The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story and photos by Graham Gauld
Those who have read any of my stories before will know that I have an interest in coachbuilding, and in particular the more flamboyant styles of the 1930s. As a result, when the Automobile Club of Monaco decided to bring back their traditional Concours d’Elegance (which first started in the 1920s), I just knew we would be faced with a coachbuilding extravaganza. [Read more…] about Elegance and Automobile in Monte Carlo
Story by Graham Gauld
Niki Lauda passed away just as we were going to press last week. Ironically, we were about to publish Graham Gauld’s 1993 interview with Lauda; his death made it even more relevant and we present it today as Graham wrote it a few years ago.
Niki’s Early Days
At a time when he is becoming one of the wise elder statesmen of Formula 1 in his role with Mercedes, it is perhaps appropriate to go back a while and think about how Lauda came from nothing to become one of the greatest racing drivers in the world.
Story by Graham Gauld
Photos by Graham Gauld unless otherwise noted
April 28-May 11, 2019
May is always my busiest month, as it is usually when the Grand Prix Drivers Club hold their annual general meeting, the Monaco Grand Prix takes place, and the Ecurie Ecosse Tour, in which I am deeply involved, taking place one on top of the other and this year was a real toughie.
It included flying to Venice, then taking the train from there to Bologna, on to Imola for the GPDA affair. This event was linked in with the Historic Minardi Day at this Imola circuit (April 28) organized by Grand Prix Drivers Club honorary member Giancarlo Minardi. This year was special as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna. [Read more…] about Minardi Day, Ecurie Ecosse Tour
Story by Graham Gauld
Photos by Graham Gauld and Jonathan Sharp
As regular readers know, I have a great interest in coachbuilding. Though I believe the true high point in coachbuilding elegance was in the 1930s, I keep finding examples of post-war elegance that follow along the same lines. [Read more…] about Italian Coachwork on Jaguar Chassis
Photos and text by Graham Gauld
I made my usual trip to Avignon last week (March 22-24) for the Avignon Motor Festival, which is similar to Retromobile in Paris, but even more eclectic with a group of buildings and open-air stands selling everything from rusty bits of unremarkable French cars to books, car models, and machinery.
Story by Aldo Zana
Herein, Aldo Zana describes the functions of the AISA, (the Italian Association for the History of the Automobile), and discusses the recent conference on Jim Clark. Please consider joining the AISA, open to all serious automobile and motorcyle enthusiasts.
AISA General Description
The AISA (Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell’Automobile – Italian Association for the History of the Automobile) was established 1987 in Milan by a group of prominent Italian enthusiasts and experts of the motoring world, including executives, designers, engineers, university professors, historians and journalists. [Read more…] about AISA Conferences and Monographs
Mariella Mengozzi, the new Director of the Italian National Motor Museum with Graham Gauld.
Story by Graham Gauld
I am sure that when most readers see the word “Museum” they shudder and move on. But wait a minute, times have changed and with modern communications, the whole concept of museums and how they should serve the public has changed enormously.
This is why the Italian National Motor Museum in Turin is justly proud of the fact that it is one of just 50 museums, of all types and persuasions, nominated by the London Times as one of the finest in the world. [Read more…] about History at the Italian National Motor Museum
Story by Graham Gauld
Everyone remembers that the first Le Mans race held after WWII was in 1949 and was won by Luigi Chinetti and Lord Selsdon driving a Ferrari barchetta. Usually that is where everyone’s recollections end; but that Le Mans race was fascinating not just as a spectacular event to take our minds off post-war austerity, but for some of the cars taking part. [Read more…] about Graham Gauld: Le Mans, 1949
Story by Graham Gauld
If you read the first article in this series you will recall the photograph of Felice Nazzaro at the wheel of the 18 liter Fiat S-B 4 Corsa “ Mephistopheles” that was sent to England to race against the Napier race car at Brooklands. [Read more…] about Fiat Grand Prix Race Driver, Felice Nazzaro
Story by Graham Gauld
Photos by Centro Storico Fiat
For nearly twenty years I was a consultant to Fiat in Britain assisting the public relations department. One area was liaison with Fiat’s own historian, Antonio Amadelli, who, at the time, ran Fiat’s own small museum and large archives. Antonio was later to go on to become head of the Biscaretti Museum in Turin and his knowledge of Fiat was immense. Amongst other things I was able to add photos of their early Grand Prix cars to my archive and Editor Pete suggested we share some of these with comments on the background to the photos. [Read more…] about Fiat Grand Prix Cars
Story by Graham Gauld
From time to time I go through photographs that have been taken years ago, printed up and then forgotten in boxes. Obviously, some get ditched as they are unlikely to be relevant to anything I intend to write in the future, but others come as interesting surprises. As VeloceToday seems to attract people who appreciate and admire coachbuilding I set aside one or two which I thought might be worth mentioning. These are two such examples.
Story by Graham Gauld
Period photos courtesy ot Cesare Martinengo
From the Archives, August 8, 2012
Regular readers may remember my May 2012 article about the Monaco Historics in which I mentioned meeting Cesare Martinengo, whose father Franco was a typical Italian “Gentleman Driver” throughout the 1940s and ’50s. This sounded interesting and I had to find out more. Cesare then brought his scrapbooks to me in the South of France and I spent a fascinating day going back in time when people raced for the fun of it and enjoyed racing with their friends.
Cesare Martinengo, however, did some racing himself, mainly with small Italian sports cars. It was no surprise that thanks to his father’s long-time friendship with Elio Zagato, Cesare raced a double bubble Fiat 750 Zagato. (In the lead photo, Elio, left, with Franco Martinengo stand next to their Fiat 1100 Zagatos.) [Read more…] about Italian Gentleman Drivers: Franco Martinengo