By Roy Smith
Vic Elford. What can one say, maybe his nickname “Quick Vic” sums it all up. But it was not just his speed, he was a man with a lively personality, and talented beyond measure when behind the wheel.
The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
By pete
By pete
Review by Pete Vack
Order here:
www.palawan.co.uk
Roy Smith’s latest book made this reviewer think of Roy’s career as a driver/writer/historian. It is more than impressive; we’ve been working with Roy since 2010 or before and as I looked back I was amazed at what he has achieved and what I forgot! Silver Steeds, Roy’s 10th book in 12 years, was published by the strictly upper echelon Palawawn Press, and already has been selected by Classic & Sports Car Magazine as their March 2022 ‘Book of the Month.’ [Read more…] about Porsche Silver Steeds Reviewed
By pete
By pete
By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance
From the VeloceToday Archives, April, 2012
Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.
We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s.
By pete
By Pete Vack
Ok, why review a book about Porsches? 1. The Editor has always been smitten by early pre-911 Porsches, and we have covered other Porsche books herein. 2. The author of this particular book is Roy Smith, who has long been a supporter and contributor to VeloceToday. 3. Roy is also responsible for the multiple books on Renault racing, Gordinis and Alpines, and this is his third book on Porsche. We don’t know how he does it but his latest book certainly deserves a good send up!
Powered by Porsche, the alternative race cars, is bit different than the normal (or Super) Porsche book, in that it covers competition cars powered by Porsche engines, using up 458 pages to do so. What kind of ‘specials’ Roy would dig up was the interesting question. Obviously there were a lot! [Read more…] about Powered by Porsche Reviewed
By pete
Story by Roy P. Smith
What on earth is an Alpinche? If you are not familiar with Spanish Rallying you probably are puzzled. But to those who followed rallies in Spain, the Aplinche is well known, the result of a series of incidents that would lead to one of the great car-engine combinations.
The story begins with a determined, talented driver and intuitive engineer, Estanislao Reverter. Sadly, Estanislao is no longer with us, but his son Luis shared the story with me:
“My father, Estanislao Reverter, was born in Orense on 1 October 1929. ’Lalao’, as he was known, was a true promoter of motor sport. From 1955 he drove cars as varied as a Goggomobil, Renault 4/4, Fiat Abarth 1000 Bialbero, Panhard Dyna, Saab 96, BMW 700, Lotus Cortina, Lancia Fulvia, and Alfa Romeo GTA. He decided to set up the Escudería Orense, an organization that would help promote and organize rallies.
By pete
By Roy P. Smith
The new Pistons & Props show recently held in the UK at Northamptonshire’s Sywell Aerodrome on the 28 and 29 of September, 2013, is the latest in the current theme in the UK to have Festivals of Speed; and when you have speed you have aircraft as well as cars. [Read more…] about Pistons and Prop Show, U.K.
By pete
Amédée Gordini – a true racing legend
288 pages, 470 photos black and white and color, 8.25 x 10 inches
$89.95 plus shipping Order from Veloce Publishing, UK
Review by Pete Vack
Here at Last
The term ‘long-awaited’ is surely an understatement when applied to Roy Smith’s latest book. Not that it’s Roy’s fault, mind you, for without his effort there would probably be no book about Gordini at all, save Christian Huet’s remarkable and still handy Gordini Un Sorcier Une Equipe, published a generation ago in 1984. Fortunately the long wait was worth it; if you are the least bit interested in Grand Prix racing, Italian cars, French cars or just beautiful cars, Smith’s fantastic book should be part of your library. [Read more…] about At Long Last, GORDINI, by Roy Smith
By pete
By Pete Vack
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Recently we published two articles about Gordini before WWII., Gauld on Gordini and Gordini Before the Big One. This week, Hugues Vanhoolandt gives us a post war Gordini Gallery, consisting of photos taken all over Europe since 2008.
Before VeloceToday contributor Roy Smith wrote his latest book, Gordini, the only source of in depth information about the cars was ChristianHuet’s amazing book, on the subject. Published in 1984 in French, Huet traced the history of Gordini, plus all known cars.
Huet’s task was made a bit easier because there were very few Gordinis ever built; every chassis was a race car so race events and photos provided a field for research. In 1957, when Amedee Gordini retired his cars from racing and went to work with Renault, he wisely sold many of the remaining Gordinis to museums throughout France. The largest recipients of were the Schlumpf brothers, who in 1960 came into the possession of 13 of the 32 post war Gordinis. Other cars were kept by their owners, hidden away until it became affordable to have them restored.
