One of the Lancias on display was this Aurelia B20 rally car.
By Hugh Doran
May 3rd 2008
One of the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuits can be found twenty miles southwest of central London. We are of course, talking about Brooklands, the spiritual home of the Bentley Boys, a place that separated the men from the boys. A circuit that was equally capable as a hero-maker or a widow-maker. When climbing to the top of the banking today it’s scary to think about the speeds achieved by the blower Bentleys and the Napier Railton.
Rarest Italian car at the event was this O.M.
Nowadays Brooklands is a shade of its former glory with only a sixth of the original circuit still remaining. It is a shame that the local authority think so little of the motoring & aviation heritage of this important site that it has gradually been taken over by modern office blocks.
But what is left proved to be a suitable venue for the Italian car extravaganza organized by the British Auto Italia magazine on the 3rd May. A massive turn-out of Italian autos very nearly filled the site, and for a while, there was the danger of Italian cars being turned away from the Campbell Gate and left to park with in the main “everyday†car park. The half mile of or so of members’ banking was covered with Alfa Romeos. Fiat and Lamborghini occupied what is left of the start/finish straight.
Alfa Romeos stretch for as far as the eye can see on the 100 foot wide Members banking.
Lancia could be found behind the old pit area with Maserati and Ferrari in front. And the area in front of the display area was a mishmash of some of the most important cars in attendance.
Two Fiat Topolinos show the variation in bodywork common in that era.
It was in this area and right in front of the club house, that one could find what was probably the rarest car in attendance, an OM. Parked up next to the OM were two fine examples of the Fiat Topolino. Also in front of the club house was what could be considered as the forgotten Maserati.
The Maserati Kyalami hails from the days when De Tomaso owned the Trident and must truly be the forgotten Maserati.
The Kyalami was born during De Tomaso’s ownership of the company. Also in front of the club house in what was loosely titled the Supercar area there was a Ferrari F40 sandwiched between a Lamborghini Murcielago and a freshly restored Maserati Mistral Spider. A few feet away there was a brace of De Tomaso Panteras along with a Mangusta and rare Guara.
Rare ISO Fidia was a surprise find and an alternative to the Maserati Quattroporte.
Also in attendance was a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggia and a couple of real rare beasts in the form of a Frua-bodied, Fissore- built Monteverdi 375L and ISO Fidia. The ISO being a rather nice alternative if you didn’t fancy a Maserati Quattroporte. Beatle John Lennon owned the second Fidia ever built and whipped out his checque book as soon as he saw it on the ISO stand at the London Motor Show.
Lamborghini’s 400GT.
Behind the old “racing lockups†in what could be considered the paddock area was a number of interesting cars. A Lamborghini 400 GT sat next to a Gallardo providing a visual view of where the company started and where they are now. A few meters away there were also examples of the Urraco, Countach and Diablo. Sharing the area was an Alfa TZ, Maserati 3200GT, Ferrari 360 Modena and a lovely Lancia Beta Montecarlo.
Icons of the 1980s, many a bedroom wall contained a picture of either a Ferrari Testarossa or a Lamborghini Countach.
The Lancia area contained no less that four Stratos rally cars! Whether they were real ones or replicas is anybody’s guess. Lancia Betas were out in force which was nice to see as their low grade Russian steel bodies were never really suited to the British winters! Intergrales and Fulvias stopped the Betas taking all the lime light along with a couple of Themas and a Fulvia Zagato racer. However nothing could deflect the lime light from the star of the Lancia Motor Clubs display, a rally prepared Aurelia B20.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this is why – four Lancia Stratos.
Over at the back of the site where a number of Vickers aircraft are displayed, Vickers had a factory on the site, the Fiat 500s had set up home. And someone had had a stroke of genius by parking the old 500s in between the new 500s which apart from being very effective proved just how much bigger the new car is compared to the old. There was even an example of one 500 whose owner had solved the (lack of) luggage space problem in an ingenious way – namely making a trailer out of the rear half (from the b-pillar back) of another 500!
A neat solution to the luggage space limitations of the Fiat 500.
The main Fiat parking area was a study in the company’s recent history – over the last 35 odd years anyway. A 130 Coupe, rare on British roads for the same reason as the Lancia Beta, dwarfed an equally rare (in Britain anyway) Autobianci A112 Abarth which had been race prepared.
An Autobianchi A112 Abarth racer. It maybe small but really looked the part.
A number of 124 Spiders had managed to park together next to a couple of Stradas. The rest of the area contained Unos, Punts, Stilos, Barchetta and two pristine 128 3Ps not to mention a 128 Rally that had been converted from a standard 128 during restoration. And across the way there was a whole row of Coupe Fiats.
Smart Abarth Osella sports racer and Abarth Simca looked good, but would have looked better at speed on a race track.
Tucked away at the far end of the banking were no less than six Citroen SMs, a car that is far from pretty (in my opinion anyway) but does have a rather nice Maserati engine. Closer inspection revealed one of the SMs to be a rally car that took part in the 2007 Historic Tour Auto. The French/ Italian theme was continued in the main display area where there was a French Blue Abarth Simca that had a Le Mans history. This car formed part of a Abarth line up that also included a sports racer and a spider and Scorpione. Plus the ultimate Fiat in the form of a 131 Abarth Rally.
The ultimate Fiat, the 131 Abarth Rally took over from the Stratos in the world of rallying.
The Ferrari & Maserati parking area proved to be the place to be for fans of V8 engines. Just about every V8 to roll out of Maranello was represented by at least one example, thus it was possible to find an F430 next to a 348 next to a 308. The 12 cylinder cars weren’t left out with examples of the 512BBi, Testarossa, F512M and 550 Maranello in attendance. The Maserati side was dominated by the 3200GT (with the boomerang shaped rear lights) and 4800GT. But tucked away in a corner there were a couple of gems in the form of a Merak SS and a beautiful Mexico.
Tucked away and almost hidden was this pretty Fiat 850 Coupe.
Everywhere you looked there was a desirable Italian car that you wanted to take home, be it a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Iso, De Tomaso or the latest Maserati Grand Turismo. All this made wandering around this historic site on a beautiful day a wonderful experience. Roll on next year…
Variation on a theme – the Fiat 500 Gamine.