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Graham Gauld

Graham Gauld: Mini Autobiography Part 1

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Graham Gauld with his partner Jane Wallis-Hosken at the Portimao historics in Portugal.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

It is hard to believe, but by the time you read this it will have been seven months since Jane and I turned in the key to the house, got a lift to the Nice airport and flew to London, leaving behind 27 years’ worth of memories of living in the South of France, in easy driving distance from Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Ventimiglia on the Italian border. Four weeks earlier I had celebrated the 70th anniversary of my first work as a motoring journalist at the age of 17.

Why am I telling you all this? Well Editor Pete Vack thought it would be a good idea to explain how it has been settling down in the country of one’s roots, after being away for close on thirty years. My life, so far, can be split into three parts so let’s start with the first part.

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Gauld Remembers Forghieri

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Not another pesky journalist!

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

I must admit I was saddened to hear the news that Mauro Forghieri, the man who designed some of the finest Ferrari cars during the modern era, died in Modena at the age of 87.

Mauro was quite an engaging character who had a great sense of humor. On occasion, he could turn prickly, as though he was tired of hearing the same questions again and again. Wherever he went, he was always surrounded by people asking him questions.

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Old Friends at Silverstone

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Eddie McGuire and the ex-Archie Butterworth Bentley.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

Normally the BRDC Silverstone Classic is my special three-day event, but this year I could only spend one day there and so did not see half of the cars that turned up. However, I did meet up with two old pals who each had a story to tell.

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Abarths, Brands Hatch and Graham Gauld

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What does the “R” stand for? Gauld investigates.

Story and Brands Hatch photos by Graham Gauld

You know what it’s like, eight weeks living out of a suitcase trying to find a house in the UK, you get mentally frazzled. I needed a jab of car reality. Luckily, nearby at the legendary Brands Hatch circuit there was the

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The Champ and the Goggomobil

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The Goggomobil Dart photographed in 2007 at Classic Adelaide in Australia. It was running on the event but is a promotional car for the Australian insurance company Shannons.

The Goggomobil Dart photographed in 2007 at Classic Adelaide in Australia. It was running on the event but is a promotional car for the Australian insurance company Shannons.

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

From our Archives, October 2016

We all know about racing drivers who started out running the oddest cars in motor sport events, but I think the guy who really takes the biscuit is the legendary Jim Clark, two-time World Grand Prix Champion and the first British winner of the Indianapolis 500.

It was 1956, and the world had never heard of Jim Clark. He was still the farmer’s son running his Sunbeam Talbot Mark III in the odd rally and gymkhana. That year Europe faced the Suez Crisis when Egypt threatened to close the Suez Canal. This would have put Britain in dire straits when it came to delivering oil from the Middle East, so the British went to war. It was short and a political disaster in many ways but it brought in severe fuel rationing in Britain. As a result, many people turned to Germany where they were producing a new breed of Microcars. The BMW Isetta was the most popular with the Heinkel coming next. But who remembers the Goggomobil?

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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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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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Major Hartley Whyte by Graham Gauld

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Major Hartley Whyte with his military moustache with his rare DB2 Aston Martin.

Story and Photos by Graham Gauld

One of the advantages of having been around for far too long, or disadvantages if you care to look at it that way, is that many moments from the past keep being dug up and, thanks to the internet, one is constantly reminded of them.

Such was the case a few years ago when an owner came on to me about an interesting E-type Jaguar.

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And How!

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A few years ago we established a mini-feature entitled “And How” as a page to drop in short items, newsbits, addendums, etcetera. It worked fairly well. But after a while, I forgot to make further use of it. Then last week Graham Gauld, Rich Minor and Kendall Merritt had a few things they would like to impart, but shorts, y’know, things that would fit into a mini-feature. How do we do that within the VT format? Oh ya, I remember now. And How. Ed.

Mike Anthony gives Tony Brooks a push at the 1956 British GP. (Photo Gauld)

Graham Gauld and Tony Brooks

I am afraid I was unable to add anything to the comments about Tony Brooks as I had just left France after 27 years and getting adjusted to being back in the UK. [Read more…] about And How!

Gauld’s Glorious Gaylord Gladiator

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Found while in Florida…Graham Gauld photo.

Story by Graham Gauld

I was reminded of the fact that this is my seventieth year as a motoring journalist – yes I started early! – when a photograph I took of a car in a relatively obscure motor museum in Florida fell on to my desk.

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Bob Wallace by Graham Gauld

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Bob Wallace photographed with an Alfa Romeo at the Moroso circuit, Florida.

Story and Photos by Graham Gauld

Race mechanics have something of a maverick streak about them which usually leads to an interesting and exciting life. Such was the case with Bob Wallace, a New Zealander who left his native country in 1960 and arrived in Modena looking for a job.

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Allen R. Kuhn: Of Gauld and Ferrari

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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

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…. [Read more…] about Allen R. Kuhn: Of Gauld and Ferrari

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