Magneto issue 20: Winter 2023 by Hothouse Media

ISSUE

20 WINTER 2023

ALFA 33 STRADALE CONCEPTS

5 CARS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

£12.95

PRINTED IN THE UK

SOLD

SOLD SOLD

SOLD SOLD Some of our recent sales

2005 ASTON MARTIN DBR/9 1960 FERRARI 250 GT SWB 1931 BENTLEY 4½ LITRE BIRKIN 1982 PORSCHE 956 1953 ASTON MARTIN DB3S 1970 LAMBORGHINI MIURA P400S 1975 SHADOW DN5

SOLD

1956 MASERATI 300S

SOLD

1936 DELAHAYE 135 CS

TIME TO CONSIGN

or the last decade, the famous Fiskens stand at Retromobile has consistently displayed and sold the greatest cars of all time. In 2023 we took 8 cars that paid homage to the Le Mans Centenary and 6 otherwise outstanding consignments. As we draw to a close on another record-breaking year of sales both on and off the market, we are now seeking new consignments! If you would like to have a confidential discussion regarding your important automobile, please get in touch with us. We have some notable consignments already signed up for our 2024 Paris collection with only a few spaces remaining. Will your car be one of our stars? +44 (0)20 7584 3503 or cars@fiskens.com

14 Queens Gate Place Mews London SW7 5BQ www.fiskens.com

20 COMING SOON Start planning ahead with our calendar of the best events

25 S TA R T E R From a forgotten E-type to the new all-electric Rolls-Royce (is it any good?) and a dabble at the dark art of clay modelling

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A L FA R O M E O 33 CONCEPTS

P LY M O U T H ASIMMETRICA

F1’S SAFETY WA K E-U P CA L L

A VERY GRAND TOURING CAR

T H E C A R T H AT MADE MCLAREN

The stories behind five of the greatest concept cars ever made, by some of the most celebrated auto designers of all time

Ghia-built concept showed how Virgil Exner’s jet-age XNR might have had a production-car future

Remembering rising star Roger Williamson 50 years after his needless death during the 1973 Dutch GP

Refreshed Arese RH95 GT from the legendary Touring Superleggera reflects the best things in life

The McLaren-Elva M1A 60 years on – the company’s first customer car, with a big Elvis connection

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THE LIFE OF BRUCE MCLAREN

ROLLS-ROYCE COACHBUILDING

CERV II – THE GHOST RACER

TOP 50 KEY LOTUS MOMENTS

Racer and engineer with the determination and vision to take on – and beat – the greatest teams in motor sport

Behind the scenes of the design and build of factory’s eye-popping one-off Amethyst Droptail commission

Radical four-wheeldrive prototype was Chevrolet’s cloaked response to Ford’s Total Performance initiative

Diminutive British sports car firm has been punching well above its weight for 75 years, on both road and track

183 ACQUIRE Buying a Porsche 911 930 Turbo, collecting turntables, watches, art and autographs, books, products and more

212 T H E L AW Y E R: TA X I M P L I C AT I O N S

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214 T H E C U R AT O R : MOTORCYCLE MAD

216 THE RACER: BACK TO BASICS

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218 MY HERO: PETER STEVENS

2016 McLaren MSO HS

2015 McLaren P1

Sold for $830,000

Sold for $2,425,000

The Amelia Auction 2023

U P C O M I N G

T H E

2019 McLaren Senna

R A D I U S

A M E L I A

M A R C H

2 0 2 4

broadarrowauctions.com → +1 313 312 0780

Sold for $1,380,000 The Amelia Auction 2023

A U C T I O N S M O N T E R E Y J E T C E N T E R A U G U S T

2 0 2 4

Editor’s welcome

It’s been a year of big anniversaries, several of which we have celebrated in these pages over the past few months. It has only just struck me, though, that it’s five years since we started Magneto magazine. Where did the time go? I can’t remember whether it was me or publishing director Geoff Love who uttered those seemingly innocent words “Why don’t we launch another magazine?” back in October 2018, but I’m very glad we decided to do it all over again. A friend of mine, George Pilkington, agreed to give us a bit of financial backing, and creative director Peter Allen and managing editor Sarah Bradley came on board from the start, swiftly followed by probably the most experienced advertising sales duo in the car world, Sue Farrow and Rob Schulp. The first issue launched in February 2019 at Rétromobile in Paris – and somehow we’re now on issue 20. The team has grown since, as has the portfolio: there’s the Magneto website and weekly emails, The Concours Year, Concours on Savile Row plus numerous books and magazines produced for the likes of Pebble Beach Concours, Rimac, M1 Concourse, Radical and more. The ad team now includes Sophie Kochan, we have marketing by Jasmine Love, accounts by Jon Ellis, extra design by Debbie Nolan and more editorial support from Wayne Batty and Elliott Hughes. Thanks for sticking with us over the past five years – and expect plenty more to come...

David Lillywhite Editorial director

Magneto

RM 30-01 Skeletonised automatic winding calibre 55-hour power reserve (± 10%) Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium Declutchable variable-geometry rotor Oversize date Power-reserve indicator and function selector Case in 5N red gold and grade 5 titanium

Contributors

Illustrations Peter Allen

D AV I D T R E M AY N E Motor sport and speed record writer David has been hooked on Formula 1 since 1967. But he nearly lost that love in 1973, when he witnessed the horrific and unnecessary death of upcoming star Roger Williamson. Fifty years later, he re-examines the circumstances of the accident.

N AT H A N C H A D W I C K With his love of Italian cars, Nathan didn’t blanch at the challenge of arranging a longwished-for feature on the 33 Stradale concepts at Museo Storico Alfa Romeo. He did it, and spoke with all the designers involved as well – before heading to Touring to drive its revised Arese RH95.

ELANA SCHERR Elana’s first car, a 1973 Plymouth Duster, led to a fascination with classics. She is the senior features editor at Car and Driver, but likes to keep her hand in with the hot rods – both in print (hence the Asimmetrica in this issue), and in her garage, which houses her and her husband’s 22 cars and trucks.

WAY N E B AT T Y Say hi to Magneto’s new deputy editor Wayne, whose earliest car memory is ‘assisting’ with the disassembly of an MGB’s engine using a bendy plastic spanner. His passion for cars saw him swap from an early career in product concept design to auto journalism. He still misses his 1957 Jaguar Mk1.

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1951 Ferrari 340 America Barchetta Touring Superleggera Sold €5,706,000, Rétromobile 2023

RÉTROMOBILE 2024 The Official Sale

Auction Friday 2 February 2024 Rétromobile Show, Paris

Contact +33 (0)1 42 99 20 73 motorcars@artcurial.com artcurial.com/motorcars

Who to contact

Editorial director

Managing director

David Lillywhite

Geoff Love

Deputy editor

Creative director

Managing editor

Advertising sales

Wayne Batty

Peter Allen

Sarah Bradley

Sue Farrow, Rob Schulp

Staff writer

Designer

Accounts

Elliott Hughes

Debbie Nolan

Jonathan Ellis

Marketing and events

Lifestyle advertising

Jasmine Love

Sophie Kochan

Contributors in this issue Julian Balme, Tom Bunning, Jonathon Burford, Bernard Canonne, Nathan Chadwick, Sam Chick, Robert Dean, Mike Dodd, Rick Guest, Sam Hancock, Richard Heseltine, Matt Howell, Dave Kinney, Evan Klein, Olgun Kordal, Karl Ludvigsen, Clive Robertson, Señor Salme, Elana Scherr, Max Serra, Peter Stevens, Tony Swinney, Simon Thompson, Mike Thomsen, David Tremayne, Joe Twyman, Rupert Whyte Single issues and subscriptions Please visit www.magnetomagazine.com or call +44 (0)208 068 6829

Geoff Love, David Lillywhite, George Pilkington Castle Cottage, 25 High Street, Titchmarsh, Northants NN14 3DF, UK Printing Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE, UK Printed on Amadeus Silk supplied through Denmaur as a Carbon Balanced product. Made from FSC® certified and traceable pulp sources

Who to contact Subscriptions jasmine@hothousemedia.co.uk Business geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk Accounts accounts@hothousemedia.co.uk Editorial david@hothousemedia.co.uk Advertising sue@flyingspace.co.uk or rob@flyingspace.co.uk Lifestyle advertising sophie.kochan2010@gmail.com Specialist newsstand distribution Pineapple Media, Select Publisher Services

The making of Magneto 33 PROTOTYPES

TOURING SUPERLEGGERA

Museo Storico Alfa Romeo in Milan did us proud on the 33 Stradale concept cars shoot, as photographer Sam Chick explains: “Access to these extraordinary cars is rare and photographic options limited – but we did it with the wonderful help of Alfa’s archival staff.” On top of all that, creative director Peter Allen styled a new typeface for the feature.

It’s been all change at Touring lately, with a new CEO and head of design in the build-up to the company’s 2026 centenary. We were lured over by the promise of truffles, wine and – most importantly, of course – the latest iteration of the Ferraribased Arese RH95, to see how this historic coachbuilder has evolved to survive in the modern world.

© Hothouse Media. Magneto and associated logos are registered trademarks of Hothouse Media. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Hothouse Media. Hothouse Media uses a layered privacy notice giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information. For full details, please visit www.magnetomagazine.com/privacy ISSN Number 2631-9489. Magneto is published quarterly by Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur. The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.

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Starter

Words David Lillywhite

Photography Rolls-Royce

At the wheel of the RollsRoyce Spectre Luxury coupé ushers in premium British brand’s all-electric era

A LOT HAS BEEN MADE OF this, the first-ever all-electric RollsRoyce. A lot of investment, a lot of development, a lot of eyes watching this initial switch from the marque’s seamless V12 powerplant. But, honestly, it doesn’t feel much different – except for being even smoother and quieter. The new Spectre coupé simply drives like a Rolls-Royce, which of course is how it was always meant to be. Is there any brand better suited to electric propulsion? As the company’s publicity has been keen to point out, even The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls was a fan, claiming in a 1900 article that: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.” We’ll come back to that in a moment, and acknowledge that the current V12 cars aren’t far off being noiseless, odourless and vibration free, to an extent way beyond what Rolls could ever have envisioned. But to sit in the Spectre feels as special as it does in any current Rolls-Royce

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ABOVE AND BELOW Spectre grille is widest yet but is all for show; profile echoes that of the earlier Phantom Coupé.

– thick carpets, four cosseting seats, starlight headliner, wonderfully unobtrusive infotainment and all – and with the same idiosyncrasies. Forward and reverse are selected via the usual slim stalk to the right of the steering column, with Park engaged by pressing the end. Pull it towards you and down, move your foot from brake to accelerator, and away you glide on that gentle, silent wave of torque that’s so familiar to any Rolls-Royce owner. Modulated delivery means there’s none of that unseemly instant, wheelspinning torque so many EVs serve up – but all the same this 2890kg four-seater hits 0-60mph in just 4.4 seconds. If the silence is too uncanny, you can switch on the ‘Rolls-Royce sound’; a just-detectable cyber-growl that I preferred to do without. What is worth selecting is Brake Mode, via the ‘B’ button on the stalk, which brings in regenerative braking and perfectly judged one-pedal driving. The ride is isolating without feeling remote, so that potholes are barely noticed but corners can be taken surprisingly fast. Occasionally the car will seem to float a little over crests or undulations, but this is rare and never unsettling, and the steering is always perfectly weighted. The Spectre sits on the same ‘Architecture of Luxury’ aluminium

spaceframe as the rest of the range, adapted to the size of each model – and it’s important to note that it was always designed with EV in mind, for after 2030 there will be no more internal-combustion Rolls-Royces. Suspension is by air springs and active anti-roll bars, as with the Ghost except without upper wishbone dampers, due to the Spectre’s greater torsional rigidity and lower centre of gravity. For the latter, you can thank the 700kg lithium-ion battery, which powers front and rear electric motors. Their combined output is equivalent to 576bhp and 664lb ft. Rolls-Royce says the model’s 329mile WLTP range goes beyond the requirements of its typical clients, who average more than seven cars in their garage and drive an average of 5100km annually in their current Rolls-Royce. Of course, they’ll have home chargers; the process of finding a fast charger en route feels distinctly off-brand, even with a 34-minute charge time from 10-80 percent using a 195 kW (DC) fast charger. Fascinatingly, 40 percent of Spectre orders so far are from first-time RollsRoyce owners, many of whom have been waiting for the EV option. It makes sense: of all the EVs out there, this feels by far the most appropriate and successful – regardless of the 123-year-old blessing of Charles Rolls.

Discover a true white-glove online auction experience. sothebysmotorsport.com

Starter

Words David Lillywhite

Photography Bernard Canonne

THERE CANNOT BE MANY significant racing Jaguar E-types left undiscovered. Most have been restored and returned to the track over the past few years, but this oneoff semi-Lightweight, prepared in period by two major names, has been lying untouched since 1965. It was bought in 1962 by gentleman racer Maurice Caillet, whose family was well known in the French side of Switzerland as a traditional manufacturer of horse saddles for the Swiss army, later soldiers’ backpacks and, by the 1960s, bed mattresses. Caillet was able to indulge in his passion for racing, and employed a young Swiss mechanic, Phil Henny, to look after his cars. Henny went on to work for both Scuderia Filipinetti and Carroll Shelby, and later wrote about his adventures in his book Just Call Me Carroll. That work has provided much of the background for this exCaillet semi-Lightweight. Maurice attempted to compete in the World Sportscar Championship at the Nürburgring, Monza and Le Mans (test only) in the nearstandard E-type, without any success – so in 1964 he employed Henny, giving him a small corner of the family factory to work in. “The first thing we did was to go to England to visit the Jaguar factory,” wrote Henny. “We purchased some parts and pieces to help us to turn a donkey into a thoroughbred. We found an aluminium hood, and a few suspension components. Most important was discovering what the Jaguar racing division was doing on its customers’ cars; of course, that was enough to fire my imagination as to the modifications I was going to do on Maurice’s racer as

Tailor made for success? If you think you’ve seen every variation of historic racing E-type, check out this one-off by coachbuilder Piero Drogo and Shelby mechanic Phil Henny

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Starter

soon as we got back home.” The pair bought aluminium doors, a five-speed ZF ’box, Borrani wheels with Dunlop competition tyres, engine-prep parts, Weber carbs, exhaust manifolds, a large-capacity compartmentalised aluminium fuel tank, a unique competition dash, and numerous E-type Lightweight parts including body, door hinges, accelerator pedal and more. After what Henny described as “a very cold winter and a few days in the spring” preparing the car, including modifying and lightening the chassis and suspension, it was taken to the workshop of the renowned Venezuelan coachbuilder Piero Drogo, in Modena, Italy. He created flared wheelarches to accommodate the wider wheels and racing tyres, and vented the bonnet to improve cooling. To aid the inboard rear brakes, body side vents ducted air through the passenger compartment to the discs and calipers, flowing via a modified aluminium fuel tank with an air duct running through it and exiting where the rear number plate would have been located. The finished car was tested at a

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local (to Drogo) track by none other than Guerino Bertocchi, previously the personal mechanic of Juan Manuel Fangio, before it was entered into its first race, the Monza 1000km on April 25, 1965. It didn’t finish, but soon after it came fifth in the Trofeo Juan Jover Montjuich, prior to entry into the Nürburgring 1000km. Sadly it was damaged in practice – and that was it for the E-type’s racing career, superseded as it was by Caillet’s burgeoning interest in single-seaters. The car was repaired (clearly visible on the bonnet now that the paint has been partially stripped) but it was left unused. In 1974 it was imported to France by Pau-based dealer Jean-Pierre Hillou, who kept it until 2006 when it was bought by a local man, just 100m away from Hillou’s garage. In 2021 the E-type was sold again, but it remained with its previous owner until it was bought recently by Xavier Micheron of Ascott Collection to restore. The work is now underway, nearly 60 years since the car was last raced. www.ascottcollection.com

MOTORSPORT IMAGES

THIS PAGE Oneoff semi-Lightweight – seen below during practice at the 1965 Nürburgring 1000km – is one of the last untouched racing Jaguar E-types. All that is set to change, as a major restoration is now underway.

Starter

Words Wayne Batty

Artwork Paul Chenard

Paul Chenard’s unrestricted view of life The Canadian artist who is telling old motor sport stories in bold new ways

ONLINE’S #BECAUSERACECAR hashtag lives on simply because it so succinctly explains the thoughts and actions of many motor sport enthusiasts. It doesn’t matter where you were born (the wild, sparsely populated Canadian province of New Brunswick), what one parent did for a living (marine biologist), or what career path you first set out on (graphic design), a turbocharged passion for race cars will always spool to the surface. Meet Paul Chenard, the man whose early life informs the above example, and who quit professional graphic design after 30 years to chase a dream of being a motor sport artist. It was around that career-shifting moment that he started collecting vintage race-car toys, “mostly because of the interesting graphics”. It grew from there, as Paul explains: “I managed to acquire all six Dinky

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ABOVE Chiti, Ferrari and Forghieri oversee work on the 156. BELOW Harley-Davidson team line up at Ascot Park, LA in January 1920.

Toys die-cast Grand Prix race cars from the 1950s, and noticed that the Ferrari was in blue and yellow, instead of the customary red. That piqued my interest, and so I bought a few books on the history of motor sport. In my research, I learned that blue and yellow are the official Argentinian racing colours. I found that hugely interesting, and was hungry to learn more.” Already talented with a pen and pencil – “as a young boy, I’d spend hours drawing, and taught myself perspective” – Paul chose not to limit himself to any one medium. Instead, he set about creating art using markers, watercolours, acrylic on canvas or birch panel, bits of coloured paper, scratchboard, handcut aluminium, laser-cut stainless steel and even house paint. All the while, his motivation stemmed from a desire to convey a fuller picture of motor sport history; not just a race car famously taking the chequered flag, but also a mechanic

working on it the night before. He favours GP and sports car/GT racing, but Indy, Land Speed Record cars, motorcycles, interesting road machinery and aircraft are up there, too, especially as commissions – although he won’t draw girlfriends, puppies or ancestral homes. Paul has been hired as a roving artist at major concours events and Historic festivals; his work has featured in many internationally recognised motoring publications, and his book Silver Clouds: The 1934 Grand Prix Season sold out. He counts meeting his racing heroes – most recently Sam Posey at the Lime Rock Historic Festival – among the many highlights of his second career. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he lives with his fiancée Anne and their two cats, Paul is currently crafting a commissioned piece on the Bugatti 100P aircraft. Not a race car, but still bang on brand. paul.chenard@hotmail.com

Starter

Words David Lillywhite

Photography Simon Thompson

BELOW Lorenzo Sibille works on the Alfa Romeo Tonale, expertly wielding the most rudimentary of shaping tools.

