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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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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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Louis Bionier and the Dyna Panhard

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‘Like in an airplane.. the Dyna will make you free from the harshness of the ground and its resonances’ is a free translation of the text in this Panhard publicity folder.

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, March 2014

In Part 1 of his look at Panhard’s remarkable Louis Bionier, Gijsbert-Paul Berk described how Bionier designed the Panoramic and Dynamic Panhards in the 1930s. In Part 2, we learn how the post-war Dyna X was developed.

Was the Panhard Dyna an automotive cuckoo’s egg?

There are some mysteries concerning the origin of the postwar Panhard Dyna. Was it designed by Jean-Albert Grégoire (as some French experts claim on Wikipedia) or by the duo Louis Delagarde, Louis Bionier at Panhard & Levassor? The story of the gestation of this interesting car was extensively described in the review by Peter Vack of the book ‘Panhard, the flat twin cars 1945-1967’ by David Beare on VeloceToday of 8 August 2013 but if you want to refresh your memory we must take you back to the prewar years.

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100th Anniversary of Le Mans Goes to Ferrari

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What a way to go! And below is Vanhoolandt’s superb report on this epic Le Mans, class by class.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

On June 10-11 2023, the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrated their 100th anniversary this year (but it was the 91st edition). It was necessary that this unique edition be so celebrated and that indeed was the case.

Thanks to new regulation, the top category of prototypes, called Hypercar, witnessed the return of the major manufacturers who had deserted the Sarthe classic as the cars complying with the previous regulations were too expensive to design and develop.

This has allowed the return of brands that have marked the history of the race such as Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche and the arrival next year of Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini. Toyota had remained faithful to the 24 hours during this transition period between the two regulations, which allowed it to impose itself over the last five years. It was one of the favorites this year and therefore had a lot to lose if it failed. This is what happened, the Japanese brand being the victim of the loss of a car early in the race following an accident, and also of a late change of equivalence between the different cars, the controversial ‘Balance of Performance’.

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Name that Car! Seavey Photo Art

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Talbot. 1955 Talbot Lago T26 GSL. 2014 Concorso car on the Plaza early one morning. I mentioned earlier about the recalcitrant pre-selector gearbox. This was the car in question. Only 19 of these were ever built, and this is the only one with a factory built 4.3 liter six, making 210 hp.

Photoart by Charley Seavey

In a few weeks we’ll feature early 1960s Grand Prix photos from the Seavey photo archives, but this week Charley shows more of his Santa Fe Concours photos from various years. You’ll see a Tubster, a rare in this country Maserati A6GCS/53, a car with no name and most impressive, an Isotta Fraschini Flying Star. Then there is the yellow TZ1 with a number reminiscent of the Bob Tullius race team. And see what happens when a lowrider lifts its skirts.
All here and more. Just enjoy.

Oh yes, the first reader to properly identify the car in the very last photo gets a free year’s subscription to VeloceToday. If you are already a subscriber, give it to a friend! Send your guess to vack@cox.net.

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South Australian Motorsport Series, 9-11 June

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#10 TRT Racing (China), Li Quang / Jonathan Cecotto

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

The entry list had an Italian and international flavour at round two of the SA Motorsport Series held earlier this month. Featured over the weekend was a full grid of twenty EVO2 Huracáns competing in the second round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia. Held, appropriately, on the five-kilometre International Circuit at The Bend Motorsport Park, near Tailem Bend on the River Murray south-east of the state capital, this was the Trofeo teams’ first time racing in Australia. Local racer Keith Wong kept the South Australian connection strong, co-driving with Dr. Ma Chi Min in the Kam Lung Racing entry, car #83.

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Louis Bionier Part 1

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Panhard-Dynamic by artist Alexis Kow.

From the VeloceToday Archives, March 2014

Who is Louis Bionier? Gijsbert-Paul Berk explains the great French engineer

It is well known that Panhard et Levassor, founded in 1886, was one of the French pioneers as manufacturers of automobiles. Panhard et Levassor constructed their first ‘motorcar’ in 1891. Many are familiar with the names of the great designers that shaped the coachwork of French automobiles in the years before and just after WWII. Still, it would not be surprising if only a few can place Louis Bionier and his work.

