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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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This Week, of Interest

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Toly Arutunoff update
Toly Arutunoff, race driver, racetrack owner and VeloceToday contributor, was severely injured last week after stopping to help a motorist in a snowstorm in Texas. He lost one leg at the scene of the accident and the other was crushed.This is the latest from his wife Karen:
Tomorrow will be surgery #4. Toly continues to amaze with his strength of spirit and mind if not body. He has no memory of the past week for the most part but seems to know exactly how this tragedy happened. He survived by the grace of God. Please send Valentine cards to: OU Medical Center-Presbyterian 700 NE 13th Street, Room 318 (Anatoly Arutunoff), Oklahoma City, OK 73104. Karen is updating information on his condition on her Facebook page, Karen Arutunoff

This week: One Premium article, and four regular features, so scroll down.

Iso Rivolta Four Passenger Vintage Racer

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Peter Whitehead hustles his four-seat racer through a turn. Photo by Racecarshot.com.

By Brian Winer

You would think, in a country like Italy, that once seeing Ferrari V12s or Maserati V8s in action, any Italians thinking of building high performance cars to compete with them would throw up their hands and say “It is useless to compete—you cannot improve upon perfection.”

And then there were guys like Renzo Rivolta who, after venturing from the refrigerator making business into cars with the tiny BMW Isetta in the fifties, decided to make a grand touring coupe.

Not using an Italian engine, of great complexity and cost, but an off the shelf Chevy V8 with an iron block, iron heads, overhead valves, low tech but high horsepower.

The result? A four seater coupe that can be out there on the same race course as a Ferrari or Maserati four-seater and blow their doors off. And if you live in the U.S. and blow a part, hey, you stop at Auto Zone or the nearest junkyard. Try that with your Ferrari or Maser.

The first Rivolta was shown in the Turin show in 1962. If you dig into its history you find that it actually was a phoenix arising out of the ashes of a British project called the Gordon Keeble.

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This Week, of Interest

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This week, we present our second Premium article, Gilda, the Movie, the Star, the Inspiration. It is another in a growing series of articles now available for our Premium members. For the many who have subscribed, thanks and there is far more to come!

Gilda is followed by four freebies so be sure to scroll down:
TV Series contract for Wyss Shelby Book
Ferrari F150 F1 in detail
Cavallino XX , The Breakers
Palm Beach International, Mar-a-Lago

Gilda: The Inspiration

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By Pete Vack

What does an engineer in Italy, a Brooklyn-born American movie star and a car shown at the 1955 Turin Auto Show have in common? Gilda, of course, a movie produced by Columbia Studios in 1946 and directed by Charles Vidor.

For Engineer Giovanni Savonuzzi, Rita Hayworth’s unforgettable performance as Gilda prompted him to christen his latest most

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The Drivers TV Series Announced: Local Boy Makes Good

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Local Boy Makes Good; didn’tcha always want to write that headline? Me too, and we at VeloceToday are very happy to finally use it this week. Mr. Wyss, our own “local boy” who has been writing for VelcoeToday since 2008 may be on the brink of something big.

Of the four in the cover photo, only Shel is still around.

On January 26th, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the commercial and brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, announced that Scott Free Inc. has joined Headline Pictures, Sennet Entertainment and FME on The Drivers, a series based on the high-octane 24 hour motor race in Le Mans during the 1950s/1960s. The series is based upon a book Shelby: The Man The Cars The Legend, written by Wallace A. Wyss and optioned to the famous production team from his publisher, Iconografix. Topny and Ridley Scott(director of the movies Alien and Blade Runner) will be co-producing the drama with Headline Pictures and Sennet Entertainment; FME is funding the project as part of their global drama strategy to develop and package drama series for the international market. [Read more…] about The Drivers TV Series Announced: Local Boy Makes Good

Lancia Flaminia Sales Brochures

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Once in a while I’m forced to go into the depths of our files to remember what I had forgotten we have lying around. Then I think, well, shucks, I bet our readers would like to see some of this stuff. And so, we give you the below without further editorializing. The first brochure is from 1966.
[Read more…] about Lancia Flaminia Sales Brochures

Via Flaminia 2011

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A Lancia will take us on a quick tour..