Clay: still the designers’ material of choice Inside Alfa Romeo’s Centro Stile, the company’s stylists demonstrate why clay models are still so loved

“I LOVE CLAY,” SAYS ALFA Romeo’s senior exterior designer Alexandros Liokis. “Cars will always be emotional objects, so there’s nothing like having a physical model. Clay is still an important part of the process.” Alexandros, Greek-born and now living in Italy with a mind-boggling array of classic cars in his garage, is demonstrating the processes he goes through to design a car. You won’t be surprised to hear that most of his tools are high-tech, including a digital sketch pad that he uses to work up initial ideas, and a virtualreality system employed to envisage interior designs in particular. And yet, Alexandros comes to life at the full-size clay Tonale in the centre of one of Alfa’s usually secret Centro Stile studios. He and clay modeller Lorenzo Sibille demonstrate how the shape can be changed with the most rudimentary of tools – a Surform file and a collection of metal spatulas – as they patiently sculpt the soft clay under the studio lights. Then the shaping tools are handed

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ABOVE As a classic car fan, Alexandros Liokis appreciates Alfa’s traditional approach to auto design.

over. To anyone whose formative automotive experiences involved filling dents or replacing rusty metal, the process doesn’t feel so different to working body filler (or bondo). But the difference is that the clay is firmer and smoother, easier to shape but harder work physically. A firm, steady hand is needed – and it’s best not to wear your best shoes, because the shavings of clay fall all around. It’s a wonderfully satisfying process. These full-size clay models start out as a metal frame with the engineering ‘hard points’ – those dimensions that are non-negotiable – built in. On top of this structure goes a polyurethane foam, and over that a 25mm-thick layer of clay. It leaves little room for error; the sculptor who breaks through the clay into the foam will not be popular. And this also means the idea of a body shape being wholly created on a full-size clay is largely false. Instead, the shape begins with sketches, which are then digitally rendered into 3D, going through countless processes to create a shape

that works from visual, engineering, aerodynamic and safety perspectives. Only after this hugely involved and lengthy work will the clay be wheeled out. Often it’ll be subtly different from one side to the other, to enable different designs to be tried – and it’s now that the subtleties of creases and curves are gently tweaked. Alexandros says: “To know that a crease is good, you have to touch it,” but it also needs to reflect the light satisfactorily. For that, sheets of thin Di-Noc film are dipped in a water bath and then carefully smoothed into place. A shiny grey is favourite to gauge reflections, with black used for the windows and graphics. The clay will be wheeled outside into the daylight and examined all over, often to be changed again and again over a period of two or three months. And what happens to the clay after all this? It’s stored away, to re-emerge when a facelift is due – perhaps a new bumper or lights. When no more iterations are needed, the clay will be recycled for the next new car and the process will start all over again.

MERCEDES-BENZ WORLD, BROOKLANDS, SATURDAY 25TH NOVEMBER

THE

T E N R I W CLASSIC

1968 ASTON MARTIN DBS ‘PROTOTYPE’ £250,000-£270,000

VIEWING DAYS

Wednesday to Friday 22nd-24th November 10am-5pm

A MAJOR SALE OF 150 DESIRABLE CLASSIC & COLLECTOR CARS SEE THE WEBSITE TO REGISTER TO BID IN-HALL, BY PHONE & ONLINE

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SALE TIME

Saturday 25th November Commences 9.30am Doors open 8.30am

Starter

Words David Lillywhite

Is this how an EV should Bee? The best MGBs are built by Frontline. Now the company has introduced an EV conversion...

I THINK I’VE DRIVEN EVERY variety of Frontline conversion since I first met founder Tim Fenna 30 years ago. From mildly tweaked Frogeyes to monster V8 MGBs, they’ve all been well built and fun. It was probably inevitable that sooner or later the company would try the EV conversion route, but Frontline doesn’t always go down the expected path – and this MGB GT, amusingly renamed the MG BEE GT, isn’t what I expected. “You can sit at the lights and rev it!” Tim exclaims on our first drive, as we pull up to traffic lights outside the Oxfordshire, UK trading estate where Frontline is based. Sure enough, you can. It sounds amusingly whizzy, if a little bemusing. There’s no shortage of classic car EV conversions out there – ranging from the most basic ones that mate to the original transmissions, to all-out, super-high-performance full conversions (at super-high money). Frontline’s BEE Roadster and BEE GT conversions haven’t set out to be the cheapest or the fastest, but Tim always wanted them to be fun

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and intuitive, so he has engineered them to behave more like one of the company’s upgraded internalcombustion-engined MGBs. The Hyper9 100V electric motor drives through a five-speed Mazda MX-5 gearbox, and is set up to mimic the torque characteristics of the petrol engine; it doesn’t all come in with a bang from low down, and it tails off at around 7500rpm, with a red line of 9000rpm. And, of course, you drive it through the gears, using the clutch except when pulling away and coming to a standstill. You can even give the throttle a blip as you change down. You can actually get away with very few gearchanges, leaving the BEE in second or third most of the

‘The MG BEE GT is one EV conversion that’s actually a lot of fun to drive’

time, especially around town. It will pull away in first, second or third, and even fourth at a push. A bit of impromptu 0-60mph testing, two-up on a wet road, gave a time of under ten seconds. A later attempt by Tim on dry roads gave 8.8sec. So it’s not hugely quick compared with Frontline’s usual Mazda-engine conversions; but it’s much faster and smoother than a standard B thanks to its 120bhp and 162lb ft output. Predictably the EV car is heavier, but the extra weight is all low down and distribution is 50:50, front to rear. A stock MGB GT weighs around 1080kg, while the BEE is 1186kg – yet all Frontline cars carry muchimproved sound insulation and a few lighter-weight components, too,

so it’s not a like-for-like comparison. The MGB’s cast-iron B-series engine and four-speed gearbox is quite a lump, though, which leaves wriggle room for the heavy 40kW battery pack. Frontline says it’s good for a 140-mile range, and that a basic 7kWh charger will fully refresh the battery in just over five hours through a Type 2 connector. Frontline will be selling fully restored and converted BEEs, built on brand-new British Motor Heritage bodyshells, for around £144,000. That includes the usual high-quality Frontline retrim, which is worlds away from the original car’s, plus suspension and brake upgrades. Owners of existing Frontline MGBs will be able to convert their cars to EV power for less than half that amount. Is it worth it? If you’re in a city that restricts the use of ICE cars, it may well be. But there’s more to it than that, because despite all the obvious reservations, this is one EV conversion that’s actually a lot of fun to drive. Dare I say it’s as much fun, or more, than a standard original MGB... www.frontline-cars.co.uk

OLGUN KORDAL

FROM TOP With its low-down 50:50 weight and Frontline mods, the BEE handles better than a standard B.

25 APRIL - 4 MAY 2024

Photo: Blue Passion

This 10-day adventure is back for 2024, winding its way South from London, down the western side of Europe through four different countries to the Atlantic coastline and Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon. Overnight halts in cities such as Bordeaux, San Sebastian, Salamanca, and the Douro Valley are among the highlights on this seventh edition of this spring-time classic that makes the most of these beautiful regions away from the busy tourist season.

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2019 RAC TT WINNING, GOODWOOD COBRA LAP RECORD HOLDING 1965 AC COBRA 289 RHD

THE EX – LEW FLORENCE, PAUL NAU, CHAMPIONSHIP WINNING 1958 LOTUS – CLIMAX 15

THE EX – TONY SETTEMBER, 2ND IN THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 1963 SCIROCCO BRM SP1 1.5-LITRE V8 FORMULA 1

T. +44 (0)1285 831 488 / E. cars@williamianson.com / www.williamianson.com

CARMEL CALIFORNIA PERIOD HISTORY 1963 SHELBY COBRA 289 LHD

THE-EX TEAM LOTUS, CARROLL SHELBY SPORTS INC, JIM HALL 1957 LOTUS ELEVEN ‘LM150’ – 1,500cc TWIN-CAM COVENTRY CLIMAX FPF

THE EX-MIKE ANTHONY, MIKE PENDLETON, GERRY MARSHALL, GOODWOOD SUSSEX TROPHY WINNING, TUF 1 1959 LISTER COSTIN CHEVROLET AND JAGUAR

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In the late 1960s, Alfa Romeo gave the cream of Italy’s car designers and carrozziere free rein to reimagine and rework its five unsold 33 Stradale chassis. No one could possibly have foreseen that the results would continue to resonate in the car Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx

Magneto

Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography Sam Chick

NUCCIO BERTONE ONCE DESCRIBED Franco Scaglione as a man of revolutionary ideas. The 33 Stradale may not have been as otherworldly as Scaglione’s Alfa Romeo BAT cars, but freshly untethered from Bertone he crafted one of the most revered, most glorious shapes ever to ride on four wheels. Under the skin the 33 Stradale was essentially a detuned Autodelta racing car, albeit with 10cm added to the wheelbase to allow some semblance of interior comfort – although there was only space for two and no room for luggage. The whole car weighed just 700kg. As with the racing machines, the steel chassis was constructed from three largediameter tubes bolted together to form an ‘H’ shape. The transverse tube was located between the cockpit and the engine, while the longitudinal tubes – which also contained the rubber fuel tanks – were angled in towards the back to hold the gearbox and the engine. And what a motor – it was Alfa’s first V8, and the manufacturer’s first mid-engined mounting. Crafted entirely from aluminium, it was detuned from the racers’ 270bhp to a more reliable 230bhp. Given the 33 Stradale’s light weight, the car could sprint to 60mph in less than six

seconds. Power was transmitted to the road via an all-synchro six-speed Colotti ’box, with Girling disc brakes on all corners. A stunning technical achievement – with one eye on running in Group 4 endurance racing – but when the car was unveiled at the 1967 Sport Car Show in Monza, and at the Turin Auto Show later that year, it was the looks that dropped jaws. Not that there is one, uniform 33 Stradale – each is unique – and the car pictured below, chassis 10533.12 (the second prototype built), is a good example. It has twin headlamps, an experimental magnesium body and no vents behind the wheels, and it takes pride of place in the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo in Arese, Milan. Although beautiful, the price for entry was enormous – some $17,000 in 1968, making the 33 horrifically expensive even compared with contemporary supercars such as the Lamborghini Miura. As a result, only 18 were sold before the leisurely production run was wrapped up in March 1969. The homologation target of 50 cars for racing was missed by miles, and five unsold 33 chassis were left. Alfa Romeo handed them over to the cream of Italy’s designers and carrozziere. The results would shape the very future of the automobile.

Post production Tony Swinney

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Alfa Romeo 33 concepts

Debut 1968 Paris Motor Show

Alfa Romeo 33 concepts

CHARLES DARWIN WAS SO DESPERATE to capture a Carabidae beetle that he seized it between his teeth – at which point his conquest squirted acid down his throat. Such was the effect of Marcello Gandini’s take on the 33, the Carabo – the green and gold colouring of which was inspired by the Carabus auratus beetle – that most designers would have made similar sacrifices to be part of the new styling language that dominated the 1970s and beyond: the wedge. It wasn’t only supercars – you can see the influence of this crispness everywhere, from the Alfa Romeo 75/Milano to the third-generation Chevrolet Camaro. It is, however, the supercar that would be forever changed by the Carabo. While the Miura hadn’t been the first road car to plant the engine behind the driver’s head, it certainly did the most to fire the imagination; nevertheless, it was still curvy in a traditional sense. The Carabo was different – new, avantgarde and polarising, it instantly made everything else from the 1960s look old hat: “Since then, most mid-engined cars (and other sports cars) feature a thin, wedge-shaped front end and a taller/heavier rear,” Gandini reflects today. It is even more remarkable that chassis 75033.109 went from a box of bits from 66

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Autodelta to a finished car in just ten weeks. “It was Nuccio Bertone’s desire to present our concept before Pininfarina, which is why we had to complete it in ten weeks,” Gandini says. He rose to the challenge, which – with freedom from rules and marketing men – helped focus his mind: “We at Bertone were given a chassis and carte blanche to design whatever we wanted,” he explains. Doing it all quickly was the best way to design, after all: “You can avoid doubts, afterthoughts and conditions.” However, this wasn’t just a show pony – the roots of the design came from pragmatism. The Miura, for example, was well known for frontend lift, so the Carabo’s low, flat shape and wedge profile were intended to eliminate this. While it retained the base car’s wheelbase, it was wider and longer. “The shape was a logical evolution from designs I had worked on earlier, including the Marzal, and the use of slats for engine cooling,” Gandini says. “The colours came later.” Constructing this vision of the future wasn’t without its challenges. The 33 Stradale’s basic frame required Bertone’s engineers to craft new hard points from sheet metal, and to bolt them to the main structure to support the Carabo’s outer skin. “Bertone was full of skilled craftsmen who could easily shape the metal

from the sketched shapes.” Gandini explains. The innovation didn’t stop there, either. The Carabo saw the first use of an experimental laminated glass from Belgian company Glaverbel, which was stronger yet lighter than automotive glazing of the time. That louvred rear covering, meanwhile, would become a performance-car feature in Europe and the US, regardless of whether an engine sat back there. Its presence led to more exotic pragmatism, too – the scissor doors, the part of the design Gandini likes most: “A useful innovation for wide-bodied sports cars,” he says. He prides himself on not only being a stylist, but also understanding the mechanicals underneath, and working with engineers closely. Even though the Carabo was a concept, it was still a car and had to work. With no rear view out, he came up with the scissor idea as a way for the driver to lean out of the side of the Carabo with the doors up, to aid reversing. This concept was soon implemented into the Countach, another Gandini design, and it has been a go-to for supercar designers ever since. The Carabo’s effect was seismic – within a few years, everyone from Ferrari to Ford would pledge their futures to the wedge. Gandini’s view on his design, all this time later? “Satisfied!”

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Alfa Romeo 33 concepts

Debut 1969 Paris Motor Show

ENZO FERRARI WAS NEVER ONE TO mince his words. Allegedly when seeing Leonardo Fioravanti’s design for the Ferrari 250 P5 Berlinetta Speciale, the starting point for the 33/2 Coupé Speciale, he dismissed it as looking somewhat like a suppository. It all started with a Dino 206 S, chassis 0862, which had been adapted for a 2.0-litre flat-12 engine; its primary purpose was to take on the 1968 European Hillclimb Championship. This route was ruled out early on, so the flat-12 was removed and a replacement V12 put in, and then the platform was shipped off to Pininfarina to create a concept car to possibly follow on from the P4 in endurance racing. The result, the P5, was crafted from glassfibre, with drastic cutaway arches, hydraulically operated butterfly doors and chrome-slatted air intakes on the rear flanks. Its upper body was dominated by a transparent teardrop canopy that allowed a fantastic view of the engine. The defining features were front and

rear, however; in the nose lay eight headlamps behind a centrally mounted glass-covered unit, while at the back six horizontal slats wrapped around to the rear wheelarches. Although a concept, it was entirely functional – Fioravanti was not only a designer, but an engineer, aerodynamicist and test driver all in one. “The P5 was aerodynamic in its purest state,” he says. Yet despite acclaim from the automotive design community and several repaints for different shows, the prevailing mood among Ferrari fans was one of disapproval, and the chassis was returned to Modena and used on the 212 E Montagna hillclimb car. However, the similarly tubular layout of the 33 would see the design live on with an Alfa Romeo badge, although with several aesthetic changes. Now sitting on 33 chassis 75033.115, the design was called the 33/2 Coupé Speciale and unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1969. Fioravanti again: “After it became public knowledge that Ferrari would not produce the P5, Alfa Romeo president Giuseppe Luraghi asked Enzo to hand over the project to him; given their personal knowledge and the affectionate esteem that Ferrari had for Alfa, the response was positive.” Working with Autodelta’s Carlo Chiti directly, he set about adapting the Ferrari 72

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ABOVE In all its guises, the overall project’s legacy is clear even in Ferrari models up to current times.

‘The newcomer was arguably a vision of the “current” compared with the Carabo’

for its metamorphosis to an Alfa Romeo. The front light bar was removed, replaced with pop-up headlamps cut into the flanks, while the chrome slats from the rear air intakes had gone. The back saw perhaps the biggest change – the slats were superseded by more functional tail-lights and small bumperettes taken from the BMW E9, and a rectangular air vent was placed between them. Pininfarina went to town with the cabin – the Ferrari version had been very stripped back. The dash was covered in faux suede, while the seats featured green tartan velour with brown leather bolsters. Brown hide also covered the sidewalls, sills, transmission tunnel and rear bulkhead, and the carpet was pale green. Finally, the car’s exterior was treated to yellow paint. Unveiled to the public a year after the Carabo, the newcomer was arguably a vision of the ‘current’ compared with its stablemate; you can see elements of the Dino 206 in what would become the 33/2 Coupé Speciale. However, in both Ferrari and Alfa form, the project’s legacy is clear in Maranello machines up to the current day. For example, the glass covering the engine bay is now a brand hallmark, while the Ferrari P5’s slatted rear eventually became a reality on 2021’s Daytona SP3.

Alfa Romeo 33 concepts

Debut 1969 Turin Auto Show

IF FRANCO SCAGLIONE CHANNELLED the freshly free-spirited vibe with the original 33 Stradale, then the Iguana represented the ultimate reputation builder for a brand-new concern – ItalDesign. “[That] was our initiative, being a newly established company in the creative sector,” remembers Giorgetto Giugiaro. “I even thought about dedicating it to the magazine Road & Track, as can be seen from the first drawings.” The Iguana was one of the company’s first concept cars after the 1968 Bizzarrini Manta, and for Giugiaro the inspiration was simple. “Our idea was to transform the 33 from a car with super-sporty lines into a more hedonistic and elegant vehicle,” he says. It was always destined to be a show machine, which allowed Giugiaro plenty of freedom to experiment: “There is a lot of ease in execution; for example, we have a shell that leaves the steel support structures of the cabin visible, simply brushed – this was an innovative solution for that time,” he explains. It would be an influential concept – Giugiaro

would adapt the ‘exposed cabin’ structure into future projects such as the DeLorean DMC-12. His favourite view is the front three-quarter. “It’s probably the best aspect because the logo at the front and the air intake on the bonnet still look modern even today,” he says, although there’s more he’s pleased with, too. “The roof and the rear windows are simply two large glazed surfaces, which makes the interior brighter.” The body, with its distinctive metalflake finish, was crafted from glassfibre. “The panels are screwed onto the chassis,” explains Giugiaro. The metalflake would be another element that would go on to influence the stainless-steel DeLorean DMC-12 project. Translating the design into reality largely went as planned, although there was one alteration from the original design. “We chose to have two tail-lights at the rear, not four like the drawings,” he says. The rapturous critical reaction to the car emboldened Giugiaro’s ideas, and helped to drive the fledgling firm forwards. “It was a good response, and particularly different to the 33s presented in the past with Bertone and Pininfarina,” he says. “It was one of my first ItalDesign projects; I was proud of the response.” He has fond memories of the unveiling, 78

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ABOVE The metalflake finish is one of the many aspects that would later influence the DMC-12.

