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Gooding & Company at Pebble Beach, 14 - 15 August 2010 - Preview

David Gooding’s 2010 August sale promises to be another blockbuster, a fitting end to the week-long Monterey jamboree...

1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta 'SEFAC Hot Rod' - $6,000,000 - 8,000,000 David Gooding’s 2010 August sale promises to be another blockbuster, a fitting end to the week-long Monterey jamboree. Of the 19 Ferraris listed, none sum up the quality of catalogue better than the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta ‘SEFAC Hot Rod’, a matching numbers car which has just emerged from a two-year restoration at the Ferrari factory. As a Scuderia Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia (SSR) team car, the red SWB was raced in period by various hot shots including Trintignant, Hill (Graham), Bonnier and Gendebien, its best placing being third overall in the 1961 Tour de France Auto. Estimate: $6,000,000 - 8,000,000. Classic Driver rating: off the scale. The SWB (Lot 133) will be sold late on Sunday night, as a star-studded finale to Concours day, but on the opening (Saturday) night another historically important (and eye-wateringly desirable) Ferrari will cross the block. It, too, is a 250 GT, but this time a LWB California Spider Competizione, the 5th place overall 1960 Sebring 12 Hours car which also finished third overall in the 1960 Nassau TT. You’ll need to contact Gooding & Co. for the price on this, although a guide would be ‘in excess of $6m’.

1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione - Estimate on Request
Also in the Ferrari section are a 1958 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Tour de France ($2,600,000 - 3,200,000), two 275 GTBs (a 1966 alloy long-nose at $950,000 - 1,200,000, and a 1967 four-cam for $1,000,000 - 1,400,000) and a 1951 340 America Spider ($2,000,000 - 2,600,000). You know, everyday stuff.

*1955 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta* - $1,400,000 - 1,800,000**	1931 Bentley 8 Litre Sportsman's Coupé - $700,000 - 900,000
1971 Lamborghini Miura S - $500,000 - 650,000	1995 McLaren F1 - $2,500,000 - 3,500,000

Maserati enthusiasts with similarly deep pockets will appreciate the 1956 200SI ($2,400,000 - 2,700,000) and the 1955 A6G/54 Berlinetta ($1,400,000 - 1,800,000) while one of the modern classics, a 1995 McLaren F1, will be sold for $2,500,000 - 3,500,000. Pre-War collectors will like any one of the many cars in the 2010 Gooding Pebble Beach catalogue. From this period there are seven Rolls-Royces, ranging in age from a 1927 Phantom I Brougham de Ville at $175,000 - 275,000 to a 1934 20/25 Town Car ($90,000 - 120,000). From the War years comes a 1943 Mercedes-Benz 770 K W150 Pullman Limousine ($1,500,000 - 2,000,000), while possibly the greatest 1930s entry – and quite conceivably the top-selling car of the entire Monterey week – is the 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza. Carrying an estimate of $6,500,000 - 8,500,000, the dark red car is catalogued as a “genuine factory built Third-Series Monza”, with “unbroken ownership history from new”. Fabulous.

1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza - $6,500,000 - 8,500,000
Compared with entries such as these, other cars such as the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT ($850,000 - 1,100,000), the 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Sportsman's Coupé ($700,000 - 900,000) and the 1971 Lamborghini Miura S ($500,000 - 650,000) appear mere daily drivers. For those not able to make the sale in person, do check on the www.goodingco.com website for the live video feed. You might also just be able to see your correspondent escorted from the premises, having unsuccessfully bid on the SWB. The 2010 Gooding & Company 'The Pebble Beach Auction' will take place over 14-15 August, at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center within the Pebble Beach grounds at the corner of Portola Road and Stevenson Drive. Admission is $40.00 (admits one to all events), or by catalogue - $100.00 - admits two to all events. The sales will commence at 17:00 on Saturday, 18:00 Sunday. Please CLICK HERE to see the full lotlist for the Gooding & Company 'The Pebble Beach Auction'. Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Simon Clay / Pawel Litwinski © 2010 Courtesy of Gooding & Company

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RM has assembled another 200+ entry for this year’s Monterey sale, another three-day bonanza. Twenty-six Ferraris are entered, including this 2007 FXX Evoluzione estimated at $1,800,000 - 2,400,000...

2007 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione - $1,800,000 - 2,400,000 RM has assembled another 200+ entry for this year’s Monterey sale, another three-day bonanza. Twenty-six Ferraris are entered, including this 2007 FXX Evoluzione estimated at $1,800,000 - 2,400,000. Following last year’s additional day (on the Thursday), RM is devoting the opening evening to entries from one marque: this time the Ford Motor Company, who ‘put the world on wheels’. Cars vary in age from the oldest car sold by Ford known to remain in existence (the $600,000 - 800,000, 1903 Model A Rear-Entry Tonneau), to many FOMOCO concepts, the proceeds from which will benefit charity. Of interest to Classic Driver readers in this section of the sale will be the 1966 Ford Mustang FIA Race Car ($40,000 - 60,000, with in-period Mexican racing history), the 1963½ Ford Galaxie NASCAR ($150,000 - 200,000, the Dan Gurney, Riverside 500 race-winner) and the 1964 Cooper Monaco Ford 'King Cobra' ($600,000 - 800,000).

1968 Shelby GT 500 KR Convertible - $140,000 - 180,000	1948 Ford Super Deluxe Station Wagon - $70,000 - 90,000
1963½ Ford Galaxie NASCAR - $150,000 - 200,000	1964 Cooper Monaco Ford 'King Cobra' $600,000 - 800,000

In addition, there are some wonderfully esoteric ‘Woody’ station wagons and ‘Hi-Boy’ hot rods which you could never build for the money. To prove it’s not all multi-million-dollar entries, day two starts with a humble 1972 Honda 600 Taxi ($8000 - 12,000 ‘Without Reserve’ and one of many fun items in the catalogue) but totals 83 cars in all, including big hitters such as the 1993 Ferrari Enzo at $900,000 - 1,050,000.

1966 Ford Mustang FIA Race Car - $40,000 - 60,000
The Allard marque has always been popular in the US and Friday’s sale will auction a 1953 J2X ($200,000 - 300,000). The black roadster had been drag-raced in period with Buick Experimental Department engines (160mph terminal speed, anyone?), as well as enjoying extensive vintage racing more recently. All, as the catalogue proudly says, without “fitting an ugly roll bar”. A superb car. As are the many pre-War entries from the age of late twenties/early thirties luxury that start on Friday with Lot 223, the 1938 Packard Eight Victoria Convertible by Darrin ($225,000 - 300,000). Later that night, RM will sell a 1928 Cadillac V8 Town Sedan (a seemingly workaday luxury saloon, once bulletproof when owned by mobster Al Capone – and estimated accordingly at $450,000 - 650,000) and the first of two ‘Duesies’, a 1931 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Sedan by Murphy ($700,000 - 900,000).

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL 'Gullwing' - $450,000 - 550,000

1971 Lamborghini Miura SV - $800,000 - 900,000

The other greatest-of-the-great American pre-War car makes an entrance on Saturday night, with buyers invited to bid $1,100,000 - 1,400,000 on the superb 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Riviera Phaeton by Brunn. This is joined by the 1936 Mercedes-Benz Pre-War 540K Special Cabriolet ($1,100,000 - 1,300,000), the 1933 Auburn Twelve Custom Phaeton Sedan ($250,000 - 300,000) and the 1928 Hispano-Suiza H6C Convertible Sedan by Hibbard & Darrin ($350,000 - 450,000). Wow.

1938 Talbot Lago T150-C Lago Teardrop Coupé by Figoni & Falaschi - $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Factor in the 1938 Talbot Lago T150-C Lago Teardrop Coupé by Figoni & Falaschi ($3,500,000 - 4,500,000), the outrageous 1949 Delahaye 175 S Roadster by Saoutchik ($4,000,000 - 6,000,000) and the 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Close-Coupled Coupé by Park Ward ($500,000 - 600,000), too, and you have a recipe for some impressive post-sale results from this section of the sale. Moving up to date, let’s look at the FXX and other, more modern, entries. Having witnessed several outings of the ‘development project’ FXXs in Europe, I can only say that exclusive, incredibly fast track-day motoring does not come better than this. The standard FXX’s engine is boosted to 860bhp at 9500rpm in Evoluzione form, with various modifications to shift-speeds and aerodynamics also carried out. This particular car has been maintained in the US by Risi Competizione (a top-level Le Mans entrant) and - if you can swallow the $1,800,000 - 2,400,000 estimate - represents a tremendous opportunity to buy into the heart of Ferrari Corse Clienti operations.

1954 Jaguar D-type - $2,000,000 - 2,750,000	1931 Bugatti Type 51 Works Grand Prix Racing Car - $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
1938 Jaguar SS 100 3.5 for restoration - $200,000 - 250,000	1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Daytona' Spyder - $1,100,000 - 1,250,000

Of the other Ferraris, there’s the only ‘On Request’ car in the sale, the yellow/green 1958 'Pontoon Fender' 250 TR, a 1959 250 GT LWB Spyder California ($2,500,000 - 3,250,000) and a 1959 410 Superamerica Series III ($1,600,000 - 2,200,000) alongside truly one of the great cars produced by the Maranello company: the 1954 375 MM. We love these early 50s, big-engined Ferraris and the experience of slotting the meaty gearlever into top, and letting the 4522cc, SOHV V12 pull the car effortlessly ever-onwards is an intoxicating experience.

1954 Ferrari 375 MM - $5,000,000 - 6,000,000
You’ll need stiff drink having bought it, though, as it’s estimated at $5,000,000 - 6,000,000. Such is the quality of a Monterey sale that it’s not uncommon to wait a few paragraphs for mention of other gems such as the 1954 Jaguar D-type ($2,000,000 - 2,750,000) or the three 300 SL Mercedes (a 1961 Roadster for $500,000 - 575,000, a 1955 'Gullwing' for $450,000 - 550,000, and a 1957 Roadster for $400,000 - 450,000). To that stellar mix you can add the two Shelby Cobra 427s, the 1964 USRRC Cobra 289 and the immaculate 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS, a ‘Factory Remanufactured Special’ estimated at $350,000 - 550,000. The latter was totally rebuilt to ‘as-new’ condition in 1996 by the Porsche factory's Exclusive Department. Fitted with a larger-capacity (2.8-litre) motor, it enjoys a galvanised bodyshell and is believed to be the only factory-built lightweight 2.8 in this specification.

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Factory Remanufactured Special - $350,000 - 550,000
The Grand Prix White/Apple Green car comes complete with a certificate of authenticity issued by Porsche and, no, if you want your RS ‘remanufactured’ in this manner, Stuttgart will not do it again. A ‘Without Reserve’ car, it’s now or never to bid on one of the most perfect Carrera RSs with an intriguing history. Another terrific RM Monterey sale, you can see all the entries in the Classic Driver car database, or visit the company’s excellent website. We’ll be there to witness all the action and report the results. To see a full lotlist of entries to the RM Auctions ‘Sports & Classics of Monterey’ 12-14 August 2010, please CLICK HERE.

1967 Shelby Cobra 427 - $675,000 - 800,000
ADMISSION:
$40 event pass admits one person to the previews. An official auction catalogue is available for an additional $120 US, although it does not constitute admission to the auctions.

AUCTION LOCATION:
Portola Hotel & Spa and Monterey Conference Center
2 Portola Plaza
Monterey,
California 93940

SALE DATES:
AUCTION:
August 12, 2010
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM PST
August 13, 2010
6:00 PM - 12:00 AM PST
August 14, 2010
6:00 PM - 12:00 AM PST

PREVIEW:
August 11, 2010
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM PST
August 12, 2010
9:00 AM - 10:00 PM PST
August 13, 2010
9:00 AM - 12:00 AM PST
August 14, 2010
9:00 AM - l 12:00 AM PST

RM Auctions
One Classic Car Drive
Blenheim
Ontario N0P 1A0
Canada

Telephone: +1 519 352 45 75
Fax: +1 519 351 13 37

Website: www.rmauctions.com

Email: ask@rmauctions.com.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: RM Auctions

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Held in suffocating heat, Artcurial’s first Le Mans Classic sale grossed 6.6m euros. Four cars broke the half-million-euro mark, including the 1972 Lamborghini P400 Miura SV that sold for 680,730 euros...

