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Fiat Abarth X1/9 Prototipo

March 3, 2015 By pete

Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo, chassis 128 AS 0023003.

Story and color photography by Roberto Motta

The Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo made a brief, but impressive, appearance in the rally World during the 1970s, but as soon it was competitive, it became the victim of Fiat politics. The history of the Fiat Abarth X1/9 prototipo started at the end of ’73 season, when the Fiat’s Rally Competition department began work on the project that would replace the 124 Abarth Rally.

The X1/9 in road version, compared with the 'prototipo'. Here it is driven by the test driver Giorgio Pianta.The car was entrusted for the Swiss F1 driver Clay Regazzoni and the co-driver Gino Macaluso at the 1974 Giro d'Italia Automobilistico.

The Competition department was manned by Renzo Avidano, Abarth’s Director, Giulio Lampredi, the engine designer, Mario Colucci, chassis expert, Giorgio Pianta, the test driver and Gino Macaluso, one of the best Fiat Rally Team’s co-driver and future Fiat Sport Director.

The X1/9 1300cc and the aggressive 'prototipo.'

The first car used for the project was the Chassis 128 AS 0000133 and registered with the license plate number TO H29040. The car featured here is one of the Fiat X 1/9s used in the press presentation, on November 26th, at the Targa Florio’s roads. [Read more…] about Fiat Abarth X1/9 Prototipo

Interview with Nino Vaccarella

March 3, 2015 By pete

Young at heart Nino Vaccarella sits behind the wheel of a Type 33 Alfa. Photo by Pete Collins

This article originally was published on May 14, 2003

By Ed McDonough

Nino Vaccarella won the Targa Florio three times, and for this alone he remains a Sicilian hero. And, his name has become virtually synonymous with that great road race, where large painted letters appearing on the roads and walls on the eve of the event proclaimed ‘Vivo Nino’ year after year in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2001 Ed McDonough was fortunate to interview Vaccarella in depth.

The Palermo-born Nino Vaccarella is a relatively rare visitor to race events. But, not only did he show up at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed, he was back behind the wheel of an Alfa Tipo 33, and spent the weekend in the company of those other colorful Italian racers of the period, Arturo Merzario, Sandro Munari and Marco Cajani. Phil Hill made a special point of meeting up with his old Ferrari teammate, and they disappeared into Italian for some while! I had the chance to interview him then, and in November, 2001, spent 5 glorious days in Sicily in the company of Nino, Art, Sandro and Vic Elford. What an experience!

Huge plaque given to Vaccarella for his victorious drives in the Targa Florio. Photo by Ed McDonough.

Vaccarella was known primarily for some superb sports car drives, though he had a number of non-championship F1 races, and four Grand Prix races. He drove for Scuderia Serenissima in 1961, and made his Grand Prix debut at Monza that year in a DeTomaso-Alfa. He didn’t qualify for the Monaco race in 1962 in a Lotus, finished 15th in the German GP in a Porsche, and retired at Monza in a Lotus-Climax, before getting a one-off Ferrari Grand Prix drive at Monza in 1965, where he was 12th. His sports car career, however, was much different, with a famous victory at Le Mans in 1964, sharing a works Ferrari 275P with Frenchman Jean Guichet. He won at Sebring in 1970 in a 512S, co-driving with Ignazio Giunti and Mario Andretti in that narrow victory over Steve McQueen’s Porsche 908. Vaccarella amassed a very high rate of finishes in long distance races.

A younger Vaccarella behind the wheel of a Type 33/2. Le Mans, 1968. Photo Credit Ed McDonough

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VeloceToday for February 24, 2015

February 24, 2015 By pete

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Delahaye 135M by Guilloré, 1949. Single carburetor, good condition with strong underpinnings;could do with retrimming of seats. Half of the car has been polished up to show how good the paint still is underneath. The Cotal box is in working order. 0nly 3 or 4 estimated to have been bodied in this pontoon shape. 128 000€. Contact Tom Bromehead at: lesalfistes@gmail.com

An Italian rarity: One-off Fiat Osca 1600 GT bodied by Savio in 1964 (one of two). Same owner since the late sixties, recent full restoration including engine rebuild. Correct-spec Osca engine with forged crankshaft and alloy pistons. Price on demand. Contact Tom Bromehead at: lesalfistes@gmail.com

WANTED! Style Auto Many thanks to your readers for the leads! Location unimportant providing you will ship to the UK! I realize a full run is rare, willing to purchase a part/incomplete run of copies. The numbers I need are 3,6,7,11,15,16,18-19,20,29,34-35. Can you help complete the set?
Contact:willgrant@yahoo.co.uk

Rent a Race Car to drive in the 2015 Mille Miglia, Bassano, and other Italian Vintage events! Drive this rare Siata Daina Coupe, an A.C. Ace, or a Colli barchetta or others. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.
Don’t wait, these cars are rented out quickly for 2015!
Contact vack@cox.net for further details.

