VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Indian Grand Prix 2012

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A second place for Alonso in India.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

For a season that offered so much hope and competition just a few months ago, 2012 F1 has suddenly degenerated into another Red Bull Route with Vettel in charge. He’s on a roll now, the earlier problems with reliability seem to have faded, the speed has returned, and it is unlikely that even Alonso will catch Vettel for the Championship. After India, Alonso is now thirteen points behind Vettel for the Championship, and that has never been a lucky number in racing.
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Our Features This Week, October 24th, 2012

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HURRICANE SANDY: The offices of VeloceToday were spared any damage or power losses from Hurricane Sandy. However, our thoughts go out to our many friends in the Northeast who have suffered due to this immense storm. We’ll have a slight delay in mailing this week; VeloceToday will be sent out on Thursday, November 1st, at 11 am Eastern Time so watch for it!

Congratulations, Carl Goodwin!

Veloce Today Correspondent Carl Goodwin Wins the Carl Benz Award

HERSHEY, PA., October 14, 2012…Carl Goodwin, longtime VeloceToday correspondent, has won the prestigious 2012 Carl Benz Award of the Society of Automotive Historians for a three-part article titled “Flying Low,” published in Vintage Motorsport magazine. The articles chronicled the era of airport races for sports cars from 1948 to the present, including the famous SAC Base races and featured original racing stories from 27 early drivers and 39 photographs of the era.

The award was presented at the Society’s annual awards banquet at the Hershey Golf and Country Club at Hershey, PA. Additional details can be obtained on the web site www.autohistory.org. In presenting the award, Douglas Leighton, President of Society of Automotive Historians said, “this award is given annually to an article which represents outstanding writing and original research, published in the previous calendar year.”

Vintage Motorsport, the magazine that published the Benz Award winning article, is a leader in the coverage of the golden era of sports car racing as well as other periods of the sport. The website is www.vintagemotorsport.com.

Carl Goodwin began writing about sports car racing in 1964. He raced a Fiat-Abarth Zagato and an Alexis 18B Formula Ford for a combined five years, at eleven road courses and one airport course in the East and Midwest. In addition to writing for Vintage Motorsport, he has a book out titled “They Started in MGs,” published by McFarland & Company. He is currently working on a book about the Put-in-Bay road races.

Recent articles written by Carl Goodwin for VeloceToday can be found below:
Carroll Shelby and the OSCA
Otto Linton, from “They Started in MGs”
Boniface Picnic
Racing the Alfa Giulietta

Daniele Audetto by Graham Gauld

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Chrysler, Lamborghini, Iaccoca, left, Audetto right.

Story and Photos by Graham Gauld

You can’t help but like Daniele Audetto, the tall, urbane Italian who has been involved in international motor sport all of his life. Earlier this year when I saw him at his villa in Bordighera on the Italian Riviera, he and his wife were about to head off for Spain where he has been working with Hispania Racing in Formula 1. He was not sure what his role would be this year following the take-over of the team by Thesan Capital, a Madrid based investment Group, but he didn’t appear too concerned about it.

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Rambo’s Lambos

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Just your basic Lamborghini off-road LM 002.

By Wallace Wyss

If the movie hero “Rambo” were real and John Rambo ever bought an Italian sports car..this would be it.

If ever there was a totally useless car…on the other hand, think if you were an Arab Sheik, with nothing but sand in the distance in all directions and you hear that a hostile army is coming your way, then you would want a Lamborghini LM002.

After all, it can cruise at 120 mph.

Over sand.

No wonder it got the nickname “Lambo Rambo.”
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Dreyfus at Scuderia Ferrari

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Rene Dreyfus, 1935

By Pete Vack
Photos by Vintage Motorphoto

Above: July 21st, 1935. Dreyfus wins the Grand Prix of Dieppe with the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo. His wife Chou-Chou presents the flowers; chief mechanic Attilio Marinoni is leaning over the car.

