“I took this shot at my desk to portray the elements behind creating the website. Decades of event Media passes, a story in mid-edit, kind of a visual bibliography of books and old magazines. Yes, those are Road & Tracks, Sports Car Graphics, etc. from the early 1960s stacked on the shelves. The image on the screen is from when Fabrizio (Giugiaro) invited me to road test the Nazca and Scighera at Monterey.”… S.Scott Callan.
By Pete Vack
We felt that the quite unusual graphic description of Scott’s Alfa RL article deserved further discussion, which is clearly addressed through the complexity of automotive subject coverage on his web site.
I became aware of the scope of Scott’s website when I asked him to contribute to the Fred Wacker Gordini story. To show the range of the material he had, he linked me to his interview with Fred.
This was originally published as a ten thousand word, twelve page article in Vintage Motorsport in the August 1997 issue. It was essentially an edit of the two hour car guy conversation, as Scott calls it, of he and Fred, a family friend, talking and laughing, on tape. Then Callan was asked by the Elkhart Lake Historic Race Circuits to give an after banquet speech at the May 2010 Vintage weekend. Rather than merely speak about Fred, he suggested Fred speak. Scott took his recorded conversation with Fred and produced a 30 minute presentation, all edited with film of Fred’s races the two were discussing on the tapes. Callan then took all this material and put it together as an interactive story article on the Velocity Group web site. After reading and experiencing this article, it was the in-depth look around the site I took afterward that inspired this review.
Callan’s article about Fred Wacker is based on hours of personal interviews with Wacker.
Ahead of an age
The Velocity Group site was originally launched in the autumn of 1996. Its purpose, at that time, was to be a tech support site for the first digital automotive publication; Alfa Romeo: View from the mouth of the Dragon. It allowed Scott and his tech director, Tom Ellis, to communicate with their customers around the world. Walking them through any questions or problems they may have had operating the ‘book’ in their computer environments. The CD was being distributed in the US and UK by Motorbooks, in Italy at Milan’s Libreria dell’Automobile, and one of the first ‘books’ on Amazon.
The product shot of the Alfa CD-ROM for the Autoweek ads of November – December 1996.
The editor of Classic and Sportscars, James Elliot’s, review of September of 1997 is an amusing time capsule:
“Make no mistake, this hi-tech CD-ROM is actually a book. Alfa Romeo: View from the Mouth of the Dragon comes from the States and traces the history of Alfa from its Darracq roots and through all the great characters such as Ferrari, Jano and Merosi. To use the book you need a PC running Windows and-be warned-it does take a little getting used to reading a book on a computer screen. On the plus side S Scott Callan’s book is an absorbing read and the big advantages of all this technology are motion sequences and subfiles on the more important figures. An excellent 500-page ‘living archive’ as fascinating as it is encyclopaedic.”
The complexity of programming of the Alfa CD-ROM resulted in some very advanced and experimental programming of the website in those early days. Callan has continued this tradition, with editorial depth and visual content ever since.
Visual Real Estate
Being online for so great a length of time, the site has over 300 pages of art directed and programmed material on it. One area of unusual programming and broad subject coverage can be found in the Velocity Group Magazine area of the site. Online since 1998, this is arguably one of the oldest continuous digital automotive publications (preceding VeloceToday by four years!). The editorial here segues from the vertical to differing and complex individual page formats. Now, be warned, as an art director since the 1970s and programmer for only a couple of decades, Callan likes visual real estate, so the site is programmed at 1920 pixels wide for a truly evocative and captivating experience. So a tablet, laptop or desk top is suggested for full enjoyment.
The site contains no third party advertising or blocked by a paid subscription service (ala VeloceToday). But it does provide insight and purchasing access to Callan’s custom book catalogue, but the over 40 Gig of server space occupied is purely automotive enthusiasm in visuals and editorially. When you are invited to visit the site, his intent has always been to provide an experience of depth and scope. When asked, he said, “The stats for the site reflect the average visit time to be over ten minutes in length, and it has been that way sine 1999”. We think only VeloceToday can compete with that.
Impressive photo galleries
When film emulsion was king. From the Film Gallery.
You’ll find a number of photographic galleries of Callan’s work. Some are available for custom enlargement, like his photos in The Film Gallery. These are automotive photos in a style developed by Callan, as an art director, in the late 1980s and 1990s. All composed in natural light settings, because, as he told us, “This is the only way an automobile reveals itself.” This stated by someone who spent a commercial life in photo studios lighting product. His photographic art compositions are based on the visual philosophy that car guys, and gals, look at cars in detail, evocative details that describe their craftsmanship, and period styling. Then there are the event photo galleries in the VGMagazine section. And yes, he has finally gone digital, but the photographic style continues.
Provenance Publications
Another area of the site that interested us is his Provenance Publications. These are long term investigations, that result in a small series of leather bound books. For example, Metal Memory: the mystery of 0718, started as a Provenance Publication. John Barnes commented in Cavallino, “…Rather than a dry recitation of owners come and gone, races won and lost, restorations abandoned or completed, Mr. Callan takes the approach of a detective novel…”
Everyone loves a detective story. Here’s one about the 250 Testa Rossa.
Callan explains, “First of all, at the time, I was warned not to enter into the deep end of Ferrari literature with a provenance. After eighteen months of global research I thought rather than making a lot of declarative statements based on that extensive research and those recorded interviews, I wanted to take the reader along on the journey of discovery about serial number 0718. The best way to do this, I felt, was to write it in the form of a dialogue driven non-fiction novel. A detective story, that unfolded along the way as things became evident. Red Herrings and all.
“The Provence series gives me the chance to do extensive research on a number of cars for my files. And like the editorial perspective of the Maserati book it shows how the engineering performed over time,” he told us.
Vintage Videos
Then there are the vintage videos. Callan was a TV producer when he got the idea, in 1993, to pioneer digital books. So there is footage of him road testing the Bugatti EB110 in Campogalliano in 1991, and some choice period Alfa promotional videos from the 1980s, as well as his production on Lance Reventlow and the Scarab.
Another area of the site, his son’s column Bay Area Safari, the street side classic car show, was written up in Hemmings.
We could go on, but save to say it is an engaging graphic and editorial journey through those many digital pages. And, definitely worth a visit.
Note! When visiting the Velocity Group site, be sure to read and heed the instructions for page turning, finding the homepage, and remember that unlike most websites, scrolling is often from left to right, at other times top to bottom.
Click here to go to Velocity Group http://www.velocitygroup.net/