The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
One year after the centenary edition, the 2025 24 Hours of Spa (June 28-29) marked the 77th edition of the race around the clock, taking place on the legendary Francorchamps track. Stéphane Ratel, head of the organizer SRO, also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first edition reserved for GTs, a change that took place at his instigation, while historically the 24 Hours of Francorchamps was reserved for touring cars.
Third place in the Silver class was taken by BMW Century Motorsport, here battling a Ford Mustang on the Kemmel Straight.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Hugues continues with his superb coverage of the Spa 24 Hours held June 28-29.
And guess who won Le Mans a week later?
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Since the creation of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923, technical scrutineering (Pesage in French) has been a pre-race ritual. It often took place in the city, sometimes at the circuit, but the tradition endures, and it’s an unmissable event for the city of Le Mans. It’s also an opportunity to discover the new liveries of certain cars, new crews, and to gauge each team’s chances.
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
From the VeloceToday Archives, July 2019
Last week Hugues presented his coverage of the classics at Chantilly. But the editor decided to delete a number of photos from the selection in order to create a special, if short, article about Ballots. How often does one see a Ballot at an event? Rarely. So this is a special occasion, timed for not only the 100th anniversary of the Ballot marque, but the publication of Ballot by Daniel Cabart and Gautam Sen, published by Dalton Watson. The information below is taken from this fantastic new book.
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.
