The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
June 8, 2018
Last year it was called the City Concours, but this year the name was changed to London City Concours because, as put by Octane magazine’s James Elliot, the original name “…did not quite do justice to the scale, reach or importance of the event to the whole of London.” Ok we got that. [Read more…] about London City Concours d’Elegance, 2018
Photo Gallery by Jonathan Sharp
Six years ago, on July 5, 2012 we noted that newcomer Jonathan Sharp caught our attention when he sent along a few B&W images of the Bugattis at Prescott. He told us he lived in the Brighton area of the U.K., not too far from Goodwood. “My first love has always been Ferrari, a passion started when I was given a Dinky Ferrari 250LM model”, he wrote. “I am happiest pointing my trusty camera at cars (preferably Italian) or my other love, piston powered fighter planes; a Spitfire or Mustang will stop me in my tracks and I can hear them when they are miles away and out of sight.” We said that are sure we’ll be seeing more of Mr. Sharp in the near future.
[Read more…] about Jonathan Sharp Photo Gallery
Abarth Simca 2000GT, Paul Hocking
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
In last week’s story, we left Jonathan Sharp freezing and wondering about the weather for Sunday…
6.00 am Sunday morning, my alarm goes off. I open the curtains…oh dear, snow. I doubt if they will be able to race at the members meeting today as the snow is supposed to be worse the further West you travel and I live to the East of the circuit. [Read more…] about More on the Goodwood Members Meeting 2018
Letters and photos from Jonathan Sharp on the occasion of the Goodwood Members Meeting
Tuesday March 13
Pete,
The Goodwood 76th Members meeting is taking place this coming weekend. I have purchased a weekend ticket and hopefully will be attending.
I have just seen the entry list and it is very good. The big problem will probably be the weather. Whilst the past few days have been a bit more spring like by the weekend the temps are dropping to only a few degrees above zero and we may even get snow!
So assuming I am able to attend, and it is of interest, can I have a slot in VeloceToday.com for the 27th March? [Read more…] about And How! Goodwood Members Meeting
Text and photos by Jonathan Sharp
“I wonder what car the hotel will have borrowed for display in its lobby?” said my pal to me as we sped across Northern France on the Eurostar train whilst looking out of the window at the snow. Last year they displayed a Ferrari Dino; the year before it was a London to Brighton style Veteran car. This year their choice was a Morris Minor saloon in Trafalgar blue with non-original front seats. That was to be the only disappointment of the show. We spent most of the weekend at the show and I know for sure that we must have missed things, or only glanced at them meaning to return to them having been distracted by yet another gem or rarity that demanded our attention more urgently. I hope the following shots give you a taste of what was on offer. We have divided up the sixty plus images to save your scroller. A to Ferrari here, Fiat to Renault in Part 2.
Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp
From a total of 450 entries submitted for this year’s Royal Automobile Club/Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran car run, 49% were of French manufacture. Starting from Hyde Park at 7:02 am (sunrise) 405 cars headed off to Brighton to celebrate the 121st Anniversary run of the passing of the light locomotives on the highway act of 1896. This act of Parliament raised the speed limit for light locomotives weighing less than 3 tons from 4 to 14 mph, and also abolished the requirement for the vehicle to be proceeded by a person on foot carrying a red flag. [Read more…] about London to Brighton, 2017
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Fat chance you’ll ever get to see Lewis Hamilton’s face while racing, but at Brighton, they do things the old way. Thank goodness and may it last forever. The first set of images below are blow ups; scroll down to see full size images of the car and drivers. Ed.
For a more complete coverage of this year’s 450 entry Brighton Run, click here.
For this particular Concours coverage, we asked photographer Jonathan Sharp if he could send two or three photos of our favorites, so we might present a different view of each car. He concurred so here they are, even the D-Jags! Please note that some got more than two chances to be beautiful. And, if you want to see the images in large hi res format, simply click on the photo.- Editor [Read more…] about Hampton Court Palace Concours, September 1-3
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
As I noted back in 2014, England early September is turning into car weeks, like Monterey, but extending almost 13 days. And in this case, instead of golf courses, it is a case of pick your favorite stately home. [Read more…] about Salon Prive, 2017
Quiet a contrast to the front running Listers and Jaguar D Types is Brian Palmer’s 1963 Lotus XI.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Looking at the sparsely-seated grandstands in some of the shots below, you would think the Silverstone Classic was nearly empty, believe me it was not. Over the three day weekend (July 28-30) over 100,000, people trod on these hallowed grounds. There is so much so see and do the races, all 22 of them, can become just another attraction to be enjoyed.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
It’s lunch time on the Sunday and I am sitting on a straw bail near the lake on the Heveningham Hall Estate deep in the heart of Suffolk. In front of me is a small display ring where several retriever dogs are being put through the paces, each dog happily diving into the water reeds to retrieve the object thrown for them. An inshore F1 racing power boat is giving high speed rides on the lake, its four stroke engine making an impressive noise which can probably be heard several miles away. To my right is a display of vintage tractors and to my left in the big parade ring several Shire Horses with carts are being displayed to the crowd. Above my head a MK9 Spitfire is engaging in a mock dog fight with an ME109 (Actually its an Hispano Buchan but its close enough) and lined up on the immaculate terraced lawn of Heveningham Hall directly behind me are 50 of the worlds rarest cars. Behind the terraces and close to the orangery is a small collection of classic 1930s aeroplanes that have entered into the new Aviation concours. They are lined up by the trees at one end of a small grass airstrip and at the other end of the strip are parked several dozen visiting aircraft. [Read more…] about Heveningham Hall Concours of Elegance
The Naper Railton belongs to the Brooklands Museum.
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Jonathan Sharp again hit the road on June 17th for the VSCC/Brooklands Museum Double Twelve Motorsport Festival. And this time it was truly a special event as it was the 110th anniversary of the opening of the famous track in 1907. In addition, Lord March cut the ribbon to open the restored Main Straight, previously blocked by WWII structure. The re-enactment of the opening parade of 17th June 1907 was led by David Ayre’s 40HP Itala – the same model as was used by Ethel Locke King to lead the original parade.