VeloceToday went from strength to strength with a brand new format, a storefront, and best of all, the formal inclusion of French classics. The articles kept coming in, better and bigger with more new contributors.
Below are our twelve favorite articles of the 165 articles and news features we published over the year. Click on the titles to read the article.
French Cars
Deutsch-Bonnet at Sebring, in four parts
Author of the highly regarded books, “Watkins Glen 1948-1952†and “James Dean: From Passion for Speed to Immortality“, Philippe Defechereux helped launch the addition of French cars to VeloceToday by documenting the early years of Deutsch-Bonnet’s winning efforts at Sebring, and wrapping it up with Skip Cook’s vintage racing 1958 DB.
Racing Renaults and an American in Paris
Associate Professor at the University of Houston Patricia Lee Yongue, with the help of Dale LaFollette at Vintage Motorphoto, did some excellent research for a Renault trilogy which tracked Renault’s racing history, and found an American in Paris, Ellery Garfield, responsible for the first car to average 100 mph for 24 hours, a Renault based on the model 40.
Italian Cars
Pre War Titans, parts I and II
Shell Historic champion Peter Giddings happily told us of his experiences finding, restoring and driving the two pre war 8C35 Alfa Romeos. Additional input came from Peter LeSaffre and Peter Greenfield, who owns the second 8C. Not wanting to be left out, the fourth Peter (Vack) put it all together with great photos courtesy of Richard Prince Photography.
Journalist, artist, and author of over ten automobile books, Wallace A. Wyss wrote about the car that defined his life—while in college he found a copy of Autosport in which there was a story on an odd Italian car called an Iso Grifo A3C. “I instantly became an Italian car fan in general and a fan of the Bizzarini Strada in particular,†he wrote. Wyss deftly put together the weird and wonderful history of Giotto Bizzarrini; Marchesini and Gerelli provided the pics.
Lancis Stratos: Bertone’s UFO
Italian Journalist and editor Roberto Motta not only gave us an thorough history of the one and only Lancia Strato Zero, he included stunning photography which reminded us that even 38 years later, the original Stratos remains a beautiful design. But wait, Motta did more than that, for in part two he actually drove the show car and lived to tell us about it.
Events
What can we say about our Alessandro Gerelli, indomitable trooper, lover of Ferraris, who travels from one European event to another in search of truth and beauty. Of his many colorful reports from all over Europe, most evocative was when his camera searched for people, color, repetition and atmosphere at the Oldtimers Ring.
Newcomer Hugues Vanhoolandt traveled from his Belgian home to Great Britain and returned with a cornucopia of photos from the 10th anniversary of the Goodwood Revival. Greeted with beautiful weather, Hugues managed to capture the essence of the event, from the Spitfires to the pre-1965 period dress.
Michael Lynch is a veteran journalist and co-author of “American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s“. Not only does he live in Carmel, he is the ultimate insider to the many and varied events put on during the Week of Cars. As the Quail gained in importance, Lynch was there to give us an exclusive view of this show of shows whlie capturing two icons together, the late Phil Hill and Jean Todt.
Shell Ferrari Historics at Atlanta
Photographer Richard Prince provided so many outstanding images we simply had to record the event in two articles, Shell 1-10 and Shell 11-20.
While we missed David Seibert’s excellent commentary, Prince’s photos said a million and one words. Here’s hoping both will return next year to give us a new round of fantastic reports from the Shell Ferrari Historics.
People
Virgil Exner Jr. Reunited with Diablo
A lifelong interest in Virgil Exner’s creations led VeloceToday contributor Brandy Elitch to cultivate a personal relationship with Virgil Exner’s son. Elitch caught up with him at the RM Auctions, where the Chrylser Diablo (by Ghia) was up for bids. The story of the man, the car, and the Italian adventure was recalled by both Elitch and Exner Jr. in this interesting and insightful article.
Lifestyle
Driving his newly restored Fiat 500L from Bologna to Holland, Editor-at-Large Lorenzo Marchesini stopped at six car museums, including the huge Schlumpf Collection. In Holland, he put the Fantastic Fiat on ship headed back to the United States. His travelogue, according to some readers, was far too short and he has no lack of fellow travelers should he decide to do it again.
Formula One
Out of the entire season of 17 F1 races in 2008, Erik (and Karen) Nielsen were able to report on 15, despite his heavy work schedule. Erik’s snappy but well-founded opinions are free of commercial interruption. All his reports are good, but the final nail-biting race of the season had to be the best. “It made for great TV, but it was gut wrenching for Massa’s family when they realized what had happened, along with most of Italy and all of Brazil,†he wrote. And so ended another season, and who knows what next year will bring?