By Bart Kleyn
Driving through car-loving Italy.

Why is it that Italian cars are made for small curvy roads ? Why do Italian cars want to rev ? Is it possible this has to do with the roads for which they were conceived ?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions: go to Italy. If you do know the answer, then you want to go to Italy.
[Read more…] about Via Flaminia 2011

This Week, of Interest

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50th Anniversary of Formula One at Watkins Glen Events and Programs

The International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen has announced that Mario Andretti will be serving as the honorary chairman for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Formula One at Watkins Glen, a year-long celebration with a lot of great activities and events planned for 2011. Below is a calendar of confirmed events as of January 18th. We urge our readers to support these events and support the IMRRC with a donation. For details, go to their website at www.racingarchives.org.
January
~ Sir Jack Brabham’s Cooper Climax T51 on display at the Center.
~ Full series of Watkins Glen Formula One event posters on display at the Center.
~ Michael Turner paintings used for Formula One program covers and posters on display at the Center.
~ Bob Gillespie paintings of the 1961 and 1969 Formula One races on display at the Center.
February~ Feb. 26, 1 p.m.: Center Conversations talk by Bill Green and Michael Argetsinger about the Formula Libre races leading up to the Oct. 8, 1961 debut of Formula One at Watkins Glen, with a focus on the first race through film and slides.
April~ April 16: Formula One cars on display all day at the Center.
~ April 16: Showing of the documentary, “Making of Grand Prix,” all day at the Center.
~ April 16, 1 p.m.: Honor the 100th birthday of Bill Milliken, chief steward for Formula One races for the series’ first 10 years at Watkins Glen.
~ April 16, 3 p.m.: Center Conversations talk by motorsports writer Pete Lyons speaks about Formula One in the 1970s, when he was working in Europe for Autosport.
~ April 16, 6 p.m.: Showing of “Grand Prix” at The Glen Theater, Franklin Street, Watkins Glen. $5 donation for the Center requested.
~ April 17: Formula One cars on display at Watkins Glen International for Opening Weekend.
May~ May 7: Center Conversations talk by racing great Bobby Rahal on his experiences in both Formula One and the Indy 500. The Indy 500 is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
July~ July 9, 1 p.m.: Center Conversations talk by race fan and history buff Kevin Hughey to honor the American Formula One drivers who raced at Watkins Glen.
September~ Sept. 9: Launch of Michael Argetsinger’s new book “Formula One at Watkins Glen: 20 Years of the United States Grand Prix 1961-1980” at the Grand Prix Festival.
~ Sept. 9, 3 p.m.: Legends Speak at the Grand Prix Festival presents a panel of speakers about Formula One at Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen: A Walk Through History Then and Now

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A walk through the streets of Watkins Glen in 1950 would have revealed this Simca 8. Photo by Frank Shaffer.

In this article we have combined recent images of the town of Watkins Glen as it is today with never before published photos of a walk through the town in 1949 and 1950.

By Pete Vack with historic photos by Frank Shaffer

Visiting Watkins Glen is taking a walk—and a drive–through the history of American sportscar racing. Through the efforts of the late Cameron Argetsinger, road racing in U.S. began right here; you can tour the original, dangerous, yet beautiful circuit, virtually unchanged in 59 years. The original and complete circuit consisting of public roads has been not only preserved but protected under the National Register of Historic Places.

[Read more…] about Watkins Glen: A Walk Through History Then and Now

Ferrari Art

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I don't know who did the original Pininfarina Dino road car prototype drawing, maybe Pietro Brovarone? Of course, the first production 206GT road car had quite a few differences, but this was probably done after the Plexiglas- nosed four headlamp prototype. I like to find references to the designs early in the game so you can see how the designs developed.

