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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Goodwood Festival of Speed: Drivers

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Derek Bell helps celebrate the 60 years of McLaren.

Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Familiar faces, new faces, young faces, and certainly some old faces. With this years Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 14-18) not just celebrating 75 years of Motor Racing at Goodwood but also the 60th anniversary of McLaren, 75 years of Porsche and the 100th anniversary of Le Mans. The bike guys from Moto GP were there and certainly plenty of well known and some not so well known (to me) faces to spot during what, unfortunately due to the weather, became a somewhat truncated and shortened weekend. Due to an inability to be at two places at once the following are those stars I managed to catch, for the ones I missed, sorry! We remind you that if you are in need of more information about any of the drivers below, highlight the name, go to Google, paste.

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In the Shadow of Checkpoint Charlie

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Greetings from Berlin: Ralph Mantel and Stefanie Schmidt with the Sestriere.

Story by Ralph Mantel
Photos by Blazej Zulawski at Classic Driver

July 8th, 2023, a hot summer night in Berlin, one of those nights you don’t want to go to bed but rather go out and enjoy the temperatures with cold drinks and wonderful people, perhaps attending the Berlin Flitzer Club and Classic Driver Meeting. The Club is gathering together and inviting their people for an privately held event called “Gran Futurismo.“

It is happening inside an Industrial Power Substation built in 1924, located in the former East Berlin, just around the corner from Checkpoint Charlie. Have you ever heard about CPC? During the cold war CPC was a guarded gate inside the Wall of Berlin. The gate connected Berlin’s American sector to the Russian district. Numerous spy movies play around Checkpoint Charlie. Now, after the German reunion the area is right in the heart of Berlin (Berlin Mitte) and hip and cool.

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Heveningham Concours 2023

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1960 Bristol 406 Sports Saloon by Zagato. This example is chassis 5299, one of six constructed, that was sold by Tony Crook to Richard Robinson, a well-known Bristol owners club member, who retained the car for three decades. Compared to a standard 406, the Zagato Sports Saloon is shorter, lower, and lighter to the tune of 260kg giving the car a top speed in the order of 120 mph. Between 2002 and 2005, 5299 was restored as to how it appeared at the 1960 Earls Court Motor Show.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Information provided by event organizers

I am writing this intro to the Heveningham show on what has for me become a free Saturday (July 15) as day three of the Festival of Speed at Goodwood has just been cancelled, meaning I can stay home. The sun is shining but it is very windy, not kind to tents and other temporary structures built on the Goodwood Estate. What a change to last Saturday (July 8th) when I was in Suffolk at Heveningham Hall for the Country Fair and Concours where the sun shone down but the heat and humidity were to put mildly…yuk!. So here is our report from that somewhat better weekend.

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Allen R. Kuhn: Maserati 150S, 200S, 450S

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Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn

It’s time to dust off the old negs, with a camel hair brush, I might add. The ones that seem to want attention are from my Maserati archives. That’s good because they were some of my favorites. What drew me to them was their beautiful lines and stunning sounds. Another thing that drew them to me happened in 2007 at the Automobilia Monterey event during the August Car Week.

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Louis Bionier and the End of Panhard

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Panhard’s last stand.

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2014

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Read Part 3

The mighty influence of Citroën (minority shareholder but major client) in the running of Panhard became most apparent when the Panhard management in 1959 started to plan a successor of their PL 17. Monsieur Pierre Bercot, Citroën’s boss, made it clear to Jean Panhard that they would not support the Panhard Company to invest in the development of a new mid-sized ‘berline’ (four door sedan). His argument was that Citroën was shortly going to introduce the Ami, an upgraded version on the platform of the 2CV and was already working on a totally new mid-sized model (the GS) to be launched in 1970. It would be a folly to compete with each other in this segment.

However, it was agreed that there was room in the Citroën/Panhard range for a sporting two-door coupé. Thanks to its many victories in rallies and at Le Mans, the name Panhard was associated with successful small high performance cars. They should now cash in on this favorable image. Thus the idea was born to develop the Panhard 24 (the name linked to the famous 24 Hours race at Le Mans).

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100th Anniversary Le Mans Classic

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Even Shelby Cobra Daytona designer and occasional VeloceToday contributor Peter Brock (with the green cap) was on hand to support the Cobra Daytona teams.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Le Mans Classic has traditionally been held in even years. However, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and Peter Auto have deviated from the rule this year given that 2023 is the year of the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For this unique occasion, eleven grids were brought together with 800 cars entered as well as 200 clubs representing 9,200 cars. Spectators came in large numbers; the classic event reached the figure of 235,000 three weeks after the 325,000 spectators who attended the ‘real’ 24 Hours race. This is proof that motorsport is not about to die and is even doing better than ever.

