the rear – was the design of the car that would become the Alfa Romeo 1750.” He then added: “It is simply useless to talk with historians when the people who truly made the things are still around.” When interviewed for the Kidston Miura book in 2007, Gandini said: “I had been at Bertone a very short time and I did not have the freedom of action to do what I wanted. Well, in fact I did have that freedom, but psychologically I was holding back a bit on my ideas, so as to be sure not to get things wrong.” Interestingly, the GT40 theme is a recurring
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one. “The inspiration for us, the directive for Bertone, came from the Ford, but done the Italian way – that was the idea,” said Stanzani. This is confirmed by Panicco: “Bertone at the time – and this is what Gandini told me – said he wanted to do a road car but with the emotion and expression of a Ford GT40.” Also, Giugiaro’s Canguro design exercise for Alfa Romeo made an impression on the Lamborghini engineers, and Gandini’s final Miura styling included a one-piece rear clamshell with slats covering the engine (seen in 1962 on GM’s Monza GT concept) and laid-flat rotating headlamps, a notable feature of Bertone’s Testudo concept for Chevrolet in 1963. The latter came from the pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro. To answer the question of how Bertone created such a perfect and harmonious design in metal that made its debut in Geneva only weeks after receiving the commission, an admiring Dallara remembers: “[Ferruccio] Lamborghini had explained to Bertone that the car had to be the best, and it had to be different from others. ‘I want a car that is different,’ he had said. “After Turin, Bertone himself came to Lamborghini with Prearo. They presented the drawings. There were three sketches: a profile, a three-quarter view and probably one of the interior. It was something unique – absolutely magic. That day I learned a very important lesson: if a car is beautiful, it is beautiful right from the start. We said immediately: ‘That is the car.’ Nothing was changed, nothing was touched.” The drawings were almost complete by Christmas 1965, and a full-scale body buck – Bertone never built a model – by early January 1966. Stroppa remembers: “In all, it took two
months and one week to develop the prototype.” Half a century on, Marcello Gandini remains broadly satisfied with his work. “I don’t pat myself on the back. I find it does have some flaws. My initial feeling was to be slightly ashamed to think that I could have done this or that a little differently. Then, once 20 years passed, I thought I could stop being ashamed and let things be. “Let’s say that I think the Miura was a good job, using design elements that already existed. In the Miura the new ideas were in the details, in that rear spoiler, those air vents, the grilles – details, basically. But I also feel the Miura was lucky. Like a person, if you have talent or merit but don’t have a minimum of good luck for things to happen at the right moment, then they don’t always work out. The Miura happened at the right moment.” As for Giugiaro, his work at Bertone certainly influenced the Miura; the “design elements that already existed” mentioned by Gandini. But as proved above, the dates do not work, and his mid-engined coupé was a typical high-quality, mid-1960s ‘GT40-esque’ road car design of which any top styling house would be proud. In his 2009 interview, wrapping up the question, Giugiaro himself went on record formally attributing the design of the Miura to Gandini. The mystery is over. Published by Kidston, and the result of nearly two decades’ work, The Lamborghini Miura by Jon Pressnell and Simon Kidston was limited to just 762 copies and sold out in only three weeks in summer 2020. It won the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year award in 2021. Some copies of its companion volume, The Lamborghini Miura Register, are available from Hortons and other specialist bookshops worldwide.
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Who designed the Miura?
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IT’S A PRETTY SURE BET that all Magneto readers have had a steering wheel in their hands at some point, so explaining what one does is perhaps superfluous. However, in the instance of a racing car, said wheel is what connects the driver to their machine and, along with the pedals, it is what allows them to guide it to a successful lap time, victory or championship win. In many instances, racing cars would have had several steering wheels fitted during their active life. As such, there will often be a small surplus, which has led to them becoming collectable items and wonderful display pieces. The
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steering wheels on the following pages represent famous racing stars from Hawthorn and Hulme to Hunt and Häkkinen. From simple wooden-rimmed items to modernday examples that are more akin to computers, they represent the advances made in more than 60 years of development.
1950–51 FERRARI 375 F1 This wheel came from a 375 F1 driven by Alberto Ascari in the 1950 and 1951 Formula 1 World Championship. With its uncomplicated wooden rim and simple spokes, it is the earliest iteration of an F1 wheel. Due to an obvious break in the wood (perhaps due to an accident?) the wheel was likely deemed obsolete, and it was subsequently presented to Sweden’s original Ferrari importer. Today it resides in one of the world’s most significant collections of Ferrari memorabilia.
PREVIOUS SPREAD 1956–57 FERRARI D50 The Ferrari D50 was driven by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Luigi Musso, Peter Collins, Mike Hawthorn and Wolfgang Von Trips. In 1956, Fangio won his third World Championship for the Scuderia driving a D50 with a steering wheel exactly the same as the one featured here. Extremely simple in its execution, it carries the Prancing Horse embedded into the centre and a series of lightening holes down the spokes.
1964–66 BRM P261 Smaller in diameter than its 1950s predecessors, in order to fit the tighter confines of the F1 cockpit of the ’60s, this steering wheel came from the BRM P261/4. The chassis was the car in which Graham Hill took the 1964 Monaco Grand Prix. While this is the only GP that chassis won, it was also driven by the likes of Richie Ginther, Jackie Stewart, Pedro Rodríguez, Richard Attwood, Mike Spence and Piers Courage. Post period, the wheel was acquired by a former BRM mechanic.
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Legendary steering wheels
1964–65 BRABHAM BT7 Driving a Brabham BT7 in the 1964 season, Dan Gurney took two pole positions, two fastest laps and two GP victories. He drove F1-1-63 for the duration of the season, a car that was also raced in other years by World Champions Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham. This is the original wheel from that historic chassis.
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1975 GULF MIRAGE GR8 This steering wheel has Le Mans 24 Hours-winning pedigree with Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell. It was fitted to the Gulf-Mirage GR8-801, which won Le Mans in 1975 and was subsequently sold to former driver and famous entrant Harley Cluxton III to run in 1976. Knowing the significance of the wheel, he removed it from the car and replaced it with another. It then resided in his office for more than four decades, before he sold this (along with other significant wheels from his collection) at an Amelia Island auction.
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Legendary steering wheels
1976 FERRARI 312T The 1976 German GP at the Nürburgring will always be remembered for Niki Lauda’s life-changing crash. This is the steering wheel that he clung on to while trying to correct the slide that ultimately got away and smashed him into the Armco at Bergwerk. The fire that ensued burnt the leather away, and the wheel today remains in the damaged condition from that fateful time. Given to the president of the Ferrari Club of Italy, it has since worked its way into a prominent private collection.
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1979 WOLF WR7 James Hunt was known to have preferred a thicker steering grip, and this Wolf WR7 wheel would have been a bespoke unit produced personally for him. Even at this stage the wheels remained incredibly simple, with the only inputs possible being the physical steering of the car. Hunt’s part-season at Wolf would end up being his last.
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1983 PORSCHE 956 The 956 needs no introduction – a four-time Le Mans winner, with countless further World Sportscar Championship victories. By now a simple button had been added, to activate radio communication with the pitwall. This Works’ Momo-produced wheel is signed by Derek Bell, and while its exact usage is unknown, it’s unlikely to have been steered in races making up the numbers.
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Legendary steering wheels
1993 MCLAREN MP4/8 By 1993, steering wheels had gained much more in the way of electronics, and the driver had the ability to change gear while also adjusting their traction settings, radio communications and dashboard menu. Wheels also had a ‘quick-release’ system, allowing the driver to remove the wheel to gain better access to the cockpit. This Nardi-produced McLaren MP4/8 steering wheel would have been used by Ayrton Senna (whose preference was a ‘flat-top’ wheel) in the 1993 F1 season, a year that saw him score a single pole position and five GP wins – including his last, at the season finale in Adelaide.
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1996 MCLAREN F1 GTR For 1996, Ray Bellm and James Weaver paired up in a McLaren F1 GTR (no. 12R) for the BPR Global series. For the Le Mans 24 Hours they had 1995 winner JJ Lehto join them. Lehto was very specific about the wheel he used, and this was the one fitted for Le Mans to suit the Finn’s demands – complete with a flat bottom and cut-off top, along with buttons for both the radio and drink supply. The trio finished ninth overall, having run as high as third. The wheel carries the signature of Lehto, dated 1996. No. 12R would have returned to a standard wheel for the rest of the season.
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Legendary steering wheels
1999 MCLAREN MP4/14 Mika Häkkinen famously threw his McLaren MP4/14 steering wheel out the car in rage after crashing out of the 1999 Italian GP while leading. In doing so, the reigning World Champion clearly wasn’t thinking about the complexities of such wheels, which by 1999 were becoming incredibly advanced. Buttons for pit-speed limiter, engine maps and neutral among other things brought the wheel closer to what we are used to seeing in today’s F1 cars. Despite his mistake at Monza, Häkkinen did go on to win his second World Championship.
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A SELECTION OF OUR CURRENT STOCK
One of just 81 RHD examples of the DB5 Convertible built. Restored to perfection by Aston Martin Works in 2011 with the original engine factory upgraded to Vantage Specifications. Finished Pacific Blue over Tan Connolly
hides with a Navy Blue convertible hood. Just 1,000 miles completed since restoration and presented in exceptional condition throughout. Available for viewing and demonstration now at our Hertfordshire showrooms.
£POA
1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II
£475,000
1989 V8 Vantage ‘X-pack’
£435,000
2004 Aston Martin DB7 Zagato
£265,000
2019 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake
1965 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible £POA
1961 Aston Martin DB4GT
2019 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Volante
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£449,950
Legendary steering wheels
2010 RED BULL RB6 With ten pole positions and five GP victories in 2010, Sebastian Vettel used this wheel to steer his way to the first of four consecutive World Championships. By this stage, steering wheels had come a long way from the simple wooden-rimmed examples from the 1950s. With so much technology contained within these later examples, they are now seldom found in private collections – and this particular one remains in the vaults at Red Bull Racing.
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1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE Restored by CKL
1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE 1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE 1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIG Restored by CKL Restored by CKL Restored by CKL
1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE Restored by CKL
1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE 1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT 1953 C-TYPE LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIG Restored by CKL Restored by CKL Restored by CKL
HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR HISTORIC HISTORIC MOTORING MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST AWARDS OF THE SPECIALIST YEAR OF RACE WINNING PREPARATION · AWARD WINNING RESTORATION · HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OFHISTORIC THE YEAR UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT · CONFIDENTIAL SALES · UNIQUE RACE WINNING PREPARATION · AWARD WINNING RESTORATION ··EXPERTISE 1953 LE MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE RACE WINNING PREPARATION · AWARD WINNING RESTORATION RACE WINNING PREPARATION · AWARD WINNING RESTO HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR Restored by CKL· UNIQUE UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT · CONFIDENTIAL SALES HISTORIC EXPERTISE HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR HISTORIC MOTORING AWARDS SPECIALIST OF
UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT · CONFIDENTIAL SALES · UNIQUE HISTORIC UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT · CONFIDENTIAL SALES · UNIQUE HI RACE WINNING PREPARATION · AWARD WINNING RESTORATION ·EXPERTISE UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT · CONFIDENTIAL SALES · UNIQUE HISTORIC EXPERTISE RACE WINNING PREPARATION AWARD RACE WINNING PREPARATION AWARD WINNING WINNING RESTORATION RESTORATION RACE WINNING ··PREPARATION · AWARD ··WINNING RESTO UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT SUPPORT ·· CONFIDENTIAL SALES ·· UNIQUE EXPERTISE UNRIVALLED EVENT CONFIDENTIAL SALES UNIQUE HISTORIC HISTORIC EXPERTISE UNRIVALLED EVENT SUPPORT1953 · LECONFIDENTIAL SALES · UNIQUE HI MANS WINNING JAGUAR LIGHTWEIGHT C-TYPE Restored by CKL
CKL MAGNETO.indd 1 Untitled-1 2
18/04/2023 08:20 13:41 07/03/2023
The Steering Wheel club
THE UNITED MOTOR SPORTS CLUB LTD, better known as The Steering Wheel, was founded in November 1946 by John Morgan and Desmond Scannell. Period documentation states that the club was set up “to fulfil the need for a meeting place in the West End of London for motor-sporting people”. Membership was a literal ‘who’s who’ of racing, and included World Champions Mike Hawthorn, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Alan Jones among others. Its promotional material stated: “‘The Wheel’ is at its best just before, or just after, a big race. Probably in no other club in the world have more racing plans been discussed privately.” Delving into the archives, we see applications for membership that tell their own fascinating stories on every page... Pedro Rodríguez was proposed by no less than Carroll Shelby, while Derek Bell applied in 1966 as an aspiring Formula 3 driver, using a page torn out of a period magazine. Both Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey applied in 1960, yet neither would get much benefit from their new club; they were tragically killed within minutes of each other Members’ badge derived from this hand-painted artwork.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
A who’s who of the racing world, The Steering Wheel was the
at the Belgian Grand Prix that very June. The 1953 bar menu was suitably named Recipes for Re-Fuelling; drinks had “varying octane” which “should provide... a little more brake horsepower”. Legend has it that before Graham Hill had really made his mark, he would buy a beer and sit at the bar with the hope of meeting someone who could help further his career. It was said that often more of his beer would evaporate than he would drink. The club was adorned with memorabilia including badges, helmets and, of course, steering wheels – mementos provided by plenty of willing donors. Archival letters show that Colin Chapman offered up the Lotus 25 wheel from Clark’s 1963 World Championship, while Hill organised for the one from his 1966 Indy 500 winner to be brought back from the US with Eric Broadley. Also in ’66, Jack Brabham supplied a wheel from his third World Championship. Thankfully the archives are in a place where the aspirations exist to reignite the United Motor Sports Club – especially if the bar starts serving periodstyle cocktails again. ‘Over-steer’, anyone? Graham Hill donated the steering wheel from his Indy win.
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Jackie Stewart was keen to join the Mayfair club.
Everyone duly paid their subs – including Stirling Moss.
club everyone wanted to be in – as this glimpse into its archives reveals
Coveted membership card and club information.
Photography www.legacyandart.com
Jim Clark was among the World Champion members.
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The Steering Wheel club
Recipes for Re-Fuelling; cocktail book from 1953.
Club celebrated the Coronation Year in style with the help of Chef d’Equipe Frank.
Novel additions to the bar menu included the Doctor and Formulas I and II. McLaren was still with Cooper when he joined in 1960.
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A W I NNI NG F ORM U LA
3 4½ SPEED WEYMANN
EX FOR R ES T LY C ET T 3 LI T RE S P EED M ODEL
B L O WER
T H E LA ST KN OWN 4 ½L F REES T ONE & W EBB S A L O O N
H A R R IS O N B O DIE D B E NT LEY
39 PH
Victories, bust-ups and revamps – the 60-year story of the super-historic ex-Willment Cobra V8 regarded as a “good friend” by intrepid snake charmer Jack Sears
MW ARCHIVE
Cobra 39 PH
PREVIOUS SPREAD The spectacular ex-Willment red and white-striped Cobra roadster returns to Brands Hatch, the scene of its legendary victory (left). Lights ablaze, Sears guns after Stewart’s E-type in 1964 (right).
THE LEGEND OF THE COBRA IS TOO often biased to California, but one particular English roadster has more history than any of Carroll Shelby’s team cars. Best known by its registration 39 PH, this 1963 Thames Dittonbuilt chassis CSX2131 set many key milestones, including the first Cobra to finish at Le Mans and the first Ford V8 ever to cross the line. Over the past 60 years, this super-historic roadster has been driven by a mighty roster of talent, including Le Mans winners Ninian Sanderson and, most recently, Emanuele Pirro – the latter of whom drifted it spectacularly at February’s ICE St Moritz. One glance at the original pedals and the bold Rotunda rev counter fuels the imagination about those who have gunned the 380bhp V8, and the dramatic miles this marvellous Cobra has roared. As significant as 39 PH’s sixth place was at La Sarthe as a mist-green Sunday Timessponsored coupé, its transformation into the spectacular red and white-striped open roadster by the Willment team, and the mighty drives by Jack Sears, are what made it so famous. One controversial race at Brands Hatch stands out that dramatically showcased both its blistering performance and Sears’ talent. In the sports car support at the 1964 Grand Prix d’Europe, man and machine were in spectacular unison. For the first time, the Kent circuit hosted a Formula 1 championship round, and a 50,000strong crowd packed around the rolling 2.65mile track. VIPs included naval hero Earl Mountbatten, who had agreed to present the trophies. The event was much more than a race meeting, with military bands, an Evening News formation van display, a British Army vehicle parade and aerobatic helicopters. As well as the GP, the programme featured three support events for saloons, GTs and sports racers. The hugely patriotic day saw a British 1-2-3 GP result, with Jim Clark taking the top step 142
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Words Mick Walsh
Photography Sam Chick
ABOVE Sitting in the seat of a hero; writer Mick Walsh revisits the controversial race that showcased both the Cobra’s blistering performance and Gentleman Jack’s driving talent.
