VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Spa Classic 2025 Part 1

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A faithful member of the Peter Auto series, the 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4 Bertone Spider driven by the Swiss Heinz Stamm.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Since its creation in 2011, Spa Classic has established itself as a pillar of historic racing organized by Peter Auto, organizer of the Tour Auto and Le Mans Classic, among others. Ten grids made up this 2025 edition, which was very wet from Saturday noon until Sunday afternoon, typical weather for the Francorchamps circuit. This didn’t stop the competitors from putting on a show on the track, with a reduced number of accidents despite the conditions, and the brave spectators from enjoying the experience. For photographers, the rain is certainly a challenge, but the difficult conditions add an extra dimension to the task, and that’s what makes it so rewarding. Here’s a look at some of the grids on track this weekend.

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Ecurie Ecosse Tour, 2025

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Head of Pro-Drive, famed for their World Rally Championship successes with the factory Subarus and later Ferraris in the 1990s, David Richards with his wife Karen and their Aston Martin DB6 Volante.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

It’s May, so for me it is time for the Ecurie Ecosse Tour, held on May 18-22. It originally started in the 1990s when this gathering of friends with nice cars were brought together under the umbrella of Ecurie Ecosse. To everyone’s surprise this small private team won the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour spectacle with one of their D type Jaguars driven by Scots Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson. Not only that, but this success allowed them to enter two cars for the 1957 and they promptly went out and finished first and second in D type Jaguars and a legend was born.

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Terre di Canossa Rally 2025

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Porto San Stefano, gelato break.

Story and photos courtesy Joe Hurwich and Friends

On May 6, 2025, Bob Goldberg and I met at the Rome airport for the beginning of the Terre di Canossa regularity rally of 600km on May 9. The rally started in Punta Ala, but we stayed overnight Tuesday about halfway in Porto Santo Stefano. By luck, this was a real find. Porto Santo Stefano is on a small island on the Mediterranean in a beautiful bay, and our hotel was right on the sea. Our rooms were less than 10’ from the ocean. I don’t know what they do when it is high tide.

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1946 Fiat 1100C Spider by Frua

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The car that launched the creative career of Carrozzeria Frua


Storyteller and Photographer | Richard Lentinello
This article originally appeared in Crankshaft #1

Courtesy Crankshaft Magazine

Italy during the 1950s and ‘60s was a hotbed of custom car building. Called carrozzerias, the work that emerged from these body shops was highly creative, immensely distinctive and uniquely Italian. Their creations ran the gamut from rebodied production sedans into one-off sports cars, full-race competition cars as well as custom bodies for all sorts of Italian and European automobiles including Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Triumph.

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Quail MotoFest 2025: Bikes and their People

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Story and photos by Brandes Elitch

There is one event that might be called “The Pebble Beach of Motorcycles.” That is The Quail MotoFest, now in its fifteenth year. The original idea came from Brooke Roner and Jared Zaugg in 2006: to create a high class, premier judged event for motorcycles, and they said that they based it on the Pebble Beach show. They chose the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay, certainly a high-class venue.

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Italian Air Force Museum Part 3

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The Fiat G46 whether in single or two-seater form, was an all-metal aeroplane with good flying characteristics that first flew on the 25th June 1947. Argentina immediately ordered 12 examples before buying a further 36 airframes. Similar in concept to the G55 but powered by the much less powerful 225hp de Havilland Gipsy Queen engine produced under license by Alfa Romeo as the AR.115 ter, the G46 is considered to be Fiat’s first major achievement since the war. The example on display was first operated out of the Flying Department of the General Staff before being passed onto the Aero Club of Ferrara.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Facts from Museum placards, website and internet; occasional typos or incorrect spelling may occur!

Skema Hangar

We now present this third and final part of the Italian Air Force Museum. We now enter the Skema Hangar which covers the period from the end of World War II until approximately 2012. The Skema hangar is the fourth and largest of the hangars, designed by aeronautical engineers and constructed from steel reinforced concrete by the Skema Company.

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2025 Italian Car Day at the Brooklands Museum

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Modern Fiat 124 Spider Abarths were popular.

Story and photos by Gary Axon

The gridlock traffic and the sight of a stricken and steaming Pantera pushed to the side of the road to cool off in the log jam leading to the historic Brooklands Museum near Weybridge, Surrey could only mean one thing. The traffic chaos caused by the now traditional first Saturday in May annual Italian Car Day being held at Brooklands suggested it was going to be an exceptionally busy event at the significant banked ex-motor racing circuit, the oldest in the world.

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Spa 6 Hour WEC Hypercar 2025

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At the first corner after the start, the grid order was respected with the #50, #83 and #51 Ferraris remaining in the same order as at the end of qualifying, highlighting the speed of the 499P on a timed lap.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

As every year, the 6 Hours of Spa is the final rehearsal before the biggest race of the year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will be held on June 14 and 15. Ferrari began this new World Endurance Championship season with three consecutive victories for the 499P and as many pole positions.

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Spa 6 Hour WEC LMGT3 2025

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LMGT3 had an uneventful start with the practice hierarchy being respected at the first corner, with the #78 Lexus RC F on pole position taking the lead ahead of the #10 Aston Martin and the #77 and #78 Ford Mustangs.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

As with Imola, we present a Spa report on both the Hypercars and below, the LMGT3 Class.

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Italian Air Force Museum, Part 2

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Following the outbreak of the war the company did produce a further 8 catapult examples, the prototype of which was tested by Lieutenant Giulio Reiner who took off from the seaplane carrier RN (Royal Ship) Giuseppe Miraglia on the 9th May 1942. Catapult RE2000s were then embarked on the battleships Vittorio Veneto, Littorio and Roma and also equipped the 1st Naval Forces Squadron. This example is the prototype flown by Warrant Officer Luigi Guerrieri who was forced to ditch due to engine failure off Porto Venere (La Spezia) on the 16th April 1943. Recovered from the seabed on the 4th December 2013 the remains have only undergone cleaning and consolidation work.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Facts from Museum placards, website and internet; occasional typos or incorrect spelling may occur!

Having toured the Troster and Velo Hangars we now enter the Badoni Hangar, which covers the period from the 1930s until the late 1940s. The 60 meter by 60 meter metal hangar was constructed in 1930 by the Badoni Company to provide maintenance space and shelter for the large seaplanes then operating out of the base.

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Graham Gauld: Jean Guichet

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Photo by Graham Gauld

Story by Graham Gauld

The facts are there in plain sight. The French, who were responsible for developing all automobile racing from the very beginning, have never truly been credited for their successes in the past thirty years.

Perhaps this is because the youthful motor sporting enthusiast these days is totally wedded to Formula 1, and since 1950 only four French drivers have become World Drivers’ Champions – all of them named Alain Prost!

If, however, you turn to sports cars the picture is different with French drivers being in the winning car at Le Mans 27 times since 1950. I admit this comparison may appear ludicrous bearing in mind that at Le Mans you can have up to three drivers to one winning car, but the point is the French have tended to be more successful in sports cars than in Formula 1. This story is about one of them, Jean Guichet, who will be 98 years of age in August this year.

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