This photo, sent to us by Dale LaFollette of Vintage Motorphoto, was taken on July 21st, 1935 by an unknown photographer doing work for the French Bureau of the New York Times. Dale has also included the notes on the back which we also reproduce here. We’ll credit this one to the New York Times. The original print of this photo is available from Vintage Motorphoto.com; Dale is constantly updating his stock so be sure to check it out.

Most of our readers will be somewhat familiar with the interesting life of René Dreyfus, whose career included winning the Monte Carlo Grand Prix in a Bugatti, the first of many race victories. Dreyfus drove for Maserati, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Talbot Lago, Delage, Renault and others before and after WWII.

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Rally Italy Sardinia In English and Italian

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By Roberto Motta

Photos courtesy of Rally Italia Sardegna – Race&Motion, Citroën Communication and Ford World Rally

Early in the afternoon of Sunday, October 21, Porto Cervo hosted the celebrations for the victory of  Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen in the Rally Italy Sardinia 2012.

The rally was organized by the Automobile Club of Italy with the support of the Region of Sardinia. It was planned along a 1241 km route, which crossed the northern part of Sardinia. During the competition, the drivers tackled more than 300 km of speed tests, divided into 16 timed sections.
[Read more…] about Rally Italy Sardinia In English and Italian

Third Annual Zoute Grand Prix, Belgium

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Alfa Ville-d'Este

Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Villa d’Este driven by Toine Hezemans, the famous Dutch Alfa race car driver of the 60’s and 70’s.

Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

October 5-7, 2012

For the third consecutive year, the city of Knokke in Belgium presented the Zoute Grand Prix, consisting of a two day rally for cars built between 1920 and 1965, plus a Concours d’Elégance and a Parade of modern GT and Supercars.

Knokke is a chic resort on the Belgian coast about ten miles away from Bruges. Often called the Venice of the North, it is one of the best-preserved medieval cities with over 600 years of history.

The Zoute Grand Prix is growing every year and in 2013, a vintage car auction held by Bonhams is to be added to the activities.

Despite the damp conditions, the rally drew 150 participants who traveled more than 160 miles per day on the picturesque roads of Flanders. On each day, the start and arrival point was located at the King Albert Place at Knokke-le-Zoute.

The sun was back for the Concours d’Elégance held on the Fairway 1 of the Royal Zoute Golf Club. Many classic automobiles from the major Belgian and Dutch collections were on display. More information can be found at Zoutegrandprix.be

Here are a few of the images from the weekend.

The Rally

Despite the damp conditions of the rally, this Delahaye 135 is having a good run.

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Fast Tracking the New Fiat Abarth

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By Brian Winer

A VT contributor recently drove a Fiat 500c but admitted later that the speed was lackluster because he failed to press the “Sport” button. Recently, I rectified that by not only driving a 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth hatchback, but driving the diminutive car on a race track at the limits of the tires, the car, and the driver.

The occasion was the annual Track Days sponsored by the Motor Press Guild. These track tests are a little like speed dating—five minutes to get to know each gal. You tend to like the last one you were with, until the next one. During the busy day, we also were able to test drive the Fiat Abarth’s competition so were able to get some idea of where the new Fiat stood with its peers.
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Yellow Crayola Enzo

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Photo by Dave Johnson.

By Werner Pfister

In 2013 the Crayola Company will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the introduction of their eponymous crayon. Ever since then, kids all over the world have enjoyed creating their masterworks of art while drawing with Crayolas. But recently, I was blown away when I saw those crayons used for a sculpture! Stanley Cohen, an attorney in West Hartford, Connecticut recently commissioned a work of art using Crayola crayons in a most unusual way.
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Korean Grand Prix 2012: Red Bull Rising

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Red Bull Rising...

By Philippe Defechereux
Photos by Ferrari Media and Planet F1

Coming four days after a strong performance in Suzuka the previous weekend, and in parts thanks to a new “Double DRS” device, the Red Bull team arrived in Korea on Thursday as the favorites. Fans of the three other leading teams, especially Ferrari and McLaren, were hoping for a magic aero trick out of the proverbial magic bag. It was not to be. Still, the Korean race had plenty of intense moments.

[Read more…] about Korean Grand Prix 2012: Red Bull Rising

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