1972 Lamborghini P400 Miura SV - Sold for 680,730 euros Held in suffocating heat, Artcurial’s first Le Mans Classic sale grossed 6.6m euros. Four cars broke the half-million-euro mark, including the 1972 Lamborghini P400 Miura SV that sold for 680,730 euros. Other members of this select club were the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 (837,474 euros), the 1930 Bentley Speed Six 6.5L Tourer (736,710 euros) and the 1962 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster + hard top for 502,302 euros. The ‘Art Car’ McLaren F1’s non-sale surprised few in the knowledgeable sections of the saleroom, although it was bid to a sizeable sum. The Artcurial marquee was handily located next to the event’s pre-grille area on the Bugatti Circuit. As BMW CSLs, Porsche 935s and Ferrari SWBs lined up to take the start, a packed saleroom witnessed auctioneer Hervé Poulain sell 73% of the beautifully produced catalogue – 55% of which were destined for export.

1969 Aston Martin DBS - Sold for 146,246 euros
One typical ‘Le Mans Classic car’, the 1978 Porsche 935, failed to find a buyer. Another did, however: the 1962 Panhard Type CD Coupé selling for a useful 165,116 euros. That’s 194.71 euros per cc, by the way, if you are interested in that sort of thing. I make no further comment; still, you’d have time to enjoy your purchase while lapping at the 2012 Classic... The Astons did well: the LHD DB4 went post-sale for 176,910 euros, and the silver/black hide, LHD 1969 Aston Martin DBS achieved a walloping 146,246 euros on the day. The LHD 1966 DB6 went for 176,910 euros – another handy amount and indicative of the appreciation these blue-blooded British cars have on the Continent.

1930 Bentley Speed Six 6.5L Tourer - Sold for 736,710 euros
Other entries of interest to the Classic Driver reader that found new owners were the 1973 Maserati Indy 4.7L (22,409 euros), the 1976 Alpine A110 1300 VC (29,485 euros) and the 1964 Maserati 5000 GT Coupé by Allemano for 255,282 euros. No self-respecting French sale would be complete without at least one Facel Vega. Artcurial’s 2010 Le Mans Classic sale had two, both of which sold, the 1962 HKII going for 176,910 euros, the 1962 Excellence Series II for 116,761 euros. In summary, a superb inaugural effort by a professional company. The McLaren would have been the icing on the cake. Chapeau!, as they say in France. You can see the full results HERE. Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Artcurial

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Peter F Baumberger, the Swiss gentleman driver and car collector who passed away last year, amassed an impressive array of top-end motor cars during his life. On 20 August 2010, at the Gstaad Palace Hotel, Bonhams will be putting 19 of these cars up for sale – with all cars to be auctioned to the highest bidder, without reserve. Bonhams has been appointed to sell the cars by Simon Kidston of Kidston SA, the Baumberger family’s agent. “Peter was a good friend and a generous host,” says Kidston. “Although it’s sad to see his collection dispersed, he loved sharing his passion and would have wanted his cars to continue to give pleasure to others.” And they most certainly will, starting with perhaps the most desirable of the collection, the 1962 Mercedes Benz 300SL Roadster. This was one of the final 209 cars built, featuring the aluminium engine and originally sold new to Kuwait in blue-grey paintwork with a cream trim. The car carries a pre-sale estimate of CHF 400,000 – 600,000.

Among the other highlights are a classic 1973 Porsche 911 RS 2.7 Carrera (estimate CHF 100,000 – 140,000), a 2009 Ferrari California (CHF 220,000 – 250,000) and a 1996 Bentley Continental T (CHF 80,000 – 100,000). Baumberger began motor racing in 1955 with a Porsche 1600, and went on to race a Jaguar XK120, a Lotus (six of which he ordered from Colin Chapman in 1958), and a Lancia Appia Zagato. In 1966, he bought three new Ferrari 275GTB/4s for himself and his two stepsons to race and, in 1972, he became a founding member of the Swiss Ferrari club. In more recent times, Baumberger was a familiar figure at the Tour Auto and Tour du Maroc.

For further details on the collection, see www.bonhams.com/cars. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Bonhams Europe

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Sharing overall headlines at this year’s Goodwood Festival, the £551,500 achieved by the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Convertible was an extraordinary figure more commonly seen at the company’s Newport Pagnell sale...

1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage - Sold for £551,500 Sharing overall headlines at this year’s Goodwood Festival, the £551,500 achieved by the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Convertible was an extraordinary figure more commonly seen at the company’s Newport Pagnell sale. To be fair, the nut-and-bolt restoration (by Works Service in the 90s) was not only in superb condition but, as a ‘Vantage’, ‘Convertible’ DB5, it was also a rarest-of the-rare example of Aston’s most popular road car. Estimated at £400,000 – 500,000, it still sold extremely well. Next up was the 1958 model/1980s assembled 3.8-litre Lister-Jaguar 'Knobbly' at £232,500, followed by the 1937 Bentley 4¼-Litre Drophead Coupé (£221,500) and the 1934 Aston Martin 1½-Litre Mark II Sports Saloon, a superb, past Pebble Beach contender for £177,500. Haven’t I been banging on about undervalued pre-War Astons? Well, there you go, I was right.

1932 Lagonda 2-Litre Supercharged Low Chassis T3 Tourer - Sold for £111,500	1958 model/1980s assembled 3.8-litre Lister-Jaguar 'Knobbly' - Sold for £232,500
1962 Porsche 356B 1600 Cabriolet - Sold for £56,500	1954 Jaguar XK120 Drophead Coupé 'OLD 120' - Sold for £48,800

Elsewhere, 12-cylinder Italian exotics did well, the 1966 Lamborghini 400GT selling for £144,500, the 2000 Lamborghini Diablo GT for £133,500, and the 1977 Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer for £73,000. On the pre-War front, in addition to the Aston and Bentley, the 1932 Lagonda 2-Litre Supercharged Low Chassis T3 Tourer sold considerably over estimate (£85,000 – 95,000) at £111,500.

1964 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2-Litre Roadster - Sold for £45,500

1966 Lamborghini 400GT 2+2 'America' Coupé - Sold for £144,500

And talking of estimate-beating, how about £54,300 for the 1976 Jensen Interceptor Series III against a pre-sale guide of £7000 - 10,000? Group Head of Bonhams Motoring Department, James Knight, commented after the sale: “There was extraordinary strength of bidding in all areas of the market and we were exceptionally pleased to establish yet another world record Aston Martin price with the sale of the DB5 convertible.” To see the complete results please click HERE. Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Bonhams

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Free Subscription!Audi A7 Sportback: Five-Door ‘Executive’ Coupé

Following on from last year’s A5 Sportback, Audi has unveiled a larger, ‘grander’ version of the ‘rakish’ five-door coupé… in the form of the A7 Sportback...

Following on from last year’s A5 Sportback, Audi has unveiled a larger, ‘grander’ version of the ‘rakish’ five-door coupé… in the form of the A7 Sportback. We’re promised “saloon car versatility, hatchback practicality and coupé elegance for the executive class”; along with just 139g/km CO2 – from the 204PS 3.0-litre TDI model, anyway. But that’s just one of the four engines available when UK orders open on 16 August – though the first deliveries won’t be until early next year. There’s also a 245PS version of the 3.0 TDI, with a helpful 500Nm of torque, plus two petrol engines: a naturally aspirated 204PS 2.8-litre FSI and a supercharged 300PS 3.0-litre TFSI petrol. All four engines come with start-stop as standard, along with energy recuperation during coasting and braking – and electromechanical power steering (not electrohydraulic).

Transmission is multitronic CVT for front-wheel-drive models, and Audi’s 7-speed dual-clutch S tronic for the quattro models. Audi says “executive class dimensions are reflected in executive class interior space” and that there’s enough room to seat “up to four adults”. Maxiumum luggage capacity, at 1390 litres, is certainly impressive for an almost-coupé. While the driving experience remains to be tested, if the A5 Sportback is anything to go by, it will be jolly comfortable… but, dynamically speaking, not quite up to the sporting nature of a full-on two-door coupé. The extra length needed to accommodate four doors and “up to four adults” means compromise somewhere along the line.

We don’t yet have the full set of official performance figures but, with such a powerful selection of engines in an aluminium-and-steel-bodied car (15% lighter than the all-steel equivalent), the new models won’t be sluggish.

The all-new A7 Sportback will be priced from £42,925 OTR (£43,745 OTR at the new 20% VAT rate). Options include parallel park assist, all-LED headlights, head-up display and adaptive air suspension. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Audi

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Free Subscription! Prodrive-developed World Rally Championship entries in 2011

A 4wd MINI Countryman WRC will be contesting a limited number of international events next year, prior to a full season in 2012...

It should of course be ‘MINI’ as it’s the BMW-owned company which will be footing the bill, but, industrial protocol aside, the great news is that a 4wd MINI Countryman WRC will be contesting a limited number of international events next year, prior to a full season in 2012. The production-based five-door will be powered by a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine from BMW Motorsport, and has been under development by the Banbury company since early 2009. It will compete under the new Super2000 regulations, put in place by the FIA for 1600cc, 4wd machinery with engineering clearly relevant to road cars and much-reduced levels of cost. The exploits of the then-Abingdon-based team in the 1960s with Hopkirk, Aaltonen and Mäkinen in red/white Mini Coopers on the Monte Carlo Rally helped create the Mini legend. While the BMW MINI has been raced and rallied since its launch, this is the biggest competition effort by MINI yet, with the car ideal for the new regulations. Prodrive Chairman, David Richards, commenting on the Countryman WRC said: “This is a very exciting new motorsport programme. During the 1960s, [the] Mini captured the imagination of the world when the tiny car took on the might of V8-powered Fords and won what was then one of the toughest motorsport events, the 4000km Monte Carlo Rally. “I believe our new MINI will become a firm favourite of the latest generation of rally fans, just as it is adored by its millions of owners across the world. We already have a significant number of confirmed customer orders for the new MINI rally car with the first deliveries scheduled for the start of the 2011 season.” Text: Steve Wakefield
Photo: Prodrive

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“We will definitely be offering an electric sports car in future. But such a concept only makes sense if it offers product qualities typical of a Porsche,”says Michael Macht, President and CEO of Porsche AG. Believing that electric drive will continue to grow in importance, Porsche is developing both hybrid concepts and all-electric cars. In the latter category, three research cars based on the Porsche Boxster are being used in a field test which will start in earnest early next year. The plug-in hybrid, the 918 Spyder, made headlines when it debuted at Geneva this year, joining the Cayenne Hybrid and the 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car. The racer went on to prove its viability in the 2010 Nürburgring 24 Hours. Hybrid technology will also be featured in the forthcoming Panamera S Hybrid, due to enter the market next year. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Porsche

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The great Italian manufacturer has introduced a ‘Challenge’ version of its 570bhp supercar which will see action in next year’s Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli alongside the outgoing F430 model. The new model is the fifth used in the one-make series for professional, as well as ‘gentlemen’, drivers. Also new for 2011 will be an Asia-Pacific series, in addition to European and North American activities. The road car’s mighty direct-injection 570bhp V8 remains unaltered, although changes to gear ratios and the calibration of its dual-clutch F1 gearbox have been made “to guarantee higher torque at lower revs”. It is, however, lighter by the increased use of carbonfibre and Lexan, and runs lower, by 30mm. New-generation Brembo CCM2 brakes (as seen on the 599XX) are integrated into the new car, with an ABS system that features two configurations: 'low grip', and 'high performance' for dry surfaces. All 458 Challenges will have F1-Trac traction and Ferrari’s E-Diff. Drivers can choose – via the steering wheel manettino – ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ settings to control the level of traction. It’s also possible to turn the traction control off. The new 458 Challenge has a dedicated suspension set-up with solid aluminium bushings, stiffer springs, single-rate dampers and centre-lock 19in racing rims. The cars will run on control Pirelli racing slicks. Early testing at Fiorano has produced a record-breaking lap-time of just 1'16.5" – around 9 seconds quicker than a well-driven road-going 458 and on a par with a full-on racing 360 N-GT of just a few years ago. Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Ferrari

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It’s rare for a soon-to-be-launched small car to generate the sort of anticipation engendered by the MINI Countryman. Since we saw it at Geneva, the upcoming crossover is so often talked about that we sometimes forget it won’t actually go on sale till later this year. This will be the first MINI to come with four doors; and the first with a body measuring more than four metres in length – plus, of course, the top-spec models are available with optional four-wheel drive. We like the look of the new Countryman – more so in the metal than in the pictures – with its chunky styling, large tailgate and upright front end. It’s both familiar and unfamiliar, the robust ‘crossover’ lines sitting well with the more familiar MINI styling cues, from its hexagonal radiator grille and large headlights set into the bonnet, to the generous wheelarches and vertical rear light clusters.