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Cobra 39 PH
Lightweight E-type. Then, for Friday’s practice, the rival snakes of Bob Olthoff and Roy Salvadori unleashed all of the Ford’s horsepower, with the South African tail sliding the unpainted Cobra to a fantastic 1min 46.8sec. Pushing too hard, however, Olthoff lost it dramatically at Stirling’s Bend and hit a tree, the damage too bad for the Willment team to repair for the Saturday race. Sears was also having his own problems, with an errant wheel curtailing his challenge, but Salvadori kept pushing – and after a spin at Druids, he topped the times on the next lap with 1min 47.2sec. Many of the drivers were entered in two races – including Sears and Stewart. Both diced in Lotus Cortinas to second and third in the tin-top contest, before running to their respective Cobra and E-type for the next 20-lapper prior to the Grand Prix feature. The GT cars still hadn’t taken their grid positions when the five-minute signal was given. In the confusion over the empty slot on the front row, some drivers decided to move up a position; Stewart took pole vacated by
OPPOSITE 39 PH’s prized character is underlined by the great enthusiasts who have owned it in recent years. BELOW Sears’ last race in 39 PH, in the August 1964 Goodwood RAC Tourist Trophy.
SEARS FAMILY
following a dominant win for Lotus. Yet after the dramatic day’s entertainment, it was the 20-lap sports car race that the spectators were talking about as they left the circuit. The Flying Scot’s F1 win was a hugely popular result, but it was Jack Sears’ spectacular charge in the red and white-striped Cobra roadster from a pitlane time penalty to victory that caused the biggest stir. Adding spice to the impressive win was a controversial pitlane punch-up that came close to seeing the Twickenham-based Ford team being banned from motor sport. Gentleman Jack’s battle in 39 PH is now regarded as one of the greatest-ever Cobra performances, but when Willment’s transporter arrived carrying Cobras and Lotus Cortinas for Thursday’s practice, none of the team could’ve imagined how the weekend would play out. In the first practice for the Ilford Films Trophy, Sears immediately gave a clue to the odds for the GT race by taming the muscular 289ci V8 roadster with a storming 1min 48.6sec lap. Yet a mere 0.2sec behind was F2 sensation Jackie Stewart in the Coombs team Jaguar
‘Adding spice to the impressive win was a controversial pitlane punch-up’
Cobra 39 PH
Olthoff’s Cobra non-starter, with Salvadori now alongside. Not surprisingly Sears followed suit, moving up from the second row to take the empty slot on the outside of the front line. To add to the commotion, several officials started shouting and waving, but the starter dropped the flag before anything could be done. The grey Lightweight E-type made a rocket start, with Salvadori taking second once his smoking rear tyres had found grip, but into Druids he understeered wide, letting David Piper’s mean, green Ferrari 250GTO past, along with Sears. On the bottom straight the red-andwhite Cobra roadster roared past the GTO, and Jack set his sights on the leading Jaguar. Then, in the pits, the Willment crew saw a black flag being unrolled – and they couldn’t believe their eyes when, at the end of the second lap, it was waved at Sears. Manager Jeff Uren and team owner John Willment started gesticulating furiously at the track officials, and a lap later the red Cobra roared into the pits. Having been reprimanded for taking the wrong position on the grid, Sears was eventually allowed to rejoin. Laying black rubber almost all the way to Paddock Bend, he waved his fist in protest. Meanwhile, things got more physical in the pitlane. During the resulting argument the now-livid Willment punched Basil Tye, the RAC’s deputy clerk of the course. Back on track, a very pumped-up Sears stormed after the pack; he was still angrily waving as he passed the pits on the next lap. There was now no stopping the rapid Norfolk farmer, and after five laps Jack was up to fourth with his sights set on Salvadori. Spectators at Clearways were treated to a magnificent pass as he gunned past Salvadori around the fast right-sweeper onto the Top Straight. The next step was the green Ferrari of Piper, but the uprated GTO with lower roof and wider Borranis – which Lorenzo Bandini claimed was Maranello’s fastest GT – was no problem
for Sears and the red roadster. Around the circuit race fans were urging the Cobra on, all fully aware that Jack was digging deep for the chase. With the GTO vanquished on lap seven, it now was straight-six against V8, with young Stewart unaware of the charge coming behind. Lights ablaze, the Cobra sliced the Scot’s advantage with every lap. On Lap 15 few saw the pass out on the back of the circuit, as Sears carried extra speed through Hawthorn Bend and rocketed past Jackie down the Portobello Straight. As the Cobra appeared ahead of the grey E-type into Clearways, a huge cheer went up. Because Jack was so revved up that day, there was nothing the Scot could do; Sears crossed the line after 20 heated laps to win by 4.2sec. When Jack won, commentator John Bolster, who had been excitedly relating the action, launched his signature deerstalker hat skywards in celebration. During the epic comeback charge, Sears had averaged 87.99mph and set a new GT class-record lap at 1min 46.4sec. It was a great day for Cobras, because Salvadori also passed Piper’s Ferrari to take third. As Jack pulled up on the grid to collect the trophy and garland, he spotted the earnest expression of circuit boss John Webb, and the seriousness of the pitlane spar soon became clear. Because the incident played out at the UK’s premier motor sport event, the RAC took John Willment’s violent outburst very seriously. The team was fined £100 and banned from international competition for 12 months. This ruling was later suspended, provided that Willment issued a public apology and appeared in person before the RAC Competitions Committee. Not surprisingly, he was excluded from RAC race meetings for the rest of the year. “It was one of our team’s most unforgettable moments,” recalled Jeff Uren, “but after the punch-up, John was very much persona non grata. The RAC took away our competition licence for a year, and we had to argue like hell
‘Laying black rubber almost all the way to Paddock Bend, Sears waved his fist in protest’ 150
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to get it back. The story is very funny now, but it sure as hell wasn’t funny then. We all thought we were going to lose our jobs, and the drivers that we’d contracted wouldn’t be able to race, because of our lost licence.” Historian Doug Nye was reporting that day for Motor Racing magazine, and vividly recalled the GP support race. “For many of us, what had happened actually made the race meeting,” he said. “Certainly ‘Gentleman Jack’ was regarded with renewed respect. He’d always been a fine driver, but such inner ‘tiger’ had lain largely unsuspected.” The Press Association really went to town with a headline: “Sears wins in anger” accompanied the victory presentation shot. Jack had greatly enjoyed the challenge of racing the Cobra roadster. He recalled: “It was enormously fun to drive, and no comparison with the Daytona. The roadster was always a bit of a fight, as everything used to twist and flex under the torque of the engine. In comparison, the coupé was actually very easy to drive.” The famous Cobra has regularly featured in the press, including many cover stories during its heyday. The first full piece was just weeks after the 1963 Le Mans success, when AC’s Derek Hurlock, keen to get some publicity for his team Cobra, offered a road-test scoop to The Motor. Young journos Eric Dymock and Roger Bell were entrusted with the car, and early one summer morning they headed to MIRA to confirm the Cobra’s punch. With the standard axle ratio refitted (at La Sarthe, 39 PH ran 3:31), the green English team car still wore the race number 3 as it roared up to Nuneaton to prove its mettle. Once unleashed, the figures were spectacular, with 0-60mph in less than 5sec and 100mph chalked up in 12. Its dragster-like launch over the standing-start quarter-mile clocked 11sec and crossed the line with tester Dymock holding third gear at 107mph. More spectacular still was the Cobra’s top speed down the MIRA straight, where it recorded 148mph at 6500rpm. Back at
THIS PAGE With its muscular 380bhp 289ci powerplant, Thames Ditton-built 39 PH set many key milestones – including the first Cobra to finish at Le Mans and the first Ford V8 ever to cross the line.
ABOVE Newly detailed 39 PH looks just as Sears raced it – down to the side-screens, square roll bar and no. ‘32’.
Le Mans, Peter Bolton and Ninian Sanderson had clocked a 161mph down the Mulsanne Straight. The road-test figures were a record for a weekly magazine. Just over a month after Le Mans ’63, 39 PH moved across west London to John Willment’s prominent modernist garage on the A316 in Twickenham. Exactly when the deal was done is unclear, because the invoice for $4000 through Shelby American Inc for one “Cobra Ford Chassis #CSX2131” isn’t dated until March 31, 1964. Willment’s Ford-backed race team was highly successful, with nimble Cortinas and the giant Galaxie tamed by popular Norfolk man Sears, who was keen to try the Cobra. Willment also purchased CS2130, so both Le Mans Cobras were now housed in the Twickenham garage. As there is a Willment workshop photo showing trade plates on the Le Mans pair, clearly they were tested on the street. Locals were used to seeing race cars blasting down the Great Chertsey Road. Five weeks after Le Mans, Sears finally got the chance to try the Cobra on a track, when Willment entered both 39 PH and 644 CGT for the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood on August 24. Because the car’s potential was still unknown to Jack, he kept his options open with an offer to race the John Coombs Jaguar Lightweight E-type – the very model Sears would famously chase down at Brands 11 months later. “The 152
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E-type was superb, but then I tried the Cobra,” he recalled in The Cobra-Ferrari Wars. “The performance was shattering – much quicker in a straight line than the E-type and the GTO.” Yet even he found the handling a challenge: “It reminded me of the cars that I’d raced in the early 1950s. You aimed it at the apex and somehow bounced it around a corner.” Although a relative novice to the Cobra, Sears still managed a 1min 31sec best, while the E-type was nearly two seconds quicker. There was no questioning his commitment in the Cobra, because he was much faster than Willment team-mate Olthoff, who was way off the front row with 1min 33sec. By chance Ken Miles was over visiting the AC factory, and he stepped in after Sears opted for the Jaguar. On the second day of practice he qualified in 39 PH, taking a 1min 34sec lap on his Goodwood debut. Frustratingly, both Cobras were withdrawn when the scrutineers found clearance issues between the steering arms and the front wheels. Phone calls to California failed to source rims and parts in time, so sadly Miles never raced in England. Willment was not happy, and the TT withdrawal no doubt fuelled his continued exasperations with the RAC. It was another seven months before 39 PH returned to the track, but over the winter it was transformed in the Twickenham workshops with all the Shelby upgrades that would make
the famous red and white-striped roadster such a star attraction during the 1964 season. Gold Halibrand cast-magnesium wheels filled the wider, flat-sided arches, and with the Le Mans hard-top removed the screen was raked back, which gave 39 PH its signature sleeker profile. New side exhausts produced a more raucous rumble that English race fans so adored. The new-look Willment roadster made its debut back at Goodwood for the 15-lap Sussex Trophy on March 20, where Sears was pumped up for the challenge. From the middle of the front row, sandwiched between the GTOs of Graham Hill and David Piper, Jack smoked off the Ferraris into Madgwick and led the pack for the first lap. Only Hill found a way past, but Sears chased the winning GTO to the chequered flag, beating both Project Astons and Jaguar Lightweights. Sat low in the cockpit, with no roll-over protection, wearing his brown helmet and tan windcheater jacket, Jack always looked calm at the wheel of 39 PH – and for the rest of the 1964 season he was a popular contender. After top-three finishes at Oulton Park, Aintree and Silverstone, the Willment team headed to the Nürburgring on May 31 for the 1000km classic, with Australian recruit Frank Gardner signed up to co-drive with Sears. The tough ex-mechanic was as fast as his razorsharp wit, and prior to the German sortie he had impressed in 39 PH at Silverstone with two
August 12-19
August 12-19
The Sweep of Time Has The Sweep of Time Has Brought Us Here Brought Us Here
The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is where Monterey Reunion is whereto some ofThe theRolex greatest raceMotorsports cars of the past gather some of the greatest race cars of the past gather to reignite old rivalries and inspire new memories. reignite old rivalries and inspire new memories.
Tickets Available at WeatherTechRaceway.com
Tickets Available at WeatherTechRaceway.com
MW ARCHIVE
ABOVE Sears’ win at Brands Hatch was marked by controversy, but no one could dispute his heroic drive.
wins. However, the Green Hell’s unpredictable weather caught out Gardner as he powered through Flugplatz and suddenly hit a wet patch. After a long spin, the red Cobra ended up on its side in a drainage ditch. Reports are confused about the crash, but Gardner maintained that they were hugely exaggerated. “There was bugger-all seriously wrong with it, and nothing a bloody big hammer couldn’t have sorted out,” he recalled. Back at the garage the team decided to upgrade 39 PH with the latest Shelby modifications. During the sixweek rebuild, the original Le Mans body was given cut-back doors and more muscular arches, but the core of 39 PH was retained. Sears was back in the saddle for the legendary Brands Hatch Grand Prix support race. For the rest of the season the farmer was dominant, taking wins at Snetterton in the Scott-Brown Memorial Trophy, the local hero beating both Piper’s prototype 250LM and the Ecosse Buick. After another win at Croft, Sears and 39 PH returned to Goodwood for the prestigious RAC Tourist Trophy on August 29. The spectacular field now included sports prototypes, while the Shelby team Daytona Coupés were supported by the roadsters of Sears and Salvadori, which both made up the sixth row with equal 1min 28sec times. The spectacular, smoky launch of 39 PH saw Sears charge through the pack only to spin his advantage 154
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away at Madgwick, but his storming chase back to fourth was a highlight of the 130-lap classic. With only Dan Gurney’s Daytona ahead in the GT class, 39 PH had scored crucial points in the close championship battle with Ferrari. The TT was to be Sears’ last race in the “good friend”, as he affectionately regarded the red Cobra. “We never went off the road and never crashed, and only once had mechanical trouble. It was a fun motor car,” the ace concluded in his autobiography. Willment put 39 PH up for sale, together with its sister ’63 Le Mans car 644 CGT: “Real Ferrari eaters. Ready to win. £3000.” The famous Cobra was slow to sell, but in June 1966 it was bought by D&A Shells in Stratford, London where it remained unused under a cover until club racer Gerry Bagshaw spotted it and did a deal for £1600. Re-registered GER 1, and with the original Le Mans hard-top fitted, it was entered into a few club races before Ferrari connoisseur Ronald Stern snapped it up in 1973. After just a month, the Cobra was sold to Nigel Hulme, who’d borrowed the money from his father. A fastidious three-year rebuild began, with a determined policy to preserve the highly original racer. Hulme refitted the Le Mans hardtop, but chose to present the famous Cobra in Willment team colours. He also regained the 39 PH registration. Over the next 30 years Hulme greatly enjoyed the Cobra, driving it to Le Mans
several times, before selling it in 2002. New owner Jason Minshaw briefly raced it, including a sortie on the Tour Auto. 39 PH then moved up North to Nigel Corner, who removed the hardtop and adored it as an open-to-the-elements road car for runs across Yorkshire and marvellous Border routes, where little could catch it. Corner always enjoys researching his cars’ history, and one summer he reunited family friend Sears with the Cobra. The prized character of 39 PH is underlined by the great enthusiasts who’ve owned it in recent years. In 2019 it returned to Goodwood for the TT, with Dario Franchitti making an emotional racing return team with buddy Gregor Fisken; they finished an impressive sixth. After a successful sortie in 2022 to the Le Mans Classic, 59 years after its debut, it was decided to retire the famous English team car. Simon Blake at Historic Automobiles recently set about detailing 39 PH, which now looks just as Sears raced it – right down to the sidescreens, original square roll bar and ‘32’ race numbers evoking that dramatic ‘black-flag day’ at Brands. Gentleman Jack and the Willment team would have been proud to see their racing years with 39 PH celebrated so authentically. Thanks to owner Carolina Vallasciani, Simon Blake (www.historicautomobiles.co.uk), Doug Nye, Sam Butcher and the Brands Hatch racing circuit (www.brandshatch.co.uk).
