Magneto magazine issue 4: Winter 2019 by Hothouse Media

ISSUE

4 WINTER 2019

+ THE 50 GREATEST MOVIE CARS | MASERATI 5000GT | 40 LAMBORGHINIS THROUGH ITALY | JAGUAR XJR-15 | JACKY ICKX ON LE MANS ’69

THE ECCLESTONE CARS

INSIDE THE WORLD’S GREATEST FORMULA 1 COLLECTION

£ 8.00 |

NOVEMBER 2019

PRINTED IN THE UK

THE DAYEZ COLLECTION

THE POSTER CAR COLLECTION

RM Sotheby’s is delighted to announce the Dayez Collection—a single-owner group of rare Delahaye motor cars offered from the late Jacques Dayez, a prominent, enthusiastic collector who was passionate about the concours field and precise about the care of his cars. The collection includes three variations of the 135 model, along with an expansive set of spare Delahaye parts. 1946 Delahaye 135 Cabriolet by Figoni et Falaschi 1939 Delahaye 135 Roadster by Figoni et Falaschi

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing

1949 Delahaye 135 Coach by Chapron

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1937 SS 100 Jaguar 2½-Litre Roadster

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1963 Maserati Sebring 3500 GTi Series I by Vignale

NOW INVITING CONSIGNMENTS

A SELECTION OF 21 OF THE WORLD’S MOST ICONIC AND DESIRABLE MOTOR CARS

1953 Bentley R-Type Continental Sports Saloon by H.J. Mulliner

1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta by Scaglietti

1992 Jaguar XJ220

1981 Ferrari 512 BB

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1970 Maserati Ghibli SS 4.9 Coupé by Ghia

5 FEBRUARY

PARIS

CONSIGNMENTS INVITED THROUGH 19 DECEMBER

UK +44 (0) 20 7851 7070 FRANCE +33 (0) 1 76 75 32 93 ITALY +39 02 9475 3812 GERMANY +49 (0) 800 000 7203

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1973 Mercedes-Benz 600 Six-Door Pullman

FISKENS AT RETROMOBILE 2020 For over 10 years Fiskens have curated, presented and sold a captivating selection of the worlds finest historic automobiles from our famous stand at Salon Retromobile, Paris. With limited space available for next year, please contact Gregor directly

14 Queens Gate Place Mews London SW7 5BQ +44 (0)20 7584 3503 hello@fiskens.com www.fiskens.com

LM69

“THE CAR THAT COULD HAVE WON LE MANS”

NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDER LIMITED TO 25 ORIGINAL VEHICLES UNIQUE QUAD-CAM V12 ABS, PAS, ASC, SRS, EV

Le Mans winners Ecurie Ecosse are delighted to announce the limited production of 25 original cars – specified for the road or the race track. Our team have taken great pleasure breathing life into the never-realised Jaguar XJ13 of 1966, retro-evolving it to race at the legendary 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours. Powered by a unique quad-cam V12, these road legal cars are constructed from aluminium and composite – strictly adhering to 1969 FIA racing requirements and technology of the period (with minimal exceptions to meet today’s safety and road regulations). We invite you to step back in time to experience one of the most exciting periods in automotive history ...today!

WWW.ECURIECARS.COM

The 25th Annual

Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island The Golf Club of Amelia Island

March 5-8, 2020

Honoring

Roger Penske Featuring The Cars of Roger Penske and Team Penske, The Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows, The Cars of Harley Earl, Porsche’s First Victories, Mid-Engine Corvette Prototypes and the C8, Cars of Scaglietti Benefiting The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corpor ation For Advance Tickets & Event Information, visit www.ameliaconcours.org Credits: Mercedes-Benz - the Daimler archives Sunoco Porsche - Michael Furman . Le Sabre - Michael Furman and Gener al Motors Co.

ISSUE

18 COMING SOON Looking ahead to the best events of the coming months, from Bicester to Sydney

29 S TA R T E R News and views, from new events for 2020, ten years of Singer, 20 years of Pagani, a new Bugatti Baby and a summary of 2019’s difficult financial market

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BERNIE ECCLESTONE’S F1 CARS

LAMBORGHINI & DESIGN CONCORSO D’ELEGANZA

PEKING TO PARIS MOTOR CHALLENGEWINNING BENTLEY

M A S E R A T I 5 0 0 0 G T: THE TRUE MEANING OF ‘BESPOKE’

The world’s greatest collection of F1 cars has mostly been kept hidden from view – until now

Forty supercars hit the road from Venice to Trieste for latest Lambo extravaganza – and we were there

Determination, preparation and luck is the winning formula – plus a Green Label 3 Litre

The term meant so much more in the GT’s golden era – as this exclusive Italian model proves

MAGNETO

R A C I N G Organized by

H A P P Y

F E W

Â®

FATHERS+SONS+RALLY Monte-Carlo 18-20 SEPTEMBER 2020

! OO ST ER HT ez UG op 20 DA -Tr Y 20 S+ int MA ER Sa 5-17 1 TH FA

ENTRIES NOW INVITED

APPLY ONLINE! www.HappyFewRacing.com

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E DWA R D I A N RACERS CAUGHT ON CAMERA

J A G U A R X J R -1 5 : THE SUPERCAR T H AT T I M E F O R G O T

M I K E H AW T H O R N – A PERSONAL HOMAGE

THE TOP 50 G R E AT E S T MOVIE CARS

The work of photographer Maurice-Louis Branger – the last eyewitness to the very first motor races

Barred from outshining its XJ220 sister in period, this ‘Group C car for the road’ has finally come of age

We visit one man’s tribute to the achievements of Britain’s first Formula 1 World Champion

Magneto looks at the most memorable machines in film history – the biggest of big-screen stars

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M A R K E T WAT C H : BMW M1

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M A R K E T A N A LY S I S : ASTON DB4 GT

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KNOWLEDGE: MAGNETI MARELLI

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COLLECTIONS: ROAD TESTS

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LEGAL: DO YOUR HOMEWORK

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HISTORIC RACING: BEST FOR NOVICES

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BEHIND THE LEGEND: JACKY ICKX MAGNETO

E DI TOR ’ S

W E LCOM E

Issue 4 So that’s a year of Magneto... time flies, doesn’t it. I promise not to keep going on about this into 2020, but we’ve had an amazing response, and as ever we’re hugely grateful for your support. Speaking of which, we’re delighted to be able to show you Bernie Ecclestone’s incredible collection of Grand Prix cars. I’ve been trying to feature the collection for well over a decade – as have many others – and no one has succeeded until now. In the end it was a collaboration with the publisher of a new £2500 book and the promise of pictures from a giant 1970s Polaroid camera that swung the deal. There are so many stunning motor sport collections around the world – think the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, the Collier Collection, Brooklands Museum and the now-dispersed Donington Grand Prix Collection – but for purely Formula 1 cars, Bernie’s is the best in the world. It’s very much a private collection: when I asked Bernie if he’d ever open it up to visitors, he looked me in the eye and said in that quiet voice of his: “I don’t particularly tell people what I’ve got, so I don’t have to explain.” In fact, the majority of the cars have deeply personal meanings to him, as we explain in the feature. On a very different subject, we’ve also been busy launching The Concours Yearbook, a new hardback annual that documents 40 of the world’s most important concours d’elegance. Forgive the plug, but you can buy copies at www.concoursyear.com.

David Lillywhite Editorial director

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TOURBILLON G-SENSOR RM 36-01 SEBASTIEN LOEB

www.richardmille.com

Contributors ANDREW ENGLISH One of the UK’s premier motoring writers, best known for editing and contributing to The Telegraph motoring section, Andrew makes a welcome debut in Magneto. He tries out a De Dion-Bouton and a Royal Enfield – both rather different from his personal transport of Aston Martin DB5, Triumph TR3A and various classic bikes.

ZENON TEXEIRA The co-founder of Opus, which creates epic books on everything from Prince to the Super Bowl, Zenon was behind the pictures in our 22-page Bernie Ecclestone collection feature – using one of five giant 20x24in Polaroid cameras made in 1976. Andy Warhol used one of the cameras in period, so Zenon is in good company.

WINSTON GOODFELLOW Over a post-Monterey breakfast, Winston – Magneto’s US editor – waxed lyrical about the Maserati 5000GT. We can’t remember quite what was said, but it was something like: “Dude, these are the coolest cars, and no one understands how special they are.” The feature was commissioned before breakfast was over.

DIRK DE JAGER If you’ve been to a concours event – any concours, anywhere in the world – then there’s a fair chance you’ll have bumped into Dirk. Arguably the best-connected photographer in the collector car world, for this issue he photographed the Jaguar XJR-15s on track in Connecticut. We’re not sure whether he ever goes home...

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The

S COT TS DA L E Auctions

FRIDAY

Jan. 17

SATURDAY

Jan. 18 11am

1960 ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA SZ Delivered New to Rinaldo Parmigiani Coachwork by Zagato

1973 FERRARI DINO 246 GTS Low-Mileage Example Presented in Attractive Color Combination Coachwork by Scaglietti I Chassis 05534

1967 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28 Rare Unrestored Example in Factory Black over Black Color Scheme Without Reserve

1979 PORSCHE 930 Beautifully Preserved Low-Mileage Example Without Reserve

1967 FERRARI 330 GTS One of Only 99 Examples Built I Coachwork by Pininfarina I Chassis 10111

G O O D I N G C O. C O M

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R EG I ST E R TO B I D

AUCTI ONS & PRI VATE B ROK ERAGE

W HO

C O N TAC T

Editorial director

Managing director

David Lillywhite

Geoff Love

Art director

Advertising sales

Peter Allen

Sue Farrow, Rob Schulp

Production editor

Lifestyle advertising

Sarah Bradley

Sophie Kochan

West Coast USA contributor

Australian editor

European editor

Winston Goodfellow

James Nicholls

Johan Dillen

Contributors Gary Axon, Chris Bietzk, Gerard Brown, Robert Dean, Johan Dillen, Andrew English, Rob Gould, Sam Hancock, Tyler Heatley, Richard Heseltine, Matthew Howell, Dirk de Jager, Pete Lyons, Tom Meadows, Doug Nye, Andy Reid, Clive Robertson, Oli Tennent, Zenon Texeira, Steve Theodorou, Rebecca Wilshere How to subscribe Please visit www.magnetomagazine.com or call +44 (0)1371 851892 Single issue with P&P £10.50 (UK), €16.50 (Europe), $20 (USA), AUS $28 (Australia and New Zealand) Annual subscription £38 (UK), €52 (Europe), $60 (USA), AUS $80 (Australia and New Zealand) Subscriptions managed by ESco Business Services

HOTHOUSE MEDIA Geoff Love, David Lillywhite, George Pilkington The Hall, Thorpe Street, Raunds, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN9 6LT, UK Printing Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE, UK Printed on Finesse Silk from Denmaur Paper Specialist newsstand distribution Pineapple Media, Select Publisher Services Contact For subscriptions and business enquiries geoff@magnetomagazine.com For editorial enquiries david@magnetomagazine.com For advertising enquiries sue@flyingspace.co.uk or rob@flyingspace.co.uk

©Hothouse Media Ltd. Magneto and associated logos are registered trademarks of Hothouse Media Ltd. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Hothouse Media Ltd. Hothouse Media Ltd. uses a layered privacy notice giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information. For full details, please visit www.magnetomagazine.com/privacy/

Magneto [mag-nee-toh] noun, plural mag·ne·tos 1. Electrical generator that provides periodic high-voltage pulses to the spark-plugs of an internal-combustion engine, used mostly pre-World War One although still fitted for emergency back-up of aircraft ignition systems. 2. Fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. 3. Great new quarterly magazine featuring the most important cars in the world.

ISSN Number 2631-9489. Magneto is published quarterly by Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur. The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.

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C O M I N G S O O N SUMMER

WINTER

AU T U M N

SPRING

TOUR AUTO OPTIC 2000

PHOTO BY MATHIEU BONNEVIE/PETER AUTO

April 20-25, 2020 Tour Auto Optic 2000 is one of those bucket-list events, arguably second only to the Mille Miglia. This is the 29th running of the spiritual successor to the legendary Tour de France. The rally – divided into Regularity and the more full-on Competition classes – starts from the magnificent Grand Palais in Paris, and finishes in the picturesque south-eastern region of France, via race circuits and superb roads. For 2020 the event is celebrating Porsche prototypes, and will feature an eclectic mix of the roadracing sports cars. Expect to see icons such as the 550 Spyder and 356 Carrera Abarth 1600 alongside 904 GTS, for a tour to remember. In addition to these honoured Porsches, the usual broad mix of models that competed in the Tour de France 1951-1973 are eligible. That means you can expect to see everything from a Citroën 2CV to thoroughbred Ferraris. Tour Auto Optic 2000 is a genuine highlight of the automotive calendar – an event not to be missed. www.peterauto.peter.fr

MAG NETO

B I C E SBTIECRE S T E R H E R I THA EGRE I T A G E S U N D AS YU N D A Y S C R A MS CB RL EA M B L E January 5,January 2020 5, 2020

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M 2A0G N / EMTAOG N E T O

PHOTO BY AMY SHORE/BICESTER HERITAGE

Bicester Heritage, Bicester in Heritage, in Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, UK, has become UK, has become somethingsomething of a meccaoffor a mecca all for all things classic things automotive classic automotive and and collectable. collectable. The 348-acre The 348-acre ex-RAF base ex-RAF playsbase home plays to home to many renowned many renowned restoration restoration and motorand sport motor workshops, sport workshops, with morewith to come morethanks to come thanks to the ambitious to the ambitious plans of plans of Bicester Motion. BicesterThe Motion. site also The site also hosts the popular hosts theSunday popular Sunday Scramble,Scramble, a relaxed event a relaxed event that’s evolved that’s from evolved a ‘cars from a ‘cars and coffee’-styled and coffee’-styled meeting meeting founded infounded 2014 to in the 2014 huge to the huge crowd-pleasing crowd-pleasing event thatevent it that it is today. Enthusiasts is today. Enthusiasts from from across Europe across flock Europe to these flock to these ScramblesScrambles to admire to the admire the impressive impressive cars on show, cars on show, with manywith attending many attending to to display their display owntheir prideown and pride and joy. Car clubs, joy. Car collectors clubs, collectors and and petrolheads petrolheads all come together all come together to enjoy each to enjoy other’s each company other’s company as well as as thewell unique as the setting unique setting of BicesterofHeritage. Bicester Recent Heritage. Recent Sunday Scrambles Sunday Scrambles have seenhave seen over 7000over people 7000 attend. people attend. If your vehicle If your is pre-1990, vehicle is pre-1990, it can joinitthe can display join the of display cars. of cars. Entry is byEntry advance is byticket advance ticket only, so beonly, sureso tobe pre-book. sure to pre-book. www.bicesterheritage.co.uk www.bicesterheritage.co.uk

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C O N CCOORNSC0O R S 0 D ’ E L EDG’ AE LN EZ GA A N Z A K Y O T KO Y O T O March 28-29, March 2020 28-29, 2020 Set to build Setupon to build theupon success the success of 2019, Japan’s of 2019,fourth Japan’s fourth ConcorsoConcorso d’Eleganza d’Eleganza Kyoto Kyoto returns to returns create to one create of the one of the most elegant mostevents elegant ofevents the of the year. It’s hosted year. It’s athosted Nijo Castle, at Nijo Castle, a historical a historical fortification fortification built built in 1603 that in 1603 features that beautiful features beautiful JapaneseJapanese gardens. gardens. Placing Placing prestigious prestigious cars in such carsan in such an environment environment creates acreates unique a unique ambianceambiance for the judging for the judging of this concours. of this concours. An An interesting interesting blend of classic blend of classic cars never cars fails never to turn failsup, to turn up, typically typically with a strong with a strong showing showing of historic of historic Lamborghinis. Lamborghinis. From vintage From vintage racers toracers modern to classics, modern classics, the rosterthe of roster automotive of automotive attendeesattendees is alwaysisgrinalways grininducing.inducing. The concours The concours concludes concludes with the Tour with the Tour d’Eleganza, d’Eleganza, which sees which many sees many of these immaculate of these immaculate cars cars driving from driving Kyoto from to Kyoto Japan’sto Japan’s western-most western-most regions. This regions. This journey of journey Japanese of Japanese culture culture and history andishistory a real adventure is a real adventure for both man for both andman machine. and machine. With official WithFIVA official approval, FIVA approval, this is one this of is the one most of the revered most revered concoursconcours in Asia. in Asia. www.concorso www.concorso deleganzakyoto.com deleganzakyoto.com

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BELOW Rally Round’s second TransHimalayan adventure travels from China into Nepal.

SEBRING CLASSIC 12 HOUR December 4-8, 2019 As we move closer to the end of 2019, the Sebring Classic 12 Hour is always something to look forward to. Witness historic racing legends roar around the Sebring International Raceway, winding back the clock and competing as they did in period. www.hsrrace.com

HERO LE JOG December 7-10, 2019 2019 marks the Silver Jubilee of Le Jog. Playing homage to its first outing, it traces a challenging but scenic drive from Land’s End to John O’Groat’s. A notoriously difficult event to score top honours in, it is a true test of endurance and skill. www.heroevents.eu

SCOTTSDALE AUCTION WEEK January 11-19, 2020 Arizona’s week of auctions at Scottsdale, with Barrett-Jackson, Gooding & Company, Bonhams, and RM Sotheby’s all putting star cars under the hammer. If you can’t make it to this feast of incredible sales, Barrett-Jackson will live stream its event. www.experiencescottsdale.com

C AVA L L I N O C L A S S I C January 22-26, 2020 Hosted at the Breakers Resort Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, this prestigious event celebrates Ferrari, starting with the Lux Tour of Palm Beach, followed by the all-Ferrari Concorso d’Eleganza – with cars competing for the coveted Cavallino Cup. Classic Sports Sunday at the exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club is open to a multitude of classics, and not just Ferraris. www.cavallinoclassic.com

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RÉTROMOBILE February 5-9, 2020 Over 132,000 visitors attended the season-opening Rétromobile event in Paris in 2019, and 2020 promises to be even bigger. This “love letter to all vintage cars” is one of the first big international events on the calendar for collectors all over the world. Nearly 1000 cars, and over 600 exhibitors will be spread over 72,000m2 to create a wonderland for classic motoring enthusiasts. www.retromobile.com

THE LONDON CLASSIC CAR SHOW February 20-23, 2020 The London Classic Car Show returns, but this time at a new home of Olympia in Kensington. A particular highlight will be the Jochen Mass 1987 Rothmans Porsche 962C. In addition to regular tickets, there’s also a premium ticket available that will give you fast-track entry, hospitality, a show guide and access to a Q&A in the VIP area. www.thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk

SYDNEY HARBOUR CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE March 5-7, 2020 This concours returns after a successful inaugural event in 2019. Set to attract some particularly impressive collector cars, it’s becoming recognised as one of Australia’s premier concours. www. sydneyharbourconcours.com

GOODWOOD 77TH MEMBERS’ MEETING

T R A N S H I M A L AYA N ADVENTURE 2020

March 28-29, 2020

April/May, 2020

This exclusive event is open only to Goodwood Road & Racing Club (GRRC) members, but you can apply to join the GRRC Fellowship to enable you to buy tickets. The event offers a weekend of exhilarating historic motor sport action, with everything from historic F1 to motorcycles on the fabled track. British Saloon Car Championship cars of the late ’70s and early ’80s will compete in two grids of 30, with the 15 of each going onto the final heat. Think Goodwood Revival without the crowds, and don’t miss the Saturday evening entertainment – but wrap up warm! www.goodwood.com

This amazing 26-day expedition starts in the Sichuan region of China and travels into Tibet, where competitors drive up and over the world’s mightiest mountain range into Nepal. The route is not for the faint-hearted and, given the elements, altitude and terrain, it’s a non-competitive event. Accommodation is the very best available in all areas, plus two nights under canvas. Numbers are limited, so contact the rally office to reserve an entry. www.rallyround.co.uk

C E LT I C C H A L L E N G E April 21-26, 2020 A five-day adventure organised by Rally the Globe, this takes in a series of challenging road-racing circuits, incredible roads and race tracks. The rally will take you through England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – quite the adventure! www.rallytheglobe.com

THREE CASTLES TRIAL June 2-5, 2020 While June might seem pretty far off at the moment, you won’t want to miss out on the 2020 Three Castles rally. Entries are now open for the event that incorporates classic rallying with the stunning scenery of North Wales. The event is based around the seaside town of Llandudno, meaning there’s no need to move around between hotels, and promises a fun and relaxed format covering around 500 miles behind the wheel. www.three-castles.co.uk

CONSIGNING NOW FOR RETROMOBILE 2020

THE SEBRING 12 HOURS WINNING, BRUMOS 1973 PORSCHE 911 2.8 RSR

THE EX â&#x20AC;&#x201C; FRENCH EMBASSY, JOHN COOMBS 1935 BUGATTI TYPE 57 VENTOUX T. +44 (0)1285 831 488 / E. cars@williamianson.com / www.williamianson.com

PREVIOUSLY SHOWN ON OUR STAND AND SUCCESSFULLY SOLD.

THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER UP, EX – WORKS, RICHIE GINTHER 1962 BRM P578 FORMULA 1

THE EX – WORKS, TWO TIME LE MANS VETERAN 1968 ALPINE A220 /williamiansonltd

/williamiansonltd

S T A R T E R

48 The ‘Outlaw’ XK120 that’s been seen around the world throughout 2019

AUDRAIN’S MOTOR WEEK

Success at Audrain’s

The US’s new East Coast event has made a great start, as did the Las Vegas Concours – and there are more new top-end car events on the way for the UK as well

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FAR LEFT The Audrain’s Newport Concours took place at the Vanderbilts’ famed Rough Point Mansion.

ABOVE Audrain’s Newport Concours Best of Show winner, the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A S Fleetwood. LEFT Hispano-Suiza enters the concours at the end of several days of events.

THE AMBITION FOR the Audrain’s Newport Concours and Motor Week is that it becomes the US East Coast equivalent of Monterey Car Week – and it’s made a strong start. With seminars, a tour, a concert starring John Legend, a gala dinner and a top-level concours at the Vanderbilt family’s famed Rough Point mansion, the event was well received by collectors. Best of Show went to a 1927 Isotta Fraschini. Meanwhile, further to the west, the inaugural Las Vegas Concours has added to the US’s collector car events, with Best of Show wins by a 1931 Bugatti Type 51 and a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Vignale. Encouragingly, there’s a similarly vibrant feel to concours in the UK and Europe, with existing concours such as Salon Privé, Concours of Elegance Hampton Court and Zoute Grand Prix in Belgium all seeing uplifts in participation and spectator numbers – plus three major new collector car events planned for 2020 in the UK alone. The most impactful of these is likely to be Auto Royale, a new concours headed by Paul Mathers, the organiser of the Motorclassica event in Melbourne, Australia. It will be based at the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, home to the Spencer family, of late Princess Diana fame. It takes place on July 17-19. Further north, the new Yorkshire Motorsport Festival in Holmfirth in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales is set to take place on June 26-28. It will include a one-mile competitive hillclimb stage and The Northern Concours, among other attractions. Finally, a smaller but no less important event is set to take place on one of London’s most famous streets – Savile Row, the historical home of the world’s finest tailors. Here we have to declare an interest, for it will be organised by Hothouse Media, publisher of Magneto. The first Savile Row Concours d’Elegance, set for early summer, will see the road closed for two days during the week to show 40 of the most important cars of all ages to be displayed in partnership with the street’s tailors. More details will follow in Magneto issue 5, or email geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk.

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LATE-CYCLE BUT NOT END OF CYCLE While no one knows where the global economy is heading, our financial expert outlines the possible outcomes

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“WILL THERE BE a recession – and if so, when?” Ten years on from the financial crisis, this remains a key investor question. Is now the right time to increase market exposure, or to pull the proverbial handbrake? This year has been challenging. Major economies in America, Asia and Europe experienced a slowdown, raising the possibility that we might again be tipping into a serious recession. Many express the opinion that the economy is now ‘late cycle’, meaning that after a long period of economic growth, a recession is due. You can see why people are worried. But there’s a difference between being ‘late’ – in the last few laps – and being at the ‘end’ – with the engine off. And despite this year’s growth wobbles, there are some good reasons to think this cycle can stretch out for a little longer. The economic weakness can partly be blamed on the escalating US-China trade war. Donald Trump’s increasing tariffs have had a huge impact on business confidence and behaviour in China. That shock pushed Asia’s manufacturing sector into recession, which has led to falls in industrial production in Europe and America. That’s one reason why the global economy has slowed – but it’s not a recession, where we’d see markets in turmoil and sharp unemployment rises. Industry is important yet it’s not the whole economy, which away from areas affected by the trade war has puttered along comfortably. Unemployment in most developed economies is at its lowest in over a decade. Wage growth is picking up, and with low inflation households are still seeing decent growth in disposable income. So consumer spending is solid, leading businesses to continue hiring. The flywheel of economic growth has kept spinning. There’s no sign of that resilience faltering. In fact, economic policy is increasingly geared to supporting it.

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In response to the manufacturing slowdown, many central banks have cut interest rates, so keeping financial markets in good shape. Relatively easy business and household access to finance should sustain spending. Governments are taking advantage of record low borrowing costs, too, to cut taxes and increase spending after a decade of ‘austerity’. This resilience and increasingly powerful policy pressures should at a minimum keep the world from slipping into recession next year. But with a bit of luck, there’s scope for growth to be better than that – especially if President Trump were to end to the trade war in order to boost the economic tailwind and thus his re-election chances in 2020. Yet risks are building, and it could go the other way. The major risk is that the trade war doesn’t end, but intensifies over the coming year. For example, if the US raised tariffs on car and auto part imports, that’d be a major shock to the economy. Germany’s already beleaguered auto sector would take a serious hit, and it’s an important enough part of that economy for the damage to spread. Solid job growth and rising wages are good news for the consumer, and crucial in sustaining the economic cycle. But they also often mean rising business costs – and that puts pressure on profits. Unemployment rates are very low, so labour costs are rising. Businesses’ margins are under pressure. That trend will continue, but not forever. It normally ends only with a recession. So the risk is

‘Classic cars have followed a similar pattern to many of the other ‘passion’ investments’

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there. As risks in the broad economy rise, it’s natural for investors to consider a move away from stocks and into alternative investments. Following a ten-year period of sustained growth in the markets, some evidence suggests that gold is set to move into a bull period offering a safe haven for investors. It could also signal the resurgence of ‘passion’ investments, which have stalled recently but typically do well as financial markets falter. While many of these alternative investments have outperformed traditional financial products over the longer term, some have been facing uncertain times recently. Within the fine art scene, auction sales were down for the first half of 2019 versus the same period in 2018. According to data analyst ArtTactic, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips sales overall declined by 20.3 percent. The top of the market was hit hardest, with sales of artworks valued at over $10million shrinking by 35 percent. A lack of high-profile sales, and consignors holding back while the outlook is unpredictable, have resulted in a contraction in the market that may continue. Rare whisky values have seen stellar growth over the past five years. Between December 2014-June 2019, the Apex 1000 Index, which tracks the best-performing 1000 bottles of rare whisky, rose by 162.22 percent, outperforming the Liv-Ex Fine Wine 1000 (39.58 percent), FTSE 100 (13.09), Brent Crude (11.09) and Gold (19.16). The first half of 2019 did see some retreat,

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however, as over supply (the total volume of bottles sold year on year was up by 44 percent) and a proliferation of auction houses have resulted in volatile sales results. The wine market, as measured by the Liv-Ex 1000, is flat, following losses in the spring countered by summer gains. The wine market is driven primarily by Bordeaux, with over 50 percent share in value, and Burgundy, with nearly 23 percent share year to date. Fine wine has been a strong performer over many years, driven more recently by limited production and increasing demand from Asia. The recent divergence between bids and offers suggests that investors are looking for value elsewhere, with Champagne, Italian and Rhone wine all showing progress at the expense of Bordeaux. Classic cars have followed a similar pattern to many of the other passion investments – strong and sustained growth over many years, followed by the current period of market adjustment. Confidence is absolutely key to alternative investment sectors, and the recent whiff of market uncertainty has led to sellers taking fright. With the continuing economic uncertainty and growing likelihood that stock markets may falter, buyers and sellers are likely to return as they look elsewhere. Passion investments have shown themselves to offer good returns for those well placed to take advantage. More importantly, classic cars, wine and fine art are much more enjoyable assets to own and enjoy than government bonds.

+44 (0) 118 940 1101 â&#x20AC;˘ ferrari@gtoengineering.com

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A U C T I O N WAT C H

Has there been a shift in power? More online information helps the car buyer to determine the right price – and auction houses will have to adapt to survive

SO AFTER MONTEREY, London, Argentina and the Taj Ma Garaj sales, what can we make of the everchanging classic car market? Yes, a lot of prices are down from last year, or even from six months ago. This was particularly evident in milliondollar-plus cars; in Monterey alone, the sale of these was down from 2018 by around 15 percent. We’re still seeing the trend of high-dollar cars being particularly difficult to sell unless they are amazing examples. Another trend is for more cars being auctioned at no reserve. This shows that sellers are willing to part with their vehicles for what the market feels they are worth. To me, this increase in no-reserve sales signals a change in the collector market in general. For more than ten years, sellers through auction firms have in many ways set values. The seller would take a car to an auction house and ask for a reserve and an estimate that they wanted to receive. The company would often agree, and it would bring the model to auction and in many cases sell it for a price reflected in the estimate. Sell-through rates were high and cars sold for stronger numbers than ever before. There was a feeling among many buyers that the auction companies had the pulse of the market, that those estimates were well researched and that the cars were vetted better than ones on the open market. Sometimes this was the case and sometimes it wasn’t, but regardless, this system worked and buyers stepped up and paid what the seller and the company said the car was worth. Then something happened. Buyers

became more educated. Hammer Price, the Hagerty Price Guide and the Internet in general gave them more tools to see how much cars were changing hands for. This led to a more educated buyer, and they’ve started to take back control of the collector market. A seller might ask for and get a $300,000 reserve for a Series 1 E-type, but at the auction the bidders fuelled with this increase of data are only willing to pay $250,000. If the owner truly wants to sell, they have to reduce their reserve. The car then sells for $250k. It wasn’t only tech that fuelled this change. A few missteps by auction companies at major sales showed bidders the way some of the bigger cars were marketed; the vehicles failed to sell despite in-the-room theatrics. And this combined with errors while cars were on the block helped further educate buyers. This is what I’ve seen happen in a number of auctions this Fall. The buyer is again in the driving seat, and they are daily becoming more sophisticated. I’m sure that dealers and auction companies aren’t totally happy about it all, nor the speculators who bought into the market a few years ago – but cars are still being sold, just for different amounts. This isn’t all bad news, as it puts buyers in charge and is likely to make some cars more affordable than they have been. As long as buyers are ready to buy and sellers continue to be realistic about prices, we’ll continue to have a strong collector market. Another trend we’re seeing more is of whole collections coming up for sale. Sometimes this goes poorly, such as if it’s a collection of Model Ts – cars that are on the wane – and other times it sets records, such as the Taj Ma Garaj sale which shifted scores of Porsches, VWs and automobilia, many at record prices. So what can we expect to see in the spring? I’d hazard that the market will continue at the lower levels

we’ve seen in the past year or so. Multi-million-dollar cars will change hands only when their owners are done with them, as the days when these models deliver serious short returns on their initial investment are not likely to come back to the highs we saw in 2016 and 2017 anytime soon. As a result, many buyers will be keeping these cars. One exception will be with the aging out of collectors. I anticipate more collections like the Taj Ma Garaj one coming up for sale, often as heirs find that they have serious tax consequences, combined with a lack of interest in such vehicles. The collections will likely be sold at no reserve – and if they contain the right cars, they could do quite well. The other exception is the online auction market. Sites such as Bring a Trailer and P Car Market have been making waves and delivering record prices in the low-to-medium market. I mean, did anyone ever expect to see a Datsun 240Z sell for $100,000? Well, it’s happened online. Some of this is due to a conception that there’s more transparency in the online market due to the community acting as a watchdog. This can be true at times, but it’s still a venue to sell cars and is only as transparent as the seller makes it by disclosing everything known about the car in question. In addition, it can be a rough place to sell, as while some reader comments are accurate, others are not – and inaccurate ones can hurt a car as much as correct ones can help it. So what we have is a market of transition, with new venues weekly and ever more cars available for sale. There is bound to be a shake-up in the bricks-and-mortar companies as they struggle to handle this changing marketplace and the competition from online. The best of both types of auction house will likely come out well; as long as people want to buy cars, there will need to be a place to sell them. Andy Reid

LEFT Taj Ma Garaj event set records – but not all collection sales are such a success. MAGNETO

PLACES TO VISIT: THE RV HALL OF FAME Sure, it sounds an unlikely museum to recommend in Magneto. But, be honest, who doesn’t actually appreciate a classic American RV or motorhome?