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

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Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 7: Le Mans, 1972

February 24, 2015 By pete

Story and photos by Robert Little
All images copyright Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)
(Read Part 4)
(Read Part 5)
(Read Part 6)

Following the absolutely heart-breaking loss to a Ferrari 312P driven by Sandro Munari and Arturo Merzario by only a mere 17 seconds over the course of nearly 500 miles of the Sicilian countryside in the Targa Florio only weeks before, Ing. Chiti was even more determined to break the domination of the 312Ps and to take on all challengers to the 1972 World Championship for Makes title.

Unfortunately, a high stakes game of ‘cat and mouse’ ensued where Ferrari withdrew from Le Mans, Porsche did not enter a factory team, and Alfa Romeo Autodelta was facing 12 cylinder Matras, Cosworth-powered Lolas, Ligiers, a variety of French Ferrari dealer racing teams sporting Daytonas, the BF Goodrich Team of Chevrolet Corvettes, a couple DeTomaso Panteras and a vast plethora of privately-entered 908s, 911s.

The Autodelta team, sponsored by Alitalia, Shell, Goodyear and Koni brought three V-8 cars to the circuit along with a full and complete racing caravan of spare parts, a large Alfa Romeo autobus machining operation and a full staff…including the writer who was once again in charge of keeping the cars absolutely spotless, keeping the local Le Mans Alfa Romeo garage clean and guarding the assets of the company during off hours.

The FIA formula for the World Championship for Makes competition and this 1972 Twenty Four Hours of LeMans race specified that prototypes run with three-liter engines. The era of the magnificent 4.5-litre 917 in Le Mans was over, but a 908 long tail privately entered by Reinhold Joest turned heads. Joest, Mario Casoni and Michael Weber shared the car owned by Jo Siffert and scored third overall behind two factory entered Matra-Simca 670’s and a single Matra-Simca 660. The 908 benefited mainly from its sophisticated long-tail aerodynamics and low weight. Despite its substantially lower engine output compared to the works Matra-Simcas, the Porsche reached an identical top speed on the Mulsanne straight.

We enter the town of Le Mans...

The local Alfa Romeo authorized service facility in Le Mans kindly offered the use of its entire facilities to the Autodelta team. Note the Alfa sign on the building at right. Also peer closely on the left for a glimpse of the Alfa Romeo transporter in the process of unloading our three T-33 cars.

Combined with the Alfa Romeo machine-shop-autobus parked outside, this shop had every possible convenience required by the team to prepare the cars. Clean, well-lit, spacious enough to fit everything and relatively private. In the unlikely event that an emergency part or sub-assembly became necessary, the ride from Settimo Milanese to Le Mans was a relative short transit of perhaps six hours or so.

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Power and Art: Ferrari engines at Cavallino

February 24, 2015 By pete

Testa Rossa, 1958. 12 cyl V60° 3 liter 300 BHP

Photo story by Alessandro Gerelli

Alessandro Gerelli enjoys taking photos of engines…particularly Ferrari engines. So an event like Cavallino is a must-see and for the last five years Alessandro has traveled from his home in Milan to West Palm Beach to cover the traditional Ferrari extravaganza.

A few weeks ago, Alessandro Gerelli submitted his photos of the cars of Cavallino, Ferraris and others.

This week, he submitted the best of his photography on the Ferrari engines at Cavallino Classic 2015. Catching engine shots on so many cars is not easy; on our visit to the event, it was difficult to find any cars with hoods up.

Yet he came back with a huge variety of images, ranging from the 1951 212 to the 2013 La Ferrari, which, like several modern Ferraris, does not need its lid up to view the engine, and we find power and art in all of the Ferraris, no matter what the year, layout, or displacement. For the captions, he has listed the year, engine layout, displacement and horsepower (figures may vary on horsepower), which tell another story of consistent development of an idea and philosophy. (See Ferrari Brochures for Enzo’s words on the subject).