(Little Ferrari)
The ‘little Ferrari’
Words Karl Ludvigsen
ENZO FERRARI’S ANNUAL MEETING with journalists came in December, appropriate for summing up the past racing season and offering hints about the future. In 1959 the date was December 19, a Saturday. Rising early, Enzo went to barber Antonio in Corso Canalgrande for his daily shave. His driver Luigi Bazzi brought around a grey 250GT that Enzo then drove to Maranello, where 100 press men were shown the latest Ferrari developments in racing and road cars. Then they congregated at Modena’s Hotel Palace, where they interviewed Il Commendatore. One item noticed at the factory went unmentioned in the meeting until a half hour in, when writer Giovanni Vitagliano asked about it. They had all seen a small engine mounted on a stand with no explanatory placard. The only clue was a number cast into its valve cover: ‘854’. The ‘4’ was self-evident to students of Ferrari, for this was obviously a four-cylinder, but the ‘85’ allowed many Magneto
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Few episodes in Ferrari’s esteemed history have been comparable to its creation of a diminutive engine that was attractive enough to be put into production by a wealthy enthusiast. Was the ASA 1000 GT a flop – and if so, why? We lift the veil of mystery from this Italian adventure into thinking small to go big
The ‘little Ferrari’
RIGHT By any standard, the ASA 1000 GT was an elegant addition to the sports car world.
interpretations. Also on the factory grounds was a small blue coupé, anonymous but resembling something that Fiat would build. “Ferrari’s commercial programme is very simple,” Enzo began. “Ferrari builds the 250 Granturismo cars in various editions, and the new 400 Superamerica, which will be displayed at the Brussels Motor Show. Ferrari has no possibility of manufacturing other designs. Ferrari studies prototypes, engines of different displacements. We can assure you that the results that this engine offered us are truly flattering, but I rule out our manufacture of the engine or the car.” That the motor powered the small car was now obvious. “Any manufacturer must always study more prototypes,” Enzo continued. “Times could change, and he must not find himself without a work programme. However, the 854 is an engine that fits my character, a controversial engine. I wanted to demonstrate how, by transferring the positive experiences of racing to a small-displacement engine, it was possible to create a light car with reduced fuel consumption that could offer exceptional performance. That’s why this car has disc brakes, why it has overdrive, why it has an engine that you can keep at full power on the motorway from Milan to Bologna. “However, I exclude that the car will be called ‘Ferrari’,” Il Commendatore cautioned. “I exclude that it would be produced by Ferrari. Nor am I of the opinion that the Ferrari name, even in the form of licensed production, can be used by other manufacturers. The Ferrari must be a 12-cylinder car. Even if not produced in abundant volumes, it is destined to remain a car of distinction that cannot stand still but must always tend to improve. The 850 could be a small car for young people who love a GT, but 160
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we don’t have the means to think about a quantitative realisation. This is the truth about this much-discussed 850.” The engine referred to – the 78th developed by the Ferrari company – boasted exceptional features for those days. It had hemispherical combustion chambers and inclined overhead valves, operated from a single overhead camshaft by rocker arms. This was a direct adaptation of the principles of the V12 gifted to Ferrari in 1947 by engineer Gioachino Colombo, with a symmetric valvestem included angle of 60º. As in the V12, the drive to the camshaft was by gears and roller chains. Into 1957 all the Ferrari engines had exotic hairpin-type valve springs, which that year were being replaced by conventional coils. Thus coils closed the valves of the 854. For the Type 854, Franco Rocchi transmuted the design principles of the famous Ferrari V12s, the first of which had dimensions of 55 x 52.6mm for 1497cc. For the 2.0-litre models, the dimensions were enlarged to 60 x 58.8mm. In 1951 the bore was enlarged to 65mm for 2.3 litres with no change of stroke. This was the bore chosen for the 854, which with a 64mm stroke gave a displacement of 849.49cc – near enough to the ‘850’ referred to by Ferrari in his
‘I exclude that the car will be called “Ferrari”; I exclude that it would be produced by Ferrari’
remarks. An aluminium head rested on a cylinder block of the same material with wet iron cylinder liners and a five-bearing crank. From a base compression ratio of 9.0:1, three power outputs were possible, Ferrari said: 64bhp at 6000rpm for touring, 72bhp at 7000rpm for grand touring, and 84bhp at 7000rpm for competition. “The important work of final tuning by Luigi Bazzi was particularly laborious,” Rocchi recalled, “with trials of different types of carburettors and jets for optimum tuning. I drove the car several times from Maranello to Reggio Emilia, enjoying its sportiness and brilliance. Before the final choice of the engine tune we tested three more, to arrive at one with 75bhp at 6800rpm – as presented to the press at Modena on December 29, 1959.” Enzo Ferrari disclosed the engine’s power curves to technically adept French journalist Jean Bernardet: “The 26.5bhp – which the 850cc engine of the Renault Dauphine develops at 4250rpm – the mini-Ferrari gets at 2500rpm. The power curve, if you can call it that, is practically flat up to 6400rpm, the speed at which 75bhp is obtained. As for the torque, the maximum of 64lb ft at 4500rpm corresponds to what the engine of a medium-sized car like the 1.3-litre Simca Aronde can deliver.” Rocchi and his team designed the engine mounts, clutch dimensions and other relevant parameters to make the powerplant a direct replacement for that of the Fiat 1100. “Toward the end of 1958,” coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti recalled, “Enzo Ferrari called me into his office to tell me to prepare the bodywork of a small car that was supposed to house a four-cylinder engine of about 850cc. As a basis we used a Fiat 1200 coupé made on the 1100 platform by Pininfarina, with its wheelbase
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The ‘little Ferrari’
shortened by almost 20cm.” The drivetrain was a Sunbeam Alpine four-speed transmission with a Laycock de Normanville electrically controlled overdrive on third and fourth. “Ferrari tried to involve some people from Fiat,” Giotto Bizzarrini related, “and I was charged with bringing some technicians from Turin to test the ‘Ferrarina’ (as it was unofficially known) on the winding roads from Maranello into the Apennines. The technicians were impressed by its performance. Later I had the industrialist Innocenti try the car, and someone from Beretta. At that time the two Milan factories were considering entering the automotive sector. The small sub-machine gun at the centre of the 854 grille was intended to heighten the interest of Fabbrica d’Armi Beretta, because they seemed the closest to mass producing the Ferrarina.” A member of the Beretta family had indeed met with Ferrari to discuss the idea. “I’m the one who drove the Ferrarina most of all,” said American tester and racer Richie Ginther. “For a while I was the owner on its registration certificate. When I went to Monza I could cover the autostrada from Modena to Milan, 160km from tollbooth to tollbooth, in just under an hour. The best memories of my test driving at Ferrari are linked to the Ferrarina. When I left Maranello at the end of 1961 to go to BRM, I would have liked to take the car with me – but of course that wasn’t possible.” Following Ginther in an exodus from Maranello that 1961-62 winter were other notables including chief engineer Carlo Chiti and chassis expert Bizzarrini. With both setting up on their own account, Giotto would have the most to do with the further progress of Enzo’s brainstorm. Although no form of production had yet appeared, Ferrari had enough faith in his inspiration to continue the car’s evolution in a manner that would not be without cost to himself and his company. Enzo authorised Rocchi’s further work on the engine. Franco began with a modest 2mm increase in bore and a substantial hike in stroke to 69mm to produce a 973cc unit (thus 67 x 69mm) that could also have been developed for racing; in fact, the introduction of a 1.0-litre limit for the displacement of Formula 2 engines was imminent. Fuelled by two Weber 32WX46 twin-barrel carbs and with a 9.1:1 compression ratio, it developed 80bhp at 7000rpm. Rocchi’s second engine, 81st on the Ferrari honour roll of power units, had the ‘square’ dimensions of 69 x 69mm. This was a further increase in bore that provoked a change in the engine’s structure. Instead of wet liners, the unit had thin dry-steel liners shrunk into the bores in the aluminium cylinder block. Fed by 162
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ABOVE Enzo was happy to be pictured with the Ferrarina, liveried in his favourite blue. This was the predecessor to the ASA 1000 GT coupé.
two double-throat 38DCOA3 Webers, this 1032cc four delivered 98bhp at 7200rpm with a compression ratio of 9.2:1. It was the basic powerplant nominated to go forward, bearing Maranello workshop code 173, that would be used for the definitive prototype. In parallel, Bizzarrini was busy with an Enzocommissioned chassis. In a traditional Maranello manner, he created a platform of braced tubes with the largest being oval-section at the sides, rising over the rear axle and extending forward to the engine and front suspension. The latter incorporated parallel wishbones and coils with rack-and-pinion steering, while the live rear axle was guided by lower semi-elliptic springs and upper radius rods. The new car’s wheelbase was the same as that of the Ferrarina – 86.6 inches or 2200mm – with an increase in track width to 48.5 inches. Borrani 13-inch Turbo Sport wheels, steel with aluminium rims, were retained by three-eared knock-offs on Rudge splines. Although he first discussed the project with Pininfarina, Enzo Ferrari persuaded Nuccio Bertone to design and produce the car’s bodywork. He, in turn, assigned the task to a relative newcomer on his team named Giorgetto Giugiaro. Plucked from a Fiat studio, Giugiaro was 21 in December 1959 when Bertone, convinced by a test he had set for
‘Ferrari had enough faith to continue the car’s evolution in a manner that would not be without cost’
the youngster, named him principal designer. Within the halls of the 43rd Turin International Motor Show, opening on October 29, 1961, a special area was set aside for concept cars from Turin’s famed carrozziere. There, visitors viewed the Bertone Mille, that name in a flag-like bonnet emblem with ‘Mille’ on a yellow strip across an Italian banner. Although its interior was semi-complete, its bonnet was not opened, but the well informed knew that nearly a thousand – mille in Italian – cubic centimetres resided underneath. “The Bertone Mille sported a slender silhouette,” wrote Franco Varisco, “practically devoid of sharp edges, whose modern elegance remained current with the passing of years. It featured, on a smaller scale, the same fascinating light, soft and rounded lines that the Maranello cars continued to enjoy, in contrast with the angular lines favoured by some emerging stylists. According to Bertone’s official definition, this ‘bodywork study for a mid-sized sports car’ was truly an example of discreet and refined elegance, a harmony of sober, clean and tapered lines.” A particular coup was its frontal appearance, with two low inlets like a well trimmed moustache – and within them, the egg-crate grille typical of Ferrari. “At Turin, an immense crowd gathered around that car with such a captivating appearance,” Varisco added, “asking for the price and delivery times, demanding advance bookings, creating a real brouhaha. But the Mille was a classic show prototype, not production ready. Nuccio Bertone himself hastened to throw water on the fire of enthusiasm, specifying that it was not yet possible to talk about manufacturing.” “Whatever production plans are made for this baby Ferrari will undoubtedly depend on the reactions from its debut at Turin,” opined an Autocar reporter. “It does seem that there is an increasing demand for a small series-built GT, but whereas this latest Maranello creation fits into an increasingly important competitive
The ‘little Ferrari’
class, a slightly larger engine of around 1.5 litres might have made it more attractive as a road vehicle.” These were prophetic words. By early 1962, plans were solidifying for the Mille’s manufacture. Two key players were Gerino Gerini, who successfully raced Ferrari and Maserati GT cars, and the De Nora clan, where father Oronzio and son Niccolò were well known to Enzo Ferrari. Prominent in Milan’s electrochemical industry, the Industrie De Nora SpA remains active today. As a sideline the De Noras also made the ‘Snap’ exhaust-pipe tips that featured on road and racing Ferraris. Negotiations transferring the project to De Nora included payment of a fee to Ferrari of some $300,000 for all rights to the design. To build the new car, on April 5, 1962 De Nora incorporated the Autocostruzioni Società per Azioni, from which was derived the uninspiring acronym ASA. Chassis-manufacturing facilities were set up on via San Faustino at Lambrate in Milan’s northeast quarter. The bodies – steel with aluminium bonnet and boot lids – were built first by Bertone, then coachbuilder Ellena was added after a dozen were completed, and finally Merazzi took them on. Frame components and subassemblies came from the usual Ferrari suppliers, while the engine was manufactured in Modena at the works of former Ferrari and Maserati engineer Vittorio Bellentani. Bertone ultimately handled final assembly. Badged the ASA 1000 GT, the production car differed little from the prototype. Externally that model’s Plexiglas-shrouded headlamps gave way to conventional positioning. In the cabin, finalised instrumentation displayed a magnificent array of gorgeous white-on-black gauges, while fitted carpeting replaced the quilted covering of much of the original interior. Underneath, Bizzarrini’s road testing brought frame stiffening via lattices of small tubes under the door sills. Rocchi’s final 1032cc fourcylinder was specified, with peak torque of 75lb ft reached at the exceptionally high engine speed of 6000rpm. This was a powerplant intended to be kept revving to give of its best. Opening on October 31, Turin’s 1962 Salon was conveniently late for ASA. Four of its cars were on hand. One was on the ASA stand, another displayed by Bertone, while two more were outside with Prova badging. These were to be demonstrated on roads of the adjoining Valentino Park by two of Italy’s up-and-coming racers, Giancarlo Baghetti and Lorenzo Bandini. “I had a spin around the test track with Bandini,” wrote Henry N Manney III in Road & Track, “and it looks, sounds and feels like a baby Giulietta, albeit with a little less body roll. In the 164
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ABOVE The provocative number was all that people knew at first about Ferrari’s new ‘baby’ engine. It stood for 850cc plus four cylinders.
hands of the good Lorenzo, the ASA comported itself immaculately at a helluva lot quicker rate than I would have gone on this miniature Targa Florio, barring a graunch from the lowmounted exhaust system from time to time. Price in Italy is supposed to be under $4000.” After the January 1963 Monte Carlo Rally, two ASA 1000 GTs and Bandini were made available to a few journalists at that enclave on the Mediterranean. One was Charles Bulmer of The Motor, who found the shifting draggy and the steering too low-geared at 3.75 turns lock to lock, but felt the disc brakes were “definitely outstanding”. As for the engine, said Bulmer: “One’s inbred reluctance to exceed 4500rpm must be replaced by a determination never to fall below this speed. Then it becomes a sort of Formula Junior car for those who demand comfort and refinement.” Commercial director Gerino Gerini made arrangements for ASA distribution. Ferrari outlets could and did offer the car in Italy, but other agents had to be found in the rest of Europe. In North America the cars were handled by Ferrari’s US importer Luigi Chinetti, whose friendship with both Ferrari and De Nora had helped ASA become a reality. The first 1000 GT brought into the US by Chinetti was sold in September 1964 for $5920. Another, sold a few months later, went for $6200. It would prove hard to maintain these
‘It was a credible high-speed GT, capable of taking on Porsche – as was the intention in America’
high and profitable prices, which stifled sales of the newcomer. By 1966, serious financial problems began to assail the ASA operation. Even at the peak of production in 1964 and ’65, deliveries were no better than one car per week. While production figures are unclear, it is estimated that no more than 96 GT coupés were built, with 32 officially sent to the US. ASA closed its doors in 1967. Various sports and competition versions were built then and later, but they are not the subject of this article. What was the lowdown on the 1000 GT as produced? An important consideration was its weight. Enzo Ferrari made his little engine look good by installing it in the tidy Ferrarina. Although based on a 1940lb Fiat 1100, shorter and stripped of non-essentials it scaled only 1560lb. Little wonder the driver of a 1870lb ASA had to keep the revs up to make lively progress. Acceleration testing saw the 1000 GT reach 50mph in around ten seconds and 60mph in 14.0. The quarter mile was covered in 19.3 seconds. Thanks to excellent aerodynamics, the car’s forte was top speed; it was able to reach and maintain 180km/h, or 113mph. Journalist Mike McCarthy later had a chance to drive an ASA. “The first thing that strikes you,” he said, “is that it isn’t as small inside as you might think it is. It feels like a 1500, in fact. There’s plenty of space to stretch out, with only a small transmission tunnel and no centre console. “The little engine is a bit disappointing at first,” he reported. “It sounds like any other small four, not especially smooth and without the Fiat-like exhaust crackle you might expect. On the other hand, it feels a lot more torquey at low revs than the torque curve might suggest. It’s as docile as any small engine. In fact, it feels like – wait for it – a 1500cc engine. “A couple of bursts up to the higher reaches of the rev counter brings on a very Ferrari-like impression,” added McCarthy. “There’s a quarterscale wail from the exhaust, blurred with a hint of camshaft chains, overlaid with a semi-racing hard-edged but surprisingly deep crispness that – yet again – sounds as if it comes from a much bigger engine. Make that a noisy engine at the top end. If you like noise, fine. If not, use lower revs. “I realised the ASA is like no other small sports car,” he concluded. “There’s that everpresent sensation that it actually is a 1500cc or 2.0 litre in all but engine capacity. You can see why ASA decided to put it into production. It was a credible high-speed GT, capable of taking on Porsche – as was the intention in America. There was the cachet of a Ferrari background, too. But it didn’t give a tingle to the spine as it should have. Let’s just say it was too expensive, and leave it at that.” Indeed.
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THE ORI GIN AL W Pr or es ds to n Le rn er
THIS SPREAD Official test drivers Rick Titus (left) and John Morton (right) run through the details with designer – and king of the skunk stripe – Peter Brock.
A SMALL CADRE OF GRIZZLED MEN wearing Shelby American gear and nononsense expressions unloads a race-ready first-generation Ford Mustang – white with blue racing stripes – as the early-morning sun illuminates the craggy butte looming over the racetrack. If I squint just right and indulge in a bit of magical thinking, I can imagine myself attending the first test of the Carroll Shelbybuilt GT350 at Willow Springs International Raceway back in 1964. Alas, it’s 2022, and the fastback I am examining is a modern clone of an icon rather than the real thing. But the car is more than a half-a-million-dollar restomod. It was built by a small team that calls itself the Original Venice Crew because its core members worked at the Shelby American shop in Venice, California, more than half a century ago. By incorporating a host of aesthetic and mechanical upgrades, they have fashioned what might be called an ‘old and improved’ GT350. Jim Marietta started working as a mechanic for Shelby when he was only 17 years old. In 2014, long out of the racing business, he decided to build the car to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Shelby’s take on the Mustang. “I wanted to re-create the camaraderie we had in Venice,” he says. “We built it in Peter Brock’s shop, and we debuted it on February 14, 2015 – the same day it had won its first race at Green Valley. I thought it was a one-time deal. Then somebody called me and said: ‘Hey, can you make another one?’ So I talked to the guys, and they said: ‘Okay!’” To date, the Original Venice Crew has sold 16 cars with price tags ranging from $399,000 to $499,000, depending on the donor model and the specifications of the restoration. Today, Marietta is also showing off the prototype of a roadster take on the GT350 – a car that never existed back in the day – shaped by Camilo Pardo, the high-flying designer responsible for the retro-style Ford GT reboot in 2005. Joining Marietta here at Willow Springs are
‘The reworked OVC car is better by every objective standard than an original GT350’ 168
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THIS SPREAD Think of the Roadster as a piece of alternative history... The Carroll Shelby Engine Companyreworked V8 motor makes up to 100bhp more than the original powerplant.