‘The rapturous critical reaction helped to drive the fledgling firm forwards’

too: “When we presented it at Turin in 1969, the ladies at the booth were dressed in the same colours and shades as the car. It was very funny,” he chuckles. With such a strong response, it wouldn’t be long before elements of chassis 75033.116 found their way into mainstream designs. Giugiaro points to the undulating waistline that rises and blends into the rear window, reflected in the Alfa Alfetta GTV and the Maserati Bora/Merak, while the high-mounted tail-lights of the Alfasud Sprint are another direct inspiration. Perhaps the biggest legacy goes back to the exposed, brushed-metal roof. It’s a design staple that has evolved over time, and a modern interpretation might be the current trend for black-coloured cockpit areas primarily seen on supercars and hyper GTs, as well as on SUVs. Chassis 75033.116 was a functional car, although at some point in its life its original 33-specification engine was replaced with a 2.6-litre Montreal-spec V8. Back in 1969, production wasn’t even on the cards. “It was just a styling research project, like the other 33s – we knew it wasn’t for mass production,” Giugiaro says. “Nowadays it might have become a one-off project, produced in small numbers – who knows?”

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THE CARABO MAY HAVE KICK-STARTED the wedge revolution, but 1971’s Cuneo was perhaps the purest interpretation of the word – literally; it means ‘wedge’ in Italian. The Cuneo chassis, no. 75033.108, had already played a role in the 33 prototype story. In 1968, Pininfarina presented the Paolo Martin-penned P33 Roadster at the Turin Auto Show. Finished in white with a red spoiler just behind the cockpit, it channelled Grand Prix car function with spaceship form; it even had dive planes around the snout. The lighting came from a strip above the nose, and it had vertically opening doors. Coming only a few weeks after the Carabo’s launch, it was just as eye-popping. However, Martin’s creation would become a casualty of internal politics between Pininfarina design director Franco Martinengo and the man who wanted his job, according to Paolo: “The P33 Roadster was presented to the obvious disappointment of Leonardo Fioravanti, who’d lost the opportunity to prove himself,” Martin says. “Without informing anyone – although

Debut 1971 Brussels Motor Show

Alfa Romeo 33 concepts

he must have had the authority from someone – he dismantled the P33 and made the Cuneo.” That someone, according to Fioravanti, was Pininfarina CEO Renzo Carli. Leonardo has praised Martin’s design, describing it as having great imagination. However, according to Fioravanti, it had been partly criticised over the wing. “It raised the centre of gravity, a feature not compatible with the sporting spirit of the prototype,” he writes in his autobiography. Carli charged him with changing the bodywork to emphasise the racing appearance. To say Martin was displeased at the turn of events is an understatement. “It is a horrible result derived from a behavioural method that was typical of those who did not know how to do anything,” he says. “It was a bitter surprise for me also, because demolishing a prototype to make another seems crazy to me.” The metamorphosis to the Cuneo saw the curvy forward flanks replaced with something far more stark – the ‘perfect wedge’. The doors were removed and the headlights set behind a plate of Plexiglass in a black rubber bumper that fully encapsulated the car’s frontal area. With the rear wing gone there was a simple roll bar for the driver, which supported the cover of the intake trumpets. The rear flanks 84

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ABOVE The Cuneo – which means ‘wedge’ in Italian – was possibly the purest interpretation of the design trend.

‘A concept in the purest sense, albeit one that harked back to the 33’s racing origins’

gained fins, tapering from the front of the car to the back, taking the overall wedge shape to a natural ending point. To accommodate the front wheels there were two barely perceptible bumps on the flanks. The rear was restyled as well while, inside, the P33 Roadster’s orange seats were discarded in favour of an all-black set-up, save for an orange squab. “I did everything in the workshop,” explains Fioravanti. “Pininfarina was criticised because we worked on the so-called wedge side layout, but we didn’t follow trends. The chassis and mechanicals lent themselves to a low volumetric adaptation at the front and high at the rear.” The Cuneo was always a concept in the purest sense, albeit one that harked back to the 33’s racing origins. Its influence on road cars was slight, although the rubber nose would become a feature of Filippo Sapino’s Ferrari 365GTC/4. The greater influence of both the P33 Roadster and the Cuneo is that they emboldened the wedge movement, bringing it to conservative manufacturers. Both designers would embrace crisp lines into projects as diverse as the Ferrari 365BB and GT4 2+2 (Fioravanti) and the Fiat 130 Coupé, Rolls-Royce Camargue and Lancia Beta Montecarlo/Scorpion (Martin). The wedge age had truly arrived.

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Debut 1976 Geneva Motor Show

could be because the cars that perhaps drew the greatest influence from it are somewhat polarising – the exotic strand of automotive brutalism. After all, its name came from the Apache tribe that balanced elegance and aggression, a central theme of that style. Gandini would be the main proponent of this through the 1980s – the rear wheelarch treatment can be seen on the Citroën BX and Renault 21 Turbo, while the wraparound lighting would be a feature of his Maserati Shamal design that bid farewell to the 1980s. He wouldn’t be the only one; you can perhaps see elements of the Navajo in Robert Opron and Antonio Castellana’s Alfa Romeo SZ. The Navajo could have even become a production reality, Gandini says. “The first proposal for Claudio Zampolli’s Cizeta project was derived from the Navajo, but the form was too challenging for general taste,” he explains. Perhaps the biggest legacy was the Navajo’s impact on science fiction itself. The greatest tribute can be seen in Blade Runner’s Spinners – one even wears an Alfa Romeo script... Thanks to Massimo Delbò, Emanuele Bedetti, Gautam Sen, Umberto Giorio at GFG Style and all at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, where these cars are on display (www.museoalfaromeo.com).

ALFA ROMEO

IN THE EIGHT YEARS SINCE HE redrew the boundaries of automotive design, Marcello Gandini had seen the Carabo’s influence filter down through to the mainstream. Reinventing a 33 Stradale for the 1976 Geneva Motor Show saw him return to the future, but with a heavy influence from science fiction. In many ways, the Navajo would become science fact, years down the line. Gandini’s focus was on developing aerodynamics. The large rear spoiler and front splitter, for example, were variable depending on the car’s speed, and had two modes of operation – manual or automatic. No. 75033.117 was smaller lengthways than the original 33, measuring 3.8 metres long and 1.86 wide, despite the tubular chassis being lengthened in the name of cabin comfort. The body was glassfibre, and the headlamps popped out sideways rather than upwards. “It wasn’t a difficult project, except that we were using glassfibre for a concept for the first time,” he says. “That had some advantages, and some moulding difficulties; the compound curvature windshield was difficult to achieve.” So what of the Navajo’s legacy? The Carabo is lauded as an epoch-shifting shape – it set the supercar template as we know it now. The Navajo isn’t quite as heralded, although this

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ALFA’S NEW 33 STRADALE HYPERCAR has divided opinion ever since its recent reveal. Designed and built in only 16 months using the chassis of the Maserati MC20, the 33 will use either that car’s conventional 2.9-litre V6 twinturbo or an electric powerplant. Just 33 are being built, and all have already been sold at a rumoured – but unconfirmed – £1.7m apiece. It’s the first model from a brand-new workshop within Alfa Romeo that’s dedicated to special projects, known internally as the Bottega. The 33, which is being built by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, kicks off a series of cars inspired by those of the 1960s and 1970s, with the next one due in 2026. “We started in a very simple way, with a conversation almost two years ago,” Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, Alfa Romeo’s design head,

Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography Simon Thompson

recalls. “We started to think about what we should do to help the brand immediately – we felt we needed to do something.” Alfa’s Giulia and Stelvio models had been warmly received, although this hasn’t translated into a huge showroom success, particularly in Europe. While the brand is now profitable due to sales of the new Tonale and optimising the product line, a halo car was needed. Sketches were revealed to potential customers just prior to the 2022 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. “The reaction was fantastic,” Mesonero-Romanos says. “Immediately three customers committed to buying just from a few sketches, and they were really positive about it.” Getting the idea off the ground wasn’t a simple yes or no, says Alfa CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato: “We needed to convince people it was possible to do, and be cash positive. Day one on this project means you have to sell the car before building it – so we had to find the

customers able to say ‘yes’ based on a PowerPoint presentation. Because of Alfa’s impact, and the fact that we were honest, direct and no bullshit, they followed us.” As for the future, the key is to maintain the rapport with the 33’s customers, developing the project in conjunction with Alfa, the heritage department and other key players. Imparato’s role in the process is different: “I set a benchmark in terms of reliability of the programme and perceived quality. Despite the fact that they are named ‘supercars’, the level of perceived and effective quality of some big guys is far from having serious life expectation. “I don’t want that – the 33 is not a torture instrument,” he continues. “You will not be at 40 degrees in the cabin, the air-conditioning will work and you will be able to drive this car as if it was a normal GT – I want people to be totally comfortable in it.” The mixture of ICE and EV powertrains was

Alfa Romeo 33 hypercar

crucial, says Strategic Products boss Cristiano Fiorio: “There was no doubt we needed a bridge from the internal-combustion cars to our fully EV future in 2027. Launching a car with an ICE option and an EV alternative is a challenge, but this halo car had to reflect the past and future. The choice was right there from the start.” The appetite for the 33 was so strong that it was sold out within just a few weeks – however, despite the possibility to make more variants on the 33/2 theme, it’s not something Alfa will pursue. “We won’t be doing a convertible based on the 33, because we want it to be credible to those involved in the project,” Fiorio says. “The idea is to make another car – this project has given birth to other ideas of concepts.” Pressed on what those will involve, he won’t comment. “The idea was to start the project, and then, if we have good feedback, we’ll go for a complete plan – and this is what’s happening now,” he explains.

LEFT OF CENTRE

Ultimately never more than a jet-age concept, the Ghia-built Asimmetrica showed how Virgil Exner’s quirky Plymouth XNR might have had a productionmodel future

Words Elana Scherr

Photography Evan Klein

THIS SPREAD Asimmetrica used a Plymouth Valiant chassis and was powered by a slant-six equipped with a four-barrel carb.

Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx

THIS SPREAD Exner’s jet-age detailing pushed the envelope, but ultimately the Asimmetrica proved too much for the carbuying public.

Plymouth Asimmetrica by Ghia

IT’S ROLLING ON WHITEWALLS, BUT IT looks like it’s flying. Its long, chrome-tipped snout and off-centre hood bulge are framed by swept-back front fenders with the upward tilt of a bat ray cruising an aquarium. One expects a V8 rumble, but instead there’s the choppy rasp of six jugs in a row. The roofless design gives a clear view of the caramel-leather interior and racy silver dashboard. It’s a startling design – one that owner Matthew Katz says is still turning heads and raising questions, even 60 years after its creation. “I drive this car, and everybody smiles,” he says. “Everybody wants to know about it.” The first thing they ask? “What the hell is it?” It is the 1961 Plymouth Asimmetrica roadster by Ghia and, incredibly, it’s the toned-down version of an even more extreme concept car, the 1960 Plymouth XNR by Virgil Exner. Fans of concepts and high-finned ’50s beauties will know Exner as the architect of Chrysler’s mid-century success. He was a firm believer in rockets and hover pods, chrome and bubbletops. His work promised an optimistic future displayed on auto-show turntables; milder versions of it even appeared in the dealerships in the form of the fighter-planeinspired Forward Look Chryslers, Plymouths, Dodges and DeSotos. Yet by the early 1960s, sky-high tail-lights and jutting dagmars felt excessive and unfashionable. As conversations about safety and fuel economy entered the advertising vocabulary, design began to favour conservative quarterpanels and smooth, crash-friendly bumpers. Exner, close to the end of his tenure at Chrysler, proposed one last wild ride, the XNR. This and the Asimmetrica get mashed together in the history books because of their similar shapes and Ghia builds. It doesn’t help matters that the XNR had several names during its development – including Falcon, which was the initial model name for what became the compact Plymouth Valiant, and Asymmetrica (with a ‘y’) before it took its creator’s moniker sans vowels. Whatever name you call it, the XNR was an IndyCar-inspired roadster built on a modified

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Plymouth Asimmetrica by Ghia

Valiant chassis with winged fenders, a barely there windshield, and a single, shiny, silveredged shark fin in the rear. It was low slung and streamlined, with a hotted-up six-cylinder using performance parts designed for the newfor-1960 compact sedan NASCAR class. While the XNR was never raced, Chrysler claimed a top speed of more than 152mph at its proving grounds. That’s impressive for a slant-six Valiant, and even more so when you realise many show cars couldn’t even move under their own power, let alone run a high-speed test track. Exner liked the XNR so much, he hoped Chrysler would take it from concept to production – as did Ghia, which coachbuilt most of Chrysler’s concept cars and was always happy to make a few special projects for its own customers. Although the XNR was well received by audiences and motoring journalists alike, the product planners in Detroit felt that its lopsided design and complex body were unlikely to make it a high-volume seller in dealerships, even if it did look good on the show floor. Much to Exner’s disappointment, no plans were made to start stamping out XNRs for the compact-car-buying public. Ghia, however, was more enthusiastic about the design’s potential as a production car. In 1961, it introduced the Asimmetrica (with an ‘i’), possibly with design input from Exner, but certainly with his blessing. The less-spicy version was also based on a four-door Valiant chassis, again powered by a slant-six with a

‘The Asimmetrica is a vehicle I knew I wanted in the collection for my lifetime’

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four-barrel carburettor, and was visually weighted towards the driver’s side, too. The Asimmetrica’s cabin was more passenger friendly than that of its older sibling, and its higher windshield and lower rear fin made for more traditional ride comfort and a lot more luggage space. “I could fit three of me in this trunk,” Katz says during our photoshoot, popping the decklid with a flourish. Yet even with additional room for people and suitcases, the Asimmetrica’s unbalanced design was too much for most buyers, and Ghia’s hopes of selling 25 examples proved ambitious to the sum of about 24 cars. Some rumours claim at least two Asimmetricas were made, but this is likely due to the show car having several different paint jobs during its time on the circuit. While it wasn’t a mainstream hit, the Asimmetrica did turn at least one rather famous head. After seeing it on display at the Geneva Motor Show, the Belgian novelist Georges Simenon (creator of the Maigret detective series) fell in love with the car, and purchased it on the spot. The Asimmetrica would stay in Europe for the first 20 years of its life – but more recently it’s been rather adventurous. In the 1980s, the Asimmetrica came to the US, where the Blackhawk Collection restored it to the original red. Later it lived in the Pacific Northwest, before going back to Europe after a 2018 RM Sotheby’s auction in which it sold for a reported $335,000. Its current owner, Katz, became aware of the car through his friend

– and bad/good influence, depending on who you ask – Tom Hale. “I’ve always liked quirky cars, but Tom accelerated it exponentially,” says Katz, whose collection is “somewhere between 65 and 85 vehicles at the moment”. Very few of those are what you’d call mainstream, and many of them, from Colani car haulers to Fiat rally cars, are the result of Tom’s skill at sniffing out an automotive wonder. Hale’s path crossed with the Asimmetrica while he was in Europe, and Katz was his first call. “Tom phoned me, and I’m like: ‘Yes, I want it,’” says Katz. “Then he told me the price. I’m thinking: ‘Absolutely not.’” He laughs, pointing out that some of the difficulties with collecting rare one-off cars is that owners are often not looking to sell, and must be convinced – and also that it’s hard to find comparable prices to something that’s unique in the world. “Originally Tom was rooting the value in XNR 1, and that model sold for something like $900,000 in 2014. It’s probably a $3 million car now. And this is not that. This is the second one. This is the more ‘production’ version. It’s got a smaller fin. It’s less embellished. It’s less exaggerated. But it is a vehicle I knew I wanted in the collection for my lifetime.” Eventually Hale, Katz and the Asimmetrica’s European caretaker came to an agreement. Katz won’t share the exact number, but it’s safe to say it’s less than $3 million. “I told Tom: ‘Here’s how much I am willing to spend.’ And Tom got it close enough that I

Plymouth Asimmetrica by Ghia

‘Compared to other cars, it’s quite efficient looking, even though it’s so bodacious’

was like, yes, it’s coming home.” Katz understands that the Asimmetrica’s wacky layout might not appeal to everyone, but he thinks it’s important as an example of bold thinking and independent spirit. Leslie Kendall, curator at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, agrees. “Chrysler was going through a little bit of an identity crisis in the early years of the ’60s,” he says. “It was trying all these goofy angles, and headlights set in the grille, and strange lines that began on the side in the front and then quit and then picked up again in the back. It had really hit things on the head with the Forward Look in 1957, but then that got old fast, which left Chrysler kind of searching around for new inspiration. It was just a little bit out there. A little bit too far. “You know what [industrial designer] Raymond Loewy said: M-A-Y-A: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. I always say that sometimes cars are important for what they’re not. It’s just as important to know what design paths to rule out as it is to know which ones to explore.” Just a few years after Ghia failed to market the Asimmetrica, there were several production cars with asymmetric design elements, and a whole trend of un-mirrored looks in custom cars and hot rodding. Exner and Ghia may have just been a little too early. For Ralph Gilles, chief design officer for current-day Stellantis, both the XNR and the Asimmetrica represent an artistic freedom that 104

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he still finds inspiring today: “It’s such a departure from what they were doing [in the ’50s]. Sure, the rocket age is in there. But racing is in there, too, in the driver-oriented cockpit. There’s Formula 1 in the gauges, the controls. When you compare it to other cars of that era, it’s quite efficient looking, even though it’s so bodacious. There were no rules back then. Whatever you could imagine, you could actually make.” When Georges Simenon saw the Asimmetrica on display back in 1961, he described it as: “A splendid flame-red car.” For Katz, its appeal is more than just looks: “I focus on two things in my collection. The experiential driving side: How fun is this car to drive? And the dreamer side: What was the story? Who had the passion to build this? This car fits in both because it’s fun to drive and it was a dreamer’s vision. In the ’60s there’s an end to that Autorama-crazy investment in future and concepts and prototypes. And this is basically the last of this kind of Exner design. There was so much pride in the design back then. In the construction, in the execution. Everything was just passion. Modern mass production: we’ve lost a lot of it.” This isn’t a purely theoretical loss. Many concepts didn’t survive past their show days. Some were sold and modified, many were crushed. For Katz, keeping the Asimmetrica not just around but still running and driving is a kind of holy mission. “People have low-mileage cars and never drive them. It’s actually cheaper to maintain a car if you drive it, and then you

have all these unique experiences, and get to be part of the history, share the story. Sometimes I love the story even more than I love the car.” He plans to keep the Asimmetrica running, and slowly adjust a few details of the previous restoration he feels are inaccurate to the original. “The thing about ’80s restorations is that a lot of shops had this approach that it was better to replace parts than fix them,” he says. “So the steering wheel is horrible; it’s so ’80s. I need to track down the right one. Some of the gauges are generally right, but they’re not 100 percent right. There’s a piece on the bottom of the seat that nobody would ever see except me, and I know it’s wrong, and it just bugs the hell out of me. So that’s on the list.” As he searches out the periodcorrect parts, Katz has enjoyed just taking the Asimmetrica out on the town, where he says it gets more thumbs-up and starts more conversations than any of his other cars. Meanwhile, Ralph Gilles recently drove the Asimmetrica’s XNR big sister, and as with Katz he says it’s still an attention grabber: “The wow factor still works, even after five or six decades. “That’s what cars are about. Whether you’re seeing it for the first time in your town or in a magazine, our job as designers is to pull the heartstrings and create a bit of immortality. It’s not always perfect design, but remarkable design that captures people’s imagination.” Whatever you think of Exner’s uncentred approach, if you’re looking for remarkable, the Asimmetrica is a dead-on bullseye.

