VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Oldtimer Grand Prix, 2012

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Maserati 250F sculpture got our attention.

Photos and Captions by Alessandro Gerelli

Since we are celebrating our tenth anniversary this year, we thought it might be nice to list all the articles about the Nurburgring Oldtimer event filed by Alessandro Gerelli in the past decade. It’s an interesting walk through the famous paddock and one can get a sense of how much or how little vintage racing, European style, has changed over the years. Above and below, Gerelli’s photos from this year’s Oldtimer Grand Prix. [Read more…] about Oldtimer Grand Prix, 2012

MAD about Monterey

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Mary Ann Dickinson (MAD) eyes Monterey

Check out this 1938 Lancia Aprilia Sport Aerodinamica, a modern reconstruction of a pre-war car. Andrea Zagato built this one in recognition of his father’s original design, following the images from old photographs as there is no other record of the car. It is a sleek beauty, with lines way ahead of its time.

Every August we all trek to the Monterey peninsula in California for the Holy Grail of vintage car events, which have grown beyond control over the years like an abandoned garden zucchini. It is now a plethora of car shows, auctions, races, exhibitions and collector markets, all occurring in the same frantic week. And this car fun is pricey; attending Monterey has become a compulsory – and expensive – pilgrimage.
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1923 Grand Prix of Tours Part 5: Sunbeam and Voisin

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By Gijbsert-Paul Berk

Louis-Coatalen

Louis Coatalen, Sunbeam's chief engineer.

Established in 1899 and based in Wolverhampton UK, Sunbeam was known for its sturdy but unexciting line of cars. Things changed in 1909 when Louis Hervé Coatalen (1879 -1962) became chief engineer. [Read more…] about 1923 Grand Prix of Tours Part 5: Sunbeam and Voisin

Our Features This Week, August 15 2012

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One of our favorite charity events combines a show of vintage cars and aircraft. Held in Englewood CO, we'll send the ex-Matra team USA principal (see below story) Al Axelrod over to cover the action. Click the pic for RVSP and more info.

Passings

William F. Milliken died July 28 at home in Buffalo, NY. He was 101 years of age. VeloceToday was honored to have fully reviewed his extraordinary life with the kind help of his son Douglas. Our deepest sympathies go out to all of his family. More about Bill Milliken and his cars and aircraft can be read here:
Bill Milliken and Equations of Motion
The Milliken Bugatti T35A

Lucie Bedford Warren, age 104, died July 17 at her home in Westport, CT. She was a large part of her husband Briggs Cunningham’s successful racing team that set the standard in American road racing in the 1940s and ’50s and into the 1960s. She was the mother of their children, Briggs Cunningham III, Lucie Cunningham McKinney and Cythlen Cunningham Maddock. Lucie was the granddaughter of Edward Thomas Bedford, who was a director of Standard Oil Co. with the Rockefeller family. (Credit IMRRC)

The Grand Prix of Tours Part 4: Fiat and Rolland-Pilain

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the moment Giovanni Agnelli (1866 –1945) and his business associates founded the company in 1899, it grew within a few decades to be one of the leading industries in Italy. It even had its own branches in the USA and Russia. In 1916 Fiat began building a completely new car factory at the outskirts of Turin. When it was completed in 1922, the Lingotto plant was the largest and most modern in Europe. Its assembly lines were spread over five floors and the finished cars were driven on a test track constructed on the roof of the entire building.

Louis Wagner with the Fiat at Savanah, Georgia in 1911. Courtesy Ludvigsen.

During WWI Fiat produced weapons, aircraft and vehicles for the allied armies and in the postwar period, Italy was confronted with serious social unrest. Fiat also suffered, as workers of the Italian Socialist Party briefly occupied its factories. However, by 1923 Fiat was again showing signs of healthy growth on both the national and international markets.

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Testing the Fiat 500 Cabriolet

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How it almost charmed a curmudgeon

In the road-testing world there’s a little bit of Stephen Stills “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with”. You have to forget about the car you drove last week and like the one you’re driving now.

