96Magazine - Issue #02 by 96magazine

#02

SPRING 2021 96 MAGAZINE

$96.00 ISSN 2635-1382

772635

138007

GRAND TOURING REINVENTED Be taken on a new adventure by Overdrive Club – people passionate about cars who know what it takes to tailor an exclusive road trip perfect for you.

The Pyrenees Plan 29 April - 5 May 2021

The Dolomite Dash July 2021

The Corsica Caper September 2021

For a personal consultation, please contact Alex on 01977 801102 or alex@overdriveclub.co.uk

Foreword

NICK MASON Friend of the 96 Club

To the members and friends of the 96 Club, I am honoured to be asked to write this foreword for the new 96 Magazine. I look back with great affection at the early track days and other events. ‘Scottie’ and Ray Bellm created a platform for motoring enthusiasts, such as myself, to really enjoy the cars we were fortunate enough to own. Not only that, but it gave us a chance to meet up with fellow ‘petrolheads’ and appreciate their pride and joy on wheels. Some of those people I still connect with nearly 40 years later. It should also be mentioned that it also became the starting point for a number of members to move on to a race licence. Some of these achieved great international results, moving from a tentative lap or two of Goodwood or Silverstone to the podium at Le Mans! The recent resurgence of the 96 Club is great, the most visible evidence of that movement being this publication. I hope that the spirit of the original gang is handed down to a new generation who can derive the same pleasure that we did from the cars and the people associated with the club. In his foreword for the previous edition, ‘Scottie’ revealed that he had dreamt of such a magazine as this – and one of Scottie’s greatest talents is translating his dreams into reality!

96 I Spring 2021

WELCOME TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST GOLF COURSES & EXCLUSIVE

EXPERIENCES BEYOND GOLF

Sydney

“Privatus is an invitation only global private membership club, with a focus on access to the most iconic world class golf courses and luxury lifestyle services”. Chris Game – Club Founder I CEO

www.privatusclub.com chris@privatusclub.com

KEVIN HAGGARTHY, Editor in Chief Kevin Haggarthy is a highly accomplished motoring journalist and broadcaster, having worked prominently in the industry for over 25 years. Kevin has had a glittering career in motoring journalism, having been a contributor to many mainstream motoring titles and the national press as a motoring correspondent, road test editor, and feature writer. Kevin has made numerous appearances on screen and television, previously as an ITV motoring programme presenter, and subsequently as a motor industry business news commentator. As a motor industry consultant he has worked with several top car manufacturers, has piloted the wheels of some of the world’s greatest cars, and is one of the most respected journalists in the field. JOHN BROOKS, Photo Editor/Sub Editor A motoring enthusiast since childhood, John followed his dreams some twenty-five years ago, leaving behind a career in advertising and design to write about and photograph cars, especially in the endurance and GT racing scene. This has led him all around the globe, working for most of the big names in the sport as well as on a host of books and magazines. In recent years he has extended his scope to cover classic car motoring events. NIALL JULIAN, Automotive Journalist & Photographer Niall is an automotive journalist and photographer with a keen interest in classic cars. In 2015 he founded the award-winning blog Take to the Road. Like many other 96 Club Members, Niall has been bitten by the classic car bug and currently owns a 1947 Armstrong Siddeley Lancaster, a 1982 Vauxhall Viceroy, a 1990 Bertone x1/9 Gran Finale and a 1995 VW Golf GTi Mk3… probably as diverse a fleet as it gets. He is passionate about classics and loves the human stories that are attached to them.

JAMES SOHL, Automotive Specialist Contributor One of James’s first journeys as a babe in arms was in a Ferrari 250 Pininfarina Spider that his parents bought from the South of France; this set the scene for his love of cars. As a child he memorised every column of data in Car magazine and has since acquired an ‘Encyclopedic’ knowledge on cars old and new. Many of James’ formative years were spent watching and asking questions to a string of specialists working in the garages of his house. On passing his driving test it was important to James to have interesting cars, hence when he was 19 years old James bought a BMW 635 CSi which still resides with him to this day. CAROLINE KEMP, Luxury & Lifestyle Editor Educated at Queens College in London – Caroline grew up between Paris, New York and the South of France. Her parents loved car rallies, and dragged her along to the Tour de France, the Italia Classica and the Vintage Equator Rally. Whilst they were cruising in style in a Ferrari 275, a Lancia Stratos, or a Bugatti EB110, she followed their trail in the support vehicle! Caroline’s first job was on a fashion magazine, progressing onto a career in TV News at ITN, and later changed paths into PR for Louis Vuitton. She organised the Louis Vuitton Concours at The Hurlingham Club, and moved on to work with Audemars Piguet, Hublot, McLaren and NetJets. ALEX VINCENTI, Luxury & Lifestyle Editor Some twenty odd years (some very odd) at the BBC as broadcast journalist, radio producer, trainer and organiser of media programmes for journalists from the Former Soviet Union. Commercial development manager for motor racing technology p u b l i s h e r. Te c h n i c a l w r i t e r a n d b l o g g e r. Passionate about cheese.

MICHAEL SCOTT Founding Director michael@96magazine.com PAOLO CALLEA Managing Director paolo@96magazine.com KEVIN HAGGARTHY Editor in Chief Kevin@96magazine.com JOHN BROOKS Photo Editor/Sub Editor john@96magazine.com LUCA PISETTA Head of Advertising luca@96magazine.com DEBRA DAVIES Account Director debra@96magazine.com Specialist Contributing Writers: CAROLINE KEMP Watches & Jewellery caroline@96magazine.com NIALL JULIAN Automotive niall@96magazine.com JAMES SOHL Automotive james@96magazine.com ALEX VINCENTI Luxury & Lifestyle alex@96magazine.com LAZAR KACKAROVSKI Design lazar@96magazine.com PUBLISHER 96E LTD Building 3 North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London, United Kingdom, N11 1GN www.96magazine.com SUBSCRIPTION & PAST ISSUES $96.00 world wide info@96magazine.com 07722420541

MICHAEL SCOTT, Founding Director

PAOLO CALLEA, Managing Director

LUCA PISETTA, Head of Advertising

DEBRA DAVIES, Account Director

All rights in the licensed material belong to 96E LTD and may not be reproduced whether in whole or in part without prior written consent. The publishers make every effort to ensure the magazines contents are factually correct at the time of going to press. We cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions. The 96 brand, logos, copyrights and associated urls are owned exclusively by 96E LTD. Copyright © 96E LTD. Cover Picture: Photography© Niall Julian

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If you could take a classic sports car and improve it in every single way possible, with more power, better handling, superior braking and reliability, whilst retaining all the charm and character of the original...

WHY WOULDN’T YOU? KEVIN O’ROURKE - Moto Technique Limited

ISSUE 2

EDITOR’S WELCOME F

irst of all, a big thank you to you, our readers, for your amazing comments and letters of support on receipt of our first issue. We were genuinely overwhelmed. It was indeed quite tempting to share these with you in a ‘letters page’ but we thought that might appear a little too self-indulgent! Nonetheless you have indeed inspired us on to more and better. We have so enjoyed putting this issue together and, as always, a big thanks to our great team of writers and production staff whose efforts make the whole thing possible. Hopefully, the country is at last on a confident path to tackling COVID-19; isn’t it great to see and talk to real people again? Our thoughts and sympathies remain with so many of you who have lost family and friends. We were absolutely shocked to hear of the sad loss of Peter Blond who featured in our inaugural issue, another tragic victim of the pandemic, who sadly passed away only weeks before our first issue was published. To his family, we hope the feature proved a fitting tribute to a wonderful man, and motoring pioneer, who will be sorely missed by all. Our chairman, Michael Scott, or ‘Scottie’ as we call him, pays tribute in this issue to Peter and several other dear friends of our industry. We were also very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Professor Richard Parry-Jones CBE, following a tragic accident near his home in Wales. Richard was chairman of the Marshall Motor Holdings, but is best known in the past for his pioneering work as Vice President

of Global Product Development, Chief technical Officer, and Head of Global R&D Operations at Ford Motor Company. He is often referred to as ‘the man who transformed Ford’ by building exceptional refinement and driveability into their road cars; the Ford Mondeo, the Ford Puma, Fiesta, and Focus, being prime examples. We celebrate the life of the legendary Sir Stirling Moss. Stirling was indeed a lifelong patron of the 96 Club. Having met and spent many an entertaining time with him myself, it was wonderful to hear of the many colourful stories, pictures and memories of others. He was loved by so many for his sharp and humorous wit, as he was for his legendary skill behind the wheel. Yet the industry we love continues to respond positively to challenge, and this time we focus on Ferrari. Again, the stuff of legend of course, but rather than indulging in past glories, we at ‘96 choose to focus on how manufacturers are addressing matters of the present and their plans for the future. Few people know, for example that Ferrari are one of the few car manufacturers who continued to pay all of their staff themselves during the lockdown and made no redundancies, yet still managed to achieve a £534 million net adjusted profit. Impressive. As well as cars, in this issue you’ll enjoy reading about some great personalities and brands too. It’s this rich mixture of so many remarkable talents, skills, and inspirational brands that help us all to celebrate the richness of life. Enjoy!

Kevin Haggarthy, Editor 96 I Spring 2021

ISSUE 2

SPRING 2021

In Memory of the great Sir Stirling Moss

Ferrari 2021 and beyond – the recipe for business success

Dino Ferrari 246GT

A tribute to the great Sir Stirling Moss.

Demand for Ferrari road cars remain as strong as ever. We take a brief look at how Ferrari have coped with the global pandemic, and what the future holds.

16 Driven by design Top interior designer Jason Forrester, talks to ‘96 about his life and work.

22 The Five Questions We ask George Bamford, founder of Bamford Watch Department, five questions to find out what makes him tick.

Part of the family - Keith Sohl reflects on over 40 years with a Dino.

40 Helping the Buyer

28 The New Ferrari Roma Ferrari’s latest GT is right up there with the best.

Sebastien Nicolleau on how to protect the interests of buyers for property investment.

46 Leading the Charge

30 ‘Staycation’ Planning – Courtesy of Ferrari! Exploring the beautiful landscape and scenery of Snowdonia, North Wales in the new Ferrari F8 Tributo makes for the perfect ‘Staycation’.

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Businessman and engineer Raphaël Caillé talks about the success story that is Swindon Powertrain.

Pretium Jet Charter

The Feral Beast

Martina Bellini

Andrew Douglas tells us all about his bespoke jet charter company.

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the XJR-15.

Restoring the legend: they called it the Ferrari of the waves, the Rolls-Royce of motorboats and Lamborghini gave it its own imprint.

55 Life Behind the Lens… Top jewellery photographer Simon Martner talks to us about his exciting life of travel and photography.

61 Sub-Zero & Wolf The restaurant where the kitchen is on the menu.

72 The Making of an Artist Abigail Ozora Simpson is a highly accomplished contemporary sculptor working in clay, the Observer describing her as ‘The It Girl of Ceramics’. We were delighted to spend an afternoon learning about her life and work.

86 A Fork in the Road A phone call changes Tom Kristensen’s life forever.

93 Up and Coming UK Events

77 A Story in Four Horses How to train the fastest horse in the world.

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The UK motoring calender features many world-class events.

1– 4 SEPTEMBER 2021 BLENHEIM PALACE

À la recherche du temps perdu – Moss, Vanwall and Goodwood.

MOTORING LEGENDS

Photography © John Brooks

In Memory of Sir Stirling Moss A tribute to the great Sir Stirling Moss

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Motoring Legends

“Scottie” introduces Sir Stirling at the preview of the 2011 Chelsea Auto Legends.

he late Sir Stirling Moss was a larger-than-life character who represented the epitome of the British gentleman racing driver. His skill on the track made him a household name, not only in his homeland, but around the world. He was, first and foremost, a sporting professional and one of the most gifted of his generation. Quick witted, the late Sir Stirling always spoke his mind. He was also the life and soul of the party. While his professional racing career was tragically cut short in that infamous crash at Goodwood in 1962, Stirling achieved more than any other driver could have imagined. Arguably a mere handful of the cars he raced would have represented a lifetime’s achievement for any other established racing driver. Considered to be one of the most versatile drivers of his generation,

Moss at Goodwood catching up with Sir Jack Brabham.

Stirling was successful behind the wheel of everything he drove. He was hailed for his instinctive driving technique, which he continuously strived to improve. Always wanting to become a better driver, he famously commented on how he had learned from the legendary Fangio, in whose wheel tracks he followed in many Formula 1 races. Such was his respect for his Mercedes team-mate, he often referred to Fangio as a father figure. They even shared the nickname “The Train”, as they were so often duelling closely together on the track. Despite enjoying a very successful motorsport career, Stirling came up agonisingly short in Formula 1 and was extremely unlucky to never win a World Championship. Racing for Vanwall in 1958, he helped the British team win the first Formula 1 Constructors’

Championship, beating Ferrari by some margin. The drivers’ title however went to Mike Hawthorn, who outscored Stirling by just one point. In what was probably one of the greatest examples of sportsmanship, Stirling backed fellow Brit Hawthorn, who was alleged by stewards to have pushed his Ferrari 246 into traffic after a spin during the Portuguese Grand Prix. With Stirling’s support, Hawthorn escaped disqualification, allowing his second place to stand, a result that would later seal the title for Hawthorn by the narrowest of margins. Despite the bitter disappointment, Stirling, always the optimist, remarked that helping Tony Vandervell achieve his dream of “beating those bloody red cars” was a special moment. And Stirling was happy “to be thought of as the best driver who never won the World Championship.” Always the entertainer, wit and charm were just some of his characteristics. He was also shrewd, which was highlighted by the story attached to “7 SPA”, the Ferrari 250 SWB he once raced, that is now owned by Ross Brawn. While speaking to Ross at a charity track day at Goodwood in 2019, he pointed out that this was one of the very few 250 SWB examples to be fitted with a radio. It was done at the request of Stirling, so he could tune into the BBC radio commentary during his upcoming Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood. That way he could keep tabs on the opposition as he raced round the circuit. During the race it was noted that Stirling would arrive in the pits with the

The Aston Martin DBR1 that achieved victory at Le Mans in 1959 is a suitable carriage for two great drivers of that era. Sir Stirling Moss is accompanied by Tony Brooks, his team mate at Vanwall as well as Aston Martin.

96 I Spring 2021

Motoring Legends

13 Sir Stirling driving a Jaguar C-type in the 2001 Le Mans Legends race. This was the actual car that Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt drove to victory in the 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours.

British heroes, young and old. Lewis Hamilton was on his way to his first World Championship when he met Sir Stirling Moss at the 2008 Brooklands Double Twelve. Six more titles have followed, as well as a knighthood; who would bet against Sir Lewis adding to that total?

radio blaring, no doubt at full volume so it could be heard over the howl of the Columbo V12. It was a novel and clever way to obtain an advantage over the competition, long before the assistance of team radio. Stories such as these are a fascinating insight into Stirling’s character and emphasise his sense of honour and his determination to win. He was also known for being cheeky and playful and was adored by those close to him. Stirling lived a very full life, finding a balance between a public and a private life that took him and his wife Susie all over the world. He was also patron of the 96 Club and called on many of its members as his dear friends.

Close call Recounting a trip to the 1963 Targa Florio, 96 Magazine reader Toly Arutunoff once gave Stirling the keys to his Lancia Flaminia Sport 3C Zagato. Toly recalls “We were staying at the Jolly Hotel in Cefalu and had many meals with Stirling who was also staying there. After one such dinner and a little wine, he remarked that he’d

Leading from start to finish at Monaco in 1956. Moss passes a deserted Monte Carlo harbour in his Maserati 250F, on his way to his second grand prix victory.

never driven a Flaminia Zagato. So, he got behind the wheel, with me in the passenger seat and my co-driver Bill Pryor in the back. I remember the Lancia’s headlights were a bit out of adjustment and the night was pitch black, as was the coast road to the circuit. Stirling wound it out in first, then most of second, getting up to about 50mph. As he got to 3rd gear, swerving around a mostly black donkey in the road, I suddenly realized that we were rapidly approaching a humpback bridge which was followed by a sharpish right-hand turn. I inhaled to say something and I might have murmured ‘er… Bridge!!’, just as Stirling reminisced about a friend with an old Lancia. As we approached the bridge, I thought that maybe someday in the distant 1980s, my name would come up in conversation and someone would say ‘Toly Arutunoff… wasn’t he that guy who was killed with Stirling Moss?’ Like Ed Nelson, the co-driver who was with Alfonso de Portago when they crashed in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Anyway, we leapt across the bridge, with Moss still talking a mile a minute, and somehow, we seemed to partially turn in mid-air,

landing with a smooth swerve into the middle of the road and instantly back in our righthand lane. I thought to myself, ‘well…what the heck! Stirling Moss!’… what a wonderful life he led.”

Parking rights! Chris Bradbury also recounted his experience with Stirling, which came about after a parking dispute in central London. “I used to park my Triumph TR4 on a derelict plot of land behind the Hilton Hotel on Stanhope Row. Stirling believed he had exclusive rights to park there, which he didn’t. He took exception to me parking on it, which eventually resulted in him parking a car across the access to the plot to prevent me gaining access. After carefully measuring the width of the gap between the metal posts on the entrance, I found that there was just 3” clearance. So one morning I crept my TR4 through the gap and managed to park it!” “Returning home that evening, I found a note on the TR’s windscreen from Stirling, asking me to call at the house, which I did, fully expecting an irate and possibly expletive loaded tirade about my parking on “his” space. But to my amazement I was invited into the house with a smile. Stirling had found my way of overcoming his roadblock hilarious and was genuinely tickled pink. Afterwards, we had a loose arrangement about taking turns in using the space, but that stopped soon after, as work began on the plot to build a hotel which is now The Park Lane Mews Hotel. The last time I saw him was years ago, when I spotted

Motoring Legends

Stirling and Juan Manuel Fangio, guests of Mercedes-Benz at the London Motor Show in the early ‘70s.

great race with him at Catalunya once, I was in my D-Type and he was in his Lola. He beat me but we had a wonderful race. Later on, I was putting on a race for the Monaco Historic. I couldn’t take part as I was the organiser, which was annoying, so I put Stirling in my Maserati Birdcage which was just great fun. And I had a film made of the whole weekend. He was always giggling and grinning. He was one of the lads and he actually put me up for BRDC membership. He was just a lovely guy.”

