The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story by Graham Gauld
Six years ago Francisco Giordano published a little soft cover booklet on Maserati that opened my eyes to many interesting elements in the history of one of Italy’s most famous companies. Most of the general history of Maserati is well known and it is to his credit that Giordano has dug deeper into the brothers Maserati, who founded the company in the 1920s.
The redoubtable Major Mallock with one of his first Ford engined Austin Seven specials from the 1940s.
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
The Silverstone Classic, run by the British Racing Drivers Club, is an event for car guys and gals with a huge entry of cars of every shape and style racing on the full Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.
For me it is a time to meet up with old friends and poke around the various paddocks to see what interesting cars and people I can find.
Brian Naylor, centre, and friends in the pit lane for the 1954 RAC TT Race at Dundrod. (Photo Gauld)
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
OK, let’s start with a question. Who was the first British driver to come over and race in the Daytona 500?
Do I hear you say Innes Ireland? Nope, it was not him but a much lesser known but equally characterful driver from Salford, near Manchester, named Brian Naylor. I first met Brian back in 1954 at the RAC Tourist Trophy Race at Dundrod in Ireland. I had managed to get two days leave from the Royal Air Force so took the bus from my base at Dundonald to Dundrod up in the hills behind Belfast. In the pit lane I found this cheerful character chatting up three of the local Belfast girls and so a friendship began; and ended with a telephone call some twenty-seven years later in Bill France’s office at Daytona.
Barrie Baxter lifts a wheel of the Tec-Mec when trying to hold off young Will Nuthall in the ex-Bob Gerard Cooper-Bristol.
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
From the Archives, November 2011. This was Graham’s second column for VeloceToday; his latest is featured in this week’s edition as well. Furthermore, last week Jeff Allison’ article elicited some remembrances of the Maserati Tec-Mec. Here Gauld provides another perspective.
I have been humbled by the response to the first column and only hope I can keep you entertained for a few more months. I think one of the problems is that each chance meeting or race meeting provides an opportunity to dig out even more stories to flesh out information we have on some of the odder pieces of motor sport history. They might otherwise disappear when boring old farts like me arrive at the eventual pit stop hopefully in the sky. [Read more…] about Gauld: Tec-Mec and other Oddities
Dr Martin Halusa’s very early Ferrari 212 Export Berlinetta at Monaco in 2018.( Photo (Gauld)
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
On a web site such as VeloceToday our stories tend to paint with a broad brush. It is clear, however, our reports on concours-style events always attract attention because through these events we can observe the changes made over the decades in the actual shape of the car, in other words: styling.
Head of Pro-Drive, famed for their World Rally Championship successes with the factory Subarus and later Ferraris in the 1990s, David Richards with his wife Karen and their Aston Martin DB6 Volante.
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
It’s May, so for me it is time for the Ecurie Ecosse Tour, held on May 18-22. It originally started in the 1990s when this gathering of friends with nice cars were brought together under the umbrella of Ecurie Ecosse. To everyone’s surprise this small private team won the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour spectacle with one of their D type Jaguars driven by Scots Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson. Not only that, but this success allowed them to enter two cars for the 1957 and they promptly went out and finished first and second in D type Jaguars and a legend was born.
Photo by Graham Gauld
Story by Graham Gauld
The facts are there in plain sight. The French, who were responsible for developing all automobile racing from the very beginning, have never truly been credited for their successes in the past thirty years.
Perhaps this is because the youthful motor sporting enthusiast these days is totally wedded to Formula 1, and since 1950 only four French drivers have become World Drivers’ Champions – all of them named Alain Prost!
If, however, you turn to sports cars the picture is different with French drivers being in the winning car at Le Mans 27 times since 1950. I admit this comparison may appear ludicrous bearing in mind that at Le Mans you can have up to three drivers to one winning car, but the point is the French have tended to be more successful in sports cars than in Formula 1. This story is about one of them, Jean Guichet, who will be 98 years of age in August this year.
Henri Julien in the garage behind his house in Gonfaron contemplates a rebuild of one of his first racing cars, the AGS Racer 500 ( Photo Gauld)
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
The village of Gonfaron in the Var section of Provence in the South of France is famous for two things: its Village des Tortues and the late owner of Automobiles Gonfaronnaises, Henri Julien. They are strange bedfellows because the Village des Tortues is a form of hospice and centre concerned with the care and breeding of tortoises.
Carroll Shelby in John Edgar’s Ferrari 410S leads Dan Gurney in Frank Arciero’s Ferrari 375 Plus at Palm Springs on April 13, 1958. One of the many photos I shared with the Ferrari Archivist.
Story and Photos by Allen R. Kuhn
From the VeloceToday archives, March, 2022
I would like to start this series of short stories – they are not Galleries as before – by telling a true story about Graham Gauld, and how he saved our skin when we were in Italy/France in 2006 for our seven-week tour of the Continent. The story really began in Maranello, so bear with me….
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
From the VeloceToday archives, 2019. Lead image: A close-up of Castellotti at Dundrod in 1955, concentrating hard while accelerating away from the hairpin in the Ferrari 850 Monza.
There are times when we can all be rather pretentious. I fell into that trap thirty years ago when I had the idea of writing a subjective book on the psychology of the racing driver. I have always had an interest in the variety of people who come into motor sport and what makes them tick. I had read a lot about psychology in general, then dropped the idea when I realized what a fool I might have made of myself. However, if Central Casting in Hollywood were ever asked for a “racing driver type” back in the 1950s, they would have to have chosen Eugenio Castellotti.
Enrico Nardi at the wheel of the Nardi-Monaco at the Parma hill climb in 1937. Note the tires! ( Photo Veloce Today archives)
By Graham Gauld
Not many racing cars are named after dogs, but in 1932 Augusto Monaco designed what was a remarkably forward-thinking racing car with Enrico Nardi.
It was called the Chichibio which just happened to be the name of Monaco’s dachshund!
I say forward-thinking because the racing car not only had an air-cooled engine, but also front wheel drive and was a true featherweight.
In addition to our comments section below each article, VeloceToday often gets very nice compliments, sent via email or included in a note with a subscription check. These comments rarely get published, but are meant as recognition of the work done by our contributors, who create the content that makes VeloceToday what it is. Magazines are nothing without good content, and therefore contributors are our greatest and most valuable assets.
They are historians, authors, editors, photographers, columnists, journalists, judges, drivers, restorers, artisans, collectors and constructors. They hail from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium and Italy. Here are the names of thirty-three whose contributions made the year 2024 one to remember.
Jeff Allison, Gary Axon, Giles Chapman, Bob Cullinan, Rodney Diggens, Joseph Duray, Brandes Elitch, Graham Gauld, Greg Glassner, Bob Harrington, Joe Hurwich, Stefan Ivanov, Vince Johnson, Jackie Jouret, Allen R. Kuhn, Dale LaFollette, James Lanoway, Frederic Levaux, Bernard Linck, Roberto Motta, Herb Miska, Chris Nugent, Willem Oosthoek, Paul Sable, Charley Seavey, Jonathan Sharp, Jim Sitz, Roy Smith, Sean Smith, Pete Vack, Hugues Vanhoolandt, Paul Wilson, Robert Young