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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Mike Sparken Part 2 by Graham Gauld

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Mike Sparken would end up with this 1938 Alfa Berlinetta, but he would not have it for long…

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Graham Gauld unless otherwise noted

First published by VeloceToday in 2012. We have learned how Mike Sparken came into motor racing, his exploits with his very special Aston Martin DB3 and his Ferrari Monza, and how he had retired from racing after the British Grand Prix of 1955, where he drove a Gordini into seventh place. But what he did after he retired from racing would make him famous throughout the world…

Throughout his racing career, and later into his time with the Grand Prix Drivers Club, he met up with another well-known private entrant of the time who was born and spent his early life in Brazil and then moved to Paris; Hernano da Silva Ramos. [Read more…] about Mike Sparken Part 2 by Graham Gauld

Mike Sparken Part 3 by Graham Gauld

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The Alfa 158/9 at the Paul Ricard circuit.

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Gauld unless otherwise noted.

First published in VeloceToday in 2012. As we have learned in Part I, Lord Doune was a bit in the dark as to the importance of the 1938 Alfa 2.9 Berlinetta, and returned it to Danny Margulies who in turn called upon Mike Sparken.

Mike Sparken was more aware of the importance of the Sommer/Biondetti Alfa. He spared no expense to have it taken apart and rebuilt by Paul Grist. The engine was sent to Tony Merrick and he did a wonderful job on it. But Grist had really done his part superbly. When I had seen the car in Doune collection, the grille was wrong; it looked like chicken wire rather than the elegant egg-box grille of the original. Thanks to Grist, the car turned out to be stunning. It was road -taxed in England but Mike Sparken had a plan in mind.

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Stories for the AROC National Convention

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Click on each photo to read three stories tailored to get the Alfa owners attending the National Convention revved up this week: Dennis Pillar and the Porsches From Dale LaFollette comes a series of photos taken in 1971 at Portland International Raceway, showing how his Alfa-tossing friend Dennis Pillar trounced the Porsches that fine day….

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How I Met Jon Shirley and More

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Shelby, Maserati 300S, Palm Springs, April 7, 1957.

Story and photos by Allen Kuhn

Segment One How I met Jon Shirley

It was still early in my career, and I had no photo pass yet when I attended the races at Palm Springs on April 7, 1957. Once I found a good spot, next to the dreaded snow fence, I had a tendency to just settle in there. This sedentary occupation, however, resulted in these four Shelby images.

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Ferrari’s Fab Four Part 2: 0408 MD

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Story by Peter Darnall

The first five Mondials built were set aside by the factory to compete as “works” entries in the 1954 Mille Miglia. The third of these First Series Mondials to be built was Chassis Number 0408 MD. Owner Jeff Abramson treated me to several laps at speed around the Sonoma Raceway in this car and that run was my introduction to these extraordinary machines.

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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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