VeloceToday.com – Page 188 – The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Zoute Grand Prix, October 9-12, Belgium

October 21, 2014 By pete

But remember, don’t drink and drive!

Story and photos by Hugues Vahnoolandt

Zoute Grand Prix, Belgium October 9-12 2014 Now in its 5th edition, the Zoute Grand Prix, held in Knokke-le-Zoute on the Belgian Coast, has become a key event of the classic car calendar and marks the last Concours d’Elégance of the year, at least in Europe.

Apart from the Zoute Concours, there is also the Zoute Rally for classic cars built between 1920 and 1965, and the Zoute GT Tour for recent supercars.

Together with an auction sale by Bonhams, all these events form the Zoute Grand Prix, attracting thousands of enthusiasts and simple spectators.

But let’s see now what was notable this year: [Read more…] about Zoute Grand Prix, October 9-12, Belgium

Ferrari Celebrates 60 Years in North America

October 21, 2014 By pete

Rodeo Drive and a 458 Ferrari Italia.

Story and photos by Steven Kittrell unless otherwise noted

Beverly. Hills that is; swimming pools, movie stars and a stable of Ferraris never before seen on US soil. Last Sunday, Ferrari celebrated its 60th North American anniversary by rolling out the red carpet on Rodeo Drive. This ‘Race Through the Decades’ event was loaded with the most historically significant collection of Ferrari’s ever assembled in the United States. [Read more…] about Ferrari Celebrates 60 Years in North America

VeloceToday for October 14, 2014

October 14, 2014 By pete

_________________

Four issues of Auto Aficionado, the automobile collector’s magazine edited by Larry Crane, including the initial three issues. Only sold together $80 plus $20 postage from France via paypal. Volume 1 No 1 March/April 2005, Volume 1 No 2 May-June 2005, Volume 1 No 3 Sept/Oct 2005, Volume 2 No 1 Jan/Feb 2006. Contact:Grahamgauld@Gmail.com

Alfa 1600 Sprint and Spider Instruction Book. Public no. 838-12/1963 (1500) R. Original, excellent to mint condition; spine is not broken, appears as new. Slight fraying on edge of Electrical diagram where it protrudes from the edge of the book. 80 pages, printed for US market cars. SS instruction book sold for $400; looking for best offer over $300. Click photo to see larger image. 1600 Giulia TI instruction book also available, good condition.
Contact:vack@cox.net

Join the Rat Pack! Stunningly restored Ghia L 6.4 coupe for sale. Ninth of only 26 made; full, authentic, accurate restoration. Beautiful black exterior with black and white interior, as featured in the original factory sales brochure! Please see www.GhiaL64.com for details or contact John Huggins at GhiaL6.4@gmail.com

Three volume classic, “The Grand Prix Car” by Laurence Pomeroy and LJK Setright. 1200+pp The history, theory, design , details and performance of all the important GP cars from the turn of the century through 1966. Hundreds of extraordinary technical drawings, charts, spec tables and racing results. Condition: excellent used, no marks beyond owner name Price $850 plus shipping(weight 12.5 lbs) Contact stevegurr@charter.net

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

A Lifetime of Cars of a Lifetime: Bugatti T57

October 14, 2014 By Brandy

The Bugatti T57 in 1955 beside the Meuse river in Verdun, France.

By Brandes Elitch

“I was fortunate enough to live in a time when, if you were willing to tinker with your car, there was a lot of neat stuff to be had. But you were on your own though.”

Recently, Steve Snyder, a fixture in the American Lancia Club for decades, reprinted the club publication originally published in 1977 as “the Aurelia Issue.” (https://velocetoday.com/lanciana-and-friends/) This year, he added more recent material, which brought it to 94 pages. This would be a must-have for any Lancisti. Steve has a few copies for sale; you can contact him at jsteve34@att.net. Steve asked me to deliver a copy locally, which took me to the residence of Mr. G., who kindly invited me inside his home. When I asked about some pictures on the wall, he related the history of his life with cars, and has agreed to share it with our readers, as follows: [Read more…] about A Lifetime of Cars of a Lifetime: Bugatti T57

Bicester Heritage Park: Restoration and Storage for Classics

October 14, 2014 By pete

Bicester Heritage is a beautiful industrial park for vintage cars, bikes an planes.

Roy Smith returned from Bicester with hundreds of photos; we chose enough to allow the reader to get a sense of this incredible and historic “industrial park”. When finished, the Bicester Heritage Park will be stunning and a fitting place to store and restore vehicles and airplanes. [Ed.]

Story and photos by Roy P. Smith

Here is news of an event that is rapidly gaining in popularity in the UK. I had the good fortune to be invited to take one of my cars along to the October 5th Edition of the Bicester Heritage Sunday Brunch Scramble. Maybe the word egg should go after scramble, because it’s “the” place to go for breakfast on one of these open days.