The MINI Countryman can be specified with two individual rear seats or – as a no-cost option – a seat bench for three passengers. The rear seats slide back and forth individually, the angle of the backrests can be adjusted, or they can be folded down to increase luggage space from 350 litres to a maximum 1170 litres.

Three petrol and two diesel engines will be available at launch, including the 1.6-litre 184HP of the Cooper S Countryman. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: MINI

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Free Subscription!Driven: Volkswagen Scirocco R

This wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Tune VW’s four-cylinder turbo engine to 265PS, feed the result through the front wheels and you’ll have a lumpy, track-day-only homologation special, surely? Absolutely not, as a trip to the Le Mans Classic was to prove. It didn’t help my perceptions that Volkswagen chose to debut the hottest Scirocco yet at last year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours, where two closely related GT24 Sciroccos scored class wins, one of them finishing 11th overall out of 200 starters. Impressive stuff from the VAG empire, which generally leaves racing to Audi and Seat. But, as we know, a hefty budget and top-class preparation can make many a ‘standard’ car into a race-winner. When the Rising Blue four-seat coupé arrived a few days prior to the planned French foray, it was giving little away of its 155mph potential. Beastie Boys apart, most things carrying the world-famous circular chrome badge exude taste and quality, the ‘R’ version being no exception.

There are many visual changes from standard, though: new front and rear bumpers; a new front grille; side skirts; wing mirrors; 5-spoke ‘Talladega’ wheels; rear diffuser; rear wing and exhaust. That sounds a lot. However, in practice, the additions and changes are effortlessly integrated and enhance an already attractive design. Le Mans might be its destination, but it doesn’t confuse the High St with Les Hunaudières, if you know what I mean. Having eased myself into Scirocco R motoring gently, with a visit to McLaren and Aston Martin earlier that week, come Friday it was time to set the alarm clock for another early start.

The Eurotunnel beckoned, with a crossing booked for 07:00. Round trips to Gaydon and Woking had given me an introduction to motoring Scirocco R-style (fast, with a firm ride, impeccable build quality and superb sports seats). Six or so hours in the saddle on peerless French autoroutes, with a few twisty D-roads too, would reveal the car’s true mettle. For starters, it’s quick. And, as I revealed in the opening paragraph, the delivery from the blown, EA113-series engine is creamily smooth, with peak torque of 350Nm (258lb ft) available from 2500 - 5000rpm. At 6000pm you’ll get the full 265PS – but, such is its flexibility, that from 2500rpm onwards the car can be coaxed or caned (depending on your mood) all the way to half-decent, three-figure speeds. Motorway cruising at licence-safe averages in sixth (in our DSG-gearbox-equipped car) reminds me of much more expensive, bigger-engined multi-cylinder cars; you can set a handy pace, bowling along on a wave of torque, knowing that gaps in forward or rearward traffic can be increased/decreased at will. That’s my sort of car.

And let me say at this point that on reasonable Tarmac it rolls along nicely with little road noise. I would venture – and another owner has concurred – that the R rides more smoothly than the standard 2.0TSI we tested last year. And this is on the biggest-possible, 19in wheels and 235/35 R19 tyres. Weird. The standard-for-bigger-engined-Sciroccos ACC (Adaptive Chassis Control) has been tuned again for the R, so maybe it’s that. More responsive steering apart, I found it difficult to tell an awful lot from the different (Normal, Comfort, Sport) settings and found Normal did the job perfectly well.

Venture off the autoroute and the car’s a strong performer. You will be bumped around a bit, but the R’s standard-fit electronic cross-axle traction control (XDS) and EDL (electronic limited-slip differential) knocks out any impression of understeer from the powerful fwd coupé. I had the traction control light on a few times, mainly from bumpy roads causing wheels to leave the road – never from a surfeit of power.

If there is ever such a thing as an open, really smooth twisting road, the Scirocco R would be a joy, and well able to keep up with much more powerful opposition. Please don’t take this as a criticism; it’s just that haring along rural B-roads at breakneck speed will soon have you and your passenger thrown around the cabin. Or – perhaps deservedly – behind bars. No, with their discreet good looks, surprisingly practical cabin for four adults and generous boot, all Sciroccos have a lot going for them. Add the irresistible charms of the mighty R-spec engine and you have a genuine mini, ‘mini-supercar’.

I liked it a lot and can now see that the light at the end of the tunnel, far from signalling an oncoming train powered by weedy, small-capacity turbocharged engines, is a beacon of hope for the future. State-of-the-art, well-engineered, tuned ‘fours’ can really perform – and none more so than that in the Scirocco R. The car tested was a Volkswagen Scirocco R 2.0-litre TSI DSG in Rising Blue metallic with 'Kyalami' cloth upholstery in Titan Black and 'San Remo' Alcantara side bolsters in Crystal Grey. The UK basic ‘on the road’ price is £29,805. Optional extras fitted to this car included: RNS 510 DVD touch-screen navigation/radio/MP3 system with 6.5in colour screen and 30GB hard drive (£1295), alternative 'Talledega' 19in alloy wheels (£540), rear parking sensors (£355) and metallic paint (£430).

Over nearly 1000 miles, the car averaged 26.7mpg (10.7l/100km).

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver

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Tony Dron takes to the roads – and the track – top down, in this “exquisite bundle of Italian automotive fun”...

You don’t have to actually buy anything in Harrods, Fortnums or any of those lovely establishments in Bond Street. Just being there produces a mysterious, calm magic. There is something powerfully pleasing to be sensed in such places. Likewise, while any number of well-organised dealers across suburbia could sell you an excellent new car, ticking every box on your personal list and giving satisfaction for thousands of happy miles, it’s not quite the same as nipping down to H R Owen in South Ken to buy a new Ferrari. Not all of us, of course, are in that wealth bracket. Which is a shame. But which brings us to the new Abarth 500C, a little gem of a thing that inspires that same sense of sublime pleasure at a fraction of the price. If the makers of this exquisite bundle of Italian automotive fun have got their research right, most Abarth 500C buyers will already have the latest new Ferrari anyway, not to mention the Cayenne, the Mulsanne and one or two other useful new cars tucked away at home.

But whether it’s the only car you own, or a small-scale addition to a well-stocked stable, this diminutive cabriolet has got that certain something – because Abarth, a stand-alone division of Fiat, is getting things right. The new Abarths do have all the right fancy bits tacked on to tempt us but there’s much more to the recent resurgence of the Abarth name than that. Forget your cynical, if understandable, suspicion that the marketing men thought it would be a good idea to tweak some Fiats and use the Abarth name to palm them off on us. No, the real engineers are behind these new Abarths, which makes them the real deal. Using the same 1.4-litre, 1368cc turbo petrol engine as the Abarth 500 hatchback, the cabriolet has a revised ECU, raising the power by 5HP to 140HP, giving a top speed of 128mph and 0-62mph in 8.1sec. Fully Euro 5 compliant, it emits a mere 151g/km of CO2, a figure that is just a little more green than the best top-end, high-performance cars these days. The combined cycle fuel consumption of 43.5mpg is attractive to anybody, too.

The Abarth Competizione gearbox adds to the fun of driving this car. In essence, it’s an absolutely normal manual box, but it has robotic control so that it can be driven as a normal automatic if you hit heavy traffic and can’t be bothered to use the shift-paddles mounted behind the steering wheel. With electric power-steering, very little performance is stolen from the engine. Press the ‘Sport’ button and the steering feels slightly heavier while the overboost comes into play, giving a significant rise in torque and throttle response. The brakes are excellent, discs all round and big, ventilated jobs at the front with conspicuous red calipers. There’s ESP, of course, plus a Torque Transfer Control (TTC) that uses part of the ESP system to mimic a limited-slip differential. This can be switched off and there’s endless entertainment to be had, working out when it’s best to have TTC turned on or off.

We had a good session on a test track during this first drive experience, as well as a long tour through North Yorkshire, and I got the feeling that it’s quicker to leave TTC turned on most of the time. You can certainly feel the difference when you switch it off but the handling remains faultless either way. What a neat little car; it’s fun to drive, suitably trimmed with luxurious style inside, open to the elements at the touch of a button (up to 37mph) and it looks just great. You can arrive anywhere in an Abarth 500C, and park next to your friends’ Astons, Bentleys and Ferraris. Guess which car they’ll be talking about? Exactly: your new Abarth 500C, which is on sale now from £17,500 OTR. Brush up on just a little Abarth history so that you can bung in the odd fact, and you’ll leave them standing.

As an aside, you might care to mention the bigger, new Abarth Punto Evo, from only £16,500 OTR, which we also drove during this test. With the proper Abarth treatment given to it, as well as to the 500C, the Punto Evo surprised us all by being a real driver’s car. Tell them about that by all means, while giving them the low-down on the small gem that is your 500C. Text: Tony Dron
Photos: Michael Ward / Abarth

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Celebrating the company’s success since 2006 with production-based V8 Vantage race cars, Aston Martin has launched a small run (limited to 420) of road cars aimed at the more focused driver: those looking for an even rarer Aston. We’ve just driven the car, and for anyone considering a new V8 Vantage we strongly believe this is the one to go for. So what do you get? An awful lot, actually, as the car comes as standard with a new sports exhaust system, sports suspension, the brilliant lightweight seats (not available in Federal markets, though) with the ‘racetrack stitch pattern’ of the V12 Vantage, 19in 10-spoke forged alloy wheels with gloss black and diamond turned finish, N400-type sills, much Alcantara and many items (front splitter, rear diffuser and side-strakes) in tasteful, semi-matt carbonfibre. See the full list at the foot of this page.

The V8 Vantage N420 is available as a coupé or roadster, with either a 6-speed manual or Sportshift, semi-automatic transmission. Alcantara is only available in the coupé, though. The engine, the latest 4.7-litre, 420bhp V8, is unchanged – enough to give a 180mph capability with 0-100km/h (62mph) coming up in 4.8 seconds. With the extensive use of carbonfibre, the lightweight seats and lighter wheels, the N420’s weight is shaved by 27kg: a handy reduction.

As an option, buyers can choose from Aston Martin ‘Race Collection’ paint schemes, mostly called after the pet names given to works entries at the ‘Ring 24 Hours. So you could have ‘Rose’ Yellow, ‘Kermit’ Green or ‘Elwood’ Blue - or just play it safe and go for traditional Aston Martin Racing Green with yellow accents on the nose and cant rails. The contrasting colours are painted, by the way, not stickered, a process which adds considerable time to the regular hand-finishing of the cars. The other alternative is ‘Asia Cup’, a classy white/black combination you see here on this car.

The combination of Obsidian Black-trimmed lightweight seats and the standard-for-N420 Iridium interior package (with graphite instruments) is a seductive one. It’s also a comfortable one and we can’t help feeling sorry for our American cousins denied the sexy lightweight seats. I like Alcantara-trimmed steering wheels; you get excellent grip with heightened feedback when pressing on. The interior has an air of purpose without in-your-face carbonfibre and ‘chrono’ dials. It’s an Aston, after all.

This particular N420 was a Sportshift car. I haven’t driven one for a while (N400, I think, the last time?) but it combines nicely with the sports suspension and general tenor of the new car. Up- and down-changes are smooth (with ‘blipping’ under deceleration to flatter the driver), as long as you treat the system with respect. A slight ‘lift’ when exploring the upper reaches of the rev-band is essential - but the change is pretty quick.