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THIS AND PREVIOUS SPREAD Heroic fellow racing driver David Purley begged track officials and other

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bystanders for help to save Roger, but they were all utterly ill equipped to deal with the tragedy unfolding before them.

NOTHING I HAVE EVER WITNESSED IN Formula 1 has stayed with me quite as hauntingly as then-upcoming racer Roger Williamson’s needless death in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. That day, July 29, will forever be denounced as the sport’s greatest moment of infamy. When Romain Grosjean’s Haas crashed into the barriers at the start of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, and immediately burst into flames, it shook F1 rigid. Race cars so rarely catch fire these days – but the sight brought back harrowing memories of a ghost the sport had long believed it had exorcised. Back in the 1960s and ’70s fire was a frequent hazard, and races were rarely stopped – as the Bahrain event was – no matter what happened on track. I remember a conversation with Jackie Stewart about how the events carried on to the bitter end, because that was what organisers decreed. The races were sacrosanct: those who competed in them, who put on what we now call The Show, expendable. Back then, remember, when Jackie raised the subject of trackside trees at Brands Hatch, one official crassly remarked: “If Stewart doesn’t like the trees, he knows where the saws are.” Easy to say when you’re not the one Fate might choose to steer into something so unyielding. “They didn’t stop for Jo Schlesser’s accident at Rouen in 1968, or Piers Courage’s at Zandvoort in 1970,” Jackie told me. “We had to drive through fire quite a lot back then.” Was there ever greater condemnation of the sport’s past? I was certainly not alone in believing implacably that Roger was going to be a World Champion. And 50 years to the day, on the recent Saturday of July 29, 100 of us – family, friends and fans – gathered. While it rained at Spa-Francorchamps, sun basted the quiet village of Arnesby in the East Midlands. And there Kevin Wheatcroft and his wife Alex paid tribute to Roger as we celebrated his memory – and that of Kevin’s much-missed father Tom, the famous Leicester builder who helped the young racer so much – and announced the Roger Williamson Foundation. Roger really sprang to national prominence racing on a shoestring with a hire-purchased March 713 in 1971, because he soon challenged established Formula 3 star Dave Walker. Tom was already keeping an eye on the lad from Leicester, and he stepped in to help at the Magneto

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The death of Roger Williamson

prestigious Grand Prix-supporting race in Monaco when engine problems arose. Things built rapidly from there. Tom would help anyone, but what impressed him so much about Roger, the latter’s cheerful nature and sheer ability apart, was how he never asked for anything yet was always so grateful for whatever help Tom proffered. As Kevin remarked poignantly and without rancour at the RW50 event: “When Roger came into our lives I felt as if I had lost a father and gained a younger brother.” Roger beat Walker at Oulton Park, and ended the year as Lombard F3 champion. The following year, after a false start with a March 723 that he nonetheless hauled round the tracks, he was bought a new GRD by Tom. I watched as he raced that for the first time in the GKN Forgings F3 race that supported the Daily Express International Trophy F1 race at Silverstone, on April 23. He annihilated the opposition to take victory by 14.2 seconds. Six-tenths covered the next four cars... Altogether he won some 44 F3 races and heats, beating the cream of the sport, at venues such as Brands Hatch, Thruxton, Snetterton, Anderstorp, Clermont-Ferrand and La Charte. He clinched the prestigious Shell and Forward Trust F3 Championships, was voted the BRSCC’s Driver of the Year and won the top Grovewood Award. He was coming. After another false start with an F2 GRD, Tom bought him a BMW-powered March 732, and Roger continued to impress people. Team owner Ken Tyrrell was one of them. Besides Stewart himself, only KT and Ford’s Walter Hayes and John Waddell knew that Jackie intended to retire at season’s end. Ken had looked at F2’s Gerry Birrell who, as with Stewart, had strong links with the Blue Oval. But then Birrell was killed at Rouen during practice for the F2 race in which Roger debuted the March. My friend Peter Collins knows more about racing skills than anyone I’ve ever met, and helped Nigel Mansell, Johnny Herbert, Mika Häkkinen, Alex Zanardi and Kimi Räikkönen get to F1. Rouen was the gamechanger for him, eradicating his original scepticism about Roger. Birrell had just been killed on the run to Nouveau Monde, a fearsome downhill sweep that required great bravery to keep the throttle flat. “I watched Roger going through there in the 110

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ABOVE Roger was just 25 with a major future ahead of him when he was killed at Zandvoort.

‘He was absolutely blinding. He had real commitment and class. I became a big fan that day’

Wheatcroft March,” PC told me for my book The Lost Generation, about Williamson and fellow tragic racers Tony Brise and Tom Pryce. “I’d heard of Williamson, after all his success in F3, but up until that point I’d never been a fan. But I certainly was after watching him. He was absolutely blinding through there. His engine note was still solid, the motor was still screaming as he came through, whereas others were feathering the throttle. He had real commitment and class. I became a big fan that day. I came away thinking that he had a major future.” Roger’s engine broke when he was leading his heat that weekend, but at Monza he won the Lotteria race. He took both heats, the second after having to catch and pass local hero Vittorio Brambilla, who had eased him down the escape road at the start, and then leader Patrick Depailler, whom Ken also rated. He also led Misano, yet suffered electrical failure. Louis Stanley wanted Roger to sign for BRM. But although the latter equalled the lap record

THE REVS INSTITUTE

The death of Roger Williamson

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in testing at Silverstone in the uncompetitive P180, and broke it in the 1972-spec P160C, and also went so quickly there in Sid Taylor’s Trojan T101 F5000 car that he was offered a drive alongside Jody Scheckter in the US championship, he wanted to stay with Tom. Roger visited Wheatcroft one evening looking preoccupied, but Tom squeezed the story out of him. He was amazed and touched when his protégé said he wanted to keep racing with him. Plans were made to enter Williamson in the Works STP March 731 in the British and Dutch GPs, and a brace of McLaren M23s were ordered from Pat McLaren. It emerged at the 50th that Tom also entertained ideas of running James Hunt as Roger’s team-mate. Ironically Roger was a victim of Scheckter’s shunt at the end of the first lap on his debut at Silverstone. And then came Zandvoort. The Works March was very different to the one James Hunt was driving so well for Lord Hesketh, since that was being massaged by former March engineer Dr Harvey Postlethwaite. Roger qualified 18th of the 24 cars, but had to start from the back when the engine initially refused to fire for the formation lap. Yet he was 16th at the end of the opening lap, 14th by the second after Jackie Oliver crashed and he overtook Graham Hill, then 13th by lap three after passing Mike Beuttler’s faltering March. He was keeping ahead of former F3 rival David Purley’s 731 and chasing Dutchman Gijs van Lennep, who would take his Iso Marlboro to an eventual sixth place, when – as he swept through the first of two very quick fifth-gear right-hand curves at the back of the circuit at Scheivlak – the Wheatcroft March’s left front Goodyear tyre exploded. The red car veered into the steel barrier to its left. While the authorities prided themselves on how much they had invested in a complete revamp of the circuit after a boycott in 1972, much of the work had been completed poorly or incorrectly, and Jackie spoke of the drivers being “blackmailed” into competing. The steel barriers’ support posts had simply been piledriven into the sand, instead of being set in concrete. The March’s impact bent the left-hand barrier back to a 45º angle, and as it acted as a launching ramp it threw the car 70 metres diagonally back across the track. It landed, upside down and burning, before sliding all the way to the apex of the following right-hander past Hondenvlak. Purley stopped his own car and fought a valiant lone battle to rescue Roger, watched by an official in a fur-collared coat whose identity was never revealed and who talked into a handheld radio to a contact who likewise would 112

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ABOVE A series of failures – both material and human – resulted in the horrific inferno that claimed the life of the bright young racing star.

remain anonymous. The race director claimed there had been no communication. Cameras captured every awful moment: Purley’s bravery and angry frustration; Fur Collar’s callous apparent disregard for the events happening in front of him; and the helplessness of marshals who lacked fireproof gear and fire extinguishers that lasted more than a few feeble moments. In the pits, race organiser Ben Huisman was so utterly convinced he and his team had built the perfect track that he ludicrously convinced himself the pall of smoke from the March must be “a burning tyre”, and nothing to do with his precious race. He simply believed what he wanted to believe, because to do otherwise was to face up to his own increasingly evident failings. By the time adequately attired firefighters finally arrived they simply turned the nowsmoking March the right way up and left Roger’s body aboard until the race had run its terrible course. The height of callous disrespect was to hand Purley a sheet and leave it to him to cover the young man still sat within the cockpit. Unforgivably, the organisers later tried to suggest that Williamson had died in the impact. Purley confirmed that as a blatant lie; Roger had been unhurt, and succumbed to asphyxia. “I could see Roger was alive and I could hear

‘The bent left-hand barrier threw the car 70 metres diagonally back across the track’

him shouting, but I couldn’t get the car over,” Purley said. “I was trying to get people to help me, and if I could have turned the car over he would’ve been all right, we could’ve got him out.” David had strained so hard that he ruptured blood vessels in both arms. Afterwards, despair was written in every agonised verb of his body language. Subsequently, he was awarded the George Medal for his brave effort. Soon afterwards March team owner Max Mosley, a barrister and thus aware of international law, flew back to England, leaving his crew to tidy up. Later that night, in his absence, the police arrested Tom Wheatcroft as the most responsible individual left in the shattered team. The oft-maligned Louis Stanley employed all his diplomacy to secure his freedom. On that 50th anniversary in Arnesby, Howden Ganley shared his feelings about the race. “I’m still very angry about it,” he admitted. “It’s stuck in my mind as one of the worst things I’ve ever been involved with in all my years of racing. It was so unnecessary. If they had just stopped the race you had all these drivers in Nomex, we would have got him out of the car. But just up the road was a big fire engine, and none of the marshals seemed to be doing anything, so we all assumed it was not serious. But of course, it was. That race director should have been charged with manslaughter.” Television coverage was rare back then, and now its brutality lingers. It was the first time that such much-needed change had been demonstrated so shockingly. Eventually things did change. Lessons were learned and finally led to the enhanced safety standards that were so desperately needed: to proper track inspections; much better safety protection and training for marshals; improved track management and communications; improved firefighting equipment and techniques; significant design and safety updates on the cars. But that all came too late for Roger Williamson. “The day we lost him part of my motor-racing spirit died,” Tom Wheatcroft told me when we worked together on The Lost Generation. “Nobody could take his place in my heart.” What would Williamson have achieved in 1974 against Emerson Fittipaldi, both in McLarens? Let alone 1975 and ’76, when the car remained so competitive… There have been too many tragedies in racing since I fell in love with F1 in 1967, but nothing has ever touched me as deeply as Roger’s fate. There really hasn’t been a week in the intervening years when something hasn’t brought him to mind. And, half a century on, I have never forgotten the three words that so summarised his racer’s spirit: Never. Give. Up.

MOTORSPORT IMAGES

The death of Roger Williamson

1959

It was 1959 when Giovanni Michelotti opened his own studio and produced this one-off body, creating a very distinctive Jaguar XK-140 SE. Currently in the safe hands of CKL...

RESTORATION - RACE PREPARATION - SALES

The refreshed Arese RH95 reflects the finest things in life – as does the similarly revitalised Touring Superleggera, the legendary name behind this most exquisite of GTs

Very

Grand Touring

Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography Max Serra

Touring Superleggera

THEY CALL IT WHITE GOLD IN THIS corner of Italy, a land where vines cling to improbably steep hills, fed by a unique soil on land fiercely protected by UNESCO. It’s truffle season in Alba, located in the Piedmont region and the midpoint between Turin, Milan and the Mediterranean. The distinctive mixture of soil and climate makes the truffles here so revered that, for just a few weeks in October and November, the population swells from 30,000 to 300,000, with worldwide truffle aficionados flocking to sample not only the white gold but also the exceptional wine produced in the region. It’s also eye-searingly beautiful here... Frankly, it’s tempting just to stand among the vines and absorb it all. However, it takes one enthusiastic blast from the all-aluminium, twin-turbocharged Ferrari F154 V8 behind my head to focus the mind; I’m here to celebrate

the newly refreshed Touring Superleggera Arese RH95 and the similarly revised Touring Superleggera itself. The past 12 months have seen a new Touring CEO in the guise of Markus Tellenbach, as well as a new head of design, Matteo Gentile – and a major contract to construct the new Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. “We have taken time to clean house, reorganise, restructure and bring in fresh people and expertise that are going to be helpful for our journey,” Markus explains. “It’s been a year of preparation, in many respects – 2026 is our 100th anniversary, after all.” However, it is winning the Alfa contract that has largely defined the first year of his tenure. This has meant a new factory in Rivalta, Turin, as well as more staff. “Building 33 cars is not going to happen in a couple of months, and it is quite an adjustment in terms of structure and staffing to have the capacity to do it,” he says. Touring was one of several coachbuilders in

BELOW The 488-based Arese RH95 is newly refreshed – as is its legendary Italian creator.

THIS PAGE Touring’s revised mid-engined supercar looks perfectly at home in Alba’s arresting Ceretto vineyards.

THIS SPREAD Invigorating, intoxicating and entertaining... everything an exclusive supercar should be.

for the Alfa Romeo 33 contract, but it was the firm’s work with the Arese RH95 that ably demonstrated its abilities. As Markus explains: “The conversion of the Ferrari 488 to an Arese RH95 is exactly the same process as converting the Maserati MC20 to an Alfa 33 – Stellantis could see our work on the current model we are producing, and its quality. This was the biggest advantage Touring had over anyone else.” Of course, some might view building a limitedproduction mid-engined supercar for a third party, while also offering a mid-engined supercar under your own brand, might be a conflict of interest. Markus doesn’t see it that way. “As a small company in a transformational period when all the big car companies don’t really know at what pace they have to swallow, adjust and reorganise according to legislation, consumer preference and supply issues, it is important for us to have a safe foot on the ground,” he says. “When I took over, it was key to establish a base operation that is stable for the next couple of years and provides confidence to our employees and customers. Some similar companies – well, we don’t know whether they are going to make the next quarter. Having an OEM contract is kind of like a stick in your back that holds you during the next couple of turns.” One of those turns is, of course, developing Touring Superleggera as a brand in itself. “Clearly the more emotional part is somewhere [other than our OEM work], but that OEM work is needed to absorb and mitigate the risks of our own visions, views and plans,” Markus continues – and those plans involve a sharp return to the kind of automotive style Touring Superleggera is more readily associated with. “Our heritage doesn’t work with mid-engined cars – it’s that simple,” he admits. “Mid-engine equals performance, and historically Touring has never been about lap times or track days.” As I guide the updated (and obviously midengined) RH95 with a spirited crescendo of speed, sound and excitement around the tight, twisty roads that spiral through the hills, I can understand. The Ferrari 488 base materials

have largely been left unchanged, which means the car is invigorating, intoxicating and entertaining. However, I’m here to chase down truffles and sample great wine, and you can’t get many cases of either into the RH95. It’s that kind of lifestyle which plays closer to Touring’s heritage, rather than nailing an apex. As I pull into the grand locale of the Ceretto winery, one of Italy’s greatest and most revered vineyards, it’s a chance to reflect on the much more important aspect of the car: the way it looks, and thus the way it makes me feel. It’s a stark contrast to the base materials – the 488GTB may be brutally effective in conveying its performance potential, but it’s not exactly elegant. The RH95, complete with sensuous hips, smoothly contoured nose and carefully disguised functional elements, harks back to an era before this one, when aesthetics are seemingly an afterthought to lap-time supremacy. It immediately feels special, individual, exquisite and highly personal. In a modern world when just about anyone can rent a Ferrari, let alone buy one, to sink into the RH95’s form is to be granted a glimpse into a more emotive, exclusive world. It’s a similar approach to that which Ceretto takes with its wines. Its story began in 1937, but Bruno and Marcello Ceretto’s fresh look at vinification in the 1960s helped elevate the firm’s reputation to its current heights. The brothers observed how French wine producers operated, and saw the potential of the local Piedmont grapes. They selected and purchased plots in the very best areas, crafting wine from only the 170

hectares of vineyards it owned. Over the decades, and more recently under the watchful eye of our host Roberta Ceretto, the results are exceptional wines that have attracted the appreciation of artists and writers – the arts are another Ceretto family passion – as well as the likes of Giorgetto Giugiaro and the Elkann family. The 2014 Barolo comes highly recommended… Much as the great wines evolve gently over vintages, the latest RH95 is more a refreshment of the original concept. There’s a new approach to interior textures and, of course, a new colour – Grigio Artico, offset with a vibrant green highlight. It’s all part of a new Tailor Made programme within Touring Superleggera that leverages VR and 3D rendering alongside the brand’s traditional coachbuilding skills. Leading this mixture of old and new approaches is design boss Matteo Gentile. Although he has worked for brands with a more maximalist approach to exterior styling, such as Bugatti, Lamborghini and, more recently, Lotus, he is very clear on what Touring Superleggera’s place in the design world is. “The philosophy of Touring can be summed up in three words: intelligent, soft and elegant,” he explains. “With those concepts in mind, we do our best to interpret it with the brands we are working with. On the other hand, Touring Superleggera has to develop its own presence and identity.” Matteo is looking to bring back the traditional Touring essence as a producer of elegant front-engined GT cars, although split between two different philosophies: “We will have the ‘concours line’, a purely elegant design that will show off Touring’s DNA in the strongest way, particularly in the side view. We will also have a ‘performance line’, which will be slightly different but will stay true to the words of elegance and glamour. This won’t be ‘racing’ – let’s call it a progressive sportiness.” He draws some of his inspiration from Como. “For me, Touring is like driving around Como

