VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Formula Junior at Sebring, 1960

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Sebring, leading up to Friday. March 25th. Jim Hall poses next to his DKW-powered Elva FJ. His body man Foy Barrett is on the left, and the fuel man is Chester “Chet” Hines. Chet was Hap Sharp’s aircraft mechanic, often drafted to serve as part-time race mechanic.

By Willem Oosthoek All photos taken by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection]

The 1960 edition of the Sebring 12 Hours was scheduled to start at 10 AM Saturday, March 26. But competition actually began a day earlier. For the first time in its history, the 12-hour event featured two opening races, one for Formula Juniors on Friday morning and a 4-hour event for Under-1-liter GT entries in the afternoon. [Read more…] about Formula Junior at Sebring, 1960

Five Times Lucky: Hurwich on the Mille Miglia

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In Tuscany, Joe Hurwich and co-driver Mike Ingegno. Photo by @1000Miglia

Story by Joe Hurwich

The Mille Miglia (1000 Miglia) is or should be a bucket list item for all car guys. I have been fortunate to participate 5 times now, including June 2024. This year the event was held from June 11 to June 15, and joining me as my co-driver was a good friend and avid Alfa Romeo driver, Mike Ingegno. We made a good team and switched often between driving and navigating. For those who don’t know, navigating is probably harder than driving. [Read more…] about Five Times Lucky: Hurwich on the Mille Miglia

Hypercars at Le Mans, 2024

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Ferrari wins again!

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

If the 2023 centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a great success due to the quality of the field and the victory of Ferrari for its return fifty years after its last official appearance in Sarthe, the 2024 edition promised to be just as grandiose. Indeed, eight major manufacturers were entered in the premier category, the Hypercars, Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini adding to the makes already present in 2023, namely Cadillac, Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot.

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LMGT3 and LMP2 at Le Mans, 2024

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Winner of the 6 Hours of Spa last May, the #91 Porsche entered by the Manthey team repeated its victory thanks to a complementary crew made up of Richard Lietz (18 participations), the promising 19-year-old Dutchman Morris Schurring and the amateur Australian Yasser Shahin, the latter two debutants at Le Mans. For Lietz, this is his fifth class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all with Porsche.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

LMGT3

The LMGT3 category was making its debut at Le Mans, replacing the LMGTEs which had become too expensive. As in the Hypercar class, nine manufacturers were represented with Aston Martin, BMW, Ford, Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, Lexus, Corvette and Porsche, for a total of 23 cars.

It should be noted that there are no professional crews in LMGT3. The philosophy of this category corresponds more to the Pro-Am system, with one or two amateurs associated with a professional driver.

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London Concours, 2024 Part 1

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Our favorite Zagato

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

I arrived home from Turin, unpacked, and downloaded the photos from Villa Erba, then off again, this time to the green oasis in the City of London that is ‘The Honourable Artillery Company’ for the eighth running of the London Concours, a three day event held mid-week. Why midweek? The city of London, or the square mile as it is often called, is like a ghost town on the weekends and one needs an audience for a concours.

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London Concours, 2024, Part 2

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1995 Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota, one of only two right hand drive examples to come to the UK. Two wheel drive, plexiglas side windows, Carbon fibre seats, larger rear spoiler, Magnesium alloys, no air con, stereo or power steering, and with the Jota kit 595 bhp. Purple Reign Class.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Also running as part of the London Concours event was Iconic Auctioneers ‘Lifestyle Auction’ so I popped in to take a look (but without my cheque book). A few cars for sale, (2 Aston Martins, an E Type Jaguar, an SS100 Roadster, two Carbodies London taxis, one with 12 miles on the clock, the other with 13), a few motor bikes, (I would have happily hung the 1972 Ducati 750 Sport on my wall), various watches, luggage, decanters etc.

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Graham Gauld profiles Franco Reggiani

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Like Italian female film stars of era, the Reggiani/Fontana Ferrari was certainly curvaceous. Italians nicknamed it l’uovo, the egg. Credit Gauld/Gordon Wilkins

Story by Graham Gauld

Franco Reggiani was a designer, an artist and sculptor who, from time to time throughout his life, dipped in and out of the car business. He collaborated with a number of manufacturers such as Talbot and Stanguellini but his main body of work was as a sculptor based in Reggio Emilia.

He was born in 1926 in Reggio Emilia, just north of Modena, where his father worked for the post office. But Franco was always interested in art and sculpture and was greatly influenced by his professor at art school, Tonino Grassi.

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An 8CM at Montlhéry

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From the VeloceToday Archives, May, 2013

By Pete Vack and Kurt Hasler

All photos copyright Stephan Traber

September 9th, 1934: Benoit Falchetto, perhaps a better driver than many realized, came home first in the Grand Prix de L’UMF held on the famous banked circuit of Montlhéry, fifteen miles outside of Paris. He was driving Maserati 8CM 3015, the subject of our recent

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Seavey and Cars of the Age of Brass

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1907 Jewel Model E Stanhope. Oldest car at the Concorso, 2015. And a weird one. One cylinder, two stroke, producing 8 hp. Of course it only weighs 900 pounds. Colin Chapman would have approved.

Story and photos by Charley Seavey

For this gallery, which I named Age of Brass, I decided to present cars earlier than World War I, which was a fascinating time as at the beginning of the era, no one really knew what a car was supposed to look like. Of course, the older ones bear a close resemblance to horse drawn buggies as that was the experience. But by the end of WWI you could see the modern automobile starting to emerge. Ten more years, with the development of all-metal enclosed bodies we were pretty much there. While my real interest in cars doesn’t kick in until the 1930s it turned out I had a lot of pics of old timers floating around.

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Villa Erba 2024 with Jonathan Sharp

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Arriving at the Villa Erba in style.


Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Note to self, if you attend the Villa d’Este/Villa Erba Concours again (which I probably will!) then take the ferry! It is 3.9 miles from the town of Como, where our hotel was located, to Cernobbia where the Villas are located. It should take about 16 minutes by car and about half an hour by bus. Sunday morning of Concours weekend has not a chance, took me 75 minutes on the bus.
[Read more…] about Villa Erba 2024 with Jonathan Sharp

Rodney Diggens’ Art Gallery

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Gouache of Alberto Ascari Ferrari 500 British GP 1953.

Maybe we’ve done this backwards. Not the first time and we try to avoid it. But in the past months, Rodney and the editor have revealed to the readers a life of excitement, danger and art. We said he was an artist who worked for Thoroughbred and Classic Cars magazine, and we told of how the magazine was founded by Lionel Burrell and edited by Michael Bowler. [Read more…] about Rodney Diggens’ Art Gallery

More from Villa Erba

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From the ‘Faster: the arms race on the road’ class. Brian Ross’s 1957 Ferrari 335S, ex- Pierre Bardinon’s Mas du Clos collection.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The classes for this year encompassed the years 1914 (Rolls Royce) to 2024 (Concepts and prototypes). In addition to the various classes, visitors to the public day at Villa Erba on the Sunday could enjoy a separate display of motorsport milestones and several BMW Art cars in the main convention centre, and a fine display of Gandini designed cars as a tribute to the late great Master on the green outside.

So what was my favorite car? probably the Fiat Dino Aerodynamica, or maybe the Serenissima Agena, or maybe the Alfa 8C. There wasn’t a duff car in the place, and if you do visit, and your really should, remember take the ferry!

For a list of the classes, click on the website at the end of this article.

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