AMERICA, THE COUNTRY of unlimited road-travel opportunities. There’s something ineffably romantic about the concept of hitching up a purposebuilt trailer to your car and driving wherever the fancy takes you – particularly back in the early part of the 20th century, when the great nation was still opening up and many hundreds of thousands of square miles had yet to be explored by pioneering ‘tin-can tourists’. With its extensive displays of travel trailers, photos and memorabilia, Indiana’s RV/MH Hall of Fame celebrates the US’s love affair with vintage caravans and their motorised recreational vehicle (RV) counterparts. Augmented by exhibits of early fifth-wheel trailers, pop-ups and truck-top campers, it’s a treasure trove dedicated to a nomadic life exploring the great outdoors while enjoying the safety and luxury of a cosy home on wheels. The main area of the museum incorporates the RV Founders’ Hall, which features evocative exhibits and historical information on mainstream specialists such as Airstream and Winnebago, complemented by details of long-gone brands dating

D E TA I L S WHERE IS IT? 21565 Executive Parkway, Elkhart, Indiana 46514, US WHEN IS IT OPEN? Apr 1-Oct 31: Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-3pm Nov 1-Mar 31: Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun closed HIGHLIGHTS RV Founders’ Hall, RV/MH Exhibitors’ Hall, Go RVing exhibition, specialist library HOW MUCH TO ENTER? Adults $12, children (6-16) $9, under-fives go free. Concessions and family rates available, too WEBSITE www.rvmhhalloffame.org

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back to the 1920s and 1930s including Shasta, Airfloat, Spartan, Fleetwood and Kenskill. The collection also has examples of campers sitting atop classic automotive platforms from the likes of Chevrolet and Ford. It presents chronological and technological advancements in the industry from before World War One to the present day; we particularly love Mae West’s very own 1931 Chevrolet Housecar and a 1974 example of the classic GMC Motorhome. For those interested in the history and products of the associated parts manufacturers and service providers, these are illustrated in displays in the Exhibitors’ Hall. And the industry is brought bang up to date in the contemporary Go RVing area, where you can study examples of brand-new RVs, whose five-star luxury, technology and mod-cons are in stark contrast to the back-to-basics nature of some of the Hall of Fame’s earlier exhibits. The RV/MH Library is a real draw for industry writers and academics, as well as for owners of historic trailers and RVs who are researching the background of their unit. It archives thousands of volumes of periodicals, records and photos, and is the world’s biggest (if not only) library dedicated to the subject. If your love of all things vintage automotive stretches beyond the nuts and bolts of the cars themselves, the RV/MH Hall of Fame should be a must-do on your petrolhead bucket list.

DRIVEN

Pioneering spirit 1901 De Dion-Bouton may evoke visions of The Wind in the Willows’ Mr Toad, but it was remarkably advanced for its time. We find out more

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OLD CROCKS? DON’T be too quick to judge. Take the gearbox on this De Dion-Bouton G-type for example – and remember it was built in 1901. This twin-shaft, spur-gear trans has straight-cut gears and twin externally expanding clutches, and is pretty easy to use; simply pull first into engagement from neutral or push it into second – noting that the change moves in the ‘right’ direction, unlike many modern units. There’s no clutch, and as contemporary ads would have it, gearchanging “is practically foolproof”. But what an advanced engineering task this must have been; think of VW’s DSG trans built 118 years ago. As Nick Penney, top engineer and fettler of this amazing car explains, the heart of the trans has a 16-inch shaft, rifle-bored and split with two internal opposite-screw threads on each side. “It took us some time to find a machine shop that could do that job and keep it all square,” he says with considerable understatement. The current owner and Penney think they’ve now solved ongoing issues for future feats of derring do. This includes the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, which celebrates

the effective repeal of Locomotive Acts that restricted cars to speeds of less than 4mph and mandated an escort on foot carrying a red flag. Did I mention that this car has no conventional throttle, front brakes or steering wheel? In fact, there’s so much of modern motoring that this car doesn’t have, it’s a wonder how it’s ever allowed on the road. Founded in 1883, France’s De Dion-Bouton was at one time the world’s largest auto maker. Strong, simple and reliable, a De Dion might be seen as the Ford Focus of its day. ‘Our’ rear-engined, single-cylinder motor carriage with wood, metal and leather coachwork is a Vis-à-vis (face-to-face). It has longitudinal and transverse leaf springs and the famous De Dion rear axle tube. The fairly advanced 4.5hp 498.5cc engine features coil and points ignition, a poppet exhaust valve worked off a cam and an atmospheric inlet valve, which opens by the suction formed in the combustion chamber. It’s water cooled and its totalloss oiling system needs replenishing every 15 miles. There are brakes on each rear wheel and the trans, while closing the accelerator, which

reduces the exhaust valve lift so less fuel can enter the chamber, provides a decent amount of slowing as well. It would have cost 200 guineas (£25,500 today), and you could have a hood for 16 guineas (£2000), an English-built body for five (£604) and leather wings for 11 (£1330). While its early history is obscure, we know VF24 was damaged by fire bombing in Norwich during World War Two, and after the war its owner Ralph Barker gave the wreckage to a Hugh Smith in Holt, Norfolk. Smith completed a painstaking rebuild by the end of the 1970s, and when he died, the car was auctioned and ended up in a Japanese museum. It was returned to the UK in 1999 and sold at auction to its current owner. And now I’m at the tiller. Penney juggles the levers on the column controlling handbrake, gear selection, fuel mixture, ignition advance/retard, engine speed/exhaust restrictor and steering. So ease the gearlever backwards and the engine’s plaintive tonk, tonk, tonkety slows, and we’re mobile in a car built two years before the Wright Brothers’ inaugural flight. The lack of any sense of control is profound and not a little frightening.

Never mind the claimed top speed of 22mph, even from a jogging speed you need every braking resource on the car to slow down, while the high seating position only serves to emphasise the body lean on the soft springing. The G-type weighs just 420kg, which means I’m 20 per cent of the kerbweight flailing around on top. Funny thing is, however, the tiller steering is light, easy to use and feels perfectly natural. VF24 wasn’t built for modern traffic, though. In 1904 there were a mere 23,000 cars on the highways of Britain, and punctures on unsurfaced roads, frightened horses and bewildered pedestrians were far bigger hazards than other cars. Think of Kenneth Grahame’s Mr Toad: “Toad the terror, the traffic queller – the Lord of the lone trail.” These days you juggle levers, dimly lit ignition, vestigial braking and fervent hope; a sort of 40-watt Toad. Once in the vanguard of motoring, the De Dion now dodges delivery vans. Did I mention, however, that it’s probably the best fun I’ve had in a motorcar all year and much the most satisfying to drive? What a wonderful machine. Andrew English

MAGNETO

PHOTOS BY ANDREW CROWLEY

LEFT Fun at the tiller; 118-year-old De Dion shares very little with modern machinery, but remains most satisfying to drive.

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INTERVIEW

TEST DRIVER CHRIS GOODWIN Aston Martin’s highly regarded development driver talks about his surprise move from McLaren, the game-changing Valkyrie and his historic race cars

And why Aston Martin? Adrian Newey and the Red Bull guys called me in the summer of 2017, and actually it was a funny phone call… It was just a request to help them find somebody like me because they assumed I wouldn’t be leaving McLaren any time soon – what other road car company would give me the opportunities to work on racing projects, track car projects, and all those cool road cars! What happened next? I went to see Adrian for about half an hour, and that turned into about six hours – the [Aston Martin] Valkyrie project is hugely compelling. Then I went to see [CEO] Andy Palmer and he explained a bit about their product line-up for the future. Very ambitious, but to be fair, it was the thought of not having the Valkyrie and the subsequent cars on my CV... I couldn’t do that. What’s special about the Valkyrie? There are obvious things like its weight (around one tonne), and its downforce is clearly going to be a high number, but it’s the degree of detail and sophistication of the design, and therefore the deep-dive development that this project allows, that will make it stand out. How is it working with Adrian? I drove a McLaren, a Mika Häkkinen car, that was Adrian’s first McLaren,

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his first design. I was testing it with guys who’d worked on it in period, and they were saying about Adriandesigned cars being a pain in the arse to work on. They were designed in such a way that things were squeezed into impossible places, but one of them said that it was only after they read his book that they understood why they were doing all-nighters just to change a widget. Some of the components that are in the engine bay, but get a tiny bit of airflow, they were actually designed as aerodynamic shapes in that car. It’s that detail – and that’s what the Aston Valkyrie has. How’s the historic racing going? Racing classic cars is really a passion of mine; I’ve been doing it for quite a while. At Goodwood I’ve raced my McLaren Can-Am car, Lotus 23, the two-seater version of the 22, and now my 22. But with all of those cars, because they’re old and because of the business I’m in, I tend to be quite particular about the prep, safety and performance of the cars. Tell us about that Lotus 22... It hasn’t got a brilliantly glorious history; some of my other cars have, but some don’t. From what we can gather it was raced in Ireland in period, exported to America where it lived for the next 20 to 30 years, then it was raced in historics in the States during the last 10-15 years by a husband and wife. We’ve restored it in a cosmetically sympathetic way, but all the key components are new. You’re an accomplished racer, but do you feel vulnerable in historics? Yeah, you do, but therefore you drive them accordingly. I’m very old, and I didn’t get to be this old by not working out how to manage risk. At the end of the day, the car might look like it’s on its limit, but I’m not – there’s a difference in commitment that you don’t always see from the outside. The key is good preparation.

INTERVIEW BY TYLER HEATLEY

What prompted the move from McLaren to Aston Martin? A lot of things really. I had been at McLaren for 20 years almost exactly, and it’s kind of a key point when you get to that stage; you re-evaluate. McLaren had changed enormous amounts since I joined, it’s a huge company now. It’s changed its focus a little bit, but we were doing great work. The last two cars I worked on, the calibration of the Senna and the 600LT, we literally sealed the tin and I left the following day.

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What Renée did next... On a mission to raise awareness of child trafficking, Renée Brinkerhoff is aiming to compete in her 356 on every continent. It hasn’t been easy...

RENÉE BRINKERHOFF IS a softly spoken force of nature. When we meet, she’s discussing how her Porsche 356 could be modified to travel across the Antarctic. By the time you read this, she’ll likely be in Kenya, chasing Stig Blomqvist across the wide-open plains on the tough East African Safari Rally, with her daughter as a first-time co-driver. Incredibly, Renée herself had never competed in motor sport until 2012, at which point she took part in the notoriously dangerous Carrera Panamericana. On her first day, three competitors ahead of her were killed, but she finished first in class, becoming the only woman to achieve a class win on her La Carrera Panamericana debut. “To get to 14th overall and beat all the Mustangs and beat the Corvettes and beat the 911s, that was really something,” she says. Renée’s since gone on to take part in more La Carreras, but that’s a sideshow to her Project 356 World Rally Tour – she aims to compete in her 356 on all seven continents, to help raise awareness of child trafficking problems worldwide. It began in 2017, on the 30th anniversary running of La Carrera Panamericana, and has so far included a rally in Peru, in which hers was the only classic car, in Australia – “Tasmania was my least favourite rally, way too civilised, way too tame, and I was the only woman” – and on the Peking to Paris rally. “Peking to Paris was a total disappointment. All I wanted to do was go back to Bejing and start again. That’s another we’ll have to go back to do!” Renée had been going well initially, but a mistake after a repair in Mongolia had left the air filters loose, and the engine spent a day sucking in the desert dust, wrecking the motor – she lost days waiting for a new engine to be brought and fitted, and feels she

never got back into the spirit of it all. Our meeting takes place at Tuthill Porsche, where her 356 is being rebuilt following the Peking to Paris – and prepared for the Safari. Tuthill is running 12 cars this year (it’s run up to 17 in the past), but all except Renée’s 356 are identicalspecification historic 911s. “I’m really looking forward to the Safari now I know my daughter’s coming,” says Renée excitedly. “I need someone who’s competitive, I need someone with the same fire in her belly as I have. It will be totally different – I’ll be doing it with someone who’s never navigated before. This is the one! “So many times I’ve thought about having one of my daughters in the car, thinking I wouldn’t want that risk – but I’m just going to have to wait and see how it feels.” Renée was brought up in Taiwan, experiencing the smouldering SinoAmerican tensions of the late 1950s, and feels that racing was something that has brought back the danger and excitement of her childhood. “The racing was something I had to do, not something I wanted to do. It was a thing I’d said in my head I was always going to do. Why in the world would I tell myself that? I knew nothing about cars! “Then I did La Carrera and I got bitten by the bug. It changed my life, it picked up my life from who I was as a child, that dangerous upbringing in war-torn areas. “Being someone doing this at my age, I asked what I can do to continue after La Carrera – and that’s what started Project 356. I said let’s take the car on every continent; everyone thought I was crazy and not going to do it. And now here we are...” Renée has many more plans for her round-the-world rally quest, including the Antarctic. You can follow her progress via her website at www.racevalkyrie.com.

LEFT Highs and lows on the notoriously dangerous La Carrera Panamericana. The 356 lived to drive another rally, fortunately.

MAGNETO

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20 YEARS OF PAGANI: HOW HORACIO DID IT

BELOW Huayra Roadster will be replaced by the C10 in 2022.

From teenage technical wonder to automotive icon, Horacio Pagani has perfected the art of the supercar – there’s more to come, too...

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1987 1977 Renault was so impressed with the 21-year-old Horacio that it gave him an engine and sponsored his car for a season. His team didn’t make much of an impression in the Formula 3 world, but it got Horacio’s name better known in the industry.

1955 Horacio was born in 1955, and by the age of 12 he was building powered model cars in his native Argentina. He designed and built a mini motorcycle aged 16, and then created this ‘Limitada Santafesina’ single-seater. He approached Renault for an engine.

1982 Horacio was introduced to Juan Manuel Fangio, who wrote letters of introduction for him that landed him a design job at Lamborghini – only for the offer to be withdrawn when a project was cancelled. Horacio persisted and ended up in the bodyshop, where he experimented with carbonfibre. Eventually he was able to develop the 25th Anniversary Countach and the Countach Evoluzione concept.

When Lamborghini refused to buy a carbonfibre autoclave, Horacio borrowed $500k to buy one himself – but Lamborghini still refused to use it fully. So in 1991 Horacio started Modena Design, manufacturing carbonfibre parts for the Ferrari F1 team and Aprilia motorbikes.

1999 Still wanting to design his own car but needing an engine, Horacio was introduced to Mercedes by Fangio, and in 1999 he unveiled the Pagani Zonda at the Geneva Motor Show. This was followed by the Zonda S the next year.

RIGHT Horacio will turn 65 in 2020 but he’s unlikely to be retiring any time soon...

Twenty years on, Pagani has recently launched the Roadster version of its Huayra hypercar. It’s also talking of a new model for 2022, codenamed C10, continuing the Pagani tradition of using a Mercedes engine initially. However, there’s talk of hybrids, an EV and perhaps even a Pagani SUV in the future.

THE RETURN OF ROYAL ENFIELD’S CLASSIC TWIN While Royal Enfield’s single-cylinder Bullet has been made continuously since 1948, the Interceptor twin had paused after 1970. But now it’s back...

YOU COULDN’T EXACTLY see the old Royal Enfield Redditch factory from space, but from a German bomber at 20,000ft it was clear enough. Which was why, in 1941, the company moved to Westwood mines near Bradfordon-Avon, and when peace came, it stayed in that underground factory where the twin-cylinder Interceptor machines were made. Of course, the Enfield story is mainly concerned with the famous Bullet overhead-valve single. In continuous production since 1948, it’s the longest-ever motorcycle run. It was purchased in the thousands by the Indian Army, and when British production ceased in 1967, the Indians bought the tools and licences, and the rest is history. Except not the whole history, as Interceptor production continued to 1970 in that old underground factory. It was hugely popular in the US and much missed, so now Enfield’s recreated a new version of an old name with the help of its technical centre at Leicestershire’s Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground. Enfield simply can’t build enough. Not totally surprising this, since at £5499 on the road, there’s nothing like it; equivalent Triumph Bonneville and Ducati Scrambler machines are £2500 to £3000 more expensive. When I picked up the test machine from Hartgate of Mitcham, owner John Hogsden had sold two that morning. So what’s it like? Highly conventional, that’s what. The frame is a round-tube, welded and painted steel with a twin gas-shock rear end and curiously wide-set pegs so you sit legs splayed like John Wayne. Wire-spoke wheels carry a single disc brake front and rear sourced through ByBre, a subsidiary of Brembo. Anti-lock brakes are a Bosch two-channel system and the levers are quality items with a decent action. The engine is a 47bhp/38lb ft air/oilcooled vertical twin. That power output means even an A2 licence holder can ride the Interceptor. While the bike’s weight of 202kg is on par with the competition’s, at 804mm the Interceptor’s seat

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ABOVE Re-introduced last year, Interceptor looks classic, rides like a modern, and is steeped in history. height is quite high. Quaint stuff includes the trellis-work, bent-steel-wire head protectors and vulnerable-looking levers for the side stand. It’s all quite old school, with big engine casings and gearbox covers (there’s plenty to polish), gently rising bars and separate instruments. The twin fires with a clackety idle, and with peak torque at 2500rpm you can pull from walking pace in second. Around town it’s a joy, with rake and trail that allow quick changes in direction at low speeds without feeling as though the machine will fall over. Budget 18in Pirelli Phantoms grip pretty well, and the fuelling is good enough to inspire confidence rolling on the throttle out of a bend. It’ll cruise at 80mph, but you’ll need to be lying on the tank to see the magic ton. The exhaust note is a first-rate roar at revs and the brakes are strong, yet the damping isn’t much cop; it’s too soft at speed. But are you going to ride this charismatic machine that hard? Probably not, and at this price you don’t even need to ride it that much to enjoy ownership – it also has a three-year, unlimitedmileage warranty. Mind you, with these looks, what seems like decent build standards and great old-school riding qualities, it would be something of a crime not to use an Interceptor at every opportunity. Andrew English

A S T O N M A R T I N VA N TA G E

How adding a stick makes it worse but better By swapping the Vantage’s slick eight-speed ZF auto for a tricky seven-ratio manual, Aston has somehow created a new car that feels classic

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ASTON MARTIN CEO Andy Palmer has said publicly on several occasions that the company will be the last in the world to offer manual sports cars – often causing uneasy glances between chief engineers. See, manuals aren’t easy in these days of high-power turbo GTs and supercars: their massive torque can destroy a conventional ’box, and emissions are more difficult to manage when shift points are being controlled by humans. And that’s without the packaging problems of catering for three pedals and a stick. Still, where there’s customer will there’s a way, and so here we have a manual Vantage again, the first since the all-new Vantage was launched in late 2017. It’s intended for those of us who still prefer a gearlever to paddles, and it’s set up for ‘real’ driving, with an analogue differential to match its analogue shifting input. This manual Vantage starts out as a limited edition of 200, 59 of which are the already pre-sold 59 Edition that celebrates Aston’s win in the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours. The rest consist of four special AMR editions

with unique interior and exterior trim options, priced at £149,995 in the UK, $179,995 in the States. But after those, the Vantage manual will be released as a ‘standard’ model, available from early 2020. Remember the late, great 20092018 Vantage V12? It was a flawed masterpiece, the V12 squeezed into a bodyshell designed for the V8. Well, the new manual-transmission Vantage is as close as you’ll get to rediscovering the spirit of the V12 Vantage. Its twin-turbo AMGsourced V8 is a known, brilliant quantity, but in no other application has it ever been paired with a manual transmission. For such a low-volume model there was no logic in developing a new transmission, so instead it utilises the same Italianmade Dana Graziano seven-speed manual last used in the V12 Vantage. It is an awkward lump in many ways, but by using it instead of the auto, and by switching from the auto Vantage’s e-diff to a conventional mechanical limited-slip differential, the manual car saves 70kg of rearbiased weight. The 200 AMR

editions are lighter still, using carbon brakes to save a further 27kg – those brakes will be an optional extra on the standard-issue manual. To compensate, the rear spring rate has been reduced and the rear anti-roll bar stiffened. Combine that with the mechanical LSD and we have a more tail-happy, playful machine. But the gearbox, what about the gearbox? First quirk: it’s a dogleg set-up, which is nothing new, but always feels a little awkward. And with so many ratios, the slots between the gears are narrow, so it takes a while to get used to overcoming the light spring to the right to avoid going from fifth to sixth when you meant to downchange from fifth to fourth. On test, the selection into first felt vague on at least two of the cars we drove, although a third car was more positive, avoiding the ‘am I in gear or am I about to go nowhere to the sound of clashing cogs’ uncertainty. So it takes some getting used to but, if you still resent the sterility of paddleshift, actually having to learn a transmission is rather refreshing.

ABOVE Editor David Lillywhite drove the manual Vantage on the roads around the Nürburgring – the car was developed at Aston’s AMR Performance Centre there. As is the audible whirring of gears, which must drive NVH engineers crazy but has been left in as a welcome reminder of the mechanical battles going on alongside you. And a battle it is, for there’s 625Nm (461lb ft) of torque to deal with, dialled down from the auto’s 685 (505), and limited in first and second gears, depending on the driving mode chosen. All that torque – and 505bhp – makes for an exciting ride and a 3.9-second 0-60mph, to a soundtrack of a roaring exhaust with added snap, crackle and pop on the overrun. On the Nordschleife and the roads around it, where the manual Vantage was developed, the auto is faster. But we’d choose the manual every time for its increased involvement and fun, whatever your driving skills are. Just be prepared for a bit of time spent mastering it. David Lillywhite

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Ten Years of Singer Founder Rob Dickinson on how Singer’s Reimagined Porsches have gone from an idea to the most highly evolved air-cooled 911 ever made

SO, TEN YEARS in ten minutes… It all started with my hot rod, the perfect idea of what I wanted a 911 to be, which I built with a gang of fellow enthusiasts in 2003. I drove that car around while I was living in Hollywood making a record, and it was very much inspired by the fact that I’d restored a 2.4S in England to magnificent original spec, and then all I wanted to do at the end was modify it – but I couldn’t do that because there were only 12 righthand-drive 2.4S models left in the UK as I understood it. So I’d sold the 2.4S and moved to America, and I used the proceeds from the 2.4S to build my dream 911; a 1969 coupé, basically a hot rod. I joined the R Gruppe, and became a big part of it. I started to drive other people’s cars, with bigger engines and different specifications, and I realised that some of them were awful but some of them were absolutely fantastic. I was convinced that somewhere in the air-cooled oeuvre of 37 years was the perfect air-cooled 911, that had an F-series body, that had the punch of a 3.6 or 3.8-litre engine, with proper brakes and suspension, all properly sorted, with gorgeous 911ST-inspired bodywork. That epiphany hit me around about 2007, so a friend and I put a business plan together and tried to get some investment for it. That plan failed, so he bank-rolled the company and we created a vision of what I wanted to do, which was restored

under terrible pressure from the end of 2008 and finished literally the night of Monterey Car Week in 2009. We put it on the grass at Laguna Seca for the weekend and held our breath, and things started to roll from there. It was pretty well received; the internet was getting on its feet in terms of understanding car culture, and I think we benefited from the early waves of that. And, of course, the standards that we shot for the car were ridiculously high, so we basically had to rewrite the rule-book on how it was done – and we’ve been figuring it out for the past ten years. So that’s how it started. The first couple of cars we restored really struggled with the power, and they didn’t give the experience we wanted – the balance and usability. They were fabulous cars but limited by their suspension ability. So we decided that if we were going to be taken seriously we needed to have [journalist and racer] Chris Harris write a good story about us. We were literally that mercenary about it. To do that it had to be based on a 964, so the silver ‘Mexico’ as we called it was our first 964-based car. We knew we had to create a car that Chris Harris would be excited about, a car that he, with his hand on his heart, would say nice things about. That very much inspired us to be honest. That was the start of it all. Shortly after that we did the Top Gear show, which was a big deal for the company being legitimised and

recognised on a level that we hoped it would be. I think the next highlight was when we had the idea to do the DLS [Dynamics and Lightweighting Study] – and finding the funding to do that from three of our clients who basically wanted to answer the question of what would one of your cars be like if it was engineered by a Formula 1 team... that was the Hollywood pitch. Bluntly, it’s an attempt to create the most evolved air-cooled 911 that’s ever been seen.

ABOVE Former Catherine Wheel singer Rob Dickinson and the car that started it all; his modified ’69 ‘Brown Bomber’ 911 coupé.

We put a team together [Singer, Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch, Hewland, Brembo, Michelin and others] that could optimise a 964 911 to its natural apogee. Of course, it turned into this project that we never imagined, far more expensive than we ever imagined, and it’s taken far longer than we ever imagined, but we’re truly proud of the result. I think it’s fitting that it book-ends our ten years. Singer has been reimagining 911s for a number of years; the thing is to build the awareness of what we do around the world. We realise how important international partnerships are, we’re going to strengthen those around important centres of Porsche enthusiasm, we’re going to restore some more cars, introduce some new Porsche ideas, and investigate and execute on the idea that Singer is a philosophy but not necessarily only a Porsche company – our Track1 watch is a toe in the water on that. Certainly in the short term Singer will be working only with Porsches, and then we’re thinking about adding something quite trick to our repertoire. I think we have an enormous opportunity with looking into the future of mobility; where some of the lessons we’ve learnt over the past few years, and what pushes our buttons as car enthusiasts, doesn’t have to be jettisoned as we move into the future. We should be at the forefront of that, having done this for ten years.

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THE OUTLAW AT THE WORLD’S CONCOURS This XK120 has been shown in Sydney, Monterey, Zoute and all around the UK during 2019

THE JAGUAR XK120 was a car that captured the hearts and minds of so many – including the ‘King of Hollywood’, actor Clark Gable, who took delivery of the first car to arrive in the US in 1949, stating that he, “wanted it like a child wants candy”. The XK120 is also a car that captured the heart and mind of Justin ‘Jockey’ Hills, a custom-car builder based in New South Wales, Australia. In 2013 Justin won the World’s Most Beautiful Custom at the Grand National Roadster Show and Sacramento Autorama, with his take on a 1968 Dodge Phoenix, whilst his grand routier-inspired 1949 Buick was a winner at SEMA in Las Vegas. For the uninitiated, this is akin to winning Miss Universe and England bringing the World Cup home. For an overseas creator to win is virtually unheard of. On a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, Justin came across a car that he much admired, and returned with it to Australia. It had started life as a 1953 California-delivered black XK120 coupé. By the 1960s it was owned by a street racer who had modified it for speed and reduced its ride height – during a time-trial in that period from Reno to Sparks, some four miles east in Nevada, it had been recorded at 162mph! The previous rogue racing life of this Jaguar, coupled with the fact that it had been sitting neglected for many years in the humid Georgian climate, made the car a perfect donor for the project Justin had in mind. “The roof was chopped by visual and design requirements, not just measurements,” says Justin. “I did this over a Christmas break, so that I had no interruptions or anybody giving me unwanted options or

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opinions on how to do it. First, I removed two inches, and then I kept cutting out a little more until it was exactly how I wanted it to look. “I also cut and rolled the front wings to give the car the slightly coachbuilt Bugatti look that I was after, and the rear wings were welded to the back of the body and leaded, with custom-made rear skirts.” Incredibly, Justin has managed to squeeze a fuel-injected Jaguar V12 – tuned, of course – into the XK. “I de-stroked the engine a little, and this with its custom-made pistons and rods coupled with a Rob Beere racing flywheel with Tilton clutch has reduced the rotational weight by approximately 50 percent. It now revs with ease to 8200rpm and is punching out 460bhp.” Former Jaguar design director Ian Callum has seen the car, and says: “I think what Justin has done is not only beautiful but emphasises the very epitome of Jaguar. Lower and sleeker and with just the right amount of drama and amazing stance. The mechanical installation of the magical Jaguar V12 just adds to the magnificent beauty of this car. Sir William Lyons would have approved, I’m sure.” James Nicholls

ABOVE Justin Hills’ V12-engined Outlaw XK at Wappenbury Hall, home of Sir William Lyons.

Start Next Summer in Style

5th June 2020 ORGANIS 2th ED B Y TH ET HR E S TLE AS EC CLUB TOR MO

EE T H C E A 20 ST 2 LE 0 S

2020 Concours | Prologue | Historic Road Rally 2nd-5th June. Four days, 500 miles. Limited to 100 Entries.

Entries are Invited To request information visit www.three-castles.co.uk or call 020 8878 2003

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LEFT Motor sport fans may come away disappointed with new Le Mans movie’s creative pretensions.

No winner here Telling the legendary tale of Ford’s attempts to beat Ferrari at La Sarthe, Le Mans ’66 is technically spectacular but ultimately an opportunity missed

“I’M NOT A motor sport fan,” said director James Mangold at the London Film Festival. From somebody who had just spent two years bringing to life one of the most famous episodes in motor sport history, it was a surprising admission, but an unnecessary one. Soon after the curtain went up on Le Mans ’66, it became abundantly clear that the film was not made by or for racing enthusiasts. It was inevitable, really. Fox was never going to spend a hundred million dollars on a movie for a handful of petrolheads, and the script, which follows Ford’s attempts to beat Ferrari at Le Mans, sometimes works painfully hard to make the world of racing ‘accessible’. The chief protagonists are Ken

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Miles (played by Christian Bale) and Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), and they’re forced to spout some dreadful cod philosophy about “the perfect lap” and the magic that apparently happens at 7000rpm exactly. It’s embarrassing writing that purports to explain the motivations of the characters, but fails to grapple in any meaningful way with the obsession of men who raced in an era when death and glory often seemed equally likely outcomes. The action is polished (the film is a shoo-in for some technical prizes when awards season rolls around) but it is also cartoonish, with Bale shifting gears and stomping pedals for all he’s worth and engaging in staring competitions with other tough-guy drivers at 180mph.

Given that the film is a fictionalised account of real events, Bale wasn’t obliged to do a straight impersonation of Miles, but you get the impression that he would have resisted such an uncreative brief, anyway. His portrayal of Miles might kindly be described as ‘actorly’, and the mannerisms and made-up Brummie accent take some getting used to. For all that, the film ends up being perfectly watchable, thanks in large part to Matt Damon. His Carroll Shelby, full of casual bravado, chicken-farmer wisdom and regrets only half-buried, is always the best thing on the screen. And ultimately it is the power struggle between Shelby and jumped-up Ford underling Leo Beebe that really drives the film forward – not the conflict between Ford and Ferrari. Beebe, vilified by the screenwriters with a relentlessness that would impress the man’s harshest real-life detractors, is played with such magnificent odiousness by Josh Lucas that the indignities he suffers are more satisfying than any of the victories earned by Miles and Shelby out on the track. Miles never wins bigger than when he offers a preening Beebe some unsolicited advice on how to improve the Mustang at the car’s launch event, finishing his demolition job by saying: “You do all that… and I’d still buy a Chevy Chevelle. And that’s a fucking terrible car.” Watch the film with your expectations properly calibrated, then, and you’ll have some fun – but, die-hard motor sport fan or not, you’re likely to come away feeling that Le Mans ’66 represents an opportunity missed. Le Mans ’66 was released in UK and US cinemas on November 15.

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S T A R T E R LEFT 500 scale replicas of Type 35 Bugatti Baby will be made, from €30,000.

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, BABY Bugatti Type 35 scale replica continues a marque tradition – of what to buy the child who has everything...

ABOVE Attention to period detail is astounding, complete with a Nardi steering wheel and Smiths speedometer.

