VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

pete

The Inter-Seasonal Sounds of Fury

By

By Philippe Defechereux
Photos courtesy Planet F1

Well, well, well. This may be the first inter-season in a long time to prove more thrilling, exciting and dramatic than the racing season itself. Last month in Part 1, we used the words “staccato of events” to describe the early post-season events. Now, we need to use something much stronger like “major news releases at maximum revs.” And that’s 19,000 rpms as befits F1. Let’s hear these latest loud sounds of fury; we suggest wearing earplugs.

In order of amplitude:

* Schumi is back. Great blasts of trumpets and fireworks! Anybody who would have predicted this in writing six months ago would have quickly been taken to the loony house (next to Max Mosley’s favorite club). [Read more…] about The Inter-Seasonal Sounds of Fury

This Week, of Interest

By

This week, something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Bet you’ve heard that before but trite or not, it is so true. The old is the Talbot Darracq Grand Prix car of 1926, the new is our three layer in-depth coverage, the photos we borrowed from Stuart Anderson, LAT via Austin Harris the Ultimatecarpage and Vince Johnson. The blue is obvious.

Although our journey with the Talbot Darracq began long ago in April of last year, since that time, owner Stuart Anderson decided to put the magnificent beast up for sale. It will be at the Bonhams Auction on January 23rd, at Retromobile, Paris.

Not included in the triptych is our book review of “The Classic Twin Cam Engine” but a perfect tie-in anyway. Don’t miss it.

Stuart Anderson was absolutely wonderful and patient through the entire process of putting together the articles for this week. We are looking for other owners of both French and Italian cars who can take the time and provide the photos and information we need to bring you in depth articles such as these.

VeloceToday is now up on Facebook. Click here: VeloceToday. Your editor is also on Facebook. this will give us a way to present material such as backstories, anecdotes, previews or discussions which don’t really have a place in the VeloceToday today website. Facebook allows us an informal structure, while the WordPress VeloceToday.com is a formal, weekly presentation. Or at least that’s the thinking here. Your opinions are welcome. My facebook page is http://www.facebook.com and search Pete Vack, so check there for daily items of interest and log your comments.

This Week, of Interest

By

ww-portrait-s.jpg ww-ford-gt-cover-125.jpg ww-boxer-lm-480.jpg ww-250lm-s.jpg

Wallace A. Wyss is a guy of many talents, from artist (left), to author (Ford GT40) to poster creator and fine art photographer (Ferrari 250LM). Not to mention the many articles he has written for VeloceToday, the most recent being “The Car That Saved Maserati” in last week’s edition. His new book, his artwork and photos are all on his VeloceToday webpage, and we urge you to take a look.

There will be no issue of VeloceToday on December 23rd or the 30th due to the Holidays, so we’ve doubled up this week’s VeloceToday. Below:

Santa in a Silver Spyder
Book Review, Racing Blue, Green and Silver
Cost of our Passion at Bonhams
Simeone’s Automotive Hippocratic Oath
Shell Historics for 2010

We wish you all a very happy Holiday Season and see you in January.

Santa in a Silver Spyder

By


If Johnny ever thought counting the days to Christmas was tough, it was nothing compared to waiting for his ride in the Spyder. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The following true story is based on the recollections of John Wiech, who bent my ear for a few hours at a car meet last year. Our apologies for a story about Porsches but it’s the truth and it’s a sin to tell a lie, particularly at Christmas time. [Ed.]

The subject had started another family argument. Johnny had become enamored with a rare foreign car but no one knew exactly how to pronounce the name. It was German, or no, not really, “…it’s Austrian,” said his Dad. “But it’s made in Stuttgart,” said Johnny, being careful to put the “sch” in. He reasoned that the sch in the car’s name might sound the same and the vowel at the end be pronounced. His older sister said otherwise. “It’s Porch, as in front porch or back porch, without the e.”

She always thought she was so smart.
[Read more…] about Santa in a Silver Spyder

This Week, of Interest

By

Phyllis Devine,
The long time editor of The Alternate: A Chronicle of 20th
Century Motor Racing, Phyllis Devine of Grantville Pennsylvania, passed away Tuesday, December 1, 2009 in the Select Specialty Hospital, Harrisburg.

Phyllis was a remarkable woman and a true friend. She shied, however, from accepting the public credit she deserved. One major service to racing history she performed was publishing the recollections of various American race car drivers of the early years before their stories were lost. She was brave, too, often printing articles in the little homespun “journal” she founded and edited for 21 years that rankled some readers who seemed less interested in racing history than in their version of racing history. She published racers and historians alike. I was delighted to see VT’s Michael Lynch writing for her a few months ago. Although The Alternate dealt only with American racing history through 1970, Phyllis was happy to print my article on the French Bugatti/Alfa racer Helle Nice’s American tour in 1930.

She was implacable, however, when it came to the visuals I sent, one of which was a photo of the dancer-turned-racer in her tutu. That image, Phyllis said, was inappropriate! She printed the others.

Surviving are: her husband, Joseph Devine, racing enthusiast and race car builder; a son, Thomas M. Gutzler and his wife, Grace Lynn, of New Oxford; 2 grandchildren, Jessica and Joseph Gutzler of Florida. She was preceded in death by son Wallace Gutzler.

We will sincerely miss Phyllis–and The Alternate, truly a part of motorsports publishing history–and our condolences go out to Joe and family.

Patricia Lee Yongue

Bill Scott
We are sorry to hear that Bill Scott, 71, the owner of Summit Point Raceway, passed away on Dec. 7, 2009. He had been in the hospital since Thanksgiving. Bill was instrumental in developing Summit Point since he purchased the West Virginia racetrack in 1980. As Summit Point was less than two hours from Washington D.C., Scott enhanced the facility by adding courses in accident avoidance and counter terrorism techniques in addition to sports car and motocycle events. He will be sorely missed.