Patron him negotiating Hyde Park Corner at high speed on a tiny motor scooter. I only knew him briefly, but I feel very privileged to have met a living legend.”

Celebrity BRDC member Valentine Lindsay also recalled his time with Stirling. “I was organising a race series to support the British Grand Prix and everyone wanted to do them. One day I had a call from David Piper who wanted to enter, which was fantastic. I was only 30 at the time so I was very impressed and told all my friends. Then I got another call later that afternoon and it was Stirling. He wanted to enter and bring his little Lola. This was 1993/94. That call took it to another level! He was a real contributor to our series; we’d have parties in chateaus and Stirling could always be relied upon to be the celebrity. So, if any journalists turned up, we’d always send Stirling in. Both he and his wife Susie were good fun and were always very cheerful. I had a

Remembering his late friend, 96 Club founder Michael Scott recounted how Stirling became patron of the club over 30 years ago. He attended many events with him over the years, including the Mille Miglia, Bahamas Speedweek and Chelsea Auto Legends. “We actually went to school together at Haileybury so I knew him from a young age. We were all mad about him at school, especially when he started to become famous. One of my favourite moments with him was organising his surprise 60th Birthday Party at the Berkeley Hotel in London. I planned it in secret with his wife Susie. He had just flown back from a trip abroad and thought he was going for a private dinner with a small group of friends. Little did he know that as he walked into the pitch-dark ball room of the hotel, I had over 250 of his friends waiting along with the Grenadier Guards Band. I flicked on the lights and we all sang happy birthday. We had all the great and the good there and Stirling was just astonished. It was a wonderful

Stirling is congratulated by Fangio after his maiden grand prix victory at Aintree in 1955.

96 I Spring 2021

evening and I’ll never forget it. He was just Stirling… he was a good friend.”

Mille Miglia Stirling will, of course, always be remembered for that amazing Mille Miglia triumph in 1955, when he drove the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR over 1,000 miles in 10 hours with Dennis Jenkinson as his co-driver. In an interview with Simon Taylor, while promoting the book “Stirling Moss – My Racing Life”, he was asked what it was like being in the Mercedes on the closing stages, knowing he was going to win. Stirling remarked that as he approached Rome, all he could think of was finding somewhere to “have a slash”. He joked it was quite difficult to find a spot as the roads were lined with grandstands, which were of course filled with spectators. He added, with a beaming grin, that he stopped for just 1 minute and 4 seconds before jumping back in the famous silver 300SLR and headed for Brescia and the victory that would be hailed as the greatest of all time.

Racing maketh the man Stirling loved all types of racing, especially Formula 1 and sports car racing. He always felt that the dangers it brought were an important ingredient, comparing it to using salt in cooking. He raced because it was dangerous. It both excited and frightened him, giving him a tremendous kick that made him step into a race car over and over again. Always the entertainer with a twinkle in his eye, he would wave to the pretty girls as he raced around Monaco and to the other drivers as he passed them. Sir Stirling Moss was the finest racing driver of his generation who succeeded in transcending the sport to become a global icon. He lived a wonderful life, was deeply patriotic and off the track he enjoyed much success in the world of business. To motorsport fans around the world, he was a hero, one who has left behind a legacy that will inspire generations of racing drivers to come. Affectionately known as “Mr Motor Racing”, he was also a husband, father, and a dear friend to many. If anyone deserves to be referred to as legend, it is indeed Stirling Moss. Niall Julian

FOR 40 YEARS THE MOST EXCLUSIVE CLUB FOR CAR CONNOISSEURS

Photography © Graham Glen

Top interior designer Jason Forrester, talks to ‘96 about his life and work

Driven by design J

ason Forrester is chief designer of Larino Design. In fact, he is really the only designer at Larino Design. That is because Larino Design, commercially successful as it is, is run solely by Jason and his wife Wiebke. “Wiebke totally runs the business, I just do the design” he tells us. Simply put, ‘they are a team’. On his own admission Jason hates discussing money; “Wiebke handles all the business matters – as the designer, dealing too much with money can interfere with your relationship with the client. I am lucky to have Wiebke running the business”. As a man who designs for some of the most accomplished and successful people in the world, it is very much a matter of ‘Jason or nothing’ to the vast majority of his clients. So where did it all begin?

and was quite competitive. We were constantly auditioning for parts, and up against maybe 300 others who were competing for the same role. This sort of experience teaches you to take rejection early, and so you could say I learnt ‘how to lose’ at school. It also taught you how to survive. When I was at College for example, I would often buy clothes and sell them at a market stall to make money”. “When I was 16 years old, I got an Equity card to become a professional actor and won a large role on an ITV programme called City Tails with Anton Rodgers, Tony Robinson and Alexei Sayle. They were really great guys, and Anton Rodgers was very much

Sketching and drawing Born in Ealing, London, in the seventies, Jason (47) had a knack for drawing since childhood “I have been sketching and drawing since I could hold a pen in my hand. I wasn’t a particularly academic child; In fact, at one point my parents had even thought of sending me to a special school but they knew that wouldn’t do me any good, so when I was about nine years old, they sent me to a stage school called Barbara Speake, and I really found my footing there”. “I learned so much at Barbara Speake; the school taught you the importance of believing in yourself, 96 I Spring 2021

Lifestyle Leaders

Woman’s dressing room quarter in understated elegant design.

Exquisite dressing room with blend of scalloped macassar ebony with herringbone floor and delicate bronze inlay.

Understated penthouse apartment - blend of tones as backdrop to client’s art collection.

the polished English gentleman. They showed me that there was a different way in life, that you could be polite and forceful to get what you want. Acting helped me to pave my way through school, but it meant I was totally crap at things like maths and science”. “Yet I was quite artistic and very good at drawing”, he told us “... I would often get frustrated at school but I found, through drawing, it would relax me. When I started drawing, somehow the problems went”. “I upset my headmistress because she thought I was going into acting and lined up a few roles for me, but I decided to go to art college to study interior design and window merchandising instead. I wasn’t thinking of how much money I could earn; it was more a matter of ‘this is what I want to do’. This is why I say to people ‘follow your passion’; you’ll never need motivating again, you’re just doing what you want to do. When I’m working, I just take my watch off and put it aside because you’re only finished when the job is done”. “I work more out of passion rather than because I have to; my working hours are any hours, and I tend to knock off when I know I have reached my goal for that

time of day. ‘Tomorrow’ always allows you to reflect and maybe attack things in a different way”. My first college was Uxbridge, and university was the London College of Furniture. I did some work experience with a company that introduced me to companies like Harvey Nichols and Harrods, but eventually needed to leave and earn money. I was very fond of my teacher, he said ‘what’s another two years of study when it could change your whole life?’…so I stayed on to study”.

David Lewis, a senior director of Sunseeker Mayfair. Although people were saying my work was ‘young’ and I hadn’t matured, I was so hungry I thought ‘sod it’ I’ve had so many rejections; it was the last call of the day, and at the time he ([David] had a small boutique outfit in Mayfair. I thought I’ll just press the buzzer and go in. His daughter answered the door and there I was standing there with my big art folder. She asked ‘how can we help you?’ – I said I’m not here to buy a yacht but I’m good at visualising, I might be able to help you with presentation and putting ideas to your client”. “David said they’d just had a meeting on how they can better communicate their ideas three

Making a start “I used to go around knocking on doors seeking work, and one such door was that of an old friend

Initial client illustration is the first stage.

96 I Spring 2021

dimensionally, so he gave me a plan and asked me to come back tomorrow with a 3D drawing. I was so excited. I took the train home and didn’t go to bed; because of my skills from acting at school I just kept going. He loved it in the end and said although he didn’t have any work for me, I should keep in touch. He eventually gave me a glowing reference on Sunseeker letter-headed paper. This, along with my degree, got me my first job in interior design”. “This era was before computers, so if you couldn’t draw you were out basically, and you had to learn quickly. The company I first worked for was called Kesslers International; a Jewish company, and I learned so

Cocktail of luxurious materials with bronze detailing.

much from their work ethic. I loved Fridays, for example, because we’d get half day off in the afternoon for religious reasons. It was tough work but I enjoyed it”. “I was later ‘head-hunted’ by a luxury shop fitting company that did all the work on Bond Street, also including Sloane Square, AlFayed’s apartment, and numerous top name brands. I was exposed to technical drawings and CAD work, and it was quite a leap seeing shops coming together. It was similar to car design. I had thought about studying car design at RCA (the Royal College of Art). It’s a similar concept; you see a design

Lifestyle Leaders

and have to make it work; it has to be durable and sustainable for everyday use. I stayed there for nine years”.

Going solo “Yet I still wanted to do my own thing; it was around the time of the recession (2002) and my wife Wiebke was working for a big architectural firm but was made redundant. We started our own business in very challenging conditions, at that time sharing one computer between us and living in a one bedroomed flat. I was working three days a week for my own firm but they closed down the architectural firm too, forcing us to make the business work,

“I wanted to take the ethos from designing top-end retail into a residential environment. Initially, we started to do visualising for design companies as I wasn’t ready yet for full-on design. We started to do ‘visualising’ for other companies at the top of their game. They would give me a twodimensional plan and I would do a full 3D drawing of it. You could see exactly how the interior would look”. “That experience exposed me to private estates such as Wentworth and St George’s Hill. I soon realised that I was not just a ‘visualiser’; I had a degree in interior design and companies were winning contracts off the back of my work. So, I finally

Combination of dark stained walnut with marble in lays makes stylish contrast

which in hindsight was the best thing we have ever done. My work had already given me a taste for residential design, having worked on Dodi and Mohamed Al-Fayed’s apartments, and being exposed to high-end luxury design. This really motivated me”. “My style of work has always been influenced by luxury design. It’s about emotion – in welldesigned cars you see aesthetic and balance from the outside, but when you close the door you are sitting in that beautiful environment, and the smell of the leather and high-quality surroundings is overwhelming”. 96 I Spring 2021

decided that it was time to do my own thing! – that was some 19 years ago!”. “[The business name] Larino Design, came from my love of motor racing from the ‘80s and ‘90s. There was a racer called Nicola Larini who drove in F1 for Ferrari, raced touring cars, and did some rallying. I was drawn towards Italian design. I am known for my flamboyant work so I knew I wouldn’t make a good commercial designer. To avoid any complications or getting into trouble for copying we called the company ‘Larino Design’.

Lifestyle Leaders

Sophisticated lounge bar with a twist of contemporary.

Cars “Cars were an early influence in my life. My next-door neighbour was really into cars. Her boyfriend had a 1956 Mark 1 Zephyr; I remember seeing the car and loving the proportions, so I knocked on the (house) door and said ‘I love your car!’. He offered to take me to a couple of shows; we went to the Chelsea Cruise and Bromley Pageant, and it’s from there that I began to appreciate the aesthetics and symmetry of cars; it’s how I began to appreciate proportion and scale”. From his early experience with his next-door neighbour’s Zephyr, cars have been an enduring feature of Jason’s life. To this day Jason still has his very first car; a 1956 Ford Consul that he has owned for 34 years. I bought it when I was 14 years old with money, I had saved from a paper round and a loan from my gran. It was a runner but an old shed. It is a very different car now though, highly customised, and features in a recent issue of Custom Car Magazine. “Cars have always been a strong driving force and inspiration for me. When I was younger, I saw a bright yellow Berlinetta F355 at a dealership in Canary Wharf. I was about 20 years old and it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. I walked around it aesthetically, the salesman made me a coffee. I told him what I do and that I wasn’t looking to buy the car but he made me feel welcome, made me a coffee, and said ‘Don’t worry, one day you just might be a customer’. I stuck a picture of that car on my drawing board for inspiration and said ‘one day I am going to get that car” It was only a matter of time before Jason was to make his Ferrari F355 dream car a reality. “I had the car delivered to my home. The delivery was late and I paced impatiently. I eventually saw a black truck coming up the road and I knew it was my car. I’ll never forget watching the car being eased off the trailer and driving it myself for the first time”.

“Yet there was another car I loved at college; a local Porsche dealership had taken delivery of a Porsche 911 GT2, and after having the F355 for a couple of years I realised that it wasn’t a fast car; it had very little torque and was a bit flash at the time. I have always loved track-oriented cars. Before the 355 I had a 996 Turbo which was an absolute rocket. He was thus compelled to buy a Porsche GT2, which he has owned for some eleven years. Jason also has a 1985 3.2 litre Porsche 911 lightened to RS spec. Meanwhile Wiebke’s daily is a Porsche Cayenne GTS and Jason’s is, well, a Smart! ‘It’s my favourite car’ he tells me”.

Know thy customer “Our clients tend to be at the top of their game, and they place great value on time, and time is often money. When you’re in front of them, make sure you’re not talking waffle! You have to be able to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If someone wishes me to visualise something, I go along with my sketch pad and do it there and then. These people want to see action; they don’t want to see you turning up eloquently dressed and then pass the work over to a junior, they are buying you and your personality”. As to the future? “Well, we can’t expand as we are not a scalable business” - but Larino Design remains in very high demand, focused on bespoke work for personal clients who know what they want. Amongst current projects Jason is designing a luxury house in Barbados and transforming a castle in Scotland for private use. “At this level people have an incredible instinct for what they want, and you have to get to know them. We study all aspects of their life in order to understand their needs. We get very close to each other and there is tremendous trust. That’s what I really enjoy” Kevin Haggarthy

Sumptuous interior with exotic materials and intricate detailing.

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masterpiecesIT’S WHAT WE DO.

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Let us help you get to your next event If you have a requirement for specialist transportation of your vehicle, to a race, rally or any other event, new storage or specialist service facilities, contact Mack Logistics and allow us to provide you with an insight to the levels of service we provide to both trade and retail prestige vehicle owners. Please get in touch with us for more information.

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We ask George Bamford, founder of Bamford Watch Department, five questions to find out what makes him tick.

The Five Questions Series

A TIMELY PASSION I

n automotive circles, the Bamford name has been a highly respected one for decades, but in recent years it has also become a key name in the modern horological world, thanks to George Bamford. George was a fashion photographer who started customising watches in the early 2000s, just for fun. His stealth-bomber style, and his reputation for producing the highest standards in the industry, soon won a loyal following. In 2015 Bamford Watch Department was appointed the official watch customiser for a handful of Swiss watch brands, including TAG Heuer, Girard Perregaux and Zenith, and other brands are lined up to join the list this year.

2. How have you linked your own distinctive aesthetic with the other watch brands that you collaborate with? When collaborating with other watch brands, I always come out of any design meetings with a big smile on my face. I love deep diving into a brand and understanding what they are doing, where they are going and what designs excite them. It is always an honour to be part of the design process and to be able to create my own

THE FIVE QUESTIONS 1. What is it about watches specifically that appeals to you? I have always loved that watches are this mechanical movement that sits on your wrist. The detail and engineering on such a small thing are mesmerising to me. There are always so many options and amazing innovation that can happen on a watch. I am constantly being inspired and blown away by how a relatively small item can offer so much. It really is, if you can imagine it, you can create it.

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The Five Questions Series

design ideas. My aspirations become a reality on the brand’s watches. I like to be playful with colour ways and push the boundaries with the materials we can use and create a watch which pushes us and the brand forward in an amazing way. 3. What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received? Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Throughout everything there are ups and downs, but the main thing is to always keep going and keep pushing forward. 4. Can you tell us about the timepiece that you have most recently launched? It’s from the Bamford London collection, and it is a GMT which is designed to show the time in two different time zones simultaneously. A GMT was originally developed as

a navigation instrument for professional crossing the globe, and clients were asking us for a timepiece with this function. The new launch is the Bamford x Sesame Street Big Bird GMT Limited Edition (20 pieces). It’s a fun watch as I feel we need fun in this world. Sesame Street makes me smile, and I feel a wonderful connection with the brand and with the character. I love the name Big Bird GMT, and I have loved connecting such a great character with our Bamford London dual time GMT. Big Bird is bright and pops out on the dial. It is a light, fun watch that feels perfect for this time of year. 5 Your passion for cars and all things automotive has been well documented. Which are your favourites, and why? I love the aesthetic of the Ferrari 275 GTB and pretty much everything about this car. It is absolutely amazing

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but of course there are so many other great cars. I love the idea of design on the BMW Z1. The sliding door pushes the aesthetics and it has this amazing ‘80s vibe. The 275 GTB is a beautiful, classic, elegant car that has to be respected and the Z1 is like a time capsule. Caroline Kemp

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Photograph by Tim Scott - fluidimages.co.uk

92 RARE CARS ROAR INTO 1 SQUARE MILE

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Ferrari 2021

and beyond – the recipe for business success L

ooking back to 2020, of course none of us would have planned for a global pandemic. The tragic loss of life, compounded by many more losing their livelihoods and businesses, and many household names - gone forever. The companies that have survived needed to be robust and strong; or at the very least, inventive. Ferrari survived of course, but COVID-19 proved its most acute challenge, with second quarter production (at the height of the pandemic) at its lowest in recent history. Yet the company turned things around achieving a record level fourth quarter performance, closing the year with a promising £534 million adjusted net profit. Ferrari lost a total of only eight weeks of production during the pandemic. Seven of those weeks were due directly to COVID, plus an additional week to retrain staff back into work under new COVID-procedures. During that period staff who could work from home continued to work, so none were furloughed. More importantly the production line staff, who could not do their work from home, were on full pay during the time they were off for the seven weeks. At no point did Ferrari put their staff on furlough, nor was anyone laid off

Limited Edition V12 - revealed on 5th May 2021.

across all markets. I doubt many other car brands, or even companies in general for that matter, have been able to do that! Some of the franchised dealerships did have to furlough staff, but not Ferrari themselves. Yet for Ferrari Covid-19 is but one of many ‘big’ survival challenges of the future facing a supercar manufacturer. Their ‘business case’ after all, rests solely on our desire for speed and performance. Yet Ferrari compete in a contemporary environment where speed on anything but a race circuit is regarded politically as anti-social and dangerous. Speed camera technology is regarded by some critics as a road policing obsession, as well as proving highly profitable in its own right for those who design and manufacture them. Add to that ever more stringent emission regulations, and the inevitability of a greater number of electric vehicles, and it must indeed beg the question if there is a place in the modern motoring world for a brand like Ferrari at all?