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– it’s one of the best places for a Touring car, like seeing a lion on the savannah,” he chuckles. “Every Sunday I go there. I love the lake; it gives me time to think about the designs. It’s a very natural environment.” Balancing design purity with a numbersled engineering arms race and maximum aerodynamic gains has seen automotive exotica take an aggressive turn for other manufacturers. For Matteo, the balance is simple: “With Touring I am lucky to design a piece of art – performance is not the target. Of course, I will not create holes that will compromise downforce, but I will not go to extremes to make sure it’s the ultimate track car. We will not do things where form follows function, but function often follows form in art – although it’s not simple to define what a piece of art is.” Matteo comes from design studios where clay modelling is being phased out in favour of cutting-edge technology, and he’s bringing what he’s learned to Touring – although, as he passionately explains and demonstrates over lunch, it all starts with a piece of paper. “I’m a 3D [design] guy, but I love to sketch – if I don’t do it for a few days, I go mad. Sketching will always stay, that’s for sure,” he laughs. “However, just thinking in 2D, sometimes you have limitations. The funny thing is, when you work in 3D and you come back to 2D, you are enhanced with the ability to solve some problems. It’s a ‘ping-pong’ type of sequence, both empowering each other.” While 3D modelling is not new, the use of VR CGI is. “I’m pushing for it a lot, because the software and technology are now reaching photo-realistic levels,” Matteo says. He uses Unreal Engine, more commonly known for computer gaming, to render ideas. “In one day we can configure the volume, have a few more sketches, then configure the volume again and, at the end of the day, visualise it in a 3D space with a realistic-looking photo.” Aside from the clear advantages in terms of cost and time savings, it also helps to make the crafting of a truly bespoke car much more collaborative with the customer, wherever they are in the world. “It’s extremely helpful because, in a few days, we can evaluate a lot of volumes, understand the right direction and show the customer something that is 90 percent close to the final product,” Matteo explains. “For us it is nice to take them into part of the process, and build their dream. We’re fortunate that our customers have great taste; we are guiding them, they are guiding us. I think it will be the perfect combination between technology and Touring’s tradition in the future.” Both Matteo and Markus remain tight-lipped 120

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on what those plans are – even several glasses of Ceretto’s finest cannot loosen the grip of non-disclosure agreements – but you can expect to see what Touring has up its sleeve at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in 2024. However, any future developments must be done in close collaboration with a manufacturer. “The old coachbuilding model, the romantic idea of selecting a capable donor, then taking it apart and building something much nicer, is impossible,” Markus says. “Now we have connected services, six-year warranties and OEMs moving to being ‘service providers’. “It’s impossible for Touring to create a vehicle that would have a lower amount of functionality and services than the donor, because the call centre would not answer the call. We can only successfully build with a platform supplier working hand in hand with us.” Of course, those platforms will be increasingly taking the EV route; Markus believes Touring’s customers are pragmatic on the subject: “I think we’ll see collectors who have two hearts in their chest – they’re collecting icons and at the same time they buy performance. Those with the fascination of speed realise that time is moving on, and if speed is generated by electric power, then so be it. But we have others who come to us and say, we want ICE, and nothing else. For Touring, for the next few years, we’ll try to leverage our past and provide a GT for several segments of the market.” One market sector that will be avoided is SUVs, although Markus admits it’s something he did consider, before rejecting it on the basis

‘It’s a taste of the truly special that should be cherished’

that they’re too ‘everyday’ for a Touring project. “However, Touring’s expertise could be used to ‘help’ the design of an existing car – the Aston Martin SUV is a good example,” he chuckles. Given Touring Superleggera’s close history with Aston Martin – “We designed the world’s most famous car!” he laughs – it does beg the question as to whether there could be a future collaboration, but again his lips are sealed. “I’m Swiss: I’m neutral on the matter,” he smiles. That neutrality applies to Markus’s view on another big subject in the coachbuilding world – Continuations, or perhaps even restomods. Does Touring’s vibe correlate? He appreciates what Singer has done – he grew up with 911s – and admires its success. “It’s an appealing product, and Singer’s approach seems to resonate,” he says. “I would be very happy to make a business model along the lines of what Singer does – I wouldn’t rule it out.” Speaking more generally about the future, Markus is keen to widen Touring’s scope. “For our portfolio I can well imagine an entry-point model that is below the 6000 hours it currently takes Touring to build a car, for a product that takes 3000 hours,” he says. “I’d like to reach out to a younger demographic, to establish the name in a wider group of aficionados, a group that is below the hardcore buyers of a €1.5m car. The idea is in its early stages, but we need to go for a project for younger buyers, who had poster cars of the 1980s and ’90s on their walls.” This, of course, brings its own challenges. With the predominant styling trend among hypercars and the wider enthusiast market aiming towards the aggressive, how can Touring’s three pillars of softness, elegance and intelligence stand out? “Marketing only flies if it’s true, and that means you have to respect your DNA,” Markus smiles. “I think we will be capable of finding customers who resonate with style and elegance, and have an appreciation for creating an object. It is a niche, but Touring has always been about addressing this niche.” After a couple of days with the RH95, it’s a niche I can well understand – even if its mid-engined nature doesn’t sit with Touring Superleggera’s future. As a visual experience, it invigorates the soul in a way supercars used to. Much like the truffles, shaved over lovingly hand-made pasta, accompanied by a synapsesizzling fine wine, it’s a taste of the truly special that should be cherished. If the RH95 experience is carried on to the future of Touring, that’s something worth raising a glass to. Thanks to Emanuele Bedetti and all at Touring Superleggera (www.touringsuperleggera.eu), and Roberta and all at Ceretto (www.ceretto.com).

MORE THAN JUST CAR STORAGE Henry’s Car Barn is way more than just car storage. Established in the early 80s, we have grown into a destination for car culture. Find out more on our website. WWW.HENRYSCARBARN.CO.UK

THE CAR THAT MADE THE COMPANY AND PUT ELVIS IN A SPIN

Words Julian Balme

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Photography Matt Howell

ISTER, IF SHE FEELS AS GOOD AS SHE looks, you’ve got a deal.” With that, our movie hero, the former King of Rock ’n’ Roll, takes off in a cloud of dust behind the wheel of a golden racing sports car, the Fox Five. The scene, shot at the Ascot oval dirt track in Gardena, California in early 1966, comes about midway through the feature film Spinout, the 22nd product of Elvis Presley’s Hollywood exile and the second in which he played the role of a racing driver. Yes, it’s a stinker and rightfully resides in the book The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time, yet for fans of big-engined West Coast sports car racing, it has a hypnotic allure much like that of a flame to a moth. The 7.0-litre Cobra, Old Yeller IV (painted blue), a Grand Sport roadster lookalike and a bright red Cheetah all have walkon parts behind the Fox Five, the name given to a very special McLaren-Elva M1A. As an aside, and no doubt a strange coincidence, in his first racing-derived film Viva Las Vegas, Elvis ‘drove’ an Elva MkVI – maybe it was something to do with the similarity of the name of the limitedproduction car from Rye to his own. Mike McCoy, Presley’s Spinout character, is – wait for it – a singer in a band, as well as a

ABOVE Elvis was arguably outshone by the automotive cast in the 1966 film Spinout – not one of the King’s better movies...

McLaren-Elva M1A

part-time racing driver who tows his Cobra from track to track with a 1929 Model J Duesenberg. McCoy is an advocate of the single life, so it’s too bad that he’s being chased by not one but three ladies hell-bent on matrimony – in addition to being pursued by business tycoon Howard Foxhugh, who wants McCoy to drive his new car in an upcoming road race. What’s a good-looking boy from Tupelo, Mississippi supposed to do, other than trouser the $750,000 ‘acting’ fee along with 40 percent of the movie’s profits? The film culminates with the big race, a double-speed, back-projected, tyres-squealingon-dirt, farcical showdown involving the entire automotive cast – including a Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet that, upon leaving the road and ending up in a river, miraculously turns into a Triumph TR4. Le Mans it ain’t; no wonder the King was rumoured to have grown increasingly depressed during the making of Spinout. He allegedly put on 20kg in weight during production, as is attested to by his blue race overalls appearing tighter than usual in several scenes. Tragically there would be another nine of these soul-destroying celluloid torturefests – including a third racing-based movie, Speedway – before Elvis could leave this particular building. The golden sports car, on the other hand, was simply resting between roles. It had already hit box-office gold twice – initially as the main attraction on the Elva Cars stand at the 1965 Racing Car Show, before going on to co-star with Graham Hill in a quartet of races for ‘big bangers’. On its public debut, chassis number M1A20-01 was painted white with a broad, dark green stripe running up the centre, which then curved around and back down the car’s flanks just below the sill tops. The mean, shark-nosed racer looked every bit the weapon to take on the new wave of V8-engined machines such as the Lotus 30 and Lola T70. It was the brainchild of Bruce McLaren and his team of Yanks and Kiwis based in the suburbs of southwest London, although the car’s roots went back to years earlier on the other side of the Atlantic. In late 1961, a young Roger Penske bought a wrecked, rear-engined Cooper Formula 1 car from Briggs Cunningham that had been crashed by Walt Hansgen at Watkins Glen. Having dragged it back home to Wayne, Pennsylvania, Penske proceeded to turn it into a rulebook-mocking ‘sports car’. Although not the first special to have a centre seat, it was unpopular with other competitors from the moment it turned up at its first race in October 1962, at Riverside, California. Powered by Jack Brabham’s spare Indy engine, a 2.7-litre

THIS SPREAD McLaren’s marriage with Elva wasn’t without its troubles, mainly thanks to a clash of the firms’ working cultures.

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Coventry Climax FPF, the newly christened Zerex Special (a brand of antifreeze produced by team sponsor Dupont) was little more than an F1 car with a fully enveloping body. Despite the protests Penske was able to prove that his car met every letter, if not the intent, of the rules, before triumphing over Dan Gurney and Jim Hall on the track. A week later he won again at Laguna Seca, but immediately afterwards the SCCA governing body bowed to pressure and stipulated changes to the car, including moving the driver’s seat. Roger duly won again in November, and became USAC sports car champion. For 1963, further demands were made of Penske to alter the car – two ‘proper’ seats equally fixed either side of the centreline and subsequent chassis alterations being the main changes. Soon after he sold the special, along with his services, to the Texas-based Mecom Racing Team – under whose banner he ventured to England, enjoying a highly successful outing in the fledgling Guards Trophy for sports prototypes at Brands Hatch. He won. Again. By the end of that year, the project, along with an aluminium Oldsmobile V8, had been bought from Mecom via Tyler Alexander by Teddy Mayer, a co-director of newly created Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. Young Cooper Works F1 driver Bruce had always aspired to building his own car, and the Zerex Special, by now rechristened the CooperOldsmobile, was the perfect first rung on the ladder to achieving that goal. Simply getting the car to comply with UK racing regulations presented the new team with quite a challenge, however. Lighting, a spare wheel and luggage compartments all had to be added, and then, of course, there was the installation of the Olds engine and its exhaust system – the latter giving a drag-boat vibe thanks to the near-vertical zoomies sticking up from the rear bodywork. Nevertheless, in May 1964 the Cooper-Oldsmobile was shipped to Canada, where in Bruce’s more-than-capable hands it won the lucrative Mosport 200 race. McLaren was off and running. New premises were soon found in Belvedere Works, Feltham and work immediately started on the firm’s initial scratch build. The first true McLaren was very much a joint effort, and largely born out of intuition rather than engineering practice. With Bruce at the helm providing ideas and incentive, airplane designer Tony Hilder crafted a beautiful scale model, Wally Willmott and Tyler Alexander constructed the relatively conservative underpinnings, and Eoin Young and Teddy Mayer took care of the logistics. Designated the M1, the car was made 134

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McLaren-Elva M1A

ABOVE Hill’s relationship with the M1A – in which he raced four times in the UK and US – was a chequered one.

McLaren-Elva M1A

up of a simple spaceframe chassis with an alloy body crafted by Peels of Kingston. Power was courtesy of the 3.9-litre Oldsmobile engine, which was now mated to a specially ordered four-speed version of the Hewland HD gearbox. Finished in New Zealand racing colours of black and silver, the M1 looked terrific and immediately engendered a huge amount of pride in the Kiwi members of the team. Making its racing debut in September 1964 back at Mosport, the combination of the M1 and Bruce set a new lap record and finished third, despite a frustrating pitstop costing four laps as a result of throttle-linkage issues. A week later the pair were leading at Riverside when a water pipe blew off, and then another small problem with the gearbox tripped them up the following weekend at Laguna Seca. Despite these disappointments interest in the M1 from potential owners was immense, and the promise of orders made the decision to build a customer version easier. Tying up capital and workforce in such an endeavour didn’t really appeal to Bruce and Mayer, but a chance meeting with Elva’s Frank Nichols led to an admirable solution. Now owned by Trojan, Elva was looking for a car to produce, and consequently the idea of building 20-odd M1As for the new boys at BMMR was a perfect fit for both parties. Or at least so it appeared. The marriage wasn’t without its troubles, with the mixture of two very different cultures being at the heart of most disagreements. The McLaren crew weren’t ones for producing drawings until they’d proven to themselves that something actually worked, whereas Elva’s teams in Croydon and Rye always started with a drawing, whether the part was right or wrong. Even deciding on whether the car should be named an Elva-McLaren or a McLaren-Elva created a fair amount of debate between the companies – Meyer’s background as a lawyer proving to win the day in favour of the latter. Although the intention for the M1A had been to mirror the M1, the two turned out quite differently. Howden Ganley, who joined McLaren before the end of 1964, recalled his surprise at how much bigger the customer car was. The first, chassis 20-01 seen here, was bodied by Williams & Pritchard, the moulds for the remainder of the run being taken from it. As displayed at Olympia in January 1965, it sat with a Traco-modified Oldsmobile V8 behind the driver. The legendary West Coast engine builder Travis and Coon had enlarged the unit to 4.5 litres, whereby it was now producing a still-modest 350bhp albeit in a much lighter package than, say, the Lotus 30. Given that no one in the UK had seen the M1 136

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race, a number of M1A orders still came in off the back of the Racing Car Show – the list headed by John Coombs. The Guildford-based Jaguar dealer was a great supporter of Bruce and was keen to see him do well, hence him buying the first-off-the-line example in the Kiwi’s new venture. Although a successful driver in his own right, Coombs had stepped back to become an entrant, employing the services of top-flight names – Graham Hill being his regular number one. ‘Noddy’, as Hill’s children had apparently nicknamed Coombs after his similarity to the Enid Blyton character, would enter car no. 20-01 in four races during 1965: three in the UK and one in the US. Now freshly painted pale grey, the M1A’s first outing was scheduled for March 20 at Silverstone’s Senior Service 200 meeting. This much-anticipated sports car encounter was the first of the season for the increasing number of V8-powered big bangers. The weather couldn’t have been worse. Torrential rain lashed the Northamptonshire airfield, leaving tractionrobbing puddles everywhere. According to Autosport’s report Hill didn’t appear especially comfortable in the car, and he qualified on only the third row of the grid. It probably didn’t help that the Olds engine was being drowned, with both banks of cylinders rarely firing in unison. Graham threw in the towel after three laps, along with a number of others, Bruce included. Jim Clark would take an unlikely win in the Lotus 30 after 18 laps, when the race and the meeting were abandoned. Hill was not very complimentary about the McLaren’s handling, and it soon became clear that the customer cars weren’t being finished by Elva as well as had been hoped. Ganley was sent within days of delivery to John Coundley Racing to resolve issues on its M1A, and before long he was being summoned by Noddy’s chief engineer Roland Law to sort out the Coombs car. Allegedly he found a loose steering rack, along with front wishbones mounted upside down. It wouldn’t be until June’s Guards Trophy meeting at Mallory that Hill and the M1A were

‘The promise of orders made the decision to build a customer version of the M1 easier’

on track again, this time with a much more encouraging result. From the outside of the front row Graham shot into the lead of the first heat, but after nine laps he lost a cylinder and, with it, the lead to pole-sitter David Hobbs. Despite this he struggled on and managed to retake the lead at the hairpin on the last lap, giving chassis 20-01 its one and only victory by eight-tenths of a second. Incredibly, the average speed of the McLaren was 98.38mph around the Leicestershire track – and this is a circuit with a second-gear hairpin. Before the second heat, the team discovered a camshaft problem and decided to retire gracefully. The car’s final appearance in the UK was at the Brands Hatch Guards Trophy meeting on August Bank Holiday – a heavyweight contest that drew a spectacular grid and a huge crowd (the circuit’s largest to date). This was no wonder given that these hairy sports cars were now lapping quicker than their contemporary F1 counterparts. As one commentator claimed, it was the finest collection of brute force ever assembled at a British track. At an average speed of 99mph, ‘Big John’ Surtees secured pole by two seconds from Hill, who, encouragingly for the privateers, had qualified half a second quicker than Bruce. The good cheer was short-lived, because by the time the pack arrived at Hawthorn Bend on the opening lap, Hill started to fall backwards, losing place after place as the engine suffered from both electrical and fuel-feed problems. At the end of the opening tour, he took to the pits and remained there for most of the race’s duration. He fared little better in the second heat, managing only two laps before taking to the pits again. Two months later, in October 1965, 20-01, Coombs and Hill were basking in the Californian sunshine at Riverside for the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix meeting, of which over 40 entries were packing eight-cylinder engines. Graham qualified fourth and was circulating well in third place, until on lap 26 a wheel stud broke, losing the rim and tyre, and pitching the McLaren into a spin on the main straight. He was no doubt happy to walk away from a car with which he’d had a chequered time. Rather than shipping 20-01 home, Noddy found a willing buyer at $9446 in the Beverly Hills resident and former Cheetah racer Jerry Entin. With the car still in grey and numbered 55, he contested the first annual Stardust GP just a month later in Las Vegas, and finished 12th. But before he could enter any more races, Hollywood – via his friend Bruce Kessler, the second unit director on Spinout – would come knocking, and demand: “We need to paint it gold...” With thanks to M1A owner Egon Zweimüller.