A useful feature of Aston’s take on the robotised manual is that it will ‘creep’ in first gear, too, like a torque converter automatic. The suspension gets the most from the car and is well-complemented by a sports exhaust that is neither intrusive nor contrived. I covered some miles on a motorway and, at everyday, restricted speeds, there’s a nice, busy hum from the drivetrain. “Purposeful,” I suppose you could say.

Don’t think that this is a track-day special or hardcore racer – it’s definitely not. Just think of it as a way of letting someone else choose the best options from the catalogue, adding in a few normally unobtainable items and, if you get your calculator out, you might find it saves you a few bob, too. Plus there’s the limited-edition aspect of it all – specify ‘Kermit’ Green and you could be in exclusive company, one of the very first V8 Vantage racers made by Aston Martin. Like the cockpit of the new N420 - not a bad place to be.

Production of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 begins in July 2010, with deliveries commencing in August and prices starting from £96,995 in the UK. Full Specification:

Exterior -

* Carbonfibre splitter and diffuser
* Carbonfibre side strakes
* Black bonnet and side strake meshes
* N400 sill design
* 19in 10-spoke forged alloy wheels with gloss black and diamond turned finish
* Front parking sensors
* Optional race car collection livery (painted, adding 22 man-hours on top of the original 50)
* Graphite sports exhaust tailpipe finishers

Powertrain and chassis features -

* Limited edition numbered engine bay plaque
* New sports exhaust system
* Sports suspension

Interior -

* Lightweight seats (not available in Federal markets)
* Sports steering wheel in Alcantara (not roadster)
* Carbonfibre N420 sill plaque
* Seat inserts in Alcantara (coupé) or leather (coupé and roadster) with racetrack stitch pattern
* Iridium interior with Piano Black or Double Apex Alloy fascia trim
* Alarm upgrade
* Cruise control
* Bluetooth telephone system
* Auto-dimming mirror

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver

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Free Subscription! Driving report by Tony Dron

Early Thursday morning at Goodwood, one day before the start of the Festival of Speed, and the atmosphere at the Moving Motor Show is electric. As motor shows go, this seems so much more exciting than the usual acres of static displays. We are about to drive the new Jaguar XJ 5-litre Premium Luxury saloon, the petrol-powered V8 producing 385bhp. All the leading manufacturers have set up impressive pavilions beside the hillclimb course in front of Goodwood House and, after checking in at the Jaguar base, we walk over to the centre of action near the startline. A wide, temporary roadway has been set up inside an enormously long tent on the grass alongside the startline. Inside this tent, there’s a real buzz as guests and staff mill around and cars file slowly down the roadway towards the test route. Only the professional drivers are allowed to drive here, stopping just outside to let the guests take over for the test drive. Jaguar’s booth here is elegantly set up, with an early E-type on display to remind us of the heritage behind the new models. Within a few minutes, a new XJ glides up and I am introduced to professional driver, Carl Jones, my mentor and guide that morning. We follow the formal routine even though no introduction is strictly necessary as, back in the early 1990s, Carl and I both raced for the same team.

The test run begins immediately – we weave slowly out of the tent and follow the road through the trees to stop at the startline of Goodwood’s famous hillclimb course. As Carl sets up the video to record the action, I familiarise myself with the controls, select all the sporting settings and prepare myself to go. For anyone who has never done this before, there is nothing to worry about because the firm recommendation is to drive at normal road speeds. Any attempt to break the hill record is strictly forbidden. The idea is for guests to try the cars in a privileged setting and those who wish to cruise up at a gentle 30mph are very welcome. We went rather quicker than that, I must admit, and at the first corner I was instantly surprised by the sports car feel of the steering and handling. Having driven examples of almost every Jaguar saloon produced over the past 60 years, I am well aware that they have always had a certain sporting character but this new XJ is in an entirely different league. It’s a big, luxurious saloon but as soon as you attack a corner at speed it suddenly feels small, agile, predictably poised and very quick. Put your foot down and there’s a great surge as the tremendous torque from the V8 takes effect. The tail moves out a tiny fraction but there’s nothing to frighten the horses. It’s all perfectly smooth and civilised as the traction is astonishingly good, the lightweight bodyshell is extremely stiff and the suspension has been very well set up for enthusiastic driving.

The old Jaguar ideals of grace, space and pace have never been better expressed than in this new XJ, which now launches itself along the straight in front of Goodwood House at a remarkable rate. There is a supercharged 510bhp version of the new XJ but this supposedly more modest, normally aspirated model is an extremely fast car. As the revs rise rapidly, I change up a couple of times on the paddleshift before braking and changing down again for the tricky, unsighted lefthander at Molecomb. In a fast car like this, if like me you prefer to remain on the road it’s necessary to brake before you see this corner. You need to know the road here. As the XJ presses on up the hill, through the several very fast, blind corners to the top, I keep remarking on how great the steering feels. There are plenty of well-respected sports cars that are not up to this standard of sporting response at the wheel. The road test reports have praised the new Jaguar in this respect but I hadn’t realised quite how pleasing it is to drive. Unlike some Jaguars of the distant past, I can’t really fault this new XJ and the vital point here is that I don’t want to find fault with it. Within one minute on that hill, the car had won me over. For anybody who really appreciates a first class sports saloon car, this XJ fits the bill.

Having got to the top, the video is stopped. Looking at it later, it makes a nice, personal souvenir for me but as it simply shows my ugly mug, talking away about how nice the steering is, I suspect that the editor will agree with me: it would be cruel and pointless to inflict it on you here. From the top, the 3.5-mile test route continues at a much reduced pace along a new, single-track private drive through the Goodwood estate, meandering back down through the shrubbery and trees and across a golf course back to the start. On the way down, you can appreciate that this sports car also doubles as a very smooth, quiet luxury saloon. Should you ever be lucky enough to be invited to a future Goodwood Moving Motor Show test drive, my advice would be to snap it up. The experience is slightly surreal but you do get a chance – if you’re an invited guest of a manufacturer – to drive the car properly. There was an unfortunate incident this year, admittedly, when a young professional driver in another make of car apparently suffered an epileptic fit. A couple of pedestrians were hurt and considerable damage was done but this was a freakish mishap. It could have happened anywhere and I hope very much that it will not cast a cloud over the future of a very promising new motor show concept. Text: Tony Dron
Photos: Jaguar

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The new, strictly limited Porsche 911 Sport Classic, which honours the legendary Carrera RS, is an instant collectors’ item at some 200,000 euros – around the same money as many originals are worth today. We evaluated the first of these cars on a trip to Switzerland. Like the art market, the simple rules of supply and demand are the deciding factor with car values. This, perhaps, partly accounts for the enormous difference in price between a normal, unlimited Porsche 911 Carrera S and the new Porsche 911 Sport Classic. But surely it’s not just down to the small metal plaque over the glovebox? In our case, the plaque reads ‘Limited edition No. 000/250’, so it really is the first in the series. Does the emotional pull of what this new car represents make us choose it in preference to the countless classic automobiles available today? In Zuffenhausen, at the heart of Porsche, tradition has always been a strong sales argument – and one which favours the new 911 Sport Classic. For yes, it does remind us of the great Carrera 2.7 RS - on the face of it a meagrely equipped racing car from 1973, but later recognised as a design icon. And, to be fair, the best of those originals today might fetch rather more than the price of a new 911 Sport Classic. Creating this car was a no-brainer for Porsche; unlike the current GT2 RS and GT3 RS, which are truly contemporary race-orientated cars, the Sport Classic is pure retro-racer. A nostalgic creation, it’s all about style, design and attitude.

Based on the current 911 Carrera S, the Sport Classic is widened by 44mm and its suspension lowered by 20mm. The steeply rising tail spoiler, called ‘Entenbürzel’ in Germany and ‘ducktail’ in Britain, was derived by the designers directly from the original 1973 model. It was a similar story with the wheels, which in a direct translation from the German are called ‘classical fox rims’. They satisfy the Retro look but on the new car they come in a modern configuration and the centres are painted black. Dramatic styling touches include a new front spoiler and lip. Highly reflective and silver-grey in colour, our Sport Classic makes quite an impression on the road. There is also a discreet plaque on the front wheelarch, which reads ‘Porsche, Exclusive Manufaktur, Zuffenhausen’. The simple elegance of this car is redolent of the first Carrera RS but the new edition is more luxurious, a 21st Century child of its time. On the other hand, it doesn’t correspond that closely with the current canon of Porsche models.

In creating the interior, Porsche Exclusive came up with an unusual mixture, hinting at the 1970s while also matching modern expectations. It is successful and, no bad thing for British buyers, perhaps, it also has surprisingly un-German colour and material combinations. In our car, the espresso brown leather and light grey piping of the seats and other areas, including the instrument panel, are extremely attractive. The chocolate brown carpet, taken halfway up the door panels, looks marvellous in contrast to the cool-grey, highly polished lacquer of the exterior. This car could hold its head high in a setting of the finest modern architecture. It’s up to the buyer to decide, however, whether such fine aesthetics are really worth the surcharge.

The 1973 Carrera 2.7 RS was an exceptional sportscar and, based as it is on the Carrera S, so is the Sport Classic. The 3.8-litre flat-six engine, with direct injection, has been tuned for resonance with six switching flaps in the manifolds, raising the maximum output by 23PS to 408PS. Accompanied by a pronounced 911 roar, the Sport Classic sprints from 0 to 62mph in 4.6 seconds. Top speed is 188mph. In honour of the original, Porsche resisted the temptation to fit the PDK double-clutch system here. All Sport Classics will come with a manual six-speed gearbox. The enhanced PASM chassis keeps the Sport Classic level on the road, and carbon-reinforced ceramic brakes supply the necessary stopping power.

After three days and many hundreds of kilometres behind the wheel, one thing is quite clear: the Sport Classic is a stylistic statement for connoisseurs that successfully celebrates a most significant piece of automobile history. The purchase price, exactly 201,682 euros in the case of our test car, is high; but part of the deal is that it guarantees exclusivity. Only 250 will be made and they will all draw admiring looks at the traffic lights. No doubt it’s only a question of the time before lookalikes, fitted with the distinctive rear spoiler and the same road wheels, start to appear. Only the genuine cars, however, will have that small plaque on the glovebox. And that makes all the difference.

Text: Jan Baedeker
Photos: Jan Baedeker / Stefan Gramlich

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Free Subscription! Cholmondeley Pageant of Power 2010 - Review

Of the many historic car events to be launched in recent years (encouraged, no doubt, by the twice-yearly happenings in West Sussex), the Pageant of Power – now in its third year – is surely among the best. And the most successful: more than 50,000 visitors flocked to Cholmondeley on 17-18 July to enjoy the spectacles on track, in the air and on water. Among the highlights of the 2010 event were the aerobatic exploits of the Breitling Wingwalkers, a Spitfire flypast and a fabulous display of Bentleys, including the 2003 Le Mans-winning Speed 8. But it’s the automotive action that lies at the heart of Cholmondeley’s attractions. According to the organisers, in this respect it was the world-famous Donington Collection that “stole the show, with the Auto Union and Vanwalls stunning the crowds with speeds belying their vintage”. Then there was the Brutus from the Sinsheim Museum in Germany, powered by a 47-litre (yes, forty-seven litres) BMW aero engine from a WWI fighter aircraft… and much more besides. “I calculated that we must have had over half a billion pounds’ worth of machinery here this year,” said Event Director James Hall, “including the Hermes 135 Eurocopter.”

On the competitive front, Niki Faulkner set a new course record in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera, which beat strong opposition (including Grand Prix, Le Mans and Touring cars and even a 2010 world superbike) by completing the twisting 1.3-mile circuit in 62.68 seconds – two seconds quicker than the previous best time.

Meanwhile, the Firework Concert on Saturday night “provided all the pomp and circumstance of the Last Night of the Proms”, with a Lynx helicoper flypast to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries and firing of the Royal Artillery field guns to accompany the 1812 Overture. And via a link from Afghanistan, the concert-goers were poignantly addressed by Lt Colonel Andrew Hadfield, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment. We’re told that plans are already being put together for next year’s Pageant of Power. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Lawrence Clift Photography / Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

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“How difficult can it be?” were the Editor’s words last year, reflecting on the rally tests at the British Classic Car Meeting in St Moritz...