When it first arrived here, I was at first very skeptical of the new Fiat and didn’t ask for one to test drive. I remember when Fiats were big back in the Sixties and how there was precious little parts and service and the dealerships seemed like back alley operations. So I wondered, “When Fiat comes back, will they do a better job in parts and service this time around?”
[Read more…] about Testing the Fiat 500 Cabriolet

Our Features This Week, August 8th 2012

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Photographer Jonathan Sharp exhibits select photos from Prescott. Click on the Bugatti in the rain above to see a preview of what we have coming up in Prescott, the Climb, the Cars.
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We have not been publishing all the comments about the Ferrari mystery car. Suffice to say, Ferrari historians Lynch, Seielstad, Seibert, Goosens, Massini et al figure this is the 335S Ferrari s/n 0674 when owned by Chinetti sometime in 1958. But no one has been able to definitely nail down the exact date and place…either the Ford Museum in Dearborn or the Franklin Hotel in NYC yet. Back to you.
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All Star issue: This week we are proud to welcome Denise McCluggage to VeloceToday. She joins Michael T. Lynch, Graham Gauld and Gijsbert-Paul Berk for our features this week. In additon, Roberto Motta’s Finish Rally report and Jonathan Sharp’s Prescott gallery help create a very special edition. Don’t forget, we need your dollars to continue to bring you articles such as these.If you enjoy VeloceToday, Donate or become a premium subscriber; only your support will keep these articles coming to your inbox every week

Lynch: The Dénouement of the Third Bugatti Type 64

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By Michael T. Lynch

Two weeks ago, Veloce Today brought you the story of David Smith’s Alfa S 11 Corto Spyder Speciale. It will debut on the lawn at The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering, held at the Quail Lodge in Carmel on Friday the 17th of August during the Monterey Peninsula Holy Week. Joining it there will be the imposing Bugatti Type 64 coupé from the Mullin Automotive Museum. The Bugatti has a recently completed body and this is the first time it will be seen. This is how it all came about.

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Denise McCluggage: Ferrari Makes a Point

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copyright protected copyright Denise McCluggage By Denise McCluggage

I don’t know when Enzo Ferrari decided not to go to races in which his cars ran but to attend practice days instead, but such was his habit when I was covering the Grand Prix circuit. More often than not he was at Monza, sort of the home ball park, for the late summer Formula 1 races. And so as you see in this photograph shot at practice for the 1958 Grand Prix of Italy is “il Commendatore”, as he was usually referred to then, performing for my camera.
[Read more…] about Denise McCluggage: Ferrari Makes a Point

Gauld: Martinengo Memories and Gentlemen Drivers

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Regular readers may remember my May 2012 article about the Monaco Historics in which I mentioned meeting Cesare Martinengo, whose father Franco was a typical Italian “Gentleman Driver” throughout the 1940s and ’50s. This sounded interesting and I had to find out more. Cesare then brought his scrapbooks to me in the South of France and I spent a fascinating day going back in time when people raced for the fun of it and enjoyed racing with their friends.

Cesare Martinengo, however, did some racing himself, mainly with small Italian sports cars. It was no surprise that thanks to his father’s long-time friendship with Elio Zagato, Cesare raced a double bubble Fiat 750 Zagato. (In the lead photo, Elio, left, with Franco Martinengo stand next to their Fiat 1100 Zagatos.)

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1923 French Grand Prix Part 3: Bugatti and Delage

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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

In 1913 Ettore Bugatti (1881 -1947) began working on the design of an eight-cylinder engine at the suggestion of his friend, the pilot Roland Garros. Early in 1914 he sent his collaborator Ernest Friderich to the US with a four-cylinder car of 5.655 liters capacity to participate in the Indianapolis 500. When later that year WWI started, Ettore had to leave his factory in Molsheim, situated in the German occupied Alsace.

Ettore Bugatti

Ettore Bugatti at the drawing board.

First he moved to Milan and later to Paris, where he began designing aircraft engines. In 1919 Bugatti returned to Molsheim and resumed the development of his cars. At the first postwar motor shows in Paris and London, he presented his new three-liter eight-in-line engine. The Type 29/30 engine had three valves per cylinder, operated by one single overhead camshaft.

Type 30
When the European auto sport authority CSI announced that for the 1922 to 1924 seasons, the cubic capacity of Grand Prix engines would be limited to just two liters, Bugatti constructed a smaller engine to comply with these regulations. A team of four cars was entered in the 1922 French Grand Prix de Vitesse at Strasbourg. With its long and tapered aerodynamic body, the new Bugatti was nicknamed ‘Le Cigare’ in the French Motoring journals. But it had a successful debut with the three cars finishing second, third and fourth behind the winning Fiat.

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