The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
LMGT3 had an uneventful start with the practice hierarchy being respected at the first corner, with the #78 Lexus RC F on pole position taking the lead ahead of the #10 Aston Martin and the #77 and #78 Ford Mustangs.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
As with Imola, we present a Spa report on both the Hypercars and below, the LMGT3 Class.
Ferrari wins at Imola!
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Hypercar class
The World Endurance Championship, created in 1953 and which has had several names, notably the World Sportscar Championship, disappeared in 1992, before being reborn in 2012 under the name of World Endurance Championship (abbreviated as WEC). The prototype category was initially reserved for cars meeting the LMP1 regulations, but as these demanded increasingly substantial budgets, Audi and Porsche left the series amid Dieselgate, with only Toyota remaining loyal. Since 2021, a new regulation, called Hypercar, has been in force and was designed to reduce costs and attract new manufacturers.
Valentino Rossi, as much acclaimed in Italy as Ferrari, made the mistake of attempting an over-optimistic pass on the #21 Ferrari, causing the latter to retire. A stop-and-go penalty followed. Without this, the #46 would have undoubtedly won.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
The Endurance category has always seen a mix between prototypes and Grand Touring cars. This particularity still exists today. It allows for full starting grids, for some manufacturers to participate based on their standard GT car without having to build a more expensive prototype, and for wealthy gentleman drivers to take part in legendary events such as Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring or the WEC. It should be noted that in the GT category of the WEC, each crew can only have one professional driver, the other two having amateur status. It is often the latter who provide the financing for the car.
Mille Miglia participant in 1955 and 1956, this Fiat 1100/103 TV was the sports variant of the popular Fiat 1100.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
For the 35th time, the Techno Classica show was held in Essen, in the Ruhr Valley, in western Germany. Created in 1989, this show has become over the years the German equivalent of the Retromobile show in Paris or Auto Moto d’Epoca in Italy. Even larger than the Paris show, the Essen show contains fewer exceptional vehicles, with foreign dealers, particularly British ones, being less present. However, there are always interesting discoveries to be made there, and that’s what we’ll see below.
No information was available on this car although it looks like a rare Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Ghia Supergioiello.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Here we present a few Italian cars of interest seen at this year’s Techno Classica Essen.
Presented at the 1962 Paris Motor Show, this DS19 with its fully faired underbody presented the new front of the DS with its faired headlights. The DS Totem symbolized the avant-gardism of the Citroën brand and delighted photographers, thus helping to establish the model’s reputation.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Retro thoughts
Every year, at the same time, the world of classic and collector cars comes out of its lethargy for the event that opens the season. I am talking about the unmissable Rétromobile show in Paris.
Mercedes-Benz presented this 300 SL currently being restored by its Heritage department. It was delivered to New York in May 1955 and remained in the USA until 2011 when it joined a German collection. Now for sale again, it has been undergoing a complete restoration since April 2024 while reusing as many original parts as possible. The work is scheduled to be completed in autumn 2025.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Retro thoughts, continued
Another development is the rise in quality of the show, with several dealers, particularly British ones, presenting some of the most expensive cars on the market as well as major manufacturers who communicate about their past to better sell their current range. Moreover, Rétromobile has attracted at the same time auction houses that organize their auctions in prestigious places such as Bonhams at the Grand Palais or RM Sotheby’s at the Louvre Museum.
A Citroën DS 23 prepared for the rally in a chicane at Montlhéry where its hydropneumatic suspension works wonders!
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
We continue with post war racing at Montlhéry.
After the war, competitions gradually resumed with the main races being the 1000 Kilometers of Paris and the Coupes du Salon, organized in parallel with the Paris Motor Show and the entrants in the Centennial Festival reflected those events. In addition, there were concours shows which attracted more entrants and spectators.
At the start of Saturday’s race reserved for professional drivers, Frank Stippler took the lead straight away in his 1965 Sprint GTA.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Having attended the Goodwood Revival many times over the years, one wonders each time how Lord March and his team will be able to surprise us again. But the quality of the demonstrations (Meyers Manx buggies, Jaguar XKs, D-Day parade, John Surtees Tribute) and the races mean that we come back for more each year, even if this one was greatly disrupted on Friday and Sunday morning by terrible weather. We will limit ourselves here to the tribute to John Surtees and the most emblematic races.
For Friday practice, the track conditions were atrocious, as seen with John Spiers’ Maserati 250F, which would finish third in the Richmond & Gordon Trophies race.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
We continue with the race by race on track coverage of the Goodwood Revival.
Ferrari wins again!
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
If the 2023 centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a great success due to the quality of the field and the victory of Ferrari for its return fifty years after its last official appearance in Sarthe, the 2024 edition promised to be just as grandiose. Indeed, eight major manufacturers were entered in the premier category, the Hypercars, Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini adding to the makes already present in 2023, namely Cadillac, Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot.