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Here’s Why I Bought a Bristol

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A Citroen and a Bristol?

Story by Brandes Elitch

I have learned over time, mostly the hard way, that when an extraordinary thing happens in life, you must seize the moment because you won’t get a second chance. You could not call this a rational or logical decision and possibly not a good financial decision; it was clearly an emotional decision, but there was nothing to be done but to pack up the car with the Motoring Dog. I told him, “Stan, let’s do this,” and he wagged his tail. [Read more…] about Here’s Why I Bought a Bristol

Participating in the 2023 Mille Miglia

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Joe Hurwich with his 1931 Aston Martin Le Mans on his fourth Mille Miglia.

By Joe Hurwich
Photos by Fabian Gallucci

On June 13th Bob Goldberg (co driver) and I started the Mille Miglia in my 1931 Aston Martin Le Mans; it was my 4th time and his 1st. My 1st Mille was in 2018 in a 1938 MG SA, then in 2019 with an original Mille car-a 1957 Fiat 600 (1st car to start the race in 1957 – this car has finished 5 Mille’s since I bought it in 2017) and in 2021 with my Aston Martin which was covered in VeloceToday.

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Bionier Part 3: The Dyna Gets Real

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2014

Since the mid-thirties, when he had developed the body of the Dynamic, Bionier had been interested in aerodynamics. He loved to watch birds in the air and fish in aquaria. Their movements and shapes fascinated him. During the war years he had studied and even made some scale models to determine how the postwar Panhards should look.

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Mille Miglia 2023

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Sweet Mille Miglia …

Photos and captions by Vincent Yernaux
Introduction by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The 1000 Miglia 2023 was the 41st historical re-enactment of the “most beautiful race in the world, ” as once said Enzo Ferrari.
Once again, and for the third year running, it took place in the middle of the month of June, when the weather and hours of daylight offers the best possible conditions for the participants and spectators.

For the first time, the race took place over five days instead of the usual four with a start in Brescia and stages in the towns of Cervia-Milano Marittima, on the Adriatic coast, Roma, Parma, for the first time Milano and arrival in Brescia.

For the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force, the route of the 1000 Miglia passed through different military airbases during each leg.
In terms of numbers, 417 crews took the start and the brands most represented were Alfa Romeo (53 entrants), Fiat (44), Lancia (28), Mercedes (26) and Porsche (24) while there were 16 starting Ferraris but several of them quickly gave up.

But let’see all this through the images. (Scroll down for Ferrari) [Read more…] about Mille Miglia 2023

For the Fourth of July: MacDonald’s #00 Vette

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Art by Ed Tillock

Story by Ernie Nagamatsu

For a fitting Fourth of July, we are very happy to publish an article about the Max Balchowsky-built Corvette Special #00 as raced by Dave MacDonald, who launched his career racing Corvettes, graduated to Cobras and King Cobras, then on to Indianapolis in 1964, where he tragically died driving the Thompson Sears Special at the age of 27. Says Keeper of the Flame Ernie Nagamatsu, “Dave was the ‘chosen one’ in American motorsport, winning championships with ease at all levels. He was on a ‘mercurial’ rise as fans everywhere watched his journey. Dave was the ultimate American hero, being a crew cut handsome as a movie star Hot Rodder, family man, racing American sports cars.”

Nagamatsu was instrumental in the reconstruction of the famed #00 Corvette special, and describes the Official Launch and first viewing of the 1961 #00 MacDonald Corvette, after a two- year build, at Kent, Washington, Pacific Northwest Historic Races this past weekend.

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The Short, Exciting Life of Ron Flockhart

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Ron Flockhart the start of the 1957 Mille Miglia.

Story by David Ross

Jim Clark may have been Scotland’s first World Champion, but he was not Scotland’s first regular Grand Prix driver. Born in Edinburgh in 1923, Ron Flockhart was to become a contracted driver for the BRM Grand Prix team for whom he drove in nine races.

After school, he went on to Edinburgh University where he studied mechanical engineering and was one of the first to join the University Air Squadron. It was while he was there in 1940 that he came to know Hugh Langrishe, their shared interests in motor cycles, motor racing and aviation leading to them becoming firm friends.

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