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BUGATTI MIGHT BE best known for engineering and style, but its marketing wasn’t bad, either – from Jean’s racing exploits to the sale of around 450-500 half-scale Bugatti Baby pedal cars between 1927 and ’39 for around 5000 francs each – about 1/40th of the cost of a full-size Type 35. Well, why shouldn’t junior have a Bugatti, too? Eighty years on, the Baby is back, and this time around it’s all grown up. For Bugatti’s 110th birthday, the marque approached UK-based The Little Car Company to create a limited-edition series of 500 scale replicas of the Type 35 as launched at last March’s Geneva Motor Show, with production just beginning. Thing is, we’ve grown since the 1930s – and, more importantly, by the age of two most children will have grown to 50 percent of their adult height, meaning that a 50 percent scale car could be rather restrictive. Instead, the Baby is a 75 percent scale replica, and when we say replica we mean it, because you wouldn’t believe the attention to detail. This new, larger, Baby will fit an eight-year-old right up to a 6ft 4in adult. How? By using the engine-bay space for legs rather than a straighteight unit, and utilising an adjustable pedal box to accommodate different sizes. As with the original Bebé, its

rear wheels are turned by an electric motor, but rather than the original’s 11mph, it’s limited to 12mph in 1kW ‘child mode’ and 28mph in 4kW ‘adult’ mode – and in modern Bugatti style, there’s a power key to switch the Baby to an unlimited 10kW. Another link to contemporary Bugattis is the scaled-down Chiron bonnet badge, created in 56g of solid silver. And then there’s the limitedslip diff that allows a touch of drifting, while traditional drums combine with regenerative braking to provide serious stopping power. The handbrake will even lock the rear wheels for swift turns. “We’ve gone a bit crazy,” admits project boss Ben Hedley. “We have ten engineers working on it. The Baby is as authentic to a Type 35 as it can be once the engine is taken out.” And the replica side of things? It’s exacting. The wheels are scale replicas of the Type 35’s, down to the 32 screws around the rims. Nardi produced a replica steering wheel, Smiths created a speedometer based on the Type 35 tachometer (they never had speedos in period), and the seats are scale-correct , including the number of pleats in the leather. The prototype is named XP1, as a nod to the first McLaren F1 (named XP5), acknowledging former McLaren F1 driver Andy Wallace’s current role as Bugatti test driver. Its body is hand-beaten aluminium, created from a 3D scan of an original Type 35, but there will also a lowerpriced Baby made in kevlar composite, and a mid-priced version in carbon fibre. The Baby starts at €30,000. Orders were taken for all 500 in the first three weeks, although there’s a reserves list in case of anyone dropping out. The first deliveries are expected in early 2020, and if you’re already feeling left out, get this: owners will become a part of The Little Car Club, able to take part in (slow) track days and other events. Oh Baby! More information is available at www.bugattibaby.com.

20-23/FEB/2020 Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier classic car event will return on 20-23 February 2020, to its new home at Olympia London, marking the next chapter in the history of The London Classic Car Show. Now in its sixth year, the show is firmly established as the must-attend event for discerning classic car owners, collectors, experts and enthusiasts.

This year we’re delighted to introduce Car Stories, celebrating six of the world’s most iconic and interesting cars. Presented by personalities from the industry, including designers, racing drivers and owners, Car Stories provides a platform to delve into their rich history with the help of those who know them best. The first to be announced is the 1987 Richard-Lloyd-Racing Rothmans Porsche 962C that won the Kyalami 500 and Norisring ‘Money Race’.

Tickets now available from thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk    Stay up to date with the latest news

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THE ECCLE STONE CARS Who has the greatest collection of iconic Formula 1 cars in the world? Bernie Ecclestone does. But they’ve mostly been kept hidden from view – until now W O R D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E P HOTO G R A P H Y Z E NON T EX E I R A /OP US S T E V E T H E O D O R O U/ O P U S

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B Bernie Ecclestone’s collection: many have heard of it but few have actually seen it. He doesn’t open it to the public, he rarely shows the cars – except when he shipped 24 of them to the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix – and he’s never previously allowed magazines in. There are 147 cars, including 26 E-types, plus a stunning line-up of Isle of Man TT motorcycles, but the core is Formula 1. If you ever wondered where Hunt’s, Lauda’s or Schumacher’s Championship-winning machines were kept... well, here’s your answer. 58

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RIGHT Max Mosley, a long-time friend of Bernie’s, calls in during the Opus photoshoot. All the cars were shot with a giant Polaroid camera made in 1976.

THERE ARE SOME stunning motor sport collections in our world, but when we’re talking Formula 1 cars, then Bernie Ecclestone’s is unsurpassed. It’s stored in a modest building on a small airfield, perfectly placed for Bernie to visit when he flies in and out of the UK. Bernie feels no need to talk about the collection, and that can make it tough to find out about it (“I don’t particularly tell people what I’ve got so I don’t have to explain,” he says). But on this occasion he’s keen to promote a new Opus book on the collection, photographed using a 1976 Polaroid camera, so the doors have been opened. Did Bernie set out to start a car collection? “I’ve never set out to do anything. Things just happen,” he says when we meet at his London office. He speaks quietly, pausing often, showing a dry sense of humour. What was the first car you bought for the collection? “I can’t remember.” Are there still cars you’d like to buy? “I don’t know.” A long pause. And then: “If there’s something I haven’t got, I’d be a buyer.” You could be cynical and assume that the cars just represent another business asset to this multi-billionaire, and Bernie seems happy to give that impression. But look closer, and listen carefully, and you realise that he’s passionate about the collection, which tracks his own progression from amateur motorcycle racer to ‘F1 supremo’. His interest in racing progressed from motorcycles to cars in 1949, with his first, a Formula 500 Cooper. An accident at Brands Hatch prompted him to concentrate on his car auctions company instead, but in 1957 he was back to manage young driver Stuart Lewis-Evans. He bought cars from Connaught, which Stuart drove – as did Bernie, attempting to qualify for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. “There were 16 qualifiers in those days and 30-odd people [trying to qualify],” explains Bernie. “That’s the excuse anyway, because I didn’t qualify.” Still, the Monaco Connaught now resides in the collection, although he doesn’t have the Formula 500 Cooper... “I’m looking for the Cooper I used to race. No idea if it’s still around. It was the first one they [Cooper] built, different from the ones they built after, different chassis. It was a box-section chassis and then they made a tubular chassis. I remember very well that I gave £500 for it.” When Stuart Lewis-Evans moved to Vanwall, Bernie continued to manage him, but a crash at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix left Lewis-Evans so badly burnt that he died from his injuries six days later – and with that Bernie retired from motor sport once more. But he now owns arguably the most famous Vanwall, the ex-Stirling Moss chassis VW10, in memory of Lewis-Evans. Bernie didn’t return for another decade. This time it was to manage his friend Jochen Rindt, for whom Bernie negotiated a contract with Lotus. Sadly, Rindt was killed in practice at the 1971 Monza Grand Prix driving a Lotus 72, posthumously winning the Championship. This time Bernie stuck with motor sport, buying the Brabham team and taking it to previously unheard-of levels of professionalism in Formula 1 – and that’s recognised with several Brabhams. “I never sold them. I’ve given some away – I gave Gordon [Murray] one, and one of our sponsors I think I gave one to. But that’s it.”

So these cars make sense, but what about all the Ferraris? “I knew Mr Ferrari very well, so I’ve always been a little bit attached to Ferraris, and some of the drivers as well, so that’s the reason,” says Bernie. “In those days Wolfgang von Trips was a very good friend, as was Michael [Hawthorn]; most of them I was friendly with. “Mr Ferrari was very, very helpful to me in those early days. Although it used to look like we were arguing – the press would make it look like that – we were still very close.” So, does Bernie get pleasure from visiting the collection? “Pleasure?” he asks, followed by a long pause. He looks straight at me, and underplays it yet again. “I suppose yes. I wouldn’t bother to go down to look, but if I happen to be there I’ll look. It’s more the people than the cars, people who are associated with the cars.” And which car is Bernie’s absolute favourite? He’s never previously admitted to having a favourite. A thoughtful pause, then, quietly: “Probably the Vanwall. I was reasonably close with the boss and with Stirling and Stuart [Lewis-Evans].”

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HIS IS THE McLaren-Ford M23, chassis M23/8-2, in which James Hunt famously won the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship. But what are Bernie’s memories of Hunt? “He still owes me two-and-a-half thousand,” replies Bernie, rather unexpectedly. “He came here [the London office], this bloody place, on a bicycle from where he used to live in Wimbledon, didn’t have any money, needed cash. Asked if I could lend him a few quid.” How sad that Hunt had been reduced to that before his death in 1993, aged 45. But in 1976 both he and the McLaren team were flying high. The 3-litre Cosworth DFV V8-powered M23, designed by Gordon Coppuck with input from John Barnard for the 1973 season, had been continually developed over three seasons. When Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren at the end of the 1975 season he was replaced by Hunt, who battled hard with Niki Lauda’s Ferrari throughout the 1976 season. Hunt won the Spanish, French, British, German, Dutch, Canadian and United States Grands Prix in this car, disqualified after two of those wins, although only one was upheld. The duel went to the very last round, the Japanese Grand Prix at Mount Fuji. Torrential rain delayed the start, and many of the drivers wanted the race cancelled, but Bernie overruled them. Lauda – still recovering

M C L A R E N M 2 3 | James Hunt’s 1976 World Championship-winning car

LEFT The M23 is powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV V8. Bernie recalls that teams would help each other because all but Ferrari were running similar engines and transmissions.

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from his life-changing crash at the Nürburgring just 12 weeks before – withdrew early. Hunt led, only to be delayed by a puncture, before recovering to finish third. “In my light this is a very special car because I was very close with James and team owner Teddy Mayer when they won the Championship in this car in Japan,” says Bernie. “They didn’t want to start the race but I made them.” Were you right to force the race to start? “We had to do it because we had a television contract,” he replies bluntly. Although it was early to make use of a sixspeed transmission, the M23 was never the most advanced car. But clever development and reliability helped it win 16 Grands Prix, two Drivers’ and one Constructors’ World Championships – and when its M26 successor proved troublesome during 1977, Hunt and teammate Jochen Mass reverted to the M23.

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LEFT When the Formula 1 engine regulations changed to 3 litres, Ferrari introduced this V12. It was replaced in ’70 by the flat-12.

F E R R A R I 3 1 2 F 1 - 6 6 | In which Surtees won at a rain-soaked Spa and starred in Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix movie

ORMER FERRARI TEAM boss Luca di Montezemolo sums up the importance of the 312 F1-66 for the Opus book on Bernie’s cars, saying: “The core business of this car was to start the tradition of 12 cylinders. I remember when John Surtees visited Rome in 1997 for the Ferrari 50th anniversary celebrations [him] getting very emotional and tearing up when he saw this car. He mentioned to me that his relationship with Ferrari was not always easy, but this car allowed a motorcycle racer to achieve his dream. Whenever John talked about this car he would talk about the unbelievable 12-cylinder.” The 312 F1-66 was, as the name suggests, a 3-litre V12-engined car introduced in 1966, the first season of the new 3-litre Formula 1 class. It was heralded as ‘The Return of Power’.

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RIGHT Surtees in the 312 F1-66 waves through Lorenzo Bandini in his Ferrari 264 at Tabac Corner during the 1966 Monaco GP.

The fuel-injected four-cam 24-valve V12 was derived from the engine of Ferrari’s Le Mans 24 Hours-winning 3.3-litre Ferrari 275P sports car prototypes. It was claimed to produce 360bhp at 10,000rpm, but it had a great thirst for fuel, dictating the shape of the semi-monocoque chassis, which had to accommodate large fuel tanks. Three were built, and this was chassis 0010, the first prototype, in which John Surtees won the non-Championship Syracuse Grand Prix before going on to dominate the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, driving brilliantly to win despite heavy rain. It was this race – and therefore this car – that features prominently in John Frankenheimer’s famous Formula 1 racing movie Grand Prix. “As famous as this car is, it’s not as famous as the driver, John Surtees, who not only won a World Championship in a Ferrari [in 1964] but also on motorcycles,” says Bernie. “I raced against him when he used to race one of these [he shows a picture of his own AJS 7R]. I think we had a fair run between us.” Sadly, a fall-out with Ferrari team manager Eugenio Dragoni over who was to drive in the 1966 Le Mans, and Surtees’ subsequent disappointment over the perceived lack of support from Enzo Ferrari, resulted in Surtees resigning from Ferrari midway through 1966 and moving to the Cooper-Maserati team. His car, this car, was subsequently driven by Lorenzo Bandini, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Mike Parkes, but it’s often said that if Surtees had stayed, he’d probably have won the 1966 World Championship. Instead, Ferrari finished second to Brabham-Repco in the Constructors’ Championship, and Surtees finished second to Jack Brabham in the Drivers’. Surtees finished the season driving for the Cooper-Maserati team, winning the last race of the season. Surtees later joined the new Honda Formula 1 team, and in 1970 he set up his own team, which he ran for nine years, though he retired from driving in 1972. Lorenzo Bandini was killed driving a 312 F1-67 the following year at Monaco; to replace him, Mike Parkes was rehired, only to suffer career-ending injuries a few weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix. And then Scarfiotti died in 1968 driving a Porsche 910 in a hillclimb event. It was a tough time for Formula 1, which also lost Lotus driver Jim Clark during 1968. As for the 312 F1, it never again achieved the success of the 1966 season, and was replaced by the 312 B for the 1970 season.

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HEN TONY BROOKS took the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix in this Connaught B1, he became the first British driver to win a Grand Prix in a British car since Sir Henry Segrave’s Sunbeam triumphed at San Sebastian in 1924. Connaughts were built by a small British team headed by two ex-RAF pilots, Geoffrey Clarke and Michael Oliver. They started out in Formula 2 with single-seaters powered by LeaFrancis engines. In 1954, for the new 2.5-litre Formula 1 regulations, they introduced the Connaught B-type, powered by a four-cylinder Alta engine. It wasn’t really powerful enough, but that didn’t stop dental student Tony Brooks in his Formula 1 debut. With Connaught in trouble, Bernie stepped in to buy this car, chassis B1, for Stuart LewisEvans – whom he managed – to drive in the 1958 season, and he entered himself as a driver for the Monaco Grand Prix that year as well. Ivor Bueb, Bruce Kessler, Paul Emery and Jack Fairman also went on to drive Connaught B1. “We didn’t have enough money to attend the

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Landmark car and Bernie’s first foray into F1

1958 season opener in Argentina, but we were able to take the car to the next race in Monaco,” says Bernie. “I tried to qualify but I missed the boat, by just one place. There were 31 cars trying to be one of the 16 starters on the grid, but I just wasn’t quick enough.” This was the start of Bernie’s career in Formula 1, and he seems to remember those early years mostly with fondness, through the times with the Connaught, then the Vanwall and to the early days as the owner of Brabham. He began the takeover of Formula 1 in 1974 when he co-founded the Formula One Constructors’ Association, becoming chief executive in 1978. “It was all completely different back then. Everyone was very friendly, even as it moved on into the ’70s. You could help each other if somebody had problems – somebody would always help with an engine, a gearbox or whatever. They were all nice people; you didn’t get the sort of jealously you get today, or the massive egos.”

ABOVE Note the gear selector of the Connaught, next to the steering wheel – it was unusual in using a Wilson pre-selector transmission mated to the highly developed four-cylinder DOHC Alta engine.

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AUTO UNION V16

FERRARI F1-86

BRABHAM-ALFA BT46B

In the 1930s battle between Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, it was the latter that produced the most technically innovative cars. The 1937 Type C’s 6-litre supercharged V16 produced 520bhp and 630lb ft of torque. Nearly all the Auto Unions were lost during the war, but this is a Crosthwaite & Gardiner recreation, officially sanctioned by Audi.

“This car is remembered by the fact it had an engine that reportedly made 1200bhp,” says Bernie. That makes it the most powerful car Ferrari has made to date, for road or race, although the full power was used only in qualifying, with race power closer to 850bhp. This car – chassis 088 – was raced during ’86 by Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson.

The legendary ‘fan car’. “First time out it won the race,” says Bernie. “It caused so much trouble that I decided to withdraw the car to stop everyone else from having to build the same sort of car. It bothered Gordon [Murray] and the rest of the team, but not me. That car was so quick it could drive up the wall, and sooner or later someone was going to get hurt.”

FERRARI DINO 246

FERRARI 166 F2

MASERATI 250F

“This is the most valuable car in the collection,” says Bernie. “It was driven in the era when people were a little bit different than they are today. They were sharing!” The 1960 V6-engined Dino 246 was one of the last of the front-engined F1 machines, a development of the car that won Bernie’s friend Mike Hawthorn the 1958 World Championship.

Ferrari’s first single-seater was the V12 166, which was quickly adapted to be eligible for Formula 2. It was more successful in this form than in F1. Bernie’s car, chassis 118, was raced by Juan Manuel Fangio, Raymond Sommer and Alberto Ascari. “The start of life at the Ferrari factory,” confirms Bernie. “This car had a long life, from 1949 to ’53.”

“It seems to me that a number of people drove this car,” says Bernie. “Regretfully I wasn’t included, because I couldn’t afford the car in those days.” Indeed, chassis 2514 has been driven by Luigi Musso, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jean Behra, Harry Schell, Stirling Moss, Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and more...

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BRM P30 V16

BUGATTI TYPE 54

MERCEDES-BENZ W125

Backed by British industry, the BRM was bravely complex with its 1.5-litre V16 and two-stage supercharger, but competed in only one World Championship race. This car, the smaller P30, at least found success in British Formula Libre racing during 1954-’55. “This car is remembered not by its achievements but by the noise it made,” says Bernie.

By 1931 the Bugatti Type 35’s dominance of Grand Prix racing was under threat from the increasingly strong Alfas, Maseratis and Mercedes-Benz. The solution was the Type 54, a 300bhp, 5-litre supercharged version of the Type 35. Bernie says that this car, known as Tiger Two, was “relatively cheap at the time” – but it’s a true icon of motor racing.

The dominance of the Government-backed Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Silver Arrows is legendary, and the W125 was one of the greatest of the breed. Consider that in 1937 its straight-eight engine produced over 600bhp, yet F1 cars took until the mid-1980s to exceed that figure. Depending on gearing, the W125 could top 190mph.

BRABHAM-FORD BT49

FERRARI 312 B2

FERRARI 375 F1

As Bernie himself says: “This was a World Championship-winning car with Nelson [Piquet] that was equipped with a Ford [Cosworth] DFV engine.” In fact, it had been designed hastily for the 1979 season when Bernie ended the engine-supply deal with Alfa Romeo. It competed from 1979 to ’82, winning the 1981 World Championship.

During the 1971 season, works drivers Jacky Ickx, Clay Regazzoni and Mario Andretti switched back and forth between the 312 B2 and its predecessor the 312 B, performing well in qualifying but often missing out in the race. Still, Ickx won twice in this car in 1971, and Ickx and Regazzoni achieved five further podiums in it during 1971 and ’72.

Ferrari’s early Formula 1 efforts were with the 1.5-litre supercharged 125 F1, but after disappointing results Enzo Ferrari decided to switch to the naturally aspirated 4.5-litre formula for the 1950 season. Development came in stages, from a 3.3-litre to 4.1-litre and then this 4.5-litre 375 F1 in time for Monza, where Ascari finished second.

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B R A B H A M B T 5 2 | First turbocharged car to win the World Championship

ABOVE Bernie’s car, kept from the days he owned the team, is BT52-04. It was driven by Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, winning four GPs in 1983.

HIS QUOTE FROM Bernie tells a story all of its own: “I bought Brabham in 1971. I had that team for 18 years. This is a car which had the BMW turbocharged engine and was the first car to win with a turbo engine. It won the Championship after a little bit of discussion with the then-President of the FIA that supported Renault.” This sums up the Ecclestone Brabham years; Bernie bringing increased professionalism to Brabham, and Formula 1 in general, and pressuring the FIA to see things his way. Gordon Murray innovating like no other designer before him. And, with this, the 1983 BT52, taking Brabham to its fourth Drivers’ World Championship win – and the second under Bernie’s reign. “I think you can safely say that Brabham was the first really professional team,” asserts Bernie. “Gordon says that was the gamechanger, discipline but not stifling creativity. “I kept Gordon when I bought Brabham, against the advice of the guy who used to run the company, Ron Tauranac. ‘You can’t get rid of him and him and him.’ I said I’ll have to try [he gives a wry smile]. And I kept Gordon.” Gordon takes up the story: “The BT52 was a favourite with both myself and Bernie, not just because of the World Championship, but it remains an iconic Grand Prix car to this day. “I knew that the 1983 season would be all about developing the engine and not so much the other areas of the car, so I designed the 52 to be the simplest, least adjustable chassis on the Formula 1 grid. As the radiators, oil coolers and intercoolers were all in an arrow-shaped pod at the rear of the car, I took the opportunity to design Formula 1’s first ‘Race Rear End’. Over the years I had witnessed the mechanics working late into the night before the race – changing engines, gearboxes and rebuilding the whole rear end of the car. “This was the time, late at night, when mistakes were made and races were lost. The Race Rear End meant that our team had a fresh engine and gearbox assembly built up ready to swap on race night, and the result was an early departure from the circuit, much to the annoyance of the other teams.” As for Bernie, he’s adamant that he always let the Brabham team get on with it: “I didn’t get involved with most of it. We were lying first, second and third in Watkins Glen, and I left halfway through the race. Nothing else I could do – I wasn’t driving the bloody cars; better to get on the plane and get back. The engineering was interesting, but to me it was the business part, running things.”

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IKI LAUDA AND Bernie were good friends, right up to the Austrian driver’s death in May 2019. So this car is particularly special to Bernie – and it’s equally important in the history of Formula 1 machinery. It’s in a 312 T2 that Lauda won the 1977 Drivers’ World Championship. In fact, it was in this very car, chassis 029, that Lauda won five races during the 1977 season – although it was also driven by Carlos Reutemann during that same season, including his win at the Brazilian Grand Prix. “This car was another one of Niki’s achievements, and he won the World Championship in it,” says Bernie. “Niki would do what he wanted to do, he knew what he wanted. He’d come in after qualifying and he’d say, ‘There’s another second there’. And that’s what would happen – he knew where he could shave off the time. A bit special, Niki!” The 312 T2 was developed by chief engineer Mauro Forghieri from the 1975 312 T, itself a replacement for the awkward-handling 312 B3. The ‘T’ stands for trasversale, indicating that the gearbox is mounted transversely across the car, ahead of the famous 3-litre flat-12, and helping to keep the bulk of the weight as close as possible to the centre of the car. Bernie’s friend and former Ferrari team boss Luca di Montezemolo says of the T2: “I won 19 World Championships, both Manufacturer and Driver, during my time as team leader, but this car and this title remind me of Niki. He was the hero of the season, winning the Championship after the accident. Niki told me that the car was so quick at the Nürburgring that he went too fast, because the car was fantastic – easy to drive with very good handling. So for me these are the key elements of the car, but I want to emphasise this was down to the technological evolution of the ’75 T after very strong, constructive discussions inside the team.” The 312 T2 lasted into the start of the 1978 season, when it was replaced by the T3. However, Lauda was long gone by then, having walked out before the end of the 1977 season, to be replaced by Gilles Villeneuve.

F E R R A R I 3 1 2 T 2 | Niki Lauda’s 1977 Championship-winning cars

RIGHT Bernie owns several variants of Ferrari’s 312 F1 cars – the T2 had to make do without the high airbox behind the driver’s head of the previous season’s cars, due to a change in regulations.

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FERRARI F1-87

FERRARI F2002

FERRARI 555 F1

Luca di Montezemolo recalls the fuss caused by this 1987-’88 car: “It was the first to race out of the collaboration with John Barnard, which caused controversy with the Italian press who reported Enzo Ferrari as creating an English department within Maranello to win at the end of his life. But it was great to celebrate victories at the end of Enzo’s time.”

One of the most successful F1 cars of all time, winning 15 of 17 Grands Prix in 2002. This is chassis LF1, driven by Schumacher and Barrichello. “I remember how enthusiastic Michael was after just three laps, believe me, just three laps on a very cold day at the Fiorano track, January 2002,” says Luca di Montezemolo. “It was so easy to drive.”

“This car brings back memories to me, not as a car but for Mike [Hawthorn] driving it,” says Bernie. “He was a dear friend.” With those side-slung fuel tanks concentrating mass within the wheelbase, the Italian press nicknamed the 1954 car the Squalo (Shark), and this – in 1955 – the Super Squalo.

FERRARI 125

LANCIA-FERRARI D50

VANWALL

“It’s not so much that the car is famous, but that its driver, Mr Fangio, was,” states Bernie – and it’s true that the 2.5-litre V8 D50, built by Lancia but developed by Ferrari, is often overlooked. D50s won five of the 14 Formula 1 races they competed in, securing Juan Manuel Fangio the ’56 Drivers’ World Championship. Bernie’s car is a toolroom copy of the D50.

Bernie’s favourite car, chassis VW10; driven by Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss, and one of the cars to win Vanwall the inaugural FIA F1 Constructors’ World Championship in 1958. “I spent many weekends with the team. Stuart Lewis-Evans, Moss and Brooks were the drivers, and good friends – particularly Lewis-Evans, with whom I used to travel a lot.”

THIN WALL SPECIAL Why ‘Thin Wall’? Because the car was owned and run by Tony Vandervell, the maker of Vandervell ‘thin wall’ engine bearings. In the hands of Reg Parnell, it won the 1951 International Trophy race at Silverstone, and in the same year it also finished second in the important Ulster Trophy at Dundrod, Ireland.

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CAPTURING THE COLLECTION How a giant Polaroid camera was used to create a huge book

ACK IN 1976, Polaroid built five giant cameras to showcase its latest instant film. Although designed to capture fine detail in oil paintings and tapestries, Polaroid also lent the cameras to renowned artists, including Andy Warhol. The photographs created by the camera were 20x24 inches in size. Bernie Ecclestone was photographed using one of these cameras at the British Grand Prix in 2006, and has been a fan of them ever since. Because of this, he allowed the 2m-tall, 80kg camera to be used to photograph a selection of his Grand Prix cars at his ‘lock-up’, as he refers to it, to be used for a limited-edition book on the collection by Opus. The Polaroid film used to photograph the cars was among the last left in the world, production of it having ceased years ago, unsurprisingly. But as you can see, the resultant book is as oversize as the camera, standing at 70cm tall and 50cm wide, with 300 pages printed on 200gsm silk paper. Any buyer of the book can choose any one of the Polaroid portraits featured inside to adorn the cover, which is photographically printed on a 25x20cm aluminium plate. Each one is signed by Bernie Ecclestone. Gordon Murray and Luca di Montezemolo both contributed to the book, and have also been quoted in this article – but we were also able to talk with Bernie separately, specifically for Magneto. As for the collection, it’s everything you’d expect and more, but it’s very much for Bernie rather than public viewing. The cars are perfectly aligned, an Ecclestone trait... “You see now all the trucks [in the Formula 1 paddock] are lined up,” he says, with the hint of a mischievous smile. “They used to put them where they wanted; I’d made sure they looked proper. Those are the things that upset me, when I see things that are untidy. I’ll go into people’s houses and change pictures if I see they’re not straight.” The Ecclestone Formula One Collection starts at £2500. A 10 percent discount is offered to Magneto readers. Details at www.thisisopus.com. 78

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RIGHT Bernie inspects the 20x24in prints created for the new Opus book on the collection.

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Porsche 962 -110

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1981 Lotus 87 - Cosworth

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LAMB ORG H INI LAM BORG H IN I

CONCORSO

BULL

Forty cars hit the road from Venice to Trieste for the second Lamborghini & Design Concorso Forty cars hit the tothe Trieste d’Eleganza. Weroad werefrom there,Venice driving company’s formuseum the second Lamborghini & Design Concorso cars and revelling in the sound of V12s d’Eleganza. We were there, driving the company’s museum W O R D S cars DAV Iand D L Irevelling L LY W H I Tin E the sound of V12s PHOTO GR APHY LAMBORGHINI W O R D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E PHOTO GR APHY LAMBORGHINI

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J A G U AJ R A GXUJARR- 1 X5 J R - 1 5

HE DAYHE STARTS DAY STARTS in a in a Jalpa with Jalpa uncooperative with uncooperative door mirrors door and mirrors retinaand retinascorchingscorching yellow paint. yellow paint. I’m still snicking I’m still snicking my way my way through the through unfamiliar the unfamiliar open open gate of thegate dogleg of the gearshift dogleg when gearshift an Aventador when an Aventador SVJ screams SVJpast, screams making past,me making jump.me Up jump. ahead,Up ahead, 350GTs, Miuras, 350GTs, Countachs Miuras, Countachs and Diablos and are Diablos are mixing it with mixing a smattering it with a smattering of Urus SUVs of Urus andSUVs a and a gaggle of modern gaggle ofsupercars. modern supercars. It’s intoxicating. It’s intoxicating. This is the This second is theLamborghini second Lamborghini & Design& Design ConcorsoConcorso d’Eleganza. d’Eleganza. It’s not quite It’s not as serene quite as serene as your typical as your concours typical concours – although, – although, to be fair,to be fair, it began the it began previous the previous night in Venice night inwith Venice a with a boat cruise boat of cruise the Grand of theCanal Grand followed Canal followed by by dinner indinner Palazzo in Palazzo Grassi (turned Grassi into (turned its into its current form current in the form 1980s in the under 1980s theunder direction the direction of architect of architect Gae Aulenti, Gaewhom Aulenti, thewhom Concorso the Concorso is honouring). is honouring). So it’s notSo allit’s been notrevving all beenV12s. revving V12s. Today, though, Today,has though, started hasfull started throttle fullinthrottle a in a large multi-storey large multi-storey car park just car outside park justVenice, outside Venice, where nearly where40nearly Lamborghinis 40 Lamborghinis have been have been under high-security under high-security guard overnight. guard overnight. When all When all

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ABOVE Parked ABOVE Parked up for lunch up in for lunch in Castello d’Aviano. Castello d’Aviano. Third along Third on along on the left is the the left is the white ex-Rod white ex-Rod Stewart Miura Stewart S. Miura S.

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RIGHT The Walter Wolf Countach arrives in Portopiccolo. It’s one of three cars built for the Canadian businessman and F1 team owner.

ABOVE AND RIGHT 350GT, Huracán Evo Spyder, Diablo, Murciélago LP670-4 SV... Thunder!

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the owners arrive together by luxury coach and head straight for their cars, the resultant symphony of V12s (and a few V8s and V10s) starting more or less in unison provides the most gloriously ear-battering symphony and a fair whiff of unburnt fuel. And then we’re off, blasting unhindered onto the bridge out of Venice with the help of support vehicles and motorcycle outriders who continue with us through every stage of the journey to our base for the next two days: Portopiccolo, a discreet luxury resort on the northern-most edge of the beautiful Adriatic. The Museo Lamborghini’s Jalpa is proving to be a surprising delight. The steering is light and precise, the 3.5-litre transverse V8 a joy to rev and the gearshift easy through that lovely open gate. The roof has been unclipped and stashed easily behind the seat, meaning that headroom isn’t an issue – sitting in the car even for a few minutes with the roof on felt rather more cramped. The first stop, in the historic Piazza Foro Boario of Vittorio Veneto, is the first real chance to see all the cars together. There’s talk of the oldest Lamborghini in existence being in the group – and sure enough there’s the 1964 350GT chassis 102, the second car built (the first one having been lost in period). It’s time for me to say goodbye to the Jalpa, which I feel surprisingly sad about. Its replacement is the silver 25th Anniversary Countach: mean, formidable and a little cramped. The bulky electric seats of the 25th Anniversary model are more a hindrance than a help, and to get sufficient legroom and headroom means leaving my lower back completely unsupported. It hurts through town, especially with that heavy clutch action and shoulder-wrenching steering and gearchange, but as we hit open roads all is forgiven. This car is a monster! The 5.2-litre four-valve-per-cylinder V12 is all torque, and the car feels completely planted in every manoeuvre. The steering weights up in tight turns, but as soon as the speed is up it becomes responsive almost to the point of twitchiness. As the owner of a remarkable 4000-mile 25th Anniversary Countach comments as he pulls alongside at lunch, it’s a misunderstood but fantastic car that needs time to learn before the rewards can be taken. Above all else, it feels special, and to crawl along with a scissor door open makes you feel like the coolest man in town. The onlookers don’t need to know the truth (or that the

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ABOVE Not often you’ll see two ‘Rambo Lambo’ LM002s together – just 328 of them were built, from 1986 to 1993.