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1965 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible

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A skilled and disciplined racing driver, as well as a pragmatic engineer with the inspiration, determination and vision to take on and beat the greatest teams in motor sport. Bruce McLaren died far too young – and 53 years on, his loss is still keenly felt

Words David Tremayne

“LIFE,” BRUCE MCLAREN ONCE SAID, “IS measured in achievement, not in years alone.” The first chapter of the epic McLaren team story began in September 1963. Although Bruce would head up the outfit for only seven years of its six decades, 53 years after his death the team he founded is still running at the front of Grand Prix races in its 60th season. It’s an indelible testament to the foundation he laid in his all-too-short 32 years. And yet… There’s a well known photo of the man whose eponymous cars won GPs as well as CanAm sports car and Formula 5000 championships under his guidance, and would go on after his passing to win the Indianapolis 500, at Le Mans and in Formula 2. Not even Ferrari has managed such a breadth of success. But in this image, he wasn’t posing with a successful boss’s hauteur; he was happily sweeping the workshop floor. That told you as much about Bruce Leslie McLaren, a man to whom there was no side, as that far-sighted philosophical statement, or those stellar achievements. His personal odyssey ended tragically at 12:22pm on June 2, 1970. It was a Tuesday, and he was in his element doing the usual grunt work that he relished – testing his new M8D CanAm racer at Goodwood, the old-school circuit nestling in Sussex’s South Downs. He’d done this a thousand times, and it was one of the cornerstone secrets of his team’s remarkable success, that attention to detail and development work. But this time, when the ‘Batmobile’ tail tore off as he sped down the Lavant Straight, the instant loss of crucial rear downforce threw the M8D into a wild gyration. Two years earlier he had told writer Pete Manso what drivers did when they lost control, in the days when flimsy aluminium monocoque chassis had nothing approaching the inherent

strength and resistance of today’s carbonfibrecomposite structures that new custodians of the McLaren name would pioneer ten years later. “You are thinking very clearly and carefully, and doing a lot of things in a very short space of time to endeavour to minimise the accident,” he explained, in his typically straightforward and unstarry manner. “If you still have control of the situation, or there’s a chance of your retaining control, you probably don’t get very scared. In the event of, say, a wheel coming off and having no control, then obviously you’re apprehensive but you’re not frozen. You’re still in complete control of yourself. You’ve got your head down, you’re bracing yourself against whichever way the car is going to hit whatever it is it’s going to hit. You know, you’re ultra-alert even though you’re probably nervous.” Yet that day the M8D slid broadside at well over 100mph into a concrete-reinforced earth bank protecting an abandoned marshals’ post. Bruce was rated the safest driver of them all, but he had no chance and died upon impact. “Too often someone pays the penalty just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a situation or a set of circumstances is such that no human being can control them,” he’d once said, poignantly describing the very circumstances of his own death. “It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability,” he had also said. And as a young kid three years into his lifelong love affair with racing, I remember being moved by words Bruce had written after the passing of business partner Teddy Mayer’s brother Tim at Longford during the 1964 Tasman Series: “Doing something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy.” McLaren’s very close friend, mechanic Tyler Alexander, recalled in his own inimitable style in his autobiography: “Of course the factory

was in a terrible state, with the feeling of doom and gloom as the shock, sadness and uncertainty all came to the surface. The reality of it all was that the guy you would follow anywhere – or, as Howden Ganley once said, ‘single file across the Sahara Desert’ – was now gone. The world of motor racing can be tough. It’s times like these when you have to get ahold of yourself and keep people together – in this case, the people who helped make Bruce McLaren Motor Racing the team that it was. It was now time to use things that we all learned from Bruce, without showing personal sorrow.” Teddy Mayer and joint managing director Phil Kerr broke the terrible news, telling staff to take the next day off. Yet, to a man, they turned up at work by eight o’clock the next morning, such was their regard for their fallen leader. But who was this man who could inspire such moving loyalty? Well, there was a time when becoming a race driver seemed impossible. Soon after his ninth birthday, sharp pain in Bruce’s left hip hospitalised him amid fears of polio. But he had contracted Perthes’ disease, the softening of the femoral head that could prevent some from ever walking again. In Auckland’s Wilson Home for Crippled Children, he lay in traction on a contraption called a Bradshaw frame for two years. “He was washed on it, educated on it, the whole lot,” his mother Ruth revealed. Eventually he recovered – but his left leg was an inch and a half shorter than the right, and even with a built-up shoe he walked with a distinctive limp. It would not, however, affect his ability to drive. He began to explore that in the 1929 Austin 7 his father Les, or ‘Pop’ as he was better known, restored in the workshop of the service station he and Ruth ran in Remuera in Auckland. That was where Bruce developed his fascination with engineering, and his first competition Magneto

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Bruce McLaren

‘When things weren’t going right, he just smiled a little less often’

came at a hillclimb in Muriwai. He was 14, and he won his class. Further exploits in a Ford 10 special and an Austin-Healey led to a Formula 2 Cooper Climax. And by 1957 the young boy who had not been expected to walk again was the runner-up in the prestigious New Zealand championship. His driving in his home country’s 1958 GP so impressed the New Zealand International Grand Prix Organisation that he was elected as its inaugural Driver to Europe. Fifth place in an F2 Cooper in the German GP at the old Nürburgring earned Bruce a seat alongside Jack Brabham in the Works Cooper F1 team for 1959. He was just 22 years and 80 days old when he won that season’s US Grand Prix, making him the youngest GP winner at the time. He followed that with victory in the opening round of the 1960 World Championship in Argentina, finishing the year runner-up to his team-mate as Jack won his second title. Another victory followed for Cooper at Monaco in 1962, when McLaren was third overall. In September the following year he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, beginning by racing and winning with Worksbased Coopers in the Tasman Series, then building sports cars bearing his own name. Ford Motor Company harnessed his singular engineering nous to develop the swift but wayward GT40, and he left Cooper for 1966 to set up his own McLaren F1 team. Fittingly he won the Le Mans 24 Hours epic for Ford that year, with fellow Kiwi Chris Amon. His own M1 sports racers also began winning races. There were many ironies in his passing. He was not a leadfoot, but a smooth and calculating driver who believed that painstaking preparation and testing were just as important as the ultimate ability to pull out a fast lap. His ego was always under control. Jackie Stewart never forgot the day they’d both tested 142

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Bruce McLaren

Ken Tyrrell’s F3 Cooper at Goodwood. Ken asked Bruce to set a bogey time, and then Jackie did his run to see how he compared. Each time he beat Bruce’s new best lap, Esso’s Reg Tanner urged Tyrrell: “Get that boy signed up, quick!” Bruce never took umbrage at being upstaged by a rookie. He just wasn’t that sort of guy. One of his greatest virtues was that he didn’t believe he could do everything. He recognised that, in setting up his own team, he could not be driver, designer and manager. And he was astute enough to gather the right people around him. Writer Eoin Young had followed him to Europe as his secretary; Teddy ran the firm with Phil; men of the calibre of Robin Herd and Gordon Coppuck designed the cars; Wally Willmott and Tyler Alexander fabricated parts and wielded the spanners. Bruce was the good cop, Teddy the bad, in a perfect double act. Everybody loved Bruce – and Teddy, ‘The Weiner’, didn’t care whether people loved him. Bruce was the catalyst, the guiding light who got the best out of them all, the glue holding everything together. The benign personality who engendered loyalty. In a moving tribute in his Straight From the Grid column in Autocar, Eoin wrote: “If Mark Donohue is Captain Nice in America, Bruce McLaren was General Nice in Europe. It’s hard to take an objective look at a man like McLaren because he never seemed to have any bad points. It didn’t seem possible that anyone in his line of business could be cheerful all the time. When things weren’t going right, he just smiled a little less often.” And Eoin postulated that much of Bruce’s success lay in the fact that the boss was the same age as so many of the people he chose to work alongside him, and the trust he placed in the numerous New Zealanders to whom he gave their big chance. Alluding, perhaps, to that photo of the man with the broom, he added: “A visitor to the factory would have been hard pressed to pick out the worker who had his name on the wall outside.” Fellow New Zealand constructor George Begg, who had worked for Bruce, provided further crucial insight to explain why McLaren hired Young. “Eoin probably thought that Bruce was being kind with the offer and only made it to save him from a life as a journalist on a provincial newspaper. Now Bruce’s mind did not work like that – he may not have been able to explain his reason in words, but somewhere he knew that in the near future Eoin would be vital for what he had in mind – building and running his own cars. Bruce himself explained away his employing of Eoin by saying: ‘Well, some other drivers have a secretary, why don’t I?’ However, the reason went a lot deeper 144

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than that and probably even Bruce was not sure at the time what it was.” Inherently, it was because Eoin, like others who followed Bruce, was reliable, talented and trustworthy, and somebody Bruce could bounce ideas off. “Bruce and Eoin were to survive,” Begg thought, when discussing the tough financial days early on, “because underlying their dreams was an awareness that long-term success only came to those who recognised their obligations to others.” When New Zealander Denny Hulme joined Bruce for the Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series in 1967, and then for F1 in 1968 as the reigning World Champion, the first stages of the marque’s reputation were truly forged. On the debut of Robin Herd’s Ford Cosworthpowered M7A Bruce won the non-championship Race of Champions, and Denny followed with success in the International Trophy race. Later, at Spa, Bruce became only the second man, after Jack Brabham, to win a GP in a car bearing his name, and with victories in Italy and Canada Hulme made a late but unsuccessful bid to retain his title. A year later Denny won in Mexico. But it was in the highly lucrative CanAm series that the ‘orange elephants’ really ruled, in the Bruce and Denny Show. In 1967 Works McLarens won five of the six races; in 1968 four out of six (the other two fell to private McLarens); in 1969, all 11. Bruce took the title in ’67, Denny in ’68, and Bruce again in ’69. In the immediate aftermath of Bruce’s death,

‘He was the catalyst, the guiding light, the glue holding everything together’

his team missed the Belgian GP. But a week later Dan Gurney, driving Bruce’s car, won the opening CanAm race at Mosport. Hulme was an heroic third, despite racing with hands badly burned in a methanol fire at Indianapolis. Racers to the core, the team took ten of the 11 rounds. Denny won that 1970 title. For Bruce. Theirs was a symbiotic friendship, and they regarded the big sports cars as the perfect antidote to F1. Hulme once rocked back and tittered heartily at one of Bruce’s remarks, and then said: “You know the reason that this team is so successful is that we have a better time than anyone else.” Thanks primarily to the fortitude and love of Denny, Dan, Teddy, Phil and Tyler, it survived. “The 40th anniversary of Bruce’s death,” then team boss Martin Whitmarsh said, “gives us the opportunity to reflect on his legacy, and to appreciate just how much of his vision still lives on within our team. Bruce made his name not only as a skilled and disciplined racing driver, but also as a pragmatic engineer with the inspiration, vision and determination to take on and beat the greatest teams in motor sport. “It’s an ethos that still holds true, and one which Ron Dennis was careful to foster and promote when he assumed control of the team in 1980. Through Ron’s guidance and stewardship, McLaren remains a company that is passionate about technology and engineering, and which is set apart by its keen sense of competition, attention to detail and desire to be the best. “Bruce’s values have seen us maintain a winning legacy throughout six decades of competition, and have rewarded us with victories in the F1 World Championship, the North American CanAm series, the Indy 500, Formula 5000 and the Le Mans 24 Hours. Winning will always be central to the McLaren DNA. We are honoured to uphold the McLaren name. And, for many millions of people around the world, the name McLaren is motor racing – there can be no greater testament to Bruce than that.” Those words still hold good today. McLaren still reveres Bruce, and a beautiful M8D forms part of the display of historic cars on the boulevard within the ultra-modern factory in Woking. On one anniversary they followed a minute’s silence there by giving its 7.5-litre Chevy V8 full beans for a minute. When it was over, some employees savouring bygone days long before they were born, they all cheered. When I heard that story I always liked to believe that in some hallowed place above us, where the spirits of the good guys live on, Denny would have been tittering in approval as Bruce nodded his head and smiled his shy smile, while noting with an engineer’s satisfaction that the big motor wasn’t missing a beat.

THR E E G E NE R A T IO N S O F O N E F A MIL Y O W N E R S HIP

A WI N N I N G F OR MU LA

T H E LAST K N O WN 4 ½ L FR EES TONE & W EBB S AL OON

H A R R I S ON BOD I E D BE N TLEY

OUR

O VE R

WORKSHOP

4,500

PREPARING FOR THE TOUGHEST

LINES OF

EVENTS IN THE WORLD

PR OV EN PAR TS

Photography Mike Dodd, Tom Bunning Words David Lillywhite

Haute carture

It’s often said that coachbuilding is back – but has it ever gone to such extreme detail as in Rolls-Royce’s new Amethyst Droptail?

Rolls-Royce coachbuilding

THERE’S A HUGE RANGE OF BESPOKE options available to Rolls-Royce buyers, but for a very select few there’s another way entirely; to have a hand in designing a one-off model. One hundred years ago, the biggest stars and most successful business people would do exactly that, via individual coachbuilding companies that would have been supplied with a contemporary Rolls-Royce chassis. And now? Now the marque will do the same thing: witness the 2017 Sweptail, the 2021 Boat Tail – and in 2023 not one but two distinctly different Droptails. The example you see here is the Amethyst Droptail, which we were able to see close-up behind closed doors at RollsRoyce’s Goodwood factory; the other is La Rose

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Noire Droptail, unveiled during Monterey Car Week. We don’t know of any greater examples of how far bespoke coachbuilding has come – or rather, how far it can go. A few brief examples to pique your interest: the watchmaking-inspired, half-brushed, halfpolished finish on the Droptail’s front grille was created by hand over 50 painstaking hours. Ten hours of preparation, ten hours of polishing, ten hours of masking and 20 hours of brushing the stainless steel. The veneer of the interior and the rear deck – the latter the automotive world’s only wooden aerodynamic structure, by the way – required the examination of no fewer than 100 logs over a period of more than six months before the

BELOW AND OPPOSITE Full-size clay was created to allow the designers and client to perfect the body shape together, including that

‘turret-top’ removable roof; Droptail interior incorporates this curved veneer section around the entire rear of the cockpit.

‘The client gave a very clear set of instructions on how this bespoke car should look’

BELOW There’s never been a Rolls-Royce like this: the kinked grille and deep-set lights are firsts, and you can just make out some of the 202 ingots in the front lower air intake.

perfect colour and shade were found. During the summer of 2023, well before the first pictures were released of the Amethyst Droptail, Magneto took a trip through the factory to the side that few visitors see, a world away from the visitors’ entrance and its perfectly tended lawns and cube-shaped trees. In a bare unit behind an unmarked shutter door we found the new car, removable roof set to one side. Days later it would be presented to its exacting client in Switzerland – actually a family with a long history in the dealing of gemstones, a passion for haute horology and a very clear set of instructions on how this bespoke Rolls-Royce should look. These varied from the terrain and climate that the car would be used in to the inspirations for the colours required in the exterior and interior palettes. With homes located around the world, the family will want to drive the car in Europe and particularly in the Alps, in chilly conditions, as well as in much hotter climes where it will be used open-top. The compromises of a soft-top would not be acceptable, so a removable roof would be required. Colour-wise, the clients sent in a sample of

calamander light wood for guidance, along with requests for inspiration from amethyst gemstones as well as the globe amaranth wildflower, which blooms in the desert near one of the family’s homes. The creative process would be one of collaboration between the clients and the designers involved, led by design director Anders Warming and head of coachbuild design Alex Innes. The new car would be based around RollsRoyce’s Architecture of Luxury platform, just as the company’s production models are. Although the new Spectre EV is also built on this platform, the Amethyst Droptail would be powered by a V12, using a mix of materials for the bodywork: aluminium for the bonnet; steel for the front wings and doors; carbonfibre for the rear panels and lower sections; and wood for that long, sloping deck. Spoilers and other such aero devices would be distinctly off-brand, of course. Instead, the aerodynamics would have to be designed to produce sufficient downforce for such a highpower, high-speed car by accelerating the airflow over the deck rather than creating drag. Anders and Alex explained to us how early renderings depicted the generous sides, a high

Rolls-Royce coachbuilding

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Rolls-Royce coachbuilding

‘collar’ around the cockpit, reduced surfacing and an unusually sporty and aggressive stance for a Rolls-Royce. The car would be long and low, exaggerated by an overhanging bonnet and a transom rear. The trademark grille and Spirit of Ecstasy were non-negotiable... except that the vanes of the grille would be kinked for the first time in marque history. All these shapes were worked into a full clay model that the client was able to view, touch and have tweaked in person. This was then translated into the car you see on these pages, its panels hand-formed with lines that are even more crisp than our images show. In the same way, some of the effect of the paintwork is lost in the pictures. Believe it or not, the duotone finish replicates the different stages of blooming of the flower chosen by the client as inspiration, with the lighter tone made iridescent by the use of powdered aluminium, and the deeper contrast paint containing a blend of red, blue and violet mica flakes that combine into a unique metallic mauve. That same colour also shows up in sunlight on the inside edges of the 22in wheels. On the carbonfibre sections of bodywork, a unique chevron pattern weave is just visible through a fine layer of tinted lacquer that appears as body colour in most lights. Down low, the 3D-printed composite front intake incorporates 202 handpolished stainless-steel ingots. Despite all this, it’s the cockpit and wooden rear deck that the eye is drawn to first – at least when the removable roof is off. The interior is richly lustrous, the flawless leather created from full rather than the usual half hides, taken from Austrian bulls to avoid stretch marks, and the colours perfectly matched to the veneers. The Rolls-Royce trimmers draught paper patterns that are then laid on the hides by hand, rather than relying on digital processes. This, they say, is still the very best way to find the most appropriate sections of hide to use. The cockpit is encircled by a vast expanse of veneer that sweeps behind the seats in a flawless curve and extends along the door tops and across the facia. The spectacular rear ‘horseshoe’ section provided arguably the biggest challenge of the entire project, with even the most senior members of the Rolls-Royce woodshop saying it was the hardest piece they’ve ever had to make. Close behind that in terms of difficulty came the wooden deck, which not only has to look right and work aerodynamically, but must withstand weather and temperature extremes; all without risking unseemly squeaks and creaks. The solution was to create a new veneering 152

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process, with each sheet of veneer placed upside down to expose the raw wood texture. Two techniques were used: ‘book-matching’ at 55º, in which the sheets mirror each other, and ‘slip-matching’, in which they are aligned side by side in sequence, to create a repeating grain pattern for a natural effect that gives the illusion of a single piece of wood. To protect it, the team developed a new open-pore lacquering process, which has since been patented. Around 150 wood samples, interior and exterior, underwent more than 8000 hours of testing: full sunlight-exposure simulation and rainfastness assessment, and durability trials in temperatures ranging from +80ºC to -30ºC. This car is going to be used, and it has to last. While it’s in use, the plinth atop the high centre console will slide out of sight to reveal the infotainment system, before gliding back into place once the car is at rest, to hide it away. There is a similar trick on the unique

‘Inspiration came from amethyst gemstones and the globe amaranth wildflower’

Vacheron Constantin timepiece (named Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon) in the facia, which can be covered, twisted 90º to view the mechanism, turned 45º to wind it or removed altogether for safekeeping. And then there are the more subtle touches, which have to be pointed out initially. How about the amethyst gemstones in the round dials of the switchgear and around the base of the prow-mounted Spirit of Ecstasy? All are shaped in a convex cabochon style rather than faceted which, in non-jeweller’s speak, means they have a less conspicuous sparkle. We’ve barely even mentioned the roof yet, either. It was created in carbonfibre, with panoramic electrochromic glass that allows the surface to change colour and transparency instantly. When deactivated it is completely opaque and has a subtle purple tint, but at the touch of a button it becomes translucent with a hue that matches the colour of the interior. Rolls-Royce went through 60 iterations of glass colouring before a perfect match was found. The more you look, the more innovative touches are revealed. The hidden door locks, the woven leather floormats (a tribute to the traditional weaving crafts found in the souks of the client’s original home region), the unique badging – and simply the way the light catches the car’s colours. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail showcases modern coachbuilding perfectly.

