2023 LE MANS Centenary Collection 2023 LE MANS Centenary Collection

2023 marks 100 years of the world’s most prestigious sports car race. From the French champions of the 1930s & 50s and the heroic Porsche 917s that captured the imagination of Hollywood, to the epic era of DBR9s that revived Aston Martin Racing, 8 of our 14 Retromobile Collection cars pay tribute to the greatest Le Mans legends of all time.

2023 marks 100 years of the world’s most prestigious sports car race. From the French champions of the 1930s & 50s and the heroic Porsche 917s that captured the imagination of Hollywood, to the epic era of DBR9s that revived Aston Martin Racing, 8 of our 14 Retromobile Collection cars pay tribute to the greatest Le Mans legends of all time.

1982 PORSCHE 956/001

Porsche factory 956 prototype and development car

2005 ASTON MARTIN DBR/9

Triple Le Mans 24 hrs veteran, 4th in GT1 and 9th overall in 2006

1963 ISO BIZZARRINI

The works prototype and 1964 Le Mans test car

1936 DELAHAYE 135 CS

One of 17 Compétition Spéciales, 4-time Le Mans entrant

1970 PORSCHE 917K

Gulf-Porsche works entry for Hailwood and Hobbs. Starring role in Steve McQueen’s 1971 film Le Mans

1939 TALBOT LAGO T26 GS

Four appearances at Le Mans including 2nd overall in 1951

2009 ACURA ARX – 02/1 LMP1

8th & 9th July 2023

Coming Soon

Spring season hots up, with plenty to do at the wheel or spectating

Starter

From the first Bentley at Le Mans to Rimac’s new EV hypercar, with synthetic fuels, museum changes, Zagatos and a new Bertone in between

Ultimate Ferrari 250gto

No. 4153GT was bought for nearly $80m – and then put through one of the most exacting restorations ever seen

Delahaye 235 Saoutchik

The Mullins’ quicksilver dream of the most lustrous kind; the swan song for one of the last great French marques

MUSEO ALFA ROMEO, MILAN

Highlights of marque’s storage rooms, where you can view some of the best Alfa artefacts hidden away until now

Selwyn Francis Edge

The incredible life and times of this pioneer of motor sport at the dawn of the automotive age, by Doug Nye

ZAGATO PORSCHES

What’s comes next for Zagato’s Sanction Lost Porsche programme? We reflect on the ItalianGerman combination

SBARRO CHALLENGE

TOP 50 RALLY CARS

ACQUIRE

Swiss entrepreneur and innovator Franco Sbarro’s spectacular dream machine, by Karl Ludvigsen

When the going gets tough, the world’s toughest rally machines get going. Here are our top 50 stage stars

Buying a Maserati Ghibli, auction news, collecting watches, motoring art, automotive timepieces and whisky, plus new products and books 150

“There’s something magical about this car,” says 250GTO owner David MacNeil, as he describes revving it to 7000rpm on every gearchange over the mountain passes of the Colorado Grand rally.

This is the GTO that he bought for a record sum, and has since put through a bare-metal restoration to get it absolutely right. I spoke with David at Pebble Beach last year about it, and he was brimming with excitement over it. I couldn’t wait to feature it in Magneto.

It’s not the only car in this issue from a big, regularly used collection. Merle Mullin drove her Delahaye from the Mullin Automotive Museum for our shoot, delighted to be back in the driving seat of the model that she’s also driven around the US East Coast and Italy.

While all this was going on, I started the year at the excellent 21 Gun Salute concours in India, where I was a judge. I came across owners whose cars had been in their family for three generations, an MG TC-owning couple who’d driven 1500km to the event, a lady in her 80s driving her 1923 Austin Seven four-up on the 180km preevent tour, collectors with 200-plus cars, and no end of machines that were easily good enough for the best European and US concours.

Across Merle, David and the many Indian enthusiasts, there’s a common thread – a delight in driving and owning remarkable cars that represent history and emotion in abundance. It’s an obvious point I know, but one worth reminding ourselves of as another year starts. Enjoy 2023 – and enjoy this, issue 17, of Magneto.

David Lillywhite Editorial director