VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Velocity Invitational Inaugural at Laguna Seca

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Porsche 917/30-003, one of two Porsches that Mark Donohue used to dominate the Can-Am in 1973. 003 also set the closed course world speed record at Talladega.

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Larry Chen / Velocity Invitational
Captions by John Sexton

From November 12-14, 2021, a new event debuted at Laguna Seca racetrack (now called WeatherTech Raceway). It was a success. About ten thousand people attended in person, and even more startling, I am told that over 600,000 viewers watched it on YouTube and other streaming platforms! More than 175 vintage racing cars participated daily on the track, with two days to practice and two days to race, and another 75 cars were on display in the paddock. The previous event by this organizer was the 2019 Sonoma Speed Festival, covered here at VeloceToday at the time. That event has essentially been moved from Sonoma to Monterey going forward.

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Automotive Art on Silk

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From the VeloceToday Archives, November 2017

By Dale LaFollette

It all started innocently enough: a trip to the Le Mans 24 hour race in 2002 with a close friend, a mid-day tour of the offices of the Automobile Club de L’Ouest, and a scarf in a glass case that I thoughtfully purchased with my wife in mind. It was a beautiful blue and while it had a racing theme it could be worn in polite society without anyone noticing its automotive nature. At that moment it was perfect.

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Greatest American Grand Prix Drivers: The Top Ten

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1961 Belgian GP (Spa) – Phil Hill (Ferrari-Dino 156) Artist: Sergio Tidel

THE GREATEST AMERICAN F1 GRAND PRIX DRIVER?
It may not be who you think….

By Clyde Berryman

In motor racing, the great ‘schism’ between the ‘Old World’ (Europe) and the ‘New World’ (America) was pretty much settled by the end of the 1950’s. Racing in Europe began on open public roads as epitomized by the turn of the 19th-20th century city-to-city races before danger led to closed-circuit road racing where designated public roads were temporarily closed off for a race.

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Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 1

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1969: Gigi Taramazzo in an Abarth 2000 at the Trento – Bondone hillclimb. Photo courtesy G. Tomazzoni

From the VeloceToday Archives, February 2015

This week we present an exclusive story about the famous yet little known Scuderia Brescia Corse. Dino Brunori, author of “Nardi, A fast life”, has done a lot of research on the team from Brescia; you’ll find links to the rest of the articles below.

This is a story of men, cars, races and a story of Brescia. Called ‘the lioness of Italy’ for its strong and fierce resistance to the Austro-Hungarian army before surrendering during the first war of independence in 1848, Brescia became the capital of car racing from the very beginning of the automobile.

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Gianni Agnelli’s Century

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Gianni and his son, Edoardo Agnelli. Photo from Fiat: Twenty More Years by David Beare.

Story by Graham Gauld Photos by Gauld unless otherwise noted

As we near the end of the year, it suddenly struck me that I had read very little about Gianni Agnelli, the charismatic former head of Fiat who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. He was born on March 12, 1921, in Turin.

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Cartier Style et Luxe 2021

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We seem to be riding a wave of wooden bodied skiff classics at VT. Annie Scaldwell’s 1924 Hispano Suiza H6B wears a skiff body by the esteemed Parisian coach builder Ansart & Teisseirie.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

We’ve had a lot of events to cover as the Pandemic subsides, then spikes again. Events are suddenly back on the calendar and one right after another. We covered the Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 8-11) this year but left out the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours, held as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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Shannons Adelaide Rally, 25-28 November 2021

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Buratto 1988 Lancia Delta Integrale stage 9 Windy Point

Story and Photos by Vince Johnson

Normally there’s just one Shannons Adelaide Rally in South Australia each year. As we all know, last year was far from normal, but it did have a silver lining. It meant that this year there were two. The 2020 Rally was held earlier, in March (see VT April 12, 2021), and the ‘real’ 2021 Rally just last month.

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Palm Springs, March 22, 1952 in color

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March 22, 1952, Palm Springs California. I was there cheering Roger on — wearing my specially-made Simca T-shirt that had amused Barlow when I came to his dealership earlier that same year.This is the first of the two Roger Barlow Simcas, seen here with mechanic Bill Pringle behind the wheel. Pringle raced this car in the event, while Barlow himself drove the new Simca special, #62, with right hand drive. Pringle finished second and Barlow fifth in the main event. Al Coppel won the class in his MG special.

From the VeloceToday Archives, June 13, 2017

Studebaker designer and part time photographer Bob Temple recorded sports car events at the Studebaker Proving Grounds and the Press on Regardless Rally in the early 1950s. Temple also went out west, and was there with Kodachrome for the Palm Springs races on March 22, 1952. Most remarkably, Jim Sitz was there as well and recorded all the cars on his invaluable set of index cards. He was therefore able to identify and comment on the cars and the personalities at the race. Our thanks to both the late Bob Temple and the very much still alive Jim Sitz.

Photos by Bob Temple courtesy Vintage Motorphoto
Story and captions by Jim Sitz

I had the good fortune to attend the March 22, 1952 event at Palm Springs, California. The photographs were taken by Bob Temple. I also had attended earlier events there in April and October of 1951.

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Mahogony Alfa Romeo RLSS Mystery Car

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Photo courtesy MAUTO

Story by Pete Vack

Dale LaFollette, photographer, collector, car genius and fortunately for us, a decent chap, recently came upon a photo that he wanted to share. How many people might be interested in a tulipwood Hispano on the Targa Florio he didn’t know but the picture was great. [Read more…] about Mahogony Alfa Romeo RLSS Mystery Car

S. Scott Callan on the Alfa RLSS

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This photo was taken when I was in Milan in 1987. I was invited out to the museum at Arese. It was winter, November, and not open to the public. They unlocked the museum for us and had a cleaning lady follow us around, turning lights in the galleys on and off as we walked from gallery to gallery, which is why the lighting is so bright up front and dark in the background. Needless to say this was not a formal photo shoot by any means, and was hard to get a good focus, but it is a rather evocative shot. And yes, we climbed in and out of most of the cars!

By S.Scott Callan

While we at VeloceToday were setting up two articles concerning the Merosi Alfa Romeo RLSS, we thought it might be nice if S.Scott Callan would allow us to use his remarkable researched and animated article on the RLSS from his website, www.velocitygroup.net. To learn more about Scott’s fascinating site, click here to read the accompanying piece.

Merosi’s Masterpiece: the Romeo series L The advancements being incorporated into the car Merosi and his team were engineering when the G1 was released signaled the end of brass era engineering principles and the beginning of a new era of automotive design.

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Driving the Alfa Romeo RLSS

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From the VeloceToday archives, June, 2010

By Pete Vack
Photos by Harry Hurst

Thanks to the kind offices of the Simeone Foundation, VeloceToday was recently given the opportunity to drive two rare pre-war Alfa Romeos. While driving the “Legendary” 2.3 Castagna was a dream come true, it was perhaps even more fortunate to have been able to sample an even rarer Alfa–a 1925 RLSS, “Merosi’s Masterpiece” as some have called the breed. Rare, did we say? How about 392 ever produced, of which perhaps a dozen are left, scattered across the globe. To see one is an event; to drive one is to experience motoring’s Shangri-La.

Being able to drive both the 8C 2300 and the RLSS meant that we were given the even rarer opportunity to drive the work of both Giuseppe Merosi and Vittorio Jano. We’ll tell you which was more fun an bit down.

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