Shelby Mustang GT350
THIS SPREAD Faster, safer, better built, more powerful and more comfortable than an original GT350 – and tractable enough to drive on the street.
the rest of the Original Venice Crew All-Stars. First and foremost is designer Peter Brock, the mastermind behind the Cobra Daytona Coupe. With him is Ted Sutton, the mechanic/ fabricator who almost single-handedly built the prototype for the 427 big-block Cobra. Rounding out the team is Rick Titus, a former pro racer whose late father, Jerry, drove a factory GT350 to a national championship. Also giving the cars his blessing is the ageless John Morton, whose career as a front-line racer began when Shelby hired him in 1962 – as a janitor, much to Morton’s chagrin. These days, the GT350 and its big-block sibling, the GT500, are regarded as two of Shelby’s greatest triumphs. Back in the day, they were Carroll’s most profitable products, outselling the more famous Cobra by at least ten to one. At the time, though, Shelby had no interest in building what would become the GT350. In fact, he contemptuously dismissed the Mustang as “a secretary’s car”. Which is precisely why Ford Division president Lee Iacocca enlisted his help. The Mustang debuted on Friday April 17, 1964. Ford dealers took 22,000 orders before the day was over. After one year of production, 418,000 cars had been sold. Great stuff, obviously, but Iacocca wasn’t satisfied. During the 1960s, he was using motor sports as a vehicle to revitalise Ford’s dull image, and he wanted to race the Mustang to demonstrate its credibility. Unfortunately, when Blue Oval execs broached
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THIS SPREAD Old-school bucket seats, a five-point latch belt and a wooden competition wheel inside, and Brock-devised cosmetic surgery on the outside give OVC car a genuine vintage feel.
Shelby Mustang GT350
the subject with the Sports Car Club of America, SCCA competition director John Bishop – who later founded IMSA – blew them off. The way he saw it, the anaemic, four-seat Mustang didn’t belong in sports car races. When efforts to twist Bishop’s arm backfired, Iacocca enlisted his motor sports Pied Piper, Carroll Shelby. At the time, Shelby had better things to do than mess around with the Mustang. During summer ’64, Shelby American was racing Cobra roadsters in the US and the Cobra Daytona Coupe in Europe, as well as prepping Cooperbased King Cobras for the big West Coast pro races and knocking out Cobras for the street. But Ford was his biggest financial backer and Iacocca his most powerful champion. Under the circumstances, the request to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse was an offer he couldn’t refuse. Once Shelby reluctantly agreed to transform the Mustang, he got Bishop on the phone. Brock recounts what happened next: “Carroll said: ‘Will you let us do the programme if we take the seats out of the rear and put in some horsepower?’ And John said: ‘Sure, go ahead.’ It took Carroll 30 seconds. Part of his genius was being able to convince people to go in the opposite direction that they originally wanted to go.” Factory drivers Ken Miles and Bob Bondurant did the initial development with production Mustangs. This included tests here at Willow Springs of an experimental independent rear suspension based on the package engineering guru Klaus Arning had developed for the Ford GT. But Miles wasn’t convinced that it was better than the live axle. Anyway, the Blue Oval bean counters nixed the independent suspension because it was too expensive. Toward the end of 1964, Shelby American was given the GT programme. Modifying and prepping the Le Mans prototypes for Daytona, Sebring and the European season became the team’s top priority. To ramrod the Mustang programme, Shelby raided a young engineer by the name of Chuck Cantwell from GM Styling. Cantwell was an accomplished SCCA club racer, so he understood what it was going to take to transform the milquetoast Mustang into a B Production class winner. He pored over the huge Ford parts catalogue and scoured the massive factory in San Jose for components that could be bolted onto the cars as or after they came down the assembly line. Most of them were destined for the street model, which initially was being built purely for homologation purposes. But some pieces – the really exotic ones – were RIGHT Transported back in time, the Original Venice Crew guys compare notes and reminisce about the glory days of Shelby American.
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‘The OVC car feels appropriately vintage, and the truculent exhaust sounds totally Billy Badass’ earmarked specifically for the race machines. Performance goodies include a close-ratio Borg-Warner T-10M transmission with an aluminium case, long idler and Pitman-arm steering, and a Detroit Locker differential. A Monte Carlo bar, previously seen on Falcon rally racers, and a so-called export brace, used in Third World countries with marginal roads, added torsional rigidity. All Shelby Mustangs received a Hi-Po K-Code 289ci V8. Equipped with a Cobra-spec high-rise intake manifold, Tri-Y exhaust and 715CFM Holley carburettor, the engine made 306bhp in street form. Racing upgrades such as porting and polishing pushed the output up to between 325 and 370 ponies. Sutton, who’d recently finished a skunkworks project to squeeze a 427ci engine into a Cobra, was assigned to the car. So was new hire Peter Bryant, a British expatriate who’d worked on the Bowmaker Formula 1 team and redesigned Mickey Thompson’s Indy 500 cars before joining Shelby American. The third crewman was the teenaged Marietta, who had been hired after spending months volunteering at Cobra races across the country. Also, Morton – who had been promoted from janitor to fabricator – made brackets and other small pieces for the cars. Brock’s job was to give the Shelby-ised Mustang some visual panache. But when he proposed a new nose and C-pillar windows, Ford’s accountants told him: “We don’t want to
spend that kind of money. You got any other ideas?” Next, he drew up a pair of blue racing stripes over the white body – homage to the cars Briggs Cunningham had taken to Le Mans. “Nobody’s going to buy a car that looks like a skunk,” the suits complained. Fortunately, Brock prevailed, and history has proved him right. These days, virtually every real and would-be 1965 GT350 is painted Wimbledon White, with blue racing stripes. While the car was being built, the guys around the shop referred to it generically as a Shelby Mustang. Ford executives justifiably thought this was putting the cart before the horse. After several brainstorming sessions failed to come up with a name, a frustrated Shelby asked chief engineer Phil Remington how far it was from the race shop on Princeton Drive to the production facility a block away. “About 350 feet,” Remington told him. And the GT350 was born. In 1965, not long after production began, Shelby American moved to a pair of gargantuan hangars at Los Angeles International Airport. During the 1965 model year, 526 street cars came down a crude assembly line that had been cut into the concrete floor where F-86 Sabres and F-100 Super Sabres had once been built. Also, 36 competition cars – retroactively dubbed R-models – were created. Two were retained by the team; the rest were sold to customers. In February, Miles gave the GT350 its first win in its debut at Green Valley Raceway, near Dallas. Although the event was a lowly SCCA regional, dramatic photos of the car – later dubbed the Flying Mustang – with all four wheels off the ground ran in newspapers across the country. After that, Miles was head-down on the Le Mans programme. So Shelby strolled into the office of Sports Car Graphic magazine and sat down with technical editor Jerry Titus. “I got this Mustang,” Carroll drawled. “Don’tcha
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Shelby Mustang GT350
RIGHT Thanks to the work of the Original Venice Crew – enthusiasts all, but also highly skilled professionals – the legacy is continued.
think it would be fun if we raced it?” Titus, who had been chasing a career as a pro driver for the previous decade, was thrilled by the offer, and he justified Shelby’s faith in him. He dominated B Production racing on the West Coast, and went to Daytona as the favourite at the SCCA’s year-end championship. There, he ran up against another GT350, this one cheekily painted blue with white stripes, immaculately prepared by a pudgy-faced driver/engineer by the name of Mark Donohue. Donohue led until a fender cut down an oversized rear tyre, and Titus waltzed home at the head of a GT350 one-two. The GT350 and the big-block GT500 remained in production until 1969. But 1965 was the only year that Shelby American built a competition model, so that’s the one Marietta chose to replicate. Although Cantwell wasn’t interested in participating, former crew chief Jerry Schwarz provided input while Sutton and Brock signed onto the project – after some second thoughts. “Ted called Peter and said: ‘Do you think Jim’s crazy?’” Marietta laughs. “I didn’t find that out until later.” The first two cars were assembled in Brock’s shop near Las Vegas. When the team decided to continue building new clones, Marietta approached Carroll Shelby International to negotiate a licensing deal. In addition to approving the project, the company agreed to allow Marietta to put the car into production in its shop in Gardena. The Original Venice Crew now has two full-time employees – Terry Flannery and Daniel Sculnick – and three independent subcontractors. Titus and Morton serve as official test drivers. Typically, a build is started with a K-code donor car, then a host of upgrades is added – most notably modern safety equipment and that independent rear suspension tested on the Mustang back in the day. The V8, prepped by the Carroll Shelby Engine Company, is an ironblock 289 bored and stroked to 331ci. Fitted with roller cams, a four-barrel carb and aluminium heads, it makes 450-475bhp, or roughly 100 more horses than the original. This team also took the opportunity to implement the cosmetic surgery Brock had envisioned before the Ford skinflints rejected it. The OVC car sports an elegant front facia with a lower radiator opening sculpted into the bumper. The C-pillar louvres standard on fastbacks are replaced with side windows. Also, the plexiglass rear window has been reworked to look less 178
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crude than the one on an authentic GT350. With old-school bucket seats, a five-point latch belt, a notchy four-speed Toploader ’box and a wooden competition steering wheel, the car feels appropriately vintage, and the truculent exhaust sounds totally Billy Badass. The independent rear suspension is a bonus here at Willow Springs, which opened in 1953 and feels like it hasn’t been paved since. Disc rear brakes instead of drums are another welcome addition. “Except for braking IN a turn, it is an embarrassingly easy car to drive at competitive speeds,” Titus wrote in the first review of the model in Sports Car Illustrated in 1965, and his words still seem applicable today. “At full power, it uses all the road – a real drifter – but it gets a surprising amount of bite when cornered in a neutral or closed-throttle attitude.” Although the OVC model is far more expensive than a GT350 street car, it’s about half the price of an authentic competition model. It’s also better by every objective standard than an original GT350: faster, safer, better built, more powerful, more comfortable and tractable enough to drive on the street. But, of course, it’s not the original, and it never will be – and that’s a showstopper for collectors of a certain stripe and tax bracket. The new Original Venice Crew Roadster – a recreation of a car that never actually existed – scratches a different itch. It’s tempting to call it a ‘reimagined’ GT350. But that term already has been appropriated by Singer Vehicle Design
‘The V8, prepped by the Carroll Shelby Engine Company, is an iron-block 289 bored and stroked to 331ci’
for its fastidiously customised Porsche 911s. So maybe it’s better to think of the Roadster as a piece of alternative history. Although the car has no convertible top to be stored, it incorporates what looks like a hard tonneau cover extending over what would have been the rear seats. This serves as the foundation for the Roadster’s signature feature – square-edged headrest fairings conceptualised by Marietta, styled by Pardo and later tweaked by Brock. Prices start at ‘only’ $289,000 because the donor is an old convertible rather than a K-code Mustang GT. Also, the Roadster comes with an automatic trans and fewer gofast goodies than the GT350. “Not everybody wants a fastback,” Marietta says. “A fastback is a beast. The Roadster is a sunny-day car.” Marietta plans to build no more than 24 Roadsters. Production of the Original Venice Crew GT350 will be capped at 36, just like the original comp cars. That should keep team members busy without making them rich. “To be frank, I’m not making a lot of money on these cars,” Marietta says. “I’m doing it because I’m an enthusiast. I think the legacy needs to be continued, and I want to do something I’m comfortable doing. Could I do Cobras? Sure. But that’s not what I did [in Venice in 1964-65]. I built Mustangs. So I’m sticking with Mustangs.” There’s an ironic postscript to the Shelby Mustang saga. In 1966, the SCCA inaugurated the Trans-Am Sedan Championship, which would immortalise US pony cars. But because it was open only to four-seaters, the two-seat GT350 wasn’t eligible. You know what was eligible? Yep, the standard Mustang. So Shelby American had to build a competition version after all. With Titus as the factory shoe, Mustangs won two more championships for Ford, in 1966 and 1967. By that time, Marietta, Sutton, Brock and Morton had long since decamped to greener pastures – only to reunite a half-century later as the Original Venice Crew.
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1988 Ferrari F40 Delivered to Italy in 1988 where it remained with its first owner until 2009. This is a desirable early non cat - non adjust example with only 3 owners from new and current owner since 2015. Having covered 18,000kms this car has a well documented service history including recent full service and new fuel tanks. Included with the car are its original service books tool kit and Ferrari Classiche Certification.
SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773 info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com
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GOLDEN YEARS: THE STORY OF CASTROL GTX
When does an engine oil become more than ‘just’ oil? When half the population can hum its advert... Paul Cowland looks at how Castrol GTX first became the chosen lubricant of petrol-heads everywhere
A D V E R T I S I N G F E AT U R E
WINNING THE AD ACCOUNT pitch for a premium automotive manufacturer must be a red-letter day for any agency. Not only does it denote a significant set of retainer payments coming your way, but it also heralds an easy life of flowing copy and sensual photography as you languidly and wittily inform potential punters on how much better their lives would be with said car in it. Oh yes, selling nice motors to nice people really is an ad exec’s dream gig. Yet what about those poor souls who get to be marketeers for the ‘distress purchase’ items such as tyres and oils? Nobody goes out and buys those for fun, do they? For most motorists, it’s simply a case of having run out of a service staple – and having to buy another. Now, that’s a much harder sell indeed, making the British nation’s ability to hum the Castrol GTX theme tune during most of the 1980s and ’90s something of a marketing watershed moment. In fact, just by looking at the iconic images on these pages, I reckon a great deal of you will be subconsciously doing it right now. Most people can name the major oil companies. But stop anyone in the street and ask them to start naming ‘brand skews’, as the suits call them, and you will end up with more than a few blank faces. Somehow, though, Castrol GTX broke through to become an oil that many motorists would ask for by name at their local accessory store or garage… and it was all in the way that it was sold. Castrol had some decent form in this regard, of course. As one of the oldest oil names there is, it had a little time to develop its branding chops. During the hedonistic heyday of the literally roaring 1920s, it had cleverly hitched its marketing horse to the cart of copious Land Speed Records that were being broken at
OPPOSITE That advert and that theme tune. ABOVE Castrol used big motor sport names such as Ralph Broad to help promote its new oil upon the product’s launch in 1968. RIGHT Now GTX is back, in the same iconic can; its 10w40 spec is perfect for classic cars.
