VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Lancia S4 and the Attack of the Killer Bs

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Lancia’s Killer B. Credit Petrolicious


By John R. Wright

If too much horsepower is just about right, then Lancia got it just about right with its Lancia S4 rally car. How to describe an all-out racing car used for rallying, one which according to one source would accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.3 seconds…on gravel! The Lancia could accomplish this feat as its engine was twin-charged. It was turbocharged and supercharged, the supercharger cutting out when the turbocharger had spooled up to provide sufficient power. Normally set up the engine would produce outlandish horsepower – some sources say 560 horsepower but Lancia engineers tested an engine at 5 bars of boost and achieved around a 1000 horsepower, more than any sane man or woman could use in a rallying event.

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Greystone Mansion Concours, May 1 2016

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Best of Show Concours de Sport, Ron Hein, 1961 Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca Best of Show Concours d’Elegance , Ron & Sandy Hansen, 1903 Thomas Model 18

Best of Show Concours de Sport, Ron Hein, 1961 Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca with Best of Show Concours d’Elegance, Ron & Sandy Hansen, 1903 Thomas Model 18. Photo Greystone.

The Greystone Mansion Concours
Very chi-chi..

Story by Wallace Wyss
Photos by Richard Bartholomew

Wasn’t it F. Scott Fitzgerald who said “The rich are very different from you and me?”

You get a sense of what the rich must have lived like back in 1920’s Los Angeles when you see the sight of this mansion, with stone walls and slate roofs, high on a hill overlooking Beverly Hills.

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John Shakespeare and the Thirty Bugattis Part 1

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There have been many articles about the day John Shakespeare loaded up 30 Bugattis to have them shipped to the Fritz Schlumpf in 1964. But none like our exclusive story below, told by David Gulick, the photographer who took the amazing photos of that memorable day. VeloceToday will present a series of those photographs in several parts. We also asked artist Paul Chenard to create a poster commemorating the sale. We’ll offer a free poster to anyone who subscribes to VeloceToday. For those who don’t want to subscribe for $5 a month, we will offer PDFs of this story for $10 via our Donate Button.

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Gordon McCall: Authenticity and Continuity

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Paul d'Orleans with my BSA Rickman Matisse road racer in the background

Photographer Paul d’Orleans took this image of Gordon McCall with his BSA Rickman Matisse road racer in the background.

Story by Brandes Elitch

If you have attended the Monterey Car Week in August, you are likely familiar with Gordon McCall. For 25 years, he and his wife Molly have he has hosted the first “really big show” that kicks off the week: the McCall Motorworks Revival held at the Monterey Jet Center. The event, which hosts 3000 guests, is really a party, but a very carefully planned one. Gordon says he got this from his mother, who was an epic entertainer from the East Coast. He adds, “Nobody knows how to entertain like an East Coaster, not social climbing but socializing.” The Revival combines very special new and old planes, cars, and motorcycles in an extraordinarily elegant way. Every single detail is choreographed.

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Connections: Augie Pabst

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Augie Pabst in the Comet C-3 at Road America in September 1957, where he completed in the inaugural RA 500, driving with owner Glen Glendening. Photo Glen Glendening.

By Pete Vack

VeloceToday is often about connections, for ours is a small but happy world. The recent publication of the new Dalton Watson book, Augie Pabst, Behind the Wheel reminded the Editor that a friend here in Williamsburg, Dave Rex, had a once owned a fiberglass special called the Comet. While reading Bob Birmingham’s excellent book, a photo appeared of Pabst in a fiberglass special called the Comet and activated the aging synapses. Sure enough, as a quick email to Dave confirmed, it was the same car. Concurrently, the Editor went through his photo library, and found that he also had his own minor link to Pabst, which is recounted below. [Read more…] about Connections: Augie Pabst

Italian Car Day at Brooklands

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This 1965 Fiat 850 Coupe benefited from spending the first 50 years of her life enjoying Italian Sunshine. Behind on the banking is a rather more recent baby performance Fiat, namely a 100 HP Panda.To the left of the shot is an even quicker Fiat, or should I say 500 Abarth.

