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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Fred Simeone, a Tribute

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Fred Simeone in the Ferrari and Kevin Kelly in the Aston Martin enjoy an afternoon at the Simeone Foundation. Photo by Alan Yankolonis.

From the Simeone Foundation Website:

June 12, 2022 Late last evening, as the first rays of light began to appear on the Mulsanne Straight, we lost our hero and champion, Dr. Frederick Simeone. Mere words cannot convey our overwhelming grief and sadness, nor can they express what this great man meant to so many people. Dr. Simeone had celebrated his 86th birthday on June 8.

Below, we republish this article written for Automobile Quarterly as a tribute to the late Fred Simeone.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy Simeone Foundation and Alan Yankolonis

In the 1970s, when such things were in vogue, a neurosurgeon from Philadelphia made up magnetized labels with names of classic cars. “Mercedes Benz SSK”, one read; “BMW 328” read another. He placed them all on his refrigerator door. [Read more…] about Fred Simeone, a Tribute

And How: Dennis and the Alfa

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Dennis Pillar in action with his Alfa Spider, 1971.

Photos by Dale LaFollette

I was at the 1971 Rose Cup Races at Portland International Raceway, two years before I went to the track to work full time. I heard that the E Production race was about to begin so with camera in hand I thought I should sneak out to the guardrail and take photos of my good friend Denny Pillar and his Alfa.

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Precarious Bridgeheads Part 2

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The below article was part of an unfinished manuscript about the foreign car invasion, written by the late Howard Moon. This is part two of a series. Editor

Too Big: The Big Three

By the late 1930s, the American love affair with the auto developed frictions. Dissenters arose in public opinion against Detroit’s mainstream trend towards mass, bulk, weight and complexity. Consumer Reports and the New Yorker criticized unnecessary size and weight. Surveys of drivers registered complaints against heavy steering and lack of vision to front and rear resulting from bulky bodies and long, high hoods.

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Ferrari’s Fab Four

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By Peter Darnall

The Italian word “mondiale” translates as “world” in the English language but in the Ferrari factory at Maranello, the name has special significance. Mondial (without the final “e”) is a Maranello trademark name which commemorates factory Grand Prix cars which won two successive World Championships in 1952 and 1953. The original Mondials were a group of 2 liter Ferrari 4-cylinder sports racing machines which challenged the motor racing world in the mid-1950s. They were known as “500 Mondials” (the cubic centimeter displacement of a single cylinder) to differentiate them from larger displacement versions of same engine which would follow.

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Major Hartley Whyte by Graham Gauld

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Major Hartley Whyte with his military moustache with his rare DB2 Aston Martin.

Story and Photos by Graham Gauld

One of the advantages of having been around for far too long, or disadvantages if you care to look at it that way, is that many moments from the past keep being dug up and, thanks to the internet, one is constantly reminded of them.

Such was the case a few years ago when an owner came on to me about an interesting E-type Jaguar.

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Royal Cars for the Queen’s Jubilee

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The UK has just celebrated another Jubilee for the Queen. But ten years ago, Jonathan Sharp was also on hand to celebrate a very special event at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed – a motoring tribute to compliment Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee held in 2012. It seemed like an appropriate time to republish the account, Jonathan’s first for VeloceToday.com. Congratulations to both the Queen and Mr. Sharp! [Ed.]

This being Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, the theme chosen for this year’s Cartier “Style et Luxe” display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed was “Transport fit for a Queen”. The display featured cars that were either owned by or used by the Queen or other members of the Royal Family. The display also featured a Royal Train Carriage, children’s electric ride in toy cars and even an aeroplane. The displays, in five classes, were arranged on the grass in front of the stable yard of Goodwood House.
[Read more…] about Royal Cars for the Queen’s Jubilee

Bob Temple Kodachromes from Watkins Glen

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Bob Temple photos courtesy Dale LaFollette at VintageMotorphoto

From the VeloceToday Archives, June, 2017

Before he went west when he was a young man (see Bob Temple at Palm Springs), Bob Temple journeyed to Watkins Glen to see the 1950 event, which was a very big deal. He took along his trusty camera loaded with Kodachrome film, and came back with negatives left in a box until Dale LaFollette found and purchased them after Bob’s death in 1991. The Temple photos have never been published before.

As usual, we asked our resident experts what they could add to the photos: Eric Davison, who was there watching eagerly, while he himself was taking precious color photos; Jim Sitz from the West Coast but who knows everyone, and Philippe Defechereux, who wrote the book “Watkins Glen, the Street Years • 1948-1952” and who kicks this off.

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Spa Classic Returns to Francorchamps

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Welcome back to Spa-Francorchamps and Spa Classic!

Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Spa Classic is finally back on the Francorchamps circuit! After a hiatus of two years (we all know why), the tenth edition was able to take place in this month of May and moreover, without rain, which is not uncommon here. More than 380 cars came together to challenge the “Roller-coaster of the Ardennes”, seven kilometers long with its twenty turns marked out by descents and climbs. Nine grids represented the different eras of endurance racing from the post-war period until the early 2000s, which I invite you to discover here.

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The Quail Motorcycle Gathering Part 2

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1965 Moto Morini, red number 65, 175 cc racer, owned by Joey Shimoda

Story and Photos by Brandes Elitch

There are many high-end car shows, which are typically called a Concours d‘Elegance. Two of the most extraordinary are right in this area, the Pebble Beach show and The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, right on the same field as this show. I have been to many shows of this type in the last fifty years, but I am quite sure that the Quail motorcycle show is in a class by itself, and is likely to remain that way for a while.

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Celebrating a Land Speed Record, 100 Years On

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The 350HP Sunbeam at speed.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

“It felt like being hurled into space in a good armchair…” wrote SCH (Sammy) Davis, Bentley Boy and sports editor of The Autocar in his article on driving the 350HP Sunbeam in the 22nd February 1929 edition of the magazine.

On the 17th May 1922, at around 5pm as the weather during the day had been bad, Kenelm Lee Guinness (of KLG spark plug fame), in the V-12, 18 litre 350 HP Sunbeam, descended off the Brooklands banking and onto the Railway Straight to enter the measured mile for the second time. Just over 27 seconds later he had broken the Land Speed Record. His average speed for the measured kilometre was 133.75 mph, for the mile 129.17 mph, and 136.05 for the half mile This was to be the last time that the Land Speed Record was to be broken on a motor racing circuit; the cars had become much too fast, so record breaking switched to beaches and salt lakes.
100 years to the day, we gathered at Brooklands, to celebrate his achievement. [Read more…] about Celebrating a Land Speed Record, 100 Years On

A Visit to Cassel’s Classic Cars

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Many Bugattis were present. Very interesting was this Bugatti Type 30 bodied as a ‘Torpedo ponté’ by Parisian coachbuilder Lavocat & Marsaud.

Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Cassel, a small town in the North of France, is not only a typical village in Flanders but also home of the Galerie des Damiers (the checkerboard gallery) founded and run for decades by well-known dealer Christophe Pund, who has no equal in unearthing automotive rarities.

Every two years, on the first of May, Mr Pund receives his car enthusiast friends for a good-natured picnic with, of course, the theme of old cars.

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The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2022

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1967 Italjet Vampire (competition off road category) owned by Marc Crocetti who volunteered to help with this article. His bikes all have number 71.

Story and Photos by Brandes Elitch

The 12th Annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering was held at the Quail Lodge resort in Carmel Valley, California on May 14, 2022. Because of the pandemic, it could not be held for the two previous years. It was good to be back. This is a world-class motorcycle event, likely THE world-class motorcycle event. [Read more…] about The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2022

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