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The Artist Goes Racing

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At Brands Hatch with the Formula Two Cooper Climax.

By Rodney Diggens
Photos from the Diggens Collection

As we put together a bit about the life of Rodney Diggens, he sent over a few photos from his racing days, which in turn begged the questions the editor asks below.

How and when did you become interested in cars and racing?

My brief involvement in motorsport is probably best described, on reflection, as foolhardy, even reckless! The whole venture was, from the outset, hopelessly penurious. But having spent an exciting day at Brands Hatch in a Formula Two Cooper Climax the bug had well and truly bitten! [Read more…] about The Artist Goes Racing

Fuori Concorso Part 2

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

We continue with the Fuori Concorso coverage. Above, the free ice cream courtesy of Porsche was especially welcome, and the mint flavor complete with real mint leaves was divine. Now back to the cars. As before, no guarantees on identifications, but let us know if we have gone astray for the record.

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2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Hypercar

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The third Ferrari 499P entered finished 8th overall and 3rd among the private teams.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Traditionally, the 6 Hours of Spa constitutes the last WEC event before the most important race of the year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which takes place a month later. This year is no exception, the Belgian race being already the third round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship.

Run in almost summer weather, it had a rather improbable outcome. Indeed, the race had to be interrupted after around 4 hours following a major accident involving a Hypercar, the Cadillac of Earl Bamber, and an LMGT3, the BMW of Sean Gelael.

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Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 2

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Rodney Diggens, with camera at the British Grand Prix, 1953, inspecting Fangio’s A6GCM.

By Rodney Diggens

Read Part 1

Back in London, the war was over and my education had just begun in earnest. I started my art training at The Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in South London aged just 13 in 1950. And it was all about drawing and yet more drawing. But then as now, it’s hard to earn a living as an artist. We looked at other possibilities. [Read more…] about Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 2

2024 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, LMGT3

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Victory in the LMGT3 category ultimately went to the Manthey Porsche, the #91. This is its first good result of the year, as the first two races went poorly.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

We continue with the Spa 6 Hour enduro, focusing on the LMGT3 class.

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Marquis of Mystery: Dreams of Glass

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Announcing the Rogue.

In Part 1, Smith described the search for the elusive “Marquis” which resulted in the amazing barn find of the Rédélé Special Number 2 in Pennsylvania. Part 2 deals with an eager American businessman, Zark W. Reed, who had a plan for Jean Rédélé and his car. Above, the Rogue; was this design by French racing driver Louis Rosier really the “Marquis”? And what is the connection to Rédélé? Read on.

By Roy Smith

Dreams of Glass
1953 witnessed the first Chevrolet Corvette to roll off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. The concept of an all-glass-fiber production sports car had just become a reality. Glass fiber had arrived on the scene many years before. In the 1880s a glass maker from Massachusetts by the name of Edward Drummond Libbey had first discovered that glass in fiber “staple” silk-like format could be woven as a fabric – he even had a dress made that was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair in 1893.

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Ecurie Ecosse Tour 2024

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One of the four Porsche Carrera 2.7 RSs chases a Ferrari Dino amidst the splendor of the Scottish Highlands.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

The Ecurie Ecosse Tour has been running now for nearly forty years as a four-day event which is not competitive, but simply an invited gathering of friends with a mutual interest in cars and racing.

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Italian Car Day, Brooklands 2024

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Fiat 2300 Ghia, behind which is BAC 1/11 G-ASYD. Throughout its 29-year flying career SYD was used as a test aircraft for various variants and for testing technical equipment including ‘Fly by Light Control Technology.’ Donated to the museum by British Aerospace Airbus Ltd and landing at Brooklands (her 5004th landing) on the 14th July 1994.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

“Just follow the F40!” Not something I have said before but when my pal asked me which junction we needed to exit the motorway, it sounded so much better than “this one.” The F40 had just passed us, by the way, and it was obvious that we were both heading to the same event. So where were we going on this bright spring morning (4th May)?

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Mimmo Dei’s Scuderia Centro Sud

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Story by Graham Gauld

If you were a journeyman racing driver or a tyro and lived near Modena, Guglielmo Dei’s Scuderia Centro Sud had many attractions.

First of all, it was a driver’s school, but it was also a club with its own clubhouse in a small villa at 646 via Emilia Ovest. There, you could sit at tables under the trees and talk motor racing or perhaps share stories of how you had driven a racing car on the nearby Modena Autodromo.

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Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 1

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Rodney Diggens is known for his dramatic paintings of automobiles and aircraft. But before he found success as an artist, Diggens experienced the bombing of London and the evacuation of the children to the safer countryside. This is his painting, and this is his story.

Editor: It’s hard to imagine that there are still many about who are old enough to vividly remember the war years in the UK. But Rodney Diggens lived through those years and in fact participated in one of the great social experiments ever – moving out thousands of school children from London to the countryside where they would be safe from German bombing. He was part of the biggest migration in British history. Augmenting his story is information gleaned from the Imperial War Museum’s website.

Story and art by Rodney Diggens

Back in 2015, VeloceToday’s editor Pete Vack came searching for that fellow Diggens, and in particular an illustration of Jean-Pierre Wimille. Seems that he remembered my work for the British magazine, Thoroughbred and Classic Cars. And that was many years ago, in the 1970s!

Well, of late, I’ve been taking a more leisurely approach to life. Painting mostly for my own amusement, slipping back in time hoping to recapture those wonderful days of yore. And thanks to VeloceToday I’m getting lots o’ that. This time around, the editor asked me to talk about my life as an artist. [Read more…] about Motoring Artist Rodney Diggens Part 1

Marquis of Mystery Part 1

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From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2012

A rare barn find in the States leads Roy Smith to Alpine’s Jean Rédélé, French Champion Louis Rosier, the post-war US sports car craze, Porsche champion Bob Holbert, and back to France for Retromobile, all in search of a car that never existed. An incredible story in three parts.

By Roy Smith

“The car belonged to my father, Raymond Buckwalter; he drove it for a while, and then parked it. I soon found out why he parked it when I wanted to drive the car for a few months in 1958. Every time I turned the motor off and left it for a while, the car wouldn’t start again without a push. This kind of thing you remember, believe me! I always parked in the same parking lot and the attendant always saved a spot for me. Five days a week they would push me to get it started. I guess my father figured I couldn’t go shopping unless I could find some kind person to push it a few feet, but as I was a young lady at the time, I always found some kind gentleman to give me a push. It was the battery; something was draining it. Rather than fix it my father liked to challenge me and he would often laugh at how I managed these small challenges. Now the memory of it makes me laugh – I can just imagine me in a parking lot at my age trying to get someone to give my car a push! When I went to get it painted in the late 90s we found traces of blue, so I assumed that was the original color.” —Mary Ann Wood

Photo of the strange French special taken by the Wood family in 2009.

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Sir Stirling Moss Service at Westminster

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

A service of Thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey is a very rare and special occasion, and not something you would expect to be conducted for a racing driver. Such is the respect held for Sir Stirling Moss, who was recently honored with a service at the Abbey, delayed after his death in 2020 by the pandemic. I found out about this unique happening from a friend, who in an email wrote, ‘Quick, there is going to be a service of Thanksgiving to Sir Stirling Moss at 11am on the 8th May, and it is going to be in Westminster Abbey! Go onto the web site now and see if you can book tickets.”

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