VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

The Sir Jackie Stewart Classic

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Jackie at the wheel about to roll out on the grid for his first race in the car which he won by a country mile in the F3 Cooper. He would be reunited with this car last weekend at the Jackie Stewart Classic.

Story and Photos by Graham and Larch Gauld

Last weekend, June 18-19,2022, was a memorable one for me for two reasons.

The first was that I attended the Sir Jackie Stewart Classic held at Thirlestane Castle, around 27 miles due south of Edinburgh, and the second because it was exactly seventy years and four days since I had covered my first motor race as a journalist at the old WWII airfield at Charterhall about 20 miles away!

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Savile Row Concours 2022

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Editor’s Choice: Commissioned by Count Antonio Bruno Sterzi, this 1952 Vignale bodied Ferrari 225S is one of only six examples built.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

Popped up to London on Wednesday the 15th June to Savile Row in Mayfair, but not for a suit (I am more Marks and Sparks than Gieves & Hawkes) but for a new car event, ‘The Concours on Savile Row’ brought to us by Hothouse Media and the Pollen Estate. A blooming hot day but a nice setting for a concours.

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Magnificent Mille Miglia 2022 Part 2

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1934 Lancia Astura.

Story and Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

For the world’s best regularity run drivers, the Mille Miglia is THE race of the year, not to be missed. This year saw the third victory in a row of Andrea Vesco, with co-driver Fabio Salvinelli, aboard a 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport. This is the first time since 2000 that a driver managed to triumph in three consecutive editions. Below, we continue our presentation of the 2022 Mille Miglia, from Lancia to the French entries.

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Mike Sparken, Part 1 by Graham Gauld

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Mike Sparken, winning at Oulton Park in the rain with his trusty 750 Monza.

First published by VeloceToday in 2012.
In the 1950s, if you had talent and the necessary finances, you could become a successful racing driver as a private entrant. This is the story of one of them, a French-born racing driver by the name of Mike Sparken. We were working on this article when on September 21, 2012. Sparken died at his home in the South of France at the age of eighty-two.

By Graham Gauld

Mike Sparken, or Michael Poberejsky, to cite his proper name, was born in Paris in 1930 to a wealthy Russian family that had left Russia for Paris at the time of the 1917 Revolution.

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Mike Sparken Part 2 by Graham Gauld

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Mike Sparken would end up with this 1938 Alfa Berlinetta, but he would not have it for long…

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Graham Gauld unless otherwise noted

First published by VeloceToday in 2012. We have learned how Mike Sparken came into motor racing, his exploits with his very special Aston Martin DB3 and his Ferrari Monza, and how he had retired from racing after the British Grand Prix of 1955, where he drove a Gordini into seventh place. But what he did after he retired from racing would make him famous throughout the world…

Throughout his racing career, and later into his time with the Grand Prix Drivers Club, he met up with another well-known private entrant of the time who was born and spent his early life in Brazil and then moved to Paris; Hernano da Silva Ramos. [Read more…] about Mike Sparken Part 2 by Graham Gauld

Mike Sparken Part 3 by Graham Gauld

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The Alfa 158/9 at the Paul Ricard circuit.

By Graham Gauld
Photos by Gauld unless otherwise noted.

First published in VeloceToday in 2012. As we have learned in Part I, Lord Doune was a bit in the dark as to the importance of the 1938 Alfa 2.9 Berlinetta, and returned it to Danny Margulies who in turn called upon Mike Sparken.

Mike Sparken was more aware of the importance of the Sommer/Biondetti Alfa. He spared no expense to have it taken apart and rebuilt by Paul Grist. The engine was sent to Tony Merrick and he did a wonderful job on it. But Grist had really done his part superbly. When I had seen the car in Doune collection, the grille was wrong; it looked like chicken wire rather than the elegant egg-box grille of the original. Thanks to Grist, the car turned out to be stunning. It was road -taxed in England but Mike Sparken had a plan in mind.

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Stories for the AROC National Convention

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Click on each photo to read three stories tailored to get the Alfa owners attending the National Convention revved up this week: Dennis Pillar and the Porsches From Dale LaFollette comes a series of photos taken in 1971 at Portland International Raceway, showing how his Alfa-tossing friend Dennis Pillar trounced the Porsches that fine day….

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How I Met Jon Shirley and More

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Shelby, Maserati 300S, Palm Springs, April 7, 1957.

Story and photos by Allen Kuhn

Segment One How I met Jon Shirley

It was still early in my career, and I had no photo pass yet when I attended the races at Palm Springs on April 7, 1957. Once I found a good spot, next to the dreaded snow fence, I had a tendency to just settle in there. This sedentary occupation, however, resulted in these four Shelby images.

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Ferrari’s Fab Four Part 2: 0408 MD

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Story by Peter Darnall

The first five Mondials built were set aside by the factory to compete as “works” entries in the 1954 Mille Miglia. The third of these First Series Mondials to be built was Chassis Number 0408 MD. Owner Jeff Abramson treated me to several laps at speed around the Sonoma Raceway in this car and that run was my introduction to these extraordinary machines.

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Fred Simeone, a Tribute

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Fred Simeone in the Ferrari and Kevin Kelly in the Aston Martin enjoy an afternoon at the Simeone Foundation. Photo by Alan Yankolonis.

From the Simeone Foundation Website:

June 12, 2022 Late last evening, as the first rays of light began to appear on the Mulsanne Straight, we lost our hero and champion, Dr. Frederick Simeone. Mere words cannot convey our overwhelming grief and sadness, nor can they express what this great man meant to so many people. Dr. Simeone had celebrated his 86th birthday on June 8.

Below, we republish this article written for Automobile Quarterly as a tribute to the late Fred Simeone.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy Simeone Foundation and Alan Yankolonis

In the 1970s, when such things were in vogue, a neurosurgeon from Philadelphia made up magnetized labels with names of classic cars. “Mercedes Benz SSK”, one read; “BMW 328” read another. He placed them all on his refrigerator door. [Read more…] about Fred Simeone, a Tribute

And How: Dennis and the Alfa

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Dennis Pillar in action with his Alfa Spider, 1971.

Photos by Dale LaFollette

I was at the 1971 Rose Cup Races at Portland International Raceway, two years before I went to the track to work full time. I heard that the E Production race was about to begin so with camera in hand I thought I should sneak out to the guardrail and take photos of my good friend Denny Pillar and his Alfa.

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Precarious Bridgeheads Part 2

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The below article was part of an unfinished manuscript about the foreign car invasion, written by the late Howard Moon. This is part two of a series. Editor

Too Big: The Big Three

By the late 1930s, the American love affair with the auto developed frictions. Dissenters arose in public opinion against Detroit’s mainstream trend towards mass, bulk, weight and complexity. Consumer Reports and the New Yorker criticized unnecessary size and weight. Surveys of drivers registered complaints against heavy steering and lack of vision to front and rear resulting from bulky bodies and long, high hoods.

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