Graham Gauld

Henry Manney and the 52 Million Dollar GTO

November 7, 2013 By pete

Henry Manney III by Graham Gauld

It’s funny how news reports remind you of old departed friends. A recent news report on the $52 million sale of Ferrari GTO 5111GT brought back a score of happy memories of times spent with American motoring journalist and raconteur Henry Manney III.

Henry Manney III may not be a familiar name to a modern generation, but back in the 1960s he not only sprung to prominence with his witty and amusing articles in Road & Track magazine but he actually created what we would call the modern “loose” form of writing about cars. He dispensed with the turgid prose of the regular motoring writers of the day and replaced it with colorful turns of phrase; even inventing his own words to express his feelings and mood. [Read more…] about Henry Manney and the 52 Million Dollar GTO

Francois Chevalier by Graham Gauld

October 17, 2013 By pete

Francois Chevalier's latest, a 1949 Stanguellini sports racer. Prices range from 3000-3500 Euros.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

If you should ever be in Monte Carlo, keep a look-out for an almost life-sized bronze statue to “Williams”, or William Grover-Williams to give him his correct name, the winner of the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. It is an expressive, rough-hewn work that usually stands right in the middle of St. Devote, the first corner of the Grand Prix circuit. Naturally, the statue is craned out of the way for the race but it is then craned back again after the grand prix as a permanent reminder of the first winner. The man who crafted this superb piece of work never had a single art lesson in his life but admits that he enjoyed drawing cars when he was young. He is Francois Chevalier, a 60 year-old ex-racing driver and former manager of the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France. [Read more…] about Francois Chevalier by Graham Gauld

The Goodwood Revival Post 1

September 23, 2013 By pete

Graham Gauld’s Goodwood

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Andy Middlehurst at the wheel of the Lotus 43 BRM, now beautifully restored.

By Graham Gauld

As you can see in this Special Edition of VeloceToday, there are plenty of photos and details about the racing at the event. But for me, Goodwood is another chance to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and keep an eye open for things that might have escaped notice or otherwise have been so obscure as to be missed by the many journalists around.

Clark and the E.R.A.

As this year was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s first World Championship win in 1963, Lord March dedicated the meeting to him. There was a remarkable collection of cars that Jim Clark had raced, and then sent off in a parade round the circuit.

Among the more obscure was the 1936 E.R.A. voiturette R5B originally raced by the Siamese Prince Bira, but also raced for many years by Tony Rolt and journalist John Bolster. Eventually, in 1959, the Honorable Patrick Lindsay, who has been credited as the creator of what we now call historic car racing when he was a director of the well-established auction house of Christies, bought the E.R.A.

Ludovic Lindsay at the wheel of the 1935 1.5 liter supercharged E.R.A. that his father loaned to Jim Clark at the 1963 French Grand Prix.

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World’s Oldest Race Driver

August 8, 2013 By pete

Paris-Madrid, 1903.

By Graham Gauld

Here in the South of France there are a lot of “Brocantes” which, to you and me, means a space in a town or village where people set up a table and sell all the rubbish they have in the house for a few cents a time.

I am always on the lookout for real rarities such as commercially printed postcards of photos from auto racing 100 years ago.

Let me tell you the story behind two of those cards. The first shows a photo taken at the 3rd Coupe des Voiturettes held at Compiegne in northern France on September 27 1908. It was a great day for the French manufacturer Sizaire-Naudin as they finished first, second and fourth. What is even more interesting is that both Louis Naudin and Georges Sizaire, the founders of the company along with Georges’ brother Maurice, were racing in the event and finished first and second. The second is linked closely with the world’s oldest race driver. [Read more…] about World’s Oldest Race Driver

Bernard Asset: The Man Who Changed the Pictures

June 13, 2013 By pete

By Graham Gauld

At a recent race meeting I met up with an old friend of over 25 years, the famed French Formula 1 photographer Bernard Asset. You may not have heard of him, but he completely changed the style of motor racing photography back in the 1970s.

Bernard Asset today. Photo by Graham Gauld.

When the French-based magazine Grand Prix International was founded in 1978, it devoted an entire issue to each Grand Prix and selected other events, notably Le Mans. This created a demand for variety and multitude of photos and Asset was ready to comply with his own unique vision of F1 racing.

