VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

A Time for Calendars

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Jeff Hill's neat, friendly 2012 Calendar is not available for sale, but free to anyone who subscribes now to our Premium Subscriber service.

…Or can we live without an analog calendar with space for a to-do list, are cars, calendars and girls forever inseparable (at least in our minds,) and wouldn’t you like a free copy of the “Ferrari Myth Calendar” by Raupp?

By now, traditional calendars should have gone the way of bison, elephantine cell phones, CRT tvs, newspapers, music stores, Oldsmobiles, Kodachrome and good movies. There is one on every PC, iPad, cellphone and Blackberry. But the ancient analog made-from-a-tree calendars still have a habit of hanging around, usually on garage walls, dens, and under phones in the kitchen. They are thrown out every January and magically renewed. Some habits die hard. [Read more…] about A Time for Calendars

When OSCA Met Porsche

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By Pete Vack
Photos Copyright Alessandro Gerelli

Alessandro Gerelli has accumulated hundreds of photos from the many Mille Miglia events over the past few years. We thought we might use a few to help illustrate OSCA’s meeting with Porsche in the 1954 race. In addition to Alessandro’s photos, we are fortunate to have obtained permission from LMG Auto and the widow of Carlo Demand, to publish the image of the Hans Hermann Porsche Spyder as the occupants ducked under a rail crossing. The drawing was first published in “The Big Race”, in 1956. More of Carlo’s work can be seen, and ordered, from www.lmgauto.com.

Carlo Demand's work depicts some of the greatest moments in racing history, such as Hans Hermann's remarkable 1954 Mille Miglia.


[Read more…] about When OSCA Met Porsche

Safari Time for the Doc

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What, a story about a Porsche? Well, Porsches are the Editor’s first love, and when journalist Peter Münder submitted this great story about Doc Brandenburg, we couldn’t resist…You’ll enjoy.

Story and photos by Peter Münder

Erik Brandenburg, a 45 year old Hamburg proctologist, is certainly a very particular type of weightwatcher: While he is preparing his 36 year old Porsche 911-Safari for the African Eco Race from Morocco to Dakar/Senegal (December 27th-January 8th 2012), he seems to balance a pair of scales in his mind. [Read more…] about Safari Time for the Doc

A Lancia Fulvia HF and the Winter Challenge

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Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF

Story and Photos below By Peter Collins
Above photo courtesy of the Classic Rally Association.

Portions of this article appeared in the new online classic rally magazine, Retro-Speed.
Check it out for classic rally stories and results!

When friend and colleague Peter Baker asked me if I would like to occupy the navigator’s seat in his well-prepared Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF for the Classic Rally Association’s Winter Challenge. The Rally started from Chester, which is a large and historic town south of Liverpool and close to the Welsh border (it has been used as a rally base several times in the past), and finished at Monte Carlo. I naturally acquiesced immediately. A fun drive with a spot of map-reading – easy, job done–but I had failed to notice that the event was an FIA Regularity round. This latter detail meant that it would be up to expert standards in all respects in order for it to be ratified by the international motorsport body, the Federation Internationale d’Automobile.

[Read more…] about A Lancia Fulvia HF and the Winter Challenge

Marshall Buck Reviews a Tamiya Ferrari 288GTO

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Ferrari 288GTO

Ferrari built 272 examples of the real thing. Tamiya built this one…

Review and photos by Marshall Buck

To my eye, the 1984-86 Ferrari 288 GTO is one of the most beautiful modern sports car designs ever penned. Though it was based on another great design, the new for ’84 GTO was once again perfection from the house of Pininfarina.

I am more of vintage car guy; my main interest is sports and classic cars from the 1930’s through about 1970, but this one rings every bell for me, as does the beautiful 1:12 scale model.

The 288 GTO was designed and built specifically to compete in a new Group B racing series. At that time the requirements for this particular series were that a manufacturer must produce a minimum of 200 cars for homologation.

“Best laid plans…….” Unfortunately the new Group B series was abandoned before it ever got on the track since only Ferrari and Porsche built cars for the series. None of the 272 cars which Ferrari built were ever raced; they all remained road cars…… very fast and scary road cars at that. Most were sold in Europe as they were not certified for sale in the USA, though there were many that were imported and federalized by specialists such as Amerispec.

Scary fast…… The 288 had the power to back up its looks. The heart in each one was a mid mounted V-8 with twin IHI turbochargers. Top speed in Europe was an eye watering 189 mph. Here in the US the top end was reduced to somewhere around a mere 175 mph.

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Ferrari 458 Italia’s Winning Year In English and Italian

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Ferrari 458

By Roberto Motta

Photos courtesy of Ferrari-Media

For Ferrari’s 458 Italia, 2011 was an exceptional year. In addition to the many awards and accolades from the international press, the Prancing Horse berlinetta won many successes in major national and international GT racing.
[Read more…] about Ferrari 458 Italia’s Winning Year In English and Italian

Pantheon Ferrari Exhibition

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Ferrari 250GT SWB

1962 250 GT SWB berlinetta Scaglietti s/n 3431 GT was a star of the Pantheon Ferrari Exhibit.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Ferrari, a Special Exhibition in the Pantheon, Basel, Switzerland

The Pantheon in Basel is located in a spectacular building where privately owned vintage cars are exhibited along a circular ramp. It is a garage, a workshop, a sales and rental facility, a place to hold special events, and a lot more. According to the Pantheon site, “Stephan Musfeld has been a vintage car enthusiast since the days of his youth. So, when he happened to hear about the vacant premises formerly occupied by the Züblin repair and machinery workshop in Muttenz, the project became virtually inevitable. And thus it came about that Basle once again became Switzerland’s center for yet another theme of special interest.”

The unique Pantheon building in Basel.


[Read more…] about Pantheon Ferrari Exhibition

Graham Gauld, By The Way

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Walter Baumer Monza_Tests_1937-545

Bäumer at the wheel of the Mercedes when he had his driver test at Monza, 1937.

Graham Gauld talks to Maserati 300S author Walter Bäumer

Two years ago Walter Bäumer Jr. launched his tome on Maserati and in particular to the Tipo  300S and since then he has been working on an equally complicated book on the Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato models. However,If you are of a certain age the name Walter Bäumer might mean something to you for there was a Walter Bäumer who raced for Mercedes-Benz in 1938. He was the author’s uncle.

 
Young Walter is a very amusing and affable enthusiast who specializes in Maserati history (www.internationalMASERATIresearch.com) but about a year ago we talked a bit about his family and particularly his uncle.
[Read more…] about Graham Gauld, By The Way

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