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electric windows electric windows open onlyopen a fewonly centimetres). a few centimetres). Or, for ultimate Or, forsupercar ultimate cool, supercar learn cool, to reverse learn to reverse with doorwith up while door seated up while onseated the sill.on the sill. Another Another stop, at stop, the stunning at the stunning Castello Castello d’Aviano,d’Aviano, and another and swap, another this swap, timethis intotime into the Jarama. the This Jarama. one’s This fresh one’s outfresh of a out ten-of a tenyear slumber year slumber at Museoat Lamborghini, Museo Lamborghini, and and resplendent resplendent in Blu Tahiti, in Bluone Tahiti, of the onegreat of the great CountachCountach colours. Its colours. looks Its arelooks divisive, are but divisive, but I take anI immediate take an immediate liking to liking its feeling to itsoffeeling of airiness and airiness uncluttered and uncluttered views past views the past thin the thin screen pillars; screen a huge pillars; contrast a hugeto contrast the Countach. to the Countach. The steering The steering and brakes and are brakes equally are equally contrasting… contrasting… the former the feels former predictably feels predictably undergeared undergeared after the kart-like after the Countach, kart-like Countach, with with too muchtooslack much around slack the around straight-ahead the straight-ahead position, position, while thewhile latterthe arelatter wooden are wooden and and lacking bite. lacking But bite. it’s aBut characterful it’s a characterful machine, machine, especiallyespecially once the over-long once the over-long accelerator accelerator pedal pedal action is action discovered is discovered – press, – keep press, pressing, keep pressing, press some press more some andmore finally and thefinally downdraught the downdraught Webers open Webers fully open andfully the and 3.9-litre the front3.9-litre frontmounted mounted V12 comes V12 alive. comes Wonderful. alive. Wonderful. And one And last one swap, last this swap, timethis intotime a new into a new AventadorAventador SVJ, Lamborghini’s SVJ, Lamborghini’s most hardcore most hardcore supercar. supercar. After the After soft Jarama, the soft and Jarama, the long and the long day driving, dayit’s driving, a shock it’sto a shock find thinly to find padded thinly padded carbonfibre carbonfibre seats, a seats, view of a view nothing of nothing but but louvres and louvres spoiler andinspoiler the rearview in the rearview mirror, mirror, and a tooth-rattling and a tooth-rattling ride. Passenger ride. Passenger Patrick, Patrick, allegedly allegedly in the inspirit the ofspirit journalistic of journalistic investigation, investigation, switches switches the drivethe mode drive from mode from Strada to Strada Sport to toCorsa Sport–toand Corsa swiftly – and switches swiftly switches it straightitback straight as the back suspension as the suspension goes fromgoes from hard to rock hardhard to rock and hard the exhaust and thefrom exhaust blare from blare to deafening. to deafening. On another Onday, another on another day, onroad another road – or better – or still better a track still–a this track car– would this car bewould be utterly phenomenal. utterly phenomenal. As it is, As the itfinal is, the straw final straw is makingis amaking hash ofa parallel hash of parking parallel itparking in a it in a dark underground dark underground car park car when park wewhen arrivewe arrive battered into battered submission into submission in Portopiccolo. in Portopiccolo. First First World problems, World problems, eh... eh... And thenAnd we’re then led we’re blinking led into blinking the sun intotothe sun to take in one takeofinthe onemost of the magnificent most magnificent views views you’ll findyou’ll on afind European on a European coastline.coastline. The late The late afternoonafternoon sun is sparkling sun is sparkling on the wave-tops on the wave-tops of of the Adriatic theand Adriatic illuminating and illuminating the castlethe high castle on high on the cliff-top, the pristine cliff-top,yachts pristine areyachts bobbing arein bobbing the in the harbour, and harbour, Lamborghinis and Lamborghinis are filing in aretofiling take in to take their predesignated their predesignated places onplaces eitheron side either of side of the neat harbour. the neat harbour. To one side Toare onethe side Miuras, are theand Miuras, they include and they include the P400the recently P400verified recentlyasverified the carasfrom the car the from the opening opening scenes ofscenes The Italian of TheJob, Italian the Job, SV the SV restored restored last year last by Polo year by Storico Polo for Storico Jean for Jean Todt, andTodt, the unusual and the Azzurro unusual Mexico Azzurro(light Mexico (light blue) SV once blue)owned SV once byowned singer by Little singer Tony. Little Tony. 86

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ABOVE This ABOVE This is the earliest is the earliest Lamborghini Lamborghini in existence, in existence, the the second 350GT second 350GT ever produced. ever produced.

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LAMBORGHINI JALPA

A Miura always looks smaller and even more beautiful in the metal than it does in pictures, but when two hulking black LM002s are parked alongside… well, the difference is extreme, shall we say. A walk round to the other side reveals, for me, the car of the show: in blue, with all original decals present and correct, is a Walter Wolf-edition Countach, built on an LP400 for the owner of the Wolf F1 Racing Team, with 5-litre engine and the wide ’arches and front and rear spoilers of the LP400S. Even in Countach terms it’s special, and it draws eyes away from the 25th Anniversary cars, the 5000S and the magnificently macho 5000QV. Portopiccolo is where the Concorso will take place, with judging set for the Saturday morning. The judges are headed by marque authority Stefano Pasini, and include design critic Stephen Bayley, restorer Gary Bobileff, founder and CEO of Concorso d’Eleganza Kyoto Hidetomo Kimura, Octane deputy editor Mark Dixon, Royal Automobile Club Motoring Committee Peter Read, Museo Nicolis president Silvia Nicolis, and Lamborghini Club Italia president Andrea Nicoletto. Before that, there’s dinner in the 14th century Castello di Duino, the cliff-top castle that overlooks Portopiccolo, with another nod to the heritage of Gae Aulenti. Tough life, on these Lamborghini events. The concours itself, on the Saturday morning, sees the judges inspecting the cars mostly on condition and originality. For all the talk the previous night of Lamborghinis being for driving, not for show, there’s some serious polishing gone on early this morning. But it’s a relaxed affair and a good chance to get to know the owners: one is already planning his next 88

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ABOVE The judges examine the Walter Wolf Countach in Portopiccolo; scoring emphasis was on originality as well as condition.

Polo Storico restoration, having only just taken delivery of the most recent one; another owns his perfect Miura, an original Fiat 500 and a modern camper van. Nothing else. One enthusiast has been so thoroughly inducted into the Lamborghini fold that he’s planning on selling all his Ferraris. There’s a strong feeling that Lamborghini ownership is something above all else, and it’s a family affair, with some entrants bringing along sons and daughters as their co-drivers, and one lucky teenager already in possession of his own modern Lamborghini, although not yet in possession of a driving licence. Oh, and not forgetting the wonderful lady whose little dog goes everywhere with her in her Urraco. This is a friendly, deeply passionate crowd. Who wins the concours? All will be revealed later. First we’re off again, underlining the importance of the drive, not the show, to Lamborghini owners. We convoy 16 miles down the road to Trieste, where we arrive to a superstar welcome into the Piazza Unità d’Italia for lunch at Harry’s Bistrò, and then head off through an ever-growing crowd of Lamborghini admirers onto the route of the Trieste-Opicina hillclimb. This is exciting stuff! The hillclimb was first run in 1907, one of the very first motor-racing events in the region, and it continued – sporadically at first – right through until 1971, attracting ever more powerful cars and ever more famous drivers. And that, of course, was its downfall, so that by the 1970 event a Ferrari 512 S was recorded as covering the

The Jalpa, unsurprisingly named after the Jalpa Kandachia breed of fighting bulls, was Lamborghini’s entry-level model when it was introduced at the 1981 Geneva Motor Show (and it’s still exactly that). As the successor to the Silhouette, it was intended to be more affordable and easier to live with than its Countach stablemate – and so this Museo Lamborghini example proved to be on the drive out of Venice at the start of the tour. The Jalpa’s styling, by Bertone, was harder edged than the Silhouette’s to be more in line with the Countach’s looks. The dashboard was similarly angular and boxy – it’s very much of its time. Instead of the Countach’s V12, the Jalpa is powered by a 255bhp 3.5-litre DOHC version of the all-alloy V8 that had served in the Urraco and the Silhouette. It’s mounted transversely behind the cockpit, the five-speed gearbox alongside it. What’s it like? A surprising delight – and with a 0-60mph time of 6.0 seconds and a 155mph top speed, it’s no slouch. It’s reckoned that 410 of them sold, which was eight times more than the Silhouette but 300-odd less than the Urraco.

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steep, ever-twisting 8km closed-road course in 3 minutes 25 seconds, averaging over 93mph. After a hairy, rain-soaked event the following year, the event was declared too dangerous. I’m delighted to be back in the Jarama, which roars ably up the historic course to Opicina on the Slovenian border, although its brakes begin to struggle on the faster but still twisty route back down the lush foothills of the Slovenian Littoral region towards Portopiccolo. The supercars ahead are soon out of sight but who cares? This drive will go down as an all-time great for me. That afternoon, the atmosphere couldn’t be more relaxed as everyone sits around the harbour at the open-air bars and cafés. There’s one last treat in store, though, as Bellini Nautica offers a ride in Ferruccio Lamborghini’s personal twin Espada V12-powered 1968 Riva Aquarama speedboat. In 48 hours I’ve heard V12s echoing around a car park, screaming on autostradas, roaring through tunnels and burbling through quiet villages. Now I get to hear two in harmony as we bounce over the waves of the Gulf of Trieste. That evening come al fresco presentations by the light of Gae Aulenti’s iconic Pipistrello lamps, with talks from Aulenti’s granddaughter as well as Stephen Bayley and Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali – and, of course, the awards. Best of Show rightly goes to the number two 350GT, with honours also going to (among others) the Walter Wolf Countach and the white ex-Rod Stewart Miura S. By the end of it all, I appreciate a little more how it feels to be inducted into the cult of Lamborghini.

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LAMBORGHINI JARAMA

LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH 25TH In many ways, the 25th Anniversary edition was the ultimate production Countach, although its looks were controversial when it was introduced in 1988. The low-mileage example we drove belongs to the Museo Lamborghini – one of three 25th Anniversary models on the event. Mechanically the 25th Anniversary was the same as the 449bhp 5.2-litre four-valve-per-cylinder 5000QV introduced three years earlier. Externally, it was quite different, thanks to restyling work by Horacio Pagani (yes, that Pagani). The most obvious changes were to the rear airbox ducts – even larger than the QV’s, with more prominent slats – and the addition of a back bumper. Both came in for criticism, but the ducting changes increased engine cooling and air flow. There was more emphasis on refinement, too, including electrically operated seats. The downside was less space and a weight gain over the 5000QV of 100kg (220lb). The 25th Anniversary was produced until 1990, when it was replaced by the Diablo. If you’re under about 5ft 10in it’s phenomenal to drive; less raw than an LP400 and with relentless, intoxicating power.

Perhaps surprisingly, of the three Museo Lamborghini cars we drove the Jarama S was the favourite in many ways – but then it’s often quoted that it was Ferruccio’s favourite, too: more wieldy than the larger Espada, less extrovert than the Miura and Countach, and more usable than all of them, according to Ferruccio in 1991. The Jarama was effectively the last in the line of the V12 two-plus-twos that began with the 400GT 2+2 (the 350GT and first 400GT were two-seaters). The Islero followed as a re-skin of the 400GT, while the Jarama was based on a shortened Espada chassis, with styling by the great Marcello Gandini at Bertone. There were two variations on the Jarama; the first was the 350bhp GT, built from 1970 to 1973. In 1972 the GT was joined by the 365bhp GTS (or Jarama S), which continued in production until 1976. The S can be identified most easily by its bonnet scoops – and the S badge on the rear... Just 328 Jaramas were built, 152 of which were the S variant. They’re not the best-looking Lamborghini, but as powerful grand tourers go they’re a really interesting proposition, at a lower price than an Espada.

1935 Riley MPH Two Seat Sports UK registration ‘OW 7925’ Riley six-cylinder 1,726cc engine with triple SU carburettors Wilson preselector gearbox; cross-shaft Bowden brakes Known ownership history dating back to June 1954 One of the most attractive of all pre-war British sports cars

1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster Chassis Number # 002756 is 1 of only 5 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadsters which were originally supplied in Fantasiegelb color code DB 653, Fantasy Yellow. Tastefully restored to show condition and now with a dark green leather interior, matching two-piece luggage, black hard top and upgraded with Rudge wheels.

FURTHER CARS AVAILABLE: 1957 Fiat Abarth 750GT Corsa Zagato ‘Double Bubble’ 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopica ex Princess Dalal

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What does it take to win the legendary Peking to Paris Motor Challenge? A Bentley, say Graham and Marina Goodwin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; along with healthy portions of determination, preparation and good, old-fashioned luck W O R D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E P H O T O G R A P H Y M AT T H E W H O W E L L , G E R A R D B R O W N

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St Petersburg ESTONIA

Riga LITHUANIA

NETHERLANDS

Ypres Paris FRANCE

GERMANY BELGIUM

Szczecin POLAND

Kazan Kazan

LATVIA

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Novosibirsk

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Astana KAZAKHSTAN

Ulaanbaatar MONGOLIA CHINA

Peking/Beijing

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T ABOVE Pyman ABOVE heads Pyman heads through the through wilderness the wilderness of of Mongolia,Mongolia, where exhausted where exhausted competitors competitors would camp would camp together each together night. each night.

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HE FACEBOOK HE FACEBOOK PAGE says PAGE it all:says “Dust it all: in my “Dust Face in is my setFace up is set up by Graham by and Graham Marina andGoodwin, Marina Goodwin, two middle-aged two middle-aged empty- emptynesters who nesters havewho decided haveto decided exploretothe explore worldthe in aworld pre-war in a pre-war vintage Bentley.” vintage Bentley.” This, you’ll This, probably you’ll probably have guessed, have guessed, is that is that vintage Bentley. vintageIts Bentley. name is ItsPyman, name isand Pyman, it’s pictured and it’s here pictured still here still wearing its wearing Pekingits toPeking Paris war to Paris wounds warand wounds dust.and dust. Why a Bentley? Why a You Bentley? mightYou assume mightthat assume it’s hardly that it’s thehardly best the best choice, but choice, Graham but and Graham Marina andare Marina converts. are converts. “I was into “I was into off-road motorbiking,” off-road motorbiking,” says Graham, says Graham, “so when“so thewhen kids flew the kids flew the nest and the we nestsold andour we business, sold our business, I thoughtIwe thought shouldwe take should take the opportunity the opportunity to see theto world see the on world a motorbike. on a motorbike. “But I really “But didn’t I really fancy didn’t off-roading fancy off-roading on the back on of thea back bike,”of a bike,” says Marina. says“I’d Marina. already “I’dbroken already my broken collarmy bone collar skiing.” bone skiing.” Graham again: Graham “Then again: someone “Then someone said, ‘Why said, not ‘Why try rallying?’. not try rallying?’. We talkedWe about talked it, and about thought it, andmaybe thought wemaybe should, wemaybe should, in maybe a in a ’60s or early ’60s ’70s or early Porsche. ’70s Porsche. But we kept But seeing we kept the seeing pre-war the pre-war cars and cars thought and itthought would it bewould really be cool really to try cool something to try something older. Ourolder. worry Our was worry how was strong how a pre-war strong acar pre-war wouldcar be.would be. “Then we“Then saw the weBentleys. saw the Bentleys. They’re tough, They’re easy tough, to work easyon to work on and reliable, andbut reliable, also over but also timeover they’ve timecontinued they’ve continued to go up in to go up in value. As value. a Yorkshireman, As a Yorkshireman, that appeals thattoappeals me. Then to me. we found Then we found that they’re thatincredibly they’re incredibly exciting to exciting drive, to they’re drive,really they’re fast, really fast, they’re mechanically they’re mechanically simple, sosimple, you cansolearn you can howlearn to maintain how to maintain them – we them just – got wemore just got andmore into the andidea.” into the idea.” So the choice So thehad choice gonehad from gone a modern from a motorcycle modern motorcycle to a to a century-old century-old Bentley. Next Bentley. step,Next to find step,said to find Bentley saidand Bentley to and to prepare itprepare for rallying. it for Graham rallying. and Graham Marina andwent Marina to vintage went to vintage Bentley specialist Bentley specialist William Medcalf, William Medcalf, and cameand away came with away a with a rare 1925 rare Supersports 1925 Supersports – WO Bentley’s – WO Bentley’s sportier ‘Green sportier Label’ ‘Green Label’ take on the take 3 Litre on the model, 3 Litre introduced model, introduced when thewhen 3 Litrethe and 3 Litre the and the companycompany had been had around beenfor around just six for years. just six years. Only 18 Supersports Only 18 Supersports were builtwere between built between 1925 and 1925 ’27, all and ’27, all but one ofbut them oneon ofathem special on 9ft a special short-wheelbase 9ft short-wheelbase chassis (the chassis (the other on other a standard on a standard 9ft 9½in 9ft chassis). 9½in These chassis). were These fastwere cars, fast cars, capable of capable 100mph, of 100mph, and moreand agile more thanks agiletothanks the shorter to the shorter wheelbase. wheelbase. They tended They totended be fitted towith be fitted relatively with relatively lightweight lightweight bodies tobodies effectively to effectively make a Bentley make ahot Bentley rod. Pyman hot rod.was Pyman the was the fourth of fourth nine built of nine withbuilt a wider withbulkhead, a wider bulkhead, and henceand an hence oval an oval radiator. It’s radiator. thought It’sthat thought four or that five four survive. or five survive. The appeal The of appeal the Supersports of the Supersports for Graham forand Graham Marina andwas Marina was clear. Here clear. was Here a vintage was acar vintage that was carrare thatbut wasstrong rare but and strong fast, and fast, with better with handling better handling (compared (compared with a standard-wheelbase with a standard-wheelbase Bentley) at Bentley) the expense at theof expense a bit ofof ride a bit comfort, of ride and comfort, the icing and the icing on the cake onwas the cake that this wasparticular that this particular Supersports Supersports had a strong had a strong YorkshireYorkshire heritage. Its heritage. first owner, Its first a Mr owner, Pyman a Mr(ah-ha!) Pymanwas (ah-ha!) was in the shipping in the industry, shipping industry, and basedand in Whitby. based in“We Whitby. bought “Weit bought it to take home to take to Yorkshire,” home to Yorkshire,” says Marina. says Marina. Still, the plan Still,from the plan the start fromwas the start that Pyman was that had Pyman to be had builtto be built to withstand to withstand tougher territory toughereven territory thaneven Yorkshire, than Yorkshire, so William so William Medcalf Vintage MedcalfBentley Vintagewas Bentley commissioned was commissioned to rally prepare to rallyit.prepare it. “We went“We to see went Medcalf, to see and Medcalf, then and we were then hooked,” we were hooked,” says says Graham. Graham. “Ultimately “Ultimately that culminated that culminated in us doing in us thedoing latestthe latest Peking to Peking Paris. We to Paris. did some We did littlesome rallies little as arallies test, then as a test, our first then our first big one was bigthe one Rally wasof the the Rally Incas, of the andIncas, we then andgot wetotally then got hooked. totally hooked. M AG NE MTAOG N/ E9T7 O

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ABOVE The standard fuel tank had a range of just 350km – not enough for Mongolia’s sparse fuel stations – so an extra tank was fitted under the car.

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ABOVE Maintenance was crucial: oil checks, suspension lubrication and constant brake and clutch adjustments.

BELOW Conscious BELOW Conscious of of weight and weight spaceand in the space in the Bentley, Graham Bentley, and Graham and Marina travelled Marina with travelled with just two small just two bags small and bags and threw outthrew unnecessary out unnecessary tools along tools the along way. the way.

It’s a combination It’s a combination of things:of the things: people the you people meet,you themeet, challenge, the challenge, the reception the reception you get when you get youwhen driveyou through drive in through a Bentley. in a Bentley. “If you want “If you to do want a big to rally, do a big if you rally, want if you to be want really to be cool, really cool, either you either do ityou in do something it in something really oldreally like an old Itala like with an Itala with wooden wooden wheels, or wheels, you do orityou in adoBentley. it in a Obviously Bentley. Obviously we’re we’re biased! But biased! withBut an Itala with it’s an Itala aboutit’s surviving about surviving until the until end, the end, while in awhile Bentley in athe Bentley difference the difference is that you is that can still you win can an still win an event, you event, can you beatcan all the beatpre-wars all the pre-wars and you and can you beatcan the beat the classics. classics. And it’s And seriously it’s seriously cool, spectators cool, spectators like you,like andyou, and everyoneeveryone on the rally on the likesrally youlikes because you because they know they you’re know you’re putting inputting a pretty inhard a pretty shifthard – you shift get–dirt youinget every dirtorifice.” in every orifice.” “The only“The day Ionly looked dayclean I looked on the clean Peking on the toPeking Paris was to Paris the was the day I turned day up,” I turned agrees up,” Marina. agrees Marina. The pair The are delighted pair are delighted that theythat wentthey to Medcalf, went to Medcalf, pointing pointing out that you out need that you the need absolute the best absolute preparation best preparation and an expert and an expert at the other at the endother of the endphone of theatphone all times, at all because times, because a long- a longdistance distance rally is such rally aisbig such commitment a big commitment of both time of both andtime and money –money and if you – and don’t if you get don’t to theget finish, to the allfinish, that isall wasted. that is wasted. “The cars“The that cars havethat wonhave the Peking won the toPeking Paris ato lotParis in the a lot past in the past have been have Chevrolet been Chevrolet ‘Fangio’ coupes, ‘Fangio’ and coupes, they’re andvery they’re good very good rally cars,” rally says cars,” Graham. says Graham. “You can“You fit a can rollcage fit a in rollcage them, in so them, so you’re safer, you’re yousafer, can you fit harnesses can fit harnesses in them, in again them, so again you’reso you’re safer, and safer, underneath and underneath you can you fit some can fit quite some nice quite shock nice shock absorbers, absorbers, which will which help on willthe help rough on the stuff. rough Thestuff. downside The downside of of a car, perhaps, a car, perhaps, that has athat rollcage has aand rollcage seatbelts and seatbelts is that it gives is that it gives you the confidence you the confidence to go maybe to go a bit maybe quicker a bitthan quicker you than should. you should. “On a Bentley “On ayou Bentley can’tyou really can’t modify reallyitmodify all, so our it all, car sowas our car was almost standard. almost standard. We got a We littlegot more a little power more out power of theout engine of the engine than wasthan standard, was standard, but it wasbut standard it was standard suspension, suspension, standardstandard gearbox gearbox – no synchromesh, – no synchromesh, double-declutching double-declutching – and no– and no seatbeltsseatbelts or rollcage. or Irollcage. had the Isteering had thewheel steering to hold wheelonto, to hold butonto, but Marina –Marina well, usually – well,byusually the time byI’d theshouted time I’d‘bump!’, shoutedMarina ‘bump!’, Marina was already wasinalready the air.” in the air.” “I’ve got “I’ve a little got handle a littleI can handle hold I can ontohold but onto it wasn’t but it much wasn’t much use. I wasuse. likeIawas loaflike of bread a loafsitting of bread in sitting the seat,” in the laughs seat,” Marina. laughs Marina. “We had “We timeshad when times wewhen were racing we were along racing a single alongtrack a single in track in MongoliaMongolia behind another behind car, another and you’re car, and inyou’re their dust in their cloud dust cloud because because you’ve got you’ve to get got close to get to close them to them overtake,” to overtake,” says says Graham. Graham. “You’ve got “You’ve to wait gotuntil to wait the until rut atthe therut edge at the of the edge of the track disappears track disappears so you can so you go off can track go off andtrack thenand get then past get past them andthem pull back and pull in. Then, back in. when Then, you’re when in you’re that dust in that cloud, dust cloud, suddenlysuddenly they do athey manoeuvre do a manoeuvre around aaround 2ft pothole a 2ftand pothole you and you hit it because hit it you because don’tyou seedon’t it. Wesee had it. that We had happen that around happen around four times four andtimes it was and brutal. it was brutal. “We also“We had also a time had onasome time on softsome stuffsoft andstuff we hit and a bump. we hit a bump. I don’t know I don’t why know but why it launched but it launched us in theus air.inI the thought air. I I’d thought I’d cracked my cracked neck,my andneck, Marina...” and Marina...” “I went up “I in went theup air!” in says the air!” Marina. says“I Marina. was horizontal, “I was horizontal, and I and I hit my back hit my hard back on the hardback on the of the back seat. of the Twoseat. daysTwo laterdays I later I couldn’t open couldn’t car open doorscar anddoors things. and I thought things. II’d thought fractured I’d fractured my my ribs. I hadribs. a lotI of had painkillers, a lot of painkillers, but we were butstill we were goingstill forgoing it, andfor it, and we were on werough were on roads. rough I just roads. pretended I just pretended I was having I was a baby, having a baby, panting to panting get through to get the through pain. the Youpain. haveYou to keep havegoing.” to keep going.” “You need “You a tough neednavigator!” a tough navigator!” confirmsconfirms Graham, Graham, perhaps perhaps unnecessarily, unnecessarily, but it’s clear butthese it’s clear twothese tooktwo the event took the seriously, event seriously, working working on the car on every the car night, every checking night, checking for damaged for damaged or or loose components, loose components, Marina studying Marina studying the routethe books. route books. “There were “There days were when days wewhen did 650km we didand 650km the only and stops the only stops were when were you when had you yourhad timecard your timecard chipped, chipped, and thenand youthen you M AG NM ET AO G N/ E 9T9O

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LEFT Pyman in action. You can see the hardworked friction dampers at the front – no fancy telescopics here.

were off again. There was no going for a pee, no food, nothing. “There were also times when Marina was urging me to go faster (Marina: “We were behind, I said go faster!”). I knew the car would be totally destroyed if I did. To be competitive you’ve got to know the 100 percent point on your car. At what point will your car be destroyed? And then you need to drive five percent back from that. You need to take your car to the edge of destruction but not over the edge.” “Anyone competing needs to know their car,” confirms Marina. “A lot of people don’t. I’m always taken aback.” Both agree that the highlight of Peking to Paris was the 800-mile section through Mongolia, across the Gobi desert, referring to it as “one of the last wildernesses” and “like being on the moon”. And although both Graham and Marina admit to being highly competitive, with top-three finishes in a few rallies prior to Peking to Paris, even they were surprised to find themselves leading the Vintage class (there are just two classes, the other for pre-1976 classics) by two minutes. “We never expected to be in the lead before we got to the end of Mongolia. One night we were stood having a glass of wine by our tent, and Jamie Turner, who’s one of the top mechanics (and competitors) on the event says, ‘You’ve done

‘At what point will your car be destroyed? You need to take it to the edge of destruction but not over the edge’ 100

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amazingly well, but you know that nobody has ever won Peking to Paris who’s led out of Mongolia?’ We thought, ‘oh brilliant...’, because we hadn’t been in the lead but then the car in front of us fell apart and that got us into the lead.” Could they hold onto the lead, though? They were trying to conserve the car over the rough terrain, but their lead kept dropping, until it was down to 40 seconds – and Graham in particular was feeling the stress. Then, in Russia, came trouble. Pyman had been fitted with neoprene covers over the air filters to protect them from the Mongolian dust, but Graham took the covers off once they reached Russia. After a full day of rain, they hit a waterlogged special stage, and mud sprayed up both sides of the engine, all over the starter motor and the carburettors, and into the engine. The throttle stuck at 3500rpm – almost maximum revs for a Bentley 3 Litre. “We ended up driving with the throttle locked on,” says Graham. “I had to brake against the engine dragging us along because we were skidding around and in danger of doing a full doughnut on the track, and this was a timed stage. “When we got to the end I turned the engine off to see what was wrong with it, couldn’t see what the problem was, went to re-start, and the starter jammed. We got a bump-start, and it then locked on at 3500 revs again. This is where we were lucky, because the organisers had brought the main time control a little bit earlier – you need luck sometimes! “But we still had to drive the car with a locked-on throttle for 90km and just bang it into gear, and every corner you just had to ride the clutch. We got towed through the border at Kazakhstan; we couldn’t have driven through at 3500 revs, they’d have arrested us. We thought we were out of the rally

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ABOVE Graham, Marina and, of course, Pyman finish the Peking to Paris, first in the hard-fought Vintage class.

but we made it to the end.” It took until 1.30am to find and fix the problem, and then it was up at 5am again for the next leg. Incredibly, Graham and Marina had held onto the lead, and when they got to Finland the special tests were on circuits and rallycross tracks, which suited them better than rough terrain; by the end of the Finnish leg they were six minutes ahead. Still, anything could happen... “We had a rally in Africa that we led for 24 days and then lost it at the end,” recalls Graham. “That was my fault; that’s known as Papergate,” grins Marina. “He says he’s forgiven me, but he quite clearly hasn’t.” Still, they were getting closer and closer to the Paris finish,

‘While it’s a competition and we went for it, the most important things are the people you meet and the places you go’

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until at last there was just one stage left to do. But as a final twist, the maximum time penalty had been raised from the usual four minutes or so to eight minutes. And Graham and Marina’s lead was just six minutes – so one wrong slot and they could have lost first place. “Everybody was setting off and driving like the clappers, and all the spectators were amazed,” says Graham. “And then we drove in first gear and just chugged round it.” “The look of disappointment on people’s faces!” laughs Marina. But they’d done it, they’d completed 13,500km with just one unintended 30km diversion, leading most of the way. “To win the Peking to Paris is a big deal,” says Graham. “It’s only every three years, a Bentley has never won it before, it was Bentley’s centenary year, we’re a husband and wife team, and I don’t think a British team has won it for a while. “Ultimately, though, while it’s a competition and we went for it, the most important things are the people you meet and the places you go through. Russia was a revelation! The people were lovely, they would help us work on the cars and they wouldn’t take any money. That’s a lovely dynamic. “It’s a drug. If you start endurance rallying you’ll get hooked. Some people do Peking to Paris as a bucket-list trip. If you want to do Peking to Paris and all you want to do is finish, I would say it’s not that difficult. All you’re doing is driving a long way,” says Graham. And it’s still “a fabulous experience”, confirms Marina. Now Graham and Marina are building up to their next big challenge, the three-part Round the World organised by Rally the Globe, which they’ve helped to set up. They’re hooked. For the 2022 Peking to Paris, see www.endurorally.com. For information on Round the World, visit www.rallytheglobe.com.

MASERATI M A S E R AT I

50 0 0 GT

5000GT The true meaning of bespoke A term bandied about meaninglessly on production models today meant so much

WOR D S A N D PHOTOGRAPHY WINSTON GO ODFELLOW

‘

ESPOKE’, ‘ONE-OFF’ and ‘exclusive’ are terms often bandied about these days when speaking of ultraexpensive and limitedproduction models. If such manufacturers and their clients believe cars with double and triple-digit production numbers are truly ‘exclusive’ and ‘bespoke’, they need to examine a 5000GT to properly understand the words’ meanings. That magnificent Maserati was likely the world’s fastest car in the late 1950s and early ’60s, and it still makes quite an impression when driven today. Most importantly, its story has numerous elements that the ‘moderns’ simply can’t touch. That list starts with DNA rooted in World Championship endurance racing, an arena in which Maserati had competed since 1947. Starting with the Tipo A6GCS, each successive model gained more power and speed, and by the mid-1950s Maserati was locked in an epic battle for sports-racing supremacy with Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston Martin and others. Its 300S was a beautifully balanced car that visited

the winners’ circle, but with Ferrari unveiling new and ever-more powerful V12s in the mid1950s, Maserati realised its reliable inline sixcylinder couldn’t compete, no matter how well rounded the 300S was. Which is how a second element enters the 5000 story. Tony Parravano had quite a reputation in Southern California’s real-estate construction industry, and he would make an even bigger splash in 1960 by vanishing while owing a very large IRS tax bill. In the mid-’50s he was Maserati’s biggest client, and likely acquired more fast racing machinery than anyone anywhere; as authors Michel Bollée and Willem Oosthoek note in Maserati 450S – The Fastest Sports Racing Car of the 1950s, by 1957 Parravano owned 17 competition cars valued at $500,000 – a hefty sum at the time. During one of his visits to Modena, Parravano learned of Maserati’s still-born Tipo 54 4.5-litre V8, and that’s where the third (and a main) element of 5000GT history enters the picture. Giulio Alfieri was Maserati’s chief engineer and barely 30 years old. Brilliant, dedicated, very focused and driven, he perhaps

more in the GT’s golden era, as this exclusive Italian model proves. We chart its story from not-so-humble beginnings

RIGHT Pietro Frua dreamed up the intriguing and influential coachwork of the Aga Khan’s 5000GT.

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more than any other individual formulated Maserati’s post-war automotive DNA. He and company president Omer Orsi recognised that the Tipo 54 project had the potential to best Ferrari’s V12s, and Parravano was a perfect means to making it happen. The construction magnate bit on their proposition, and with money now in the picture the 4477cc DOHC V8 powerplant was assembled and underwent development testing. The engine was a honey. “Output was measured at 412bhp at 7000rpm,” long-time Maserati employee Ermanno Cozza noted in his delightful book Maserati at Heart. “(It) would accelerate up to maximum revs incredibly quickly without the slightest hesitation.” Alfieri and his men then made a new chassis, and in-house coachbuilder Medardo Fantuzzi created a muscular, sleek-looking aluminium body. In October 1956 the first ‘production’ 450S went to Parravano in California, and the following year the model invaded racetracks in Europe and South America. It was far and away the fastest car in FIA endurance racing, typically running away from the field. Unfortunately that speed did not equate to luck, so while the 450S won two races, it was a DNF elsewhere. The real sting came in the season’s last event at Caracas, when the three 450Ss competing were all involved in freak accidents, causing Maserati to lose the championship to Ferrari. In 1958, the FIA limited engine capacity to 3 litres, making the 450S obsolete on the Continent. Maserati didn’t have the finances to make something new, because its industrialist owner Adolfo Orsi (Omer’s father) took a tremendous financial hit when Argentina’s president Juan Perón was deposed. In April, 1958 Adolfo had to declare bankruptcy. By now, Maserati had formally (but not completely) withdrawn from racing, but all was not lost. “At this time,” former Maserati employee Aurelio Bertocchi told me many years ago, “we had just started the (3500)GT programme. We decided to concentrate all our energy (in that area), rather than racing.” A smart move that, for the 230bhp, 130mphplus 3500GT remained the Modena area’s best-selling model for the better part of two decades. As the corporate turnaround took place and car sales grew exponentially, Giulio Alfieri said Omer Orsi sent a letter to the Shah of Iran, and included brochures of the 3500GT and 450S in the correspondence. That’s how royalty – the fourth and likely most important element in the creation of the 5000GT – entered the picture. Then in his late 30s, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had been king 106

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ABOVE Patronage from the king of Iran made development of Maserati’s 5000GT possible. Here are Carlo Anderloni’s sketches and the actual model of the so-named ‘Shah of Persia’.