“How difficult can it be?” were the Editor’s words last year, reflecting on the rally tests at the British Classic Car Meeting in St Moritz. The 17th running of the event, which combines an alpine rally and regularity run with a concours d’elegance, receptions, lunches and dinners, all set among Switzerland's beautiful Engadin mountains, seemed not to be missed. The Ed’s words rang in my ears as I set off from England under the directions of my 14-year-old navigator, Thomas, on what was to be a 3000km, six-day round trip in our Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante 6.3. The scenery, the weather, the Swiss hospitality and the organisation of the event turned out to be epic.

Thomas's Facebook holiday one-up-man-ship determined that we drove through as many countries as possible. A meandering route through England, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and Lichtenstein was chosen. Together with the rally in Switzerland and Italy, this gave a satisfying tally of nine countries in six days, despite mutterings about how mean I was to refuse to add Holland and Spain. I made a mental note to scrutinise his school geography results. The amazing performance of my 24-year-old Aston’s 6.3-litre engine continues to surprise, even after 14 years’ ownership. Its rapidly looming appearance in the rear-view mirror evidently surprised most of the German autobahn users.

Soaring temperatures of 35deg C saw us arrive in St Moritz with the engine's water temperature needle contorting itself into worrying positions. After testing everything, Garage Volante, St Moritz’s classic car specialist, put us back in the game with a new radiator cap and a huge sigh of relief – plus many thanks on my part. St Moritz boasts some of the finest hotels in Switzerland and our stay at the Suvretta House lived up to expectations. Surpassing them, however, was the friendliness and welcome from our Swiss hosts. With 200 cars entered, only a handful were from outside Switzerland and the range of entrants was amazingly diverse – from a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (driven all the way from Nottingham) to a 2010 Bentley Supersports and seemingly every variety of classic Rolls, Bentley, Jaguar, Healey and Austin-Healey in between. The Splügen Rallye on the Saturday morning took us on a 215km course of breathtaking scenery through the Engadin, taking in the Albula, Splügen and Maloja passes. Thomas had never seen a Tulip diagram before and, when handed the route book, was alarmed that there was no map. He soon took to it, however, giving me instructions with scary assurance… and we didn’t get lost once.

The required 36.5km average speed seemed ridiculously low until the challenges of the route became apparent. Narrow tunnels and galleries, together with endless hairpins and the afternoon bus traffic in Italy, soon made this a genuine target to attain. How cars such as the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI navigated the course was a mystery. The simple tests sounded a doddle… until we tried them. The regularity test in the form of a hillclimb might have been easy if we had spotted its start… or its finish, for that matter, but we were having too much fun trying to keep up with Marcus Diethelm's spirited driving in his DB9. Like the Editor last year, at the end of a magnificent dinner we came away empty-handed from the prize-giving on Saturday evening (but in our case, deservedly). Philip Ringier in a 1954 XK120 enjoyed the highest overall score in the Splügen Rallye 2010 and collected a Chopard Mille Miglia watch. For us, there was always the concours on Sunday morning, but first I had the daunting task of removing 1500km of filth and road-kill from the Aston... while Thomas had a long, teenage lie-in.

Come 11am on Sunday, under dazzling sunshine, a magnificent array of machinery was laid out in the centre of St Moritz around the Badrutt's Palace Hotel. Personal favourites were the beautifully presented fleet of 1955 Austin-Healey 100S Sebrings, Michael Darcy’s 4½-litre Blower Bentley, Adrian von Lerber's 1953 Graber-bodied Bentley VI Coupé (which had won the Bentley class in the rally) and more recent fare in the form of Le Mans ‘ancien pilote’ Marco Vanoli's immaculate DB7 Zagato. A great event and with wonderful memories of our road trip and many new friends made, I for one will be looking forward to the 18th running of the BCCM St Moritz… and, unlike the Editor, we didn't – in the end – come away empty-handed. The Aston collected the silverware for winning first in class in the concours d'elegance, while Thomas remains truly amazed that the Engadin fairies cleaned the car while he slept. With grateful thanks to the staff at the superlative Suvretta House hotel, and Daniel Waltenberg and the organising committee of the 2010 BCCM St Moritz

For information on next year's BCCM St Moritz event, see www.bccm-stmoritz.ch Text: Nicholas Hewitt
Photos: BCCM / Nicholas Hewitt

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A new event, to be held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, aims to impart the magic of the Le Mans 24 Hours – while raising funds for the Chelsea Pensioners. On Sunday 5 September, the inaugural Chelsea AutoLegends will celebrate the stars and cars of the world-famous endurance race. The grounds of the Royal Hospital will become temporary home to a spectacular collection of Le Mans sportscars, many appearing in London for the first time. In particular, the 2010 Chelsea AutoLegends will pay homage to the 40th anniversary of Porsche’s first Le Mans win, in 1970, as well as the filming of the epic Le Mans movie, starring Steve McQueen. The 1970 film will be shown at the event, with many of the drivers involved in its creation present to share their memories – including five-times winner Derek Bell and Richard Attwood (the man, of course, who actually won the 1970 race…). As well as the Le Mans focus, Chelsea AutoLegends will showcase prestige, exotic and supercars for road and track, from Aston Martins, Bentleys and Bugattis, to Ferraris, Jaguars, Maseratis and Porsches.

“This is the start of something really special,” says event founder Michael Scott, a Chelsea resident who has been organising smaller ‘Rendezvous’ gatherings for car enthusiasts in the Royal Hospital grounds. “I’ve always dreamed of creating a spectacular annual automotive event in the fabulous setting of the Royal Hospital gardens to raise much-needed funds for the Chelsea Pensioners. And what better way to fire up than with a superb homage to the world’s greatest motor race and to Steve McQueen, one of Hollywood’s most revered heroes.” See www.ChelseaAutoLegends.com for further details, and tickets. Founded by King Charles II in 1681, the Royal Hospital Chelsea has been a retirement and nursing home for British soldiers for more than 300 years. Today, it is home to more than 300 Chelsea Pensioners and will benefit directly from funds raised by Chelsea AutoLegends. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Chelsea AutoLegends

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Still to come in July’s dazzling historic motorsport calendar is the three-day Silverstone Classic, featuring 1000 drivers at the wheel of more than 800 of the world’s finest competition cars...

Still to come in July’s dazzling historic motorsport calendar is the three-day Silverstone Classic, featuring 1000 drivers at the wheel of more than 800 of the world’s finest competition cars. Among the on-track highlights, and forming the most valuable grid ever seen at this annual event, is the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy for Historic Cars – featuring pre-63 GT racers. “The early 1960s is widely recognised as the best time for genuine GT racing,” said Ben Cussons of the Royal Automobile Club. “We wanted to entice these cars back out onto the grid and keep the race faithful to the pre-63 era. It was an era when you could buy a GT car from a showroom and go racing.” The Historic Tourist Trophy will replicate the original race of the period, with class divisions at 1300cc and 2000cc to ensure close racing all the way down the field. No fewer than 10 Lotus Elites are entered, including the ex-Les Leston car of marque enthusiasts Robin Longdon and Malcolm Ricketts. Other star entries include the ex-Equipe Endeavour Aston Martin DB4 to be raced by Stuart Graham – the only man to win a Tourist Trophy on both two and four wheels – and Richard Attwood, Porsche’s first ever Le Mans winner.

Attwood will be driving another Aston in the Stirling Moss Trophy, the brand-new series of historic races launched for 2010 by Motor Racing Legends. This time it’s the world-famous 1959 Le Mans-winning DBR1, which he’ll be sharing with Gregor Fisken – himself a talented modern Le Mans driver. From the same racing stable comes the nimble, front-engined ex-Phil Hill Ferrari 246S Dino, driven by Nick Leventis, who was fifth overall in this year’s modern Le Mans 24 Hours – and Bobby Verdon-Roe. Meanwhile, GT cars from Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo will battle it out in the Italian Historic Car Cup – a ‘dusk race’ on Saturday evening dedicated to pre-74 Italian cars. The field will include such icons as Ferrari 512M, Ferrari 312PB and Alfa Romeo T33, racing for 75 minutes, and finishing just before sunset at 8pm. Joining them are cars from smaller manufacturers such as Iso Grifo, Bizzarrini and Abarth, as well as 11 different models of Ferrari, a sublime spread of Maseratis from the 1950s, plus Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, Giulia TZ and the rare Simca-Abarth 2000.

And the finest pre-1956 sports-racing cars will be represented by an outstanding grid in the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy. Another race organised by Motor Racing Legends, the Woodcote Trophy will see some of the world’s most authentic examples of Jaguar C-types and D-types striving to be first across the line. Aston Martin enthusiasts will enjoy the equally impressive turn-out of drum-braked models ranging from 1952 DB2s, through DB3 to DB2/4 – which will have their work cut out tackling the magnificent Ferrari 750 Monza driven by the Frankel brothers, Richard and Andrew. Last – and by absolutely no means least – the Woodcote Trophy will welcome Sir Stirling Moss back to the race track, after recovering from his accident at home earlier this year. He will be driving his little 1500cc OSCA FS372, in the same class as another world-famous figure: rock star Chris Rea, driving his 1098cc-engined Lotus VI. Adding to the on-track entertainment, the Silverstone Classic features 6000+ classic cars and bikes on display, a Bonhams auction, hot rod demonstrations, a fun fair, parades and live music concerts. For tickets and further information, see www.SilverstoneClassic.com. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Silverstone Classic / Motor Racing Legends

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The fifth running of the definitive homage to long-distance motor racing provided 96,000 spectators with feats of entertainment ranging from Attwood/Schuppan in the Gulf Porsche 917 which finished second in 1971, to puttering Panhards, tiny Renaults and even a two-stroke Saab. In addition to the racing on the famous ‘long’ Le Mans course, which partly uses closed sections of public road, the event also encourages car clubs to meet on the Bugatti Circuit. So, you can dip in and out of the on-track excitement to browse the 100s of Jaguars, Alpine-Renaults, Porsches et al on display. There’s also quality merchandising ranging from automobilia and vintage clothing to Leica cameras, Chapal leather goods and the sublime technological watches de luxe from main sponsor Richard Mille. Significant manufacturer displays saw Porsche and BMW (in particular) bringing their priceless museum exhibits back to the track that made them famous. From Porsche came the 1971 winning Martini 917 and the ‘Pink Pig’, while the Bavarian manufacturer showed several Art Cars.

For newcomers to the Le Mans Classic, here’s a brief synopsis of the format. Only cars of a type that actually competed in the race from 1923 to 1979 are allowed to race. In actual fact, many entries are veterans of the famous 24-hour endurance event, including the winner in 1962 (Ferrari 330 TRI), the previously mentioned second-place 917 Porsche, many competition Ferrari ‘Daytonas’, Aston Martin DP 212, the sole Jaguar E2A in existence and the gloriously French Inalteras (built near Le Mans and named after a wallpaper manufacturer...). The 460 entries were split by age into six individual grids (or Plateaux), each grid given three 40-minute races during the 24-hour period. It should be mentioned at this point that many veteran drivers of the main June race were competing once again. Classic Driver contributor and past works Porsche driver Tony Dron was behind the wheel of a 1923 Model T Ford and Jaguar E2A, 1970 winner Richard Attwood was paired with 1983 winner Vern Schuppan, and Henri Pescarolo (a four-times winner) was back at La Sarthe once again. Other famous drivers included: Jan Lammers, Alain Serpaggi, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, David Piper, Rene Arnoux and Prince Leopold von Bayern.

The Le Mans Classic organisers (Peter Auto, in conjunction with the ever-efficient ACO) are having none of the new-fangled 3 o'clock start; at 4pm racing was underway - as in period - and it was Grid 3 (1957 - 1961) that led the way. Significant entries here included several Lister-Jaguars, Porsche 550s, the Jaguar E2A and GT cars from Ferrari, Aston Martin and Austin-Healey. Pace-setters in practice had been the Verdon-Roe/Leventis/Fisken 1960 Ferrari 246S and Peter Thornton’s DB4GT. After three rounds, however, it was the ex-Camoradi, ‘Streamliner’ Maserati T61 'Birdcage' of Willi Balz and Audi DTM driver Frank Stippler that emerged overall winner, just four seconds ahead of the Roger Wills/Joe Twyman Lotus 15. Having started slightly out of sync with Grid 3, the rest of the weekend ran in number order so next up were the 1962 - 1965 cars, an entry which included early Ford GTs, Bizzarrinis, Cobras and Porsche 904s.