Bicester Heritage is the UK’s first industrial park for the restoration and storage of vintage and classic cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes. It is already a hub of a great deal of activity on all three fronts. The location is iconic, being 348 acres of a historic RAF bomber station first established in the First World War. It is situated just to the north side of Bicester in Oxfordshire, close to the M40 London to Birmingham motorway. [Read more…] about Bicester Heritage Park: Restoration and Storage for Classics

Australia’s Vintage Collingrove Hillclimb

October 14, 2014 By pete

Richard Creasy and the 1925 Amilcar takes on ‘The Wall’.

South Australia, 5 October 2014

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

The British far outnumbered the French and Italians at the Sporting Car Club of South Australia’s annual vintage hillclimb in the Barossa Valley recently. At just under 700 meters in length it doesn’t take long for competitors to get over the crest at the top and most managed seven runs during the day. Perfect spring weather and a holiday weekend saw the drivers almost as relaxed as the spectators. The entry list included some post-WW2 cars but the invited ‘Come & Run’ category maintained the vintage feel with Jim Scammell’s 1922 Essex 4 Special the oldest car on the hill. [Read more…] about Australia’s Vintage Collingrove Hillclimb

A Decade of Danville Delights

October 14, 2014 By pete

This 1956 Maserati 250F Grand Prix was the first of three lightweight cars built for the 1957 season.

By Steve Kittrell

The Danville Concours d’Elegance was held on Sunday, September 21st celebrating its milestone 10th annual event at historic downtown Danville, California in the San Francisco Bay area.

Many of the efforts for this concours directly benefited the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson’s Institute for the advancement of its research and patient care. With a goal to “Stop Parkinson’s in its tracks,” the committee and volunteers have successfully raised over 2 million dollars for this worthy cause. [Read more…] about A Decade of Danville Delights

VeloceToday for October 7th, 2014

October 7, 2014 By pete

Andrea De Cesaris 31 May 1959 – 05 October 2014

Photo by Graham Gauld

With all the publicity surrounding the accident to Jules Bianchi in the Japanese Grand Prix last Sunday there was another sad passing when former Alfa Romeo, McLaren and Ligier driver Andrea de Cesaris was killed in a motorcycle accident in his native Rome.

Andrea was a quiet spoken, shy and slightly introverted driver who, when he stepped into a racing car, became a true tiger. That he crashed a lot was the reputation he gained from his early enthusiasm, but he was to develop into a very good if not great racing driver.

It was Australian former Grand Prix driver Tim Schenken who first noted his talent after he had won the Italian karting championship when he was seventeen. Schenken brought him into his new Tiga Formula 3 team driving a Ralt in 1978. The following season Tiga switched to a March and de Cesaris won six races in the British series and finished second.

Andrea had his first Grand Prix at the end of the 1980 season with the Marlboro Alfa Romeo team in Canada but retired with a blown engine then in the U.S. Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen he clashed with Derek Daly and was out. This was the start of a number of miscalculations such as in his first race for McLaren in 1981 when, in the Long Beach Grand Prix he crashed into Alain Prost’s Renault, marking his card and ending his one and only season with McLaren.

I got to know him in the 1980s when I was assisting Fiat/Lancia in their rally and racing programme. Andrea was signed up by Lancia and first raced their Dallara-built Lancia-Beta Monte Carlo turbo in the Watkins Glen 6 hours finishing second with Henri Pescarolo to the sister car of Riccardo Patrese and Michele Alboretto. He was then out of sports car racing until 1985 when he was brought back into the factory Lancia team this time with the LC2 85 for the 1000 kms at Brands Hatch finishing third behind two Porsche 962Cs but ahead of Lancia’s number one crew of Riccardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini.

I remember a touching moment when he was driving with Lancia when there was a press conference with all the drivers who were giving their comments on the cars and racing. A door at the back of the room opened and a middle aged woman came in. Andrea immediately jumped up, ran and embraced his mother. Even the hardened journalists were moved. That is how I would like to remember him as a quiet and friendly man who could transform himself into an animal on the circuit.–Graham Gauld

_________________

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

Put-in-Bay 1957-58 in Color

October 7, 2014 By pete

Alfa #78 exits Cemetery Turn with Al Allin at the wheel. Note the fabricated headrest. Collection of Robert Pauley

Color slides courtesy Robert Pauley: Click to enlarge
Text and captions by Carl Goodwin

Chrysler engineer Robert Pauley, who attended the 1957 Cuban Grand Prix, (see review) also made a habit of going to local sports car shows and events. Only 80 miles from his home base in Detroit, Pauley went to Put-in-Bay in 1957 and 1958. The following are his photos taken on Kodachrome slides.

Carl Goodwin was also there, albeit bit younger, and this year finished his book about the event (see review). Pauley’s photos arrived too late to be included in the book, so we present them here, along with informative captions from Goodwin.

Put-in-Bay, June 8th, 1957

The feature race in ‘57 included a couple of Porsche Spyders along with the Lester MG of Ted Jayne and the fast MGTC of Detroit’s Bill Bradley plus several 2-liter production sports cars: ACs, Morgans, Triumphs and then Siatas powered by Porsche and Offenhauser engines. The winner was Tom Payne’s Spyder followed closely by Ted Jayne in the Lester MG. [Read more…] about Put-in-Bay 1957-58 in Color

VeloceToday for September 30 2014: 155 Features

September 30, 2014 By pete

Today, 155 feature articles!