ABOVE Chief engineer Alfieri masterminded redevelopment of 3500GT to carry a bigger V8.

of Iran for nearly 20 years, and was a noted auto enthusiast. At 1957’s Paris Auto Show he purchased a Ferrari 410SA, and how quickly he responded to Orsi’s query surprised the two Maserati men: “My family had received a number of calls from the Iranian embassy in Rome,” Alfieri told me. “It was around 9pm on Saturday when my wife handed me the phone, saying they wanted to speak with me.” During that call a meeting was set for the following day at the naval academy in Livorno, and Alfieri and Omer Orsi drove out to the coastal city. The Shah and his entourage met

them at the academy, and after brief pleasantries the Shah “pulled out a sales sheet on the 450S”, according to Alfieri. “He said: ‘I want a car, using this as the basis. I’d like to have something special I can use on the street.’” Just like that, Maserati had found another ‘Parravano’, someone who could bankroll a new project. The Shah, Orsi and Alfieri now identified the car’s parameters: a special, sporting twoplace coupé with the powerful 4.5-litre V8 and a usable trunk. Alfieri then told the Shah he’d guarantee the model would touch 280kph, or 174mph. In the late 1950s, that would make it the world’s fastest production car. With the concept determined Alfieri returned to Modena, where he had his men modify and reinforce the 3500GT’s chassis to handle the bigger, considerably more powerful V8. Suspension up front would be coil springs, telescopic shocks and an anti-roll bar. In back it was much the same, but with semi-elliptic leaf springs. Brakes were discs up front, and large drums at the rear. Intriguingly, Omer Orsi’s personal diary showed his first choice for the 5000’s coachwork was Carrozzeria Bertone. The two companies had never worked together, but Orsi was likely captivated by Bertone’s avant-garde designs on Alfa’s BATs, Sportiva and prototype Sprint Speciale. Here, he wanted a more sober design. “This car must be viewed as a serious proposition for a real gentleman,” he noted in a December 9, 1958 letter to Bertone. “So do not incorporate too much fantasy.” Bertone responded with a sketch that was included in Orsi’s December 20 letter to the Shah. His Imperial Highness wasn’t impressed, though, for in January 1959 Orsi reached out to Carrozzeria Touring. The stalwart styling house had been at the forefront of Italian design for three decades, with many of Alfa’s most famous pre-war models in its portfolio. When company co-founder and chief stylist Felice Bianchi Anderloni unexpectedly passed away in 1948, his son Carlo ably took over the design reins. His very first work was Ferrari’s seminal 166MM Barchetta, and other notables followed, including Alfa’s Villa d’Este and Disco Volantes, the Pegaso Thrill and the production Maserati 3500GT. After being briefed by Orsi on the 5000GT’s parameters, Anderloni assembled his design crew and went to work. “With the 3500,” he told me, “that car was supposed to be understated – something that said you were important but not a star. The ‘Shah of Persia’, as the model came to be known, was a different school of thought. Here we wanted something imposing… to show the person

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inside was of wealth and importance.” The coachwork Touring created had some design dichotomies. For instance, the side profile and proportions were clean and eye catching, while the front grille, oversized trident and headlight treatment were quite gaudy. But Carlo Anderloni was both perceptive and well travelled, so there was a method to the madness. “In retrospect,” he noted, “the style was baroque and heavy. As we liked our designs to reflect the culture of the customer, when we referenced examples of Persian architecture, it was often ornate and heavily embellished. While the front was a bit difficult for us, it clearly announced ‘an outstanding car is arriving’.” By mid-February 1959, Touring’s sketches were completed. After their review at Maserati, they were forwarded to the Shah. Two weeks later a telegram arrived in Modena, His Imperial Highness very much liking what he saw and complimenting the coachbuilder’s efforts. Now the hard work began – engineering, building and testing the actual car. “When you look at the problems the Shah was having with his 410,” Alfieri recalled, “the clutch gave him trouble, as did the ignition system (since) its power was correlated directly to the number of rpm. With a big engine like this, the electrical output could be a problem, especially if you are running at low rpm in top gear… This was a shortcoming with all of the era’s GT cars, and Italy’s industry in particular didn’t have the availability of some subsidiary elements to develop these components. So proper electrical systems and big clutches weren’t available.” Maserati and other GT constructors thus turned to component suppliers in England and Germany. For the first 20-plus 5000GTs, ZF provided a four-speed transmission. Other external items included a Borg & Beck clutch, Girling shocks and front suspension components, plus a Salisbury rear end. The Shah was kept abreast of his car’s build, and by early June he gave Maserati his colour choices. After a number of labour strikes delayed the model’s completion, in early September ace test driver Guerino Bertocchi was tearing up the autostrada; in testing, Alfieri recalled the 5000GT’s top speed slightly exceeded his 280kph ‘guarantee’. One month later, 5000GT chassis number 103.002 was at the coastal city of Genoa, and shipped to Tehran. For Maserati, the Shah had indeed helped to underwrite a new product, so before his car was shipped a second Touring-bodied 5000GT was in the pipeline. “We constructed these type of cars with an artisan mentality,” Alfieri pointed out. “In a few short months we could 108

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ABOVE Bespoke nature extends to cabin’s threespoke wooden wheel and fabulous dashboard – complete in this case with a record player.

‘5000 is truly a ‘mailed fist in a velvet glove’ – only this fist is Mike Tyson’s in his prime’ go from the beginning to the end of a project. The cost to us was very small, almost nothing… because it was in the interest of the coachbuilder to do a joint venture with us.” The second 5000 (chassis 004) debuted at 1959’s Turin Auto Show carrying a $12,500 price that was quite a bit higher than the 3500GT’s sticker. It was worth every penny, based upon what Hans Tanner wrote for the February 1960 issue of America’s Sports Car Graphic. He rode shotgun as Bertocchi put it through its paces, all while timing a kilometre run at 172mph. “If anything can be said about this fabulous car,” Tanner concluded, “it is only that these speeds are too easy. At 170mph the car seems to be doing 90mph, and I feel without a skilful driver at the wheel the effect could be disastrous.” It was a most prescient observation, considering the number of

today’s corresponding supercars that end up wrecked in photos and videos online. Following the Turin show introduction, it took a while for the word on Maserati’s newest and most exclusive car to get out, as only two 5000GTs were made in 1960 (a third Touring ‘Shah of Persia’, and the first of two by Monterosa, a small coachbuilding firm headed by ex-Bertone shop foreman Giorgio Sargiotto). Nine 5000GTs were produced in 1961, and with that spike in volume Italy and the automotive world had its ultimate canvas for creating true custom coachwork. That year the big-name carrozzerias and some smaller ones made bodies (Pininfarina, Ghia, Bertone, Allemano, Monterosa with its second car, and Michelotti), while many of the top stylists (the aforementioned Giovanni Michelotti, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Sergio Santorelli, Filippo Sapino and more) designed the coachwork. A greater number of 5000GTs were made in 1962 (14), with production settling down between Carrozzeria Frua (two that year), and Allemano. In fact, it was the latter that bodied the most 5000GTs, with 22 in total – the unique Indianapolis that was shown at Turin in 1961, and 21 ‘production’ versions that weren’t quite as sleek but still eye catching. Mechanically, the 5000GT was refined and updated throughout production. The first two cars had an enlarged version of the 450S’s V8, where a larger bore bumped capacity to 4935cc. The compression ratio was dropped to make the powerplant more suitable for road use, and the 340bhp engine was topped with four dual-throat Weber carburettors. All subsequent 5000GTs had a fuel-injected 325bhp 4941cc V8, and a good number were fitted with Girling discs front and rear. A ZF five-speed trans became standard in June 1962 on the 23rd 5000GT built, chassis 044. In total, 34 5000GTs were produced from 1959 through 1965, and the list of commissioning clients was a literal who’s who of global commerce, show business, politics and more. First owners included business magnates Ferdinando Innocenti and Gianni Agnelli, US sportsman Briggs Cunningham, film and stage actor Stewart Granger, an Italian count, an Italian prince, King Saud of Saudi Arabia, a Saudi prince, the president of Mexico, and Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual head of the Ismaili community. Featured here is the Aga Khan’s 5000GT, chassis 103.060. Its intriguing and influential coachwork came from the fertile mind of 49-year-old Pietro Frua, who founded his carrozzeria in 1946 after stints at Stabilimenti Farina as a designer and manager, and

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Carrozzeria Viberti. Frua specialised in custom coachwork and small production runs, and in the 1950s had designed and created bodies for 26 Maseratis on the A6/2000 and 3500GT chassis. His 5000GT’s design became the basis for Maserati’s Quattroporte that debuted in 1963, and also heavily influenced the Mistral berlinetta. Frua’s first 5000GT broke cover at the Geneva Auto Show in March 1962. Maserati’s French importer John Simone bought chassis 048, and according to Maurice Khawam in Maserati 5000GT: A Significant Automobile, the Aga Khan also used it, and was quite fond of it. This led the Aga Khan to commission his own car, which returns us to the true meaning of terms such as ‘bespoke’ and ‘exclusive’. Chassis 060 is the second of just three Frua 5000s, and while they are all similar in appearance each was indeed unique. This 5000 is the most custom of the trio, ordered with lovely light metallic blue penombra (‘twilight’) paint, and a record player installed in the dash. Why someone would have a giradischi in a machine with a powerplant as musical and charismatic as this is a good question, for on the road a properly running 5000GT is one very impressive gran turismo. Open the large, hand-formed door and slip into a comfortable seat, and behind the artful three-spoke wooden wheel is a fabulous dash dominated by a large central tachometer. The car’s superb greenhouse gives you an expansive view all

around, especially over its sculptured nose. Fire up the Maser, listen to it burble at idle and feel its subtle shimmy and minute vibrations; as it talks to you while sitting still, it exudes something most of today’s ultra-fast cars lack – a truly distinctive character and aura that are unlike anything else. A slightly grabby clutch is the only real shortcoming, and you master this by using the Porsche Carrera GT technique of minor throttle input with a fluid clutch-release motion. In low rpm at slow speeds you can feel the burliness of the V8’s brute power and competition breeding, and how it just wants to go. It’s like a racehorse constantly tugging at the reins; I soon succumb to its urging, and floor the throttle. Take-up is instant, linear and unrelenting, its powerful musical roar like a thousand handmade, perfectly pitched and tightly compacted aluminium canisters shaken in unison. It’s simultaneously melodic, mechanical and brutal, and it magnificently increases in amplitude as the large needle quickly sails around the tach. This engine has barely 200 miles on a complete rebuild, and because of that I pay close attention by shifting a bit short of the indicated 5000rpm red line. This is necessary, for this mighty V8 revs so freely it feels like it will rip right past the red line and easily romp up to the comp motor’s 7000rpm power peak. That DOHC fuel-injected engine’s symphony and its smooth but fierce acceleration are

utterly addictive, and several times I slow to a crawl, mash the throttle and run the Maser through the gears. The five-speed ’box is a bit notchy and tight, which makes for precise throws. The suspension is quite compliant, and possesses that elusive pillowy ride found in the best of the upper-crust 1960s’ GTs. At almost every speed there is a magiccarpet feel that cossets (but does not isolate) the driver and passengers from the road, and absorbs bumps beautifully – which includes when you are forced to slowly potter behind tourists on Pebble Beach’s famed 17-Mile Drive. Add how the car surrounds you with handbuilt, luxurious craftsmanship, and Ferrari’s 410SA feels crude in comparison; the 400SA even a little milquetoast. In sum, this 5000 is truly a ‘mailed fist in a velvet glove’ – only this fist is Mike Tyson’s in his prime. If I’ve harboured any doubt about the car’s ability to seriously captivate and beguile (which I don’t), my friend Shane Mustoe soon dispels any such misgivings. A fast and smooth driver, when Shane gets out of the Maser after a brief stint at the wheel he is literally beaming and talking a mile a minute. Making his ebullience particularly noteworthy, and speaking volumes about the car’s unique, enthralling character, is that he is much more of a Lotus Elan type than a 5000GT driver… Special thanks goes to Adolfo Orsi for help in researching the 5000GTs, their history and the table below, and his guidance in all things Maserati.

THE MASERATI 5000GT ROLL CALL Models listed by coachbuilder, shown in chronological order of when the first example of each type was made

TOURING

MONTEROSA

PININFARINA

GHIA

Chassis 103.002 went to Shah of Iran; 004 was shown at Turin in 1959, 010 at 1960’s Geneva and Turin shows and then sold to South Africa. Total made: Three

Basically kept ‘Shah of Persia’ profile, with different, less successful front and rear. First (006) made in 1960, second (012) in 1961. Sold in Italy. Total made: Two

Chassis 008 made for Agnelli in 1961, and replicated look of his Ferrari 400 SA. Designer Pininfarina had no record of it, so Scaglietti likely built it. Total made: One

Shown at Turin in 1961, chassis 018 was done for Ferdinando Innocenti. Ex-Ghia head Filippo Sapino did the front, Sergio Santorelli did the body. Total made: One

INDIANAPOLIS

BERTONE

MICHELOTTI

ALLEMANO

FRUA

Allemano’s ‘Indianapolis’ (chassis 014) debuted at Turin in 1961. It had a lower beltline and sleeker feel than firm’s ‘production’ 5000GTs. Total made: One

Early Giugiaro work debuted on Bertone’s 1961 Turin stand. Unnumbered when first made, it was stamped 104.004 when Maserati sold it in 1967. Total made: One

Ace freelancer Giovanni Michelotti designed both the Indianapolis and this wild oneoff (chassis 016) for American Briggs Cunningham in 1961. Total made: One

October 1961’s chassis 020 was first ‘production’ 5000. Last, 066, came in October 1964. Eye-catching if less rakish than Indianapolis it was based on. Total made: 21

First Frua (048) seen at Paris and Geneva in 1962. Second (August’s 060) went to Aga Khan; third (100) was last 5000GT, and 1965’s only one. Total made: Three

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The last The last eyewitness eyewitness

M AU R M IACUER- IL COEU- ILSO B UR I SA N BG R EA RN G E R

Wielding Wielding a heavy, a heavy, brass-clad brass-clad plateplate camera, camera, Parisian Parisian photographer photographer Maurice-Louis Maurice-Louis Branger Branger captured captured manymany of theofvery the very first motor first motor races.races. His pictures His pictures give give a remarkable a remarkable social social insight insight into into the early the early 1900s 1900s W O R D SWDOORUDGS N DYOEU G N Y E P H O T OPGHRO ATPO HGYRGAPP L HIYB R GA P RLYI B R A R Y

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RIGHT RIGHT This 1905 This Renault 1905 Renault picturedpictured by Branger by Branger was was one of three one of entered three entered in that in that year’s French year’s Eliminating French Eliminating Trials toTrials decidetothe decide national the national team to team contest to the contest Gordon the Gordon Bennett Bennett Cup on the Cup85-mile on the 85-mile Circuit d’Auvergne. Circuit d’Auvergne. The The French had French already had already declareddeclared that theythat wouldn’t they wouldn’t support support the Gordon the Gordon Bennett Bennett beyond that beyond year. that They year. had They had by far the byworld’s far the largest world’s largest and most and diverse most motor diverse motor industry, industry, yet the Gordon yet the Gordon Bennett Bennett rules restricted rules restricted all competing all competing nations nations to only three to only cars three each. cars each. The French The had French bigger, had bigger, more liberal moreplans liberal forplans an for an open-to-all open-to-all motor race, motor to race, to be entitled be entitled Le Grand LePrix Grand Prix de l’Automobile de l’Automobile Club de Club de France. France. Two Richard Two Richard BrasiersBrasiers and a De and Dietrich a De Dietrich would bewould selected be selected as the as the French team French forteam that for lastthat last Cup raceCup proper. race The proper. The driver ofdriver the eliminated of the eliminated RenaultRenault seen here seen in the here in the Rochefort Rochefort control is control Ferencis Ferenc Szisz (pronounced Szisz (pronounced ‘Zizz’), ‘Zizz’), Louis Renault’s Louis Renault’s former former riding mechanic riding mechanic and and the firm’s thechief firm’s tester. chief tester.

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MAURICE-LOUIS BRANGER was born in Fontainebleau in 1874 and began his career as essentially a news photographer in 1895. But by the time he established his Photopress ‘photo report agency’ at Nr 5, Rue Cambon, Paris – quite a fashionable side turning off the Rue de Rivoli, barely 150 metres from the Place de la Concorde – he had already shot his first motor-racing photographs. A big, burly, floridly moustachioed man, Branger was incredibly energetic and versatile, shooting every aspect of Parisian life including the Great Flood of 1910, numerous major court trials, and also political, cultural and sporting activities. He was one of the few photoreporters to cover the First Balkan War in 1913, before returning home and unflinchingly covering four years of the Great War, to 1918. Through the inter-war years until 1939 Branger’s Parisian reportages documented the city’s daily life. He survived World War Two, and died in 1950 in Mantes-la-Jolie. In recent years the bulk of his general work has been digitised as part of the European Photography project (www.europeana-photography.eu), but I’m extremely happy to preserve in our own GP Library collection more than 800 of his motor sport images – including the selection here. When you study these photographs, in this case from up to 117 long years ago, don’t just look at them. Take your time and look into them. The cars you see here, and the people in – or on – and around them, were pioneering products, and pioneers, and variably enthusiastic bystanders, of a long-gone era. The clothes, the styles, the demeanour, the abundantly apparent social divisions and attitudes of the time can be read into every image. This is what that most capable early plate-camera photographer Branger recorded, and today his glass negatives are preserved as the last surviving eyewitness of what he captured for us – as succeeding generations – upon their light-sensitive emulsion layer…

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TOP RIGHT Here is Kircheim’s German Eisenach pictured so unmistakably in the Place de la Concorde, Paris, before the start of the biggest race of 1902 – the June 26-29 ParisVienna, which ran concurrently with that year’s Gordon Bennett Cup, contested over the Paris-Salzburg section of the shared route. Kircheim’s 15hp Eisenach hardly covered itself in sales-promotable glory, finishing 53rd in the classification generale, behind (among so many others) Osmont’s 7hp De Dion tricycle and Bucquet’s 2hp Werner motorcycle – but at least he finished. The full Paris-Vienna route, in which BelfortBregenz was neutralised, totalled 615.4 racing miles, and the Paris-Salzburg section for the Gordon Bennett Cup 4321 miles. These early pioneers certainly did not balk at a challenge…

BOTTOM RIGHT This is by no means the bestquality shot that Branger ever took, but just consider the circumstances. It’s May 24, 1903. He has puffed out in the hot sun onto a Route Nationale to record the passage of the ParisMadrid race. The idea of that flat-out charge had first been broached by the Automobile Club de France in October 1902. The French Government was reluctant to approve it, and was only really swayed by the support of King Alfonso of Spain. Some 314 entries were received, yet during the Nice meeting in February, Count Louis Zborowski crashed fatally in his new Mercedes. In reaction, the Government withdrew its permission for other speed events. But the aristocratic luminaries of the ACF pulled strings. The race went ahead, and from the 3.30am start the cars, tricycles and motorcycles began what proved to be a mad-cap, terrible charge. Many crashed. Drivers, riding mechanics and spectators were killed and maimed. Fernand Gabriel’s streamlined 70hp Mors started 168th, and arrived third at Bordeaux, averaging 65.3mph for the 342 miles. Just try that today… And here Branger captured him booming past the barely comprehending spectators at 90mph-plus.

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TOP LEFT May 24, 1903 – Paris-Madrid, the Bordeaux finish control. Ambitious, autocratic Louis Renault, later known to many of his workforce as ‘The Beast of Billancourt’, averaged nearly 90mph from Bonneval to Chartres in his 30hp light car, and at 12.15pm he was first to arrive at Bordeaux. Fernand Gabriel in the Mors heavy car would better Renault’s average of 62.3mph for the 342 miles to win overall, but the industrialist with riding mechanic Ferenc Szisz would win their class and take second place overall. However, as news of disaster in their wake filtered through, the French and Spanish Governments both forbade open-road racing on their territory. The cars were not even allowed to leave Bordeaux under their own power. They were horse-drawn to the railway station, and returned to Paris by train. Among the dead that day was Louis Renault’s brother Marcel, crushed by his overturning light car in the village of Couhé-Verac. This 1903 Paris-Madrid became Louis Renault’s last race – although his marque, and his riding mechanic, would go on to Grand Prix glory.

BOTTOM LEFT The peripatetic Branger followed motor sport around Europe, to Sicily and even to North Africa before World War One. He captured top-quality stills of cars and crews in paddocks and pit areas, while his action shots can still fire enthusiasts today. Here on circuit during the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup race – run in Germany after Camille Jenatzy’s victory for Mercedes in the British edition of 1903 – he shot this evocative scene at one of the Fiat service depots dotted around the 87-mile public-road circuit in the Taunus hills. Three 75hp Fiats formed the Italian team, driven by Vincenzo Lancia, Alessandro Cagno and Luigi Storero. Lancia led by 13 minutes at one stage until the radiator split, forcing him out, finally to be classified eighth, while Cagno was tenth and Storero unclassified. The long course was thoroughly policed – the unarmed trooper in his Pickelhaube (left) untypically innocuous – while many more enforced course discipline. The gravity-feed fuel drum atop that tower, the mangled inner tubes on the car’s tail and that helper pouring soothing water onto a hot rear tyre all tell their own tale…

ABOVE Here at Athy, Ireland, for the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup race, Maurice-Louis Branger aimed his hefty plate camera at three of the great names of motor racing’s pioneer days. On the left is Charles Jarrott, the relentlessly confident Edwardian sportsman. Having started racing on bicycles, then motorcycles, Jarrott drove a Bollée car in 1897 from Coventry to Birmingham and ‘caught the bug’. He finished second in the Circuit du Nord before winning the first great International circuit race, the Belgian Circuit des Ardennes. On the right stands the hatchet-faced, hawkish figure of Australian-born Selwyn Francis ‘SF’ Edge. Another pioneering racing cyclist, he had four years earlier become Jarrott’s business partner as De Dion-Bouton’s British

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importer. A mutual friend was Montague Napier, who made some improvements to Jarrott’s Panhard, then built his own Napier cars. Edge became Napier’s great promoter and leading racing driver, winning the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and earning Great Britain the 1903 edition – run here at Athy. Between Jarrott and Edge is the Chevalier René de Knyff – a Belgian-born aristocrat, co-founder of the Automobile Club de France and a motorsporting powerhouse, winning five of 18 races he contested. But here at Athy all three would be blown away by Camille Jenatzy, who won the Bennett Cup for Mercedes and Germany.

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RIGHT French RIGHTwinner Frenchofwinner of the 1904the Gordon 1904 Bennett Gordon Bennett Cup wasCup Léonwas Théry Léon – Théry a –a burly, supremely burly, supremely competent competent driver whose driver relentlessly whose relentlessly metronomic metronomic style earned style earned him the nickname him the nickname ‘Le ‘Le Cronometre’. Cronometre’. Having hit Having an hit an unfortunate unfortunate cow thatcow hadthat had ambled across ambledhis across racing his racing line in the line 1902 in the Circuit 1902 Circuit des Ardennes, des Ardennes, he was also he was also dubbed ‘Mort dubbed au‘Mort vaches’ au vaches’ by the more by the tabloid moreFrench tabloid French press. Regardless, press. Regardless, in the in the 1904 Bennett 1904 race Bennett he race he piloted his piloted chain-driven his chain-driven 80hp Richard 80hp Richard Brasier Brasier wonderfully wonderfully well, exploiting well, exploiting its well controlled its well controlled smooth smooth ride override the over bumpy the bumpy contemporary contemporary roads roads thanks tothanks its suspension’s to its suspension’s adequateadequate shock absorbers. shock absorbers. Branger Branger accompanied accompanied Théry and Théry his Taunusand his Taunuswinning winning car backcar to the back to the Brasier works, Brasierwhere works, hewhere he photographed photographed the staff the staff (here) celebrating (here) celebrating their their product’sproduct’s great victory. great victory. While Théry While enjoys Théry a enjoys cigar, a cigar, the identity the of identity his hapless of his hapless riding mechanic riding mechanic seems seems debatable… debatable… it might it bemight be his wife or, hisjudging wife or, by judging the by the florid hat florid and hat voluminous and voluminous left sleeve, lefteven sleeve, his even mum.his mum. Théry would Théry gowould on to win go on to win the last Gordon the last Bennett Gordon Bennett Cup raceCup the race following the following year, 1905, year, on1905, the Auvergne on the Auvergne circuit, and circuit, laterand worked later worked for Michelin, for Michelin, for whom for hewhom he is sometimes is sometimes credited credited for for coining its coining branditsname brand name ‘Bibendum’. ‘Bibendum’. In photographs, In photographs, this trulythis great truly early great starearly star driver always driverlooks always older looks older than he really than he was, really andwas, and he died of hetuberculosis died of tuberculosis in 1909, in aged 1909, only aged 29. only 29.

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ABOVE Renault team driver Edmond was photographed by Branger in this formal pose in his 1906 Grand Prix car – but just study the detail captured on this glassplate negative. Edmond’s experience during that inaugural Grand Prix highlights the rugged experience such early road racing could inflict. The driver and riding mechanic had no protection from airstream missiles other than overalls or jackets, goggles, and – to choice – cloth helmets or sometimes leather face masks. The Grand Prix was run in blistering sunshine.

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Edmond had his goggles smashed by a stone thrown up by a car ahead. Glass splinters, dust, grit and acidic road-melt entered his eyes. He pulled into the Renault depot where a doctor was able to extract some of the worst, and sluiced away the mix of blood, tears and sweat. The team then gave Edmond a glass of brandy – and a shot of cocaine – before returning him to the fray... Racing really was different 113 years ago.

ABOVE One of the most colourful, exuberant and popular of early racing drivers was the celebrated Belgian ‘Red Devil’, ginger-bearded Camille Jenatzy. He was a kind of early-day Ben Stokes, the World Cup-winning cricketer – and in some circles, just as controversial. Here’s the one-time Land Speed Record holder in his mighty 120hp Mercedes before the start of the 367-mile 1905 Circuit des Ardennes. Out of luck this time, he would finish ninth having finished only three of the required five laps. Study his Mercedes’ suspension – no shock absorbers. The German cars were out-handled by the best French cars, with their more sophisticated suspension systems.

ABOVE Szisz again, this time during his greatest triumph as a racing driver – victory in the inaugural 1906 Grand Prix de l’ACF on the original 64.07-mile Sarthe circuit to the east of Le Mans. Those roads still survive, with relatively minor modification. The startline, paddock and grandstand area was at Pont-de-Gennes, where purpose-dug pedestrian tunnels beneath the road to link outfield with paddock still survive. The course then ran to St Marsla-Brière near Le Mans, back east to St Calais, then north to La Ferté-Bernard, before heading west back to Pont-de-Gennes. Six laps were to be covered on each of two days, June 26-27. And Szisz with

riding mechanic Martaud won both six-lap race sections in their 12.9-litre chain-drive Renault. Here they are – thumping between grandstand and service depots – 113 long years ago, the moment captured so elegantly by Branger’s beautifully framed shot. Szisz’s Renault completed the first day’s six laps at an average of 66.8mph; his average for the total 769.9mile race distance ended up as 63mph. Pioneer racing historian Gerald Rose wrote: “It was a terribly hard race, for the strain on the men was tremendous...”

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ABOVE In 1907 the ACF gained Government authority to use a new circuit for its second Grand Prix race, this time the Circuit de la Seine Inférieure based just outside Dieppe. The shorter, 47.7mile circuit ran south-east to Londinières, north to Eu and then back west through Criel-sur-Mer towards Dieppe. It was largely flat and fast, and its ten-lap distance was to be another formidable test of machines and men. The French industry was confounded as Felice Nazzaro won for Fiat of Italy, Szisz finishing only

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second for Renault. This Branger image was characterised by latterday racing photographer/ collector Geoff Goddard as “The splendid chaps shot” – and truly splendid those Hussars look in their dress uniforms. They are by the roadside just south of Sauchay-le-Bas, and their horses are about to be startled by the 90mph-plus passage of Gustave Caillois’ latest vee-radiatored Darracq Grand Prix car. He would finish sixth.

TOP Grand Prix racing driver George Heath is dressed to the nines for scrutineering at the Dieppe circuit before the 1908 GP, and the wealthy American looks every inch as one might expect a macho Edwardian sportsman to look. From Long Island, New York, Heath lived in France for some years and drove the latest Panhard cars. He won the first Vanderbilt Cup race in one back home on Long Island in 1904, and would finish second there in the 1905 event. He also won the 1904 Circuit des Ardennes and continued to race until 1909. As Branger’s study here perhaps suggests, George Heath made quite a formidable opponent…

ABOVE The last surviving eyewitness? Gustave Caillois moved from Darracq to Renault for the 1908 Grand Prix at Dieppe. Here he is cornering by the cemetery in Criel-sur-Mer where this section of roadway is very little changed today – apart from the installation of a memorial commemorating the dead of the two World Wars that have so mutilated European history since Maurice-Louis Branger secured this delightful shot. What became of that little girl, standing on the stone to see over the trackside palisade, just six years before The Great War would erupt?

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The supercar that time forgot Barred from outshining its XJ220 sister, the XJR-15 hid in the shadows. But can this ‘Group C car for the road’ be anything less than brilliant? We find out on road and track

WOR D S JOHAN DILLEN PHOTOGRAPHY D I R K D E JAG E R

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LEFT Dual head-sets allow driver and passenger to communicate in noisy cabin. BELOW Lime Rock circuit setting perfectly frames Stevensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; flowing lines.

HINK OF POPEYE, rolling his fists to deliver that one knock-out punch. That is how the power comes rolling in through the long gears in the Jaguar XJR-15. A big wave of torque creates ever more push as the revs steadily climb. It won’t let off; there is only more power coming. As the revs rise, the Jaguar’s personality evolves. The note of the V12 behind your back starts to dominate the transmission whine and induction noise. At this precise moment, the character change – the punch – takes place. That nice, predictable car suddenly becomes a race machine, demanding all your attention. Your eyes widen, your pulse quickens, you get locked in and you focus on braking and entry points. Exactly how Tom Walkinshaw wanted you to feel. The year is 1988, and TWR boss Walkinshaw has just phoned then-resigning Lotus design director Peter Stevens to ask him to come along to the NEC Motor Show in Birmingham. Stevens recalls: “Jaguar presented the XJ220 concept car at the NEC. At the time, Tom was running the Group C programme for the brand. What we saw was a huge concept car – it was incredibly big. Tom turned to me and said: ‘Well, this looks like a nice road car. How about we let people experience what it feels like to drive a Le Mans car on the road?’” Of course, this remark was not made in the heat of the moment. “It was clear that Tom had wanted TWR to do its own road car for some time,” Stevens says. Up until that moment, Walkinshaw had refused to sell old Group C Jaguars to privateer customers, despite persisting demands. Contrary to Porsche’s practices, Walkinshaw did not want to have to race his own cars with TWR. As Allan Scott describes in his book TWR and Jaguar’s V12 Prototype Sports Cars, there was a stockpile of Group C car parts that were no longer required. “It was decided that of the initial production run of 30 XJR-15 cars, the first 16 would be racing versions. That also happened to be the number of Hewland sixspeed racing gearboxes we had sitting in the stores, having never been used.” Not only that, but Walkinshaw was starting to look for a route to enter Formula 1 with TWR. The Scot was trying to find a way to show the world that TWR was not just another new kid on the F1 block – and the XJR-15 was going to play a huge part in that. In 1989, Stevens got going on some sketches

ABOVE Even with widened door openings, climbing inside XJR-15 is tricky.