In business Yet the ‘proof is in the pudding’ as they say, and demand for Ferrari road cars remains confidently strong. Let’s not make

SF90 Stradale – the brand’s first plug-in hybrid looks purposeful and fast.

Demand for Ferrari road cars remain as strong as ever. We take a brief look at how Ferrari have coped with the global pandemic, and what the future holds too light of it though, for Ferrari have suffered alongside most, but it is a wellrun company who know their market. What’s more Ferrari are a dab hand at balancing supply and demand; every new Ferrari reflects a customer order, there is no wastage and order to delivery times helps to sustain high residuals on current production cars, as well as keeping new car desirability high. I guess it helps that Ferrari customers tend not to be short of a penny or two – and many of them have financial credentials that tend to be ‘pandemic’ or ‘recession’ proof - so whilst Ferrari car values remain strong, there are plenty of customers out there ready to buy them. Production targets slightly faltered last year only due to the pandemic, not a lack of orders, and as many in business know, recession is a very good time to ‘buy’ – even Ferraris’. Customer loyalty, and, to a lesser degree, successful attempts with some new models to win customers from other brands, plays a significant part. As a first time Ferrari buyer, once bitten you’re forever ‘smitten’; emotions tend to overrule objectivity and you will probably find your first Ferrari thus becomes either one of a growing collection, or your first step towards successive brand loyalty. I for one have

never been the same since selling my last Ferrari – it is a gap unfulfilled until you purchase your next one. As someone who has owned ‘a few’ I can say that the Ferrari experience is unique –there are many cars out there as fast and even faster, but none of them quite ‘do it’ the way a Ferrari does. That unique experience becomes addictive…. You buy with the heart, for let’s face it – when has anyone ever actually ‘needed’ a Ferrari?

Know thy customer If there is a business adage to be learned from Ferrari it is that of ‘know thy customer’. Ferrari listen to customers, prioritise their needs and value their patronage. That’s just good business. Many ‘big’ Ferraris’ often sell on a phone call from HQ to a valued customer. Deal done. If credibility needs to be proven you’ll find the evidence in the many five-star road test ratings from mainstream car magazines. Of course, Ferraris are expensive both to buy and to maintain, but that too (ironically) is part of their attraction. Whilst build quality was much of an afterthought in some of the older road cars (performance comes first), modern Ferraris are thoroughly well built, engineering masterpieces actually, 96 I Spring 2021

and those who buy new or used from approved dealers have the comforting assurance of a 7-year warranty. It is unlikely that constraints on our freedom to drive will deter the Ferrari customer of the future. Despite restrictions, a Ferrari owner will create opportunities to enjoy the car, and the DNA that makes a ‘Ferrari’ - not least its prancing horse pedigree and inspirational history - will remain its ultimate draw.

The future Here we sample two of their latest offerings; the new Ferrari Roma, and the Ferrari F8 Tributo. In terms of Ferrari’s road car future, the new SF90 is a reliable sign of things to come. Its 3,990cc twinturbo V8 plus three electric motors, 1,000 bhp (986bhp actually), 0-62 mph in 2.5 seconds, a claimed top speed of 211 mph and a price tag of circa £450,000 says it all really. An SUV is on the cards too; it is called ‘Purosangue’, and we will see it in 2022 or 2023. Why are Ferrari building an SUV? – because if you understand anything about Ferrari, you will know that enthusiasts would rather carry their children and families around in a Ferrari rather than an SUV built by another brand!

Ferrari’s latest GT is right up there with the best

The New Ferrari Roma T

he Roma is the Ferrari you buy if it is your first, or if indeed you want a usable everyday ‘Ferrari’. It is the brand’s most usable car, as well as being its most environmentally friendly. The Roma is priced on the road at a relatively entry level £170,984 without ‘extras’, but is no less a Ferrari for being so. It is very much the definitive statement of contemporary mainstream Ferrari ownership, embodying the latest in Ferrari road car technology. Call it a successor to the now phased out Ferrari Portofino if you like, the latter whose existence ends after the uprated Portofino M hits the market imminently. The Roma is today’s conversation.

The emotion With the Roma I can’t think of a better introduction to Ferrari. Gone are the days when cars like this were made only to suit the demands of the hard-core enthusiast, often challenging to drive as a result. With the Roma, you step into a cabin that is designed to please driver and passenger alike; the idea being to create two separate spaces or ‘cells’ paying equal attention to the comfort and convenience of both. Once you get into the car (on either side), you are welcomed with a combination of finely finished leather and state of the art technology, making for a rather special start to any day. The starter button is located on the bottom of the centre stalk of the steering wheel. On entering the cabin, it illuminates discretely for your attention; press it and a whole array of electronic gadgetry comes to life. The turbo-charged V8 whirrs for a millisecond,

rasps, and then ‘snaps’ into life with a growl…. followed by an even toned, muted, yet seriously powerful hum. That all takes place in half a second if that. Human emotion comes in next; you’ll be grinning now, and the anticipation begins…….

The engineering That anticipation will not be disappointed, for Step two of the Ferrari Roma experience is the brand’s latest take on V8 engine development, vehicle ride, and handling dynamics. The twin turbocharged V8 powering this car is an engineering masterpiece, generating a neck wrenching 620bhp and 760Nm of torque, propelling the Roma from 0-62mph in 3.4secs and to a maximum speed of circa 199mph. The statistics, however, do not tell the whole story; they don’t tell you that this car is virtually devoid of turbo lag, that it has instant power on tap at just about any speed, is absolutely at the refined mercy of your right foot, yet obeys every instruction down to a tee. Add to

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Central rev counter shows performance emphasis.

Ferrari Brand Focus

that an exhaust note designed to match the drama and you will end each day thinking ‘just how on earth did they do that’??

State of the art Note the reference to ‘each day’. This is not the Ferrari to put away in an air-conditioned garage in reserve for a sunny day. Far from it; the Roma is to be used. Thanks to everything from Ferrari’s Formula 1 and GT racing experience to its current hyper road car engineering, the Ferrari Roma embodies the very latest in Ferrari’s ride and handling technology. Under the Roma’s rather understated smooth and elegant lines, lies the technical credentials of one of the world’s most accomplished road cars. Your on-road safety from what is likely to be compulsive spirited driving is enhanced by Ferrari’s latest evolution of ‘Slide Slip Control’ allowing enough oversteer for fun, whilst catching the slide just before it becomes terminal. You’d have to be working the car really hard to achieve this as the Roma’s natural grip limits are exceptionally high. It gets rather more sophisticated when we get into ‘Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer’ territory – a kind of lateral dynamic control system which adjusts brake pressure on one or more wheels depending on the situation, kicking in only on the ‘race’ setting on the ‘Mannetino’ To understand the five position ‘Mannetino’ settings we must take to the road. It is a red toggle switch on the steering wheel that accommodates your preference for everything from comfortable day to day driving to ‘race’ mode for high-speed track work. You can shift gears via paddle shift if you choose, and the new 8 speed semiautomatic gearbox is lighter and quicker changing than the

Cutting to the chase, on the road the technological improvements really show. The Roma is ‘on it’ from the second you press ‘drive’ on the central transmission tunnel – It encourages you to drive it enthusiastically, waking you up to the spirit and passion that has made this brand a legend. It is sooo ‘Italian’, which in this case

Goodwood race circuit. To this man, the Roma is like a red rag to a bull and he sits on my tail. He’s trying hard, but he doesn’t know that I am barely trying. He thinks he is holding his own. He is not. One overtaking opportunity is just ahead, the Roma is gone. The XKR doesn’t even try to follow; we are separated by decades of development. It is a non-debate. I am, however, left pondering on what a joy the Roma is as a masterpiece of everyday sporting performance. We’ve said little about its styling and design other than this car’s simple elegant lines. ‘Sporty elegance’ is the Ferrari theme here, reminiscent of cars like the old 250 Berlinetta from the past – hence the lack of

refers to unapologetic flare, and lots of emotion. In cultural terms it is the opposite of the clinical precision of a Porsche, and one of emotional indulgence in intrinsic excitement. No amount of technology can achieve this; this is human stuff, honed by highly skilled Italian test drivers over thousands of miles of road and track. In this case the technology must create what the driver wants to ‘feel’, not what the technology says it can do. As a result, the grin behind the wheel remains fixed. Behind ‘my’ black Ferrari Roma sits a well driven black Jaguar XKR; we are on the sweeps and bends of some lovely B roads around the

unnecessary vents and scoops, and the Roma is designed without the Scuderia side shields to retain this styling effect, although the shields are available as an option. There is a subtle electrically activated rear spoiler that is flush with the rear screen, and automatically activated by speed and longitudinal and lateral acceleration. It all proves that top end performance is achievable without visual drama. Ferrari tend not to comment on sales volumes and targets, so the future will dictate. One thing is for sure; the Roma is a case in point; there is still a place for useable high-performance GTs……. even in today’s world. ●

7-speeder in the Portofino but is also longer geared, lessening the need for gearchanges in higher speeds and achieving much better fuel economy. The Roma meets the most stringent Euro 6D emission regulations by the way, due to the introduction of a Gasoline Particulate Filter.

To the road

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The global pandemic has caused many of us to cancel plans to holiday abroad. Exploring the beautiful landscape and scenery of Snowdonia, North Wales, in the new Ferrari F8 Tributo makes for the perfect ‘Staycation’ Kevin Haggarthy

‘STAYCATION’ PLANNING – Courtesy of Ferrari! T

the skill of a highly accomplished driver to exploit it.

The heart At the very heart of the Tributo is its V8 90-degree twinturbocharged engine. Actually, at the heart of any Ferrari is its engine, but this one is a multiaward winner, having been voted best engine of the last twenty years by industry experts. In 2018 it won ‘Engine of the Year’ for the third consecutive year. It also looks (and sounds) like the

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engineering masterpiece that it is. Its high-pitched wail at 7,500 – 8,000rpm is like no other motorised vehicle on the planet. The aural sensation is one of those you reflect on at home in bed at night, whilst your partner lays beside you, suspicious of your grin. Infidelity to a Ferrari. In fact, so sweet is the noise and so powerful the experience that it is tempting to want to lock this car away in your garage and keep it as your prized possession…. forever. Let the rest of the world drive around in battery powered anonymity, you have your Tributo. Prior to the F8, the 488 Pista was the performance benchmark. The challenge for Ferrari was to maintain the performance of the Pista, whilst delivering the unique performance and sound that complies with stricter emissions and noise pollution regulations. In Tributo tune the 90-degree twin turbo V8 pushes out maximum power of 720bhp@8,000 rpm, 770Nm

Photography © Leigh Quinnell

he Ferrari F8 Tributo. Pedigree? Unquestionably. Breeding? – of course. Thoroughbred? – easily. Evolutionary? – yes, certainly. In this case it ends there. For the Ferrari F8 Tributo pays final homage to the most powerful V8 in Ferrari history, and will be the last we see of it in this shape and form. That alone makes the F8 Tributo a very important Ferrari; a collector’s Ferrari if you like. The origins of the mid-engined Ferrari V8 road car go back to the 308 GTB/GTS introduced in 1975, but the F8 Tributo is a state-of-the-art evolution of the original Ferrari 458, introduced in 2009, and replacing the F430. The F8 Tributo incorporates the best of the various aerodynamic, handling and engineering improvements throughout this car’s 12-year lifespan. In the F8 Tributo there is simply astonishing performance, packed into a car that has been carefully honed into a highly exploitable package, and yet doesn’t require

Ferrari Brand Focus

of torque, a 0-62mph time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 211mph. Enough? I’m sure it is, but what level of driving skill does it take to enjoy it? The answer to that used to be ‘an awful lot’, yet many of its owners may have had little or no additional driver training since taking their original driving test. This is something Ferrari are well aware of, and some of Ferrari’s latest race-derived technology helps to take care of that, making the Tributo one of the most driver friendly and rewarding cars to leave Maranello, and one that is suited to the skills of let’s say ‘the average driver’.

Latest tech One example of such technology is the Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer

electronic controls to optimise the torque delivered by the clutches to suit the grip level of the road. Clever, eh? Of course, improved aerodynamics play a big part in the improved performance equation too. The Tributo is 10% more aerodynamically efficient than the 488 GTB, and it also 40kg lighter. What’s more, reduction in the temperature of the air from improving cooling flow management has contributed to the significant increase in power. As with all Ferrari model improvements, not an element of the car has been overlooked, and the Tributo is now a very different car to the original 458, the 488, and the Pista which it now replaces. To put it into perspective, the 488 Pista’s engine already had 50% more

circuits, take my word that this car in standard spec will out-perform, or at least match, virtually anything on a race track. No worries there.

‘Staycation’ Where most of us enjoy even supercars however, is on public roads. If you own a car like the F8, you need to make the time to find the roads to enjoy it. In these COVID-ridden times ‘Staycations’ are the order of the day. It’s also a legitimate excuse to get behind the wheel of your pride and joy. Out of the goodness of our hearts we decided to do a ‘Staycation reccy’ for you in the F8 Tributo on some of our favourite road test routes in Snowdonia, North Wales. Our chosen ‘Staycation’ itinerary, effectively a circular driving route, makes for a perfect threeor four-day short break. The interesting driving began with the A458 from Welshpool to Mallwydd. This road is a ‘96’ favourite; fast, challenging, unpredictable, and overtaking opportunities galore. The Tributo eats this road for breakfast; once a car ahead glimpsed the Ferrari in their rear-view mirror, many would almost pull-over instantly to allow it to pass. They know.

Machynlleth

(FDE), making performance on the limit easier to reach and control for a greater number of drivers. Another is the Adaptive Performance Launch, which analyses grip as the car accelerates, and then uses the

specific components than its predecessor, the 488, before they developed this car for the F8. Yet the F8 is a road car, not a race car. As someone who spends a lot of time on race 96 I Spring 2021

Arriving at Mallwydd we turned left on to the A470, picking up the A489 for a coffee stop in the historical market town of Machynlleth. Referred to by locals as ‘Mach’, Machynlleth is home to the Museum of Modern Art, and only three and half miles south from another tourist attraction, the Centre for Alternative Technology. Take a walk along the High Street and you will also find the location of Welsh fashion designer Laura Ashley’s first shop.

Ferrari Brand Focus

felt at these ‘modest’ speeds. In a car with such high limits, one could be forgiven for thinking that driving at ‘normal’ speeds may be uneventful, even boring. Not so; the Ferrari’s chassis still felt alive, balanced and safe as it mastered the snake patterned passes.

Tal-y-Llyn

F8 cuts a dash in Machynlleth High Street.

The Ferrari was easily parked along the High Street, followed by a leisurely High Street stroll towards the centrally located Clock Tower, where we came across a cute little coffee shop called the Dyfi Roastery. Whilst having to adhere to strict COVID rules, thankfully ‘the Dyfi’ were open for takeaway coffee. This is the place for coffee in Machynlleth as its owners, Saffron Stapleton and her partner Al, are coffee connoisseurs. Dyfi Roastery coffee is a must!

Aberdyfi

The next stage of our mini-road-test adventure was Lake Tal-y-Llyn, requiring a brief diversion from the A493 onto the twisty and challenging B440. The Ferrari was totally at home in this territory. You can’t exploit the speed of course, but you certainly can the handling. I guess it’s only in learning about the car’s behaviour in this way that you can genuinely understand how supercar performance can be totally relevant to real world driving; you just need to put the effort into finding the right places to use it. Too fast for the road? Bah! The Tyn-y-Cornel hotel is located on the banks of the beautiful Tal-y-llyn lake, and at the centre of the most stunning mountain scenery. The hotel is under new management, and we were lucky to catch a word with the new proprietors Malcolm Higgins and Christo Smal. Malcolm told us “We are keen to attract car lovers, and we are getting an

Next stop on our regional tour was via the A493 to the beautiful little harbour resort of Aberdyfi. Also known as ‘Aberdovey’ it is again set within the Snowdonia National Park, where Cardigan Bay meets the River Dyfi. As well as being a water sports haven, it’s also great for local shopping, fresh fish, and when COVID-19 restrictions allow; wining and dining! Whilst beautifully scenic, the A493 twists, turns and undulates. Not even a 211mph Ferrari should be driven at more than 60mph here. What surprised us was just how engaging the Tributo Ty’n y Cornel Hotel sits along Lake Talyllyn with stunning views.

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Al is busy behind the counter at the Dyfi Roastery in Machynlleth

Ferrari Brand Focus

increasing number of bookings from Car Clubs. We are planning to offer special gift and hosting packages when we are allowed to reopen, which will be 17th May 2021, so we’d love to hear from ’96 Club’ motoring enthusiasts”

Home via Lake Vyrnwy Staying anywhere at all was not an option for us until COVID restrictions lift, so the Ferrari embraced a scenic trail home via the A487, A489, and finally

Below: Brigands Inn popular and friendly.

has been designated as a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’. You can pick any point around the lake to relax and enjoy the wonderful scenery or take a good pair of binoculars to enjoy nature. You can do all of this in three days with two overnight stays. We did it in one, because we were in a Ferrari! By the way, the short break costs will be more than Below: Talyllyn Lake has stunning views.

the A458 back to Welshpool. On the roundabout junction joining the A458 sits the Brigands Inn, another local tourist favourite if you’re looking for somewhere to stay. As well as providing high quality accommodation the hotel has a restaurant bar/lounge and coffee shop. It has ten rooms, great parking and very friendly staff. It’s also dog-friendly, and within easy reach of local tourist attractions. Proprietors Sue and Kevin Deyton welcome ‘Staycation’ visitors. Sue told us “We are planning to open as soon as Welsh lock-down rules are lifted, and can’t wait to get everything up and running again” Your ‘must do’ final stop if you’re heading ‘South’ back to England has to be Lake Vyrnwy

and the Berwyn mountains. Lake Vyrnwy is only a slight diversion off the A458, some 22 miles from Welshpool. Lake Vyrnwy is always worth a visit, if only for the sight of the stunning lake itself. Equally so it is a wonderful place to observe nature and 96 I Spring 2021

reasonable. The price of the F8 Tributo starts at £203,516; that’s without extras of course. Ours came ‘fully loaded’ as they say, so this one as you see it will set you back £325,000. You know what they say; if you ask the price...