______________________________________________________________

The National Geographic Channel will be broadcasting a show on Thurday, December 10th called “Ultimate Factories”. It is a one hour tour of the Ferrari factory and follows the building and testing of a 599. Our thanks to Dick Irish for this note.

From the Archives: A Look at the Citroen SM

By

citroen sm

The SM; Advance, French, Italian and totally unique.

Story and Photos by Stephen Glenn

The reputation of the Citroen SM precedes most of our actual knowledge of the car itself. Frighteningly complex hydraulics, rusty uni-bodies, electrical gremlins and unobtanium parts all immediately come to mind when considering the car. While these descriptors can apply to many cars, they are particularly associated with Citroens here in the States.

It is only upon careful consideration of the SM, its historical place and technological sophistication that one begins to truly appreciate its qualities. [Read more…] about From the Archives: A Look at the Citroen SM

F1: The Inter-Seasonal Sounds of Fury

By

By Philippe Defechereux

The 2009 season has been over for more than a month, and yet a staccato of shock announcements keeps crossing the wires and two or three major developments are still pending:

The inter-season started early, hailed by a thundering and Wagnerian blast of organ pipes. It came from Stuttgart to announce the refounding of the famed Mercedes-Benz GP team of yore. M-B AG boldly absorbed the victorious and Mercedes-powered Brawn GP team and renamed it as its own. The cars will again be called “Silver Arrows” while Ross Brawn will stay at the helm and report to Norbert Haug. A strong relationship with McLaren will be maintained, especially as concerns engine supply. Enzo Ferrari shivered in his grave. [Read more…] about F1: The Inter-Seasonal Sounds of Fury

This Week, of Interest

By

In 1905, wealthy British landowner Hugh Locke King and his wife drove to Italy, reaching Brescia in time for the Coppa Florio road race. Locke King noticed the lack of British entrants, and realized that “…a British car would stand no chance against those from France and Italy.”

Upon returning to Surrey, Lock King began the construction of a modern banked racing facility on his property and called it Brooklands. The rest is history and in this case, a very interesting and concise history as written by VeloceToday correspondent, Nicholas Lancaster. His new book is now available for only $12.95 plus shipping at www.shirebooks.co.uk.
________________________________________________________________

2010 Calendar
A new 2010 calendar is a joint project between Jamie Doyle, SportcarDigest.com and Dennis Gray. It can be purchased and sample images seen by going to www.sportscardigest.com

Size: 13 x 10.5 inches

Details: 13 months (January 2010 through January 2011)

Price: $39.99, which includes shipping within the United States and Canada.

Below, Classic Adelaide, Famous Cars and Their Badges, Via Flaminia Tour.

Classic Adelaide Rally 2009

By

ad-10.jpg

Story and Photos by Vince Johnson

November 18-22 2009

South Australia’s Classic Adelaide Rally celebrated its 13th anniversary with the tried and true formula of four days of loops into the hills and surrounding country on closed public roads. Home base was once again the Hilton Hotel in the center of the city. [Read more…] about Classic Adelaide Rally 2009

Just for Fun–Famous Cars, circa 1954

By

You probably know someone who keeps old newspapers; yellowed, full of mold, faded to brown at the edges and decaying with both alacrity and odor…

The headlines are usually “Pearl Harbor Bombed”, or “Kennedy Assassinated”, or “Long Live the Queen”. The ones lying about the office of VeloceToday are old and yellowed enough, but the headlines are “Famous Cars and Their Badges”. We all have our quirks.

All three pages seen at left are from “The Topper”, an English tabloid-sized comic book which was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and ran from 1953 to 1990. The “Famous Cars and Their Badges” page may be familiar to our British readers. These date from December 1953 and January 1954, and were shipped (literally) from England to the U.S. some fifty-six years ago.


In those days, schools encouraged their students be a “pen pal”, and write to students overseas, thus learning about others in strange and distant lands. My late sister was one such avid letter writer, and when she was about ten years old began a pen pal relationship with a student about her age living in England by the name of Mary Ellerby. Back in the USofA, from Mary we learned about Queen Elizabeth, Cadbury’s chocolates, and a bit of the history of Great Britain. The Queen was pretty, the Cadburys sweet, but please send me something about the cars, said I through my older sister. And so she did, sending these clippings which now lie dormant and decomposing.

Take a look at the Ferrari, no doubt an artist’s conception of a Vignale bodied 212 and based on S/N 0090 E, which had been tested by “Autocar” magazine in June of 1951. Even though already two years old, the Ferrari made other designs seem hopelessly outdated, as if they were hastily drawn up to be outfitted on some pre-war chassis. This was also very obvious to even a seven-year old, probably sowing the seeds of a passion for Italian cars that has yet to subside, which is probably why these crumbling English comics are still hanging about the office. Now that we’ve had them this long, no use in throwing them away now, is there? So we thought we’d share them with our readers. Did the pen pals separated by the big waters ever meet each other? Nope.

And there you have it, just for fun, on this day of December 2nd, 2009.

This Week, of Interest

By

alfa-tin-and-card-2.jpg

This week, a little light, a little early due to the Thanksgiving holidays. We review Bruce Taylor’s second Montreal book, present a rare Fiat 500 brochure from 1960, and from our Archives, the birth of a Giulietta.

Be sure to order your favorite books in time for the holidays. Check our the VeloceToday bookstore for new titles; more are added on a weekly basis.

MENU