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ABOVE LEFT XJR-15s gather for exclusive driving event around New York, Connecticut and Lime Rock. ABOVE RIGHT Leather-clad bucket seats and Nardi steering wheel are sole concessions to cabin comfort.

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based around the Jaguar XJR-8 race car: “But it just wouldn’t work. At the same time, TWR started experimenting with a modified XJR-8 prototype, yet the results were not too pleasing, either. When I went to tell Tom that this approach wasn’t right for a road car, he replied: ‘We know already, we tried it as well.’ “So we decided we were going to turn things around and start with the design first. I made a couple of sketches, took them to Tom and asked him which one he wanted. He said: ‘Well, you’re the designer. Pick the one you think is best.’ I know Tom had a bit of a reputation, but we always got on really well. The first time I worked for him was with the TWR Mazda RX-7, for which I did some aerodynamic work and the design of the colours and graphics. If you understood how Tom worked, there wouldn’t be a problem.” Once the design had been outlined, work started on the first car. “One of the first things

we had to do was to widen the door opening so Tom would fit inside. The XJR-8 and XJR-9 were built for jockey-sized racing drivers, who tend not to complain when they’re in a racewinning car. But for the road model we would need a more comfortable entry and a bit more cabin space. So we got the damaged XJR-8 tub from Win Percy’s horrible accident at the 1987 Le Mans to see where improvements could be made. We moved the seat back, brought the windscreen forward and raised the roof.” The 7-litre V12 was brought down to 6.7 litres, with some changes in parts allowing for lower costs. Initial output was 564bhp, for a 1050kg weight – and that became a problem. Ever the entrepreneur, Tom Walkinshaw had managed to convince Jaguar that it should produce the XJ220 through JaguarSport. This was established in 1988 as a joint venture, with 50 percent belonging to TWR and 50 percent to Jaguar. JaguarSport built the XJS-R, and was

now the chosen partner to produce the XJ220 as well. Classic Walkinshaw; all of a sudden he was building not one but two supercars. Suffice to say, the XJR-15 was not initially well received within Jaguar – up until it was decided to run a turbo V6 in the XJ220 instead of the planned V12. “A lot of internal politics were going on at Jag,” recalls Stevens. “Some insiders didn’t like the V6 option. Suddenly they started lobbying that our car should not be commercialised as the TWR R9R we had in mind, but as a JaguarSport product. That’s how it turned into the XJR-15.” In the end, the XJR-15 run would finish in 1992, even before the first production XJ220 was built. Walkinshaw knew he was playing with fire and had already decided that his XJR-15 would always be positioned slightly under what the XJ220 would become. By mid-1990, after winning Le Mans again, the first prototype was ready for him to sample. “Typical Tom, he MAGNETO

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just put just on the put licence on the plate licence from plate hisfrom own his own Jaguar XJ6 Jaguar andXJ6 drove andaround drove for around a week,” for a week,” laughs Stevens. laughsIt Stevens. soon dawned It soonon dawned Walkinshaw on Walkinshaw that he had that a problem; he had a problem; his car was hisjust cartoo wasfast. just too fast. The XJ220 Thewould XJ220 never would stand never a chance. stand a The chance. The XJR-15 needed XJR-15toneeded be slowed to bedown, slowed bydown, quite aby quite a bit. Out bit. wentOut thewent prototype the prototype engine, in engine, came in came the classic theroad-car classic road-car 6-litre. With 6-litre. quite With a few quite a few modifications, modifications, it put outit460bhp put out at 460bhp 6500rpm. at 6500rpm. The XJ220 The ended XJ220upended with up 542bhp, with 542bhp, so the so the distinction distinction was clear. was In clear. 0-60mph In 0-60mph tests, thetests, the XJR-15 (3.4sec) XJR-15 beat (3.4sec) the beat XJ220 the(3.6sec). XJ220 (3.6sec). But But the orderthe wasorder restored was restored in top speed, in topwith speed, the with the fastest XJ220 fastestonce XJ220 hitting once217mph. hitting 217mph. The XJR-The XJR15 was limited 15 wastolimited 190mph to through 190mph gearing. through gearing. While the While engine themight engine notmight havenot been have thebeen the ‘real deal’‘real anymore, deal’ anymore, the rest very the rest much very was much was Group CGroup for theC road. for the What road. theWhat car lacked, the car lacked, however,however, was a really wasbig a really wing big to keep wingthe to keep rear the rear planted. “With planted. a wing “Withthat a wing big, that you also big, you needalso need sturdy springs. sturdyThat springs. would That have would compromised have compromised the model’s the behaviour model’s behaviour on the road,” on theStevens road,” Stevens explains.explains. “It has no “It lift, has and no lift, the and fixedthe rear fixed rear spoiler offers spoiler a little offers downforce. a little downforce. It was OK It for was OK for a road car, a road but itcar, was but a compromise it was a compromise towards towards track driving trackfrom driving thefrom beginning. the beginning. We had the We had the Group C Group suspension, C suspension, but because butof because the bigger of the bigger wheels the wheels ride height the ride changed height changed – and thus – and the thus the centre ofcentre gravityofasgravity well.” as well.” In the meantime, In the meantime, Walkinshaw Walkinshaw had another had another surprise surprise announcement announcement for his staff. for his They staff. They were not were goingnot to produce going to 30 produce XJR-15s 30 – XJR-15s it was – it was going to going be 50 to cars beinstead. 50 cars And instead. there And would there would be a racing beseries a racing in 1991 serieswith in 1991 the first with16 thecars, first 16 cars, prior to prior three to Formula three Formula 1 races. 1“Of races. course, “Of course, Tom hadTom to pay had Bernie to pay Ecclestone Bernie Ecclestone for his for his Intercontinental Intercontinental Challenge, Challenge, but he got but a highhe got a highprofile series profile this series way,”this Peter way,” Stevens Petersays. Stevens says. The owners The owners of the first of the 16 first cars 16 were cars were contractually contractually obliged to obliged enter to these enterin these the in the Intercontinental Intercontinental Challenge. Challenge. Either they Either drove they drove the cars themselves, the cars themselves, or they put or athey racing putdriver a racing driver behind the behind wheel. the The wheel. first The race first would race bewould prior be prior to the Monaco to the Monaco Grand Prix, Grand thePrix, second the in second in Silverstone Silverstone before the before British theGP British and aGP finale and a finale at Spa inatBelgium. Spa in Belgium. The owner Theofowner the winning of the winning car in thecar first in two the first events two would events bewould rewarded be rewarded with a brand withnew a brand XJS-R. newBut XJS-R. the owner But the ofowner the of the winning winning car in Spa carwould in Spareceive would$1 receive million. $1 million. The catch? TheThe catch? drivers The wouldn’t drivers wouldn’t know the know the number of number laps atof Spa. laps at Spa. Suffice toSuffice say, mayhem to say, mayhem erupted. At erupted. the first At the first event in Monaco, event in Monaco, the insurance the insurance companycompany had had the wholethe race whole filmed race from filmed all angles from all inangles order in order to be able to to be establish able to establish when contact when would contact would be deemed be deemed exaggerated. exaggerated. Walkinshaw Walkinshaw played played tough, but tough, secretly but secretly could not could havenotbeen have been 1 3 0

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RIGHT To RIGHT avoid To avoid compromising compromising XJR-15’s on-road XJR-15’s on-road behaviour, behaviour, TWR TWR decided not decided to usenot to use a massiveawing. massive wing.

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LEFT All cars are right-hand drive, with one of two Hewland transmissions. BELOW 50 XJR-15s were produced; the first 16 were eligible for a dedicated race series in 1991.

‘Walkinshaw wanted to show that TWR wasn’t just another new kid on the F1 block; the XJR-15 would play a huge part in that’

happier with all the repair hours and new parts he would be able to invoice for. It was legendary, and in the end German driver Armin Hahne scored his boss a cool million dollars. TWR made a great impact, which would lead to a big-time entry in F1 with Benetton. So how come we’ve pretty much forgotten about the XJR-15 today? It is precisely this question I am mulling over as I admire one of the yellow cars Connecticut-based specialist The Cultivated Collector has invited on an XJR-15-only driving event around New York, Connecticut… and the Lime Rock racetrack. How come, if you were to draw up a list of your top five or even top ten favourite supercars, the XJR-15 would not pop up? Yet, if you were to define a supercar, you would be hard-pressed to find a better description than the XJR-15. Group C was an incredible period in sports car racing. To bring that experience to the road is a feat that only TWR managed. Yes, there is the Dauer 962 effort and the Schuppan 962CR, but these were produced only in 1 32

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single-digit numbers. TWR produced 50 examples of its own car, and sold them at £500,000 apiece; by comparison, the XJ220 in the end cost £40,000 less. Unfortunately, many XJR-15s disappeared into collectors’ garages, only to come out sporadically – a fate bestowed on many supercars. Just like that, the XJR-15 vanished from our memories. Fortunately there are exceptions. Owner and all-round cool car guy Jas Dhillon is one of those people who drives his vehicles as much as he can. He has XJR-15 chassis 50, the blue car pictured here and the very last model from the series. He says: “To me, this whole ‘Group C for the road’ thing struck. There is nothing else like it. You sit in what is basically a Jaguar Group C racer and drive it on the road. If you can start this, you can start the XJR-9, too. It doesn’t come much cooler than that.” Driving is not the biggest issue, though; getting inside the car is rather more difficult. The XJR-15 may have a bigger door aperture then the XJR-9, but climbing in still requires a flexibility my body is having difficulty

summoning. The problem is two-fold. Firstly, access is still surprisingly limited. Secondly, there is a big sill you need to heave your body over. On this, a scorching hot day in Connecticut, putting your arm on the carbon roof for support is a painfully bad idea... However, once you are inside, you won’t want to move… ever. The leather-clad bucket seats and the nicely sculpted Nardi steering wheel are really the only concessions you need to bring basic comfort to a cabin that is otherwise a copy of the XJR-9’s. You even get a speedometer on top. All cars are right-hand drive, with the gearlever positioned to your right and close at hand. The race cars have a dog-leg Hewland six-speed gearbox, the others have a five-ratio Hewland with normal shift pattern and synchromesh. One of the first things you’ll notice is TWR’s solution for the noisy cockpit. To allow easier driver-passenger communication, every XJR-15 came with a double head-set and microphones hanging on the back of each head-rest. Starting the XJR-15 requires following The

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JAG UA R X J R -1 5

RIGHT XJR-15 is rarer and now more valuable than its Jaguar XJ220 cousin. BELOW 460bhp 6-litre engine took the XJR-15 from 0-60mph in 3.4sec.

‘Powering out of a corner is a feast for eyes and ears alike. The shove, the symphony; British muscle in its finest hour’

Procedure. First, you turn on the electrics with the master switch to your right. Next, you toggle on ignition, injection and the pumps, and then you can wake the beast through the starter switch. The bellowing is deep, but less aggressive than what we’re used to from racing cars. The clutch pedal is sturdy and has little travel, but because of the switch from three clutch plates to two, taking off in a civil manner without stalling it is in reality very easy. When town driving, the biggest problem is the lack of visibility. The outside mirror on the left is useless, and the inside mirror doesn’t show much about what’s going on, either. You have to rely a little on the fact that you are creating a spectacle and that other road users will leave you space. Manoeuvring takes time, as the steering is unassisted. Once you get going, however, the driving in itself is easy. “Indeed – and with air-con, you even have comfort on longer rides,” Jas points out. On public roads, you will quickly feel obliged to rein in this monster. Only on the track can you freely let it rip. I’ve already seen from the 1 3 4

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passenger side how the XJR-15 can stamp its mark. As the driver brakes for the first righthander, the back of the car steps out. He is quick to catch it, but the XJR-15’s signal isn’t lost on me; you wanted race-car feeling, let’s see if you can handle it. My initial worries ebb away quickly when I’m behind the wheel; if you’re prepared, you won’t be taken by surprise. Third and fourth gear are very long, and the only ratios we use on this track. The V12 takes a bit of time to display its full character, but once it passes the 4000rpm mark it switches into epic mode. The stuff of legends. It’s a very hot day here at Lime Rock, and the consequences become clear at the first corner, a sweeping right-hander. The XJR-15 may have 335/35 ZR 17 rear tyres, but the Pirelli P Zeros are road rubbers. Mid-corner, they admit they are no match for the chassis and engine’s talents. That is good news if you want to play; I’m sure with this much torque on offer, this puppy will wag its tail all day long. But it’s just as important to keep the tyres healthy for braking. This is a racer’s pedal box,

with little feel but great power. On track, you’ll always feel the car move around, and you must keep the rear in check. Powering out of a corner is a feast for eyes and ears alike. The shove, the symphony; British muscle in its finest hour. Today, the tables have turned. The XJ220 – which, with 285 cars built, is easier to find – now fetches £300,000-£400,000. If you want an XJR-15 – if you can find one – you will not get much change from £1 million… and sometimes you’ll need more. “I’m happy that prices haven’t gone as crazy as with other supercars,” Peter Stevens says. “Values have gone up, but not stratospherically like the McLaren F1’s. Over the years, the XJR-15’s price has remained steady, showing they are a good investment just like a Mercedes 300 SL.” Stevens went on to design the F1 after this, but he recalls the XJR-15 project as being more fun. “Creating the XJR-15 was not as intense as working on the McLaren F1. It was way more fun. Actually, the crew that worked on the XJR-15 is still keeping in touch as much as possible today.”

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Le Papillon Sixty years since the death of Mike Hawthorn, Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Formula 1 World Champion, one man still pays homage to his achievements through a poignant collection of his personal effects

WOR D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E

PHOTOGRAPHY M AT T H E W H O W E L L

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THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY of Mike Hawthorn’s death has been and gone in 2019 with only modest fanfare, especially considering that he was Britain’s first Formula 1 world champion – and that he died so young. Having retired from racing after the 1958 season, he was killed in a road accident in his beloved Jaguar 3.4 just months later, aged 29, perhaps dicing with team manager Rob Walker’s Gullwing. There’s a small memorial marking the crash site on the Hog’s Back section of the A31, just south of Guildford, but the true shrine to Mike Hawthorn is further afield, at Nigel Webb’s private museum of Hawthorn artefacts. It’s occasionally opened up to Jaguar club members, and you may have seen mention of it over the years – but rarely does Nigel to throw open the doors like this. The collection is a true labour of love, dating back 40 years, as Nigel explains. “In 1979 I was working as a flight engineer and making a reasonable amount of money, so I bought a house and then decided I wanted to buy another car. My dad, who was born in the 1920s and was a Hawthorn fan, suggested: ‘Get yourself to Browns Lane and do a thesis on Hawthorn’s Mk1.’ So I did, and they were really helpful, but they said I should talk to Lofty [England, the revered former Jaguar engineer and manager]. “Lofty had retired by then, and he assumed I was a journalist – he didn’t like journalists – but the Browns Lane people contacted him and said: ‘This guy’s a nut, he really wants to build this Mk1.’ So I went to Austria to visit Lofty. I thought he might be against it, but he was really keen on the idea.” The further Nigel delved into the project, the more he realised how well loved Hawthorn had been by the general public, and that encouraged his own interest, passion and “thrill of the chase”. At a local plating company, the owner recognised the bumpers Nigel had brought in as MkI Jaguar items, and mentioned Hawthorn even before Nigel had explained what he was up to. The chromer then offered to replate all the trim for free because “he was my hero”. This admiration for Hawthorn, and for Nigel’s project, became a running theme – at least, in most cases… “A few women slammed the door in my face when I asked if they were connected with Mike Hawthorn, saying: ‘He shagged my daughter!’” Despite those setbacks, the project to build the Hawthorn replica Jag cemented Nigel’s interest in – and admiration for – the racer, and he began to look out for more memorabilia. Forty years on, he still has that Mk1, along with Hawthorn’s Le Manswinning D-type, a replica Tourist Trophy Garage van, several steering wheels and hundreds of items of poignant memorabilia – including the few remaining personal effects that weren’t destroyed by Hawthorn’s distraught mother after his death. It’s said that when Sir Stirling Moss visited a few years back, he took one look around and exclaimed: “No one’s done this for me!” And that’s a good point. 1 3 8

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A B O V E Steering wheels

P R E V I O U S PA G E

Cap and keyring Hawthorn’s trademark corduroy cap and personalised Tourist Trophy Garage keyring came via racer Duncan Hamilton. He and Hawthorn were great friends, and they made a pact that if either one was killed racing, then the other would identify the body rather than their mothers having to do so. After Mike’s death, Hamilton duly identified him, and as a thank-you Mike’s mother gave him the cap and keyring.

Hawthorn insisted on driving with a four-spoke wheel, and kept several of them. The TT Garage secreted these away after Hawthorn’s death to avoid his mother destroying them. They include: the wheel most used during his 195758 Ferrari stint, fitted to the 246 Dino in the Moroccan GP that secured his World Championship; the remains of the wheel from when his Ferrari 625 turned over in Syracuse in 1954; the Lotus XI wheel damaged when Mike and Colin Chapman collided at Goodwood in 1956; and the wheel from his early Riley Imp race car.

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BRDC Gold Star Since 1928, the BRDC has awarded Gold Stars – initially just one a year, but that soon became several a year, for both ‘outstanding performance’ and on a points-earned basis for both track and road racing. Hawthorn earned two – the first (pictured here) for his initial season with Ferrari, and the second for his World Championship win in 1958.

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Alarm clock This went everywhere with Mike. At the time of his death, it – along with a watch, a few pipes, an ashtray and some coat-hangers – was at his girlfriend Jean Howarth’s flat, and so escaped being destroyed by Winifred, Mike’s mother, who had always struggled to deal with the press attention her son received. Upon his death she demanded that all his possessions were brought to her, whereupon she burnt them on a huge bonfire. Jean Howarth had met Mike in 1958 and the two were due to marry, which they had planned to officially announce on his birthday in April 1959. Jean later married racing driver Innes Ireland, with whom Mike had been great friends.

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A B O V E Royal

Automobile Club plaque There is no shortage of 1958 Formula 1 World Championship memorabilia in the collection, and this is one of the nicest pieces, depicting St Christopher, the RAC crest, Great Britain and the inscription A B O V E Dorrie Parker

Mike Hawthorn met Dorrie Parker in around 1955 at a petrol station where she worked as a pump attendant – and he continued to see her until his death, unbeknown to girlfriend Jean Howarth. This portrait of Dorrie was found in the Mk1’s boot. A few years ago, Dorrie donated one of Hawthorn’s bow ties (which had earned him the nickname in France of ‘Le Papillon’ – butterfly) and a pendant in the shape of an Arabian khanjar knife, which Hawthorn had bought in a Casablanca souk while there for the Moroccan Grand Prix.

R I G H T Jaguar D-type

Mike joined Jaguar for 1955, winning that year’s fateful Le Mans 24 Hours in the long-nose D-type, chassis XKD 505, running the Coventry trade-plate registration 774 RW. The car was later crashed, and the owner of another D-type, XKD 504, bought XKD 505’s damaged frame to repair his own car. By the late 1970s, restoration techniques had improved to the point that specialist Chris Keith-Lucas was able to repair and reinstall the original XKD 504 frame. This allowed a new car to be built around the original XKD 505 frame using genuine parts– and that’s the car you see here.

‘JM Hawthorn First British World Champion Driver’. The Formula 1 World Championship had begun in 1947, and by 1958 it was easily the most important motor racing worldwide – which meant the kudos in winning the championship was immense.

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Jaguar hip flask There’s a lot more memorabilia for Jaguar than for any other marque in the collection. That may be because Nigel Webb is first and foremost a Jaguar man, but also because the marque was a huge part of Hawthorn’s life, and it’s known that he felt more relaxed racing Jaguar sports cars than any single-seaters. This hip flask is one of several Jaguar pieces that belonged to Mike, and it’s unusual for its engraving of the D-type on the front.

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MILLE MIGLIA 2020 Restoration Global Partner 2019, 2020, 2021

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World Championship trophy This is all that’s left of Hawthorn’s 1958 trophy, secured by just one point over Stirling Moss. This is the top of the trophy, decorated with four cars cast in bronze. It would have been supported by four columns extending from a circular base. It’s truly moving to think of Hawthorn holding the trophy in celebration just months before his death.

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undoubtedly big-screen stars. We look at the most memorable machines in the movies

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50 C O N D O R M A N N OVA Forgotten by all but hardcore fans, 1981 superhero flick Condorman witnessed the Nova kit car’s big-screen debut. Starring Michael Crawford and a slumming Oliver Reed, the plot centres on a comic-book artist who must become his Condorman creation in order to facilitate a beautiful Russian spy’s defection to the West. Cue shonky ‘special’ effects and a camper van that transforms into a supercar. The unnamed machine then bests a crack team of Porsche-mounted killers, The Brocknoviach, before it turns into a hovercraft. Yes, really.

F A S T E R P U S S Y C A T… PORSCHE 356C

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Quite aside from having one of the best-ever titles (and despite providing inspiration for a Spice Girls video), Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! remains a true gem if you love fast cars and faster women. For starters, it has a Porsche 356C racing in the desert, endlessly quotable dialogue and Tura Satana. The plot is largely incidental (go-go dancers drive their sports cars in the desert, murder a buttoned-up roadster type and kidnap his girlfriend) – but it looks fantastic and did we mention Satana? Anatomically improbable, she owned the movie.

48 HONKER II Winning was not a notable film, but it did turn its star Paul Newman on to motor racing. Early on in this 1969 flick, his character Frank Capua is seen driving the shapely Can-Am weapon that was built by Alan Mann Racing and prepared by Holman Moody. Perhaps the only racing car ever to compete in American Racing Lilac, it was a dud in reality despite driver Mario Andretti’s best efforts, and was damaged during filming. The car returned to Holman Moody where it remained in storage until the late 1990s, when it was disinterred and restored.

Max Balchowsky wore many hats: master fabricator; racing driver; stuntman; all-round movie ‘fixer’... He earned early fame with a V8-engined Swallow Doretti and followed through with a series of Ol’ Yeller sports-racers. These deliberately looked rough and ready, but were generally capable of giving European exotica a bloody nose. They soon earned fame on film, too, the first in the series having a starring role in 1959’s The Road Racers as The Bucket of Bolts Special. Further iterations appeared in everything from Spinout to The Love Bug.

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46 BMW 503 The Last Run was not greeted with warmth on its release in 1971. Only in retrospect have film pseuds rediscovered it. The film is memorable for George C Scott as the mob-linked ‘driver’ living in Portugal who is hired to transport a gangster and his gal all the way to France. They have to outrun the fuzz and gun-totin’ wrong ’uns. The allegedly supercharged BMW 503 used for the job certainly sounds the part and fishtails appropriately. It is capable of outrunning a Jaguar XJ6 which, as was once customary, meets its end by being driven off a cliff.

42 CITROËN 2CV

44 APOLLO 5000GT One of the great joys of 1968 Disney flick The Love Bug is derived from watching an Apollo 5000GT in action. It’s referred to as the Thorndyke Special in the film, though, being so named after villain of the piece, Peter Thorndyke. In fact, two cars were used, with Max Balchowsky being tasked with modifying them; one for driving shots, the other (tragically) for crashing… By the power of movie magic, the Special packed an oil-slick dispenser and other accoutrements befitting a moustachioed bounder. Nevertheless, it still couldn’t best a VW Beetle.

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43 VW BEETLE Strictly speaking, there was much more to 1974’s The Cars that Ate Paris than the spiky VW pictured here. It was one of several grotesque vehicular horrors in this satirical Australian film. Directed

by future cinema colossus Peter Weir, the plot centres on the titular town that profits from car accidents. So much so, it stages them, using an almost carnivalesque array of machinery to lure unsuspecting travellers to their doom. The horny Beetle is our particular favourite, and it also featured on the movie poster. Paris isn’t a classic film, but it has its moments.

OK, it isn’t exactly the most exotic car on this list, but the 2CV that appeared in Bond vehicle The Spy Who Loved Me had its moment. And let’s face it, the banana-yellow Deux Chevaux did at least distract viewers from the risible disco-funk soundtrack as 007 and Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) attempted to put some distance between themselves and their Peugeot 504-equipped pursuers. Six 2CVs were used for the shoot, with at least one packing a GS flat-four. Citroën UK even offered a James Bond package as a limited edition, complete with stick-on bullet holes.

41 DURANGO 95 Of all the illusory cars captured on celluloid, one of the most outré has to be the Durango 95 that appeared in 1971’s A Clockwork Orange. Anti-hero Alex (Malcolm McDowell) proclaims: “[It] purred away real horror show – a nice, warm, vibraty feeling all through your guttiwuts.” Except, in reality, it was the last of three Probe 16s made by the Adams Brothers (the first going to songwriter Jimmy Webb, the second to ex-Cream bassist, Jack Webb). The Hillman Impengined machine sat just 34in off the deck, with entry by means of a sliding roof panel.

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One of the highest-grossing films in Europe in 1951, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is nowadays barely recalled. It isn’t a barrel of laughs, that’s for sure, but it does star the likes of Ava Gardner as a femme fatale, James Mason and a raft of period stars. Also featuring prominently is the Napier-Railton, which is ‘driven’ by dashing romantic hero, Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick). While much of the film was shot in Spain, the sequence involving a Land Speed Record bid was shot at Pendine Sands (Cameron deliberately drives it into the sea…).

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40 IL TEMPO GIGANTE

The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix remains the most popular Norwegian film of all time. No, wait, come back! Seriously, this stop-motion epic might not be a ‘real’ motor-racing movie, but it has more plot intrigue than most. The hero’s car, dubbed Il Tempo Gigante, featured two engines, and sufficient power to measure 7.8 on the Richter scale whenever it was fired up… Oh, and it had a body made of copper, a radar set-up and even its own blood bank! One impressionable young viewer in the mid-’70s was Christian von Koenigsegg. It inspired him to want to make cars when he grew up.

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39 CORD 812 Where the Spies Are was made in 1966 during the espionage thriller boom. Based on the James Leasor novel Passport to Oblivion, it starred David Niven as reluctant spook Dr Jason Love. As in the book, the hero drove a supercharged Cord 812. In reality, one car was created from two scrappers by John Heseltine. The scene in which the car expires in a fug of smoke happened for real; Niven couldn’t master the gearchange, so he drove everywhere in first. The car eventually cried “enough!” and the footage made the cut.

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Elvis Presley films weren’t without their fans, but hardcore motor sport types routinely cite Spinout as being a travesty. The film, called California Holiday in the UK, starred the hipshaking troubadour as racer Mike McCoy, with much of the staged circuit footage being filmed at Paramount Ranch Raceway. In one scene, Presley’s 1965 Shelby Cobra ends up in the brink, by which time it’s morphed into a Microplas kit car (this 1950s British design was licenced to be made in the US). Remarkably, the stunt car survived and is now on display in a Mississippi casino.

37 MERCEDES-BENZ 320 ‘ S TA F F C A R S’ When is a Mercedes not a Mercedes? When it’s a Jaguar. Naturally. Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark is memorable on so many levels. The chase sequence involving Indiana Jones variously on a horse plus inside, on top and under a truck as he struggles to save the Cairo-bound Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis remains breath-taking. The Mercedes staff car he biffs, and a ‘hero’ version for close-ups, actually comprised lengthened Jaguar Mark VII platforms with modified Mark V bodies, fashioned by Classic Cars of Coventry.

It’s hard to imagine Charlie Sheen was ever young and clean cut, but he was in 1986’s The Wraith. This clunky supernatural ‘thriller’ tells the story of a mysterious teenager who rocks up in a smalltown Arizona around the same time as a mysterious street racer materialises in an invulnerable supercar. Cue disbelief: they’re one and the same. The hero is actually dead and seeking revenge against the hot rodders who murdered hIm. His Turbo Interceptor was, in reality, the 1981 Dodge M4S concept. Several clones were used for driving stunts and the more pyrotechnical stuff, mind.

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35 MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. CAR Unveiled at the 1966 Detroit Auto Show, the Cycloac Research Vehicle showed the capabilities of thermoplastics, and – Chevy Corvair engine, wheels and steering column aside – was made entirely of plastic. Styled by Dann Deaver, it began life as a roadster, with subsequent prototypes featuring both conventional doors and gullwing roof panels. AMT then made the 1:1-scale Piranha model, and custom car guru Gene Winfield built a special version for the Man from U.N.C.L.E. with full gullwings and an arsenal of weapons.

32 ‘ F E R R A R I ’ 2 5 0 G T LW B CALIFORNIA SPIDER

34 ‘SPINNER’ The vertical take-off police car used in the original Blade Runner was dreamed up by brilliant designer, artist and all-round futurist, Syd Mead. Functional film cars were then made, which employed rather less than futuristic VW Beetle running gear. Spinners used in the 1982 dystopian thriller were subsequently put to work in all manner of other films. They appeared in the much-loved (and equally mocked) Trancers, Back to the Future II and appalling Solar Crisis. Oh, and an Earth, Wind & Fire video. At least one still survives.

33 AUDI RSQ Product placement in Hollywood is nothing new, but few products have ever been placed as blatantly as the Audi RSQ in 2004’s Will Smith sci-fi actioner, I, Robot. It was meant to instil

visions of what we might be driving should we find ourselves in Chicago circa 2035. The assumption was that it would be an Audi TT with rear-hinged butterfly doors and wheel spats. Strictly speaking, though, it didn’t have wheels per se. No, in Audi-speak it used ‘spheres’. An honourable runner-up has to be the Lexus 2052 that appeared in Minority Report.

To anyone whose formative years were the 1980s, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off remains a cultural touchstone. One of the stars is ostensibly a 1961 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spider. The real deal was used for cabin shots, but three kitform replicas from California’s Design & Development were employed elsewhere. The fakes, with Ford V8s, were used for all driving shots, not least the jump sequence with a parking valet at the wheel. Oh, and the legendary exit rearwards through a glass wall and descent into trees that rounds out the film.

31 CITROËN DS19 The three joyously silly 1960s Fantômas films were all memorable – the second, from 1965, particularly so. As Fantômas se déchaîne closes, the titular supervillain is chased by his nemesis, Mini Moke-mounted Commissioner Paul Juve (Louis de Funès). Just when Juve thinks he has his man, Fantômas’ Citroën DS19 sprouts wings and jet propulsion before taking to the skies. And this, the better part of a decade before Francisco Scaramanga’s AMC Matador did the same in The Man with the Golden Gun. One of the film cars purportedly still exists.

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BELOW Floral garlanded DBS belied downbeat ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

28 ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM III

30 BENTLEY 3 LITRE Baffled! was not a great film. In fact, it barely qualifies as a film per se, as it was originally mooted as an Anglo-American TV series to be made by Britain’s ITC Entertainment in association with the creative types behind The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The show wasn’t picked up, though, so the pilot became a film instead. It will take far more than 180 words to describe the ‘plot’, but in essence Baffled! stars Leonard Nimoy as an ace racing driver who discovers he’s ever so slightly clairvoyant, and psychic investigator Susan Hampshire who ‘assists’ him. They investigate some rum goings-on in a decidedly gothic hotel in the UK and, well, it makes little sense. There is some fun staged footage of a Nike F5000 car in action, but the real star turn is a red Bentley 3 Litre that’s driven on its door handles when in hot pursuit of… an Austin J4 van. If that sounds rubbish, it is by far the best part of the film despite some rather obvious continuity errors.

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29 ASTON MARTIN DBS While its appearances in James Bond flick On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are fleeting, the DBS’s scenes bookends the narrative; one that begins with a suicide attempt and ends with the most downbeat finale in the Bond cannon. Released in 1969, the sixth film in the series featured an unknown actor in the lead role. That said, George Lazenby had no prior thespian credentials. Producer ‘Cubby’ Broccoli met the Australian former used-car salesman by chance, as they shared a barber. As for the new Bond car, the Aston didn’t feature any gadgets. On film, the DBS appears surprisingly adept at driving on sand at Portugal’s Guincho Beach, mind, having first chased

RIGHT ‘Space-age’ Quest was actually based on Ford Zephyr platform with Cortina engine.

down a troubled Mercury Cougar XR7-driving countess. Strictly speaking, though, two Astons were used during the shoot. Having saved the world, Bond marries Tracy (Diana Rigg) but wedded bliss proves tragically short lived. Blofeld (Telly Savalas) and henchwoman Irma Blunt (Ilse Steppat) speed past Bond’s DBS as he sets about removing floral garlands. Tracy is killed in a hail of machine-gun fire and thus ends the film. Sob.