212 Inter Vignale, 1951. 12 cyl V60° 2.6 liter 155/170 BHP

250 Europa GT PF (212 export lungo), 1951. 12 cyl V60° 3 liter 220 BHP

375MM, 1953. 12 cyl V60° 4.5 liter 340 BHP

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Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 4

February 24, 2015 By pete

Bruno Ferrari with son Carlo, winners of the 2009 Mille Miglia with a Bugatti T35A.

Story by Dino Brunori
Photos courtesy members of Scuderia Brescia Corse

Due to lack of time last week, we could not publish as many photos of today’s Scuderia Brescia Corse cars and owners as we would have desired. Yet the number of events, cars and victories attributed to Scuderia Brescia Corse over the past 21 years deserves a closer look. So here are more significant cars from the team, entered in the most beautiful and evocative events in Italy, if not the world.

Bettinsoli and Piardi, both members of Scuderia Brescia Corse, with an Alfa Romeo 1750, body by Castagna. It is one of the two known in existence.

Siata Gran Sport owned by Flavio Gandolfi in action at Coppa D'Oro delle Dolomiti.

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VeloceToday for February 17, 2015

February 16, 2015 By pete

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*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

_________________

Inside the Walls of Autodelta Part 6: At the Targa Florio

February 16, 2015 By pete

Story and Photos by Robert Little

(Read Part 1)
(Read Part 2)
(Read Part 3)
(Read Part 4)
(Read Part 5)

Dear Readers: I am pleased to open the door of history a tiny bit wider through the exposition of these images taken about 43 years ago. Please however remember the following:

The images themselves were captured on Kodak color slide film using a fine quality 35mm camera for the period. However, the pictures cannot be compared with the resolution quality found with today’s photographic equipment.

Secondly I hope you understand that as a worker for Ing. Chiti I had almost no opportunity to take photographs while “on duty” so many of the photographic opportunities during the many races I attended were lost to the fact that I was there to serve and not to photograph. My number of interesting images was restricted by this commitment. I hope you will enjoy the images I was able to capture and seek the true ‘atmospheric’ shots where they are to be found in commercially available books and magazines on the subject.

Meeting the Autodelta Team in Sicily for the Targa Florio

After arriving in Sicily (Read Part 5), I met up with the Autodelta team, who had rented garage space from the Motel Aurim in Cerda. As the lowest member of the Autodelta ‘totem pole’, I was responsible for keeping all of the cars in spotless condition during the season, so that history would record every Autodelta car looking its absolute fastest and shiny best at the track appearances and in all future photographs.

For the actual race I was stationed somewhere along the course in the mountains. equipped with front and rear spare tires, fuel, a few tools, gasoline, coolant and a large Alfa Romeo sign board to represent an assistance point for drivers.

Evocative; a scene which could only be from the Targa Florio. This is the Vic Elford/Van Lennep Alfa being fueled up.

One of Carlo Chiti’s Darkest Moments: The 1972 Targa Florio

Autodelta had made a major concerted effort to win here and threw the entire weight and prestige of the parent company behind this effort, under the assumption that Ferrari would not bother to enter the race, having a good lead in the World Manufacturer’s Championship. However, at the last minute, Ferrari entered a 312P to be driven by Arturo Merzario and Sandro Munari. Still with four cars entered for Vaccarella/Stommelen, Elford/Van Lennep, de Adamich/ Hezemans and Nanni Galli/Helmut Marko, Chiti was confident of a win.

I had been driving the circuit fairly quickly in my Giulia 1600 with my camera on the passenger seat...it was all I could do to avoid clipping this Ferrari 312P coming toward me at full speed while at the same moment capturing this image. The one car entry took Autodelta by surprise.

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Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 3: Rebirth

February 16, 2015 By pete

1973 Ferrari Daytona driven by Scuderia Brescia Corse President Ugo Beretta in the Varano circuit during the Mille Miglia Tribute in 2009. He won it.

Story by Dino Brunori

As we have seen in Part 2, Read Part 2 Scuderia Brescia Corse seemed to have died, but, as we mentioned, fire was smoldering in the ashes. One day in the spring of 1994 Dr. Belponer received a phone call from his first vice president, Ugo Gussalli Beretta. A group of friends who were active in historic racing had gathered around Beretta, who explained to Belponer the desire of these friends to revive the never-forgotten name of Scuderia Brescia Corse. Belponer was surprised and delighted of this request and gave his approval, leaving the name in the hands of these new/old friends, happy to see his badge up on the shields again until his death at 83, in 2009.