Dino Ferrari 246GT Little red flash Today, 96 meets Keith Sohl, who owns a Ferrari Dino 246 GT and this year will be his 46th as custodian. The 246 GT needs little introduction. A beautiful car – some would say one of the most beautiful cars ever penned by Pininfarina. It was introduced by Enzo as a Ferrari sub-brand in homage to his beloved son Alfredo (known by all as Dino) who died aged 24. Dino had been working on a new V6 engine for Formula race cars and this engine configuration was used for the car that bears his name. Early examples were not called a Ferrari and did not have the prancing horse or famous lettering. However, the car was so successful and is so synonymous with Ferrari that later cars had this added. Let’s now hear Keith’s story about “Little Red Flash”.

Inspiration The story starts in 1956 when Keith, as an 8-year-old boy, was taken by his father to Crystal Palace to watch Stirling Moss. Moss won four out of five races that day and the noise, smells and bravery displayed had a profound effect on an impressionable mind. Keith

wanted to be a racing driver. Later in his life, in 1970 aged 22, this dream was realised and a couple of seasons of Formula V racing ensued – racing on a shoe-string budget. By season two he was becoming more competitive and achieved a couple of third places and qualified on the front row next to Brian Henton, who went on to drive in Formula 1. Time and money were now becoming a problem, and a serious job offer with IBM, and a new house, forced his racing activities to come to a close. So, he sold his car to a young Ian Flux, who went on to win the championship in that car. Now missing his racing car, Keith wanted a weekend car that could give him that driving experience he ached for. The Earls Court Motor Show of 1972 proved to be another key moment, as it was there that he witnessed a Dino for the first time. He had to see the car up close and managed to talk himself onto the roped-off Ferrari stand. He made a promise to himself on that stand that one day he would own a Dino and arranged a test drive in early 1973. Fast forward a couple of years and he had had an amazing year of sales and the weekend car was looking feasible. He was considering a Nissan 240Z and 96 I Spring 2021

a BMW CSL, but the Dino was what he wanted, although it seemed to be out of reach. In 1975 the oil crisis was affecting higher-end car values, bringing the 246 closer to budget. So, he visited Maranello in Egham to enquire about buying a second-hand Dino, but was told that his budget was some way short. Then, while looking at the beautiful cars, a chance conversation with a mechanic revealed that he knew of a high mileage Dino (with 30,000 miles) that was two years old and provided Keith with the owner’s contact details.

Realising dreams Keith made contact and established that the lowest price the owner could accept was £3,400. This was an amount he could not really afford, but he arranged to see the car anyway with his wife Jenny and close friend Martin on the 10th of May 1975. Ever the optimist, he went armed with a bag full of money and a cheque book just in case. They met an old gentleman in Broadway who was selling the car as he could no longer get in and out of it easily. The car was used as a daily driver and had a few stone chips and a small door dent. Negotiations ensued using those negotiation points along

Ferrari Brand Focus

Photography © Peter Seabrook

with some pleading and, eventually, a price was agreed of £3,160 leaving £40 left to tax the car. This was all the money they had in the world. A moment of doubt came over Keith, as they were in the middle of a financial crisis and he was buying a second-hand, unreliable, impractical sports car for a third of the cost of their house, bought three years earlier. Jenny and Martin convinced him to throw caution to the wind as he would regret not buying it, and so hands were shaken, a deal was done, and a Ferrari joined the household. Jenny and Keith both fell in love with the car and it has been known as “Number One Wife” or “Little Red Flash” ever since.

Road trips As with any great car, it’s the memories you make owning it that turn a good car into a great car. The Dino was used a lot in the early years of ownership for road trips, the first of which was in the summer of 1975, cross-country from London to Lourdes in Southern France. They had some family friends down there and used the new car as an excuse to have a holiday and show them the Ferrari. They opted for travelling down the network of D roads only interrupted by small villages, some of which became stopping points for a lunch or a coffee. On one of these quiet D roads and with visibility for a couple of kilometers, Keith decided to see how fast his new

car would pull. A few moments later an indicated 150mph was achieved and the red line of 7800rpm was hit in 5th gear. The car was still pulling up a hill, but the upcoming brow and not wanting to damage the engine put a stop to any further progress. Back in those days a Ferrari in a remote part of France was a very rare sight. The car always pulled a crowd. While in the ‘70s and ‘80s people may have cheered, gazed affectionately or even applauded on seeing the car, now the camera phones come out. Young or old, the car demands attention. On the way back from this first trip, the route back was via Bordeaux and Keith and Jenny thought about starting

a wine importing business. The Ferrari got a lot of attention from the owners of the vineyards, and they were able to unexpectedly purchase 1200 cases of wine with no deposit. The delivery to their small house in Maidenhead caused some issues for the articulated lorry, and the Dino was used to deliver the fine wine to the high-end restaurants in London. Further road trips were made over the years to Europe, including the Pyrenees and the Alps, North Wales, Manchester, Norwich and, more recently, to Goodwood, 96 Club events and a couple of classic car rallies. In all those years the car has been largely reliable with very few breakdowns. One of those occurred on the outskirts of Paris when the alternator failed, and they had to fly back while the car was recovered later.

Maintaining During their ownership the car has always been well looked after and Keith and Jenny bought a large property in 1977 with some garages and a barn. Paul Lanzante started his business from their house in 1978, having just left Tyrrell as a Formula 1 mechanic, and being a fully trained Ferrari engineer. Paul looked after the car for many years and kept it in fine fettle. He then moved on to larger premises and later became famous for winning Le Mans in 1995 on his first attempt. He was team principal for Lanzante Motorsport and raced under the name Kokusai Kaihatsu UK. 96 I Spring 2021

Ferrari Brand Focus

RESURRECTION She sits in the garage, slumbering,

Paintwork gleaming dully through a mist of dust,

Chrome sadly trying to smile through its cloudy pall.

Cold, though not damp, as the heater keeps the background temperature stable,

Alone but for the dried leaves which creep in to see her under the door,

Whispering their approval.

She has been alone for a long time.

She sits on the transporter,

Proudly taking stock of her newly elevated position,

She passively accepts the chains which render her secure,

Quietly notes the jabber of conversation,

And shares in the subdued excitement which eddies around her

Like the leaves, which are watching and rustling their support.

She is about to make a journey of renewal.

She sits on the driveway,

Polished and winking in the winter sunlight,

Velvet suede dashboard hoovered to immaculate perfection,

Conscious of the folded invoice in the glovebox,

And the obscene four-figure total at the bottom

Which is, after all, her due.

She is poised and waiting to begin.

She sits on the motorway,

Hugging the road with her big, beautiful wheel arches,

Her engine purring as it always did,

But breaking into a roar when she wishes to show her paces.

Other users of the road move deferentially aside and watch her pass

In a bright flash of red.

The smell of leather, rich, luxurious and just a little musty.

The high-pitched whine at the back of the throaty engine noise.

The hard, bumpy ride over uneven road surfaces.

The sound, the speed, the intoxication of raw, racing power.

She is a Queen.

She is a Beauty.

She is Perfection.

McLaren supplied a F1 GTR and the Ueno Clinics-sponsored car won, creating history in the process. Soon after Paul leaving, QV Motors was formed in 1985 and Keith and Jenny’s house was once again used as the base for the new business. QV looked after the car for many years before moving on to larger premises and continued to look after the Dino for the next 30+ years. As well as the mechanicals, the 246 GT received a light restoration in the ‘80s but had a larger full repaint in 1999, when a competition was entered at the NEC Classic Car Show for a restoration. The Dino was randomly selected and, seeing that the car was looking a little sad with a few minor rust spots, the decision was made to strip the car down and do a full restoration. The results were stunning and the car looked like new once again. The ownership experience has been a joy for Jenny and Keith. They have created memories, realised dreams, met some interesting people along the way and, above all, have enjoyed the car. The car has not been some garage queen and has been used in the manner it was intended. The car can never be sold and is a family legacy. The car was stunning the day it left the factory floor and still turns heads to this day. While photographing the car, on driving past a primary school you could hear the children proclaim: “Look…… it’s a Ferrari”. James Sohl

She is happy to be back. © Jenny Sohl

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Ferrari Brand Focus

The original drawing from Carrozzeria Touring of the Ferrari 195 S. Dino Ferrari and his father examine one of the early 1500cc V12 engines in 1947.

Mick Jagger visits Maranello to collect his 288 GTO.

Enzo Ferrari’s office in the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari in central Modena.

Hollywood stars and Ferrari go all the way back to the ‘50s.

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Ferrari Brand Focus

The LaFerrari production line.

At the entrance to Maranello stands the Monumento al Cavallino Rampante.

The factory in the early ‘60s.

Pushing the boundaries, the Ferrari F150 Laboratorio.

Ferrari has participated in Formula 1 since 1950, here they are at Imola a few weeks back.

Ferrari is much more than a car company, it is a luxury brand with outlets around the globe.

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The finest Ferraris are maintained, restored, acquired & sold by DK Engineering At DK Engineering we are acknowledged as one of the most famous Ferrari specialists in the world and one of only a few who provide the complete service. This is only made possible by our in-house complete range of skills and facilities that have been built up over more than 40 years. Few organisations in this industry can equal our ability to accommodate a clients every need as a result of our active involvement with every aspect of the marque from ownership to race participation.

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Galleon Property; a new approach to property investment:

Helping the Buyer

ebastien Nicolleau reckons, “Whether we spend one million or five million or fifty million, today the real estate industry is structured in such a way that we have to deal with intermediaries, the estate agents, who are mandated by, and represent, the seller’s interests. They hold all the information needed for a buyer to make a decision. However, their job is to make sure that their client sells well – there is nothing wrong with that – but that leaves the buyers very exposed, for what is, one of the most important decisions they will make. It is like going to court without a lawyer. My drive became wanting to change this dynamic, and the real estate industry, because today it is completely unbalanced, and buyers are fully unrepresented.” Sebastien started Galleon Property Search in 2014 to change the real estate power dynamics and, at the same time, deal with the challenges posed by the different practices, rules and regulations in force in the different countries.

Buying agent versus selling agent “We are buying agents,” explains Sebastien. “It’s a term that today is still unknown amongst most, and what we do needs explaining for people to understand. My role as a buying agent is to advise my clients and eliminate all the challenges with purchasing a property. I work exclusively for the buyer. The estate agents represent the interests of their client. I represent the interests of my clients and manage the entire process on their behalf. My team and I specialise in the acquisition of prime and super-prime real estate in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Monaco.” The first step of the process is spending time with the clients to understand in detail what they are really looking for and advise them accordingly. Once the brief has been agreed, Sebastien’s team will engage with all selling agents within a search area – plus his own network of people for off-market

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Sebastien Nicoleau, Founder and CEO of Galleon Property Search advises... “If you are into property investment, here are some tips for you: buy PCL (Prime Central London), Paris, Monaco or Mallorca in the Balearics. properties. “Your key objective, as a buyer, is to know that your chosen property is the best one available at that specific time. That is nearly impossible to do on your own. Today, if you want to buy a property in W1 London postcode for instance, there are anything between 50 to 60 estate agents covering the area, and it will be very time consuming to get in touch with every single one of them. If you limit yourself to the three or four main ones, you are limiting your own access to the market. We address this by engaging with every single selling agent within the search area and conducting a complete market search, at the end of which we produce a shortlist of properties that match the client’s criteria. Fully independent, we have access to the entire market.” That, admits Sebastien, is something that clients could do on their own, but it would take them weeks or months to achieve what we do in a couple of weeks. Moreover, they would not have access to his own list of off-market properties. “We have a network of owners who come to us because they want to save on the selling agent’s commission, which can be anything up to 6%-7% in mainland Europe or they may want

to sell their property discretely. As we do not take commission from sellers, nor estate agents, and only are paid by the buyer, there is no conflict of interest. That’s why a lot of property owners come to us knowing we have buyers who are always interested in trophy and exclusive properties that are not available on the market.” Where Sebastien feels his role as buying agent becomes critical is at the negotiating stage, when he will be sitting opposite the seller’s agent and negotiating the best deal. “They want to sell at the highest price: our job is to buy low and develop our negotiating strategy accordingly. And we are excellent at it. Efficient negotiation requires years of expertise, an in-depth market knowledge, a thorough due diligence on the sellers to understand their position and a specific set of skills. We back up all our offers with market data, eliminating subjective debates and strengthening our client’s position as a serious buyer. We are incentivised to achieve that objective as our success fee is a % of the savings we manage to negotiate off the asking price. A winwin situation for our clients and us. Our role is not only to

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find what they are looking for but also to use our expertise to secure it at the best terms. When the offer is accepted, we then manage the conveyancing process through to completion. At the start of every project, we put a team together of trusted experts; lawyer, notary, surveyor, etc. Tax advisor might also be required for ownership set up as well as interior designer and contractors for post-acquisition renovation. Everything that may be required throughout the project will be managed and coordinated by us. Most of our clients prefer to have one point of contact only, saving them time and stress.”

Investing in property: the client “The core of our business is between $5 and $15 million. Our clients are from all over the world: Asia, Middle East, Europe, LATAM and the USA. Their typical profile is that of an entrepreneur, business owner, successful individuals who know exactly what they want, the importance of having the right team in place for any business transaction and being properly advised. Our role is to facilitate their decisionmaking process. We might not agree with their property choice and will challenge our clients, but as long as we give them all the information needed to make an educated decision, then we’ve done on our job as their advisors. It is all about developing long-term relationships based on trust, expertise, transparency and a non-nonsense approach. This

has been key to our success so far as most of our new clients come from previous ones and personal referrals.

The best places for property investment in 2021 According to Sebastien, in the long term it is always challenging to predict what’s going to happen in ten or twentyyear’s time, but in the short to medium term there is definitely a market, if you know where to look. “In the UK, and from a residential perspective, I would put my money in PCL area, Prime Central London, where the market is 20% to 30% below its peak of 2014. Combination of Brexit uncertainty during three years and then travel restrictions as PCL is mainly driven by international buyers who haven’t been here in the past 12 months. Paris is a good market to invest too. Capital growth in Paris over the past two to three years has been six to seven per cent and is likely to continue in the foreseeable future. Latest figures show a six per cent year-on-year residential prices growth at the end of 2020, despite the current situation. This is driven by an imbalance of supply and demand, The Grand Paris Express, the largest transport project in Europe with 68 new stations and 200 kilometers of additional tracks to be completed by 2030 and the 2024 Olympic Games hosted by the capital. Monaco is, and will remain, an excellent market for capital appreciation. With an average of €48,000 per square meter, Monaco is the most expensive market in the world. With just 2.5 square kilometers, there is more demand than supply within the principality and very limited options to develop further, driving the prices upward. In Spain, areas like the Balearics and Mallorca have always been desirable and there are limitations to further property developments. A good market to be in too.” “The real estate industry is changing but we are at the start of the journey,” says Sebastien. “There is still a long way to go before balancing the power dynamics in the real estate market. Buyers don’t know they have an alternative when it comes to purchasing property. My prediction is that in twenty years’ time, the first point of contact for anyone wanting to buy will be the buying agent.”

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have to admit I’ve been completely overwhelmed by the number of encouraging phone calls, messages and lovely compliments received from both 96 members, and my own circle of fellow enthusiasts telling me how much they had enjoyed reading the first issue. What a difference a year makes! This time last year I was relaxing in sunny Cape Town without a care in the world other than contemplating an idea I had of fulfilling one of my dreams, which was indeed the production of this very same magazine! It was some forty-one years ago when Ray Bellm and myself originally founded what is now known as the ‘96 Club’. The rest is now history but initially the idea was for ‘the team’ to take total charge of all aspects of the magazine’s contents and publication, and this I made very clear to both my editor, Kevin Haggarthy, and managing director, Paolo Callea, as soon as they came on board. Imagine my surprise when they came up with the suggestion that I write a regular ‘Scottie’ column, and what a pleasure that is! As you will note, our second edition includes a tribute to our lifelong Patron, the late Sir Stirling Moss, who sadly drove his final lap almost a year ago at the start of the pandemic. The task of

Scottie’s Column

writing Stirling’s tribute was given to our ‘in-house’ contributor, Niall Julian, who I think has done a splendid job in piecing together a series of stories and anecdotes he has been given by various club members, which I am sure Stirling himself would have enjoyed reading.

RIP Marley Bristol our club top dog.

Sadly, with the advent of time comes more sad news. The passing on 7th March of brilliant racing driver and race team manager, Keith Greene, another dear friend and ‘96 supporter. Keith was an entertaining raconteur who would always have something amusing and interesting to reveal to his motor racing friends. Another good friend, racing driver and expert engineer, Chris Craft, has also passed away. With the help of Gordon Murray, Chris designed the Light Car Company’s Rocket. What is ironic is that both Keith and Chris were lifelong friends, and both died within 17 days of each other. And finally, and even I find this hard to believe that I am including

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one of our dearest, and most popular and admired 96 Club members, Peter Blond. Sadly, he was admitted to hospital with COVID and died shortly afterwards on January 10th. All three were lifelong friends and will be sadly missed by us all. As a teaser for my rant next issue, I must let you know that ‘96 has come across a fascinating ‘barn find’ Austin 7 in of all places Muswell Hill, London! The full story will unfold over the next two issues. I hope you enjoy reading our second edition. All the best, Scottie

Businessman and engineer Raphaël Caillé talks about the success story that is Swindon Powertrain

Photography © Niall Julian

LEADING THE CHARGE More than just engineering innovation

ituated in an unassuming factory in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Swindon is an engineering firm that is playing a significant role in the world of motorsport and automotive engineering. At its heart is the internal combustion engine, which has seen the Swindon Powertrain involved at the very highest levels of motorsport for many decades. Now in its 50th year, Swindon Powertrain is looking to the future as it moves into the exciting world of electronic vehicles (EV) and electric motors. Swindon Powertrain was founded in 1971 as a high-performance engine specialist. The firm initially focused on the maintenance of Formula 1 engines in the 1970s and 1980s and later moved into motorsport projects in rallying and touring cars. The company is still based at its original factory, which has recently grown as the firm expanded its operations and services. Fast forward to 2010 and Swindon Powertrain was acquired by businessman and engineer Raphaël Caillé. A dedicated petrolhead, he realised that in order for his company to survive, it had to adapt to an ever-changing market. This led him to diversify the company’s services and expertise with a move into EV and electrification. Swindon Powertrain now offers a wide range of EV products in addition to

its traditional internal combustion engine design and engineering expertise. Its services include custom engine and component design, high tech and complex manufacturing and machining, engine testing and custom wiring loom design and creation. The firm also supports car manufacturers and their development departments in the electrification of vehicles. This involves design and simulation work and the manufacture of prototypes. While some may mourn that we have reached the end of the road for the internal combustion engine, Raphaël has seen it as an opportunity. “From a business sense you need to be involved in the newer technological approaches like EV. But from a personal perspective my passion is still with classics, anything with four wheels or two.” Indeed, his own collection very much leans towards motorbikes. “I have an Aprilia RSV4 which is a modern superbike. I use it on the road but it’s not really suitable for that! So it is more for track days. I like classic bikes as well and have a 1972 Honda CB 750 Four. It was made the year I was born so it is a keeper!”. Also in the stable is a modern Porsche 911, a 1990s Mercedes SL and a 1965 Series 2 Land Rover. “I also have an electric car for my commute because it just makes sense for that job. I’ve also recently acquired a 1950s Cycle Master engine which I’m planning to restore

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Business Leaders

and mount on my wall as a display piece. It will be a nice nod to what the company is now focusing on today.”

