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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Hampton Court Concours d’Elegance 2024

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The Jaques Family’s 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Boat Tail Speed Model. This is chassis TN1564 and features coachwork from Martin Walter.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Stately Home number two on my three part ‘Grand Homes’ tour is Hampton Court Palace, a location I feel to rival that of Ville d‘Este and Pebble Beach. (See Stately Home number 1)
This event is a bit unusual in that the best in show winner at the concours is chosen by the owners themselves. Each owner is granted one vote to choose the car (other than their own of course) which they believe to be the finest motor car entered into the Concours. I also understand that each owner is also asked to select a vehicle from each decade that they consider to be the finest motor car entered in the event from that decade.

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F1 Exhibition, London

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

As it says below, F1 comes to London but only as an exhibition, not as a race. Anyway I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the press launch a few days before the exhibition opened so was able to take in the show without the crowds which will no doubt come in droves. During the press event both Damon Hill and Tim Harvey were present to explain more about the ethos of the exhibition and why it came to London as part three of what will probably be a world tour.

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Goodwood FOS: French and Shadows

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1934/39 S.E.F.A.C. Parallel Eight, A one off Grand Prix car initiated by Emile Petit, and designed to take on the might of the Silver Arrows and to save French honour.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Not a very high count for cars of French manufacture so I thought you may enjoy seeing again the Shadow Can Am cars which were joined at the event by the single seaters.

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Goodwood FOS: Best of the Rest

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Described as the car that was 90 years in the building. Auto Union Type 52. It is said that whilst working on their Grand Prix cars, Auto Union AG and the Ferdinand Porsche design office also planned a street legal sports sedan to be known as the Schnellsportwagen and was designed to be sold to customers to enter in events such as the Millie Miglia, or even Le Mans.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Whilst I know that VeloceToday is supposed to be about French and Italian cars there was just so much other interesting machinery at the Festival of Speed that interested me, so I hope you will allow me one more indulgence of your time. I know there are a lot of Silver Cars in this piece but I make no apologies as I and the Editor have a thing for the Pre War Silver Arrows.

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Aircraft at Heveningham

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Not an entrant this year, and yes I know we have shown her to you before, 1943 Vickers Supermarine Spitfire MK9 MH434 waits patiently for her afternoon display slot.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Just a short walk up the hill from Heveningham Hall, the Country fair and the Automotive Concours and you find a different world. A freshly mown field, a few trees in full green, a pleasant view of Suffolk Countryside, and 12 vintage aeroplanes parked for inspection and delight. In addition to a car Concours the Heveningham event also includes the Hanna Trophy, an Aviation concours in memory of the much missed Hanna pairing, father and son Raynham and Mark Hanna.

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Heveningham Hall Concours 2024

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

It was all very last minute. It is a bit of a hike up to Suffolk (158 miles) from my home in Brighton, my Alfa Giulietta had been making some funny and expensive noises, I have been rather busy recently and the lawn at home was looking more like a jungle, but I woke up on Friday morning with a change of heart. Straight onto the internet, found a hotel nearby for the Friday night and off we went. The M25 on a Friday afternoon is not such a good idea but after four and a half hours (including an hour just to get through the Dartford Tunnel) I arrived at my hotel in Ipswich, time for an early night as I planned to get to Heveningham Hall nice and early.

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London Concours, 2024 Part 1

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Our favorite Zagato

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

I arrived home from Turin, unpacked, and downloaded the photos from Villa Erba, then off again, this time to the green oasis in the City of London that is ‘The Honourable Artillery Company’ for the eighth running of the London Concours, a three day event held mid-week. Why midweek? The city of London, or the square mile as it is often called, is like a ghost town on the weekends and one needs an audience for a concours.

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Prive Concours de Vente

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1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider. A rare right hand drive example, subject to a full nut and bolt rebuild by DTR Sportscars in 2017 and still in lovely condition. £89,995

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, famous as the home of the annual Chelsea Flower Show, Salon Prive London is now in its third year and is the only concours in the world where all the entrants are for sale. Known as a Concours de Vente, over 50 cars of various ages were on display, and should you be lucky enough to be in the market, for you to buy.

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Silverstone Museum Part 2

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The British Empire Trophy, awarded between 1932 and 1961, which Stirling Moss won in 1951, 56, 58 and 1961.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

See Part 1

At the Silverstone Museum, I really enjoyed looking at the cars and bikes on display, which I understand are changed on a regular basis. The race suits and helmets impressed, especially Nigel Mansell’s race suit with all of those personal sponsor patches, and I could just feel the history when looking at the hand painted logo on Barry Sheene’s helmet, and only smile at the cigarette hole in the chin protector. But it was the smaller items displayed in the many display cabinets that interested me most, the trophies, the signing on sheets, programs and dinner menus, such history.

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Sharp at the Silverstone Museum

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Welcome to the Silverstone Museum

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

With a history stretching back not just to 1943 with the building of RAF Silverstone but way back to medieval times when the site was home to a monastery, it was likely that at some point the Silverstone Motor Racing Circuit would open a museum. The project to create a museum and educational centre for British Motor Sport at the circuit began in 2012, with the museum opening its doors in 2019.

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2023 Freddie March Spirit of Aviation

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

The 2023 Freddie March Spirit of Aviation (as differentiated from the Freddie March Memorial Race for automobiles) was again held as part of the Goodwood Revival on September 13th. For VeloceToday, this is not a time sensitive event, and allows us to publish this unusual article at any time. And time just flies by…

Whilst it would be very easy for a UK-based aviation event to fill a whole airfield with warbirds of the fighter and bomber variety, it is the mix of aircraft found at Goodwood that makes the Freddie March event so special. [Read more…] about 2023 Freddie March Spirit of Aviation

The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Yes, we’ll get to covering all the Italians etc, at the Birmingham show below, but I really have to relate this tale first. I think I first saw a photograph of ‘The Beast” as it is called back in the 1970s in my weekly comic/magazine Speed and Power but I had not seen it in the flesh until I visited this year’s Classic Car show at Birmingham’s NEC, (10-12 November)now called the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show. If you are reading this in the UK then you may remember the court case concerning the car back in the 1980s but first a bit of history. The info below was mostly taken from an article from

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