the time. As Campbell and Segrave battled to edge the speed of beautiful and legendary machines such as Blue Bird and the perhaps less aesthetic but no less dynamic Sunbeam ‘Slug’ to 200mph and beyond, Castrol ensured that it was the lubricant of choice. And once the records were ratified and in the bag, the resulting adverts flowed in their art deco brilliance. But post-war, British motorists needed a different shtick. Something no less impressive, but majoring on the attainable and realistic cars that lined the nation’s ever busier – and faster – roads. The introduction of motorways in the late 1950s had meant that engines would work harder and at greater revs than they ever had before, and Castrol’s new oil would need to offer protection for this new era of high-speed motoring. Launched in 1968, the GTX brand was the first new name for Castrol in over 30 years, and it denoted an entirely new multi-grade lubricant of 20w50 viscosity. The technical team did their bit with great gusto, of
course, ensuring better cold starting, reduced cylinder-bore corrosion, and higher film strengths at all temperature ranges, along with the ability to reduce engine sludge. All this work made GTX ready to take the top spot, sales wise – but it would be the marketing team that put it there. And at just 3s 6d per pint, they planned on shifting a lot of tins... As ever, motor sport would be the first port of call, and it’s hard to find footage of an event from the 1970s and early ’80s that doesn’t feature GTX branding somewhere. Keen to prove the endurance-adding aspects of Castrol’s new wunderkind, the arduous 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally made a great initial staging post, with 16 of the 23 finishers using said lubrication. Yet it was the 1980s that saw the brand truly hit its zenith. The 1984 ‘Liquid Engineering’ advertisement, complete with catchy interpolation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, is still widely regarded as one of the greatest television ‘sells’ of all time. For a
commercial that managed to get its target audience thinking about how they should invest in protecting their engine, it bizarrely showed no moving parts. Instead, it majored in the distinctive green and orange colourways, and showed the very product itself – also a first – running across a variety of surfaces before famously rolling down the can to pool around a spanner. It was a masterclass in identity branding, which led motorists to demand GTX by name and spot it on the shelves as they looked forward to their next service. The good news is, it’s back – and in the same iconic can. The new/old GTX ‘Classic’ is a more popular 10w40 these days, of course, and delivered in a new-fangled metric volume, but it’s still very much the stuff to lovingly pour into the sump of your suitable 1960s, ’70s or ’80s machine. Or into your spanner collection, if you’d rather... www.classicoils.co.uk
Market Watch: All about the iconic DeLorean DMC-12
Watches and art: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Paul Dove
Automobilia: Recapturing the past with old slides
Collecting: The joy of owning a vintage synthesiser
Books and products: Latest must-reads and luxury goods
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M A R K E T WAT C H
Words John Simister Photography Magic Car Pics
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DeLorean DMC-12 Blockbuster movies, would-be drug busts and ‘lost’ finances – DeLorean’s ‘ethical’ sports car has it all. You could have it all, too, if you buy carefully. Our guide reveals the past, present and future of this gullwinged legend
IT WAS THE BUTT OF JOKES for years, derided as a failure and dismissed by those of loftier automotive ideals. Yes, stories of missing millions, an FBI drugsquad sting along with high-level corruption added a well ground spice to the DeLorean DMC-12’s reputation, but as a car… well, you wouldn’t really bother. Would you? Nowadays, it seems, maybe you would. There are good reasons for this change in the classic car market’s heart. And some less solid reasons, such as the 30th anniversary in 2015 of the Back to the Future cinematic phenomenon with that well known DeLorean time machine. That’s when values began to solidify, which may have encouraged a plan hatched around that time to make a run of new DeLoreans using both left-over original parts and brand-new ones. That plan, from the Texas firm that ultimately came to own and re-make those parts, came to nought. But now there’s one from a new Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company, its major shareholder that very parts supplier, to make – or rather have made by an outside contractor – an all-new electric coupé called Alpha 5. It has some distant design influences from the original car, gullwing doors and a silver finish being the most obvious. A prototype was revealed last year and production is planned for 2024. We shall see. So, those good reasons for the resurgence of interest in the car. The DMC-12 is undeniably handsome. People at shows, or even in the street, are fascinated by it. Actually owning such a high-profile machine brings on a buzz. And – shock – it’s really not a bad drive at all, especially one with a perkier Eurospec version of the rear-mounted, 2849cc Peugeot/Renault/Volvo PRV V6 engine, despite what pundits might have you believe. The DeLorean story is both well known and complex, but here’s a taste to set the scene. John Zachary DeLorean left a glittering sales career at General Motors to set up his own company, which would build an ‘ethical’ sports car. It created two composite-monocoque
ABOVE Surprisingly practical cabin exudes a strong sense of Lotus. Many mouldings are reproduced. prototypes and signed up US dealers, who took stakes in the firm. Puerto Rico was one possible manufacturing site, but DeLorean settled on Northern Ireland, thanks to generous developmentagency grants to bring employment to the troubled province. A new factory, complete with test track, was built at Dunmurry, to the southwest of Belfast. But the prototypes were proving unworkable, the project was running late and DeLorean needed outside help, quickly. Enter Lotus, for which the redesign of the DMC-12 (named for its notional $12k selling price, which in the end was handsomely exceeded) became its first consultancy project; the income from this would help stave off another of Lotus’s run of financial crises. Lotus re-conceived the DMC-12 on a backbone chassis much like the Esprit’s, except that the engine overhung the rear wheels instead of being mid-mounted, so that golf clubs could be stashed behind the two seats. The body structure would be of glassfibre, moulded in upper and lower halves and – as originally intended – clad in those distinctive (and heavy) stainlesssteel panels. But the striking styling, by Giugiaro, who had also shaped
the Esprit, remained largely intact. At the point of Lotus’s arrival the financing of DeLorean’s sports car became less than transparent, with Panama-registered GPD Services at the centre. Through it passed what were later identified as the missing millions from the DeLorean Research Limited Partnership, which was funded both by US investors’ money and by DeLorean Motor Cars Ltd, the Dunmurry operation subsidised by the British Government. Where did the cash go? Allegedly to DeLorean himself – and maybe also to Colin Chapman. The money was meant to pay for Lotus’s development work, yet in reality that was funded separately by DMCL. Production began in 1981, but by 1982, with unsold cars piling up (too expensive and disappointingly slow) and cashflow at critical levels, John Z attempted to raise funds for a rescue bid. There was no more money from the Government now that the Conservatives had ousted Labour, so DeLorean sought cash elsewhere. That’s when the FBI set up its cocaine sting, pressuring John Z into the drugs deal that could help save the firm. But he wasn’t stung, managing to claim coercion to further a deal that had begun legitimately with no drugs involved. It spelt the end of the company, though, and Lotus’s financial director Fred Bushell later served time for his
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role in the shady financing. After the bankruptcy of October 25, 1982, Ohio-based Consolidated International bought the assets and restarted production, resulting in 918 more cars, which brought the final production figure to, probably, 8583 DMC-12s. Experts estimate that around 6000 survive. In 1998 what was left of the parts, plant and machinery was acquired by a new operation, the DeLorean Motor Company (Texas), which was behind that recent attempt to restart production. It remains the prime source of parts today; these and others are obtainable in the UK from DeLorean Go. Two other companies failed in the wake of the DeLorean bankruptcy. One was Hampshirebased Wooler Hodec, which had engineered a quality right-handdrive conversion on behalf of the Dunmurry factory, which was intended for series production. Around 20 cars were converted, all
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ABOVE That shape! Those doors! That time machine! The legend is not beyond your grasp...
‘The DMC-12 is a comfortable, surprisingly airyfeeling machine, entered with drama’
to a very high standard with their left-handed origins undetectable. The other was New York-based Legend Industries, which developed a turbocharged conversion, again intended for series production at the factory. Four prototypes were built, three of them boasting twin turbos that helped towards a power output approaching 300bhp – enough to compete with the Ferrari 308s and Porsche 911 Turbos that left a standard DeLorean embarrassingly far behind. Today, one of those prototypes belongs to PJ Grady Europe’s Chris Nicholson, a DeLorean expert restorer and the source of much knowledge for this guide. He also owns the engine from another.
T H E VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N A decade or so ago, £15,000 might have bought you a reasonable DeLorean – and twice that, a really good one. Not any more: Hagerty’s UK values guide reckons £25,900
for a ‘fair’ car (which, in DeLorean terms, means very likely to be troublesome), £40,700 for a ‘good’ one, £52,900 an ‘excellent’ example and £76,900 for a concours machine. In the US, top price is over $100,000. How did we get there? One milestone on this value journey was the 1152-mile example sold at an Artcurial auction in Paris last February for €85,824 (£76,200), which was more than twice the lower end of its estimate. But that was just a very public confirmation of an upward trend that had started in early 2020 and accelerated during lockdown, following a few years of gentle decline from the previous blip in 2015. Some deeper insight into what has been going on comes from Hagerty analyst John Mayhead. “Hagerty has seen a significant rise in values since lockdown,” he reports, “and that is mirrored in both our UK and US price guides. These values have been based on a
TIMELINE
VA LU E S F R O M H AG E RT Y P R I C E G U I D E DeLorean DMC-12 condition 1/concours (UK)
DeLorean DMC-12 condition 1/concours (US)
£80,000
$100,000
$90,000
£70,000
1976
Plastic-monocoque prototype with Ford V6 shown.
1977-80
New prototype with rear-mounted PRV V6 unsatisfactory; Lotus re-works eventual DMC-12. Renault SERI planning department behind Dunmurry factory design.
1981
First production cars arrive in January.
$80,000
1982
£60,000
Firm goes bankrupt. Consolidated International restarts production. John DeLorean found not guilty of drug dealing after FBI sting.
$70,000 £50,000 $60,000
1983 1985
£40,000 $50,000
Last cars sold.
Back to the Future has DMC-12 time machine.
£30,000
2016
$40,000
DMC (Texas) plans to produce Continuation cars.
£20,000
$30,000
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
34 percent increase in median values quoted globally for the model since that time, and a significant increase in top values paid at auction. Until October ’21, Hagerty hadn’t tracked a standard DMC-12 selling for more than £50,000 at a public auction. Since then, we’ve seen nine such cars sell.” He also points to an increase in DMC-12s shipped from the US to the UK, the latter accounting for the largest proportion (27 percent) of all examples shipped out of the US in the past ten years. And while very low-mileage models are the most likely to score high auction results, it helps very much if the cars have manual transmission – as the Artcurial example did. So automatics are worth less than the slightly more numerous manuals, which is hardly a surprise given how much the three-speed auto further blunts the already modest performance of a regular US-spec DeLorean. On a more
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
positive note, the few examples fitted with a European-spec engine (163bhp instead of 130bhp) are significantly livelier and will consequently carry a premium – if you can find one for sale. One way of spotting such a car can be its different Euro-compliant rear lights, with three separate and more obvious lenses instead of the grid pattern. It’s likely to have a black interior rather than a grey one, too. Further rarity (and desirability in the UK and other right-handdrive markets) applies to the RHD cars. Of the 20 or so converted by Wooler Hodec, just one was an automatic. As for the turbocharged Legend cars, only two still exist, so finding one for sale is unlikely. Some of the DeLoreans found in the UK never made it to the US; their Northern Ireland numberplates do not include an obvious clue to the year of registration. Production ran intermittently from January 1981 to the end of 1982; you can identify
the earliest cars by the bonnet, which has a cut-out ahead of the windscreen to incorporate an external fuel-filler flap. The pair of indented strakes on this bonnet continued on the next models after the fuel filler was moved inside the front compartment, but the last cars had an entirely plain bonnet panel.
T H E D E S I R A B I L I T Y FA C T O R A lot of it is about the looks: the brushed stainless steel, the gullwing doors, the Miura-esque slats over the rear window, the Italdesign crispness and simplicity of line. The fine-spoked aluminium wheels are works of art, too; they were made on-site at Dunmurry, where today the Montupet firm still makes automotive aluminium castings including rims even while the old test track returns to nature. A typical US-spec DeLorean sits higher on its suspension than is aesthetically ideal, not least to conform to mandated bumper
2022
New DeLorean Motor Company reveals Alpha 5 EV for 2024 arrival.
heights, but the resulting longtravel suppleness suits the car’s grand-touring vibe. The DMC-12 is a comfortable, surprisingly airyfeeling machine, entered with drama as you pull those doors shut and sink low into the ruched leather that abounds all around. There’s a strong sense of Lotus in the cockpit, with a less extreme version of the Esprit’s boomerangshaped separate instrument binnacle, the high centre console with its stubby gearlever, the low, sloping dashboard top. Less Lotus-like are the small opening panels in the bottom of the main windows, full-size retracting glass being irreconcilable with such a steep tumblehome. Nor, once under way, is there the agility of the lightweight Lotus, although the distribution of the hefty-for1981 1224kg mass is less tail heavy than you’d expect, thanks in part to that weighty stainless steel: 62 percent of it sits on the rear wheels,
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compared with 58 percent in an Esprit S3. So the steering isn’t as light as you might expect, but neither is it quick around the straight-ahead. This, then, is not a twitchy car. It’s a benign one, with no savage tail-slides ready to catch you unawares; instead it feels stable with a bias towards understeer, although you are always aware of the tail’s high centre of gravity with that tall engine. In US tune, calibrated to Volvo 262C spec, it’s a lazy-feeling motor with decreasing urge beyond 4500rpm despite the encouraging off-beat growl from the 90º V6 with its uneven firing intervals. In 163bhp Euro guise without catalytic converters, it’s both much revvier and usefully torquier. Such a DMC-12 moves along smartly enough to be rather enjoyable. As for a US-spec automatic, let’s just say that motive joy is absent. Other flashes of desirability? A DeLorean is a surprisingly practical machine, with all that space behind the seats and a roomy boot under the bonnet. Those gullwing doors, pulled shut via a dangling strap, are great when you need to exit in a tight space. And, of course, there are the twin frissons of driving the fruit of a scandalous piece of autosocial history and heading back to what was once the future.
T H E N U T S A N D B O LT S “The big problem,” says Chris Nicholson, “is that people think their cars are worth top dollar, but often these machines have been sitting deteriorating in a barn for years. And in the buying guides to date, there’s not one mention of stainless-steel corrosion.” So we’ll mention it now, because it can be a huge issue. The DMC-12’s panels are in 304-grade steel, which is food grade and can corrode. Topquality stainless, which doesn’t, is typically 316 grade. What happens is that acidic excreta from insects or birds, or even leaks from a roof, cause pits in the steel surface, which can end up as pinholes through the 1mm-thick metal. Hard to see in photographs, and harder to repair. “In the worst case I’ll TIG-weld
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T H E D E TA I L S 1981-82 DELOREAN DMC-12 V6, SOHC PER BANK, 12V, 2849CC ENGINE POWER 130BHP (US), 163BHP (EUROPE) TOP SPEED 130MPH 0-60MPH 9.6SEC (US), 8.5SEC (EUROPE) the hole,” says Chris, “but if possible I’ll grind away the surface around the pitting and do a heavyduty ‘regrain’ – the process of reinstating the brushed surface.” He’s a world expert at this, rescuing panels on DeLoreans from all around the globe. He also performs remarkable repairs on dented or torn panels, but it’s a slow and therefore expensive job requiring very controlled heating and cooling. This is particularly useful for left front wings, which are unobtainable new and can cost £3000 for a good used one. Righthand ones are plentiful, due to an error in the final ordering back in the day that saw the order for lefts inexplicably morphing into one for rights. So are most other panels apart from the earliest bonnet, which can fetch £5000. As for maintaining the stainless
‘Buy a DMC-12, and ideally join one of the owners’ clubs, and you’ll never be lonely’
surface, Brillo pads are a definite no. “Everyone has their own way,” says Chris, “but I just use WD40.” He also points out that a painted DeLorean is almost certainly hiding accident damage, so tread carefully around a so-finished bargain. Corrosion can also affect the front crumple tubes and the engine cradle in the chassis, especially if the epoxy coating has cracked. And then there’s the aluminium block, which can corrode in the valley between the cylinder heads if there has been a leak from the nearby water pipe. Damage can extend into both a waterway and an oilway; a replacement block (unobtainable new) is the most economic answer. The transaxle, a Renault UN1 unit also used in vehicles as diverse as a late Esprit and a Renault Trafic van, is robust. Suspension components are more bespoke than you might expect, but are available. Interior trim is not, so Chris makes his own. He has also made moulds to reproduce the plastic front and rear bumpers, plus many of the cabin mouldings including those needed to perform a conversion to righthand drive. Would he undertake such a conversion? “It’s not really economic,” he says, “not least because it will never be just the conversion. There will always be restoration to do as well.” Chris reckons, incidentally, that the minimum price now for a good DeLorean is £60,000. Anything less, and you’ll be spending thousands as you chase previous bodges. Finally, those doors. They’re
famous for getting stuck shut, but Chris says it’s usually because too much thick grease on the latches – one front, one rear for each door – has stopped them moving freely, a retractor pin isn’t releasing or the door is badly adjusted. All are fixable. More problematic is the torsion bar that lifts the driver’s door (it gets more use than the passenger’s), which breaks. A replacement is £1500 if you can find one, but moves are afoot to make new units.
THE FINAL DECISION Buy a DMC-12, and ideally join one of the very active owners’ clubs, and you’ll never be lonely. Any example will have a full quota of the drama and the intrigue, so if that’s what attracts you the most, then even a tired three-speed, US-spec auto will fill the need. But, as always, it’s better to spend as much as possible to get the best car possible, because long-term you’ll love it more. Euro-spec cars are rare yet much more fun to drive. Or you could de-cat and uprate a US car’s engine and lower its front suspension to achieve a similar result; the parts and expertise are available. Righthand drive is an even rarer bonus if your home roads are arranged to suit, but it’s hardly vital and perhaps LHD better suits the Stateside aura. In the end, just find and buy the smartest, best-maintained car that you can, regardless of the market it was made for, and take it forward to the future. Thanks to Chris Nicholson at PJ Grady Europe, www.pjgrady.co.uk.