Passion drives innovation Indeed, Raphaël’s passion for engineering and motorised transport has both driven and guided Swindon Powertrain’s expansion into the electrification market. Their first EV project was an electric bicycle, which in itself was an interesting move away from its traditional fourwheel focused market. As you’d expect for a firm that develops high performance engines for motorsport, this was not just a simple two-wheel pedal bike with an electric motor strapped to it. Marketed under its SWIND brand, the EB-01 mountain bike is a stunning example of pure engineering and innovation. The EB-01 is a hand-built mountain bike like no other, with a hybrid aluminium and carbon fiber shell. Power is provided by 1.75kWhr Lithium-ion power pack which offers the rider 3 power modes, up to a maximum of 15kW. That translates to a top speed of 60mph which is simply staggering

for an all-terrain mountain bike. Retailing for £16,500 + VAT it is certainly not cheap, but it is a serious piece of kit!

Electrifying a British motoring icon The success of the SWIND EB-01 led his team to develop a retro E Classic, which is based on the iconic Austin Mini. The classic British two-door saloon became a test bed for the SWIND High Power Density E Powertrain, which was used to replace the Mini’s old petrol engine. The end result was the creation of a Classic Mini with 110bhp, a top speed of 80mph and 0-60mph in just 9.2 seconds. In a car as light as a Mini that is seriously brisk and with an impressive 125-mile range, it makes it a turnkey retro classic. During the preparation of the Austin, the all-important character that makes the Mini so special was retained. It still looks and drives like a traditional Mini, but now with a thoroughly modern and advanced EV drivetrain. Other upgrades such as heated seats, heated front and rear windscreens, air conditioning and under floor heating have transformed the Mini

into a true year-round daily driver. Other notable features include electric front windows and electric power steering. The real icing on the EV cake however was the installation of a full-length electric sliding roof, making the E Classic the perfect retro ride for those sunny summer drives. “The Electric Mini has been a fantastic journey. It was an idea we had five years ago and I thought it was the kind of car that deserved to be electrified, because the original engine and gearbox are so poor, and it is a city vehicle so it is ideal for the EV transplant. Its design is still amazing… you still can fit four adults in that tiny little space! It is a cracking little vehicle! So, I thought it certainly could be done with some good technology. We created the test vehicle and then we realised that we couldn’t make it as a small volume manufacturer. We had a plan to make 100 of them, but the reality was that at the time, the supply chain was not ready. So we decided to focus on developing an EV kit using the technology in the Mini, rather than focus on custom design projects for clients. We are now supplying kits and components to other firms that are building Classic EV cars.”

Motorsport success The focus on electronic vehicles does not mean Raphaël’s firm has taken its eye off its traditional market; quite the contrary. The British motorsport scene is a big customer with the firm supplying engines to 18 cars in the British Touring Car Championship. That is an impressive number and is evidence of the expertise on offer from Swindon Powertrain. That expertise was further proved in

Raphael with the SWIND EB01 electric bike and his recently acquired 1950s Cycle Master engine. The cycling past meets the future.

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is fantastic. Equally the loss of emotion due to the lack of noise is disturbing. Which is why we love the combustion engine and why we will love sports cars for some time to come. These cars aren’t all about the sheer performance, it also about the emotion we get out of them. So, we should be open to both technologies really.”

the 2020 BTCC season, when Ash Sutton won the championship in an Infiniti Q50, with an engine supplied by Swindon Powertrain. Raphaël and his team are very proud of this success. The 2.0litre turbocharged 4-cylinder BTCC engines supplied by Swindon Powertrain are based on a standard production car unit. They are built in-house at the firm’s factory and produce close to 400bhp. Raphaël’s team of engineers and technicians provide a full kit to the race teams, which includes what is essentially a service pack for £35,000 per season. Each engine is built to a set of regulations set by the BTCC and goes through rigorous benchmarking and running-in on

The focus on the petrol engine is now aimed at increased efficiency, which has allowed for a reduction in both engine capacity and number of cylinders. This reduction is achieved through higher compression ratios and forced induction. “Our combustion engine activities have enough opportunities to keep us going

One of the BTCC racing engines that are prepared by Swindon Powertrain

Precision of design is central to engineering high performance parts

BTCC race engines go through thorough testing and bedding in on the firm’s in-house engine testing rig

the company’s dyno machine. These high-performance race engines have a life span of approximately 5,000 km, which covers a full season. This is an impressive level of durability, especially when compared to 20 years ago, when BTCC engines were lasting just around 1,000 miles. At the end of the racing calendar the engines are refurbished, with roughly 60% of the parts replaced with new components. Reflecting on the everchanging motorsport scene Raphaël noted that “twenty years ago we used to send more technicians than engineers to the track. The mechanical work that is required on the cars today is

for quite some time. And let’s just say that the passion for these things is still running very high. Not just for me but with my team here as well. We love developing engines for motor racing, we love manufacturing crankshafts, bespoke components… we love it all!” While his companies EV efforts could be championed as being green, Raphaël sees it more as a way to use engineering to address the problems created from the production and use of the combustion engine. “Both types of engines have their place. You can love a petrol engine and an electric motor as well. The sheer acceleration and power that the electric powertrain is capable of

compression and alternate fuels playing their part in the strive for maximum efficiency and performance. “But we are at a stage now however, in my opinion, where investment in the internal combustion engine is dropping, because we are all focused on electrification. The opportunities gained from this is much greater. I mean we’ve all been working like hell for 100 years on the internal combustion engine… and we’ve only just started on electrification. There are a lot of problems and challenges to overcome, but these will be overcome with time. So it is a very interesting time that we are in right now.”

a lot less than it was in the past. We provide a lot of engineering support to all the teams, which is one engineer per team. But for the 20 cars on the grid, we have just one technician. So, it has changed a lot.”

A new era for the internal combustion engine

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Tip of the electrification iceberg Looking to the future, Swindon Powertrain has positioned itself well to react to the rapidly changing automotive sector. Raphaël sees the internal combustion engine as still relevant with technologies such as variable

Niall Julian

When was the last time you knew your banker by name?

At Hampden & Co, we provide private banking as it should be and each of our clients has a nominated banker who gets to know them and their banking requirements. If this sounds like the type of tailored service that you, your family and business would benefit from, please contact Managing Director – Banking, Jeremy Vaughan. Tel : 020 3841 7480 jeremy.vaughan@hampdenandco.com

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ANDREW DOUGLAS TELLS US ALL ABOUT HIS BESPOKE JET CHARTER COMPANY

Pretium Jet Charter A

ndrew is an entrepreneur who owns and runs a number of businesses, all involved in aviation. It’s clear from meeting Andrew that he is a highly driven man that likes to get things done. His love of problem solving encouraged him to get into the jet charter business.

Army career Having completed a Civil Engineering degree, his goal was always to join the Army. On graduating in 1997 he attended Sandhurst, and after he was commissioned, he served as an officer for ten years, with operational tours in Kosovo and Northern Ireland. As he got promoted, he started to get to play with some really big toys, like 60-ton tanks and this eventually led to 96 I Spring 2021

flight training. This ignited a passion for aircraft and flying, which initially became a hobby as an escape from the Army. In 2006 he was promoted once more to a position which was desk based and being “an active sort of chap”, this was the catalyst for leaving the Regular Army. He is still a reservist Lieutenant Colonel so the door remains open.

Flying career On leaving the Army he started flying for private charter operations. Flying is heavily regulated and based around safety. It’s well ordered, and highly organised; Andrew loved that part. In all other areas however he saw problems with how it was organised and wanted to do something about it. This coincided

Business Leaders

‘At the end of the day it’s a service business, and should be delivered in the best interest of the client’ with the 2008 financial crash and demand for private flights was reduced, as a result finding work was more difficult. It was clear to Andrew that management companies’ clients did not always come first. They would lose business opportunities due to their structure and let clients down due to their processes. His engineering degree and problem-solving side while combined with the lessons learned from the military in strategic planning and analysing detail, led him to conclude it could and should be done better. In 2011 he formed Air Advantage, a consultancy, and his first contract was with an oil and gas company. As the business grew, he picked up a client who also had a passion for flying, and led to him organising for an entire company to be transported to the Caribbean on three business jets. In order to separate the consultancy from the charter side, Andrew developed “At Pretium Jet Charter”. Since then, he and his company have developed a stellar reputation for delivering first-class results for their clients and their client list continues to grow.

At Pretium Jet Charter Pretium comes from the Latin meaning “worth, service or value” and the vision of the company is to achieve this with excellent results. Andrew found that most brokers in the jet charter industry would be on the race to the bottom with regards to price to get business, which is not good for the industry, and also results in corners being cut in terms of service. Typically, there is a cost of the aircraft and the price the broker receives but this is never disclosed. His vision was not to be a part of that race, and instead provide a client with a variety of open and transparent option and prices. This led to the development of his subscription model where prices and commissions are always open. Andrew says “At the end of the day it’s a service business and it should be delivered with regards to what’s in the best interest for the client.” For example, “We can supply a small jet which is cheaper or a larger jet that costs slightly more but you will be far more comfortable. Which do you prefer?” With the subscription model, clients know that Andrew’s advice is for their benefit and not to top up any commission.

A further area of difference in their operations, to competitors, is regards to empty leg flights. So, what’s an empty leg I hear you ask? That is the journey to get the plane, pilot and crew back to their home base (The place where the pilot has parked his car!). Often this results in an unoccupied plane heading in a particular direction. Sometimes an operator gets lucky and can sell this trip and generally does this at a discounted price. The problem occurs when the first leg client cancels and this now means the empty leg client is left without a plane, as they are expecting a low-cost solution which now can’t be met or the charter company runs it at a huge loss. Either way the client gets a poor service and the company potentially loses two customers and money. To counter this Andrew and his team will inform the client of the possibility of the reduced price but charge the full price. They will then refund the client if the empty leg occurs, thus passing the saving to the clients rather than making an extra fee for the operator. It also ensures that no matter what, the client gets a reliable service they can count on. “We explain the process and have found that all our clients are 100% in agreement. The trip is the important event and the last thing they want is to be given a problem at the start of their trip. We avoid this scenario completely.” This is a small example of how Andrew thinks and his attitude to tackling problems and finding solutions.

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The nature of private travel is that the client gets to choose whatever they want, leaving from small local airports, private chauffeur services, to unique catering services. A charter will find a solution to any request and requires to be on call 24 hour per day. Andrew tells me this problem came to a head one day when he stopped his car at the side of the road while taking the family on holiday. A client wanted to change the food order to smoked salmon and Andrew had to literally drop everything to ensure that one small change was delivered. His engineering problem-solving mind realised that all parties involved with the delivery to the client, whether that be the charter company, the aeroplane owner, the pilot and cabin crew, the chef and the chauffeur need to be able to communicate seamlessly to both save time and to ensure nothing is missed. So, work started on developing a cybersecure flight management application and “AvioNexus” is the result under his other company Make Tech Fly.

Future COVID-19 has certainly caused some challenges for the aviation industry; however, Andrew is very buoyant. There is a huge pent-up demand for air travel and many people want to

travel without venturing near busy airports. They don’t want to take risks but still want to get to that business meeting or family holiday. This is further compounded with mainstream airlines now having less routes and almost having to start again. Direct travel routes that we all took for granted are now far fewer or don’t even run. Thus, what used to be able to be achieved in a day now takes two, with a hotel stay and longer periods of time in an airport. People don’t want that and private charter negates all of this. You can travel direct from any two destinations - no waiting, no queuing. Thus, many more people are now considering hiring a private jet than ever before. Andrew sees a bright future and has large aspirations for his companies. Of course, he wants them to grow, but feels his software program has the potential to be the number one provider in the world. Not just in organising all the parties involved with aviation, but delivering security, booking, payments and COVID safety checks in one application. He aspires to take “AvioNexus” to America and make inroads to the largest market place in the world. He also hopes over time to shape the rhetoric and remove the stigma around private aviation. It’s an industry that in the UK employs 30-40,000 people and has its place. Away from the office Andrew, who is clearly a workaholic, still makes times for his wife (they met at Liverpool University) and their three children. When time allows, he enjoys a game of golf and at weekends has been known to play a game of cricket. He wants to get back into the cockpit again as he loves flying. We also talk cars and he shows his screen saver of an Aston Martin Vantage which would go well with the private jet. His goal is to buy one when the business is successful enough and the three kids don’t need a free taxi. He would also like to source another 1979 Range Rover threedoor, like the one he had back at Sandhurst in 1997. It has been fascinating meeting Andrew, he is interesting, a pleasure to talk to and his enthusiasm comes over in everything he does. He loves solving problems and delivering to his clients and goes to great lengths to do so. Ultimately, he is still an engineer and brings that to all that he has done and achieved. I think this is a business to watch in the future.

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● James Sohl

Exceptional Italian cuisine in a chic and sophisticated setting 20 CHESHAM PLACE, BELGRAVIA, LONDON SW1X 8HQ 020 3189 4850 | reservations@ilpampero.com | www.ilpampero.com

Top jewellery photographer Simon Martner talks to us about his exciting life of travel and photography

Life Behind the Lens… Photography © Tove Zetterstrom

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imon Martner is a top jewellery photographer. He was born, grew up and went to school in the small town of Boras, Sweden. Later he lived in Australia for a while, where he played in rock and roll bands and did a lot of surfing, finally settling in London. Travel, exploration and a zest for ‘living’ characterises Simon from the start. This man has a tremendous amount of ‘life-energy’ and a love of people, and he channels all of that energy into his passion for jewellery photography. “Part of the enjoyment for me is that I am very close to my clients; I’m so interested and excited about their lives. It’s fun shooting for them. It’s a relationship rather than just shooting an image for them. I want my clients to do as well as they possibly can because it means I get to shoot more of their work! For me, that is the ultimate luxury as a business owner – not having to only look at an excel sheet. I will do shoots that make less financial sense if it’s fun. You don’t know where it can lead; actually, it can be more lucrative in the end”. It’s hard not to like Simon; he is a truly ‘genuine’ guy; one of those people who you might commission because you love his photography, but equally so, because he is very pleasant to deal with, and what’s more he shares your passion for your product. “I enjoy being able to portray a customer’s work in such a way that it encourages other people to buy it. In this industry when you buy something like this it is not like fashion, where you can easily throw it away; these are things you will keep and they make you happy. This is an aspect I really like. It is a privilege to do the work justice.” Take a look at Simon’s Instagram account @martner (which is how we found him), and you’ll see the multifaceted nature of the artist’s life. Along

with images of fine jewellery, are everything from skateboarding with kids in Nepal, holidays on the beach, parties, fashion…its endless, yet the sign of a rich and colourful life. It is this that has warmed many of his clients to him, they love his work, they see his travels, and invite him over… “I’ve had clients call me from Russia, the Arab world and America. They weren’t working with me when I was in London but when, through Instagram, they saw I had a travelling set-up that I could easily bring on site and show up anywhere, they were soon calling asking ‘why don’t you come to Monaco? why don’t you come to Morocco? New York? etc, and that opened up this life where I could fly around as I please”. “I would do a variety of things, from portraits of designers to model shoots for jewellery brands. Becoming a photographer for the jewellery industry became my main thing.”

The travelling bug “The travelling bug began in 2014, when four other friends and myself went to Jamaica. I had never shot abroad, so I thought why don’t I contact a model agency in Jamaica, connect with a local model, and get a shoot together. I used a website called ‘Model Mayhem’ where amateur photographers and amateur models, who were less established, could work together to build their portfolios. I did that, found a

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local model, and got my friend to help to make a photoshoot with the model in Montego Bay. It was so much fun; we went out to the local clubs; it was a really positive experience, and I posted the shots on Instagram. This soon got around to my clients who recognised me travelling, and as a result I got my first paid shoot in Monaco!” “I gradually became known as ‘the travelling jewellery photographer’. I could produce the same quality as in my studio anywhere in the world. I developed a ‘traveller kit’ myself, which is the same set up as I use in my permanent studio. It is flexible and lightweight, so it is easily transferable.” “When I began to travel the world with my photography, once again social media became a valuable tool for me. To promote my work of course, but also to help shrink the world down and connect me with like-minded people in the new places I would find myself in. Be it skateboarders in Kathmandu, luxury PR experts in New York, or jewellery designers in Bangkok….these meetings would often make the difference between a boring ‘business only’ trip and a real adventure.”

a certain time in the morning and being there every day.”

Passion for photography “I was interested in photography from very early on in my life. As a teenager I had an analogue camera, and then when the digital cameras came along, I lost interest in photography for a couple of years. Back then it was hard to justify spending money on shooting analogue; at the same time the quality of the first digital cameras was terrible”. “I decided to get back into photography while working in London as I was looking for

now divorced) and she was in the jewellery industry. In 2008, around the time of the recession, we decided to quit our jobs and start our own business together Martner & Mowat, a commercial photography company.” “It was a slow start but I knew my target market, which is an advantage of specialising. There was a couple of years where the work proved quite repetitive, but I was happy to have a functioning business. The business lasted approximately five years, and my ex-wife Alyson went on to start a different business, Alyson Mowat Studios.” (https://www. alysonmowat.com/about.html) “When I branched out on my own, I rebranded the business to Simon Martner. I just focused on the one thing that I wanted to do and become really good at, and that was jewellery photography. I drew the logo for my business in the airport lounge in New York, a diamond with an airplane. That was the starting point, and I began to do lots of shoots abroad.”