Everyone remembers James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger, but the car owned by his nemesis wasn’t without significance. The 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III of Auric Goldfinger (the always watchable Gert Fröbe) plays an important role in several key scenes, not least when 007 and the gilded megalomaniac first meet at the Stoke Park Golf Club. Bond places a tracker on the car, which allows him to follow Goldfinger to Switzerland. There, 007 learns how Auric has been smuggling gold – as Rolls body parts. The yellow and black Sedanca de Ville used in the film featured coachwork by Barker & Co (a year before the London firm was acquired by Hooper). It was originally custom built for Lord Fairhaven of Cambridgeshire. In a nice touch, the AU1 numberplate used in the film denoted not only the initial two letters of the baddy’s first name, but also the periodictable symbol for gold. The car still exists, and often appears at Bond events. A Phantom II, meanwhile, was the villain’s car in Octopussy.

27 QUEST Originally conceived by marionette maestro, director Gerry Anderson, three of these Derek Meddings-styled machines were constructed in 1968 for use in the film Doppelgänger. While ostensibly space-age in terms of the visuals, they were anything but beneath the skin. They comprised Ford Zephyr platforms with 1.6-litre Cortina GT engines. One visitor to the set, Sidney Carlton, was smitten by the gullwing-doored ‘supercar’, so he persuaded his friend David Lowes to ‘invest’ £25,000 in acquiring the project rights. The newly minted Explorer Motor Company went so far as to create new moulds. The Quest went on sale in 1969 with the lofty price tag of £3000. None was sold, and the firm soon tanked. That wasn’t quite the end of the story, though. The prop that became a ‘production’ car became a prop again. The Alan Mannbuilt film cars were then acquired by Pinewood Studios for use in the UFO TV series, where they were piloted by mop-haired Commander Straker (played by Ed Bishop). Once the programme was cancelled, one example was sold to DJ Dave Lee Travis.

ABOVE Mach 1 Ford Mustang, Eleanor, was star of 40-minute GISS chase in which 93 cars were destroyed.

26 ASTON MARTIN V8 Aston Martin in the 1980s was a different proposition than in the go-go 1960s. It had been bankrupt at the start of the decade, let’s not forget. The appearance of a ‘Towns’ V8 in 1987’s The Living Daylights was the first for an Aston in a Bond vehicle for 18 years, and it provided a welcome promotional boost for the calamity-happy firm. Nevertheless, the decision to renew the association occurred late in the day. As such, there were inevitable problems sourcing vehicles (as many as 11 were used during filming, some of them mock-ups). At the beginning of the film, the car is introduced as a V8 Volante. It subsequently appears inside Q Branch being ‘winterised’ (being kitted out with a roof). In a later scene, the V8 sprouts lazers, skis, missiles, rocket propulsion and the mother of all kill switches, while taking on assorted Ladas on a frozen lake. While perhaps not one of the most fondly recalled Bond cars, it should be. Expect the model to make a comeback in the forthcoming No Time to Die.

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25 F O R D M U S TA N G M A C H 1 Not to be confused with the execrable Nicolas Cage vehicle of 2000, the original Gone in 60 Seconds was essentially one long car chase. It was the work of HB ‘Toby’ Halicki, a small-time customiser turned scrap magnate. Despite having nothing by way of prior film-making experience, he wrote the script in a day, played the lead and performed his own stunts. The plot, for want of a better word, centres on auto thief Maindrian Pace’s bid to steal a great many cars in no time at all, the plan taking a dive after he is ratted out as he attempts to bag the final one on the list – a bright yellow Mach 1 Mustang dubbed Eleanor. The acting is awful, but the 40-minute chase in which 93 cars are destroyed is amazing. Halicki’s ‘best guestimate’ approach to stunt arranging resulted in him breaking several vertebrae in the climactic 128ft leap aboard Eleanor. You can’t help but wince watching it. While perhaps the Mach 1 wasn’t as cool as Frank Bullitt’s Mustang, it was undeniably robust.

THE SWIFTMOBILE

T OYO TA 2000 G T Yet another Bond car, but strictly speaking the Toyota that appeared in You Only Live Twice was used by 007’s Japanese Secret Intelligence Service ally (played by Akiko Wakabayashi). Toyota never officially made a 2000GT roadster, though. Two coupés were supplied for the production, one in left-hand-drive form, the other a right-hooker. However, Sean Connery couldn’t fit comfortably into the tight confines of a 2000GT’s cabin so, in double-quick time, Toyota produced two open variants in their place. Naturally, this being the height of spy-fi

mania, the cars featured a raft of (Sony-branded) gadgets, not least two-way radios, a voice-activated tape recorder, a video camera behind the front numberplate, radar and more besides. Wakabayashi couldn’t drive, though, so she was doubled for all action scenes. As for what happened to both cars after the film was released in 1966, it’s all a bit murky. Both roadsters were sold, one being purportedly wrecked in the 1970s although rumours persist that it still exists. The other car found its way to Hawaii, where it was acquired by Toyota in 1977 and restored.

The original School for Scoundrels from 1960 features several car-related cameos. Rotter-in-chief Raymond Delauney (the always watchable Terry-Thomas), for example, drives an Aston Martin DB3S – or rather a Berlini, complete with a bizarre dorsal fin. However, the 1924 4-Litre Swiftmobile is pivotal to the plot. Hapless hero Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) is bamboozled into buying this pre-war monstrosity in a bid to impress the film’s delightful love interest (Janette Scott). With its comedy grille, giant elephant mascot, serpentine horn and faux exhaust pipes, it was as ghastly to look at as it was unforgettable to watch in action (well, inaction). In reality, the Swiftmobile began life as a 1928 Bentley 4½ Litre with fixed-head coupé bodywork by Freestone & Webb. The Bentley was sold by the studio in 1961 for the princely sum of £50 (£1000 in new money). The subsequent keeper rebuilt the car, adding a replica Vanden Plas tourer body that was painted in Land Rover green. The car was sold by H&H in 2003 for £110,000.

ABOVE On-board skis essential for Bond’s Aston V8 when chasing Ladas on a frozen lake.

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RIGHT A stint in the drink for The Fast Lady’s Bentley 4½ Litre Speed Label Model.

22 LOTUS EUROPA TWIN-CAM 11 Harrowhouse is another film that is remembered only by fans of the obscure, but it deserves to be better known. For starters, there’s a corker of a car chase involving a ‘flying’ Lotus. While the plot of this 1974 vehicle is a load of old toffee – steal billions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and get away with it – the stunts make your eyes water. The thrilling finale sees the Europa providing covering fire to the Ford Transit-mounted heroes by means of high-speed donuts, off-piste slides and a massive leap over a stone wall, while the Jaguar S-type-mounted baddies are sent scattering. The chase was staged by stuntman Ken Sheppard and his Nine Cars team, with much of the footage being shot in the environs of Blenheim Palace. The purportedly diesel-engined Transit (it was equipped with a tuned V6 for the climactic jump) managed to leap 34ft before plummeting to earth. The Lotus also took a severe beating, the nose parting company on landing during its leap, though it appeared mint in the next shot…

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19 AMC HORNET

20 BENTLEY 4½ LITRE SPEED LABEL MODEL

21 THE CAR Non-terrifying horror flick The Car is an enjoyable time-while. At least, it is if you have a high tolerance for ham acting and lousy dialogue. This 1977 movie is made watchable thanks to the antics of its titular star, a demonic car that is as ugly to look at as it is eager to mow down pedestrians and cyclists (that, and jump through a house, roll repeatedly without picking up so much as a stone chip, and so on…). The slab-sided machine began life as a 1971 Lincoln Continental MkIII, its build being attributed to self-proclaimed King of the Kustomisers, George Barris. It received a 4in roof chop, a raised beltline, huge tubular bumpers and sunken headlights. Depending on whose estimates you credit, as many as five glassfibre replicas were destroyed during filming, the ‘hero’ car surviving the shoot. It was among several cars that Barris auctioned off in 1984. At least two replicas have since been made – one by a British enthusiast who used it for drag racing. The Car doesn’t appear in the recently made sequel, in case you were wondering.

Yes, it’s another Bentley, but stick with us… The Vanden Plas-bodied short-chassis 1927 model that appeared in 1962’s The Fast Lady was referred to by this handle. This ‘lesser’ Ealing Comedy is another of the kind where a diffident type attempts to woo a lovely lady by means of a desirable motor car while dissuading her from falling for the charms of a blackguard. The cast, which includes star Stanley Baxter, real-life former car builder James Robertson Justice, the lovely Julie Christie in only her

second film role, and übercad Leslie Philipps, seem to enjoy themselves, while the memorable chase sequence after the Bentley hunts down bank robbers is played for laughs. There are also cameos by John Surtees, Graham Hill and even John Bolster. As for the car itself, it was dried off following a visit to the drink. In 2010 it was sold by dealer/racer Gregor Fisken for north of £500,000. As an aside, director Ken Annakin went on to make the superb Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

In an improbable bit of product placement, AMCs featured prominently in 1974 Bond flick The Man With the Golden Gun. Roger Moore, sorry, 007 steals a bright-red Hornet from a dealership in Bangkok, accompanied by Sheriff JW Pepper (the always-entertaining Clifton James), and gives chase to triple-nippled hitman Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). Cue that corkscrew jump. Even the Thai police drive four-door AMC Matadors. Scaramanga famously makes his escape by means of his Matador coupé sprouting wings and turning into a carcum-aeroplane. Spoiler alert: it was a radio-controlled model. The intention had been to fly an actual car inspired by the ill-starred, Ford Pinto-based AVE Mizar. A ‘roadable aircraft’ was built, complete with wings and other aeronautical paraphernalia, but it had trouble getting out of its own way. It could ‘fly’ only a few hundred metres, hence specialeffects guru John Stears created a model, with filming being moved to rather less glamorous of climes – Bovington Camp in Dorset. A mocked-up Matador was a huge hit on the car show circuit, however.

ABOVE AMC Hornet didn’t look quite so straight after James Bond’s legendary corkscrew jump...

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HISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATION

CHEVROLET CORVETTE Another film to be filed under ‘once successful but now forgotten’. Mark Hamill, fresh from his success in Star Wars, appeared in 1978’s Corvette Summer . The plot centres on him recovering a stolen ’Vette – one that he’d rescued from a scrapyard before turning it into a wild custom while at high school. He is helped in his bid by hooker with a heart, Annie Potts. There are car chases and crashes, naturally, with much of the footage being shot on the Barstow to Las Vegas highway. The two cars used in the film were built by Korky’s Kustom Studio in Van Nuys, California, to a design by art director Jim Shoppe. One of the stranger aspects of the reworking was the move to right-hand drive. This was reputedly done so that Hamill’s character could get closer to girls in order to ogle them during a cruising scene… Both cars were built around beat-up ’73 junkers, and, remarkably, they still survive. One lives in the National Corvette Museum, the other in New Zealand.

The 1968 thriller Bullitt plays to Steve McQueen’s aloofness. Its car chase through San Francisco’s rolling hills, overlaid with Lalo Schifrin’s jazzy score, raised the bar for period action flicks. But, if anything, it’s the star’s lightly customised Highland Green Mustang GT390 that steals the show, even if the overdubbing infers that it has 18 forward gears. McQueen did some of the driving sequences himself, although legendary stuntman Bill Hickman performed the rough stuff. Hickman famously appears as the driver of the baddies’ Dodge Charger, which earns major movie-car kudos points of its own, even if the same hubcap seems to fall off at every turn. Despite the fact that Bullitt isn’t a great film per se (go on, what happens in it before and after the chase sequence?), it remains a classic of its kind. So much so, Ford hasn’t been above releasing Bullitt limited editions of more contemporary models. Meanwhile, one of the two GT390s used in the film has been in the same family since 1974. It is due to go under the hammer in January 2020.

In period, Checkpoint wasn’t a film that had motor sport types expressing their admiration with cheers and whistles... because it’s hokum. This 1956 flick missed the mark on so many levels, but in this instance perspective is everything. It’s amazing the difference 60 years makes. While nominally starring lantern-jawed Anthony Steel, and a clearly slumming it Stanley Baker as the wrong ’un of the piece, this film’s true stars are the Lagonda sports-racers and assorted Aston DB3Ss and 2/4s that featured extensively. Footage of the real Mille Miglia spliced with staged sequences means there’s much to love. However, Aston’s David Brown hardly basked in the reflective glow of his products’ appearances; his cars were dubbed WarrenIngrams for their roles. The Rank Organisation purchased at least one DB3S for use in the film, although two Lagonda DP115 models appear in the majority of action scenes.

15 A L FA R O M E O DUETTO SPIDER The Graduate is a gen’wine celluloid classic on so many levels, and the makers’ choice of car for youthful ‘hero’ Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) was spot on. The shot of him driving across San Francisco’s Bay Bridge accompanied by a Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack remains evocative. That said, he is driving in the wrong direction given that he is meant to be heading to Berkeley, California... The Spider features sparingly but in pivotal scenes, not least when it runs out of petrol just as Braddock

attempts to stop his lady love (played by Katherine Ross) from getting married. OK, so the Alfa appears to have gained an extra four cylinders if the overdubbing is to be believed, but see past this and it’s hard to leave this film not wanting a Duetto. And Ms Ross. Two cars were used during the 1967 shoot, one of which improbably went on to enjoy success trackside in a later life. In typically lightningquick fashion, Alfa Romeo capitalised on the Spider’s film appearance by launching the Graduate Edition in… 1986.

LEFT One of the two original Bullitt film cars re-emerged in 2018; the other is said to be in Mexico.

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12 BELOW Mad Max’s Pursuit Special was actually a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe.

1934 FORD THREE-WINDOW COUPE

1955 CHEVROLET 150 Two-Lane Blacktop is either 1) a brilliant, dreamlike road movie, or b) a load of horse manure. It all depends on whether you enjoy watching non-actors James Taylor and Dennis Wilson hustling for pink slips in their primergrey ’55 Chevy gasser – and not much else besides. There is little by way of a linear plot or meaningful dialogue. There is, however, the reliably terrific Warren Oates as a blowhard in a Pontiac GTO Judge. Oh, and hitchhiker The Girl (the tragic Laurie Bird). Three Chevrolets were built for the film by Richard Ruth, and originally finished in pale blue. One boasted a cooking 427ci V8, the other two employing 454ci big blocks. One of the cars was subsequently used in the climactic racing scene in American Graffiti. Two of the Blacktop 150s still exist, one having been restored to as-used condition, complete with camera mounts. Wherever you stand on Blacktop, its influence is still being felt given the number of gasser replicas that have been built since the film was released in 1971.

RIGHT Sant’Agatabuilt Miura met with a sticky end in The Italian Job.

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13 LAMBORGHINI MIURA It appears on screen only fleetingly, but it made one hell of an impact. Who can forget the opening scene of The Italian Job; the one where master criminal Roger Beckermann (Rossano Brazzi) guides his Lamborghini Miura P400 up the San Bernadino Pass? If the sight of the car being hustled doesn’t stir you, the Matt Monro soundtrack surely does? And then, as we all know by rote, the Sant’Agata supercar meets with a sticky end after connecting with a bulldozer before tumbling down an Alp (by which time it’s changed hues from orange to red). Cue half a century of theories about what actually fell down a mountainside; how many cars were used; was the crashed Lamborghini a mock-up; where is the movie car now? And so on. Since the film was released in 1969, everyone has had a hypothesis. It’s only in 2019 that the actual ‘hero’ car has been authenticated by the factory, with former employee Enzo Moruzzi, who delivered the car to the set and drove it in the film, giving his blessing.

11 V8 INTERCEPTOR ‘The Last of the V8 Interceptors’ from the Mad Max series of films came into being out of expediency. In 1976, when the first film was in pre-production, the minuscule budget stretched to AUS $20,000 for vehicles. The titular hero’s car, also referred to as the Pursuit Special, was originally to have been a Ford Mustang. This notion was swiftly put to one side upon visiting an auction in Victoria, where three cars were acquired: a brace of ex-police Ford Falcon V8 XB saloons (which became Big Bopper and the Yellow Interceptor in the first

film) and a white 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe that morphed into Max’s Pursuit Special. Or at least it did after it received a ‘droop snoot’ nosecone designed by future Mercedes-Benz stylist Peter Arcadipane, and rear body panels moulded by Purvis Fibreglass Products (which made the Nova kit car under licence). The Pursuit Special also famously featured a blower that could be manually turned on and off… When filming wrapped in 1978, the car was sold to mechanic Murray Smith in lieu of unpaid bills.

LAMBORGHINI POLO STORICO

We’re bending the rules a little here because The California Kid was a TV movie, but bear with us. This 1974 production starring a youthful Martin Sheen would probably be forgotten were it not for the chopped ’n’ flamed ’34 Ford he drove in the film. That said, the car built and owned by Pete Chapouris was already well known in the US prior to its small-screen appearance. With its 302ci V8, quick-change rear end and Halibrand wheels, it wasn’t a resto rod that was then the hot ticket. It merely looked amazing, hence it became a magazine cover star in period. However, for the 1950s-rooted film, it received a minor makeover including (non-functioning) side pipes, era-correct ‘steelies’ with Ford hubcaps and ‘The California Kid’ lettering. While there have been countless hot rod-related B-movies, this film resonated with an audience the world over. As with the 1932 Deuce Coupe that appeared in American Graffiti, it introduced the very idea of a hot rod to many newbies, and its influence is still extant.

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10 DODGE CHALLENGER Vanishing Point deserves its veneration even if it isn’t the most coherent of films. The ‘plot’ centres on ex-cop/racing driver Kowalski (you never learn his first name) betting his drug-dealer pal that he can deliver a ‘presumed’ supercharged Dodge Challenger car from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. Packing a fistful of ‘ups’ and a poodle perm, he’s soon being chased across four states by Johnny Law, and in doing so becomes a counterculture sensation. Meeting his fair share of freaks along the way, and ably assisted by radio DJ Super Soul (Cleavon Little), his trippy voyage famously ends with a Dodge/bulldozer interface (although you’ll see the substituted Chevy Camaro if you look close enough). Four – possibly five – Alpine White Challengers were supplied for the shoot, which were prepared by Max Balchowsky. Some of the driving was performed by Kowalski’s Barry Newman. After tuition from stunt coordinators Carey Loftin and Bill Hickman, the big-haired thesp proved a natural. Even so, he came unstuck after a ‘civilian’ drove into his path on a supposedly closed set.

7 VO L KSWAG E N B E ET L E

8 DARRACQ 12HP

9 P LY M O U T H F U R Y A cult movie if ever there was one, Christine was nevertheless an anomaly in John Carpenter’s back catalogue. Unlike virtually every other film he made, the horror maestro didn’t write the screenplay for the 1983 adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Nor did he particularly want to helm the movie. It was merely a job; one that was much needed following the tanking at the box office of The Thing. Nevertheless, this tale of a demonic Plymouth Fury and the nerd who restores it has several typically memorable Carpenter flourishes. Among

these, perhaps the most striking is the vision of Christine driving slowly with flames licking from every panel, or the masterful ‘regeneration’ scene. Some 23 Plymouths were used during filming, including dressed-up Belvederes and at least one Savoy. Intriguingly, the engine sound purportedly emitted by Christine was not made by a Mopar product; the V8 bellow was that of a 428ci Ford Mustang Cobra Super Jet. At least three ‘hero’ Plymouths survived the shoot, while one of the stunt cars was later resurrected.

Directed by South Africanborn Henry Cornelius, Genevieve boasted a witty script by American William Rose and an excellent ensemble cast. Oh, and the titular star, a 1904 Darracq, which bolstered the British public’s affection for veteran cars and also the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Hyde Park was closed for the re-enactment of the start, the finish being restaged at Madeira Drive, although other locations were closer to Rank’s Iver Heath studios. The owner of the car at the time, Norman Reeves, completed the restoration after former keeper/rescuer Peter Venning was obliged to sell the car upon getting married. Reeves christened the Darracq Annie, but the car was renamed Genevieve after the patron saint of Paris, the city in which it was built. The film was released in 1953, with the same year’s Monte Carlo Rally winner Maurice Gatsonides driving it in that November’s real London to Brighton Run. Ironically, for such a well loved and emblematic film, its director was pessimistic about its chances at the premier. “It’s going to make people happy,” was his most positive remark.

The little car that could. And did. Frequently. Scroll back to 1968 when The Love Bug came out, and it’s unlikely that anyone at the Walt Disney studio would have dreamed that a film about a sentient VW Beetle would become a global smash. Or spawn umpteen sequels and TV spin-offs as recently as 2005. The last live-action movie shot while Disney was still alive made a hero out of a ’63 Beetle – the remarkable bit being that several other cars were also considered for the role. These included Japanese saloons and even a TVR Grantura. The Beetle was chosen because it was the only car that those canvassed felt compelled to pat or stroke. The other bit of history that defies belief concerns Volkswagen’s snooty response when informed of Disney’s plans. It forbade the use of its trademarks, so the cars used in The Love Bug were denuded of badges and logos. At least one Beetle employed during the making of the film still survives in unrestored condition.

BELOW Charming Genevieve extolled delights of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

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4 5 6 MINI Given The Italian Job’s legendary status in the UK, it’s easy to forget that the 1969 film bombed elsewhere (the US included). Nevertheless, this thoroughly British Bank Holiday staple helped cement the Mini’s legendary status. L’Equipe Rémy Julienne stuntmen and other British independent drivers put on a bravura performance, even if it stretches credulity to believe that three Minis weighed down with gold could move under their own steam, let alone outrun the fuzz armed with Alfa Romeo Giulia Supers. As is so often the case with these things, BMC was purportedly less than keen to help with the production. Star Michael Caine has stated as much, although

his version of events has been queried by some historians. However, claims that the Minis packed 1.8-litre B-series ‘fours’ seems fanciful at best. As to how many cars were used during the shoot, it’s widely held that six Coopers were acquired initially, and later on a further 25 Minis of varying kinds were amassed in Switzerland. As for the 2003 remake starring Marky Mark of The Funky Bunch fame, we would sooner not comment…

ABOVE The ultimate time machine? And to think the DeLorean could have been ousted by a fridge...

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1932 FORD FIVE-WINDOW COUPE If you’re surprised that we have placed the ‘Piss Yella’ ’32 Ford hot rod from American Graffiti so far up our listing, you shouldn’t be. It effectively reignited interest in traditional hot rods in the US. It cast a long shadow, as evinced by the number of replicas (or tribute cars in latter-day parlance) that have popped up ever since the film’s 1973 release. Not that it’s a particularly

well built hot rod, or even a good-looking one for that matter. It was meant to evoke the sort of motor that a competent car builder in small-town American could have fashioned in 1963. George Lucas based the car owner’s character John Milner on that of his friend and former racer Allen Grant, for whom he had acted as a one-man pit crew back in the early 1960s. The 327ci Chevy V8-powered Ford was acquired for the movie in primer grey. It had already received a 3in roof chop, while the choice of colour for the film was in honour of Grant’s famous Executor Shelby Cobra race car, which was yellow and black.

“Are you telling me that you made a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” It’s only one of umpteen quotable lines from Back to the Future. The 1985 original, which spawned two sequels, rehabilitated the DeLorean brand, and how. The remarkable thing is, the ill-starred, Belfast-made device wasn’t the original choice of time machine. There was a point during the development process where Marty McFly and Doc Brown could have been travelling in… a fridge. Yes, really. Contrary to countless claims made by the man himself, George Barris did not conceive or build the film cars. The original design was down to Ron Cobb and Andrew Roberts. The movie’s specials-effects team built the cars, with customiser Jay Ohrberg creating several official replicas for promotional purposes. In all, five cars were used during the making of the trilogy, plus one hack used for interior shots and a glassfibre-bodied, VW-based off-roader that appeared in the third film. At least 80 clones have been made subsequently, though. You can even buy DIY conversions kits…

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BONHAMS

LOTUS ESPRIT S1 The story behind how James Bond came to be driving a Lotus is a story of cunning and audacity in its own right. It is improbable that the Esprit would have appeared in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, were it not for Don McLaughlan. Lotus’s savvy PR chief got wind that a new 007 film was in the offing; the first since Live and Let Die, which was released in 1973. McLaughlan parked a pre-production Esprit – one denuded of badging – close to the Eon Productions office at Pinewood Studios, and let Britain’s newest automotive pin-up do its thing. Interest was piqued to the point that an enraptured Eon staff spent several days trying to trace the origins of the wedgeshaped mystery car. A deal was then struck, whereby Lotus would supply two Esprits plus six bodyshells. The shooting of action scenes would commence in Sardinia in August 1976. The dramatic chase sequence on the twisty Costa Smeralda, which involved Ford Taunus-mounted henchmen and the delectable but deadly Naomi (Caroline Munro) aboard baddie-inchief Karl Stromberg’s Bell

206 JetRanger, caused headaches for the stuntmen. They didn’t get on with the mid-engined Esprit. Into the breach stepped Lotus’s chassis/handing guru, Roger Becker, who steered the car in every action sequence save for the one where the Esprit famously dives into the water from a pier and turns into a submersible. It was fired out of compressed air-rockets and guided by steel cables. For the scene where the Lotus emerges from the drink, the Lotus was pulled out of the ocean and onto the beach along 20 metres of tracks that had been laid underwater. This sequence alone accounted for four months’ worth of behindthe-scenes preparation. It was worth the effort. Today, Elon Musk owns one of the submersibles and has threatened to make it functional.

ABOVE Esprit submersible took a dive into the ocean in Bond vehicle The Spy Who Loved Me.

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You’d need to have a heart of stone not to love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This 1968 Anglo-American production boasted a stellar cast, a witty script by Roald Dahl (loosely based on an Ian Fleming novel) and, of course, the titular four-wheeled hero. The car’s name was ‘borrowed’ from the real aero-engined racing cars piloted by Count Louis Zborowski at Brooklands and elsewhere. The precise narrative – who did what – behind the design and construction of the cars is a source of debate among film nerds. What is beyond doubt is that the design was mapped out by legendary set designer Ken Adam. Nevertheless, it was left to race-team principal Alan Mann to construct the cars. He recalled in 2011: “That all happened after [Ford motor sport supremo] Walter Hayes had been out for dinner with the film’s producer, Cubby Broccoli. The film people had

been trying to do something with these old Bedford lorry chassis; making them look like cars from the 1920s, which wasn’t working. “I went to see their special-effects people and told them to just draw what they wanted and we would make it. We built three of them with Ford Zephyr V6 engines for £80,000, including one that was all-alloy, which was hung underneath a helicopter for the flying sequences.” Alan Mann regular and three-time British Saloon Car Champion Frank Gardner drove the first car for promotional stills, and appeared at the wheel in several magazines in period. Other sources insist that

six cars were constructed, with only one of them being drivable. This car is now owned by film director Sir Peter Jackson. For his part, Dick van Dyke, who played Caractacus Potts, recalled in his autobiography My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business that he did little driving during the shoot. He also disliked the finished film…

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ASTON MARTIN DB5

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a Bentley man in the original text. The storybook 007 was first introduced to the marque in Goldfinger. He was furnished with a “battleshipgrey DBIII” by the British secret service. Except in reality there was no such model, the assumption being that author Ian Fleming was referring to a DB MkIII coupé rather than a DB3 sports-racer. The film cars were purportedly equipped with Browning .30-calibre machine guns, a retractable bulletresistant shield, revolving licence plates, oil-slick dispenser, in-car radar tracking and a lot more besides. After a fair amount of haggling, Eon Productions

was provided with two DB5s for the shoot, with Aston Martin surfing a publicity tidal wave following the global success of the film. The works then supplied two further DB5s for Thunderball. The story behind what happened to the original ‘gadget car’ (as opposed to the ‘stunt car’ used for high-speed driving scenes) is a mystery worthy of a film adaptation of its own. Based on a DB5 prototype (strictly speaking, a modified late-series DB4), it vanished in 1997. Lawsuits followed, as did endless theories as to the motive behind its disappearance and who stole it. Those close to the story expect it will

never resurface. What sets the Bond Aston apart from most other cars among our Top 50 is that its fame has never ebbed. DB5s of varying kinds have appeared in seven films in the 007 series. Not only that, they have also rocked up in several non-Bond movies, not least The Cannonball Run and the spectacularly awful Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., both accompanied by Bond actors (Roger Moore and George Lazenby respectively). Simply put, a Silver Birch DB5 is as much Bond shorthand as a Walther PPK and a shaken but not stirred Martini. There’s a reason why one of the cars used to promote

Thunderball recently sold for north of $6m at RM Sotheby's. There’s a reason why Aston Martin itself is to build 25 007-spec replicas equipped with period-correct gadgetry and seven-figure price tags. If you need to ask what the questions are, you will never understand. Quite simply, children of all ages want to be James Bond.

ABOVE 007’s Aston Martin DB5 with Goldfinger star Sean Connery on location in the Swiss Alps. RIGHT Gadgets galore – what grown-up child cannot resist the period charms of the ultimate spy-fi film car?

RM SOTHEBY'S/SIMON CLAY

“Ejector seat? You’re joking.” As we all know by rote, Q never joked about his work. You can understand James Bond’s credulity, but the gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 that appeared in Goldfinger entered into legend in an instant. Whether its knock-off spinners were taking chunks out of Tilly Masterson’s Ford Mustang on the Furka Pass, or it was expelling a kimono-clad wrong ’un via the roof, this was a spy-fi supercar like no other. Nothing has changed since the film burst onto big screens in 1964. Accordingly, the Aston was always going to be number one on our list. The irony is that Bond was

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WA T C H

BMW M1 The now-iconic German supercar was the right model at the wrong time, but after years at the bottom of the market itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now riding high. Just make sure you involve the experts if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re buying W O R D S T Y L E R H E AT L E Y P H O T O G R A P H Y M AG I C C A R P I C S

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IN 1978, ‘M’ became the most potent letter in BMW’s alphabet. Launched as the German marque’s first (and currently only) supercar, the M1 was a true statement of intent. The iconic Giugiaro wedge was as eye-catching as anything else the traditionally exotic Italians were producing, but this BMW was far from being ‘all show and no go’. Mounted in the middle of the M1 was the now legendary M88 inline six, producing 273bhp in road-going guise. At the heart of the BMW M1 origin story was the brand’s desire to go racing and beat Porsche at its own game. However, to say that the M1 had a troubled birth would be something of an understatement. The project was originally outsourced to Lamborghini, but was hampered by slow progress and the Italian firm’s financial situation. BMW needed around 400 road cars to be produced in order to meet homologation requirements before qualifying for various race series. Retaking control of the M-car mission, the Bavarian manufacturer enlisted the help of Marchesi of Modena to create the car’s tubular spaceframe, and of composite specialist TIR to mould the glassfibre bodywork. Baur, the coachbuilder in Stuttgart, became responsible for installing the drivetrain, before the complete models were sent to Munich for final inspection. This was very much a ‘handmade’ supercar, with no two examples alike. To further help with development and homologation, BMW ran a onemake Procar Championship as a support race to Formula 1. For two seasons from 1979, these thoroughly motor sport-focused variants competed on the world’s most famed circuits. Racing drivers willing to prove their worth in equal equipment relished the challenge of battling in identical cars. In fact, it was none other than Niki Lauda who won the inaugural Procar Championship. In December 1980 the BMW officially met the requirements for Group 4 motor sport. However, the manufacturer’s focus was beginning to shift in the direction of F1, as an engine supplier. Ultimately the Procars were sold to private teams, with some seeing success at prestigious motor sport events.

ABOVE Supercar’s comfortable but sporty cabin styling moved away from BMW’s conventional saloons.

T H E VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N For a long time the BMW M1 was overlooked by performance-car buyers in period, especially as the 1980s went on to produce so many desirable – and eventually collectable – vehicles. Values of M1s remained subdued, with tales of near-perfect £80,000 examples struggling to find new homes as recently as 15 years ago. Hard to believe, considering their values today. It’s said that in total 439 M1s were produced, making them a rare collectors’ item now. Of that number, 399 were road cars, and the past decade has seen a surge in popularity for the model. Forget about the days of a sub-£100,000 example, as even a car in need of some restoration can fetch around £250,000. Meanwhile, £500,000 should get you a good, clean M1, with the very best lowmileage cars fetching up to £700k. Appreciation of these modern

‘It had movie-star looks, impressive performance – and exotic engineering to match, too...’

classics over the past decade has been quite remarkable. The remaining 40 M1s are Procars, and are highly sought after in the world of classic motor sport. Often modified by teams and owners to boost competitiveness in a multitude of disciplines, these mean machines can comfortably run at 500bhp. Later, turbo variants raised that output to 850bhp. Finding a Procar for sale is like finding hens’ teeth, leading many to speculate that an example on the open market could be a million-pound vehicle in waiting.

