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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Circuit du Grand Sambuc

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Story and photos by Graham Gauld

For around twenty years I had known of the existence of a private racing circuit beside a reconstructed Chateau up in the hills behind Aix en Provence in the South of France and I had heard how it had been built by an enthusiast and used for testing.

So it came as a surprise to be invited to a Festival of Motor Sport to be held at the Domaine du Sambuc circuit on June 23. There was little advance information and so, perplexed, I arrived to find that the event proposed by Hugo Riperd and Clive Rigby, who now own the circuit and chateau, had been scaled down. This was due to the local mayor announcing they could not set up some track records but instead could only put on demonstrations. which meant the event either had to be cancelled or else go ahead on a very relaxed scale: thankfully they chose the latter as they had arranged something special. [Read more…] about Circuit du Grand Sambuc

Bicester Heritage Test Track

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Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Last week Jonathan Sharp sent us a report which highlighted the cars of the Flywheel Festival and some of the many shops which now permanently inhabit the old RAF base. This week Sharp gathered up the photos take of the cars running on the adjacent test track. This is a pretty complete facility and a vintage racer’s dream.

Says Jonathan:

I have wanted to visit the Bicester Heritage complex for some time. This year’s Flywheel Festival offered an ideal opportunity to tour site, enjoy the cars and get a small aviation fix all at the same time. [Read more…] about Bicester Heritage Test Track

Hispano-Suiza Alfonso

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By Pete Vack

As it would be for many a classic car, it was Ken Purdy who introduced the Yanks, (and I would venture to guess a few Brits as well) to the Hispano-Suiza Alfonso. Writing circa 1950, his chapter in Kings of the Road, “Hisso and Isotta, Isotta and Hisso”, elaborated on the merits of the two greatest cars of the inter-war period. Purdy recounted that Hispano-Suiza did not actively participate in racing. Only for a short while before WWI was competition considered, primarily due to the urgings of King Alfonso XIII. In 1909 Alfonso declared that a 226 mile race would be established near Barcelona and yes, Hispano-Suiza was obliged to enter, thank you.

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Ferrari S/N 0393 GT

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Story and photos by Alan Boe

Berlinetta. A word bandied about somewhat more casually today than it was in the 1950s (remember the Camaro Berlinetta?). In the Italian, however, a Berlinetta is a lightweight, agile fast, two passenger, fixed roof gran turismo automobile. But try to find a precise definition of the word and you’ll probably come up empty-handed. That’s because it’s a word that, if not actually coined by Ferrari, was put into the auto enthusiasts’ vernacular by the use of the term by Enzo Ferrari. [Read more…] about Ferrari S/N 0393 GT

Bicester Heritage Flywheel Festival, June 23-24

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Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Located on one of the oldest and best-preserved RAF bases in the UK and only 60 miles northwest of London, Bicester Heritage is a hub for classic car businesses, now with 30 trades on one historic site, compete with a test track. It is the realization of a dream of Dan Geoghegan, who purchased the 348 acre airfield and its 50 buildings from the Ministry of Defense for £3.4million and began work in 2013. It needed work and he has been restoring the site ever since. [Read more…] about Bicester Heritage Flywheel Festival, June 23-24

Phil Hill and the Alfa Disco on the Mille Miglia

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Story and photos by Dale LaFollette

Pete asked me for photos of the Disco Volante so I had to go back to the Mille Miglia Retrospective of 1986. Wow, what wonderful memories that dislodged!

The Disco Volante was being piloted by Phil Hill and John Lamm and I was in a C-Type Jaguar that was owned by my good friend Steve Earle. Our numbers were close to each other so we seemed to be in contact for at least the first full day of the three-day event. Phil and John told me that the Disco belonged to the Alfa Romeo Museum and they seemed a little concerned about the mechanical preparation if memory serves. [Read more…] about Phil Hill and the Alfa Disco on the Mille Miglia

Alfa Romeo Disco Volantes at the Alfa Museum

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Photos by Roberto Motta

Bet you thought we’d be all disco’d out after the last two articles tracing the history and serial numbers of these very special Alfas.
Read Part 1
Read Part 2

However, we left the best for last. Dale LaFollette dishes up some great photos of Phil Hill driving the Alfa Disco in the 1986 Mille Miglia, and here, Roberto Motta captures the two Discos at the Alfa Romeo Museum.

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Vintage Sports Car Club at Brooklands

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The Brooklands museum complex is like a nostalgic oasis surrounded by modern glass fronted corporate head offices and a Tesco’s supermarket. However once you have entered into the site the years simply drop away. Whether it’s just the 1930s music playing over the PA system, or the restored buildings, one feels (if you use a bit of imagination) that you are back in the 1920s. The feeling of nostalgia increases 10-fold when the VSCC (Veteran Sports Car Club) have an event there. [Read more…] about Vintage Sports Car Club at Brooklands

RM to Auction Ferrari GTO

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Story and art by Wallace Wyss

Only a few months after a series 1 Ferrari 250 GTO was rumored to have been bought by an Illinois man for $70 million, another of the fabled GTO models is coming up for sale. The public venue is Monterey, at the Sotheby’s RM sale taking place at the Portola Hotel during the prime weekend of “Car Week.” [Read more…] about RM to Auction Ferrari GTO

The Disco Volantes by Serial Number

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Read about this sculpture below.* Photo by Jonathan Sharp

By Roberto Motta and Pete Vack
Photos from Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo, and Roberto Motta

In doing research for these articles, (Read Part 1) one of our goals was to do something very simple that to our knowledge had not been previously attempted; to put a serial number on each Disco that was in a contemporary photo. After all, there were only five cars built, four still exist, only one had a competition history, we had all the serial numbers and details, and most of the books and articles, access to the Alfa Museum. What could be simpler? But the more we looked, the deeper the mysteries. [Read more…] about The Disco Volantes by Serial Number

Bizzarrini

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This article originally appeared in VeloceToday on December 17, 2008

By Wallace A. Wyss

Bizzarrini Strada and America photos courtesy Funktionauto
Lead photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt

If ever I had a defining moment it was when I was a young lad. Not a defining moment of the caliber of those little girls in Mexico who saw the Virgin Mary, but it was defining enough that it changed my focus in life.

I was college-age, and in a library looking for books on poetry when I opened a magazine called Autosport and lo and behold there was a story on an odd Italian car called an Iso Grifo A3C. That car later became the basis for what was the Bizzarrini Strada. [Read more…] about Bizzarrini

Italian Car’s n Cannoli Car Club

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Matt Ligotti and a Ferrari Enzo.

By Philippe H Defechereux

In this new world of social media, local car clubs and their organizers are enjoying the benefits of easy access to groups of aficionados with a passion for specific brands or types of automobiles. This is exactly how an Italian sports car enthusiast named Matt Ligotti started his Italian Car’s n Cannoli Car Club only a few years ago. Matt is based in the New York City Metropolitan area on Staten Island, one of the outer Boroughs of New York City, close to New Jersey. [Read more…] about Italian Car’s n Cannoli Car Club

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