VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Sir John Whitmore, 1937-2017

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John Whitmore, right, with Alan Mann in the Shelby Cobra Team in 1965.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

There comes a time in life when you begin to see too many of your friends in the obituary columns, and it happened again last week with the death of Sir John Whitmore. I have lost a great friend of sixty years standing.

This then, is not a catalog of all his races but a private look into a fairly private man who eventually found himself after his racing days were over.

John was something special not only due to his ability driving cars but due to his frightening intellect and constant urge to expand his knowledge, particularly in the field of human endeavor.

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Silverstone VSCC Formula Vintage Trackside

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Maserati 250F of Graham Adelman just ahead of the Ferrari 246 Dino.

Formula Vintage – Round 1 – Silverstone
National Circuit, Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 April 2017

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Last week; Paddock Scenes

Last week Jonathan Sharp took us into the Silverstone Paddock area, and this week he gets trackside at Silverstone, bringing us over thirty images of track action.

Results of the events can be found here: Silverstone Results [Read more…] about Silverstone VSCC Formula Vintage Trackside

Farman Automobiles

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Farman autos: Better than the La Royale?

Last week we brought you Farman, Part 1, the aeronautical side of the French Farman firm. This week, Gijsbert-Paul Berk tells us the brief but upper crust history of the Farman automobile.

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

In October 1919 at the Salon de l’Automobile in Paris the Farman company presented its first motor cars; a landaulet bodied by Kellner and a bare chassis. Their objective was “to build an automobile “that was absolutely perfect in every detail”. The A6 prototypes on their exhibition stand were indeed magnificently finished. [Read more…] about Farman Automobiles

VeloceToday for May 2, 2017

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We publish rare Alfa and Ferrari photos from Le Mans, 1970; VeloceToday interviewed Ed Hugus in 2003 about his Ferraris and here is the full story; The planes and cars of the Farman Brothers; Jonathan Sharp at Silverstone.

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And How! 5-2: Le Mans, 1970

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And How! is a new regular feature in VeloceToday, just right for those stories which are too short or too little or news items that don’t qualify as full length articles.

N.A.R.T. 512S driven by the All American team of Ronnie Bucknum and Sam Posey would finish fourth after the Porsche 1-2-3 victory.

1970 was Steve McQueen’s year at Le Mans, as related recently in the new book, Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror. (Read review) The company had shot thousands of feet of film at the 1969 event, but none was ever used in the movie. Shooting the race for the movie would have to wait until 1970, when McQueen had arranged with the John Wyer Porsche team to identify the drivers and car colors with the Wyer 917s; Unfortunately the Wyer Porsches all retired. Ironically, the Porsche 908 camera car, driven by Jonathan Williams, placed 9th overall. The Porsche 917K of Herrmann and Attwood would lead a three car Porsche parade at the finish.

In the wake of the new book, Dale LaFollette at Vintage Motorphoto remembered that he had bought roll of negatives at an auction consisting of black and while images taken at Le Mans that year. We can’t let that go to waste, can we? So below are 15 of the best of the lot; a lot of Ferraris, Alfas and Matras. Perfect for And How!

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Silverstone Formula Vintage, April 22-23

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Formula Vintage – Round 1 – Silverstone
National Circuit, Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 April 2017

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The well-established ‘Spring Start’ season opener was a spectacular two-day feature at Silverstone, with the celebrated Pre-war and Historic content taking center stage across the weekend’s program. [Read more…] about Silverstone Formula Vintage, April 22-23

Farman: The Aircraft, the Automobiles

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The amazing Farman brothers not only designed around 200 different types of aircraft but also one of the first sporting automobiles with ‘gullwing’ doors.

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

Ask any automobile enthusiast to name an iconic make from the golden years of the French car industry between 1919 to 1939, and most will immediately say ‘Bugatti’. Others will also recall Amilcar, Delahaye, Delage, Salmson, Talbot and Voisin, maybe Ballot or Chenard Walker. But the name Farman is hardly ever mentioned. One or the reasons is that many believe that Farman was a British manufacturer. [Read more…] about Farman: The Aircraft, the Automobiles

VeloceToday for April 25, 2017

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Do you believe in Magic? Sean Smith looks at seventy years of Alfas to see if automotive DNA is alive and well. You be the judge. Lancia dealership photos and ads from the 1960s; One Fast Fiat 125T and we review The Ed Hugus Story.

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Testing DNA in Four Alfas

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Four Alfa sedans representing almost 70 years of Alfa design; the 1950s with the Alfa 1900 Berlina, the Alfa 105 Sedan of the 1960s and early 70s, the 1990s with the 164, and today’s new Giulia Quadrifoglio. A wonderful display of automotive tradition, but do the genes really carry through? Does the latest Quadrifolgio have anything in common with the 1900? We’d like your opinions!

Story and photos by Sean Smith

Can you take cars that are 60 years apart and compare them? Is there any overlap? So much has changed over that time. So many improvements, so many refinements. Can a car company retain the imagination and passion it has from its past… can it transcend modernity and still retain the fire from bygone days? Comparing four Alfa sedans from disparate eras brings up interesting questions: Is there such a thing as automotive DNA and has Alfa succeeded reproducing desirable genes? Are designers, then and now, really passionate or corporate drones? Is Alfa different than, say GM? We’ll present the cars; you present your views.

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Cobra Pilote: The Ed Hugus Story Reviewed

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Ed Hugus poses with one of his early production Cobras. He was to install the Ford V8s and finish off the first few Cobra 260s for Shelby. Author Robert Walker tells the story in Cobra Pilote, The Ed Hugus Story.

Cobra Pilote: the Ed Hugus Story
By Robert D. Walker
Hard cover with dust jacket 280mm by 230mm
304 pages
328 black and white, and color photographs
12 MyRewards points with purchase
ISBN 978-1-85443-283-4
US $89 plu shipping
Dalton Watson, 2017 1-847-945-0569
Order Here

Review by Pete Vack
All photos from the book

Ed Hugus drove Alfas, Porsches, BMWs, Lotus, Ferraris and Coopers over his 15-year career as a race car driver. He also drove a Cobra at Le Mans in 1963, where it retired.

So one might wonder why his biography is entitled Cobra Pilote; the Ed Hugus Story. Probably because the author, who once lived close to Hugus and became a close confidant, is enamored with Cobras, and no doubt wanted make sure Ed gets the credit for being the first one to install a V8 into a production Cobra. In fact as Robert D. Walker tells us, Ed’s shop actually created about six or seven of the first Cobras, taking in the A.C. bodies from the UK and installing the Ford 260. Walker, for good reasons, wanted to set the record straight. It’s an interesting story, and never before told in such detail. [Read more…] about Cobra Pilote: The Ed Hugus Story Reviewed

A Life of Lancia: Lancia Import Nederland N.V.

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Below, unpublished photos of a successful Lancia dealership in the 1960s and early 70s.

By Lucas van Dobben

The pictures taken are in the showroom of the Marel Lancia Importers circa 1966-68. Below the photos are series of advertisements I kept from the Marel Lancia dealership. In the first photo, a happy couple take delivery of a new Lancia Flaminia convertible by Touring. The rest are self-explanatory. For more information about the Lancia years and the Marel Lancia Dealership in Holland, read:

A Life of Lancias Part 1

A Life of Lancias Part 2

dsfsdaf [Read more…] about A Life of Lancia: Lancia Import Nederland N.V.

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