Fine jewellery

Staying in Britain #Simon originally moved to London from Sweden in 2005, where he settled and got a job at the famous Dr Martens shop in Camden. As a man driven by curiosity and a part-time musician, Simon loved the Camden life. “I was only meant to stay for three months actually, but working at the Dr Martens shop made me stay on. Camden was a lot more fun compared to Sweden at the time. I was playing in punk bands for fun; it was the perfect time to be in Camden” “Everyone shopped there to buy their Dr Martens, even famous rock groups like Green Day and Madness. Some bands made videos in the shop, so it became quite famous. I became the manager of the shop, but I didn’t like the discipline of having to be there for

different things I could do instead of standing in a shop. I could photograph boots and shoes properly and build a website out of that. I could do a YouTube Channel for the shop. Instagram wasn’t around at the time, but I could do a Facebook page on the shop, but in the end, it wasn’t really enough. That’s how I got back into doing photography again, and it took over. I had to give up the band playing and focus on photography because if I do something, I want to do it really well.” “When I was doing photography at the Dr Marten’s shop, I met the woman who was to become my wife, Alyson Mowat, (we are 96 I Spring 2021

“What makes fine jewellery special? It boils down to how well it is made; there is so much beautiful craftsmanship in what I photograph. Some is based on stones or special gems, whereas other designers can be more design-led, and will have a collection of maybe gold and diamonds, but the shapes are really special. Their names can be associated with a particular design, or otherwise it may be a special gem”. “I have acquired a sense of what is a well-made piece, and that makes my job easier. I have photographed for very wellknown people like Fernando Jorge, Noor Fares, and Tabbah in Beirut. I go a couple of times a year to Beirut. Another of my clients is Mike Joseph, both Mike Joseph and Fernando Jorge won designer awards at Couture, the main annual jewellery show in Las Vegas.”

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“Jewellery photography is so challenging. You take a very reflective object and you blow it up basically. If for example you were to photograph a diamond ring on a finger with your iPhone, it might look smart and nice but if blown it up you may see the reflection of the room or other reflections. You need to diffuse that and bring in something to diffuse and control the light. It’s important to find the balance between shadow and highlights. Creating contrasts is very important – placing a dark shadow around a bright diamond will make that diamond look very bright. It’s about controlling that contrast. “

Skateboarding “I have been skateboarding for most of my life. I stopped in my mid-twenties, but started again when I did a shoot in New York in 2014. I have two good friends in Brooklyn who skate. They didn’t know each other back then but I wanted to see them both again, so I got myself a skateboard and the three of us went to the skatepark, where we had the best day! It’s funny how the skateboarding scene seems a bit different to me now as an adult. Instead of slacking off school with my skate buddies like I did when I was young, I now meet other talented photographers, artists and designers, who are skateboarders too! This kind of ‘unofficial’ business networking in the skate park was definitely an unexpected bonus”. “On another occasion I was going to India to do a shoot and my neighbour suggested I should go to Nepal. I posted the trip on Instagram and a young jewellery designer from Kathmandu got in touch saying he would love to meet me when I go there. I suggested to him we did a small photo shoot together. He was excited about it and offered me to stay free at his house – a nice little trade off! I met lots if people there, and we went to a heavy metal gig and a motorcycle club

meet in Kathmandu. He was very young, cool, and down with the kids. At that gig I met the tattoo and skateboarding communities in Kathmandu – it was nice to be somewhere where that movement was just starting. Many of the young skateboarders had problems with the police and I really wanted to help them, so I put together a charity event and put it on Instagram asking people for skateboarding equipment. If people put up the money, I would organise a skateboarding tour, so the skateboarders from Kathmandu could go around Nepal and make ties with other skateboarders. We did it and it was a great success. I enjoyed doing

of a gym. During lockdown I bought a place in the Barbican. It’s been a dream for a long time; I have wanted to move centrally for so long but was too busy at the place I had previously in south east London. I wanted to move for a long time, but was preoccupied working. I soon decided that I needed to make it happen. I stayed in Airbnbs and hotels for about three months. Being in the Barbican now has opened up many new opportunities for me. It’s much more accessible – instead of my clients using couriers or taxis to deliver their work, I am conveniently an eightminute walk away from Hatton Garden, London’s jewellery district.

something really worthwhile and seeing the kids being inspired and empowered. I would like to organise another skateboarding tour in Nepal and follow things up with these amazing kids, now some five years later”

“Before the pandemic it was great; I had a lot of fun and work was escalating. When the pandemic hit, I didn’t want to stress over trying to reinvent myself. I did a couple of online tutorials with clients on how to do their own basic level of photography, but on the whole I decided to have my first real pause on my career. There was no better time for that than when everyone is on this collective slowdown. Now when restrictions are slowly lifting, I am geared up and more ready than ever to get back on track, and I’ll appreciate being busy again even more. Most of all I am looking forward to travel to see my friends and clients again, doing what I love.”

Work/life balance “I am a strong believer in a healthy work/life balance” he tells me, …”it allows me to appreciate my work more. Post lock-down I am really looking forward to carrying on where I left off, but I always try to keep a good work/life balance, and that’s something I want to carry on doing. It makes everything else worthwhile; you appreciate everything more if you have the right balance. “ “I generally keep fit, exercising daily at home. I am not a member 96 I Spring 2021

Kevin Haggarthy

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The finest cooking and cooling appliances in the world

Sub-Zero & Wolf

Photography © Alex Vincenti

ub-Zero & Wolf is one of the best restaurants in London’s trendy Knightsbridge you have never heard of. That’s because it isn’t a restaurant, but the showroom and demo kitchen for what is described as “The finest cooking and cooling appliances in the world”. There, Sub-Zero & Wolf corporate chef ambassador, Elliot Johnson-Paul of JP Dining will give you a hands-on demonstration of the kitchen equipment and cook you an exquisite meal. Then, on the way out, you will buy the whole kitchen. On the menu for my visit was a prime medium rare beef steak, first heated for ninety minutes sous vide, exactly at 54 degrees in the convection steam oven. It was then seared on the teppanyaki grill, served with pommes mousseline and grilled asparagus with a Béarnaise sauce. “The Sub-Zero & Wolf equipment is the best of the best”, explains Elliot, while chopping the tarragon and chervil

(even the knife is Sub-Zero & Wolf ). “This is the Ferrari of kitchen appliances, with all the power of commercial equipment, but designed for the home. Everything is ergonomic and easy to use. You push buttons, and it just works. It elevates the home cooking almost to restaurant standard.” The Sub-Zero Freezer Company was founded in 1945, by Westye F. Bakke in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2000, it acquired Wolf Gourmet, a US leader in commercial cooking appliances, and became Sub-Zero & Wolf. According to the official company history, Bakke invented the first free-standing freezer in 1943 and was the first to manufacture built-in refrigerators in the 1950s. Today, the innovations continue with, amongst others, wine storage refrigeration that can connect to the house security system, for those who have substantial sums invested in their wine collection.

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According to Lee Brown, Sales and Contract Manager, a basic Sub-Zero & Wolf kitchen including a convection steam oven, a range cooker, a fridge freezer and a wine cooler, would start from about forty thousand pounds. “The kitchen has always been the heart of the home, but even more so now. It used to be a little place tucked away where you cooked and ate. Now it is an entertainment space. We are seeing more of this type of setup where the cooking is on an island, rather than

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against the wall, because people don’t want to do their cooking while their friends are in the living room. It’s become ‘the’ talking point and for many of our clients, and if they are doing a home refurbishment or an extension, the kitchen is the first important thing they want to get right.” In fact, the same way as the living room was for everyday use and the drawing room for guests, it is becoming more common to have two kitchens. “Quite often, in these amazing houses,”

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says Chef Elliot, “people have two kitchens: the wonderful Sub-Zero & Wolf for entertainment and then a back kitchen for day-to-day cooking, so that the smell does not spread throughout the house.” To cater for more compact town flats, Sub-Zero & Wolf appliances are available in different styles and sizes, all with the same functions and facilities. And the same units are suitable for the marine environment. “As well as yachts,” says Lee, “one of the fastest

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growing sectors of our business is the marine business. All our products use marine grade stainless steel and are all sea spray tested. Normally, when we are working with yacht builders, the yacht kitchens are in a galley indoors, but clients may also have an outdoor decking area where they may want a fridge or even a hob, and these can be used at sea.” For Lee, the choice of Sub-Zero & Wolf is obvious. “There is an element of prestige in owning a Sub-Zero & Wolf kitchen because it is perceived as being the best of the best, and for some clients only the best will do. Others, who enjoy cooking, want our appliances because they are so well designed, and do what they are supposed to do. All our products are domestic. We do not manufacture commercial appliances, but we are the most commercial in terms of build quality and how you can use them. They are sold to many professional chefs, not for use in their restaurant kitchens, but in their own home for research and development. We work with a lot of very highprofile professional chefs, many long-standing friends of the business. If you are a professional chef, ours is the brand of choice.” On the wall, going down the steps to the cooking and dining area, are hundreds of autograph pictures of personalities of the world of culture, sport and industry – as well as many of the most well-known TV chefs, all of which is testimony to the appeal and success of Sub-Zero & Wolf. While preparing lunch, Chef Elliot is very earnest and enthusiastic about the appliances. “A steamer is a must today; it is so versatile. You can use it not only for steaming – it is also convection – so you can use it as a second oven. Steaming asparagus, for instance, keeps its fantastic colour and up to 30 per cent more nutrients than by just blanching it in water. If you are a foodie, Sub-Zero & Wolf make food even more enjoyable because it makes cooking easier. The dedicated oven has a ‘Gourmet’, or assisted mode, effectively replacing me as the cook, because you can put a piece of meat in the oven, set the programme, go away, and when you come back you have this perfect roast. Being an ambassador for Sub-Zero

& wolf I am very fortunate: I come to perform in this beautiful showroom where we sit down maybe ten guests. I cook, I demonstrate all the products and we go through the different techniques with the different appliances. Then, they get to eat the freshly cooked wonderful food. Once they have seen the kitchen in action, once they have seen how easy and useful it is, 98 per cent buy it.“ ■ Alex Vincenti

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1944 The Ministry of Defence approaches a select group of watchmakers. The briefing: To manufacture a watch accurate and robust enough to be issued to all British military personnel, at home and (given the circumstances) especially abroad. It is felt that ‘civilian watches’ are not equal to the task. 12 watchmakers are ultimately chosen, 11 Swiss and 1 British, producing what later becomes known as the ‘Dirty Dozen’ field watch.

Early 1945 A second commission is made by the MoD. This time for a high-visibility wristwatch incorporating a timing function, for use by senior Naval and submarine personnel. A white dial Monopusher, befitting Captain, Lieutenant and Commander ranks, is ultimately approved. Before production begins, the Allied forces prevail and World War II comes to an end. Designed for use in the darkest of conditions and darkest of hours, the Monopusher never sees the light of day.

75 years on Resurrecting the original Monopusher blueprints, VERTEX (the only British watchmaker that figured amongst the original Dirty Dozen) at last makes ‘the MP45 Arctic’ a reality.

THE VERTEX MP45 ARCTIC A limited edition. In automatic & manual. In steel. Never made. Until now.

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The Feral Beast

The XJR-15 celebrates its 30th Anniversary

2021

Photography© Niall Julian

marks the 30th Anniversary of a supercar many people may not have heard of called the JaguarSport XJR-15. With only 50 built it is exceedingly rare; it is also rather special. Compared to its contemporaries the XJR-15 is around 250kg lighter than the Ferrari F40, yet has similar horsepower figures of 450bhp. The XJR-15 was the work of British car designer, Peter Stevens. It has more than a passing resemblance to the McLaren F1, which he later styled, and the XJR-15 could be regarded as the McLaren F1’s spiritual grandfather. It is also the first production car to feature a carbon fibre chassis and body shell. Not only that, but it also had its own race series with a $1 million prize awarded on the result of the final round at Spa.

In the beginning….. The XJR-15 was originally conceived by Tom Walkinshaw, the owner and team principal of TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing), who manufactured and produced road and race cars from 1976 to 2002. It was devised in response to the victory in 1988 at Le Mans of the Silk Cut-sponsored, Jaguar 96 I Spring 2021

XJR-9 LM that also won the FIA World Sportscar Prototype Championship. Tom believed that wealthy customers might be keen to buy a road going Group C car, and indeed had several customers who pressed him to build one. Initially TWR worked on the car and soon received support from Jaguar. The car was built in Bloxham as a joint venture between JaguarSport and TWR and was announced to the press on 15th November 1990. The car was launched on 15th November 1990, with a price tag of £500,000. It is believed that around 50 cars were built. These were made up of 16 race cars, 29 road cars and 5 LM versions custom ordered for a sole Japanese collector with the 7-litre XJR-9 engine and a few aerodynamic tweaks. To put that in perspective, that is less than half the number of McLaren F1s or Bugatti EB110s built and less than five per cent of the total F40 production. The swooping aerodynamic body is made of carbon fibre with flat bottom underbody aerodynamics, a common feature in today’s supercars but not so back then. The engine, a beautiful 6-litre V12, is mounted on a carbon fibre tub and carbon subframe, with a glass canopy giving a unique view out of the car almost like being in a

Cars of excellence

Photography©Alamy Stock Photo

goldfish bowl, and do not forget that single wiper. Wheels are lightweight 3-piece split rims with no wheel bolts and centre-locking nuts, colour coded red for left side and blue for right side with a retaining pin, just like the Le Mans cars! The lucky fifty owners of the righthand-drive Group C road car were in for a unique experience. For a start you do not have a normal key, but a master switch red key that can cut both the electrics and the fuel just like a race car. As a racer this is normal, but for a nonracers that’s novel and unusual. Starting the car requires learning the procedure, master switch locked and loaded then a line of toggle switches that you pull towards you in turn, ignition first, prime the fuel pumps one and two and lastly a toggle to start the engine. Pull the toggle and the starter spins, initially it sounds misleadingly hesitant, then a single cylinder fires and the other eleven follow in quick succession and that noise arrives!! And what a noise it is to hear. A V12 with no silencing that makes your internal organs rattle, it is very naughty. It is a pure race-bred engine, clearly light and the slightest touch of the throttle sends the revs flaring. You soon begin to understand why they came with ear defenders! From the outside the noise of the car is deafening, yet purposeful and guttural, quite unlike the musical tone of a Ferrari V12. It means business and you just want to hear it sing. The clutch has a short throw and is heavy; it has 420lb ft to manage, but due to the prodigious torque it is an easy car to move. The gear lever sits to your right on the sill, and does not self centre, so requires some learning. On the race cars

a six-speed straight cut box replaced the five-speed and is noisy, strong and feels indestructible, adding further drama to the drive. Once warm the change is fast and the gear ratios are close together allowing you to bang home each gear. For the enthusiast, the brake pedal is hard, and perfectly placed for a heel and toe rev-matched downshift and the lowslung carbon cocoon with glass canopy gives you near perfect visibility. Even someone my size 6ft 5in can fit inside the snug cockpit wearing a helmet and the view from the massive rear-view mirror displays not only the outside world, but glimpses of the V12 heart behind your seat.

Small details Meeting one of these cars in the flesh is quite a privilege. It is small compared to modern supercars and sits extremely low. The spoilers are understated and the petrol blue colour is very

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unassuming. From side profile, one notices the cockpit is in the front half of the car and it looks overly long behind. It is a profile that is remarkably similar to a long-tail McLaren F1. You spend time drinking in the vista, and notice small things. The first of those is the smell of a mixture of petrol and gear oil and hydrocarbons. Then the nonmetallic paint glistens and you realise it is the imperfections of the carbon weave glinting in the sun. In certain lights the weave can be seen. Opening the front clamshell reveals all the carbon chassis with a crash structure over an inch thick. Front brake ducts are huge and the left one divides to provide airflow to cool the ECU. The doors which have no locks, feel weightless while the car comes in at only 1050kg and at the same time feels very solidly built. Entering the car requires a technique. Feet first onto the seat, hold the roof with one hand, do not lean on the door, so you balance on the sill and swing yourself

Cars of excellence

in. The owners make it look easy, not so easy in my case and I am terrified of damaging this £2 million road-legal race car. Once inside, the car is spartan with a remarkably simple selection of dials and gauges, all hand painted with red lines to indicate maximums. As you sit in the greenhouse looking out the front and imagine going down the Mulsanne at over 200mph in this great British brute it seems strange to find a Mazda headlight switch and an indicator stalk that’s two sizes too big for the steering wheel.

Racing

I talk to Valentine and Orlando Lindsay, the father and son duo who own chassis number 3, to take me through the car. “It’s one of the original race cars driven by Andy Evans in the JaguarSport Intercontinental Challenge” Valentino tells me. “Evans was a sportscar driver and was not quick in the car, which meant it spent its races near the back

of the grid, which spared it from the paint-swapping that most of the other cars suffered from.” The championship was held as a support race for three Formula One grand prix held at Monaco, Silverstone, and Spa. A winner-takesall prize of $1 million was offered for the final event and the 16-car grid was oversubscribed. Gentleman owners wanted to be part of the show and hired professional drivers to compete for them. After three fantastic races and an all-star driver cast, Armin Hahne won the $1 million prize beating the likes of Derek Warwick, David Brabham, Jim Richards, Davy Jones, Bob Wollek, Tiff Needell, John Nielsen, and Juan Manual Fangio II. Inside on the driver’s door it wears its yellowed FIA scrutineering sticker and still wears its original race stickers. The patina is charming with stone chips worn with pride and the race numbers having shrunk slightly over time. Orlando tells me that seeing he is under 25 he cannot get road insurance, but dad lets me drive

it on track, and that they plan to race it again. It’s by no means a garage queen and gets used, which is fantastic.