So in 1994 new blood was injected into the veins of the Scuderia and the transfusion worked perfectly. At the beginning they were just 30 friends active in historic racing, very proud of the lioness badge on their cars, but within a couple of years the requests of new gentleman drivers flocked in. The board then decided to keep the rule, as always in the past, of 100 members only.

1949 Stanguellini 1100 owned by Paolo Mazzoldi.

One thing was common to all of the new members: the passion for historic racing like regularity time trials, hillclimbs, formula racing, and even concours d’elegance. Not all the members are drivers, because in regularity the co-driver is as important as the driver, and over the years this helped to build very strong relationship in the crews, that often last longer than a marriage!

In the last 20 years the Scuderia has been very active on the Italian playground, but many important races abroad have also seen the cars with the white and blue badge on the bonnet. Just to mention a few of them: Le Mans Classic, Tour Auto France, Tour de Espana, Slovenia Classic Marathon, Liege-Rome-Liege, Ennstal Classic, Rallye des Alpes, Mil Millas Argentina, and the Monaco GP Historic. The results are also in line with the story: since the revival in 1994, Scuderia Brescia Corse has collected 164 overall victories, including 2 Mille Miglia, 4 Gran Premio Nuvolari, 1 Tour Auto France, 2 times Le Mitiche Sport, 1 Mil Millas Argentina and 4 Winter Marathon events.

Maria Vittoria Pasotti, daughter of 'PAM', with the trophies won by her father.

[Read more…]

A Look at the Ferrari 488 GTB

February 16, 2015 By pete

Ferrari's new 488GTB.

By Wallace Wyss
Photos courtesy Ferrari Media

It’s hard to believe that the 458 Italia, which seems so new to me, is already the “old model” and Ferrari is replacing it with a new model called the 488 GTB, essentially the Italia with many improvements and a turbocharged engine. They promise that the new berlinetta will offer more driving pleasure than the old one, in terms of “nimbleness and on-the-limit driving.” [Read more…] about A Look at the Ferrari 488 GTB

A VeloceToday Speciale Edition for February 13, 2015

February 12, 2015 By pete

Four Guys at Retro did a tremendous job for us despite the cold, crowds, deadlines and bad travel weather. We thank Alessandro Gerelli from Milan, who covered the Italian makes, Hugues Vanhoolandt from Belgium, who snapped the French cars, Jonathan Sharp from the U.K. who made art of art, and from the south of France, Graham Gauld at his most memorable.

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Four Guys at Retro: Vanhoolandt and the French

February 12, 2015 By pete

Everybody has heard about the sale of the Baillon collection of nearly 60 cars in desperate state for most of them. Here on the same picture, the most well preserved cars, the Maserati A6 G 2000 Frua coupé in the background, and the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California once owned by French actor Alain Delon, sold for an incredible $18.5 million.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Click on pics to enlarge

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Retromobile show in Paris. Over the years it became a must-see event that starts the classic car season on the European continent and it continues to grow in size and quality. The sale of the well-publicized Baillon collection attracted even more spectators, who had to queue for some time to access the hall where the barn finds were exposed.

The Maserati, which went to an American buyer for $2.2 million, is one of only four A6G 2000 bodied by Frua. It was the 1956 Paris Motor Show car and in the Baillon family since 1959.

Apart from the usual manufacturers and dealers displays, many themes were developed with a retrospective of the production of Spanish manufacturer Pegaso, a selection of cars from the collection of Corrado Lopresto from Italy, a gathering of Bugatti Royales, the production cars of Matra, etc.

Yes, there were Pegasos, but you missed them. Fortunately Hugues did not, and we'l present Hugues' Pegaso pics in depth in another issue of VT.

But first take a look to the sale that made the headlines and to some French rarities.

The Baillon collection was presented in a very dark environment, giving an ambiance of mystery to these cars coming to light for the first time since decades. Another highlight was this Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport by Saoutchik, already featured here in VT ( Baillon barnfind part 3). It went for $1.9 million.

This Talbot-Lago T150C was also a car owned by Baillon until 1979 when a first batch of cars went on public sale due to his transport business bankruptcy. 1936 French ACF Grand Prix, 1937 Mille Miglia, 1938 Le Mans 24 hours are just some of the races in which this car took part with various bodies.

[Read more…]