By Gijsbert-Paul Berk and friends
The text of the lead photo is a bit too small to see clearly, but it is worth reading:
Salon Prive, 2017
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
As I noted back in 2014, England early September is turning into car weeks, like Monterey, but extending almost 13 days. And in this case, instead of golf courses, it is a case of pick your favorite stately home. [Read more…] about Salon Prive, 2017
RM/Sotheby’s London Auction, September 6
Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
On September 6th, RM/Sotheby’s auction in London (not be be confused with the September 9 RM Auction in Maranello) was neither a great success nor a flop…many of the lots were sold, but others, like the white Countach above went begging. [Read more…] about RM/Sotheby’s London Auction, September 6
Maurizio’s Abarths
Story by Sean Smith
When Santo Spadaro of Dominick European Cars tells you “I have a few cool Fiat-Abarths I think you would like to see,” the only sane answer is “Where, and when?” [Read more…] about Maurizio’s Abarths
Lynch at Monterey, 2017
Story by Michael T. Lynch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted
If you really want to do the Monterey Peninsula’s Automotive Car Week completely you have to arrive on the Friday before the weekend before the Pebble Beach Concours. The nine days include multiple car shows, auctions, panel discussions and book and memorabilia sales events. This year’s tally was 38 events that I would have been interested in, if I were younger. Let us take you to a few stops along the way.
If you have spare time during the week and have any interest in Italian machinery (and I know you do), you must make some time to see Robb Talbott’s Collection in the Motorcycle Museum in Carmel Valley Village, out where the sun shines much more than it does on the coast.
Above, the upstairs is primarily road and road racing bikes and, as you can see, the flavor is definitely Italian. However, who doesn’t love a BSA Gold Star Clubman. (Lynch photo)
Brandes Elitch has previously written of this Museum in the August 30, 2016 edition of VT, but the quality of this collection should be mentioned as often as possible.
The downstairs has flat trackers, speedway bikes, motocross machines, desert sleds and anything else that ran on dirt. I hope I conveyed how any trip to the Monterey area is incomplete without viewing this jewel of motorcycle history. (Lynch photo)
Monterey Car Week
The congestion caused by Car Week events has resulted in at least one City Council person in every Peninsula City to call for the abolition of the week. The municipalities have brought part of the problem on themselves. Most have ordinances to protect the taxpayers by calling for events to pick up the cost of police overtime, cleanup, etc. This is understandable, but most cities did not enforce those ordinances so they could attract people to their towns. Now the events are being charged in some cases and we will see what effect this has on the events themselves, some of which are always marginal financially. Whatever happens, you can be sure bandings of the CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) will continue to keep the abolitionist cause alive via letters to the editor, City Council comments, etc.
Two bright spots in the week, optically speaking, are the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue on Tuesday and the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on Thursday. The venue for both is the same, Ocean Avenue, the Main Street of Carmel. These two events are free, allowing the locals to see the Concours cars without paying the mid-three figure prices of the main events. They thus draw huge crowds, including many families. These events are somewhat of a payback to the local communities who suffer through the inconveniences of the week.
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering 2017
Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt unless otherwise noted
The fifteenth edition of The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, was held on August 15, 2017, at the Quail Lodge and Golf Club, located in Carmel Valley, California, a few hours south of San Francisco. About 225 automobiles and motorcycles were exhibited in what has been described elsewhere as a garden party atmosphere, carefully planned and curated by Gordon McCall https://velocetoday.com/gordon-mccall-authenticity-and-continuity/ and his staff. This is an exceptional event, and in this brief article I will try to convey why this is the case. [Read more…] about The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering 2017
Pebble Beach Portfolio by Vanhoolandt
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
For its 67th Concours d’Elegance, the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links was celebrating Isotta Fraschini and Carrozzeria Castagna.
Another interesting class was for the ‘California Specials that Raced at the Pebble Beach Road Races’ between 1950 and 1956, that led to the opening of the Laguna Seca Raceway in 1957. [Read more…] about Pebble Beach Portfolio by Vanhoolandt
2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
This year was a very special year for Laguna Seca as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of its creation. The ‘Racing Through the Decades’ display provided a walk down memory lane of some of the most famous cars that have raced here since 1957, including the first and the last cars to win professionally at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. [Read more…] about 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
VeloceToday for August 29, 2017
GIJSBERT-PAUL BERK BRINGS THE FIAT 1100 FORMULA JUNIORS TO LIFE; DALE LAFOLLETTE PUTS TOGETHER A PORTFOLIO OF STUNNING PHOTOS; HUGUES VANHOOLANDT AND BRANDES ELITCH BRINGS US ROUND ONE OF OUR MONTEREY COVERAGE. Click here to Subscribe!
Concorso Italiano 2017
Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
The 32nd annual Concorso Italiano was held at the Blackhorse/Bayonet golf course at Fort Ord, California, on August 19, 2017. Originally conceived by Francis Mandarano of the Maserati Information Exchange, this event has been managed since 2009 by Tom McDowell.
Concorso Italiano is probably the largest gathering of Italian special interest and collector cars anywhere in the world. Special features this year were “Seventy Years of Ferrari,” the 50th anniversary of the Maserati Ghibli, and the first part of a three-year celebration of Alfa Romeo, this year featuring the GTV, Giulia, and 4C. I particularly appreciated the interview on the stage with event originator Mandarano, who gave a history of the event and a tribute to Tom Tjaarda, who passed away recently, but was in attendance at previous shows. There was also an interview with Pete Brock, and one of the highlights of the day for me was getting to talk to Pete in person. [Read more…] about Concorso Italiano 2017
A Touch of Dante’s Genius: The Junior Racers
Meico Koudstaal owned this OSCA Formula Junior car several years and participated it in many races on European circuits. Photos courtesy Coys Classic Auto Auctions
Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk
The Formula Junior was the brain child of Giovanni “Johnny’ Lurani, an Italian nobleman, engineer, racing driver, speed record holder, author, publisher and the Italian representative in the CSI (International Sporting Commission) of the FIA, the governing body for automobile sports. Like Piero Dusio before him, he saw the need for a new formula for affordable single-seater racing cars, allowing a new generation of drivers to gain experience. True or not, at the time some thought and even wrote that Lurani promoted his Formula Junior idea to compensate for the lack of success of Italian cars and drivers in the British dominated 500 cc. Formula 3. However, in October 1958 the FIA officially recognized the International Formula Junior.
And How! Let the Imagination Run Free
Photo Gallery by Dale LaFollette
Juxtaposition: to place two or more things together, especially in order to suggest a link between them or emphasize the contrast between them.
Of course one has to have two or more things in the first place, or as in the case with the Maserati gills, two items in one photo. Whichever, that’s where Dale LaFollette comes in. So often Dale has been our unsung hero, providing classic old photos for a variety of uses on VeloceToday. One the most popular such articles was the recent series on Bob Temple’s photos from Watkins Glen. But in addition to being the brains behind Vintage Motorphoto, LaFollette is also an excellent photographer in his own right, as we found out when he sent us his own stunning photos of racing from the 1970s. [Read more…] about And How! Let the Imagination Run Free