Celebratory acquaintance 2021 is the 30th Anniversary of the XJR15 and JaguarSport Intercontinental Challenge and a celebration is planned. The hope is to get as many cars as they can out on track. Originally it was planned as a feature of the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, but with that being postponed, the plan is to get them out on the British Grand Prix weekend some 30 years after their last visit to Silverstone. For me it has been fabulous to learn and see and experience the car. It seems underappreciated and undervalued compared to its contemporaries and I hope that the car gets the recognition it deserves. If you collect cars and want a true Group C Le Mans experience in a road legal package, the XJR-15 is the car.■

James Sohl

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Something that was always important to remember about Tom Walkinshaw and something I often said was, that ‘When it comes to ideas no one gets up earlier than Tom’.

Jaguar Sport XJR-15

phone call in early October 1988 from good friend Andy Morrison, Tom Walkinshaw’s right hand man at TWR, inviting me to meet TW and Andy at the NEC Motor Show was not that unusual. I had always got on well with Tom and he liked the company at a motor show where he enjoyed the chance to hear differing view on what was new. The fact that we went straight to the Jaguar stand suggested that he had something in mind. This was the first time I had seen the XJ220. Typically Tom asked the direct question “What did I think of it”, knowing that the man hated a vague answer I said that it seemed big in almost every direction and was probably heavy too. Tom quickly considered how this show car fitted in with his official Jaguar Group C racing programme. Never one to fail to grasp an opportunity, he said that whilst the 220 was a fine high performance grand touring car it surely left a place for something altogether more spectacular. Andy Morrison tells me that Walkinshaw had been thinking about a road legal Le Mans car for some time before we looked at the XJ220. What Tom said to me was that he wanted me to sketch what an XJR-8 Le Mans car, that you could drive on the road, might look like. How quickly could he see something, I probably said “Next week”. ‘Next week’ it was for a first side view sketch, and it just did not work as a design; raising the ride height to give at least 120mm of ground clearance and making sure the dip beam headlights were above the 400mm legal height looked awful. I went to the meeting at TWR’s Kidlington office convinced we had to think again.

Unbeknown to me, earlier in 1988, Tom had got his development guys, under Andy Morrison’s direction, to set up an XJR8 race-car as it would need to be for the road, raised ride height, road car wheels and tyres etc, and Tom apparently hated the look of it. Therefore when I arrived with my awkward looking image and said that it looked dumb, he was mightily relieved and agreed that I should go in a new direction. My plan was to produce a few quick side view sketches, some with covered wheels reminiscent of the Group C Jaguars, and some with exposed rear wheels. The problem with covered wheels is that the car can look ungainly, either the track becomes narrower or the body becomes wider to allow for clearance between cover and wheel. Within a week or two I showed three sideview sketches to Tom. There is always a temptation to develop dramatic perspective drawings early in a design programme, but when a client is someone who is unused to ‘reading’ car industry style sketches it is best to start with simple, to scale, side view images in order to capture the initial theme of the car. Having looked at the first three sketches Tom Walkinshaw, being a straight forward and practical man, when asked which he thought should be developed, said “Well you’re the bloody designer, you tell me. You don’t need to prove to me that you have been busy, I know that”. He then said that he wanted to drive the car when he came back from the 1990 Le Mans, no pressure then!

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● Peter Stevens

THE JAGUAR XJR -15: OWNERS AND RACERS Stephen O’Sullivan (Owner of chassis number 007)

Ian Flux (Racing car number 16) “How did I get involved? Well, it started back in the early ‘80s when I was racing the Ehrlich in Formula Atlantic. Masanori Sekiya, who went on to win Le Mans in ’95, was running in a Chevron. He wasn’t happy with it and his sponsor, Matsuaki Sanada, asked us to let him drive our spare car, which we did. I stayed in touch with Sanada when he went back to Japan.” “A Japanese company that Sanada was involved with called The Room bought ten XJR-15s, eight road cars and two racers. This was without a penny discount, not one penny from Tom (Walkinshaw). Sanada was due to drive one car and they needed a European to drive the other. Because of our earlier relationship, Sanada put me forward “Fluxie is your man.” And that is how I got the drive.” “What do I recall of the three races? Well, it was my best-ever paid drive in racing. They agreed to give me ten grand a race, which was fantastic. The car was great for one lap or maybe two. Originally the car was meant to run on road tyres, Michelins, I think. At the last minute, Tom did a deal with Bridgestone to have race tyres, wets and drys. It was

Stephen wanted a Group C car and the XJR-15 is as close as you can get to that. The story and pedigree behind the car, and its evolution from the XJR-9 racer that won at Le Mans in 1988, was a big factor for him. Peter Stevens designed the XJR-15 before he went on to style the McLaren F1. Most people believe that the McLaren was the first car with a carbon fiber chassis and body, but it was actually the XJR-15. As a car to drive it’s a very similar proposition to the McLaren F1, but at a fraction of the cost. The 6-litre V12 engine makes so much noise and is such a large part of the experience, it’s phenomenally loud and it’s not easy to drive, having a dog-leg gearbox. There is a lot of hard work in mastering the car and investing that time is rewarding. While the car is intimidating you feel so alive and few, if any, cars can deliver the same experience; it’s totally immersive, with that swooping screen and single wiper. You feel like you are in a Le Mans racer and the performance is still fast, even by today’s standards. The car has become a part of me and I could never part with it; it’s just such a special vehicle.

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Cars of excellence

such short notice for Bridgestone and the only mould that they had was meant for an F40 road tyre for the rear. So, they used it, and that is why the car was only good for two laps. The rear tyres deteriorated very, very quickly, with that amount of power and that weight. The fronts were fine, they were proper race tyres, so you had two laps to post a time and then you were going to go slower for the rest of the weekend.” “I remember Silverstone like it was yesterday. It was a shame that I led the wrong 17 laps out of 20. Fangio got by at Club because I missed a shift, we had a good race up to that point. I had driven really hard with the hope that if I was in the lead I would get away from the pack. Bob Wollek had done the opposite, he was nowhere till around lap ten, then he came through the field and he got me on the last lap. Fair and square, as he had looked after his tyres, but mine were well gone.” “The Million Dollar race at Spa? It was a right old setup. Obviously, Tom wanted one of his drivers to win it so he didn’t have to pay them. Win Percy was meant to win but didn’t. Armin (Hahne) and Cor (Euser) did a deal, they would split the money. Cor was leading for ages and the Chequered Flag was going to be put out at some point between lap 10 and lap 15 but nobody knew exactly when. Tom waited till one of his cars was leading and the flag would go out, but that didn’t happen and Armin won. Tom was not best pleased.”

price of the E-Type plus a bit, I could drive a very rare car being one of only 287 built. I went to look and became the proud owner of the XJ220. After recommissioning I enjoyed driving the beast. A couple of years later, a friend pointed out an XJR-15 that had not sold for some time and I started researching them, meanwhile XJ220’s had come into vogue. I came to the conclusion that XJR-15s were ridiculously undervalued or I was missing something. I put a rather ambitious price on the XJ220 as I did not want to sell it, but before I knew it, the car was sold leaving me without a Jaguar but the monies to not only buy, but to also recommission, an XJR-15. I went to see one and my jaw dropped on seeing this low, wide and blue supercar. I could not see any reason not to buy it on the spot. Essentially every outing in the car is an adventure and a drive into one’s wildest fantasies of what it would be like to compete in a legendary endurance race. The rawness, uncomfortable heat, physicality of not having any driver aids and being privileged enough to be able to experience the genius of a racing car designer’s hard work is quite overwhelming. I feel so lucky every time I drive the 15. Just me and the car at one, on our journey wherever it may be.

John Ogilvie (Owner of chassis number 021 road car and 049 race car) I realised that Jaguars were quite special after seeing a picture of my mum on my father’s XK150S. I decided I wanted to have a car like my father’s and in 2006 I was I in a position to do that, buying an old English white XK150S 3.8. This was then followed by an E-Type, which I hardly used, and then an opportunity came to buy a black XJ220. I was not really a supercar type of chap but, for the

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Abigail Ozora Simpson is a highly accomplished contemporary sculptor working in clay, the Observer described her as ‘The It Girl of Ceramics’. We were delighted to spend an afternoon learning about her life and work.

The Making of an Artist 96 I Spring 2021

Arts & Culture

bigail was born in 1964 in London, whilst both her parents were studying at The Royal College of Art. They later moved to Bath, where she went to a convent school for girls. “I come from a family of artists”, she told us, “my father, Michael Simpson, is a painter – he makes huge paintings. My mother was a painter and sculptor, Fiona Payne, and my brother is a film maker. My grandmother and aunties were all painters, so it runs in the family.”

Early years “My mother and father had their own studios, but growing up as a rebellious punk teenager in Bath in the 1970s’ I decided I was going to do everything possible not to follow in my family’s footsteps, so decided I wanted to be an actor!” Abigail didn’t do art at school; “I didn’t have much interest in the surroundings I grew up in with my parents painting, although I did pose a few times for pictures for my mum. I eventually ended up going to an acting school in Chalk Farm, London, called ‘The Drama Centre’ which was an intensemethod acting school, nicknamed ‘The Trauma Centre’!!! I soon realised that it wasn’t what I wanted, but I completed the three years and did my Diploma.” Soon after Abigail became pregnant with her first of three sons, Gabriel, who is now 30, and was bored during pregnancy, so she decided to join some adult education classes. “The adult education classes were all full, and being at the end of my pregnancy I wanted somewhere with a creche place. The only class with a creche place available was the pottery course, of which I was not particularly keen (at the time) but reluctantly joined, and within ten minutes of the first class I fell in love with clay!” “I had a wonderful teacher - we had a really close friendship; her name was Rose Hughes, and she was an excellent potter. She was a very ‘Joanna Lumley’ character,

beautiful, well-spoken and charming in every way; she just saw something in me which she nurtured, and pushed me in the right direction. It was she who found me my first studio.” People soon began to buy small pieces that Abigail was making, and were very complimentary about her work. She began going to the class one day a week and explains that from there she was ‘almost becoming obsessed’; “I couldn’t wait to get to this class. I started looking at my Mum’s sculpture books, and started taking an interest and learning more about it. I did History of Art at college, and was particularly interested in Greek columns, Corinthians, and beautiful classic architecture”. Abigail soon signed up for a City & Guilds in Ceramics and then went on to take the Advanced City and Guilds in Ceramics. “By that point I was learning how to look after a kiln and started to make bigger pieces - like bobble pots - 3.5ft columns. I would fire a small ball of clay and push it from the inside of the vessel to the outside, creating a ‘bobble’. It was like a modern day take on a Greek Column. I ended up making quite a few of those pieces. I enjoyed making ‘families’ of work, so quite quickly I was working on ‘groups’, which harps back to my theatrical past, where I really enjoyed the set design and the spectacle of theatre. I was very keen from early on to do groups and installations of work. That’s how I got started, that was the beginning...”

Turning point “When I started working with clay there was no way of going back or doing anything else. There was a turning point for me when I was working at the Eagle gastro pub in Farringdon, East Central London. I was working there bored one night and thinking ‘Is this it?’ – I either decide to have a career in ceramics and push myself, or I’m going to end up standing here behind the bar for the foreseeable future! I had a real affinity with this material (clay) and I couldn’t stop. My father was by then a huge influence on me; his discipline, his work ethic, and his desire to constantly ‘make’, whether or not it was commercially viable. It wasn’t just about making money for him, he just had to get up in the morning and start painting. I realised that was something deep inside me too, and I just had to do it. Clay is so part of me, it is like breathing. If I’m not working, I feel hopeless, I am at my happiest when I’m working.

My way “I had to think about how I could make a living out of this work. I am very ambitious, and I am also very industrious and self-sufficient – I am somebody who likes to make my own money and look after myself. It was that decision at the Eagle that turned things around. I had to think about how I could make myself stand out, how I could make myself different to the many people working in clay. Oddly enough, around that time I had a dream about sitting at a table in a house with a giant teapot in front of me; and it was kind of a message that came to me that I should go big .” “It’s so risky; if you get a commission for a big piece and it cracks in the firing then you’ve wasted a lot of money. Clay

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is expensive, as are the kiln firings, and then there’s your time. It took time and patience to teach myself how to make large vessels. I had accidents at the beginning (I’ve been working for 26 years now) I would put things in the kiln, open it up, and they would have collapsed into one another and made a big heap in the kiln! - but that was all part of the learning process. It was a series of risks and problem solving, and I do find that I like to push myself beyond the familiar. Now I am in control of the materials and I have recently produced 17 monumental pieces for a show in New York at Ralph Pucci International. Some over two meters high”. “To be a financially successful artist/ceramicist is difficult because you are dealing with luxury items. Paintings can be put safely on a wall, but ceramics are breakable and people may have children etc so your market is that much smaller. I do now offer work that can be mounted on granite plinths for 100% safety”.

How it’s done “I use the hand coiling method, which is how the Africans make their large water vessels. It is basically where you roll out coils of clay like long sausages and join them together slowly. The process is slow, and I make six or eight pieces at a time, and on each piece, I make three inches per day; I leave it to dry and come back the next day, and then I can add the

get home, I usually do some drawings or catch up on emails. The day finishes usually at 4.30-5pm. I’m lucky to be selfemployed – I can go to the beach and do some drawing if I like! Artist’s do not switch on and off”

Exhibitions

next section, and you gradually build the wall up of the piece you are making. Then you have the drying process, so if you’re making something that’s 6ft tall you have to then dry it, if you put clay into a kiln and it is slightly wet it can explode. Because of the size and strength, I need my pieces to be quite thick. Also, the bottom of the piece has to be really thick because it’s heavy. I don’t want it to be tipping over! It has to be stable. In the winter it can take a while to dry. In the summer its much quicker and I can produce a piece of work in six to eight weeks.”

A typical day A typical day in the life of Abigail Ozora Simpson might be contrary to how many of us imagine an artist’s life to be. As a ceramicist a day can be pretty gruelling; “I go to my studio every morning. My studio in Margate is big and about six miles away from where I live. It has big shutter doors so one can drive a van into the studio to pick up work for an exhibition. It is very much an industrial space with a huge German made kiln.” “I go to the Studio about 10-ish, have a strong cup of coffee, meet up with my assistant, and talk about what I’d like him to do, and maybe have a bit of a clean-up. I am quite a messy worker so there is often a lot of mess, and that carries on until I finish a body of work then I have a huge clean. I just continue making for the rest of the day. When I 96 I Spring 2021

“In 2001 I had my first exhibition at Ralph Pucci. Ralph changed my career, and that was 19 years ago. He saw some of my ‘Bobble pots’ on display in Sloane Street, London, and he contacted me. He is great, Ralph Pucci; he has a huge penthouse gallery in Chelsea, New York, and also spaces in Miami and Los Angeles. He saw something in me and gave me an opportunity. He told me I could make a group of work, gave me a free rein, agreed to pay for materials and shipping, and gave me an exhibition!” “In 2000, I had seen a fantastic exhibition of Giorgio Armani’s clothing and it blew me away so I decided to create a whole show for Ralph Pucci, based on the textiles and clothing of Giorgio Armani. It was very successful and sold out. I went on to have another show with him in 2008 and then another, and am now on my fourth show. It [the show] is on in New York and Los Angeles currently, and you can see all the work on my website!”

growth Some 26 years down the line, where is Abigail, the creative artist, on her journey? “I would say that only in the last two years have I become an artist, and my best work is yet to come. I’ve gone through a big change creatively; I’ve moved away from anything that is decorative, and into a new place as far as my work is concerned. What is difficult to explain is what that place is, as it is yet to come. I have this massive two tons of clay sitting in my studio and I know that I am going to turn that into something new. I have sketches for potential ideas, and what I hope to do now is to clear myself from any restraints I’ve had before. I want to try and express myself in a new way, in a freer way so yes, something different is coming out of me...” ● Kevin Haggarthy

Charlie Hills, Thoroughbred Racehorse Trainer

A Story in Four Horses H

ow does it feel to race the fastest horse in the world? “It’s quite something,” says Charlie Hills, “it’s quite something.” The horse is the thoroughbred sprint sensation Battaash, and Charles ‘Charlie’ Hills is one of today’s most promising young racehorse trainers in the country. To say “it’s quite something” really is a bit of an understatement: Battaash peaked at 48.63mph at Goodwood in 2019, though Charlie saw him even do better than that. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when he was working. I thought it was impossible a horse could go so fast. We clocked him at 55 miles an hour!” Getting a horse to perform and win races is part science and part art and starts with knowing how to recognise its potential. Charlie makes it sound deceptively simple. “You have the catalogue, so you see the breeding of the horse. Then we watch the horse walk up and down and make sure the horse has good conformation, a nice outlook, a good attitude, a good

walk and is a nice strider. You got to keep things as simple as possible: yes, you can overlook things, but you can also go too deep. However, at the end of the day you want to have a horse that is healthy, and you want to race and enjoy it – that is the art of it. Then you have to feed the horse the right ingredients, have good hay, and keep them healthy. That is the key.”

Just The Judge and Chriselliam When Charlie took over the licence and business from his father, Barry Hills, one of the leading racehorse trainers of all time, he wanted not only to get results, but also to make a name for himself. That was 2011. “I brought a bit of youth, some different ideas, and a drive to get new clients and owners into the business. There were no major changes. If it isn’t broken don’t fix it, so we basically brought in just a few new people like assistant trainers.”

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Lifestyle Leaders

wonderful, likeminded people, who like having a good time. The longer owners have horses the more they learn about the sport itself. You have to have patience. Horses are all very different as individuals, with their own characters, and you have to manage them and take them through their path to success. You learn to be patient as a racehorse owner.”