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Words Dave Kinney
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Will buying 001 make you number one? First-off-the-line cars can be captivating, but is extreme interest on the auction stage for the kudos, for deeds well done – or for something else?
proceeds might exceed five or ten times the value of ‘regular’ offerings. They are not about raising a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for their cause – they often go eye-wateringly high, and produce hundreds of thousands for charities over the course of the week-long sale. So, to set the stage, a brandnew car, with vehicle identification number one, selling at what is traditionally an event set up for older models, provides an electric auction feeding frenzy among the bidders, all to have the bragging rights for the first in a series. The proceeds of the sale (sometimes the amount above the regular retail price of the car, is some case the entire bid amount) will go to charity, often a veteran, medical or homeless non-profit. A warm and fuzzy feeling encompasses the room (as it should), the crowd roars in approval and, by spending large, some very real good is done. We collectors are, as a group, an odd bunch. We could wait until the balance of these serial-built cars or trucks is introduced, and buy for $45,000 what we just purchased
‘If you want the bragging rights of owning a 001 car, be my guest, and spend more to get… similar’
for $450,000 – but what fun would it be getting a ‘normal’ VIN? The bragging rights are real, but on the road no one knows, and few care, that you’re driving the first off the line. In ‘our’ world, however, we do care. That 001 car will be held in reverence, likely displayed in a museum or big private collection, and talked about in hushed tones. I asked Sandra Tropper, a Fellow of the American Society of Appraisers, if the same was true for fine-art prints – say, if a 1/500 was worth a premium over a random other number in the series. Her surprising answer was that often there is no premium, unless the print was made in such a way that there was some deterioration in quality throughout the process. Often the very first in the series goes to the artist or printer – so we can infer, in this case, that having a 001 in a series possibly notes that you were a friend or connected to that artist insiders’ group. The consequence of this is easy to define. If having the first of something makes you happy, buy it. If you think the trend of paying a premium for the first will last, then consider it an investment and enjoy it. If you want the bragging rights, be my guest, and spend more to get… similar. Having said that, I’m happy to give the Bugatti Profilée’s new buyer a pass. Even though he just paid the most ever spent on a new car at auction, what he got was, in effect, the fastest-accelerating Chiron ever. While 0-62mph in 2.3 seconds in a petrol-powered car sounds like a
OPPOSITE One-of-one Bugatti Profilée is the most valuable new car ever auctioned. ABOVE $10.7m bought a special serial number attached to a very special car. bunch of fun, having the one and only Profilée is more than just a 001 car, it’s a one-of-one. Even though $10.7 million is a tad above my budget, the new owner got more than simply a special serial number. He got a special car attached to it.
AMELIA AUCTIONS Gooding & Co, Broad Arrow, Bonhams and RM Sotheby’s all held well attended sales on Amelia Island in March. All did well – some better than others – and the vibe remains positive despite some turmoil in the greater marketplace. While ‘waiting for the recession’ is currently a fashionable parlour game, the buyers didn’t hold back in most cases. Recent trends include an increase in the flight to quality in all segments. Many ‘pandemic’ cars bought in 2020-21, and returning to market, either did not fare well or failed to sell. Great cars brought great money, and more than a few record prices were set. This is the final year RM Sotheby’s will be at Amelia; it’s announced a new Miami-area venue next year. The only thing certain in this business is that change is a constant; auction companies must keep up with the trends and always be on the lookout for what the public want. Now that both 80- and fiveyear-old Mercedes-Benzes exist in the collector world, we adjust.
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RM SOTHEBY’S
AMERICAN COLLECTORS LOVE the first car in a series. Just ask me: I happen to own the second in a series, and, for that very reason, I’m happy to inform you that the second will likely never sell for what numero uno brings. Frankly, I think it’s more than a bit silly, but – as with our continued obsession with so-called ‘matching numbers’ – the significance is as much as we make of it. To most collectors, this is something real, and this fascination for the first in a series (or matching numbers) is not going away anytime soon. That brings us to auction charity lots. I’m happy they exist, and I know they are indeed a good thing. They’ll often benefit a non-profit such as an automotive museum, library, event or school. Charity lots are often affordable – a set of tickets, a weekend escape, lunch with a retired racer or industry insider. Auctioneers really like them when they come early in a sale, because they are a great way to warm up the in-house and online crowd. All well and good. One auction house has truly raised the stakes, and its charity lots are a cut above. I’m referring to Barrett-Jackson, known for its massive auction venues and flashy, televised and well organised but folksy style. It loves to offer the first in a series, the number one of any variety of cars. Barrett-Jackson’s charity lots are often first-off-the-line, impossibleto-buy new cars. Offered from various manufacturers, these are no-discount sale lots; in fact, the
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WAT C H E S
Words Jonathon Burford
We take a deep dive into the scubainspired Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year
TODAY’S WATCH MARKET IS steeped in nostalgia. There are few new ideas and truly innovative developments, with brands looking backwards to their vintage greatest hits for design cues for new releases. This shouldn’t be surprising, given that modern tech has made manualwound and auto watches redundant as precise timekeeping instruments. Industry’s reliance on nostalgia keeps it relevant, leveraging and refreshing its historic repertoire. Recently we have seen Patek do this with the Nautilus (the new 2022 Ref 5811), and Audemars Piguet with the Royal Oak, with the 16202. To a casual observer, both are barely distinguishable from their Ref 3700 and 5402 forebears. Anniversaries are also leveraged by auction houses for thematic and celebratory sales (and corresponding price spikes), such as the 50th year of the Royal Oak in 2022. This year sees another couple of notable anniversaries: the Rolex Daytona’s 60th, and the 70th anniversary of the Fifty Fathoms from Blancpain. Entering the world of historic Fifty Fathoms (its dive-depth rating) is not for the faint hearted. There
were over a dozen models, exotically named Barakuda, Tornek-Rayville and MilSpec to name but a few. Its roots were in diving and Blancpain’s CEO, Jean-Jacques Fiechter, who became focused on divers’ needs after a near-fatal deep-sea accident. The criteria was for perfect water resistance (a double-sealed crown and unique caseback seal), an antimagnetic case, a self-winding movement, hacking seconds (for synchronisation between divers), a large 41mm case for readability, large luminescent hands and hour markers contrasting with a dark dial, and a secured rotating bezel to help tell time spent underwater. Its military-diving origins led to some of its spec. To prove that no moisture had entered the watch on missions, the Navy insisted that a special indicator was incorporated. A smart solution came via a small disk on the dial, half blue and half orange, with the blue half turning orange in the event of compromise. Where military variants used radium for high luminosity, this wasn’t considered safe for general use, so a ‘No Radiation’ version with red and yellow markings on the dial was produced for public sale predominantly via dive shops. A number of other models were made, too, such as for dive brand Aqua-Lung. There was also the retailer-branded LIP Blancpain and the Bundesmarine’s aforementioned Barakuda with date window and two-tone hour markers. The TornekRayville, re branded with the name of US importer Allen V Tornek, was devised to evade the Buy American Act, in order to supply the US Navy. Unlike with the Submariner or
‘Entering the world of historic Fifty Fathoms is not for the faint hearted. There were over a dozen models...’
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Submersion therapy
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RIGHT The Fifty Fathoms has its roots in scuba diving, and so boasts many unique features.
similar watches, there isn’t a defined model hierarchy when looking at buying a Fifty Fathoms – bar the Tornek-Rayville, which is the rarest and most desirable (high wastage rates due to their demanding military usage mean only a handful survive of the circa 1000 made). It comes down to personal preference. Many collectors like the military history, so gravitate towards the MilSpec, but as above, heavy use means condition is often poor. Equally, ensure the MilSpecengraved case back and movement rotor are present; these are often swapped out in service. Meanwhile, the bright No Rad emblem can be divisive, with some people loving it and others finding it an eyesore. There is no right or wrong, and prices are pretty consistent, with only military models commanding a premium. Do look out for service dials. Early radium ones have often been swapped out, due to water or humidity damage. Also check the Bakelite bezel inserts for excessive cracking or replacement – often with non-OEM parts. Recent prices have been fairly flat, with only the rarest prototypes reaching six figures. In reality, good models can be found for $20k-$30k. My favourite is a Rotomatic Incabloc with rare inverted 30 bezel – an attractive quirk. Auction is often the best place to buy them, because those with hard-to-spot replaced parts usually don’t make it to the block, and there is recourse if problems are identified later on. Writer Jonathon Burford is SVP and specialist at Sotheby’s watch department. For its ongoing watches sales, see www.sothebys.com.
MOTORING ART
Under the influence
Words Rupert Whyte
Taking cues from some of the classic motoring-art greats, Paul Dove has honed his own unique painting style
COUNTING GORDON CROSBY and Terence Cuneo among your biggest influences is always going to stand you in good stead as a motoring artist, as long as you have the skill to carry it off… Luckily, Paul Dove has it in abundance. Although Dove studied art at college in his late teens, he confesses that much of his technique is self-taught. Buoyed by the confidence he gained by winning the prestigious International Motoring Art Competition in 2001, aged only 19, he decided to dive headlong into a professional career of painting full time: “I’ve never had a real job,” he quips, as we talk over his love of motor sport and its history. “When I first started to get interested in motor sport history, Graham Hill soon became my favourite. He was perhaps the biggest character in an era when all drivers were big characters.” Working from his studio in the heart of beautiful Cornwall, Dove is inspired by old motor-racing
film footage and vintage magazine articles to dream up ideas for his paintings. Each artwork starts with a rough pencil layout sketch, before he transfers the most important reference points onto the canvas. In addition to the vintage influences, Dove uses his own modern reference photography. This enables him to put the viewer in a position that would not usually be possible – directly in front of the Beast of Turin as it thunders across the beach towards you, for example. Dove paints in acrylics for the flexibility they provide when he wants to work up an image quickly or make changes as the piece progresses. He says: “As I immerse myself in the story of the painting, I sometimes need to add details that I had not initially planned; other times, I need to leave some out – paintings evolve.” Look at any Dove artwork and you will see an abundance of movement and atmosphere, as well as a clever use of lighting. A
skilful painting style that sees a strong light source appear from outside of the canvas margins is apparent in many of his renditions. Conveying a story and portraying a mood is important to Dove, and he says: “I like a strong contrast between light and dark. That’s often why I paint wet races at night.” He has also created his own, unique style of capturing movement using repetitive brush marks on the canvas – a sort of painterly stop-frame animation. Paul Dove’s work is comparable in many respects to that of Uruguay-born artist Alfredo de la Maria, and with prices currently starting at just £1250 for an original painting (around ten percent of the price of a de la Maria), it may be a wise buyer who puts a few Doves into their collection before the rest of the art world catches on. Limited-edition prints are good value from £129. Writer Rupert Whyte runs Historic Car Art, www.historiccarart.net, selling original works and posters.
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AUTOMOBILIA
Collecting old slides
Words Dale LaFollette
Slides provide a crisp, colourful insight into the past, and are surprisingly desirable, too
I AM SURE MANY PHOTO collectors ignore slides, because it is hard to judge quality without the proper equipment. But they can be very desirable, so I carry a small folding slide viewer whenever I might need to look at them. Slides are prone to dust issues, due to the static electricity of the film attracting tiny specks if the slides have not been stored properly in an archival plastic binder sheet. ‘Cleaning up’ dirty examples can be done digitally in most computer photo programmes, but the best answer for dealing with this problem is simply to clean the slide itself, taking care
not to damage it. A can of compressed air or a blower of some kind is a good place to start (no hair-dryers please!). Now to the advantage of owning original slides, even if taken by someone other than you… In most cases it is probable you could own the copyright. This isn’t true if the slide you own is a copy slide (also known as a dupe or duplicate), so be sure to check with the seller. Once you own the slide, you are free to do with it whatever you wish. You will find they print beautifully once cleaned and scanned at high resolution when using modern scanners and printers. I purchased
the slides shown here, of the 1952 Palm Springs Road Races, at an estate sale in Moses Lake, WA at least 20 years ago. They were taken by Bob WR Temple, a Studebaker designer. You can see that Bob was smitten with roadsters with cycle fenders, since sports cars were supposed to look like that. Within five years, the cars illustrated here began to be phased out in favour of lighter models with envelope bodies and more horsepower. Just before Covid confined us
ABOVE Estate sales and collector fairs are among the places you can pick up original photo slides – often for a bargain sum.
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‘Slides print beautifully once cleaned and scanned using modern scanners and printers’
ABOVE Colourful memories of days gone by; Studebaker designer Bob WR Temple took these evocative images at the 1952 Palm Springs Road Races.
all, I was in Palm Springs and searched out the circuit this race was held at. There were only tiny bits and pieces recognisable as part of a race track; interestingly, it was within three blocks of downtown and located directly behind the current Palm Springs Convention Center. I believe I originally paid $10 for a Kodak box of 20 slides, and these treasures were inside. I am not always that lucky. I would value these slides with their copyrights at $500 to $700. Thanks to Automobilia Resource, www.automobiliaresource.com.
AWA R D W I N N I N G A S T O N M A R T I N R E S T O R AT I O N S
A M E M O R A B L E J O U R N E Y AWA I T S Y O U …
www.richardsofengland.com
+44 (0) 1522 685476
Richards of England, 1 Cedar Parc, Lincoln Road, Lincoln, LN6 4RR
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COLLECTING
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Forever in electric dreams
Words Nathan Chadwick
With the popularity of 1980s and ’90s synth-led music growing exponentially, is it time to embrace the machines themselves?
LAST YEAR, THE WORLD went mad for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things series; 37 years after it was first released, it topped the charts in eight countries. This was the tip of a vintage synth-led iceberg that really started to fire the imagination of the underground music scene around a decade ago. In the years since, it has spread into the mainstream arena, helped along by a plethora of software synths that have brought what would once have required half an office block to house, down to just a few clicks on a laptop. You’d think that the market for analogue synths, with all the size, maintenance and age-related tech restrictions, would be dead. Far from it, says Alex Green, a Londonbased producer otherwise known as Boddika and one half of Instra:mental, who also runs the Zoo Music Studio. “The days of finding Roland TB-303s in skips are long gone,” he laughs. He’s an avowed fan of analogue
synths, and is not alone. He recently sold his Sequential Circuits Pro-One to Jimmy Smith of indie-rock megastars The Foals. “He had one when he was younger, and he wished he hadn’t sold it – he wanted to start using it in his new music,” says Alex. But if software synths are easier to use and transport, and are more feature rich, why go analogue? “Art and music are subjective, and so is sound. Synths sound alive as the electricity runs around the circuits,” he explains. “I also like making music with my hands – I enjoy the physicality of hardware. After all, they’re the electronic version of a guitar – I like that human touch.” Strong demand is matched by high prices, especially for synths like the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. You will recognise its sound from Michael Jackson’s Thriller and John Carpenter soundtracks, as well as a host of synth pop acts. “It’s highly
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BELOW The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 is among the most popular vintage synth models.
lusted after, mainly because it’s been used on so many great tunes, and it was built to higher spec than synths are now,” Alex says. You can expect to pay £6000-plus for a vintage Prophet-5. Go for something like an ARP 2600, made famous by Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock and R2-D2’s bleeps and blips, and you’ll be paying £11,000 or more. Makers cottoned on to this a while ago, and you can buy new, upgraded versions of these vintage synths. “The analogue Oberheim, Prophet-5 and -6’s digital circuitry makes them much more stable and offers new features,” Alex explains. EMS is the most in-demand name; its synths were used in Hammer horror films and Doctor Who, but also by Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and more. The firm is still going in Cornwall, making the EMS Synthi. “It is up to £10,000, and there’s a five-year waiting list,” Alex says. “Used ones go for £12,000 or above.” He has moved to more modern analogue synths, largely due to the
problems with keeping the vintage machines going. “A lot of repair companies come and go, and a lot of technicians are retiring. My guy is in his 70s and used to work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.” Despite these challenges, vintage synths offer something special. “No two will sound the same, playing them side by side,” Alex says. “The componentry and circuits will have degraded differently over time, creating something unique.” So, if you dabbled with some synth action in your youth and fancy getting back into it, where do you begin? “The classic Minimoog is a good starting point – we still haven’t exhausted the routing possibilities – and the Roland Jupiter-8 is an absolute monster.” In the end, the appeal of one synthesiser or another is more fundamental than that, as Alex grins: “Everyone will be drawn to different things, thanks to their different, crazy musical minds.” Thank to Alex Green, along with www.thezoomusicstudio.com.
Give us a great car and we’ll get you a great price. The The consignment consignment program program for for important important cars. cars.