Born in 1955 Bernard Asset was brought up in Paris; his father was a keen and talented amateur photographer. From the age of 14 young Asset wanted to be a photographer, and as a young teenager at the photography school the teacher asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to be a sports photographer and cover the Olympics. The teacher told him to forget it as they were training commercial photographers. the Olympics, including the 1992 Summer and Winter Olympics at Barcelona and Albertville. “You know, ski photography is very similar to photographing Formula 1,” he remarks. [Read more…] about Bernard Asset: The Man Who Changed the Pictures

One Family, 100 years of Racing

May 16, 2013 By pete

Theodore Pilette at the wheel of his Gregoire at the Gaillon event in 1906

By Graham Gauld
Photos courtesy Pilette Family

This year’s Indianapolis 500 will be something special for Belgian ex-racing driver Teddy Pilette, for it will mark the 100th anniversary of his grandfather Theodore Pilette’s remarkable 5th place in the 1913 Indy 500. Remarkably, Teddy himself had three attempts at Indy back in 1979,’81 and’82 but did not manage to qualify. In between, Teddy’s father, Theodore’s son Andre, was a successful Belgain race driver in the 1950s, driving for Gordini and Ferrari. Finally, Teddy’s son John is now racing SEAT sedans!

But it all began with Grandfather Pilette, whose performance at Indy back then was of particular significance because his Mercedes-Knight was the smallest car in the race at just over 4 liters and he even averaged 20 mpg on fuel. So who was Theodore Pilette?
Born in 1883, he was a teenager when the automobile hit town and clearly he was impressed and went into the auto trade as soon as he could and became a dealer for Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Mercedes).

The Pilette Garage in Brussels: note the dealerships.

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Graham Gauld on Gordini

April 4, 2013 By pete

Gordini on the way to winning the Index at Le Mans in 1939. Graham Gauld Archives.

By Graham Gauld

Does anyone remember the Fodor guides to hotels, restaurants and the like? Back in 1957, Fodor sent me a review copy of their then-new guide to Italy. It arrived just as I was planning my first trip to Modena, so I looked up the area. I came upon a small hotel, the Albergo della Rocca, in the tiny village of Bazzano to the north of Modena. It was a great choice because it was run by the Rochi family as a typical Italian family hotel. Occasionally Enzo Ferrari came there to dine, but many years later I discovered that Bazzano had another role to play in the history of motor racing. It was the birthplace of Amedeo Gordini.

Amedeo’s father was a horse dealer but died in 1902 when Amedeo was only three years of age. However, it was not long before cars entered his life as Modena was a hot bed of motor sport and was one of the towns used on the Giro d’Emilia car event. (I say car because in 1909 the first Giro d’Emilia cycle race took place and also visited Modena.) Gordini was enthralled and that was it; he was going to become a mechanic, and at the very young age of 10 he took up an apprenticeship in an engineering shop in Bologna.

A man named Weber was an early influence on Gordini. Photo by Mary Decker Vack

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Microcosms from Gauld and Wyss

March 14, 2013 By pete

Gauld recalls his Heinkel days, Wyss finds a Isetta Convertible

By Graham Gauld

I was recently reminded of a very special trip I made to Modena back in 1958. The reminder was the RM Auction held recently which featured the multitude of microcars that Bruce Weiner had collected and showed in his Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia.

There have been many microcars built in the history of the automobile but in mid-1950s in Europe they became very popular during the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956. [Read more…] about Microcosms from Gauld and Wyss

Graham Gauld at Retro

February 13, 2013 By pete

Europe is finally beginning to see an influx of the Abarth Allemanos.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

It’s the first week of February, and to many that means Retromobile in Paris. This large motoring extravaganza is the meeting place of those who are in the know and looking for customers for their cars, as well as those who are there to drink in a truly diverse collection of cars, memorabilia and artifacts that never fail to produce some surprising items.

I tend to overlook the big historic car dealer stands with the major items that are generally covered in depth by most of the historic rags. I tend to look in the corners and on some of the smaller stands where you can find some really interesting stuff.

The Bertone-bodied Stanguellini berlinetta.

I have known the Stanguellini family for over fifty years, but this was the first occasion I have seen one of the 1100cc Fiat-engined berlinettas produced in the early 1950s. They were built as a short run of cars aimed at racing, with beautifully styled coachwork by Nuccio Bertone. As you can see from the photo it was very stylish for 1951 and at the Coppa Inter Europa that year, four of them took part, Manzini’s car finishing 8th in the 1100cc class. The one on show was on the Belgian Marreyt Classics stand with a price tag a shade over $180,000.