Muhaarar

Over the following two years Charlie enjoyed a string of successes, but not enough to satisfy his drive and expectations. Then, in 2013 came the big breakthrough. “We had bought a nice filly called Just The Judge in Ireland for €50,000. In fact, it was my wife Philippa who told me to come and look at the horse. We had a good look at Just The Judge a few times, and then we bought her.” In May that year Just The Judge gave Charlie his first Classic, the Irish 1,000 Guineas at The Curragh. “That was the first major win and it was a big, big relief,” Charlie remembers. “But one is not enough. You need two or three good horses.” And soon Kiyoshi, Coral Mist and then Chriselliam followed. “We bought Chriselliam for 40 thousand guineas. Right from the start we thought that this was a champion horse. In fact, she had a disastrous start, finishing third from last at Haydock Park. It was a terrible day. I didn’t know what was going on. It was like the first day at school: she faffed her lines.” But Charlie’s assessment was proved correct and Chriselliam redeemed herself by winning at Warwick, Newmarket and eventually Santa Anita Park in California. Just The Judge was later bought by the owner and breeder Ben Sangster and Matthew Green, the art dealer who, in turn, sold a half-share to Sheikh Fahad Al Thani’s Qatar Racing. When Just the Judge was put up for auction at Tattersalls, the main auctioneer of

racehorses in the UK and Ireland, she was bought by Qatar Racing & China Horse Club for 4.5 million guineas. It was a record for a filly sold at public auction in Britain, and it was hundred times more than Charlie’s original purchase price. Some owners will make a financial return, but all what matters is the excitement and passion for the sport, and the social interaction at the racecourse. And all want their horses to win and know what their trainer is doing about it. “You have to keep the owners happy and informed about how the horses are training – says Charlie, “such as “what are your plans”, “where you want to run the horses” for example. Managing the owner’s expectations is particularly important. You can’t tell them every horse is going to be a champion because they are not, but it’s a fantastic industry. Owners have a wonderful lifestyle: they go to stunning racecourses and meet

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“2015 started as an awful year. In May we had some 70 runners without a winner, and it was driving us all crazy. I was not good to be around. Then we had one small winner and after that it seemed that they all came in”. The wins came in indeed: Cable Bay, Dutch Connection, Magical Memory and Muhaarar. “Muhaarar was a champion, a proper champion. The late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum sent him to me as one of his own bred horses. When he turned up in the yard, we all agreed ‘this is a proper horse’. I was reluctant to get on with him too early because the longer you wait, you give them a chance to strengthen up and become mentally stable. I didn’t want to blow it early on: I needed to carry his career through. I like to think I am a trainer that doesn’t work my horses too hard, a gallop less, rather than a gallop too many. So, we gave him enough time to develop, and he won!” Muhaarar kept on winning, becoming the first three-year-old sprinter ever to win four Group 1 races in one season. “We are very fortunate that we get sent horses that owners breed. They send me yearlings and the owners will have some idea of what distance the horse will get, how long it will take to mature to achieve its full potential.

Lifestyle Leaders

Then we go to the autumn yearling sales and select some yearlings to train and sell to clients.” “We have quite a lot of Arab owners like the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, who was a very big supporter of ours – we have 35 of his horses here. It’s a very competitive industry. You can never rest on your laurels. It’s all about results, and stats come into it. More people are looking at stats all the time and that’s another pressure. You open the Racing Post in the morning and it’s there. All the owners and their managers and their advisors see it. You have to keep on trying to improve every little aspect to achieve a significant cumulative effect.

Battaash “Battaash really is a horse of a lifetime. The late Sheikh Hamdan gave us an order to get some horses at Newmarket and luckily, I picked him out. I really loved his walk and swagger, his balance, the way he stood and his presence. He wasn’t a big horse, but he looked like he could be precocious. Actually, my father had trained his mother, Anna Law, who was really no good, and his father was Dark Angel, so I knew the family line. Battaash behaved awfully at Royal Ascot and he nearly killed the poor jockey, Paul Hanagan, so we took the decision to have him gelded. When he came back from being gelded, he did exceptionally well as a two- and three-year-old. Now he’s like a pet. It’s a crazy thing. Our kids go in, give him a pat and a cuddle, just as any child’s pony.” After gelding, Battaash established his supremacy in race after race, but

Ascot remained one tantalising length away from reach until June 2020, in full lockdown. “Battaash was great at Royal Ascot. I was there in my suit and it was a bizarre day really. I had two runners in the same race, Battaash and Equilateral. It was the third race, with no crowds. I had to get there half an hour before, put the saddles on and walk up into the stand - nobody was there of course. I was nervous and pacing around a bit. I watched the race on a little screen just above the coffee shop. It was a great race; one he was always going to win. But the other big cheer was Equilateral, who finished second, so it was a onetwo! We welcomed Battaash back in, but obviously you cannot hug anyone and we all had to keep our distances. We also had to do the bit with the journalists on Zoom and then walk home. I was home literally forty minutes after the race.” “I think we were quite lucky during covid because it happened around March time. You see our season starts in March. All our horses were in the yard, preparing to race. Our staff could come in and do the daily routine, not knowing when the season would restart. Without overtraining the horses, we kept that level of fitness where they could be sustained for racing. The guys in the yard were great. We didn’t have one positive COVID test. We are in the countryside, so we have plenty of space.”

The winning facilities Charlie Hills’s training complex at Faringdon Place, near Lambourn, can 96 I Spring 2021

house 150 horses in fully insulated barns to protect them from sudden changes in the weather. Ample natural lighting and louvre windows contribute to the physiological development of his young horses. Alongside, with three allweather and two grass gallops, possibly the best in the country, Charlie has the facilities to fully develop the potential of his thoroughbreds. But even that is not enough. On one occasion, during a particularly cold spring, Charlie took some horses to Pisa, in Italy, in the expectation that the warmer weather would prepare them better for the forthcoming season. In the event, it was also the coldest spring ever in Pisa, but it shows Charlie’s determination to use all means to get that winning edge. Thanks to the exceptional horses, the training and business approach and the facilities, Charlie Hills has gone from strength to strength and has attracted new owners and new horses to train. Now, the challenge is bringing the public back on the racecourses. “It’s a very busy lifestyle. You have to entertain the owners and I love doing that. But one of the most important things is to have a good team around you and we have to build more of a good team. Looking at the future, obviously, the quicker we can get the crowds back, the better. Our prize money has been hit quite heavily, but I hope that it will come back now, through the betting revenue and improve the prize money – though it may take a while. But I think there is quite a lot of optimism among owners who want to get back on the racecourse and enjoy it.” ● Alex Vincenti

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Martina Bellini Head of Marketing Communications, Bellini Nautica

s it an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, a Rolls Royce? Or is it a Lamborghini? Actually, it could be a Lamborghini, but that is a twist in the story of Riva motorboats, essence of the Dolce Vita of the Sixties. “You can combine Aston Martin, Ferrari and Rolls-Royce” said Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, racing the top model Riva Aquarama across the waters of Italian lake Iseo, “but you are still only halfway there.” And in Jeremy’s book I Know You Got Soul, he described it as “A jaw-dropping, eyewatering, hand-biting man-made spectacle.”

Keeping the legend alive Today, Riva motorboats are collectors’ items and pristine models are often restored to their former glory by Bellini Nautica. “My father Romano,” says Martina Bellini “was passionate about building boats and bought his first Riva at sixteen for 200 thousand lire.” That was the 80s, and that would have been equivalent to about £1,000 in today’s money. The boat, a beautiful 15’ mahogany 60 hp Riva Sebino, was the start of what

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Business Leaders

is today the world’s largest private vintage Riva collection. Romano’s father, Battista Bellini, had established his own successful ship building company twenty years earlier and had struck a close friendship with Carlo Riva, the brains and the force behind Riva’s success. “My grandfather died when my father was 17, but before he died, he said: ‘Don’t build boats, it’s too difficult to survive doing that now.’ Therefore, my father decided to focus on the servicing, storage, buying, selling and restoration of wooden boats. Carlo Riva remained a lifelong friend of our family and when my grandfather died, he took my father under his wing.” Battista Bellini’s instincts were correct. By the early 70s’, fibreglass had all but displaced

mahogany. The design flexibility and newer production methods of the new material, together with the lack of sustainable quality timber and a skilled workforce, all combined to make luxury wooden crafts obsolete. The last mahogany Riva built was the Aquarama Special, in 1986. Bellini Nautica is family-run. Romano’s son, Battista (named after the grandfather), is in charge of sales and his daughter Martina, is responsible for marketing. “We offer complete services,” explains Martina, “and our customers need only give us the key to their boat: whether they want to sell it, or have it refurbished or rebuilt, or any harbour services, we do the rest, for clients all over the world. Besides restoring and selling vintage Riva boats, we are

Riva Aquarama being restored

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agents for new Cranchi yachts and used speed boats, dinghies and motorboats, and have opened our unique collection of Riva boats to visitors. We have two dozen models on display, including some unique ones, like the 1950 Lancetta, the only one surviving today in the world, and the Lamborghini-powered Aquarama.”

A Lamborghini to rule the waves The Aquarama was the most powerful and prestigious of all Riva models, owned by the likes of Prince Rainier of Monaco and Peter Sellers, and considered then to be the ‘Ferrari of the boat world’. When Ferruccio Lamborghini, founder of the Italian sports car company, commissioned his Aquarama in 1968, he decided to give hull no. 278 his own imprint. The original twin Riva Thermo Electron V8 engines weren’t good enough and were replaced by two 4.0 V12 Espada powerhouses, punching out 350hp each, leading to a top speed of 48 knots compared to the 40 knots of the standard Aquarama.

Business Leaders

Bellini Riva Collection

“Nowadays,” says Martina, “a vintage Aquarama can be worth up to 600-700 thousand euros, though as for cars it depends on the overall condition. For collectors, they certainly represent an investment, as the records show that they appreciate on average by eight percent per year.”

Restoring the legend A full restoration of a Riva boat that took 3,000 hours to build, may take up to a year to complete. This is not only because of the complexity of all remedial wood, upholstery, electrics and engine work needed to bring it back to its original specifications, but also because clients may ask for additional customising. Bellini Nautica replaces damaged mahogany panels with selected knot-free timber, aged for at least five years. The legendary shine requires up to 35 layers of paint, which is oven-baked before final polishing.

Bellini family on Riva Aquarama

Rebuilding the electrics from scratch is also a must. And specialised mechanics bring back to life any of the wide range of engines used by Riva over the years, from the 60 hp Chris Craft of the first Sebino to the 350hp Corsair of the Aquarama Special. Three generations of Bellini craftsmanship come at a cost and that’s where tradition meets bitcoins. “My brother Battista has always been interested in cryptocurrency and when we were approached by a buyer who was considering buying a Cranchi yacht in bitcoins, they discussed the terms and agreed a contract.” That sale, in 2018, was probably the very first one ever in the European marine industry. Would Bellini accept bitcoins now? “Certamente” says Martina. Certainly. ● Alex Vincenti

Riva boat stripped for restoration

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a venue of opportunity in the heart of historic england

See our facilities & activities @ www.whitlebury.com

Luxury 254 bed hotel with 60 function rooms

3 Restaurants

19m Pool, Saunas, Jacuzzis, Steam Rooms

36 Holes of Championship Golf

Multi award-winning Spa & TechnoGym

AA 3 Rosette Fine Dining

700ac with extensive facilities, next to Silverstone

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A Fork in the Road A life changed by a phone call....

or most of us there comes a point in our lives when we reach a crossroads; the road we take determines our future, rarely do we have the chance to go back. Such a moment happened to a Danish racing driver, Tom Kristensen, on 5th June 1997. Tom was playing tennis in Hobro with his old friend Henrik Pedersen when his mobile rang. “Guten tag, Ralf Jüttner hier.” Kristensen had been on the verge of a Formula One drive at the beginning of the year but the deal with Lola fell through; a blessing in disguise given how that ill-conceived project played out. Kristensen had previously won F3 titles in Germany and Japan, and was leading the European F3000 Championship when the call came through. Ralf Jüttner was team manager at Joest Racing. The team had won the Le Mans 24 Hours the previous year, and were now looking to defend their title. Originally, they had planned to have Davy Jones in the cockpit, as he had led the car to victory in ’96, but the American suffered severe injuries in an accident earlier in the season. The team needed to find a replacement, but who? The choice was between someone who could bring a large amount of cash to the small private team or someone who could support the established drivers. They chose the latter, and identified Kristensen as the optimal candidate. He was young, fast and experienced; it would change his life forever.

Left: The view from the top. Reinhold Joest, Tom Kristensen, Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto celebrate their triumph. It would become a familiar spot for the Danish driver over the next fifteen years.

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Left: Michele Alboreto scorched round the Le Mans circuit on the Thursday evening to post a time of 3:41.581, some five seconds quicker than the pole-winning time of the previous year, in the same car. The new specification Goodyear tyres were given the lion’s share of the credit for the leap forward.

Right: At the Drivers’ Parade, held through the city centre on the Friday evening, Alboreto was presented with a trophy to acknowledge his achievement. Kristensen looks on, perhaps wondering if he will ever receive such an honour.

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Le Mans 24

89 The mid-afternoon start of Les VingtQuatre Heures du Mans affords plenty of time to catch up with others before the action gets underway. Kristensen and Johansson speak with the highly experienced engineer, Alastair Macqueen, a true veteran of Le Mans.

Right: The clock ticks on and the vital moment approaches, the tension rises and, within any team participating, the members salute each other hoping for success the following day, or at least a finish.

Left: The president of the FFSA, Jacques Régis, waved Le Tricolore to get proceedings underway. Along the main straight Alboreto jousts with Bob Wollek in the works Porsche 911 GT1 and Didier Theys in the Moretti Ferrari 333 SP. There are just 24 hours to go.

Below: The Joest Racing team, already a three-time winner at Le Mans, adopted their strategy of each driver taking a triple stint. The net result was that Kristensen climbed aboard at 20.43 to have his first spell in the race as the sun started to go down below the horizon.

Below: The early Sunday morning quadruple stint of Kristensen was the first chapter in the Dane’s Le Mans legend. He felt that he was in tune with the car and started to go faster.

Above: The Dane’s next time on track came on Sunday morning at 03.53. By this time the TWR-Porsche had slipped to fourth place unable to match the fierce pace of the factory Porsche 911 GT1 pair and the fastest Gulf McLaren F1 GTR.

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Le Mans 24

Kristensen put in a series of blistering laps, exchanging fastest times with the leading Porsches of Collard and Boutsen. The lap record was broken three times during a half an hour period as the sun came up. The Dane had the final word, setting a new best of 3:45.068, giving the Joest team some faint hopes, there was still a long way to go. The first crack in the Porsche edifice came at 07.48 when Wollek’s Porsche hit the barriers hard at Arnage after losing control, the leader was out and Joest were running second.

Above: At 11.33 Kristensen jumped into the prototype for his final time behind the wheel, a podium place looked likely, a very respectable result on his debut. But fate had one more twist in the tale; on his final part of his drive Kristensen approached the end of the Mulsanne Straight where he saw thick smoke. It was coming from the Porsche of Kelleners that had caught fire. He suddenly realised that he was about to take the lead of the race with just two hours to the flag.

Left: Michele Alboreto took the wheel for the two-hour run to the end. As Marcel Martin waved the Chequered Flag to salute the winner the Joest team could not believe it, they had won the Le Mans 24 Hours again, beating all the factory teams. Incroyable!

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Le Mans 24

Mr Le Mans is available direct from the publisher (evropublishing.com) and from all good online retailers.

The end of the race is the signal for the fans to join in the festivities and they flood on to the track to celebrate or commiserate or just to have yet another beer.

Reinhold Joest and Tom Kristensen celebrate their success on the podium. Kristensen is holding the china bowl awarded to the driver who posts the fastest lap of the race. It is still a treasured possession.

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The CAPABILITY BROWN SOCIETY

A Community and Family Sports and Arts & MusicSOCIETY and The CAPABILITY BROWN Science Festival Weekend on

11th – 12th 12th September – 13th June 2021 2021 11th – 12th September 2021 with

Magnificent, Capability Brown Society Classic Car Show Hosted by Premier Sports in Heritage Park since 1854 HostedClubs by Premier Sports Wimbledon Clubs in Heritage Wimbledon Park since 1854

AFC Wimbledon Foundation

Wimbledon Park Angling Club

The Wimbledon Club

Wimbledon Park Golf Club

Hercules Wimbledon Athletics Club

Wimbledon Park Bowls Club

Up and Coming UK Events New for 2021

uto Royale, incorporating the British International Concours d’Elegance, is Britain’s newest entry to the classic motoring calendar. Positioned at the highest level of concours competition, it brings together the rarest and most valuable cars in the world, in a vibrant, immersive and premium event setting at Waddesdon Manor, home of the famous Rothschild Collection. Built in the 1870s by Lord Rothschild and designed in the French Renaissance style, Waddesdon is widely considered one of the most beautiful buildings and estates in Britain. Auto Royale takes a different approach to traditional concours events here in the UK, in our aim to create a new event

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that is both prestigious but not elitist. Rather than replicating other events, Auto Royale seeks to crash through pre-conceived notions of concours d’elegance, eradicate elitism and bring communities of like-minded, affluent and aspirational car enthusiasts together to celebrate their shared passion. Above all, we believe that motoring enthusiasts are fun, and Auto Royale will provide an immersive and authentic experience that brings enthusiasts together to celebrate their passions. We are very excited to work with people like you and companies like Reservoir Watches to bring Auto Royale to fruition.

Event name

Date

Location

London Concours

8-10 June

London

Summer Festival of Motorsport - Double 12

19-20 June

Brooklands

London Classic Car Show

25-27 June

Syon Park

Goodwood Festival of Speed

8-11 July

Goodwood

British Grand Prix

16-18 July

Silverstone

Auto Royale

16-18 July

Waddesdon Manor

Auto Italia

18 July

Brooklands

Silverstone Classic

30 July - 1 August

Silverstone

Salon Privé

1-5 September

Blenheim Palace

Concours of Elegance

3-5 September

Hampton Court Palace

Wimbledon Auto Legends

11-12 September

Wimbledon Park

Elite London

18-19 September

Wycombe Air Park

Goodwood Revival

17-19 September

Goodwood

Goodwood Members' Meeting

16-17 October

Goodwood

Autumn Motorsport Festival

17 October

Brooklands

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

7 November

Hyde Park

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T H E WO R L D S R A R E ST C A R S

PRESENTED BY

Car photography by Tim Scott www.fluidimages.co.uk

Your world, covered. Insurance should be simple. It’s about taking care of the things you love – no hassle, no fuss. Lockton combines in-depth experience with made-to-measure service, working with you to build a comprehensive policy that starts with what matters to you most. We’ll cover every aspect of the world you move in, so you can keep enjoying your everyday without interruption.

Contact Lockton Private Clients today 020 7933 2828 privateclientenquiries@uk.lockton.com locktonprivateclients.com