This 1965 Fiat 850 Coupe benefited from spending the first 50 years of her life enjoying Italian sunshine. Behind on the banking is a rather more recent baby performance Fiat, a 100 HP Panda.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

On Saturday April 30, the gates to the Brooklands circuit were opened at 8am to let in the first arrivals for the annual Italian Car day. I am told those early arrivals had started to queue at around 6.30 am. Such is the popularity of this annual event which is now in its 31st year.

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VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone, April 23, 2016

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Balilla 508S. Oh yes!

Geoff Toms’ 1935 1089cc Fiat 508S Balilla.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Hi Pete,

April 24, 2016. Spent a very enjoyable but wind swept and somewhat cold day at Silverstone yesterday. It is such a lovely atmosphere at the VSCC Spring Start. All the pit garages are open to all and there are cars literally all over the place. You never know what you will find in the next pit garage or parked in an easyup awning, or on a trailer behind a beaten-up tow car. The driver and mechanics are in the main very approachable and more than happy to answer questions or simply let you take a shot before returning to the preparation of the car.
[Read more…] about VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone, April 23, 2016

Of Counts and Castles

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Castle image by Henk Brouwer, inset by Graham Gauld.

Castle image by Henk Brouwer, inset by Graham Gauld.

Copyright Henk J. Brouwer

[Henk Brouwer visited the von Trips Museum in 2001 and wrote about it for VeloceToday. It may be one of the only complete descriptions of the Museum as it apparently closed its doors in 2014. Ed.]

As we have recounted in Part 1, Count “Taffy” von Trips lived in a castle, whose foundations dated from the late 14th century. The castle Hemmersbach was awarded to Franz Adalph Ansem Berghe von Trips in 1751 and extended by Wolfgang’s grandfather in 1899. Wolfgang’s father Eduard continued to live in the castle until his death in 1971. The widowed Thessa, then moved out of the castle into the nearby Villa Trips which she had built, until her death in 1978.

The castle was sold in 1984 to a private owner who restored it in 1988. After that, the castle seemed to be neglected. In 1999 it was sold to a software engineer, and there was a very radical restoration of the whole castle in progress, starting with the outbuildings. The estate directly around the castle is fully fenced in. Warnings of big, mean dogs are posted on the fences. The castle leaves a ruinous impression, caused by the rampancy of ivies and weeds between the bricks of the entrance and some blisters on the paint. With thunder, lightning, rain and wind, the castle even can look lugubrious.

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The Effeffe Berlinetta: Back to the Fifties.

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

The event Top Marques Monaco 2016, which took place from April 14-17 in the Mediterranean Principality, was the 13th edition of what has evolved from a glittering show of premium automobiles to become THE trade fair for the super-rich, with a wide variety of exclusive and expensive products from powerboats, fast motorbikes, design jewelry to grand-cru wines and alcoholic drinks. The exhibition in and around the modern ‘Grimaldi Forum’, attracted a great number of wealthy residents and tourists. However, the supercars proved to be still a powerful magnet. [Read more…] about The Effeffe Berlinetta: Back to the Fifties.

Painting with Light: From Digital to Analog

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There are a lot of problems with this shot– crooked background, shadows from booth to right, but it conveys the ambiance of the event with European style outdoor cafes. I did the artwork for this article based on this photo.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Wallace Wyss is both a photojournalist and a fine artist. Here he explains how to use light to create “art” with photographs.]

Story and photos by Wallace Wyss

As longtime VT readers might know, I wear a few different hats. At a car show I am a reporter, i.e. photojournalist, taking the pictures to go with my report for Internet sites, magazines or for my Incredible Barn Finds series of books.

At the same time I see the show through the eyes of a fine artist and, if the light is right, try to attempt to portray the cars in my photos in a certain light and background that is not always identical to the pictures taken while wearing my photojournalist hat and “shooting for the record.”

And I’m here to tell ya that those two roles don’t necessarily mesh–often they fight each other tooth and nail…

For example, when I went to the Ferrari Club of America Southwest Region concours on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena in April, my overall assignment was to select the most interesting cars and shoot them for a straight story. [Read more…] about Painting with Light: From Digital to Analog

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