By Brian Winer

Wallace A. Wyss is known to most sports car folks as a writer and author (with ten car history books to his credit), but in 2007 he re-discovered a long dormant talent for putting a brush to canvas and has since painted over 50 portraits of Ferraris. Brian Winer, Boston-born free lance writer and art connoisseur, interviewed Wyss to ask him what fascinates him so much about the prancing horse.
[Read more…] about Ferrari Art

All About our Premium Services

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This month we’ll officially launch our Premium Subscription Service, which will probably cause a bit of confusion. Above, the Gilda Epic begins next week for our Premium Subscribers. Please allow us this space to explain in some detail.

VeloceToday now effectively has two different subscription services—one free, just as before, and another paid subscription which offers exciting new features as well as access to our massive archives.

Regular Free Subscription—Nothing has changed
The regular, free subscription is easily accessed by putting your name and email address in the blue and white pop up box that you often see when you open VeloceToday. If you are not subscribed, but wish to receive VT every week for free, sign up there. To eliminate the pop up box, just click on the circled X. Subscribers will continue to receive VeloceToday fifty times a year with three or four free articles, just as before. If you already are a subscriber and do not wish to have the Premium Service, nothing changes, there is no need to do anything.

New Premium Subscription service—Subscribe only if you want
Our thanks to the many readers who have already subscribed to our Premium Service! As many have noted, most of our 1000 plus archived articles are now part of the Premium, or paid, subscription service. But in addition to that, for our Premium customers only, there will be additional, exclusive and in depth features, pdfs, and mcuh more. Next week we’ll begin with the first of four new and exclusive articles about the Ghia Gilda, the car, the legend, and a two part article about the designer, Giovanni Savonuzzi. There is much to come and a lot lined up. You will see banners such as above (the art thanks to Jodi Ellis) which will announce the new features as they go online. You can tell it’s going to be good!

If you choose not to pay for the premium service, but are a regular subscriber you will continue to receive VeloceToday just as before. You need do nothing.

If you would like to subscribe to the Premium Service, simply follow the form, using either credit card or paypal. Best bet is one year at $4.95 a month ($59.40 per year). Your credit card will show “Media Pass” as the biller, not VeloceToday, as Media Pass is the company handling the software and service. I’ve been working with the staff at Media Pass for a couple of months now, and I am very pleased with their help, knowledge, and ability to solve any problem or work any issue. If you have any problems, there is a help number, or email me directly at pete@velocetoday.com. We want to make sure ALL of our customers are satisfied.

Why are we doing this?
Premium Service seems to be the best of both worlds—VeloceToday continues on for free, maintaining a growing a huge subscriber base, and as an option, we can offer Premium Services for those who chose the new service. There are many other reasons, and I’d like to list four:
1. Overhead costs continue to rise. For example, once our mail out subscription service was free; is it now $50 a month and will double soon. Office supplies, computer upgrades, new software, increased server capacity are all on the increase. We also pay for advertising in “Classic and Sportscar” magazine every month, which unlike Internet ad rates, is very expensive.
This is a business, albeit a small one. So, Please Subscribe!
2. We would like to be able to pay our contributors—something we have not been able to do before. I’d guess a lot of our readers were not aware of this. Since other Internet periodicals are also beginning to charge and offer to pay contributors, we must stay ahead of the curve to retain the wonderful men and women who give their all for VeloceToday. How much and how often we pay will depend upon our reader’s willingness to subscribe to the Premium Service. So, Please Subscribe!!
3. Over the past year we have conducted a very successful contribution drive. IF the Premium Service succeeds, we can do away with the contribution drives, and actually offer something special to our supporters while costing them less. That’s the plan, and again, only our readers will determine if we can totally drop the rather annoying contribution drives. So, please Subscribe!
4. If VeloceToday is to survive, and in particular survive the editor and publisher, we must actively seek and train a qualified person who can assist when necessary and take over the reins when the time comes. We would be amiss if we did not address these needs now, while we can. Needless to say, such a position, unlike now, will require a salary. Our help wanted sign is out, btw, so send in your resumes.

Click here to sign up for the Premium Service! Form is at bottom of article.

And now we return you to our regular (and free) scheduled programs featuring OSCA Berlinettas, Bugatti World Record, and the Ferrari 458 Challenge.

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