VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

A Tribute To Martin Swig

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Martin Swig

Martin Swig in 2003.

Story and photos by Shivu Rao
We sadly note the passing of 78 year old Martin Swig, who passed away on July 3, 2012. Swig was a San Francisco Bay Area-based car collector, vintage racer, founder and chief organizer of the California Mille, La Carrera Nevada, and other notable U.S. vintage car rallies and events. Nine years ago, we sent budding reporter Shivu Rao out to interview the iconic Alfa collector. Shivu had the pleasure of sitting down with Mr. Swig to talk about a wide-ranging set of subjects; from the foundations of the Italian car business in America in the 1950s, to the development of the car industry in general, to vintage rallies, to vintage cars, and last but not least, Swig himself. We re-publish this interesting and informative article today as a fitting tribute to Martin Swig.[Ed.]

Having spent some time with the man, we at VeloceToday can state without compunction that he is a true blue (or Rosso) Italian car enthusiast and holds much knowledge about our collective passion. His enthusiasm is real, palpable and infectious. The two Maxims of Swig we took away from this encounter were – “the cars choose the people, not the other way around” and “it’s all about having fun”. The second phrase was in evidence as we had a good time creating the content for this piece.

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Hugues Vanhoolandt at Goodwood Festival

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Maserati 8CM enjoying life.

By Hugues Vanhoolandt

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed’s main theme was ‘Young Guns – Born to Win’, celebrating drivers, riders, designers and engineers of motor sport. Alain Prost was in particular honored by a display of the F1 cars he drove.

Other highlights were the celebration of Lotus 60th anniversary and a display of cars from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s collection (see our report next week).

But there was a lot happening for VeloceToday fans, so let’s see what was out there on the French and Italian sides.

Alpine-

For the 50th birthday of the famous Alpine, the Renault Collection brought to Goodwood this 1800 S version, driven by Jean Ragnotti, ex-works Renault Rally (and sportscar) driver.

Alpine-a110-50

Alpine A110-50, the successor? (see VT of 5th July)

Although busy with its F1 and Le Mans programs, Renault entered this little R5 in the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally where it took 2nd and 3rd overall with Ragnotti and Frequelin.

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Portello at Goodwood in English and Italian

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Marco Cajani takes the F1 Alfa out at Goodwood. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Roberto Motta
Photos by Roberto Motta, “Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring, Documentation Center (Arese, Milan)” Archive and Scuderia del Portello

Every year the “Festival of Speed at Goodwood” blends the charm of historic cars with the latest generation of prototypes; the charisma of the old, with cars such as the featured Alfa Romeo 183T F1 car, with the latest high tech wonders.

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Our Features This Week, July 5th, 2012

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For this holiday week we present four very short but exciting features. We’d like to hear your opinions on the current round of “Concept Cars” that are aimed directly at our line of interests. Did Renault get it right and Alfa/Fiat Zagato fail, or was it the other way around? Or, is it necessary to create new cars with old themes at all?

Also, we note with sadness the death of Sergio Pininfarina on July 3, 2012 at age 85. W’ell have more on Pininfarina in a future issue of VT.

We have a very French Summer coming up with outstanding features from some of our best writers including Eric Davison, Roy Smith, and Ed McDonough. In addition, we are proud to welcome the esteemed author of the biography “André Lefebvre”, Gijsbert-Paul Berk to our electronic pages.

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The TZ3 Stradale: The First American Alfa Romeo?

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Story and photos by Mary Ann Dickinson unless otherwise noted

At the annual convention of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club held in Toronto, the TZ3 Stradale was lovingly presented by Andrea Zagato, third generation CEO of the renowned Italian car design company, Zagato. [Read more…] about The TZ3 Stradale: The First American Alfa Romeo?

Gauld at the Blancpain GT Endurance

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McLaren-MP4-12C

Jack Clark's McLaren MP4 12C holds off the Ferrari 458 Italia of Patrice Groueslard.

Story and Photos by Graham Gauld

I took myself off to the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France last weekend for the round of the Blancpain Endurance Series which brought together an enormous 56 car entry of top quality GT cars. The rise in GT racing has been steady over the past two or three years and it is now not only attracting some top drivers but also some of the leading manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, McLaren, Audi etc. [Read more…] about Gauld at the Blancpain GT Endurance

Presenting Jonathan Sharp

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The reason I have chosen this shot is because I like the symbolism. You could not pick a more British make than Lotus but Lotus has always relied on the co-operation of others for success whether that be Ford of Britain, Coventry Climax, Renault or as it is now, Toyota.