Once every quarter we gather up all the articles we’ve published to date that year. 2014 is now three quarters over, so here are all the articles (155) published in VeloceToday from January 1st 2014 to September 23.

*Use that scroll function to see all; we begin with January and if you scroll down far enough you will get to September.

*Click on each small photo to read the story.

*We’ll return next week with even more feature articles.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

VeloceToday for September 23, 2014

September 23, 2014 By pete

Another Goodwood Revival has come and gone, but our two intrepid reporters, Hugues Vanhoolandt and Jonathan Sharp stopped time so that you too, could enjoy this enormous event. And lest we forget that they still make new Ferraris, Alessandro Gerelli shows us three of the more recent models. One must admit, they are as beautiful as ever.

_________________

*$25 Ads for anyone who has something to sell, to giveaway, or to holler about. Ad will be placed above the fold and run for one month. Contact vack@cox.net .

Goodwood Revival: Places and Faces

September 23, 2014 By pete

We combine the unique photographic talents of Hugues Vanhoolandt (who took the photo above, left) and Jonathan Sharp (who captured a laughing Brian Redman, above right) to bring our readers a taste of the faces and places seen at this year’s Goodwood Revival. Below, their photos are alternated. Click on the images to see them twice as large. .

Vanhoolandt: Maserati girls

Sharp: Derek Bell

Vanhoolandt: Hispano HA1112 Buchon (See Note 1 for more info)

Sharp: Spitfire

Vanhoolandt: Sgt. Pepper's Regulars

Sharp: Settrington Grand Prix (See Note 2)

Vanhoolandt: British bowlers

Sharp: Rowan Atkinson, Mr. Bean and others.

Vanhoolandt: Hooper and co.

Sharp: KGB Racing

Vanhoolandt: Picnic

Sharp: Webber and Jackie

Vanhoolandt: No picnic

Sharp: Dickie Attwood

Vanhoolandt: Dad's Army Re enactment (See Note 3)

Sharp: Monza at Goodwoood

Vanhoolandt: Just a good shot

Sharp: Crumpet chasing Moss

Vanhoolandt: Why do they wave? (St Trininan's girls)

Sharp: Mark Blundell, Danny Sullivan

Vanhoolandt: De Haviland DH82a Tiger Moth

Sharp: Mass and ?

Vanhoolandt: Everyone must have a bobby

Sharp: Soper and J. Oliver

Vanhoolandt: Didn't forget the girls

Sharp: Avro Lancaster Bombers (See note 4)

Note 1 Have you ever seen the 1969 film The Battle of Britain ?. The aircraft featured flew in the film and wears the markings that she carried during the filming? The enemy aircraft used in the film came from the Spanish Air Force. The Spanish had initially changed their minds about letting the production company use the HE111 Bombers which had also been re-engined with Merlins. Hamish Mahaddie, who worked for the production company then, spoke to Rolls Royce, who the spoke to the Spanish ambassador in London informing him that if the Spanish refused the request for the aircraft then Rolls Royce would have to think long and hard about supplying spares for the Merlins. He111s at the time were their front line aircraft. The Spanish then agreed! (Jonathan Sharp)

Note 2 A two part race for Austin J40 pedal cars of a type that raced between 1949 and 1966. The racers started the race in the style of Le Mans. They then pedaled for 7 laps (just kidding). They then pedaled from just after the chicane to just in front of the old control building have passed through various chicanes made up of foam.
Austin pedal cars were made in the specially constructed Austin Junior Car Factory at Bargoed in South Wales, which opened on 5 July 1949. It was paid for by Government funds and was run on a not-for-profit basis and purely for the employment of disabled coal miners suffering from the lung disease, pneumoconiosis. They were re-trained and benefited from in-house medical care. (Jonathan Sharp)

Note 3 These are the Dads Army re-enactment group. Dads Army was a hugely successful BBC comedy series filmed in the 1970s. Dads Army was the nickname of the Home Guard, a force set up to defend England early in the war and was made up of those too old to join the regular army. The show is repeated to this day in fact I watched an episode on Saturday night on the BBC and it is still very funny and has not dated. (Jonathan Sharp)

Note 4 7377 Avro Lancaster Bombers were built between 1941 and early 1946, some 3500 were lost during operations. Only two remain in air worthy condition. These are the two. The RAFs Battle of Britain memorial flight’s (BBMF) example PA474 which was built a Broughton in Cheshire in 1945, and the Canadian War Plane Heritage’s Lancaster Mark X which was built at Victory Aircraft in Malton Canada. They are joined by three of the fighters of the BBMF. Hurricane MK11c PZ865. Known as the last of the many, of the 14533 built this was the last. The two Spitfire’s are TE311 a low back Mark LF XVIE and P7350. MKIIa which is the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the World