You had a choice of Cisitalia 202SC cabriolets on offer at Retromobile. This one was the Marryet car finished in blue/grey...

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ALFA TO ZECCOLI Part 2

January 31, 2013 By pete

Zeccoli in the ‘Periscopio’ Alfa T33 prototype at the Nurburgring, 1967. (Zeccoli Archives)

Graham Gauld talks to Alfa test driver Teodoro Zeccoli

As we learned in Part 1, ATS was a recipe for disaster. It didn’t take Carlo Chiti long before he had enough. He joined forces with his friend Ludovico Chizzola in his Autosport Company, which prepared touring cars for racing. The company they formed together was Delta Auto, later changed to Autodelta. Chiti recalled the previous approach to ATS from Alfa Romeo and so contacted Giuseppe Luraghi, the Chairman of Alfa Romeo, and was offered the chance to take on the program. Chiti then resigned from ATS and took Teodoro Zeccoli with him as test driver. Zeccoli’s career took another step forward.

The Autodelta years

Racing in the wet with the Alfa Romeo TZ 2 at Monza in 1966. Teodoro Zeccoli brakes for the Parabolica. He would win his class with co-driver De Adamich. (Zeccoli Archives, Alfa Romeo)

[Read more…]

ALFA TO ZECCOLI Part 1

January 24, 2013 By pete

Zeccoli flat out at Spa in the Alfa Romeo GTA . (Zeccoli Archives, Alfa.)

Graham Gauld talks to Teodoro Zeccoli, Alfa Romeo’s test driver and team member.

In the alphabet of the world’s racing drivers, Teodoro Zeccoli comes somewhere near the end. He is a driver we have all heard about, due to his particular exploits with Alfa Romeo, but he is more than just a young Italian who grew up wanting to be a racing driver; Zeccoli was one of the favored test drivers of Carlo Chiti. Apart from being one of Chiti’s principals at Autodelta he was also the test driver for Chiti’s Formula 1 bad-egg, the ATS.

Zeccoli was one of a group of young Italian hotshoes who came to light in the 1960s that included Spartaco Dini, Ignacio Giunti, Roberto Bussinello and Nanni Galli.

I met up with him about ten years ago at his svelte BMW dealership in Imola, within earshot of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit. Though in his seventies, the tall and elegant Zeccoli was at first perplexed that anyone should want to know about his racing, but it was clear his racing years were dear to him.

The back wall of his dealership had an array of trophies, photographs and certificates highlighting his racing career. There were diplomas from the Automobile Club of Milan naming him Italian 1600cc Sports Car Champion in 1966 (Abarth), Touring Car Champion in 1970 (Alfa Romeo) and Sports Car Champion in 1971 (Alfa Romeo) and photographs of him racing all over the world.

Born in 1929 in Lugo, near Imola, Zeccoli did not fancy joining his father in the family business – which was making saddles for motorcycles – but had a passion for racing. His first race car was a Zagato-bodied Ermini Fiat 1100TV that he ran successfully in hill climbs and races during 1957. Later he had a Fiat 8V Zagato which he bought second-hand from a local Fiat dealer, and such was his success in events that he was approached by Sig. Dei of Scuderia Centro Sud to drive an OSCA MT4 in the Grand Prix of Liberation in Havana, Cuba. This race was put on by
Castro to celebrate the overthrow of the Cuban government. Zeccoli finished 9th in the class driving a three-year-old Tipo S 1500 version of the OSCA MT4 (Chassis 1179).

Teodoro Zeccoli with his first race car, a Fiat 1100TV Ermini Zagato coupe. (Zeccoli Archives.)

[Read more…]

Graham Gauld: Special-Bodied Showcars

December 19, 2012 By pete

By Graham Gauld

Show cars fall into two categories:
A. “Let’s put this apparently mad idea up and see if anyone takes any notice.”
B. “We will call this a show car but really show the way we are thinking for the future.”

I have always had an interest in coachbuilding and design. Perhaps it was due to the first books I ever bought about cars. They were the soft cover books produced by Fawcett Publications in the USA and I treasure them to this day. I particularly liked “Sports Car Album” by John Wheelock Freeman because, with photographer Alexandre Georges, he traveled round Europe and wrote stories about the manufacturers and coachbuilders of that time. I was serving two years National Service in the Royal Air Force at that time but little was I to know I would be visiting some of those exact same factories just a few years later. So don’t be surprised if, from time to time, I write about various special-bodied show cars that appeared only to disappear again.

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