VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

1000 Cars for the Silverstone Classic

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Photography by Jonathan Sharp

In the United Kingdom, there is only one event which can be mentioned in the same sentence usually only reserved for the Goodwood Revival Meeting…the Silverstone Classic which is being held this year on the weekend of July 20. This event can trace its history way back to 1990 when it was known as the Coys Historic Festival. Until a few years ago it had somewhat lost its way but now it is back up there with the best.
[Read more…] about 1000 Cars for the Silverstone Classic

Our Features This Week, July 11th 2012

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A tribute to the late Martin Swig, Eric Davison rides with Bobby Unser, the Alfa T183T, Hugues Vanhoolandt at Goodwood and the Grand Prix of Great Britain.

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McCahill and the Bugatti

Bill Giltzow remembered he had this slide while reading Brandes Elitch’s ” The Constant Search“. This picture of Tom McCahill has never been published, taken at Linden Airport Races in 1949. Original Agfachrome slide by William G Giltzow (1914-1979) scan & copyright William A Giltzow.

Tom is in the white ball cap. But who is the driver and whose Bugatti is the centerpiece of this rare photo? Our thanks to Bill Giltzow.

British Grand Prix 2012

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Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, and Sebastian Vettel

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

For being a pretty boring race, all in all, the British Grand Prix was a real nail-biter. Jimmy Clark would have felt right at home as thousands of Ferrari faithfuls chewed the keratin to the quick waiting to see if Webber would catch Alonso or if Alonso would hold off Weber. [Read more…] about British Grand Prix 2012

Peak Experience

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Bobby Unser in his heyday. IMS Photo.

Eric Davison has had many interesting experiences in the automotive field; his epic eight-part memoirs of Watkins Glen appeared last year in VeloceToday and more recently his recollections of Le Mans in the 1970s brought a lot of appreciative comments. The other day, noting the sad news in Colorado, he sat down and wrote about his adventures at Pikes Peak with a guy named Bobby Unser. Enjoy, we did! Ed.

Story by Eric Davison

The devastating fires that have ravaged the Colorado Springs area of Colorado have caused the delay of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, originally scheduled for last weekend, until August 12. Both events are cause for sadness. Colorado is considered one of the most majestic of states and to think of it in ashes is heartbreaking.

Anything goes at Pikes Peak...the diversity is astounding.


To me, the Pikes Peak event represents what is perhaps the most inclusive and unusual of motorsports events. In many respects it is the opposite from the other famous American race venue, Indianapolis. The lack of creativity and individuality on the Indy car circuit is the obverse of the technical variety seen and promoted at Pikes Peak. The organizers have a competitive category for just about anyone. If someone showed up with a motorized uni-cycle I feel pretty sure that he would have a chance for a trophy. Run what ‘ya brung seems to be the byword and what’s more, local residents are as likely to be as competitive as the international stars.

The Unser Experience
While I have only attended the actual hill climb once I have had a Pikes Peak experience that many could only dream of. I had a ride part way up the hill with Bobby Unser at the wheel. For those who don’t follow Pikes Peak, there was a time beginning in 1934 that the name Unser was synonymous with first place at the event and Bobby Unser could surely be labeled ‘king of the hill.’ The Unsers, from the local area, literally owned the hill beginning with Uncle Louie. Bobby Unser still holds the all time win record at the mountain and his son Rob won the event driving a Peugeot 405 in 1989.

Which reminds us that there is often a French flavor to rustic Colorado hillclimb. French star Michèle Mouton won with the Audi Quattro in 1985 (watch video ) …. And of course there was the famed Milliken Bugatti that placed 6th overall in 1947.

Bill Milliken (with tie) at Pikes Peak with his team. Yep, that's a Bugatti.

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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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