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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Fiats at Auto e Moto d’Epoca

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Script on the grille of this Fiat seems to read “Weber”. Any ideas?

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Just back from Bologna after visiting Auto e Moto d’Epoca (October 23-26). A great show as usual with much to see. For me it is not the exotic stuff that makes the show, though the F1 display (see Vanhoolandt’s report) in the atrium was impressive, it’s the obscure stuff dotted around the various halls, sometimes on the club stands but more often buried in amongst the hundreds of cars for sale from both the dealers and private owners.

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Formula 1 at Auto e Moto d’Epoca

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The Mercedes W196 R made its mark on its era. Winner in its very first race, the 1954 French Grand Prix at Reims, the W196 R went on to win the 1954 and 1955 world titles with Juan Manuel Fangio at the wheel.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Auto e Moto d’Epoca 2025

This year, Auto e Moto d’Epoca in Bologna (October 23-26) commemorated 75 years of Formula 1.
As such, around fifteen cars were on display in the atrium, and many more were scattered throughout the various halls.
Let’s take a look at the most interesting models, most of which were entered by Italian racing teams, as well as a few non-F1 competition cars seen at the show.

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Decision at Zandvoort

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The poster for the 1955 Grand Prix at Zandvoort. It was designed by the well-known Dutch graphic artist Frans Mettes.

The poster for the 1955 Grand Prix at Zandvoort. It was designed by the well-known Dutch graphic artist Frans Mettes.

The Dutch Grand Prix was scheduled for one week after the disastrous 1955 Le Mans event. Should it have been cancelled? What would you have done? In this exclusive story, VeloceToday correspondent Gijsbert-Paul Berk, who was an assistant to the Royal Netherlands Automobile Club at the time, describes the ensuing crisis and decision.

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, June, 2015

This year’s 24 hour race at Le Mans is now over, but no one who has closely followed motor racing in the fifties can ever forget the horrible accident exactly 60 years ago, on June 11, 1955 during the Le Mans 24 hours race. This black page in the history of motor sports caused the immediate death of the French driver Pierre Bouillin (who drove under the pseudonym of Pierre Levegh), at least 88 spectators, and hundreds of wounded. It was and remains the greatest loss of life due to a motor racing event.

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Wilson’s Roadster: Small Details

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After a long hot summer.

This is part 9 in a series of articles by Paul Wilson. Click here for Part 8 and links to Parts 1-7.

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster, Part 8

Story and photos by Paul Wilson

As a self-taught amateur, when I can’t fix a mechanical problem I imagine a Real Expert saying, “Oh, that’s easy,” and solving it effortlessly. I’ve learned that such Experts are rare, but I’m still embarrassed that I have such trouble with apparently trivial puzzles. So I squirm a bit as I tell this part of my car’s story. It’s a confession of ignorance. [Read more…] about Wilson’s Roadster: Small Details

The Internal Combustion Engine at the ACD Museum

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Every instinct says “It’s backwards”! No, it’s the front wheel drive 1936 Cord engine, although the car in the picture is a 1937.

Story and photos by Charley Seavey

A recent trip to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN, produced 403 pictures of some of the greatest American cars ever. I imagine that the vast majority of VT readers know what the cars look like, but the museum has a lot of picture worthy items that are not complete cars.

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Scary Modifications to Ferraris

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Words and illustrations by Richard Bartholomew

From the Archives, April 1, 2019

A renegade group of disgruntled Ferrari mechanics has possibly been committing atrocities on certain Ferraris, but so far nobody is sure of what the heck is going on. Some owners of the fabled Italian brand have reported returning from vacations and finding their prized Ferraris refurbished and redone in odd ways. Inside jobs are suspected but nobody has taken credit yet. The changes range from the simplistic, like the Cyclops-Dino in our lead image, to fantastic, complex modifications like making an SUV out of Testarossa.

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Graham Gauld remembers Brian Naylor

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Brian Naylor, centre, and friends in the pit lane for the 1954 RAC TT Race at Dundrod. (Photo Gauld)

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

OK, let’s start with a question. Who was the first British driver to come over and race in the Daytona 500?

Do I hear you say Innes Ireland? Nope, it was not him but a much lesser known but equally characterful driver from Salford, near Manchester, named Brian Naylor. I first met Brian back in 1954 at the RAC Tourist Trophy Race at Dundrod in Ireland. I had managed to get two days leave from the Royal Air Force so took the bus from my base at Dundonald to Dundrod up in the hills behind Belfast. In the pit lane I found this cheerful character chatting up three of the local Belfast girls and so a friendship began; and ended with a telephone call some twenty-seven years later in Bill France’s office at Daytona.

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Vanhoolandt at the Zoute Grand Prix, 2025

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This other DS21 convertible is part of a special series by the coachbuilder Chapron called ‘Le Caddy’. This model, dating from 1967, has the same technical characteristics as the previous one.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The traditional Zoute Grand Prix, created in 2010, became the Zoute Grand Prix Car Week in 2025. Indeed, this event began as a classic car rally to which a GT car rally, an auction, and a Concours d’Elegance were added over time. The Car Week title is justified by the fact that, since this year, not one but two auctions have been held in Knokke, an upscale resort on the Belgian coast, with the Broad Arrow auction house joining the traditional Bonhams sale.

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Gauld: Tec-Mec and other Oddities

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Barrie Baxter lifts a wheel of the Tec-Mec when trying to hold off young Will Nuthall in the ex-Bob Gerard Cooper-Bristol.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

From the Archives, November 2011. This was Graham’s second column for VeloceToday; his latest is featured in this week’s edition as well. Furthermore, last week Jeff Allison’ article elicited some remembrances of the Maserati Tec-Mec. Here Gauld provides another perspective.

I have been humbled by the response to the first column and only hope I can keep you entertained for a few more months. I think one of the problems is that each chance meeting or race meeting provides an opportunity to dig out even more stories to flesh out information we have on some of the odder pieces of motor sport history. They might otherwise disappear when boring old farts like me arrive at the eventual pit stop hopefully in the sky. [Read more…] about Gauld: Tec-Mec and other Oddities

Allison’s Behind the Fences: Maserati

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Tec-Mec (2535) (#15) Fritz d’Orey (center), Cooper T45-Climax (#16), George Constantine, Porsche RSK (#17), Harry Blanchard, United States Grand Prix, Sebring, Florida, December 12, 1959-jeff-allison

Story and photos by Jeff Allison

The Editor and Jeff Allison thought it might be a nice idea to publish a few of those old racing photos that often collect in shoe boxes. Jeff had a bundle, as he began taking racing and pit photos at the age of 17 in 1959. So here are a few of his, and perhaps our readers might want to contribute some of their old photos, and memories in future editions of VeloceToday.

Apparently I’m the first volunteer, so here goes. I’m not a photographer par excellence like Jesse Alexander, Geoff Goddard or Louis Klemantaski. I was not Bob Jackson, Allen Kuhn or others seen in Veloce Today articles either. I began as a 17-year old over-the-top fan of motor racing, who happened to have a camera – “Behind the Fences”. [Read more…] about Allison’s Behind the Fences: Maserati

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