Photos and captions by Jonathan Sharp

Jonathan caught our attention..not an easy task these days…when he sent along a few B&W images of the Bugattis at Prescott. [Read more…] about Presenting Jonathan Sharp

Our Features This Week, June 27th 2012

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The winner of the Fuller Brush Phil Hill Catalog was Donald Sawhill. Denise McCluggage will sign this rare find for Mr. Sawhill. Congratulations!

This week in VeloceToday, Brandes Elitch continues his Constant Search, Hugues Vanhoolandt does Het Loo, Roberto Motta on WRC New Zealand and the Editor recaps the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

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Talbot Lago Awarded Top Honors at Het Loo 2012

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Talbot Lago T150-C-SS “Teardrop” s/n 90109

Best of Show went to the Talbot Lago T150-C-SS “Teardrop” s/n 90109.

By Hugues Vanhoolandt

Every two years, the lawns of Paleis Het Loo in the Netherlands host a Concours d’élégance.
Despite the awful weather on Sunday, with heavy rain throughout the day, the event saw a strong showing of classics from the native country but also from the neighbouring countries such as Belgium, Germany and even from Italy.

Best of Show was awarded to the Talbot Lago T150-C-SS “Teardrop” owned by Evert Louwman, who runs the Louwman Museum, in Den Haag, near Amsterdam, which is the world’s oldest private collection of motor cars.

Bugatti Type 13.

100 years old and still running, a Bugatti Type 13.

288 GTO Evoluzione and the 575 GTC.

GT competition by Ferrari : In the truck one of the three 308GT/Ms by Michelotto and the 575 GTC.

The master on which the panels of aluminum were modelled for the 250GT.

Every respectable concours now has its Preservation class, which welcomes this Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 by Touring.

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The Constant Search Part II

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By Brandes Elitch

In the first half of this article, I discussed the early days of automotive literature. Back in the fifties and sixties, there was a dearth of books on automotive subjects. There were some iconic books that most people had on their bookshelves: Ken Purdy’s “Kings of the Road” would have to top that list. But the best automotive writers typically wrote magazine articles, not books. This changed, fortunately, and now it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of newly published books. In this column, I will try to give you something to think about on this subject.

I was going to try to start with a “top ten” list of automotive books that everyone should have in their collection. Then, I read this wonderful quote from Ken Shubert, published in the Wild About Cars website (www.wildaboutcars.com). “We are not in this for the same reason. Sure, we all have “old cars” in common, but what we’re in it for starts to take different direction right from the start. We come from different walks of life. We have varying amounts of time, money, and energy. We have different ideas of what we want to do. We have different priorities. We have different skill levels. We like different eras, different makes, colors, options. Diversity is a good thing. What if we all wanted the same car, year, model, etc.?”

Diverse subjects but excellent topics and top notch authors...

So, there is no magic Top Ten list. You could focus on individual marques (hopefully, ones that are in your garage), racing, engineering, repair and restoration, racecar driver biographies and circuit/race histories, industry analysis, domestic v. foreign, not to mention the triumvirate that seem to dominate bookstores these days: of NASCAR, Harleys, and hot rods (no comment). If you asked a Brit, he would come up with names like Anthony Blight, William Boddy, Doug Nye, William Court Chris Nixon, and Jeremy Walton. A Frenchman or Italian would have different names. It’s a big world, car collecting.

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European Grand Prix 2012: Proper Attire

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Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Alonso and team manages tires to win Grand Prix of Europe

Valencia, Spain, June 24 2012
What Pirelli taketh away, Pirelli giveth. Last Sunday in Spain, on lap 35 Fernando Alonso took the lead from a confident Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull mysteriously stopped on the course. [Read more…] about European Grand Prix 2012: Proper Attire

Rally New Zealand in English and Italian

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By Roberto Motta

Photos courtesy of Citroën and Ford World Rally Team Communication.

Sebastien Loeb won the Brother Rally New Zealand and concluded the first half of the season with a distinct advantage over team-mate Hirvonen. With the win in New Zealand, Loeb took his third consecutive victory and was thus awarded even more valuable points in the standings. He can now begin to think more seriously about winning the Championship.
[Read more…] about Rally New Zealand in English and Italian

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