AVAILABLE AVAILABLE 1936 1936 LANCIA LANCIA ASTURA ASTURA “TIPPO “TIPPO BOCCA” BOCCA” CABRIOLET� CABRIOLET�
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DIVERSIONS
Compiled by Nathan Chadwick and Sophie Kochan
AMALGAM FERRARI DAYTONA SP3 ENGINE AND GEARBOX This 1:4-scale model is an exacting representation of the 6.5-litre F140HC V12 and its gearbox, as found in the Daytona SP3. Amalgam has worked with Ferrari’s CAD data in a development programme that has taken 3500 hours. Limited to 599 pieces, each one takes 325 hours to cast, paint and assemble, and costs £10,970. www.amalgamcollection.com
CHOPARD BRESCIA BALLPOINT PEN This ballpoint pen pays tribute to the cars and the one-of-a-kind spirit of the Mille Miglia. It’s crafted from deep-red carbonfibre (other colours are available) with a palladium-plated nib and a cap that wears the Chopard logo. The event’s flag adorns the top, which makes it perfect for writing your entry for this year’s race – or perhaps getting on the waiting list for 2024... It costs £505. www.chopard.com
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MHD SC Designed by former Morgan stylist Matthew Humphries, this limited-to-150 watch pays tribute to 1970s supercars. It boasts a 42mm, 316 L stainlesssteel case and matt-grey dial through which the subdial glows at night. The movement is an automatic Miyota 9132. First deliveries from August; a ten percent discount on pre-orders make it £495. www.mhdwatches.com
AT AT T TH HE E S SP PL L II N NE ED D H HU UB B ,, W WE E H HA AV VE E M MA AN NY Y Y YE EA AR RS S O OF F C CO OM MB B II N NE ED D E EX XP PE ER R II E EN NC CE E II N N R RE ES ST TO OR R II N NG G JJ A G U A R E T Y P E S . W I T H O V E R 3 0 C O M M I S S I O N S T O D AT E , E A C H C A R I S C O N S I D E R E D T O A G U A R E - T Y P E S . W I T H O V E R 3 0 C O M M I S S I O N S T O D AT E , E A C H C A R I S C O N S I D E R E D T O B BE E O U R B E S T P O S S I B L E R E S T O R AT I O N B U I LT T O L A S T & B U I LT T O B E D R I V E N . E V E R Y T H I N G O U R B E S T P O S S I B L E R E S T O R AT I O N - B U I LT T O L A S T & B U I LT T O B E D R I V E N . E V E R Y T H I N G W WE E D DO O II S S G GE EA AR RE ED D T TO OW WA AR RD DS S P PR RO OT TE EC CT T II N NG G T TH HE E P PR RO OV VE EN NA AN NC CE E ,, O OR R II G G II N NA AL L II T TY Y & & V VA AL LU UE E O F Y O U R I N V E S T M E N T, W H I L E M A K I N G Y O U R C A R P R A C T I C A L F O R T H E M O D E R N W O O F Y O U R I N V E S T M E N T, W H I L E M A K I N G Y O U R C A R P R A C T I C A L F O R T H E M O D E R N W O R RL LD D .. R RE ES ST TO OR R AT AT II O ON NS S A AV VA A II L LA AB BL LE E F FR RO OM M S SE EP PT TE EM MB BE ER R 2 20 02 23 3 .. W WW W W. W. T TH HE ES SP PL L II N NE ED DH HU UB B .. C CO O .. U UK K
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DIVERSIONS
LINN RECORD DECK Linn is known for doing things differently in the audiophile world, and this year it celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Sondek LP12 has been precision engineered with range-topping components, yet sits in the middle of the firm’s product line-up. The Selekt LP12 is seen here in a Ferrari grey titanium finish, but you can also spec your record deck with a personalised plinth and a laser-etched monogram. Prices start at £11,250. www.linn.co.uk
SCATOLA DEL TEMPO Scatola del Tempo has been in operation since 1989, evolving from founder Sandro Colarieti making watch winders for himself and friends. His first creation was adopted by Patek Philippe in 1990, which ordered 500 boxes. The brand has announced its ranges for 2023, and the Valigetta seen here is available in capacities ranging from four to 32, starting at £645; this chocolat/chesnut 32watch item costs £2650. www.scatoladeltempo.com
DUNHILL PERFORMANCE LEATHER HOODIE
HERBELIN CAP CAMARAT SKELETON The Cap Camarat line takes its inspiration from the French Riviera, and is now available in automatic form. Limited to 500 pieces, it uses the Sellita 13 1/4 SW400-1 Automatique movement in a 42mm 316L stainless-steel case, while the dial is made from brushed stainless. It costs £1799. www.herbelin.com
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There’s a real militaryvehicle aesthetic to this hoodie, which is crafted from sage lamb’s leather that’s bonded to a technical jersey. There are perforated silk panels under the arms for ventilation, as well as an elasticated hem with drawcord adjusters to keep it in shape. It’s available in sizes M and L, and costs £3295. www.dunhill.com
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BOOK REVIEWS
Reviews Nathan Chadwick
The inspirational story of a lord, a playboy and a singular determination to take on the giants of Formula 1 at their own game
IN RECENT YEARS WE HAVE become accustomed to (and possibly weary of) the phrase ‘disruptors’, whether it be in media, business or sport. Wind back 50 years, however, and the story of the Hesketh team was similarly disruptive. A Brit in his early 20s literally and figuratively parked his boat in the centre of the Formula 1 universe, determined to reach World Championship status. Lord Hesketh had arrived in Monaco, with the aim of catapulting James Hunt to the world title – and all funded by himself. It’s an amazing story, very well told in James Page’s 264-page, £89 book. At the time, approaching F1 in such a renegade way met with derision – but under the direction of manager Bubbles Horsley and designer Harvey Postlethwaite, the outfit soon became a cult legend in the sport, in a team built around the talented, if rather trying, Hunt. Hesketh had quickly risen from F3 to F1, with cars built in a stable at the young lord’s country estate. Yet within only a few years it was over, with Hunt moving to McLaren for his F1 championship win, and Hesketh closing the team. In the meantime there are some rollockingly entertaining stories,
such as luring Postlethwaite away from Surtees by “getting him ratarsed over lunch”. It’s very easy to be swept along with the narrative, which is expertly controlled by Page; while the team’s ethos was all about having fun, it was serious fun. This could so easily have been an over-indulgent hagiography, such are the myths and legends around the team and Hunt in particular, but the author and those he talks to pull no punches when it comes to the less glorious parts of the story. There are also fascinating insights into F1 as a whole – including the purchase of the sport’s TV rights by Bernie Ecclestone, which will make uncomfortable reading for the descendants of the team owners who had the chance to buy in but didn’t. With unprecedented access to contemporary memorabilia, images and more, this would already be a fascinating book purely for the visuals, but the testimonies of the characters involved make this a highly recommended tome even for those with only a passing interest in motor racing. It is really better viewed as a chronicle of a time when anything was possible, and life was a great big adventure. There is certainly excellent detail on the races and machinations both in the team and externally, but the witty asides and needle-sharp observations that pepper the book make it an essential buy. Even though the Hesketh outfit’s aspirations would not amount to the dreams this young team had, you can’t help but feel inspired when you turn the final few pages. www.porterpress.co.uk
‘A chronicle of a time when anything was possible, and life was a great big adventure’
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SuperBears: The Story of Hesketh Racing
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BOOK REVIEWS
550 Maranello Prodrive: Last V12 Ferrari to Win at Le Mans Two-volume set marks 20 years since a V12engined Ferrari took victory at the 24 Hours
FOR ALL THE LEGENDS OF Ferrari’s motor sport past, Formula 1 might dominate but, arguably, it is the GT racing names that perhaps have a greater hold in the collector world. After all, even if you had the requisite bank balance to buy an ex-F1 Ferrari, fitting inside and driving it might be another matter. This is why the most expensive Ferrari is a 250GTO, and why the GTs with track links – particularly V12s – keep asset-management specialists twitchy during auction season. However, Maranello itself has not produced a V12 for quite some years, and the last yellow badge to wear a Le Mans winner’s rosette was built in, er, Banbury. Keith Bluemel’s tome, produced
in association with Girardo & Co and DK Engineering, is a rollercoaster ride that starts with a 550 Maranello being plucked from a used car lot in 2000 by Prodrive customer Frédéric Dor, despatched to said firm and turned into a racing car in just 16 weeks. It would soon become the one to beat in both the FIA GT Championship and the American Le Mans Series, before taking the GTS class victory from under the noses of the Works Chevrolet Corvettes in their 50thanniversary year in 2003. The 20th anniversary of that famous victory provides a great opportunity to delve into the story, with a €630, 592-page, two-volume book that not only seeks out Dor
himself, but also all of the key characters from the engineers to designer Peter Stevens, plus Stéphane Ratel – who desperately needed a Ferrari presence on the grid as he refocused the FIA GT series at the turn of the millennium. Prodrive’s car was so impressive, it went to the Fiorano test track to be analysed by Ferrari. It acquitted itself well, but Jean Todt, then the racing division’s general manager, turned the concept down. Instead, Ferrari looked to N Technology to create its own – ultimately not quite as successful – 550/575. Twelve examples would be built in the end, with ten racing, and the history of each is covered in detail, with fascinating interviews with
owners and competitors. There are season overviews and detailed race reports, too. It’s a comprehensive tome – this really does feel like a labour of love, rather than a ‘mere’ book, from all involved. With superb archive and current images, and huge yet approachable technical depth, this is an excellent book about what will come to be seen as a golden era for GTs. It’s a timely addition, with the Scuderia currently stepping up its enduranceracing ambitions – and while the early-season form looks promising for Ferrari, the story is unlikely to have the same sort of romance as that of the 550GTS. https://girardo.com/the-550prodrive-book
BUGATTI: THE ITALIAN DECADE
FORMULA 1 TECHNOLOGY: THE ENGINEERING EXPLAINED
AUDI R8: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF R8-405
SUPERCARS: ALFA ROMEO 8C COMPETIZIONE – SPIDER
Even if you have a decent grasp on current motor racing, understanding the latest developments in F1 might leave you somewhat nonplussed. Steve Rendle provides an excellent introduction to the current tech as well as tracks its background. This £55, 336-page book might still bamboozle if it were text alone, but the superb illustrations help bring the words to life. Fascinating snippets, presented as mere asides, will bring back much of the wonderment about a sport that’s at the cutting edge of physics, science and ingenuity. www.evropublishing.com
Audi’s domination of endurance racing seems like a lifetime ago. The R8s made their debut in 2000 and were pretty much unbeatable for five years. R8-405, the subject of Ian Wagstaff’s 320-page, £69 book, was there at the start, bagging second on its debut. This beautifully realised tome charts the car’s history from factory racer to privateer ALMS steed, and eventually in its second life in Historic racing. With plenty of insight from the likes of Allan McNish, Andy Wallace and more, it’s a fascinating life story of a game-changer. www.porterpress.co.uk
There’s a great tale of determination, grit and inter-Fiat group rivalry behind the production of the Alfa 8C – sadly, Ivan Scelsa’s €44, 168page book doesn’t touch on that. It’s still worth a purchase for the Alfisti, however. The ‘public’ overview of the model is detailed, and the majority of the images are beautifully rendered (although some are blurry), with some rarely seen pre-production photographs. A welcome tome on one of the most fascinating and stunning cars of the past 25 years – but something of an opportunity missed. www.giorgionadaeditore.it
Bugatti’s rebirth in the late 1980s and implosion in the 1990s would make for a fantastic Netflix drama. Gautam Sen’s 400-page, £125 book recalls the many ups and downs, with behindthe-scenes photos from key player Jean-Marc Borel, who corrects many wrong assumptions. This in-depth tome contains plenty of rarely seen diagrams, PR material and sketches, some of them hinting at what the future may have been if Romano Artioli’s dream had come to fruition. It’s a fascinating story that’s well told, with illuminating insights from those right at the heart of the adventure. www.daltonwatson.com
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BOOK REVIEWS
Ghia: Masterpieces of Style An homage to a legendary carrozzeria that never quite got the recognition it deserved
FOR SEVERAL GENERATIONS of enthusiasts, Ghia means little more than a posh trim badge on an otherwise everyday Ford. A bit of extra ruched leather, a fancier hi-fi and some plastic wood – or ‘plood’, as it’s often known. That one of the most influential carrozziere came to this is a tragedy, a slow death after its absorption by Ford in the early 1970s. The Blue Oval dropped the badge in 2010, Ghia having designed its last road car, the StreetKa, a decade prior. Luciano Greggio’s 168-page, €48 book wisely focuses on Ghia’s 1950s and ’60s heyday. The story is filled with tragedy and business intrigue, beginning with Giacinto Ghia cofounding the business while he
was recuperating after breaking two legs while test driving for Diatto. The carrozzeria made its name in competition, building lightweight bodies for Alfa Romeos and Fiats, but its meteoric rise really came when it passed to Mario Boano following Giacinto’s death. Ghia’s post-war designs for Ferrari, Alfa and Cisitalia enraptured audiences across the globe, and awakened interest from Detroit. Chrysler would turn to it for a series of influential concepts, and the rush to take advantage caused friction between Boano and partner Luigi Segre, leading to the former’s departure. Such dramas would come to define Ghia over the next two decades, with courtroom
appearances and legal bills only matched in their spectacular nature by those Chrysler concepts. It was an astounding era, with Pietro Frua, Tom Tjaarda, Sergio Sartorelli, Giovanni Michelotti and Giorgetto Giugiaro all producing influential designs such as the VW Karmann Ghia, Renault Dauphine, Volvo P1800, Maserati Ghibli, De Tomaso Mangusta and more. Sadly, for all its success, Ghia couldn’t be run profitably, particularly after Segre’s untimely death in 1963. Even that master of government subsidies Alejandro de Tomaso couldn’t hold it together. After its Pantera work, Ghia was absorbed by Ford and its operations instantly throttled back. It was eventually
largely limited to the odd concept as a remote satellite in the FoMoCo empire, although the introduction of Tjaarda’s Fiesta was a highlight. This is an engaging book about a design house that deserves wider recognition – its cars are among the most beautiful, yet it is rarely championed in the same way as Pininfarina, Bertone or Zagato. Arguably, without Ghia and the design departments of Detroit feeding off each other, motoring architecture might have looked very different in the 1950s and 1960s. Featuring wonderful archive images, rare prototypes and plenty of surprises, this is an engaging and worthwhile read. www.giorgionadaeditore.it
FORTY SIX: THE BIRTH OF PORSCHE MOTORSPORT
MASERATI OF BOLOGNA: THE PLACES WHERE THE TRIDENT’S MYTH WAS BORN
CLAUDE DEANE: WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S MOTOR DEALER EXTRAORDINAIRE
LANCIA RALLY: THE GOLDEN ERA
Francisco Giordano’s painstakingly researched deep dive into the early years of Maserati in Bologna has now been translated into English. Many mistruths have sprung up over the years, yet with the aid of historical documents, plus unpublished data and archives, this 144-page, £14.28 book tells the true story. Produced in association with the late Alfieri Maserati, it’s an absorbing take on the marque’s early days, and excellent value – even if the paper stock and printing aren’t quite up to big-publisher levels. www.amazon.com
At first glance the title might be a bit niche for anyone not from Australia, but that would do Graeme Cocks’ 214page, AUS$65 book a disservice. Not only is Deane’s rags-to-riches-to-oilstained-rags-again tale an engrossing account of the early days of motoring, but the book itself is a delight to behold. Its page design is a feast for the eyes without being overly maximalist. Lovingly researched and beautifully presented, this has to be worth a look for those with an interest in the first automotive years. www.motoringpast.com.au
With Porsche currently celebrating 75 years, this is a timely tome detailing the exploits of 356/2 SL 063 (aka no. 46), its very first factory racing car. Ahead of the model’s return to Europe for the first time in 70 years, to be displayed at Stuttgart’s Porsche Museum, the 336-page, £125 book pools the writing talents of Doug Nye, Randy Leffingwell, Sean Cridland, Will Edgar and more, to create a comprehensive life story of this influential machine. From its lovingly researched race history to its long restoration story, it’s a treat for fans. www.daltonwatson.com
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Lancia may be being rebooted as an all-EV luxury label, but for many the brand is tightly interwoven with rallying. Sergio Remondino’s 216-page, €50 book starts the story in the 1950s, beginning with the Appia Zagato. It then brings in Cesare Florio, who’d be a critical figure as the Fulvia and Stratos elevated Lancia to the top of the sport in the 1960s and ’70s despite courting controversy and tragedy in almost equal measure. Excellent archive photography and illuminating words from those involved make this a great addition to any library dedicated to the rough stuff. www.giorgionadaeditore.it
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Where does a facsimile become a fake? We look at the complex world of copies and continuations
FACSIMILE, REPRODUCTION, replica, reconstruction, continuation, sanction, sanction lost; all are words used to describe cars that do not claim to be original-numbered chassis as first built. The final three hint at the fertile minds of the PR department... My favourite is the last of those – it refers to the building of a facsimile, the original of which no longer exists today in any shape or form. Be that as it may, the honest if somewhat mystical description lends legitimacy to a project. By contrast, a vehicle that has no claim to legitimacy can only be described as a fake. It’s a term that conveys an intention to deceive – and if committed with a view to obtaining financial gain, it constitutes criminal behaviour. But the line between legitimate and fake will be obvious in practice, yes? Sadly, no. So how does an enthusiastic buyer proceed with any degree of certainty? Contextual consideration of process in several historic marques might provide a guide. The Cobra is among the most replicated cars of all time, due in no small part to a US case prosecuted by Shelby in 2000 against replica-Cobra builder Superformance International, claiming trade dress infringement and trademark dilution. The evidence did not appear to disclose the fact of the design having been originally based upon that of the AC Ace, which, in turn, had been licensed to Shelby. The judge concluded that the necessary ‘distinctiveness’ hadn’t been proven. Thus the replica owner can enjoy his car without fear of prosecution. That said, the prospective buyer of an original Ace or Cobra must be cautious. The AC factory built the ladder chassis, adding the body and trim, with the balance being supplied by third-party manufacturers. As a result, skilled operators are able to replicate an original, giving the new construction the identity of stolen, lost or otherwise destroyed factory
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cars. Any would-be purchaser should pay due diligence by examining the Shelby registers in the US and the AC Club records in the UK. Turning from the cottage industry that was AC, where no two handmade bodies were the same, the contrast with Jaguar is stark. Yet until recently, the marque took a benign view of the several small businesses building small numbers of facsimile C- and D-types. Cars made by, say, Lynx were highly regarded, and can now change hands for c. £200k. In 2015, however, Jaguar began its own Continuation series of Lightweight E-types, followed by XKSS, D- and C-types. In 2021, the marque issued proceedings with the clear intention of protecting its historic legacy. Mr and Mrs Magnusson had built a C-type copy, which was then alleged to be in breach of Jaguar’s design rights. But recently, judgement was handed down by Stockholm’s SVEA Court of Appeal. It said that Jaguar succeeded in principle in relation to copyright ownership, but lost on the facts, in terms that as the Magnussons had constructed the car for their own use, they were not in breach. Costs were awarded in favour of the couple. The lengthy judgement will need to be studied in fine detail, taking into account the reactions of the parties, in order to determine its commercial effect. As to the purchase of the haloed historic Jaguars, these particular cars pose certain issues on account of
‘The line between legitimate and fake will be obvious in practice, yes? Sadly, no. So how does a buyer proceed?’