A highlight of this race was the 1962 race-winning Ferrari 330 TRI (sold by RM at Maranello in 2007 for 6,875,000 euros and entered by Argentine owner Luis Perez Companc). This, the 1963 ex-works 275/330 P and three other significant Ferraris were maintained during the event under the awning of a Corse Clienti transporter with Ferrari Classiche mechanics tending the 330 TRI.

The intrusive roll bar on this car (an FIA requirement, easily removable) clearly offended the sensitivities of Ferrari Classiche and Corse Clienti head Marco Arrighi. But, with activity at Ferrari Classiche busier than ever, he was philosophical, delighted to be asked to look after the Classiche-certified car which (considering its totally original specification) had put in some competitive times.

In the race, nothing could stop Christian Gläsel’s GT40, which finished (on aggregate) some eight minutes ahead of the Peruch/Hitchins Cobra. More heavy metal rolled out for Grid 5 (1966 - 1971), where Lola T70s, ferociously quick little Chevrons and more-modified GT40s took on the technologically superior Porsches. Two Porsches were in Gulf colours, the pair (plus a green 906) run by Adrian Hamilton’s Hampshire-based company. The Attwood/Schuppan pairing was formidable, as was the immaculately prepared 917K; however, nothing could stop Bernard Thuner’s red/black #21 Lola T70 Mk IIIB. Main sponsor Richard Mille ran well in his T70, although a setback in the second round dropped him a couple of places in the overall result.

The Grid 6 cars hit the track just before 20:00. With the sun dipping (although the temperature remained at 35deg C/94deg F...), it was time for the really fast stuff. The era of turbo cars saw much banging, popping and flame-outs with Jean-Marc Luco’s 1977 Porsche 936 emerging a dominant victor after every round. The performance of the Ferrari 512 BBLMs was impressive, trouncing the Porsche 935s every time - unlike in period. As darkness fell, out came the pre-War grid. For two races it was a Talbot affair, although Albert Otten’s BMW 328 managed to win the second by the tiniest margin (0.228 seconds) and finish first overall on aggregate, despite the efforts of the many pale green cars. Disappointingly, the pre-War entry featured just one Alfa Romeo 8C and no Mercedes SSKs.

When Grid 2 crossed the line at 22:34, the circuit was completely dark. Two British D-type Jaguars had dominated practice but it was the Peter Neumark/James Baxter #14 'D' which took overall honours. Hats off to Alex Buncombe in JD Classics’ ex-Fangio Jaguar C-type, though, for a storming drive from the back of the grid that garnered a win in the last race. After 24 hours of pretty non-stop action, the flag dropped at 4pm on another Le Mans Classic - probably the best yet. As a spectacle, it, and the Goodwood Revival, are the world’s best historic motor racing events. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait until 2012 for the next one.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE 2010 LE MANS CLASSIC.

2010 Le Mans Classic - Final Results:

Grid 1
1. BMW 328 - Albert Otten #26
2. Talbot 105 BGH 21 - Lee Maxted-Page/Julian Bronson/Gareth Burnett/Alex Ames #7
3. Talbot 105 - John Ruston/Alex Amex/Phil Stanton #2

Grid 2
1. Jaguar D-type - Peter Neumark/JS Baxter #14
2. Maserati 300S - Nicolas Chambon/Henri Chambon #21
3. Jaguar C-type - Nigel Webb #2

Grid 3
1. Maserati Tipo 61 'Birdcage' - Willi Balz/Frank Stippler #35
2. Lotus 15 - Roger Wills/Joe Twyman #4
3. Lotus 15 - Ewan McIntyre/Jamie McIntyre #74

Grid 4
1. Ford GT40 - Christian Gläsel #34
2. AC Cobra - Steve Hitchins/Bernard Peruch #24
3. Ford GT40 - Manuel Ferrao/Diogo Ferrao #42

Grid 5
1. Lola T70 Mk IIIB - Bernard Thuner #21
2. Chevron B16 - John Sheldon #7
3. Porsche 917K - Richard Attwood/Vern Schuppan #42

Grid 6
1. Porsche 936 - Jean-Marc Luco/Jacques Nicolet #34
2. Lola T298 - Patrice Lafargue #44
3. Chevron B21 - Ludovic Caron #21

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver

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Free Subscription! Jeep’s New ‘Camper Trailers’ Your off-road home-from-home…

Rugged types who still like their luxuries can now acquire an ‘off-road camper trailer’ from Jeep. Despite the deceptively small size when folded up and hitched to the back of an off-road vehicle, the trailers accommodate (at a push) four adults in relative comfort. There’s a queen-size bed, a sofa (which folds out into another bed), a stowable table, a built-in aluminium cabinet, 110V power supply and a canvas enclosure to keep you safe from the elements. Fully tested for off-road use, there are two versions of the trailer. For what Jeep calls ‘casual campers’, the Trail Edition has a lightweight all-aluminum construction, with 32-inch BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tyres and 12 inches of ground clearance. For your more hard-core off-roading types, there’s the Extreme Trail Edition – this time with a heavier frame, 35-inch tyres and a full 15 inches of ground clearance. Not to mention a full-underbody skid plate.

The styling is suitably rugged, too. But at least the trailers come in a flamboyant range of colours… from Flame Red to Mango Tango Pearl. The all-new Jeep Trail Edition camper costs $US9,995 and the Extreme Trail Edition $US11,995.

Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Jeep

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If you’re seeking a set of luggage for your next trip abroad, you might want to look at the products of a partnership between two iconic British brands. Menswear label Hackett has collaborated with Globe-Trotter, creator of handcrafted luggage, to launch a range for Autumn/Winter 2010. The Mayfair range, in black, is lined with a Prince of Wales check and the iconic logo of bowler hat and crossed umbrellas features in light grey on the exterior. Meanwhile, Hackett’s sponsorship of Aston Martin Racing has inspired another of the cases – which comes in British Racing Green, lined with a bold Union Flag print. The range is completed by Hackett London: a navy case lined with a blue-and-white Bengal stripe. Each case is formed, riveted, lined and leather-trimmed by hand. The Globe-Trotter for Hackett collection is available in two sizes – a 21in trolley case at £750, and an 18in attaché case priced at £490.

Find further information at www.hackett.com. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Hackett / Globetrotter

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Few could ignore the familiar white-on-black logo which featured so strikingly at last weekend's event. And on the track was the very man himself: Richard Mille, behind the wheel of a 1970 Lola T70...

Few could ignore the familiar white-on-black logo which featured so strikingly at last weekend's event. And on the track was the very man himself: Richard Mille, behind the wheel of a 1970 Lola T70. The company behind some of the world’s most painstakingly created ‘technical’ timepieces has been involved with the Le Mans Classic since its inception in 2002. As the event’s official timekeeper, and in celebration of the Classic’s fifth anniversary, the company has launched a brand new watch: the RM 010 Le Mans Classic. Like all Richard Mille watches (which can take years to develop, and up to three months to make each one), the latest watch is heavily ‘skeletonised’, with a seemingly ‘floating’ clear dial. Although Mille’s (and business partner Dominique Guenat, who was also racing, a Matra 670 and a Porsche 935) passion is for the older cars, all the company’s watches are conceived and constructed to modern F1 standards. The materials included in the latest RM 010 include high-palladium-content white gold, grade 5 titanium, tungsten/cobalt alloy, copper-nickel-zinc alloy and Nitril (for the O-ring seals). Green and white carbonfibre is used inside the bezel.

Many of the elements in the watch’s construction are so tough that the machining process (which can involve 202 separate operations for the case alone) actually wears out the hi-tech cutting and milling tools. The result is a watch almost unique in its level of technology; light, yet tough enough to survive Felipe Massa’s accident last year. World number one Rafa Nadal has won both the French Open and Wimbledon with a Richard Mille RM 027 tourbillon - the lightest mechanical watch in the world – on his wrist.

The latest RM 010 Le Mans Classic is limited to just 150 pieces and is available in titanium, white gold and red gold. For further information, see www.richard-mille.com. Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver / Richard Mille / Ella Ling for Richard Mille

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This four-person picnic set, finished in polished aluminum, veneer and leather, is just one of around 100 highly personalised, bespoke features developed by the in-house ‘Bespoke’ team at Rolls-Royce over the last 18 months. “Bespoke is the jewel in our crown, the perfect complement to our luxury product line-up,” says Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Customers expect a Rolls-Royce Phantom to be tailored to their individual desires and our team of talented designers and craftspeople are more than happy to deliver.” Bespoke covers the development of anything from personalised tread plates, contrast stitching and seat piping to personalised veneers and unique exterior paints. Plus there’s luggage, glassware and now this opulent picnic set, all designed in-house at Goodwood.

Last year, 75% of all Phantom models included some element of Bespoke, compared with 50% of the cars delivered five years ago. The Bespoke picnic set was first shown at April’s Villa d’Este, and it will be seen again at Salon Privé at the Hurlingham Club from 21-23 July 2010. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Rolls-Royce

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The celebrated German motorcyle manufacturer, Horex, is back on the scene with the launch of a new bike powered by a unique, supercharged 1200cc VR6 engine.

From 1923 to 1956, Horex Automotive AG, based in Bad Homburg, Germany, created high-performance motorcycles, including the spectacular Regina and Imperator. Now, the celebrated German brand is back on the scene with the launch of a bike powered by a unique, supercharged VR6 engine. The engine technology was developed by Clemens Neese, CEO of the newly formed Horex GmbH, based in Garching, near Munich. An engineer with 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, Neese has been considering a VR engine for a motorcycle for a very long time. Finally, having developed the concept, in April 2007 he received a patent for a ‘VR engine in a powered two wheeler’. “Does the world need another motorcycle brand? Probably not,” says Neese with a smile. “But riding a bike is more than a form of mobility on two wheels. It’s raw emotion combined with a passion for technology and everything that’s new and exciting.”

The VR six-cylinder at the heart of the new Horex is ‘as narrow and compact as many four-cylinder engines’, with a width of just 429mm at the cylinderhead cover. By adopting this engine, with its direct drive radial supercharger, the motorcycle’s creators aim to give an exceptionally wide torque range, allowing the power to unfold smoothly and evenly at low engine speeds. Other innovations include the first belt-drive in this performance class, an advanced cooling system and an ergonomically contoured bridge frame with pressurised gas channel.

Styling-wise, the new German bike is ‘based on classic motorcycle icons… interpreted in a modern design language with clean lines, premium quality materials, and close attention to brand-specific details’.

The ‘new Horex’ project is supported by a core team within Horex GmbH, under the leadership of Clemens Neese. The bike will be built in Germany from late 2011 and initially marketed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, before sales spread to the rest of Europe, the USA and Japan. For more details, see www.horex.com. Text: Charis Whitcombe
Fotos: Horex

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Free Subscription! Saab at the 2010 Le Mans Classic

What better year for a plucky British team to re-enact the Saab-flavoured story of the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours? John Simister recounts a tale of derring-do…

This is quite a year for Saab. The company is back from the brink with a new owner and a new car, the promising 9-5. That new owner, Victor Muller, who is behind the reborn Spyker marque, entered this year's Mille Miglia with a 1955 Saab 93, because he just loves the little two-stroke cars. Saab CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson did likewise, in another 93, and the pair of them were cheered right round the route. What better year, then, for a plucky British team to re-enact the Saab-flavoured story of the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours? In that year two 93s were entered, their tiny 748cc two-strokes giving them a strong chance in the class for the smallest engines. Originally there was to be just one Saab, a grey machine entered semi-officially by the factory's competition department, but as June drew near a British tuning expert, Syd Hurrell (later to form tuning company SAH Accessories) decided that he and friend Roy North (later to become another car accessories magnate) should enter a second Saab 93. They duly arrived at Le Mans in a car which, apart from the experimental SAH exhaust, was a standard GT750 model. Dismayed that their car was the same colour as the Swedish entry, they resprayed it in British Racing Green on the spot. For them the race was not a success; they retired after four hours with a holed piston. The Swedish car, however, finished 12th out of 13 finishers and averaged 81mph.