While at the very same time Ferrari blithely went about destroying his old racecars, the Gordini’s enshrined in the museums ensured that his remarkable and beautiful jewels would never die, enhancing his own legacy and history. Since the 1990s, many of the ex-museum cars have come into the hands of those who wish to see them in action once more. Some 56 years after Gordini retired his cars, a few now appear at selected events such as the Monaco Historics and Goodwood. Few, if any, can be seen in the US, although in 2001 one did appear at the Monterey Historics.
Gordini’s cars were a unique combination; French, Italian, exquisite and fast. The rarity and successful race records plus the drivers such as Behra and Fangio, make them as desirable as a mid-fifties classic could possibly be. Information, photos, specs, and tests were sparse and even less well known in the U.S. Fred Wacker was one of the few Americans who actively raced a Gordini, and he did so in Europe. Gordini brought cars to race in the Carrera Panamericana but the cars returned to France. For years, Gordinis remained mysterious and unknown, and since most were in museums, few ventured out to vintage race car events.
As related in our earlier articles, Gordini was supported heavily by the new Simca company prior to the war. This support continued after WWII and the cars were known as Simca Gordinis. Then came the disastrous 1951 Le Mans, when all four 1500cc Gordinis retired. It was too much for Simca’s M. Pigozzi; he pulled his financial support for Gordini and from that point on the cars were known only as Gordinis.
A note about chassis numbers and Types. Postwar, Gordini created an 1100cc formula car much like the Cisitalia D46. These were called T11s. Over the years most T11s were modified and upgraded to T15 which were, for the most part, 1490cc. T15s were often upgraded or changed to sports racers, such as 18s. Each had a unique chassis number, generally in order of initial construction; 02 GCs, 06 GS, 18GC, etc. The letter ‘s’ after the numbers or suffix would mean a sports model. Engines had Types as well, T15 at just under 1500cc being the most common. Almost all chassis had a “immatriculation” number, or license tag. It can get confusing and thankfully in this case there are only 32 chassis to track, and all the work has been done by Huet and recently updated by Roy Smith in his new book on Gordini. (Smith’s book is completely different and takes the Gordini saga right through to the Renault years and beyond.) We’ve asked Roy to check our assumptions below and we thank him for his corrections. However, that does not guarantee that all of the below information is 100 % correct.
Note that Ed McDonough will be featured driving s/n 19GCS coming up in VT, and we’ll take a much closer look at s/n 33 in the near future.
Finally, thanks to our man Hugues Vanhoolandt, we are able to present these Gordinis for this article. I imagine he has been wondering if we’d ever use them!
Gordini Gallery
Chassis number 02GC
Number 15 is a monoposto, original chassis number 02GC, constructed in 1947. It was driven by Gordini himself at the Torino GP in 1946, before he decided to retire from racing. Maurice Trintignant also took part to some races in this particular car. Driven at Monaco in 2008 by Jean-Jacques Bailly (F).
By pete
Team Vialle Alpine 110B Rallycross car was the most successful A110 in the FIA European Rally Cross championship.
Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp unless otherwise noted.
The annual Race Retro show, now in its 10th year at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, has always been considered to be a harbinger of the arrival of spring and the start of the new season of historic car racing in the U.K. This year spring had certainly been put on hold for the weekend. It was cold; the wind chill had been described by somebody more eloquent than me as being stiletto sharp, but the fun went on regardless.
[Read more…] about Race Retro 2013
By pete
By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance
Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.
We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s. [Read more…] about Gordini Transporter
By pete
Alpine & Renault – The Sports Prototypes Volumes 1 and 2
by Roy Smith, Veloce Publishing, 2010
Volume 1: 1963–1969
208 pages,
300 color & b/w illustrations
$69.95/£34.99
ISBN-13: 978-1-84584-191-1
Order here
Volume 2: 1973–1978
224 pages, 359 color & b/w illustrations
$69.95/£34.99
ISBN-13: 978-1-84584-226-0
Order here
Review by Sabu Advani www.Speedreaders.info
Following his previous book Alpine & Renault: The Development of the Revolutionary Turbo F1 Car 1968–1979, Smith takes a look at a very different animal by the same maker/s in this two-volume set: the Sports Prototypes from 1963–1978. Good-looking, reliable, beloved by the French, successful even, but compared to other cars of the time not a great deal has been written about these Alpines, certainly not in book form and most certainly not in English. [Read more…] about Review:Alpine & Renault: The Sports Prototypes V1 and 2