The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Captions Not Applicable
Photography by Simon Grand
Simon Grand has contributed to these pages in the past, and recently he sent us some of his artful images of the “automotive jewellery” that was on display at the Concorso D’eleganza in Turin. While VeloceToday, unlike many websites, does not simply publish scattered images without thought or identification, captions here seem superfluous.
[Read more…] about City of Turin
Rounding Creg-ny-Baa en route to famous Kate’s Cottage (in reverse direction from the TT) with the roar of 16 tiny Bugatti cylinders. During the Manx TT super bikes round the Cottage corner with knee-down and descend this hill at 160 mph+.
Italophiles in the Emerald Isles
This is the Cranes we’re talking about here. When we did a tour if England and Tracy’s ancestral home on the Isle of Man, we borrowed an Alfa Romeo 164 for the trip. We started with a run up to Liverpool and took the Steam Packet (four-hour, deep water ferry) to the Island.
[Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane
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.
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
Piero Ferrari sits in the record breaking Testa Rossa.
Story and Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
The third edition of the RM Maranello auction was held on May 17th, 2009. This important event has become a reference point for the world market of Ferrari cars.
[Read more…] about RM’s Big Day
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
Ligier JS2 1973 fitted with the V6 Maserati.
By Thierry Lesparre
Translation by Francois de Pouqueville
The Ligier JS2 is just like Guy Ligier himself, you may like it or you may not, but in any case it won’t leave you indifferent.
[Read more…] about Ligier’s JS2: A Tribute to Jo Schlesser
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
Below drawings by Steven Cavalieri.
A delightful introduction to Italian racing history
Review by Pete Vack
Italian Racing Red’s somewhat simplistic title implies another general potboiler. But a book written and researched by Karl Ludvigsen, author of Porsche, Excellence Was Expected and Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars as cannot be so easily written off.
[Read more…] about Book Review: Italian Racing Red
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
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.
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.
[Read more…] about Death by Delage