Half a century on, the Le Mans Classic is a fabulous event. To see and hear a sea of authentic, period racing machinery driven in anger, divided into six age ranges each with three races over the 24 hours, is breathtaking. So is the gathering of enthusiasts' classic cars in and around the circuit, making it surely the biggest classic car show in Europe and maybe the world. It's an ambition for many a historic racing enthusiast to enter a suitable car in this biennial festival of wonderfulness, and two teams of Saab evangelists – that's the best word to describe the intensity of their enthusiasm – have been dreaming of doing exactly that with a 93. Two years ago, a Swedish team led by Bo Lindman with an engine from two-stroke racing guru Niklas Enander entered a perfect replica of Swedish car number 44. They won their class and the Index of Performance for the 1957-1961 category, and joy was unbounded. And this year the three Chrises, Partington, Parkes and Nutt, got the entry for a British replica of car 43 to make real the dream that Chris Partington has had for years.

Now, three men all called Christopher could be confusing, so they have gained nicknames. Chris Partington, the mechanical wizard who knows all there is to know about two-stroke Saabs and who built the racer on his front drive from a sun-baked shell found in California, is called Spanner. Chris Parkes, the publicist and a racer of a Ford Anglia 105E, is Parksie. Chris Nutt, who rallies another Saab two-stroke and has got together a six-Saab team for this year's Roger Albert Clark historic rally, is Nutter. And there's a fourth member: ex-Saab Sweden test and racing driver Ferdinand Gustafson, aka Ferdi. And I was there to support them, because I drove to Le Mans in my own Saab two-stroke, a 1961 96 in – coincidentally – exactly the same colour scheme as the Swedish racer. Driving something ancient and fragile is much the best way to travel to the LM Classic. It puts you in the perfect mood, enlivened by the bitter-sweet risk of mechanical catastrophe – and elation when you've arrived and it hasn't materialised.

At 13.2mph per 1000rpm in the highest of its three forward gears, my Saab doesn't so much cruise as give its all. But it sat happily at 110km/h – it's a left-hand drive car which I bought in 2001 from a mechanic at the Saab museum at Trollhattan and drove home – and its three-cylinder engine, enlarged to a heady 841cc with 38bhp on tap for the 96, sounded just like a tiny straight-six as France passed under the wheels. Various grand and British sportscars were expiring in the 40-degree heat, bonnets up and radiators empty, but the plucky Saab kept on going with the temperature gauge needle never quite reaching the red. Phew! This huge heat caused problems for the Saab team in Friday's practice. “It was like driving on icy gravel,” announced Spanner. “The chicane on the Mulsanne Straight nearly finished us off before we’d started.” The extreme track temperature was making the tyre pressures too high and the contact patch too small, so letting some air out restored the Saab's usual benign balance. An incident with a flooded carburettor (it's a rare twin-choke downdraught Solex) scuppered Nutter's practice session, but otherwise things were going well.

Spanner started the race and, indeed, the whole event because this year it was the turn of Plateau Three (1957-61) to take the 4pm send-off. After the Le Mans start with drivers running across the track to their cars, the field heads off at full speed only to re-assemble further round the circuit, before following a course car back to the pit straight for the proper rolling start. “By then we were in any old order,” said Spanner, “and we never quite got back into the practice order. There may have been some shuffling but we ended up much further up. Still, it all sorted itself out after half a lap.” Which means the Saab was running where it was expected to run, pretty much at the back of the field. But it sounded marvellous as it howled past the pits, its two-stroke scream rending the air with an explosiveness a little out of proportion to the visible motion, cheers breaking out through the crowd as they willed the valiant underdog to greater things. Flat-out, it would be reaching 100mph as the 748cc three-pot unleashed its full 65bhp, while a gallon of petrol, infused with a four per cent dose of oil, would be lasting about 20 miles. However, there has to be a one-and-a-half-minute pit stop within a specific time band in the middle of the 45-minute race, which is when you change drivers if you want to. Spanner duly swapped with Nutter who, having missed out on practice, was now venturing onto the Le Mans circuit for the first time.

He brought the Saab back in one piece, keeping some mechanical health in reserve. Exhaust temperatures can get very high in a two-stroke, enough to melt pistons, so the Saab had a gauge for each port. “Spanner said it shouldn't go above 1200deg C,” said Nutter, “but I only got it to 1100 degrees.” Parksie did the night section. “He really got in the groove,” said Spanner, “and we were up to second in the Index of Performance. But then we blew it in the final race, with Ferdi driving. We brought him in too early and got a two-lap penalty which knocked us back to fifth. We might have won it if we'd got that little bit right. What we really needed was a team manager. We hadn't thought of that.” But the team had a great time, and the car held up well. The brakes were vibrating badly by the end, the starter had stopped working and the dynamo had stopped charging, but the engine held together and the spare one stayed unused. “The suspension is too soft,” reckoned Spanner, “and the engine could do with a little more grunt, but it was a privilege to be here. And to be passed on the Mulsanne by cars like Lister-Jaguars gives you the best seat in the house.” Might we see both replica 93s together at the 2012 Le Mans Classic? That, I thought as my Saab and I ring-ding-dinged back to the chateau that was our weekend base, would be a wonderful sight. And sound. Text: John Simister
Photos: John Simister / Classic Driver

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Free Subscription! 400 Drive 2010

Every year, five Bugatti Veyron owners have the chance to re-open their wallets and invest in an incredible experience: that of driving their car at top speed. Chris Hrabalek was one of this year’s lucky few… It was a chance to add to my stock of stories to tell future grandchildren and, in the spirit of Burt Munro, I grabbed the opportunity. The recent news of Pierre Henri Raphanel – Bugatti’s ‘Pilote Officiel’ – taking the new Veyron 16.4 Super Sport to a verified top speed of 434.211km/h and setting a new Guinness World Speed Record in the process, probably evoked a different sensation for those that have experienced the original Veyron at speeds above 400km/h. To date, this numbers 14 owners, a handful of Bugatti engineers and the odd journalist. Prior to firing up, Bugatti insists on a mandatory ‘Feeling the Road’ safety training at the French L’Anneau Du Rhin circuit. The experience of a 1001PS car – one that weighs significantly more than its Type 35 ancestor – on a twisty and flooded racetrack is probably worth a separate story all of its own. Bugatti is very careful to make the ‘400 Drive’ a positive and (above all) a lasting experience.

Fast forward a couple of days, and there’s a change of scenery, to Wolfsburg, Germany. The local Ritz Carlton serves as a meeting point for the four other automotive adrenalin junkies. After instructions and a pile of waivers to sign, we are sent to bed early with the line: “…oh, and if something happens tomorrow, you will not be back to tell us about it…”. Gulp. The last thought I took to bed was: "…are there pelicans in Germany?". The location for the 400 Drive is the VW Group’s purpose-built high-speed oval – featuring two very long straights of 9km each, separated by steeply banked turns at each end and surrounded by forest. For a Veyron to reach its top speed, one must first master the psychological challenge of speeding through the banking at 200km/h – seemingly at an angle perpendicular to the ground. After an initiation lap with Pierre Henri at the helm, doing 300km/h, followed by a swap so that he rides as a passenger at the same pace, and then a final practice run with me on my own doing more of the same, I can honestly say that 300km/h quickly loses its magic. It becomes easy to imagine setting the cruise control at this speed for the daily commute to work (as one brave Veyron owner apparently does quite frequently).

Time for the final challenge: 407.9km/h, or as close as possible to this artificially limited top speed. Mummified in fireproof linen and strapped into the driver’s seat, my character turns more Woody Allen than Steve McQueen. I concentrate for a few seconds on the procedure I studied the night before and that I’ve run through in my mind a million times this morning: …accelerate to 200km/h, set the cruise control, look out for marker points followed by shifts from 7th to 6th, 6th to 5th and 5th to 4th… finally take a deep breath and give it full acceleration to the pre-defined braking point. It’s a good day to die. To describe the sensation that one gets at top speed – or the even better feeling of returning to the pits afterwards – is almost as impossible as recounting one’s life experiences in a single-volume autobiography. However, anyone who says that it takes skill to do 400km/h in a Veyron is either an attention seeker, a liar, or both. Truth is, even Ozzy Osbourne – who only recently passed his driving test after the 19th attempt – could master the 400 Drive. Skill-wise, it’s probably more challenging to ride a bicycle without training wheels than to take the Veyron to the speeds it was engineered for. What an incredible car. Naturally, this is not the story I will pass on to my grandchildren. I will tell them that if you have the chance to grab life by the horns, then you’d better do so. You’d better take that diving watch down to its 3900m maximum – and take granddad’s Veyron for a blast down a German autobahn. Text: Chris Hrabalek
Photos: Bugatti

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It’s a marketing man’s fantasy. Thursday night: a smart dinner in the West End, after attending a preview at the Summer Exhibition. 03:00 Friday morning it's off for the Eurotunnel and a brisk drive through northern France to Le Mans – all accomplished in Aston Martin’s most sporting model, the 510bhp V12 Vantage. A demanding schedule for man and machine. One minute, lightweight suit, Berkeley Square traffic and pockmarked English roads, the next, all-weather clothing for the Le Mans 24 Hours, an overnight bag and smooth-as-the-baby’s-proverbial French autoroute. From 20:00 on Thursday to 20:00 on Friday (when we turned up at the Aston Martin Racing pre-race BBQ), I spent a long time in the lightweight sports seat of the Morning Frost Aston – a quite appropriate 24 hours. Driving a supercar in London has its ups and downs. True, park anything north of £100k in Mayfair and you’re in good company. However, the road to riches can be a rocky one – quite literally, in the case of the UK’s capital city. The Aston’s uncompromising suspension, Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres and wafer-thin seats are not exactly the osteopath’s friend.

Hang on, though, this is why you’ve bought the car in the first place. It’s the modern version of a DB4 GT or Ferrari 250 GT, a real driver’s car, uncompromising and built for speed. This particular driver was up and ready for action at 03:00 the next day (I’ll spare you the packing-the-car-at-midnight story), which makes three hours' sleep – yes, THREE. A stopover to collect my co-driver and we were soon cruising down the M20 with other Le Mans-goers, in torrential rain. The weather was so bad you simply had to slow down and let the car take things at its own pace – which it did, very well. No time for heroics so early in the first stint.

Emerging, mole-like and blinking from the Calais end of the tunnel, it was time to stretch our legs. This is where the big-hearted car comes into its own, loping along stretches of the world-class French motorway system with ease, a real ‘horizon-shrinker’. On decent Tarmac the transformation is extraordinary: much, much smoother, with beautifully weighted steering and little bump-thump over expansion joints. I would apportion this 50:50, tyres:dampers. A breakfast break meant a driver-change, too, and it was time to appreciate the car from the other side of the cockpit. There’s no doubt about it, for all the virtues of upmarket Audis, Mercedes and BMWs, an Aston or Ferrari is a special thing. Come midday and we were closing on our first objective, a stop at the hotel to drop off bags and make sure our reservation really had been taken (no worries there, thank you, Rob and Bernard), then an hour out for some D-road driving and photography. This was a journey – not a full-on road test, but just 30 minutes at speed in the Aston is a pleasure. Keep the big engine turning over in a high gear and let the now desirable hard damper/performance tyre combination look after you.

Fast, assured motoring on dry public roads: the V12 Vantage is made for it. Having picked up tickets and met the rest of the Friday evening drivers' parade party (a Rapide and a DBS), it was time to follow-my-leader to the city centre. While all nine Aston Martin racing drivers travelled in open vintage cars, we were the meat in the sandwich, showing the crowds just why the British company competes in long-distance racing with production-based engines. And the sound of the V12 in ‘Sport’ (the remarkable setting that really opens up the engine's performance, almost as if a turbo has cut in) is better than a diesel’s, n’est pas?