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Meet Chevrolet’s cloaked response to the Le Mans-chasing Ford Total Performance initiative – the radical four-wheel-drive CERV II

Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx

Words Karl Ludvigsen

‘Duntov would take full advantage of all he’d learned with the CERV II in his future Corvette designs’

THIS AMAZING AUTOMOBILE WAS conceived in the autumn of 1963 as a contender for victory in the great international longdistance races. General Motors’ styling team marked the official start of project XP-817 as September 27, 1963. A year earlier, Ford had unveiled its mid-engined Mustang at Watkins Glen. This was an early stage of the Blue Oval’s Total Performance initiative, openly promoted as the forerunner of a future Ford sports-racer to compete on the world’s great circuits. The US giant’s negotiations to buy Ferrari for this purpose hit the buffers in February ’63. Instead, on July 1, it hired the exclusive services of British racing specialist Lola to help it build a car that could wave the Ford flag at the worldfamous Le Mans 24 Hours. For fierce rival Chevrolet, this was a step too far. Boss Semon ‘Bunkie’ Knudsen approved the plans of his Corvette honcho Zora Arkus-Duntov to show that the Bowtie could do better. CERV II – as this car became known – wasn’t the first Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle II. The same name was given to a reardrive spaceframe roadster conceived in 1962 to compete in long-distance racing as a 4.0-litre

BELOW Distinctive CERV II was Chevy’s counterstrike to Ford’s early-1960s planned hit on global endurance racing.

prototype. It never progressed to the metal, in favour of the lightweight Sting Ray Grand Sport. Chevy’s XP-817 plan called for the building of a prototype plus five actual cars to be ‘purchased’ by well established teams to take to the races. They would be entered at arm’s length from the brand to evade GM’s noncompetition policy, much as such teams were entering NASCAR with race-prepped Chevys. World Sportscar Championship events posed no limit on engine size. This meant Zora, his designer Walt Zetye and his technicians Ernie Lumus and Bob Kethmann could think big when planning a motor for the car. Their choice was one of the most exotic V8s in Duntov’s capacious cabinet of power, a very special aluminium unit. It had a single overhead cam on each bank, driven by a train of gears in pure racing-engine style. The cams operated two valves per cylinder through rocker arms, feeding hemispherical combustion chambers. Displacing 377ci (6.2 litres), this V8 was developed to produce more than 500bhp by Zora’s engine team of Cal Wade, Fred Frincke and Denny Davis. While it was being tested in parallel, the motor actually used in the CERV II

was an all-aluminium 377ci unit with pushrod valve gear such as the ones used in the Grand Sport Corvettes at the end of 1963. In fact, the engines and other components in those GS racers were being evaluated in the December meetings at Nassau to determine their suitability for the CERV II. The powerplant installed in the CERV II prototype was fed by Hilborn constant-flow injection instead of the Weber carburettors used in the Bahamas. This allowed methanol fuel to be used, so that the output of the overhead-cam V8 could be simulated during development of the new car’s chassis. Putting this power on the pavement was the next requirement. Thanks to Duntov’s close relationship with Firestone, the CERV II was able to use the most advanced racing tyres then available. Zora was the first external engineer to be able to test the new, wider, lowprofile shoes the rubber giant was developing late in 1963 for the 1964 Indy race. He found them highly adhesive and gratifyingly forgiving of driver error. Duntov chose the 9.50 x 15 size for all four wheels, on 8.5-inch magnesium rims by Kelsey-Hayes. With long-distance

MICHAEL FURMAN COURTESY OF RM AUCTIONS

Chevrolet CERV II

races in view, knock-off hubs were fitted. The wheels and tyres were identical in size because Zora had decided to equip the CERV II with four-wheel drive. Belgian born and Berlin educated, he had been thinking about various ways of driving all four wheels ever since he saw the 4WD Bugatti Type 53 win a standingstart sprint in 1935. The Bugatti was so strong on the straights, but so poor in the corners, that Duntov knew there must be some way to combine good handling with the fine road grip given by 4WD. In 1937 he presented his thoughts in a technical paper on 4WD racing cars. In 1963, the first great wave of enthusiasm for 4WD machinery was still half a dozen years away. Zora elected to use the set-up because his calculations showed that it could provide a higher cornering speed plus much-improved acceleration with a very powerful engine, more than offsetting the 125lb weight handicap. Early in the 1960s, the R&D department had been experimenting with torque-converter transmissions in racing cars, which led directly to the Chevy-built unit used in the Chaparrals from 1964 onward. Duntov had planned an automatic ’box for his 1962 CERV II study, but it was a purely mechanical power-shifted trans. Considering the less efficient but far simpler torque-converter approach, Zora saw he could use it for his new car, which would be generously powered for its 1900lb design weight. Duntov took a further big step with his concept. He would drive the back wheels through one torque converter and the fronts, from the front of the engine, through another. It was a completely new principle for which Zora lodged a US patent on June 23, 1966. Never claiming to be a torque-converter specialist, Duntov presented the parameters of his proposed drive-line to GM’s engineering experts. He gave them the information and his requirements. As planned, the CERV II (or GS-3, as it was then known, later GS-10) had a static front/rear weight distribution of 46.5/53.5 percent. With a centre of gravity 14in high, the proportion of weight on the front wheels would drop to only 32 percent when the car was

accelerating at 1.0 g – well within its capability. “What I want,” Zora told the experts, “are torque converters that will deliver 35 percent of the engine torque to the front wheels at low car speeds, and up to 40 percent at higher speeds.” Excepting schemes that use separate engines to drive the front and rear wheel pairs, this was the first time anyone had tried to achieve a variation in the front/rear torque distribution of a four-wheel-drive car while it was in motion. Engineering’s Raymond P Michnay took on the job and handled it to perfection. At the back of the engine, driving the rear wheels, Michnay specified an 11in Powerglide torque converter. He modified it so it didn’t approach a locked-up or nearly one-to-one drive condition until 4500rpm. Then, for the front wheels, he provided a ten-inch converter from a Corvair Powerglide, placed ahead of the front-wheel centreline just as it was ahead of the Corvair’s rear wheels. It was rotated in the BELOW Friends for a decade, Zora Duntov invited Karl Ludvigsen to research and drive the CERV II for Motor Trend’s November 1970 issue.

‘Duntov knew there must be some way to combine good handling with 4WD road grip’ 158

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same sense by the universal-jointed shaft running forward from the front of the crankshaft. It approached lock-up at 4100rpm. Performance calculations showed that with a low final-drive ratio the CERV II would sprint from 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds and reach 115mph. With a higher ratio, top speed would be 183mph and the time to reach 60mph much longer – about four seconds. Deciding to have the best of both worlds, Duntov equipped both CERV II axles with compact two-speed ’boxes such as those used in the Chaparrals through 1965. Controlled by a single cockpit lever, the gearboxes provided a direct drive and a 1.5:1 reduction. With a 3.55:1 axle ratio, this gave speeds of 107mph in low and 160mph in high, at 6500rpm, taking into account the converters’ three percent slippage above 6000rpm. The front ’box had to be specially made with concentric shafts that allowed the torque converter to overhang the front of the chassis. Although a limited-slip diff was made for the rear-wheel drive it was never used, in favour of retaining conventional open diffs at both front and back. Open driveshafts to the wheels had

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Chevrolet CERV II

Hooke-type universal joints outboard at the rear, constant-velocity joints at the outer ends in front. Inboard ends of all four shafts had pottype UJs that allowed a plunging movement of the shafts as the suspension flexed. Unlike many 4WD cars, no attempt was made to mount the brakes inboard. Girling wheel cylinders were adapted to wider caliper bridges to accommodate ventilated discs at the hubs. The CERV II’s suspension design was disarming in its simplicity. “The front rollcentre height is about 3.5in,” said Duntov, speaking of its parallel-wishbone layout. “That’s a standard number with me. At the rear it’s about three inches above the ground.” Trailing radius rods locating the rear hub carriers, and reversed wishbones were angled to give a mild anti-squat effect. On a 4WD car there’s a tendency for the front to lift under the direct influence of drive forces. To counteract this, Walt Zetye built an anti-lift effect into the suspension by inclining the axis of the lower wishbone pivots upward toward the rear at an eight-degree angle to the horizontal. Unusual on a car intended for racing were rubber bushings for the inboard wishbone pivots; Duntov felt they should be used for their simplicity and shock absorption where the design didn’t demand a hard-surfaced bushing. The CERV II’s rear hub carriers were machined steel, and those at the front were cast nodular iron with forged-steel steering arms. Outer balljoint locations here were angled to give a steering axis that intersected with the ground three inches inboard of the tyre-patch centre. All four corners had concentric coils and adjustable Armstrong shocks. The placement at the front provided an object lesson in the packing of a lot of machinery into a small space. Ahead of the suspension was a rack-andpinion steering gear, built by GM’s Saginaw Division to Duntov’s requirements. It needed only 1.8 steering-wheel turns from lock to lock. Fabricated steel arches carrying the frontsuspension components were welded to the monocoque tub, adopted instead of the tubular spaceframe used for the 1962 study. As with that of the GT40 the CERV II’s tub was fabricated from sheet steel, 0.025in thick instead of the 0.024in and 0.028in used by Ford. The tub began at the footwell, extended back around the fuel cells at the sides – where it was stiffened with glued-on aluminium braces – and ended at the transverse firewall behind the seats. From the firewall to the rear, the big V8 was the major frame member, a design technique that later became common but was then rare and adventurous. The engine was attached to the ’wall at the front and to a 2.5in transverse 160

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FROM TOP Seen in the General Motors’ basement styling studio in late 1963, this is the body designed by Shinoda and Lapine for the open version of the CERV II. The 4WD endurance racer – known as project XP-817 – would have been a striking closed coupe, complete with generous air scoops at the sides of the cockpit. It was never run in this format, however.

tube at the back, above the torque converter – this being braced also by two 1.0in tubes at each side of the powerplant. Initial torsion tests showed that the frame structure was well below par, with a stiffness of 2000lb ft per degree. With the curve of frame deflection showing a sharp break through the engine area, measurements showed the cylinder bores were being distorted significantly by the application of torsion to the frame. Adding a four-legged tubular brace above the motor raised stiffness to a more satisfactory 5000lb ft per degree. This was, however, less than half the 12,500lb ft figure Ford quoted for its GT40. At the time the CERV II was created, driving positions were sinking ever lower to reduce the frontal areas of the power-poor 1.5-litre Formula 1 cars. Duntov decided not to cater to this trend, because his car was designed to do its job at relatively low speeds, through better acceleration and cornering, and would have a plethora of peak power with which to generate any required maximum speed. Using a more upright seating position allowed him to keep his car short, with a 90in wheelbase and 157in length. Front and rear tracks were 53.5in, and overall width 66in. Around the CERV II’s upward-ducted front radiator – a Duntov feature dating from the Corvette SS – and built-in roll bar, Larry Shinoda and Tony Lapine styled a bold body shape in the underground design studio. For the Latvianborn Lapine, this was one of his last major projects before he returned to Europe, to Opel, prior to becoming Porsche’s director of styling. Their roadster executed in glassfibre had a low, peaked nose and indentations at the rear, with ports for the twin, tuned exhausts that were part of the original plan. Quarter-scale models were tested in a California tunnel to refine the shape, before the full-size contours were confirmed. Tests showed that the body worked well. Only a slight curve in the windscreen was needed to deflect air completely clear of the driver. After high-speed trials indicated some instability, a rear ‘cow’s tongue’ spoiler was fitted, protruding from the transverse slot in the engine cover in such a way that it could be deployed when needed. This made the CERV II entirely stable at the 214mph it reached on GM’s Milford five-mile track with a high finaldrive ratio and the 377ci pushrod engine. The designers also modelled a coupe version. This had its water radiators mounted in the rear quarters of the body, requiring substantial scoops along the sides. The alternative design allowed the nose to be lower and sharper. The CERV II first rolled on its four driven wheels in March 1964. In its early tests at Jim Hall’s private and well instrumented Rattlesnake

D R I V I N G T H E C E RV I I I N 1970

Raceway at Midland, Texas, for several reasons it didn’t show to its best advantage in comparison with the rear-wheel-drive GS-2 (forerunner of the Chaparral 2C) built by the Chevrolet R&D department. The special twospeed ’box for the drive to the front wheels hadn’t been completed, so it could muster only a single ratio. Also, its brake discs were then of an experimental – and unsatisfactory — forged aluminium protected by sprayed-on facings. During the tests at Midland, the CERV II was tried by Hall and Roger Penske. Both found its traction and handling very impressive. Penske in particular liked its driving position, and said he was unable to detect any sensation that the engine was powering the front wheels as well as the back ones. At the limit in a turn the CERV II did require an unorthodox technique, because releasing the throttle tended to cause a fast flat spin. Up to that point, however, its tyres and drive system made this the only road-racing car of its era that could make full use of a very large engine and well in excess of 500bhp. In the on-again, off-again cycle of attitudes toward racing that prevailed during the Bunkie Knudsen regime at Chevrolet, the stop light facing the CERV II turned from green to red late in summer ’64. Chevy decided it didn’t want to pose an open challenge to Ford at Le Mans. (Later it did offer opposition, indirectly, with the 2D Chaparral in ’66 and the 2F in ’67.) Another Duntov programme came to a screeching halt. Several years later, for tyre tests conducted by Corvette development driver-engineer Bob Clift, the CERV II was fitted with an allaluminium ZL-1 powerplant of stock 427ci displacement. It carried a single four-barrel carburettor and individual exhaust stacks, both fitted for maximum operating ease rather than ultimate performance. External piping from the rocker covers drained oil to its wide wet sump with a swinging oil pick-up. Wider 162

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ABOVE Karl’s 1970 Motor Trend piece was the first time the CERV II – a “muscular hunk of machinery” – had been seen by the public.

rims allowed 10.50 x 15 tyres to be fitted. Thus powered, the CERV II went back to Rattlesnake Raceway to take part in tests when Chevy’s R&D guys were assessing new design approaches for the CanAm series, then in full flow. Weighing several hundred pounds more than R&D’s version of a Chaparral, it was significantly outperformed by the latter. Duntov, who hadn’t been able to attend the tests, never got over the feeling that his brainchild had deliberately been disadvantaged in some manner. Although when the prototype was conceived 4WD meant the car’s ability to make full use of a big engine was well in advance of its time, no one could foresee that the Goodyear/Firestone tyre wars would soon produce rear rubber so wide that all-wheel drive would give no roadracing advantage. The CERV II’s design didn’t allow it to run the latest wide rims at the back, so it was denied this chance to exploit its attributes. Nevertheless the CERV II’s torque-converter propulsion was shrewdly thought out, logical and effective. Considering its primary mission – long-distance racing, in which weather conditions often influence the outcome – such a system might have been useful. It would have allowed the use of narrower tyres that were less likely to aquaplane on a wet track. In the form you see, with its striking blue and white livery, the CERV II was first revealed to the world by this author in the November 1970 issue of Motor Trend. Although it never took part in a race, the car was spurred into being by the pressure of competition. Thus it made another contribution to the evolution of America’s most enduring sports car; Zora Arkus-Duntov would take full advantage of everything he’d learned with the CERV II in his future Corvette designs.

I STEPPED OVER THE DOOR AND INTO THE deep cockpit, sliding down under the Corvette wheel onto thin cushioning between the frame and the central tunnel that passed for a seat. It was a tight fit, just right at the hips and narrowing down the footwell. The wheel was low in my lap, but all in all the driving position was comfortable with just enough room. Time to try it out. The CERV II was aimed toward an open area of the skid pad at one end of the Tech Center check road, so I kept my foot off the brake as I twisted the key. The twin ’boxes were already in first or low gear. I left them there, being mainly interested in low-speed traction and handling. The big ZL-1 fired up; as the revs came up above 1500 the car started rolling, almost instantly. It felt confident, strong. I sat deep inside the enveloping cockpit, yet could see perfectly over the top of the ’screen. The steering felt smooth and quick. Only a few inches of rim movement had me orbiting the skid pad; as speed increased, there was no change in the required position. Nor did it change as I got on and off the throttle. The handling was neutral at low speeds and almost insensitive to power application. At this point I was in full agreement with those testers who couldn’t tell whether the CERV II was or was not being driven through the front wheels. You could feel no change, in effort or feedback. Then I started pushing harder. There was mild understeer at first, then the CERV II’s tail started to swing out of line. I responded normally by backing off the throttle and counter-steering, but these reactions made matters worse, prompting a quick spin to the inside. Like most newcomers to high-performance 4WD chassis I was finding the experience normal to a point, then baffling. Instead of less power, I later found, what the CERV II wanted when she got out of line was more power. Out on the test track’s turns I savoured the sensation of applying the throttle earlier and earlier coming out of bends, the CERV II hunkering down and rocketing out, tracking perfectly. On one bumpy turn I felt some mild steering-wheel reactions as the front wheels found differing levels of traction – possibly owed to shock absorbers that weren’t in the best shape. I found the brakes easy to handle, stable and powerful without demanding too much effort. On the straight I brought the 2100lb car to a stop, holding it with the brakes as I kept 500bhp-plus from stalling by blipping the throttle. Still in gear, I tried a standing start. Holding with the brakes I applied full throttle, the CERV II shuddering as the big Chevy strained against the torque converters at their 2500rpm stall speed. When I released the brakes the CERV II shot away, straight and smooth without a chirp from the Firestones. Speed climbed, scenery streamed by as the revs moved up to 3500, roared even faster to 6000, then the 6500 rev limit. With spectacular ease and indifferent driver skill this astonishing car rocketed from rest to 100mph in a scant handful of seconds. No matter what the throttle position it steered easily, tracking with precision and stability. As I’d expected, CERV II was something new in high-performance cars. Back at the Test Garage I took some lingering last looks at this muscular hunk of machinery. Zora mused: “I’m sorry you couldn’t try it with the newer tyres, but the chassis is not designed to take today’s very wide tyres. We had no idea then how far this trend would go. In this car, we could use the 427 engine before others could go that large. Today, a similar car would need 800bhp, with modern tyres, of course. I think before we send it to a museum we will use it for a few more tests...”