their construction. The structure uses a rear tub with a frame attached to its bulkhead. This frame constitutes a wearing part, especially in examples that have seen heavy track use. I was previously instructed in a case involving two cars competing for the same identity. A well raced D-type needed a fresh frame; the existing frame was then repaired and used to build up a ‘new’ car. The claims both had merit. The parties settled. E-type construction is the same. Early cars fetch a premium – and it is relatively simple to produce the appearance of an early car. Intending buyers need all but forensic advice. In the Porsche world, replicas of the 356 and early 911 do not seem to have proliferated – perhaps due to the marque’s vow to protect its design rights “vigorously”. Yet buyers must again exercise extreme caution, as there are talented engineers and fabricators throughout the world who can create whatever is required. Also of interest might be a recent article from the Porsche 356 Registry: ‘A Tale of Two Speedsters’. The title is somewhat revealing; one of the cars was raced by James Dean, the other wasn’t. This fascinating feature
covers ten pages of text and images, demonstrating considerable research by the author and others. Be warned! To my knowledge, Ferrari has never sanctioned any facsimiles. However, in 2019, learning of a planned run of GTO copies, the Prancing Horse issued a claim in the Bologna Court to protect its design rights. The court declared the GTO to be a work of art, and granted the protection requested. Rumours abound of replicas being judicially seized and destroyed. On another note, mention should be made of the Ferrari-instituted support service, Classiche, which will issue a certificate of originality in respect of a car’s chassis, engine, gearbox and rear axle. Since this arrived, Alfa Romeo and Lancia have put in place similar schemes. For owners and buyers alike, such moves will have taken some of the angst out of purchasing examples of these marques – and, who knows, in time such a guarantee of originality may become the norm. In the meantime, enhanced due diligence is the keynote. Clive is a solicitor and consultant with London law firm Healys LLP. Contact clive.robertson@healys.com.
SHELBY AMERICAN
BELOW Real or a replica? Cobra purchasers should pay due diligence to ensure they get what they’re expecting.
1940 ASTON MARTIN SPEED MODEL £ 760,000 Aston-Martin Speed Model D40/725/U is one of just 23 Speed Models in existence. The Speed Model is the most advanced and best performing pre-war Aston-Martin. Designed for racing, this model incorporated significant improvements over the previous MKII and Ulster models. The chassis is broader and more robust than an Ulster with a slightly shorter wheelbase, the hydraulic brakes were both innovative and highly effective, as well as a bigger, more powerful 2-litre engine and a new and improved gearbox. Chassis D40/725/U was originally built with one of the ‘Type C’ aerodynamic bodies. This car was completely restored to the very highest standards in the late 1990s with an Ulster style body. It raced successfully for many years, is well proven and is in excellent condition needing only a little minor work to put it into first-class condition. It is very rare indeed for a Speed Model to be offered for sale, and very few ever come onto the open market. This is an amazing opportunity not to be missed!
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The Curator Robert Dean On safari in Kenya, where rallying thrills and spills provided plenty of exciting memories for our man
A FEW WEEKS AGO I STUMBLED across an old hand-held tape recorder that I had forgotten about. I put some batteries in it and discovered a recording I had made in 1999. Back then, Formula One Promotions and Administration (FOPA) filmed the World Rally Championship. I was asked to accompany a crew to Kenya to check the 4x4s the cameramen were to use, as the ones previously supplied were just not up to the job. We arrived after a cramped flight, and drove along the Uhuru Highway to our hotel. En route, we came upon about 100 cars parked willy-nilly, and our driver told us a shooting was underway; the authorities were in the middle of gun fight in a nearby shanty town. The cars belonged to people who’d stopped to watch… we did not. The next day I inspected the various 4x4s, and I sent back two for replacement because they had split radiator fan blades. These spread open at speed and cut a neat hole in the rad. Meanwhile, several of the cars had no battery caps, so I used wine corks from a nearby bar instead. There was either just one or even zero spare tyres per vehicle, and I insisted on two each because I had heard stories of cameramen being stranded in the desert with a puncture. Eventually all the cars were deemed fit, and allocated. Job done! This left me at a loose end, so I asked whether I could be of help to any of the cameramen and was promptly assigned to a super bloke called Kevin Burnley (aka Todge). We first went out to film some ‘colour’, which meant local people, wild animals, vibrant scenes in a local market – you get the idea. At one point, while driving alongside a mesh fence, we came across a family of giraffes – but the fence’s height meant Todge couldn’t film them unless he stood on the car’s roof. However, as the wind blew the body rocked and mucked up the shot,
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so I had to lift the rear arch with all my might to steady the car. Perfect! Our lovely driver Jumma earned money from taking tourists around. He and his wife travelled as a hobby, and he was tremendously well read, spoke English, Swahili, Spanish and French, and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the countryside. We next filmed the WRC’s Super Special competitive stage – essentially two cars rushing round a course against each other. It was fun but dusty. That evening, en route to our grotty hotel with no running water, we travelled along an horrifically bumpy road that even disappeared at times; it reminded me of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge that I had done two years previously. The next day we drove the first part of the course. It took us through a tiny, beautiful village, up along a boulderstrewn road and around hairpins. We eventually reached a spectacular filming point, overlooking the Great Rift Valley with what seemed like a 1000-foot drop to the valley floor. We could see the rally cars going along the valley, because they threw up huge rooster tails of dust. These rose 100 feet in the still, hot air; then, a little later, with a roar and a slide, the drivers came through our hairpin chucking rocks and dust everywhere. It really was spectacular. We left Stage 9, and went to the end of Stage 12 to watch the cars arrive at the finish. I nearly got to talk to some of the drivers on camera,
‘Several of the supplied cars had no battery caps, so I used wine corks from a nearby bar instead’
but the official TV interviewer turned up, and he did it. On the way back to the hotel, we went through a sisal farm and past a forest of astonishing Flame Trees – so-named because their bright-red flowers look like flames. The last day of filming was in a disused quarry, which was flat except for two yumps that sent the cars flying into the air. In the afternoon we found a dry riverbed, which the cars jumped and squirmed through – all fantastic shots. Todge asked some Maasai men and women to pose for us in their beautiful coloured clothes and jewellery. The men, of course, wore their red cloaks and had their long spears. After the rally we had a day off by the pool, and I urged everyone to use sunscreen because we were on the equator. Of course, some didn’t, and suffered for it – in particular a lovely guy called Paul, whose red hair and pale skin should have been a warning. We were in the hotel room when he realised he was in trouble, because the heat from his skin was becoming unbearable. All I could do was to lay him on the bed, soak towels in water and put them on him to draw the heat out. It is no exaggeration to say that
the heat from his skin was making the towels steam and go dry – I’d never seen anything like it. I continued applying them and then turning him over and doing the same on the other side, until the heat had subsided enough for us to leave for the airport. I bought him anti-inflammatory pain killers, which helped, but as we waited for the flight the heat started to come through again. I stood him outside and poured water on his clothing, which again started to dry with the heat from his skin. Back in the UK, Paul’s father met us at the airport and gave me a lift home. I suggested he should take Paul straight to A&E to be checked out. A week later I received a lovely letter from the father, thanking me and explaining that, at A&E, Paul had been admitted into the burns ward. The doctors had said that what I did had been the correct course of action and had certainly saved Paul’s life. My adventures in Kenya were wonderful – although sadly they have never yet been repeated. Keep being part of the machinery. Former Ecclestone Collection manager Robert now runs Curated Vehicle Management. See www.c-v-m.co.uk.
MCKLEIN PHOTOGRAPHY
BELOW Crowds of spectators and clouds of dust during the Kenyan round of the WRC.
The Racer Sam Hancock Slippin’ and slidin’ in the world’s top cars at the utterly unique concept that is The ICE St Moritz
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Daytona gave remarkably good grip. Encouraged by the owner’s teenage son goading me from the passenger seat, I thoroughly enjoyed channelling my inner Tommi Mäkinen. Confidence growing with each lap, I heeded the earlier call for prudence when I found myself the meat in a costly Le Mans-themed sandwich, with five-time victor Emanuele Pirro ahead, effortlessly pitching Gregor Fisken’s Cobra 39 PH through all manner of crowd-pleasing angles. This was while Daniele Perfetti was filling my mirror with equal vigour in his sensational Ferrari 250TR, known by many as Lucybelle. Not a moment to make a berk of oneself. With the cars safely back in the
‘I heeded the earlier call for prudence when I found myself the meat in a costly Le Mansthemed sandwich’
parc-fermé for judging, guests faced the tough choice of settling into a fabulous lunch in the sumptuous VIP tent, or joining the sun-bathing style set on the terrace. Here, vintage Moët & Chandon was delivered by tailcoated figure skaters to an enthralled audience whose attentions were diverted only by the periodic spectacle of vintage aircraft dancing across the flawless blue skies. ‘If Carlsberg did concours events...’ Later on, I found myself running a little late for the mysteriously located Drivers’ Dinner, and alone therefore on a chairlift heading up the mountain in the dark. Gifted a warm blanket and bottle of ‘hot toddy’ by the thoughtful ICE staff on departure, I enjoyed this blissful moment of peace almost as much as I had the day of roaring engines that preceded it. With attendees suitably attired in ‘chalet chic’, the evening had a refreshingly relaxed feel to it. Exceptional food and yet more Moët made the 20-minute hike back to the chairlift a little more challenging than the outbound, but spirits were high and the snow-covered trail provided a chance for all to walk off the
excesses of the previous few hours. Day two heralded the arrival of significantly more spectators, and as snow turned to slush beneath our feet, I wondered if the unseasonably mild weather might curtail the frivolities. Fortunately the Swiss know their ice, and the schedule advanced without interruption. Cue more skids and more smiles until mid-afternoon, when we gathered around the stage to celebrate the winning cars. Sadly no silverware for the Daytona on this occasion, but I was pleased to see the Lucybelle TR anointed the deserving victor of the Le Mans centenary class. With the calendar already packed full of events almost every weekend of the year, the old-car world really didn’t need another concours. But The ICE is far from being ‘just another concours’; it is an utterly unique concept, beautifully executed – and, only four years on from its debut, it seems already to be a regular fixture on the schedules of the community’s most established participants. Sam is a professional racing driver, coach and dealer in significant competition cars. See www.samhancock.com.
TIM SCOTT / FLUID IMAGES
THE DRIVING EXPERIENCES I am most grateful for are often those that feature a hint of mischief or, indeed, mild bemusement that what you are doing is surely too much fun to be legal in these health and safety-obsessed times. Throwing an historic Formula 1 car around Monaco’s narrow streets springs to mind, as does the shakedown of an ex-Kremer Porsche 962 Group C car on the Autobahn. Traversing the crown of the D338 en route from Tertre Rouge to Mulsanne Corner at over 200mph in the dead of night definitely counts, so too does just about every flat-out special stage on a classic tour or rally from which I’ve been relieved to emerge unscathed. And so to The ICE St Moritz, where drifting an ex-Ecurie Francorchamps 365GTB/4 Daytona, which finished 12th overall at Le Mans in 1975, on a frozen lake felt disproportionately more satisfying than it should have. A convenient acronym for an International Concours of Elegance held on Lake St Moritz, the midwinter ICE is not ordinarily ‘my’ kind of event. Generally I prefer seeing great cars being used as intended, as opposed to being paraded before a panel of judges – but fortunately the two-day ICE offers a breath of fresh mountain air in this regard. Making use of the oval track set up for a recent horse-racing event, the 50 invited cars have a ready-made playground – large enough to stretch their legs, but not so large that it requires marshalling or driver-safety gear. This, combined with the lack of timing – or indeed any form of competitive track element – keeps the emphasis on easy-going fun. As such, bar a quick drivers’ briefing encouraging a modicum of prudence, formalities are kept to a minimum. After a few exploratory laps during the first morning, it was clear that the unflatteringly narrow and studded winter tyres fitted to the muscular
BELOW Where else can you drift an ex-Ecurie Francorchamps 365GTB/4 Daytona, but at The ICE?
1965 PORSCHE 911 FIA
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My Hero AC/DC’s Brian Johnson on Tazio Nuvolari WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY MY mum’s family was still in Italy, and they used to send cardboard boxes full of Italian stuff. There was this glossy magazine called Oggi – a weekly, like People magazine. In Oggi, I found this three-page black-and-white article on Tazio Nuvolari. I think he’d just died; it was a big thing. Now, we’d get the Evening Chronicle and there weren’t many pictures in it at all. We didn’t have a television. I didn’t even know what a motor race looked like, but when I saw these photographs of this little man holding this big cup, with a longish face and those mad eyes and that grin, I just wanted to be part of it, you know? As soon as I saw it, I said: “Oh, I wish I was there.” The reason I loved him was that in the 1930 Miglia Mille, his arch rival was Achille Varzi, who was way ahead. Nuvolari was catching him, but he saw that every time Achille spotted him, Varzi just sped up. This was at night, so Nuvolari turned off
his headlights and he snuck up on him, and he took him near the end of the race. He was doing speeds of 95mph without lights. Nuvolari apparently wasn’t scared of sh*t. When he was a kid, he took the sheet off his bed and tried to make it into a parachute. He jumped off the roof, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. He could have died. And when some bright spark in World War One asked him if he was a good driver, he went: “I think so.” So they made him a driver in the ambulance corps. They said: “Right, get these wounded men back into the hospital.” So he did what came naturally; he drove as fast as he could, and he ended up in a ditch – and he was sacked. After the war, he was racing and the seat came loose, so he threw it out and sat on a bag of lemons instead. Can you imagine today’s drivers being so daft? Another time he threw himself out of a burning race car at 100mph. In 1936 he ended up in a
plaster corset after a crash, but he escaped from hospital to compete in a race, still wearing the corset. How badly did he want to frickin’ race? Maybe it was bloody-mindedness, but you have just got to look at a photograph to see his wonderfully cheeky grin. Nothing’s gonna beat him. I was just a young kid, and he became my total hero, you know? Since then I’ve seen the footage of the Silver Arrows in the 1935 Grand Prix. They looked like something from the future. And Nuvolari was in an Alfa Romeo P3 – it was three or four years old at the time, and he ****ing won! He won in front of Hitler. They
‘And there was the Balocco test track waiting for me. The P3 was the best car I’d ever driven’
called it the impossible victory. A few years ago I was making a little TV series about cars, and I went to Maranello and then I went to Alfa Romeo. They realised I was passionate about their cars, especially Nuvolari. The wonderful head of the Balocco test track said: “Brian, vieni [come here]!” and these four guys wearing immaculate overalls from 1935 opened a garage and wheeled out Nuvolari’s P3. Then he said: “Brian, this is for you to wear,” and it was Nuvolari’s red helmet. And there was the test track waiting for me. It was the best car I’d ever driven. At the end the sun was starting to set, and I can see these guys in white overalls jumping up and down, and shouting: “Brian, you have to stop.” I remember pulling in, in this beautiful car, looking at the beautiful countryside around us, and I says: “Hang on! I just have to hold onto this minute for as long as I live.” That’s because he was my hero.
Magneto (ISSN No: 2631-9489, USPS number 22830) is published four times a year – in February, May, August and November – by Hothouse Publishing Ltd, UK. Magneto is distributed in the US by RRD/Spatial, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071. Periodicals postage paid at South Hackensack NJ and other additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Magneto c/o RRD, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071.
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GETTY IMAGES
ABOVE Iconic racing driver Tazio Nuvolari made a huge impression on Brian when the budding rock star was a kid.
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1953 COOPER-ALTA A A Formula Formula 22 car car built built for for and and raced raced by by Stirling Stirling Moss Moss Raced Raced by by Moss Moss during during the the 1953 1953 season season and and campaigned campaigned extensively extensively in in historic historic racing racing Welcome Welcome at at international international events events such such as as Monaco Monaco Historique Historique and and Goodwood Goodwood Revival Revival +44 +44 (0)1242 (0)1242 384092 384092 :: GLOUCESTERSHIRE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, GL7 GL7 5FF 5FF :: SALES@CLASSICMOTORHUB.COM SALES@CLASSICMOTORHUB.COM :: CLASSICMOTORHUB.COM CLASSICMOTORHUB.COM
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