T H E D E S I R A B I L I T Y FA C T O R In 1978, the M1 was a fascinating machine that seemingly came from nowhere to rub shoulders with other highly regarded supercars of the era. It had movie-star looks, impressive performance and all of the exotic engineering to match. So why weren’t people snatching keys from BMW dealers at every opportunity? As with several notable models throughout history, the M1 arrived at the wrong time. A serious oil crisis in the early 1970s, and another the very year this BMW was launched, left little hunger for an unproven car from a marque not traditionally associated with supercars. The latter point was compounded by the fact that BMW customers weren’t visiting showrooms for models such as the M1; more conventional siblings were bringing home the bacon instead. Four decades later, and it’s a very

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different story for the M1. It has enjoyed something of renaissance, with the world finally appreciating what a special model BMW revealed some 40 years ago. To own an M1 is to own something unusual, a car that marks you out as being a connoisseur of great taste. Demand outstrips supply, with several interested parties surrounding each deal. Officially speaking, the BMW was never sold to the US market, but some were imported and ‘federalised’ to meet legal requirements. These cars are denoted by their emissionsfriendly manifolds that rob the engine of around 25bhp, and a set of altered bumpers. While the federalised models are less desirable than European-spec ones, an M1 at auction is a rare thing, so beggars can’t be choosers.

ABOVE Eye-catching Giugiaro wedge was as traditionally exotic as anything else Italians were making.

components are few and far between. Many existing owners have cleverly hoarded spares over the years for their own cars, and the parts that do come on the market disappear quickly. High demand means that those in possession of genuine nuts and bolts can often name their price. As time goes on, more remanufactured and reconditioned parts will be the only alternative. A well serviced M88 engine is a joyous power unit, but many owners over the years forgot about its exotic motor sport DNA – it has sodiumfilled pistons, for example. A rebuild can cost from £20,000-£25,000, making a car that has already been seen to a tempting proposition. The engine itself lives right in the bowels of the BMW for optimum weight distribution, continuing the running theme of difficult access to core components. It’s also worth checking

T H E D E TA I L S 1978-1981 BMW M1

PRICING

ENGINE POWER TOP SPEED 0-60MPH

PROJECT GOOD CONCOURS

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£250,000 £500,000 £700,000

the oil tank for corrosion, as waste material through deterioration can seriously damage an engine. In short, do your homework and ensure to enlist the services of an expert. You’ll cherish a well lookedafter M1, but curse an unloved one.

THE FINAL DECISION The M1 has finally taken its rightful place at the table of the supercar elite. It has always had the right ingredients, but now it’s found its audience. It’s the car that sparked BMW’s M division into life, and is

ultimately the genesis of every great BMW performance model since. Buying into this rarefied club can be daunting. However, specialists have learned every trick in the book when it comes to looking after this German supercar. While it might be tempting to opt for the trailer queen that’s barely touched Tarmac, a car that’s been driven as intended but cared for by experts is the safer bet. The M1 has had to wait a long time for its moment in the sun, but now it’s basking in its popularity.

TIMELINE

T H E N U T S A N D B O LT S An M1 in fine fettle is fantastic to behold. Its distinctive profile houses that sonorous inline six, making for a tantalising elixir of style and midengine performance. However, due to the handbuilt nature and mechanical complexities of the BMW, each car differs from the next. Therefore, getting a specialist to inspect any example before you even consider a purchase is vitally important. An M1’s shell is comprised of glassfibre, enabling those striking angles while remaining light in weight. However, that captivating body can hide an ugly secret that could cost the uninitiated thousands to put right. Speaking with BMW specialist Munich Legends, which has experience of M1 road and Procars, a rotting spaceframe is often hard to spot thanks to being hidden by the car’s body and flat underbelly. A borescope is the only real way to gain an understanding of what state the skeletal structure of an M1 is in without taking the car apart. It’s the same story for the internal framework of the doors. Parts supply is also something to consider when buying an M1, as

1978

After a rather convoluted development that saw the outsourced project taken back from Lamborghini, BMW revealed the M1 – a car to take on the establishment and homologate the model for motor sport. Taking inspiration from the 1972 Turbo concept, the firm’s mid-engined dream became a reality.

1979

A one-make series of M1 Procars served as support races to Formula 1. Drivers of all disciplines were encouraged to race in an event that enabled a level playing field. Niki Lauda won the ’79 Procar Championship.

1981

As BMW’s racing aspirations turned to F1, and the M1 suffered at the hands of an oil crisis, production of BMW’s only true supercar came to an end with fewer than 450 road and race cars built.

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FERRARI 612 SCAGLIETTI SOLD AUGUST 2019 BUYER PAID: £57,000

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M A R K E T A NA LYS I S

Aston Martin DB4 GT PHOTO BY RM SOTHEBY’S

What does the Hagerty price guide say about the market for the GT over the past six years? And have continuation cars affected prices? W O R D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E

ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT UK PRICES

ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT US PRICES

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THE ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT has been in the spotlight over the past couple of years, with Aston Martin Works’ announcement of a series of 25 continuation cars to be built at its historic Newport Pagnell factory. Continuation cars will always create controversy. Should they be built at all? Will they devalue the originals? Can they be raced next to historics? And can they even be used legally on the road? Regarding the last of these, in the case of the Aston, no they can’t – although there are ways around that for the private buyer. There are also advantages to any continuation programme, in that

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any unavailable spares are finally remanufactured, often allowing owners to replace unsatisfactory repairs with high-quality, originalspecification items instead. And as for values, the arguments swing both ways. The added publicity for a car can never do it harm, especially for a model such as the DB4 GT, where some potential owners might not have previously understood the difference between a standard DB4 and a GT. Perhaps it’s easy to overlook a shorter wheelbase, lighter weight and higherpowered engine... But some will argue that those

same potential buyers might just as well choose the continuation car as the more expensive original – the DB4 GT continuation cars quickly sold out, at £1.5 million each. So, that’s £1 million less than a very good, original DB4 GT. Which

‘In the US, the charms of the DBs had always been over-shadowed by those of Ferraris’

2017

2 EXCELLENT

2018 3 GOOD

2019 4 FAIR

brings us back to the question as to whether the value of originals has been affected. Certainly the prices levelled out from 2017, but that happened across all Aston Martin DBs, the UK market for which had been over-heating for several years. In the US, where the charms of the Aston Martin DBs had always been over-shadowed by those of Ferraris of similar vintage, prices continued to climb long after UK prices had flattened off, and although the all-Aston Martin sale in Monterey lacked some fizz, the signs are that US prices will stay strong, regardless of continuations.

Private Sales and Consignments established 1978 sales@paulrussell.com

FERRARI 512 BB

(1) 978-768-6919

paulrussell.com

£265,000

UK delivered Ferrari 512 BB, one of only 43 UK RHD cars, presented in Rosso Chiaro on tan hide Daytona seats, currently showing 43,000 miles. First delivered to HR Owen on 13th September 1977. Extremely well maintained over the years by many of the UK’s leading specialists, the car comes with its correct manuals and toolkit and is also accompanied by a large history file consisting of many invoice’s, receipts and MOT’s. Also provided with the documentation is a letter by Tony Willis confirming chassis number and production date along with the original sales invoice. This is a wonderful opportunity to acquire a very original and well documented example. Number plate to be negotiated separately. We also have many “Off Market Cars” including an F40 Non-Cat Non-Adjust, F50, LaFerrari, 458 Aperta and a 250 GT Ellena

S P E C I A L I S T S I N S A L E S A N D B R O K E R AG E O F A L L F E R R A R I M O D E L S + 4 4 ( 0 ) 7 9 7 3 4 4 4 4 6 8 I N F O @ M U G E L LO C A R S .C O. U K W W W. M U G E L LO C A R S .C O. U K

T H E

K NOW L E D G E

Magneti Marelli ignition design An early partnership with Ferrari put Italian specialist on track to become a world leader in the automotive ignition field WOR D S TOM M E A D OWS

ONE OF THE oldest axioms of racing is that in order to finish first, you must first finish. There are countless reasons for a car to break down in a race, and historically ignition failure has been one of the predominant causes. Since battery technology in the early automotive era was in its infancy, the use of a magneto ignition was mandated since magnetos are self-energising and require no external power source. Magneti Marelli began building highly reliable automotive and aircraft magneto ignitions in 1919, and by 1947 the firm was a proven leader in both fields. 1947 was a pivotal year in the motoring world, with the advent of the newly founded Ferrari company and its sleek cars now appearing on the roads and racetracks of Europe. Ferrari’s decision to make fellow Italian brand Magneti Marelli its supplier of magnetos was an obvious choice given national pride, a common language, their factories’ close proximity, and the clear benefit to both parties of the economic and marketing opportunities of a successful partnership. The Mille Miglia road race was first run in 1927, and over its 30year history it became the definitive Italian endurance race with its thousand miles of winding roads

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and up to five million spectators watching. In 1948 Ferrari fielded its 166MM race car, which was specifically designed for endurance racing and fitted with twin Magneti Marelli magnetos. By 1949 the Ferrari 166MM had won the Targa Florio, celebrated a 1-2 victory in the 1949 Mille Miglia, plus won the Spa 24 Hours and, most notably, the Le Mans 24 Hours the same year. These victories cemented Ferrari’s reputation for race-proven reliability and also reinforced the soundness of its decision to partner with Magneti Marelli. Enzo Ferrari’s only passion was racing, with the sales of road cars being a necessary measure to create the needed capital to fund his motor sport operations. By the late 1950s, Ferrari road car production had reached nearly 1000 examples, and cost factors were now becoming increasingly important to economic survival. While magneto ignitions had always demonstrated impeccable reliability, they were expensive to manufacture and represented a significant increase in costs for road car construction. Fortunately, ignition technology had made many advances during that era, with the predominant changes being improvements in battery design and battery-powered

ABOVE Magneti Marelli has always been an ignition innovator, from post-war Italy to modern-day F1.

ignition technology. Up to this point Magneti Marelli had continued to supply Ferrari with its mainstay magnetos, and had also built very small lots of custom-tailored batterytype ignitions for the construction runs of new models. These battery ignitions proved equally reliable, with the bonus of being much easier to service in the field. Ferrari put its new 3-litre engine into mass production in 1959, which created the need for an economical yet very reliable, high-performance battery-powered ignition that would serve as a common platform for all future models. Magneti Marelli responded to this need with the now-iconic large-bodied distributors mounted in pairs on every Ferrari 12-cylinder engine made from 1959

‘Ferrari’s decision to make Magneti Marelli its supplier of magnetos was an obvious choice’

through to 1985. This distributor design was also used as a single unit on the 246 Dino Ferrari, and in pairs on the incredibly successful production run of the 308 series of eight-cylinder cars. In addition, this distributor design proved remarkably versatile, and so it was also used on Lamborghini’s eight and 12-cylinder engines, the Fiat Dino cars and several Maserati models as well. In all, an estimated 26,000 of these distributors were manufactured over the years, and many are still in regular use, both on the road and in vintage racing events including the modern staging of the Mille Miglia. The end product of this early collaboration was two-fold. Ferrari established a solid reputation for reliability and performance, which became the foundation for its establishment as one of the most dominant racing teams ever seen in Formula 1. For its part, Magneti Marelli established itself as a world leader in the automotive ignition field, with a 20-year domination as being the main supplier of all Formula 1 ignition systems. Those design platforms it created are still in use today for regenerative energy systems, telemetry and the modern electronic Formula 1 steering wheel.

Mechanical restoration

Servicing

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Parts

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FIENNES RESTORATION

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enquiries@fiennes.co.uk

www.fiennes.co.uk

1931 Aston Martin International Le Mans

BDC Annual Concours

£410,000

One of only a tiny number of crossover models built, featuring elements of both the International and the Le Mans . It is a two-seater and has correct original design bodywork created by E. Bertelli for the Works Team, based on LM7. It has the unusual feature of external handbrake and gear change levers at the original customer’s request in 1931, fitted to a false door on the driver’s side. The vehicle has a comprehensive history file and has also competed several times in the retrospective 1000 Miglia. It is well cared for and in perfect running order, available to view and to test drive.

COL L EC T IONS

LEFT US manufacturer Marmon over specified its cars – which made them simply sublime to drive.

The eternal juggling act always pays off

Organisation is key to running a successful on-road car collection, but the driving thrills make it all worthwhile

RM SOTHEBY’S

WOR D S ROB E RT DE A N

IN MY EARLY days of looking after Bernie Ecclestone’s collection, all the cars were MoT’d and driven on a regular basis. At that time (post-2007 RM auction) there were 45-odd road cars, which doesn’t sound too bad. Over a 52-week year, that’s virtually one a week – but then, if you consider there are about five months when you wouldn’t take a classic out due to rain, snow and salt, this leaves 32 weeks, and if you factor in holidays and being away at events, it takes on a whole different complexion. Now you’re looking at two to three cars a week to MoT test and exercise. The secret is to have a really good MoT station that is prepared to help. I had MB Motors in New Addington, south London, in the shape of the Hammond family and their employees. It was not unknown for me to book three (and sometimes more) MoTs in a day. I would prep the cars the week before, making sure batteries, fluids and tyres were topped up, and in the case of the early models doing a good grease round. Then I’d take the

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first car for its MoT, round the test route I had for exercising the vehicles, then back in time to jump into the next car, down for the MoT and off we go again. It all worked really well until I had a problem or broke down – then it was mayhem. It didn’t happen often, but you know, old motors and all that... The test route I used depended on the car. If it was early (pre-war), I’d take it along a nice, flat piece of road to thoroughly warm it up, then plunge down a steep hill using the brakes to slow rather than the gears. This allowed the brakes to get warm and clean the drum under controlled circumstances. Then I’d tackle a bumpy lane to make the suspension work, and go back up the steep hill to push the engine without having to go fast. If it was a quicker sports car such as a Ferrari or Gullwing, I’d take it on the same route and add a short motorway blast. This all went very well – until the very early car I was driving failed to make it up the hill, and I had to flag down a friendly 4x4 to tow me to the

top. I shan’t tell you what car it was, but it should have been running an AutoVac fuel system. However, the previous American owner had replaced it with an SU fuel pump, which was fine on the flat but just couldn’t supply the amount of fuel needed when pulling hard uphill. Modern isn’t always best. I later had the AutoVac rebuilt, and the car was always lovely to drive after that. I just about used to keep on top of everything, but it was sometimes quite difficult by myself. However, I loved it, and of course I had to learn how to drive all sorts of different cars; automatic and manual, paddle and pre-selector, in both left and right-hand drive. I did get into a car on more than one occasion to find I was sitting in the passenger seat instead of the driving seat. D’oh! The Italian cars were some of the most amazing to drive. I loved the Ferrari 250GT SWB and 275GTB/4; you could have used them every day, with those fabulous looks and wonderful controls. For me, such a drive becomes a holistic experience, whether I’m driving in a spirited fashion or bumming around looking at the world and wearing a big smile. The big pre-war Mercedes SSK and SSKLs are at the other end of the driving experience spectrum. You sit out in the wind almost on top of the car, which bellows and snorts beneath you. The brakes sometimes forget why they are there, and the engine just wants to do more of everything and shout at you like a bull in the Estafeta in Pamplona. The suspension is a dramatic diva, leaping, bouncing and crashing about the road, the Houdaille dampers desperately trying to keep everything under control by brute force. Oooh, but when you engage

‘You sit out in the wind almost on top of the car, which bellows and snorts beneath you’

the supercharger and it starts screeching with that insistent, mewling wail, the car gathers up its skirts and starts to sprint in a heavy panic of speed that leaves you struggling with the controls and laughing out loud with images of Caracciola fighting along unmade roads at impossible speeds. Of course, you then have to stop the bloody thing, with the awful copper-plated drum brakes failing miserably in that department and bringing you out in a cold sweat as the end of the traffic queue draws ever nearer. It is all completely blooming addictive really. I have to say, though, that one of my favourite cars to drive was the Marmon V16 coupe (pictured above left). Marmon is not well known in the UK, but he was a superb engineer – in fact, probably too good, as he over specified things, which cost his company serious money to produce. The car’s lazy starting churn ended with a muffled rumble. Once warm, with the engine idling, you couldn’t tell by placing your hand on the bonnet whether or not it was running. There seemed to be no perceptible vibration. The clutch pedal moved easily but was slightly heavier than a Phantom II’s, and the three-speed gearlever just seemed to move with a smooth, oiled, engineered feeling. You could feel the car’s weight but it was never heavy to drive, and the power… Ah, the silky, chocolate-fountain power of the 200bhp, 8-litre engine. Everything in that automobile was beautiful, from the door latches and hinges to the way the controls and levers were designed and made. The gauges even had very slightly convex, thin glass, like the top part of a soap bubble. You could imagine wafting along a highway with the roof slid back and a breeze circulating round the cockpit as you went to your country club in Newport, Rhode Island, white linen suit and openneck shirt keeping you cool in the summer heat... Heaven. So many cars allow you to dream of being a different person in a different time and place, by giving you the joy of mastering complex controls and recalcitrant handling in something that needs to be ‘driven’ and not just sat in. It’s why we do it, isn’t it? Keep on being part of the mechanism.

ASHTON KEYNES VINTAGE RESTORATIONS ESTABLISHED 1969

www.akvr.com

• Restoration

• Engineering • Historical research

• Logistics • Paintwork • Panel beating

Over 45 years experience

Tel: 01285 861288 Workshop/Enquiries Mobile: 07811 398562 Keith Bowley Mobile: 07841 017518 Andrew Ames Email: kbowley@akvr.com andrewames@akvr.com

L EGA L A DV IC E

Make sure you get it in writing The wealth invested in the classic and collector car market has created growing demand for the services of the courts. We explain why

GIVEN MAN’S COMPETITIVE streak, there have always been two kinds of car; those designed for transport, and those modified or built to race. Track racing, rallying and hillclimbing developed in the 1920s, but the essence of competition was ever present. For decades, race and competition cars carried no real value, especially if they weren’t capable of road use. Save for icons of historic significance, most went from being uncompetitive to the scrap heap.

A D D E D VA L U E In the 1990s, a new form of owner appeared, with the spare funds and leisure time to indulge themselves by acquiring sports cars they’d coveted in their youth. Road rallies for historics sprang up to cater for this new demand, which often carried a social side. Consequently, suitable eligible cars became more sought after and therefore more valuable. Such activity tempted wealthy individuals onto the track, in the form of historic racing, so putting to use some of the valuable icons that had been in disrepair or languishing in museums. Today we have the Goodwood Revival and Mille Miglia. This demand fuelled a huge rise in road and race car values, especially concerning low production runs or distinguished histories. Naturally, the rush to satisfy demand has attracted some individuals who’ve turned out to be less scrupulous about what constitutes provenance and true historic identity. Lines have become blurred, and buyers have often been their own worst enemies by failing to undertake due diligence pre-purchase. Consequently, parties in dispute are ever more finding themselves driven

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to court to settle their differences. This year, two high-profile cases have been heard by the High Court in London, while the commercial court of Bologna has delivered an apparently landmark decision. Seddon vs DVLA highlighted an anomaly in terms that there’s no definitive manner in which title to a car in the UK can be determined with certainty. Mr Seddon had bought an AC Cobra for £250,000, believing it to be a “UK-registered 1964 Historic vehicle” as recorded on the V5C in the name of the previous owner. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency subsequently came by information that led to the reclassification of the car as having been built in 2002. Mr Seddon then sold the car for £100,000, and issued proceedings against the DVLA for £150,000. In January, the High Court ruled in favour of the DVLA , stating: “The DVLA did not owe a duty of care to Seddon. It was performing its function under its statutory regime designed to raise vehicle excise duty.” However, the court also said that: “Mr Seddon could have taken steps to protect himself by appointing an expert to investigate the car or by stipulating a warranty as to the car’s historic status.” So Seddon bought an AC that was not what it was held out to be, and therefore not worth what he paid. In effect, he was the author of his own misfortune, as he did not undertake due diligence. In February, it was reported that the administrators of the failed JD Classics were suing founder Derek Hood for £64m. This collapse was precipitated by a successful High Court claim brought by a Mr Tuke, who’d agreed that Mr Hood would

ABOVE Investigations of historic race car fraud in Germany have centred on Scuderia 66 premises. invest in classics on behalf of Tuke. The sum invested was £40m. It was agreed that Hood would source cars in return for payment of 10 percent. It transpired that Hood invented fake buyers and sellers, plus acted as a principal, buying cars in his name and then selling on to Tuke. The court heard that he’d bought an AC Aceca for £84,000, which he sold to Tuke three weeks later for £254,000. Tuke recovered £9m in damages. Remarkably, despite the huge sums at stake, there was no contract between the parties, setting out their respective rights and obligations. At best, a written contract might well have avoided the need to resort to litigation; at worst, it might have resulted in a much shorter trial.

WORK OF ART European courts are also now being increasingly called upon. As reported in Magneto 3, Ferrari claimed in the Bologna commercial court against a Modena maker of 250GTO copies. Ferrari asked the court to determine what amounted to “distinctiveness”, to officially recognise the car’s design and intellectual property rights. The court did, and also declared the model to be a work of art. The implications

‘A written contract might well have avoided the need to resort to litigation’

for the replica market could be huge. Recent events in Germany will also ensure extra workload for courts. Police had searched 18 properties in North Rhine-Westphalia, RhinelandPalatinate and Baden-Wurttemberg, investigating “gang-based fraud” relating to historic race cars. Losses were estimated at €100m. The investigation centred on Scuderia 66 and boss Uwe N, who was taken into custody, but other big names from the classic world are involved. The ‘oldtimer gang’ is suspected of turning old chassis into race cars or replicas, which were sold on as originals. It is said that chassis numbers and documentation have been forged. Given that southern Germany is the home of Porsche, one could assume that the products of the gang were, in the main, based on the 911, whose unitary body construction commenced in 1964 and continued in much the same form to the mid’80s. Subject to the investigation’s outcome, as a cautionary process, owners of rare or ex-competition models from the era in question would be well advised to review the history and provenance of their cars. If it transpires that individuals or firms involved in the investigation form part of the history of their cars, they ought to have those histories reviewed by the relevant experts. Similarly, it goes without saying that anyone seeking to enter the classic 911 market should seek the best advice available, so as to ascertain the provenance and hence the true value of any intended purchase. Difficult challenges lie ahead in our collector car world. The best protection is a thorough inspection and a soundly drawn contract.

AUTOMOBILZENTRUM-AACHEN

W O R D S C L I V E R O B E R T S O N , H E A LY S L L P

Authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Vehicle make and model names and logos are property of their respective owners and their inclusion does not imply sponsorship of or affiliation with Hagerty or any of its products or services. Hagerty Insurance Agency, LLC, provides insurance and determines final risk acceptance. Membership and DriveShare are provided by non-insurance affiliates of The Hagerty Group, LLC. Hagerty, the H Gear Shift Logo, HAGERTY FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE CARS, and DRIVESHARE BY HAGERTY are registered or common law trademarks of The Hagerty Group, LLC. ÂŠ2019 The Hagerty Group, LLC.

H I STOR IC

R AC I NG

LEFT Pre-’66 Under 2-Litre Touring Cars are great for driver coaching, and are eligible for numerous grids, as well.

Entry-level racing Novices are spoiled for choice when it comes to racing pre-’66 touring cars. Here’s how to get involved... WOR D S SA M H A NCO C K

I OFTEN MEET novice historic racers who have been talked into buying cars far too powerful for their experience. At best, this can lead to an overwhelming, confidencedestroying debut season; at worst, it can be downright dangerous. It also tends to pit them against drivers of far greater experience, which can be daunting and frustrating for all. So, what kind of car and series would be appropriate for a newcomer to Historics? Here are a few suggestions... UK-based Equipe Classic Racing organises events for both pre-’63 and pre-’66 sports and GT cars. Its Equipe GTS series has five classes up to 2700cc, while Equipe Pre-’63 has seven classes up to unlimited engine capacities (naturally I recommend the lower-capacity classes). As a ‘budget’ FIA series, it gets many novices every season and has a programme to help them along. All cars run on Dunlop historic tyres and to Appendix K rules, yet the series doesn’t demand FIA papers – a welcome administrative relief for newcomers to the sport. It aims: “To recreate the vibrant clubman racing of the ’50s and early ’60s where fantastic classic sports cars can be driven by passionate amateur enthusiasts.”

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And very successfully it does so, too – with some grids of up to 60. I’ve not experienced it personally, but with my coach’s hat on, I really like the eligible cars: MGBs, TVR Granturas, Alfa Giulias/Giuliettas, Jaguar XKs, Lotus Elites, Aston DB2s/4s, Porsche 356s/911s, Elvas, Morgans and many more. These are what newbies should campaign; well balanced racers that will slide often and progressively, from sensibly low speeds. It confuses me when I see rookies ‘learning’ in fast, modern, sports car machinery, mollycoddled by sticky tyres, downforce, traction control and stability systems. What exactly are you learning when the vehicle is doing all the work? Equipe-eligible cars range in price from about £35,000 for an MGB to £80,000 for a race-ready AustinHealey, Lotus Elite, Morgan or TVR. Running costs vary depending on whether you prepare your own car or commission a team to do so, but with entry fees of £495 per event you’re off to a good start. Models such as Lotus Cortinas, BMW TIs, Alfa GTAs and such like have always been favourites of mine to use for driver coaching. The full roll cage ensures relative safety,

there’s usually plenty of room for a passenger, and the way they slide is so intuitive that even an absolute beginner can be comfortably drifting through an apex, hard on the throttle, within their first few track days. Critically, this all happens at a rolling speed slow enough to allow ‘live’ instruction, and a little explanation, in the heat of the moment. This can’t be said of many cars. Front-wheel-drive Mini Coopers are also prevalent in this category and are undeniably wonderful, but given the choice for driver development, I would usually prefer a car driven from the rear. Three of Europe’s best series for such machines are the appropriately named Under 2-Litre Touring Car Championship (U2TC), Masters Pre’66 Touring Cars, and the Historic Touring & GT Trophy (HTGT). Formerly run by the inimitable Carol Spagg, U2TC now comes under the stewardship of Duncan Wiltshire and the excellent Motor Racing Legends. There are only four rounds this year (some of which are doubleheaders with two 40-minute races), but with Donington, Spa, Thruxton and Portimao on the calendar, each offers a superb venue at a significant historic race weekend. Duncan and his team run a firm but very friendly ship, where driving standards are rigorously enforced for everyone’s benefit and there’s always a glass of something lively on offer post-event to help celebrate or commiserate. The Masters Historic Racing organisation adopts a similar approach, but combines large and small-capacity cars to populate spectacular grids where the aforementioned tin-tops go headto-head with mighty Yank tanks such as Ford Mustangs and Falcons.

‘St Mary’s Trophy is the only race that’s ever had me laughing out loud from lights to flag’

Masters organises many of its own weekends, but also joins the billing at major events such as Silverstone Classic and Spa Six Hours, so you can often enter your car in multiple races from different organisers – a great way to maximise seat time. The front of a Masters grid is pretty competitive, so it’s a good idea to have a couple of quieter weekends under your six-point harness before joining in with the big guns here. HTGT, meanwhile, is run by Germany’s FHR organisation, and offers both sprint and endurance races for historic touring and GT cars at iconic circuits such as Hockenheim and the Nürburgring. Again, you can usually compete with the same car in multiple races during a weekend, and the two- to fourhour enduros lend themselves well to sharing with a friend or driver coach. Alfa GTs/GTAs and BMW TIs feature heavily as you’d expect, and a few well respected preparers such as Formula GT of Munich are well set up to simplify the experience for newbies requiring guidance. I’ve personally experienced U2TC, Masters and HTGT, and can highly recommend them. But what I particularly love is that these smallcapacity, pre-’66 touring cars are so eligible – you could probably race once a fortnight if you really wanted to. And if you’re fortunate enough to own an example with period racing history, you might even get an entry for Goodwood’s St Mary’s Trophy – a truly magnificent race and, to date, the only one that’s ever had me laughing out loud in my crash helmet from lights to flag. Do keep in mind that Goodwood adjusts the eligibility criteria from time to time, so be sure to check before rushing out to buy a car. A quick look at the classifieds confirms that £35,000 would get you an eligible car for most of these historic touring car series. That buys a straightforward, race-prepped Cortina, Alfa GT or similar. Got deeper pockets? Highly developed cars with recent victories to their name now command £100,000plus, and anything with more serious provenance can easily be multiples of that: an ex-works Autodelta Alfa GTA, for example, can be well north of £300,000. Happily, however, most tend to keep their value and, as long as you stay out of trouble on track, the running costs should remain palatable.

1939 Aston Martin MKII

1949 Dagrada Giannini 750

1934 Aston Martin MKII For reservations

01707 329988 www.lemansrace.com 0844 873 0203

B E H I N D

T H E

L EG E N D

Jacky Ickx on the 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours Having walked across the track to protest the dangerous starting procedure, 24 hours later Ickx netted the closestfought Le Mans win ever – in the GT40’s final consecutive victory

I HADN’T TOLD anyone I planned to protest the traditional Le Mans start in 1969. When the flag dropped at that year’s 24 Hours race, as tradition prescribed everyone ran to their cars. I walked, dead last, towards mine – the John Wyerentered Ford GT40 carrying starting number 6. But halfway across the track, it dawned on me that trouble was headed my way. All the other racers, meanwhile, were in their cars and could set off any second now… so I started walking a bit more briskly [smiles]. I was the last one away. I’d just had enough. This starting procedure was ridiculous. We had come out of an era where fatality was accepted in motor sport. In the 1920s and up until the 1950s, the consensus was: you raced, you died. But in the 1960s, a change was taking place. Motor racing was still bloody dangerous, but people began to look differently at what were deemed unnecessary risks. Just prior to the race, we had lost my countryman Lucien Bianchi in an accident during the Le Mans test days. We had already won the Watkins Glen Six Hours together in 1968, and we were supposed to have raced together at Le Mans in this same car in 1968, but I broke my leg in a Formula 1 accident just before (Bianchi won with Pedro Rodriguez). The sport we loved so much was quickly becoming like the war that ended because

there were no more soldiers left. I deemed that the risks involved with these running starts at endurance races were unacceptable. I wanted to prove that a bit of time lost to secure your seatbelts at the start would have no influence on the end result. If you wanted to get away in the top 20, you had no other option but to start without your belts on. The idea was to attach your belts while driving on the first lap. Have you ever tried that with a six-point harness? I never managed it, and I don’t think any of my colleagues did, either. We just drove the first stint without our belts on, it was what we accepted. I thought it was time to stop. Of course, it was not my actions that led to the abolishing of this type of start that day. John Woolfe did that, and he paid for it with his life. He crashed near the end of the first lap, and was thrown out of the car without his belts. He unfortunately proved my point. I am certain if that accident hadn’t happened, I would have gotten a heavy reprimand from the organisation. Our Ford was already an old car in 1969. We had qualified 13th, and thought that fifth or sixth would have been a good result for our GT40. But here is the thing; in those days, you never knew what would happen in endurance racing. Nursing your car to the finish was the most important thing. As long as your vehicle ran, anything could

happen. It’s why we raced with a never-give-up attitude. Towards the end, it became clear that this race was coming down to a sprint finish between our car and the Porsche 908 shared by Hans Herrmann and Gérard Larrousse. The Porsche was faster on the straights, but our brakes were better. David Yorke kept me in the car for the final stint, while Porsche decided to swap the young Larrousse for the more experienced Herrmann. I have always maintained that was a mistake from the team. Hans was an incredibly talented driver, who had seen it all and survived it all. In those days, that was a downside as well. If you had survived so much, you tended to be aware of it. Call it the disadvantage of experience, if you like. Me, I was just 24. There was no way Herrmann would have beaten me that day. If he were to brake at 100 metres, I would brake at 95. Yet, the finish became a thriller, as I unexpectedly had to do one more lap. Fuel was an issue, and I really needed his tow on the straight. Of course, Hans was on to me, and we both slowed down enormously on that final lap, him stubbornly staying behind. I tried everything, but it wasn’t until I put on my indicator that he bought it: he thought I had run dry and passed… and I got the tow I required. I passed him at the end of the Hunaudières straight and held on to the finish.

Magneto (ISSN No: 2631-9489, USPS No: applied for) is published quarterly by Hothouse Publishing Ltd, UK in February, May, August and November. Magneto is distributed in the USA by RRD/Spatial, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071. Periodicals postage paid at South Hackensack NJ. Postmaster: send address changes to Magneto, c/o RRD, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071.

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JOHAN DILLEN

CAHIER ARCHIVE

Ickx knew that the Le Mans running start’s time was up; but John Woolfe paid with his life before the practice was finally outlawed.

1969 FERRARI 365 GTS The rarest series production Ferrari ever built - 1 of only 20 made with the Columbo Tipo 245/C V12 giving increased power and torque over the older 330 model. OOered for sale from an important private collection and includes Marcel Massini report

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1969 FERRARI 365 GTC Regarded as one of the ďŹ nest Ferrari GT models. One of just 22 right-hand drive cars with an outstanding ownership history, delivered new in 1969 to Viscount Portman, subsequent owners included Sir Anthony Bamford and 250 GTO owners the Hilton Brothers

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