VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

The Monster

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Wyss:

Wyss: “This is my oil painting of my car, once I switched it from International Harvester Green to Rosso Corsa.” Art by Wallace A. Wyss

By Wallace A. Wyss

Monster though it may be, the C4 Wyss paid $19,000 for is now worth about $150,000.

The man’s wife, an actress who looked Scandinavian, called it “The Monster.”

“You’ve come for the Monster,” she said.
“Yes, I have,” I said, while trying to figure out why she would call one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful Ferraris–the GTC/4– “The Monster.”

I say “most beautiful” but the Italians, with their ever more refined eyes for body shapes (both women and cars) called it “the hunchback with clown lips” because it had an ever so slight rise to the center of the rear deck lid, and up front there was a rubber bumper surround. Neither feature hurt the car’s looks but you know the Italians. They wanted things just right or they would find something to criticize.

I found out later on, once I took the car, it ate money. It wasn’t the cookie monster, but the money monster.

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Monaco Grand Prix

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Podium Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen

by Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Button Again

There is always something special about Monte Carlo in the late spring. Some seem to be caught up with the glitz and glamour of royalty, the cache of the Casino. For most tourists venturing to worship at one of the greatest racing events, the memories usually drift to incredible traffic, vulgar Russians with even more vulgarcars and being asked to cough up close to $30 for a drink…anywhere.
[Read more…] about Monaco Grand Prix

A Car Life, by Larry Crane

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DRIVING BUGS


The Veyron, above is a modern interpretation of a pur sang Bugatti. The EB 110 below, while a brilliant engineering exercise, is not; all that went into Artioli’s factory.

EB 110

An Italian Interpretation

It’s clean and comfortable in here. The engine idles so smoothly it’s hard to know if you need the clutch to get into first. The seats are more Bentley than Bugatti, in fact, the dash is burl walnut not razor-edged, retro racer. In an effort to make the world’s fastest and most expensive commuter the “exotic” element has simply been eliminated.
[Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane

Quail on Two

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Tom Stephens’ Ducati MH900e won the Design and Style Award. It has a Ducati carbon fiber accessory body that mimics the contours of the original. Ducati made 2000 of these Pierre Terblanche designs in 2001/2. All were sold over the internet. The bike was Terblanche’s updated homage to Mike Hailwood’s historic Ducati win at the Isle of Man in 1978. Credit: MTL


A full report on the first Quail Motorcycle Gathering

By Michael T. Lynch

The Quail Lodge in Carmel California has a long motorsports tradition, but it wasn’t until May 8-9, the Friday and Saturday before Mothers’ Day this year that it held its first motorcycle-only event. The Quail Motorcycle Gathering enjoyed clear days in the mid-60s, with a brisk breeze at times.
[Read more…] about Quail on Two

The Spanish Grand Prix

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Sorry, not really a Ferrari in the lead.

Follow the money

by Pete Vack (Erik Nielsen is traveling)
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Felipe Massa’s voice had an urgency heard even above the roar of the Ferrari V8. “What do you want me to do?”, asking the pits for instructions. Running in fourth with only a few laps to go, he was being hounded by Sebastian Vettel. Should he let him go by?
[Read more…] about The Spanish Grand Prix

A Car Life, by Larry Crane

By

Pro Drive


The Ferrari forecourt from reception.
The iron gate is in the distance. Could
that be the famous Crane Lancia B20,
right there in Maranello? A ride in a new
Testarossa awaits our Senior Editor.

The acrid smell of vaporized rubber wafted into the cockpit. Through its pale haze we watched the red Testarossa just ahead of us perform a slow pirouette. The driver had attempted a power-slide around an acute intersection and had been unable to catch it in time. In a moment of brilliance, he simply turned it into a great, smoking 180-degree spin and accelerated past us.

[Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane

Death by Delage

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Miranda behind the wheel of the Delage.

In this exclusive article for VeloceToday, Miranda Seymour, author of “Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in My Father’s House” and “The Bugatti Queen,”visits Australia and finds a French legend.

The Adelaide literary festival takes place every two years. I flew out last year for the first time to talk about my book, “Thrumpton Hall.” Adelaide is a long journey from London; I planned to sleep in on my first morning, even though all the participating writers had been bidden to attend a breakfast in the gardens of Government House. Luckily, I woke early and changed my mind.

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A Death Forgotten

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Sheryl Greene is the driving force behind the Helle Nice Foundation.

Perhaps not, if the Helle Nice Foundation succeeds

By Pete Vack

As Renee Friderich’s lifeless body lay crumpled in the remains of the big Delage Sporte, (read Death by Delage) her friend and perhaps mentor, Helle Nice, went on to capture the fastest time of the Paris-to-Saint-Raphael rally that fateful day, February 22nd, 1932, in a car she knew well and drove better, a Bugatti T35C. But unlike Helle Nice, Friderich’s tragic death was never forgotten by her friends and family who mourned her.
[Read more…] about A Death Forgotten

Delage D8 Sportes

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Delving further into the big Delage

Photos by Vince Johnson

As we have seen, Miranda Seymour was able to obtain a ride in a very nice Delage D8S while in Australia. She sent us a photo of herself in the car, but none of the great Delage itself.
We solved the problem by asking VeloceToday contributor and reporter Vince Johnson to run over to Antony Simpson’s place and take a few photos of the Delage. Despite the size of Australia, it seems that Vince lived only about 20 minutes away. Vince returned not only with the photos for this article, but a brief history of the Delage as related by Mr. Simpson. As noted by Seymour, Simpson’s Delage is similar to Renee Friderich’s, and has its own fine and perhaps happier history. The following is the owner’s description of his Delage and its history.
[Read more…] about Delage D8 Sportes

Groundwork Laid for New Ferrari Museum

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fiat
Piero Ferrari, left, and priest at the benediction of the first stone. Photo copyright Mario Marchesini.

By Pete Vack

About 300 meters from the Maserati factory on Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena, there is a complex of old brick buildings; a small house and shop, hidden beyond an ancient grey brick wall and entrance. [Read more…] about Groundwork Laid for New Ferrari Museum

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