Come 7 o’clock, everything was over and it was time to drive to the Friday night party. There was one teeny-weeny problem, though, as we needed to cross a heavily congested city with many road closures. Well, we got there, with the sat-nav saving us on more than one occasion, so don’t believe everything you read in the press. As we crunched up the gravel drive to the Gite, the 24-hour mark was up. My personal test of endurance was over and the next day it was time to hand the key back to Aston in exchange for that of a 2011-model DB9. A very different machine, more suited to the journey we’d just done, perhaps?

Maybe. And there’s no doubt that if you needed to commute to work the next day, the DB9 would be the better choice. However, for those ‘get in the car and just GO’ occasions that come over us all, once in a while, the V12 Vantage has few peers. And as a road car in the Aston Martin range that seems to have most in common with its similarly engined racing relations, what better destination to go to than Le Mans?

Postscript: A couple of comments after the flag had dropped. It uses a lot of fuel; don’t bother working it out (I didn’t), just be prepared for it. And prepare yourself, too, for a damp road; with all the safety systems on, it will still kick the tail out, and needs respect at 100mph and beyond, even in a straight line. There: never say I don’t tell it like it is.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver, LAT/Aston Martin

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Free Subscription! Interview with the triple World Champion

‘Collage, Jackie Stewart’s Grand Prix Album’ has just been published. Classic Driver spent some time with ‘JYS’ at the book’s London launch...

‘Collage, Jackie Stewart’s Grand Prix Album’ has just been published. Classic Driver spent some time with ‘JYS’ at the book’s London launch. The 208-page book, published as a collectors’ edition limited to 1500 signed copies by Genesis Publications, is an edited facsimile of the 17 scrapbooks maintained by his wife, Helen, during the great Scot’s driving (and shooting) heydays up to his retirement in 1973. A review of ‘Collage’ can be read elsewhere on Classic Driver. Taking the opportunity of a brief one-to-one with Sir Jackie, we asked him to turn the clock back to 1964, when he tested an F3 Cooper for Tyrrell Racing at Goodwood. Demolishing Bruce McLaren’s testing times, he has been described as achieving this ‘without looking bothered’. Was this really the case? “No, I wouldn’t have known any better. I didn’t know anything – I’d never driven a single-seater in my life before. I knew Goodwood, which was to my advantage having had the lap record for sportscars in a Cooper Monaco, and that’s what excited Ken Tyrrell’s interest, but I did not know what my times were and I did not know I was going faster than Bruce. So I think you’d have to say it was naïveté.”

So it wasn’t a case of fearlessness? “No, not at all. The one thing you don’t do when you get a test drive is go and crash a car. In fact, you don’t want to spin it, really. In those days you seldom spun a car without hitting something.” Is it necessary nowadays for young drivers, when given that once-in-a-lifetime break, to really go for it? “I think you’ve got to see them in a car. It does not matter what their track record is. Whatever you think, there is pressure: not necessarily to go fast but to impress. It doesn’t matter if you’re not the fastest on the day if the teams perceive that you would be somebody appropriate... but it's important to give good, clear, descriptive feedback to the engineers. “There are an awful lot of good racing drivers who do not handle pressure well, and it’s mind-management rather than natural skill or ability that matters.

“The ones that do are usually spontaneously quick – and sometimes unspectacular.” Since that day at Goodwood, Stewart enjoyed an unbroken single-seater career. He also drove the very best saloons and sportscars in Europe, as well as at Indianapolis and in the Can Am. Looking at what are now desirable collectors’ cars, what memories does he have of racing outside F1? “Oh, many, from a P4 Ferrari, which was the most beautiful sports-racing car that’s ever been built, to the Lotus Cortina, which was probably the most difficult car I drove. Even a Lotus Elan was terribly difficult, but nevertheless very fast. The lightweight E-type I drove for John Coombs was a classic of its time, as was the Ferrari 275 LM that I drove quite a bit for Maranello Concessionaires, and David McKay in Australia. That last one is now owned by Ralph Lauren, by the way. There is also the Tojeiro-Buick and Tojeiro-Ford [both Ecurie-Ecosse cars – SW] – these were character-builders! “And Formula 2 cars: the Matra was fantastic.”

Do modern F1 drivers miss out on this variety? “Yes. I think they would enjoy it. I think they would find it recreational. I doubt that it would do anything against their career - they don’t actually drive very much anymore. They are doing 19 Grands Prix but not the testing we did. We did two Grands Prix distances a day for 16 days at Kyalami or Paul Ricard. Because the Ford DFV engine lasted forever! And still we were driving other cars, Capris for example.” Sir Jackie was a part of the star-studded Cologne Capri team in the early 70s, alongside a young Jochen Mass, driving against the likes of Hans Stuck and Niki Lauda in a works BMW. Mass and Stuck are still active in racing today, as is former BRM team-mate Richard Attwood. Has Stewart ever been tempted to go back? “No, never at all, and in actual fact I never did much like long-distance racing. Events like Le Mans, Sebring, Reims and the Nürburgring 1000Km. I still hold, apparently, the official GT lap record, in a 275 LM at Monthléry. In these races you never drove at ten tenths so I think I was a ‘100-metre’ versus ‘marathon’ runner, and there are drivers who were very consistent at six or seven tenths, but not at nine tenths. At Le Mans you cannot do on-the-limit motoring for 24 hours. Whether it’s Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx or Allan McNish, you get specialists who do it very well. Grand Prix drivers would not be as good as them in many ways.”

Safety. Was there one moment, such as the crash at Spa, where he thought “Now’s the time to stop all this”? “The crash at Spa illustrated to me that there were no marshals to get me out of the car, and no ambulance to take me to the medical centre for a very long time. When I got there, I was laid in a stretcher on a floor with cigarette ends, and was then put in an ambulance to be taken to Liège because it was thought that I had a serious back injury. The police escort lost the ambulance, and the ambulance driver did not know how to get to Liège. “That’s a comedy of errors, if you like, but when you think of today and the medical facilities at Silverstone, for example, at Grand Prix weekend, it’s probably better than at any university or hospital in the world for the type of injuries they should expect to have. The marshalling is so professional now and the British are the best in the world.

“The safety thing then was so obvious it had to be changed and, like so many things in life, it took someone to break the ice to make it happen. Whatever it was, it wasn’t intentional for me to be that person – it was just because I happened to be the man to beat by the time Jim Clark died. In that season of ’68, in April, May, June and July, we took out a Grand Prix driver on the same weekend of every month – not necessarily always in Grand Prix races, as Ludovico Scarfiotti died in a hillclimb: Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Jo Schlesser. “We then raced at the Nürburgring, on the sixth month, on the same weekend, and yet nobody was killed. It broke the string.” One of the most dangerous circuits? “The Nürburgring was THE most dangerous circuit, unquestionably, and one of the most challenging as well. It was a time when change had to occur. Had it not occurred there was a strong potential that the sport could have been mortally damaged by the wrong accidents occurring.” Another 1955 Le Mans? “We couldn’t afford another Le Mans.”

Paired with his son, Paul, Stewart competed in the 2010 Mille Miglia Storica in a 300 SL Gullwing. An enjoyable experience? “Yes, I loved doing it with Paul, and David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen were in the car in front of us, the prototype 300 SL Gullwing that did the Carrera Panamericana road race. So to keep up with Mika was quite a challenge at times... The crowd reception was unbelievable; I can’t remember ever having such a reception, and by some people who’d never seen me in their life before. I didn’t expect that.” With fellow BRDC member and motor-racing knight Sir Stirling Moss a past competitor and one of the most famous winners, was it an event that caught his imagination at the time? “Oh yes, absolutely. Stirling and the Marzotto brothers, for example, who used to shoot, too. Fangio, driving it on his own, without a navigator. Maglioli, I had his autograph...”

All heroes of a youthful Jackie Stewart? “Of course. Farina and Villoresi, too – more autographs. The nostalgia of it is there, even though some of the roads we were on were not used at the time. Stirling’s drive was an epic one.” After three World Championships, countless other trophies and a stellar business life since retirement, I had to ask if there was one thing Stewart would swap for all his achievements. “Playing with the dogs! I like the simple things – like most people. I’m a family man, and I’m a dog man but, family aside, the knighthood from Her Majesty was a landmark of my life because it happened well after I’d finished my racing career. I’m such an admirer of Her Majesty.”

We had a look at the book, where each page must hold so many memories. I asked Sir Jackie to pick a favourite. “Helen and I have been married for 48 years, and in the world I live in that demonstrates the strength of the family unit. This double page has me in a striped shirt at Villa d’Este, Cernobbio in 1969 [with Mark, Paul and Helen] after I had won the World Championship. Helen and I are looking into each other’s eyes [top left] the moment I’d won it. “We were still with the car – that page is ‘it’.” ‘Collage, Jackie Stewart’s Grand Prix Album’ is priced at £295.00 plus shipping and is available worldwide from www.genesis-publications.com. Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Classic Driver / Jesse Rose (Mille Miglia 300 SL) / Genesis Publications - All Strictly Copyright

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Free Subscription! Chris Hrabalek on Gordon Murray’s latest innovation

There is arguably just one man currently following in the footsteps of automotive engineering greats such as Colin Chapman, Ettore Bugatti or Ferdinand Porsche. This man is Gordon Murray…

There is arguably just one man currently following in the footsteps of automotive engineering greats such as Colin Chapman, Ettore Bugatti or Ferdinand Porsche, says our design expert Chris Hrabalek. This man is Gordon Murray. Father of the legendary BT46B Formula One ‘Fan Car’, the iconic McLaren F1 road car and, more recently, the creator of possibly the most radical city car concept yet: the T.25 and its electric brother the T.27. One can count the number of truly revolutionary transportation concepts since the invention of the wheel on two hands: and radical city commuters within the last century on a single hand. The Austin Mini, the MCC Smart and the Toyota iQ have one thing in common: an innovative technical package, product integrity and a perfect analysis of social needs at the time of creation – a perfect blend that’s car-lengths ahead of simply supplying mass motorisation. Gordon Murray’s announcement after his departure from McLaren Cars – that he is working on a new class of vehicle, a new British icon for the 21st Century – certainly raised an eyebrow or two among fellow enthusiasts. And were it anyone else but Gordon, it wouldn’t have been worth a footnote in even the most dedicated of anorak forums. However, with the South African-born engineer’s unparalleled track record, it was clear from the start that the automotive world will need to buckle up for something truly special. The T.25 is a tiny three-seater and the pioneer in an upcoming nano-class of driver-focused economy cars; a description which seems contradictory in itself and possibly the closest thing to a rounded square that the car world has ever seen. Yet it seems to be the only possible answer for sustainable mobility in the years to come. A weight of less than 650kg with a footprint smaller than that of an MCC Smart, yet the potential to carry three adults with their luggage in comfort, deserves an honorary PhD even while still on the drawing board. Unlike the majority of so-called ‘city cars’ that often derive from already existing platforms, wrapped in retro-clothes of their infinitely more authentic ancestors, the T.25 was born, unsullied, from a clean sheet of paper. Murray’s legendary determination to question every detail of even the smallest element proved, at Le Mans in 1995, that in such areas a healthy dictatorship can be better than an unhealthy democracy.

Although the car has yet to be revealed in its full and final form, there are just enough published spy shots (or purposely leaked teasers) to make out the general size (or lack of it), proportion, stance and design themes of the T.25. Wheels at the furthest possible points in each corner, zero overhangs and an unusually narrow DLO (daylight opening) suggest extremely good Cd figures. The first impressions of this super-compact but high-stance vehicle look like an MCC Smart Plus spiced with BMW C1 scooter. Parked next to a Toyota iQ (or an Aston Martin Cygnet), the T.25 will look like a Lotus Elise MK1 parked next to a Jaguar XJ220. Murray’s brave decision to opt for a revolutionary single door on the T.25 will have to prove its water resistance as well as its possible accessibility advantage, should the car get permission to park perpendicular to the kerb. Visionary, too, is the belief that two T.25 owners will be allowed to travel side-by-side, sharing a single motorway lane.

The final design judgement on the T.25 will have to be passed once the car is revealed in its final styling shape – and, even more importantly, once it can be experienced on the road. At present, I have no doubt that Gordon Murray will succeed and no doubt that the T.25 will become yet another design classic to be conceptually quoted in years to come. Text: Chris Hrabalek
Photos: Gordon Murray Design

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