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Maserati’s Last Stand

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The Larry Shinoda sculpted Weismann-Maserati heading of for qualifying before the engine destroyed itself. (Unser Archives, Indy 500 Museum)

Story by Graham Gauld

In my last column I talked about the first Maseratis to visit Indianapolis; but how about the last one?

Yes, it puzzled me too so I started to go through the records. I will not bore you with the various Grand Prix Maseratis from the pre-WWII era that came, saw, but did not quite conquer the Indianapolis 500 but I can tell you many of those cars stayed in action long into the 1950s with different owners and sponsors. [Read more…] about Maserati’s Last Stand

London Concours and Lord Hesketh

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

If only I had been able to record this! The key speaker at the London Concours for me had to be Lord Alexander Hesketh, the founder of Hesketh Racing. Lord Hesketh appeared at the show as part of the launch of the book Superbears, The story of Hesketh Racing. The new book can be ordered at

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London Concours, 2023

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In the Wild Card class, Harry Metcalfe’s 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1600 Zagato. It was this actual car that Harry saw outside his parent’s house in 1973 that first fueled his interest in cars.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Tuesday, June the 6th, time for my annual trip to the green oasis in the City of London that is the Honourable Artillery Company for the seventh running of the London Concours. As it is held in the heart of the financial district the event is held midweek as that part of London is nigh on deserted at the weekend. So what were this years classes? Eclectic as usual, from Land Rovers to Lamborghinis with a bit of bespoke and a few wild cards to boot. The sun shone (eventually) and everybody went home happy. The following is just a selection of the beauties on show.

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The Search for an Appealing Appia

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A hint of what was to come.*

Story and photos by Luc van Dobben
From the VeloceToday Archives, May 2021

Read The Search for the Perfect Ardea

The search is complete.

After two disastrous trips to Italy to find a correct Ardea, I came to the conclusion that an old Lancia for nice trips in the country should at least have some more legroom and sufficient power to move around. An Appia it had to be, but at least one with the lovely old type grille so I went for a second series.

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Sharp and Friends at Savile Row

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Keynote speaker on the Thursday of the event was none other than Jackie Ickx, a very interesting speaker and a cool dude to boot. Here he is being interviewed by the Journalist Simon Taylor.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Thursday May 25th and it is off to the heart of London’s Mayfair for day two of the second Savile Row Concours. It has grown a bit with cars displayed not just in the home of British Tailoring, Savile Row, but also in the street outside the Royal Academy of Arts. The idea behind the event is to tie in the art of fine automobiles with the art of fine tailoring and to that end most of the tailors in the street had thrown their doors open to the public for presentations and exhibitions, and all of the vehicles entered were hosted by the tailors located nearest to their display spot. Being a free event and slap bang in the heart of London, it was crowded, but fine tailoring was very much in evidence amongst the attendees.

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Dale LaFollette: Heroes at Long Beach,1976

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At first, a small group of famous drivers gathered for the cameras; Moss, Fangio, Dreyfus, Hill and Gurney.

Here is Dale LaFollette’s version of Heroes at the Long Beach Grand Prix of 1976. Please also read Larry Crane’s version (click here). Note the two photographers did not know each other at the time and didn’t know one was shooting the same scene from a different angle.–Ed.

Story and photos by Dale LaFollette

My May issue of MotorSport magazine arrived some time ago and as I thumbed through it, memories came flooding back as there was a story about a historic race in 1976 that I was quite familiar with.

In 1976, my closest friend Frank Fitch and I decided we needed to be at the first Long Beach Grand Prix, scheduled for March 28th. Frank was a service engineer for Mazda and a Formula B racer whose financial obligations had halted his racing program. I was three years into a career as manager of Portland International Raceway and I wanted to see how the folks in Long Beach would transform city streets into a racetrack overnight. Frank just wanted to see the race.

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