Its history is littered with highs and lows, but diminutive British sports car marque Lotus is still here to celebrate

THE TOP 50 KEY LOTUS MOMENTS

Words Richard Heseltine

a major milestone in 2023. We look back at 75 years of punching well above its weight, on both road and track

Lotus is born

Lotus beats Bugatti

SCROLL back to 1947, and student and part-time usedcar dealer Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman was unable to shift a decrepit fabric-bodied Austin Seven. As has long since entered into marque folklore, Chapman took the 1930-vintage machine and set about building a special, which he christened Lotus. However, the decision to take up motor sport only occurred to him following a chance encounter with an off-road trial event in Aldershot, Hants. His design changed somewhat for its new application, he and his co-pilot (and future wife, top) Hazel accruing two class awards from as many trials in 1948. The die was cast.

CHAPMAN picked up from where he left off with his next creation, the Mark 2 (top right), dovetailing competitive outings with his day job at British Aluminium. He racked up four outright wins, as many class victories and several second and third-place finishes off-piste in 1950, but it was his participation in the Eight Clubs race meeting at Silverstone in June of that year that changed everything. Chapman often claimed that he had never even seen a circuit race prior to this fivelap outing. He bested Dudley Gahagan’s Bugatti Type 37 aboard his 1172cc Fordengined special on handicap.

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Seven is sold

UNLIKE so many other great Lotuses, the Seven didn’t break moulds or push envelopes. It was a ‘Clubmans’ car. It was, however, brilliant and has never really gone away. Caterham Cars’ Graham Nearn had been a key Seven cheerleader, and at one point was the sole distributor. In 1971, however, Chapman was thinking of dropping the car, the Series IV having sold fairly well even if it wasn’t well liked by purists. In May 1973, build rights passed to Nearn and the Caterham Seven was born.

Wonder wedge

The stand that didn’t deliver

THE 2.0-litre four-seater Elite (above), originally codenamed M50, was the first of a range of planned 1970s models. These included one with a 4.0-litre V8, and the M52 and M53 – 2.0- and 4.0-litre 2+2s respectively. But then there was no finance... As it stands, the Oliver Winterbottompenned Elite ‘wedge’ was warmly received following its launch in 1974, and in time it spawned sister variants. The Elite was negatively (and unfairly) reappraised decades down the line, but it marked a turning point as Lotus moved further upmarket.

THE 2010 Paris Motor Show witnessed something hitherto unheard of in Lotus lore: the launch of not one but six cars. Merely even locating the stand was a feat of perseverance; it wasn’t in the main hall, but in an ancillary area, under some escalators and displays of machine tools. Lotus’ then parent Proton was acting as a new broom, a Toyota V10engined Esprit hybrid (below) being one of the casualties of this approach. Here, in France, new CEO Dany Bahar announced his five-year plan. None of the sextet made the leap to production.

TEAM Lotus man Peter Arundell finished third on his World Championship debut at Monaco in 1964. Next time out he did it again, placing third in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Prior to Arundell, no driver had ever finished on the podium in their first two points-paying GPs; this feat wouldn’t be repeated until 2007, when the Lewis Hamilton/McLaren tsunami hit landmass. A further points haul for Arundell in round four at Rouen meant he was lying in third in the drivers’ standings. However, a crash in Formula 2 nixed his career. He raced again, but the shine had gone.

Small car, big winner

THE Lotus 23 was the last sports-racing car designed at least in part by Colin Chapman. It was essentially a Formula Junior singleseater with more by way of bodywork. When first displayed at the 1962 Racing Car Show at Olympia, the 23 was seen with a 1097cc Cosworth-Ford four. Modified Renault transmissions were employed, with a five-speed Hewland ’box available as an option. The car came into its own with Lotus twin-cam power, though. And how. In 23B spec it was the little car that could – and did, frequently. It racked up dozens of wins on multiple continents, and also accrued much-needed revenue.

New becomes old

Moving to Hethel

The demise of Team Lotus

THE original Ford-based Lotus twin-cam unit served the company well, but the brand’s next attempt existed for decades in one form or another. The all-alloy, 16valve 907 motor initially had a displacement of 1973cc, but contrary to popular belief it shared no common parts with the Vauxhall slant-four LV220 engine. Yes, its layout and cylinder dimensions owed a lot to the unit employed in the Victor 2000 saloon, and some components were used in the early prototyping stages to short-cut the development time, but the definitive production powerplant was decidedly own brand. Ironically, it wasn’t used in a Lotus product first; instead, it powered the Jensen-Healey.

LOTUS moved from Cheshunt, Herts to Norfolk’s former RAF Hethel site in 1966. It has long been the marque’s spiritual home (official PR material claims the firm has been there since 1948…), construction of the factory having been funded in part with Ford backing. Some of the test circuit follows the layout of the original airfield perimeter track and main runway. One reason why Lotus sports cars historically had pliant suspension (all things being relative) was because they were honed and developed on this bumpy circuit. It wasn’t repaved for decades.

TEAM Lotus had a glorious history in Formula 1. Sadly, though, it entered a death spiral during the early 1990s, and the pauperised outfit was acquired by David Hunt towards the end of 1994. Work on the following year’s car was halted shortly thereafter, and in February 1995 Hunt announced an alliance with start-up operation Pacific Grand Prix, which was similarly based in Norfolk. Henceforth, cars would be fielded in 1995 under the Pacific Team Lotus banner. The operation failed to qualify for any round of the World Championship before the curtain descended at the end of the year.

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Career interrupted

Sweet-ish 16 LOTUS made the leap from mud-plugging in sporting trials to taking on the GP elite in barely a decade. The 16 single-seater was first seen in 1958, and was typically innovative if not overly successful (or reliable). Its Coventry Climax FPF four was canted some 62º to the right, and offset 5.5º from the chassis centreline to run its propshaft back to the driver’s left, alongside the seat, and into the notorious ‘queerbox’ (a term coined by design director Mike Costin). This compact, positive-stop, motorcycle-type transmission had first been used on the 12 single-seater, but here it was effectively lying on its side…

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Costin makes his mark

LOTUS enjoyed considerable early success with cars that for the most part appeared much like their rivals. That all changed in 1954. With its pronounced tailfins and rearwheel spats, the Mark VIII appeared diametrically opposed to the box-like cars that proceeded it thanks to its Frank Costin-designed body. The model’s first race appearance at Oulton Park that year didn’t start – or end – well, but Chapman and his MG-engined car went on to collect 1500cc honours at Silverstone in May. Colin also led Roy Salvadori’s Gilby Engineering Maserati A6GCS during the Crystal Palace International meeting, before retiring.

Heavenly Eleven

THE Lotus Eleven was arguably Frank Costin’s greatest-ever work. The car’s bulbous shape was swollen at the base of the bodywork; the nose, meanwhile, incorporated faired-in headlights. The undertray was enclosed save for openings for the sump, gearbox and differential drainage holes, plus air scoops to cool the inboard rear disc brakes. The result was a car that claimed a stellar seventh place overall and class honours at Le Mans in 1956 – and that really was only the start of it. A superstreamlined version, complete with an enclosed ‘bubble top’, also recorded 143mph at Monza that same year with Mac Fraser driving.

Chapman beats Hawthorn

Leading from the front

COLIN Chapman is often painted as an engineering visionary and a buccaneering businessman. What tends to be forgotten is that he was a handy driver; one who used his success on track to sell his wares. Many say his finest performance was at Goodwood during the 1956 Whit Monday meeting, where he beat Mike Hawthorn in one of three 100km scratch races. Theirs was an electrifying battle in Lotus Elevens, F1 star Hawthorn on form aboard Ivor Bueb’s Ecurie Demi-Litre entry. Both men spun their cars at Madgwick during their frenzied battle, but recovered with Chapman besting the future World Champion.

LOTUS first mooted an entrylevel sports car in the Elan mould in the mid-1970s. The M80 would employ the Elite platform, but nothing came of it. However, the concept was reheated in the early 1980s. Toyota began using the Lotus ‘skunkworks’ for various projects, and a car – the M90 – was created with Toyota power and Winterbottom styling. Unbeknown to him, Lotus hedged its bets; a rival project was underway in Italy. Neither came to pass, the end product – the M100 Elan (below) – arriving in 1989. It had a Peter Stevens outline, an Isuzu engine and, shock horror, front-wheel drive.

LOTUS Cars’ MD Mike Kimberley reanimated the long-dormant Lotus Engineering arm in the mid-1970s. He had seen how Porsche had become as much an engineering consultancy as a manufacturer. It made sense to follow that business model. There was just the small matter of finding customers. He and his boss – and friend – Chapman vied to find takers. The latter, wearing his Group Lotus hat, bagged John DeLorean. Kimberley struck a deal with Chrysler’s Wynne Mitchell to create the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus (above centre). It was developed by Graham Atkin and his team at Hethel, and soon entered into rallying history.

Fancy a biscuit?

YOU could argue that the mid-/rear-engined 18 ‘Biscuit Tin’ was the first Lotus single-seater to truly unsettle the establishment. The likes of Lotus and arch-rival Cooper beat those Italian Johnnies at their own game and established the ‘production racing car’ industry as a British institution. The success of the 18 in 1960-61, and the profitability of this multi-purpose design – there were Formula Junior, F2 and F1 variants – helped keep the marque afloat during a time of rapid expansion and upheaval. By the end of the decade, Lotus – specifically Team Lotus – enjoyed huge success in countless formulae. The 18 marked the jumping-off point.

Evora breaks cover

Ireland in the ascendency

MIKE Kimberley unexpectedly found himself invited back to work at Lotus from Tata Motors. The Evora (above left) was one of the first projects initiated under his renewed stewardship. Project-managed by Roger Becker, and shaped under Russell Carr, it went from sketch to sign-off in 28 months. What’s more, it was created with a budget of £44m; that’s equivalent to a certain brand’s catering bill for a year. The Evora arrived in September 2008, becoming the first new standalone Lotus model for 13 years. What’s more, the company returned an operating profit in 2008 and 2009.

WORKS driver Innes Ireland drove the new Lotus 18 in the 1960 season-opening Argentine GP in Buenos Aires. The Scot led comfortably until a gear linkage broke. At home, Ireland headed Stirling Moss to win the Glover Trophy at Goodwood, and he beat reigning World Champion Jack Brabham at Silverstone to bag the BRDC International Trophy (above right). Later that year, he came home first in the Lombank Trophy at Snetterton, while also taking F2 wins for Lotus at Goodwood and Oulton Park. His career was undoubtedly in the ascendency – even if his devil-may-care attitude began to overshadow his on-track achievements.

Senna shines

LOTUS’ role as the dominant player in F1 ebbed during the 1980s, but there were peaks among the troughs. Ayrton Senna joined in 1985, and the young Brazilian instantly made an impression in his sophomore season at this level. He claimed his maiden victory that year in Portugal, his drive at Estoril in sodden conditions being a masterclass in car control. He lapped everyone bar secondplace finisher, Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto. Senna remained with the team to the end of 1987, claiming six wins, 22 podium finishes and 16 poles. Tellingly, Lotus never won again following his departure.

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A ray of light

Key Lotus moments

Lotus kicked out at Le Mans

I fought the law

A car for Europe

THE story behind how the brace of Works 23s – one with a 997cc engine, the other 745cc (top) – didn’t race at Le Mans in 1962 has earned a certain amount of notoriety. Both cars were deemed illegal, not least because the rear wheels had six-stud fixings, while the front wheels had only four studs. Regulations stipulated that the spare wheel should fit front and back. Chapman modified the rear wheels to a four-stud pattern, while also making myriad other tweaks, but the scrutineers refused to so much as look at the cars. This intransigence may have had something to do with the marque’s status as a contender for not only decent finishes, but also honours in the Index of Performance category, the prize generally won by something Panhard powered. Despite a robust protest from the RAC on Chapman’s behalf, both 23s were thrown out. The British specialist press was predictably outraged, too. Chapman vowed that Lotus would never return to Le Mans, and it never did in an official capacity while he was alive.

THE 1965 Dutch GP is more famous for what happened off-track than on. The police had been summoned to clear the grid before the start. They didn’t know anyone by sight, recognising only armbands. Colin Chapman had his around his belt as he made for his pit, his progress being impeded by the commanding officer. There are many versions of what happened next, but we do know that Chapman punched his nemesis before legging it. The police then mobbed the Team Lotus pit while the race was underway, only to be rebuffed. They later descended once again. Cue a fracas during which the mechanics held onto Colin’s legs while the fuzz pulled on the other end. Sadly, it would appear that his wife Hazel received a blow amid the drama. The upshot was that Chapman somehow made it to the race-control tower while the organisers attempted to find a solution. He surrendered to the Zandvoort police that evening and spent a night in the cells.

IT was to the front-wheeldrive Renault 16 hatchback that Colin Chapman would, unexpectedly, turn when dreaming up his ‘car for Europe’. Announced in late 1966, the choice of engine confounded many, but there was sound reasoning for its inclusion. As the name suggests, the Europa was aimed squarely at the Continent, where the use of Renault parts would enable cheap and pain-free servicing. It would also release Lotus from dependency on one source for componentry; BMC was notoriously belligerent when dealing with lowvolume sports car makers, and Ford supplied, well, everyone. The likes of René Bonnet, Deep Sanderson and De Tomaso beat Lotus to the mid-engined production car punch, but the Europa was the first to sell in significant numbers. It did much to popularise the configuration; one that was by now accepted practice in just about every major motor sport discipline. Lotus used its own twin-cam four-banger in 1971, giving the chassis the power it deserved.

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ABOVE Europa was the first mid-engined production car to ratchet up significant sales.

THE saga of the Lotus twinchassis F1 cars began with designer Martin Ogilvie reading the regulations. Aero parts and bodywork had to be attached rigidly to the chassis, but because the word ‘chassis’ is singular and plural, he reasoned that a car could have one for the driver and suspension, and another for the aero parts. The Type 86 wasn’t developed, though, as Team Lotus pushed ahead with the Type 88 evolution for the 1981 season (opposite, left). At its heart was a carbonfibre/ Kevlar monocoque carrying suspension tuned to the needs of the driver. Surrounding this was a secondary chassis that carried the rear wing and undertray, through which the bulk of the aerodynamic forces would act. This sat on the uprights via stiff springs. Once the car began to develop significant downforce, they’d compress onto hard end-stops, lowering the undertray to the optimum height and conveying the aerodynamic forces directly to the tyres. The car was outlawed before it got a chance to race; some insiders claim it was at this juncture that Chapman lost heart.

Small car, big success

THE Mark VI appeared basic but it was revolutionary in its own way. Prior to the 1952 season, Lotus wasn’t a maker per se. Colin Chapman, and brothers Michael and Nigel Allen, enjoyed success in the prototype, arousing interest in the competition world. So much so, Lotus Engineering reformed as a limited firm with adverts appearing for the ‘Lotus Chassis Frame’. Around £110 would buy a chassis with mountings for 1172cc Ford 8/10 fours (or Consul or Vauxhall engines), and 8/10 axles with coilspring/damper units, a Panhard rod out back and a front swing-axle conversion. Builders also employed a wide variety of other engines, not least MG and Coventry Climax units. The Mark VI went on to dominate; The Autocar said in 1953: “There can be few, if any, cars which are quicker through sharp S-bends.”

The birth of the Esprit

Bond in a Lotus

GIORGETTO Giugiaro’s CV is bulging, but it includes few Brit brands. Lotus is the only one for which the styling great worked often and for which a production car was realised. Oliver Winterbottom made the introduction with Colin Chapman at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. Later that year, the Lotus boss and Mike Kimberley inspected the Maserati Boomerang and drove the Porsche Tapiro concept. They knew they had their man, and gave Giugiaro a lengthened Europa chassis and dummy 907 engine to act as a basis for a new car. The Silver Lotus emerged at the 1972 Turin show to great acclaim. It subsequently formed the base for the Esprit (opposite, right) that arrived in October 1975 (with build commencing in June 1976). Some of the styling purity was perhaps lost, but the Esprit still looked fab. It spawned the Giugiaro-penned Turbo, too, which kept things fresh. Giorgetto was also responsible for the Elite/Eclat interior, as well as the ill-starred Etna.

IT’S easy to forget the impact made by the appearance of the Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me in period (above), not least in the eyes of impressionable youngsters. It is highly improbable that this would have happened were it not for Lotus man Don McLaughlan. The firm’s PR chief got wind that a new James Bond film was in the offing, and was all too aware of the positive impact of product placement. There was just the small matter of making the producers aware of the Esprit’s existence, given that the car was still several months off from being launched at the 1975 Paris Motor Show. McLaughlan parked a pre-production car – denuded of badging – close to the Eon Productions office at Pinewood Studios, and let Britain’s newest automotive pin-up do its thing. It was a masterstroke. Interest was piqued to the point that an enraptured Eon staff spent several days trying to trace the origins of the mystery car. A deal was then struck whereby Lotus would supply two Esprits plus six further bodyshells.

Chapman meets Clark

ON Boxing Day at Brands Hatch in 1958, a young Scot arrived in Ian Scott-Watson’s Elite, which they’d picked up that day. Jim Clark overheard Colin Chapman and Mike Costin discussing which of them would win, and vowed to upset their plans despite his lack of familiarity with both the car and the circuit. In Jim Clark at the Wheel, he said: “Had I known what I know now, I wouldn’t have done half the things I did in that race.” The two chargers went to war, and Clark held a slender lead only for a backmarker to spin in front of him at Druids. In a flash, Chapman was through, and Clark had to settle for second. Little more than a year later, and with a full season racing Scott-Watson’s Elite behind him, Clark was signed by Chapman to race for Lotus in Formula Junior and F2.

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BH AUCTION / MAGIC CAR PICS / MOTORSPORT IMAGES / TED7

Outlaw Lotus

Jim’s first of many

Moss goes first

IN the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t his greatest win. Nevertheless, the April 1961 Pau GP marked the jumping-off point for Jim Clark’s success as an F1 driver. Not that this was a round of the World Championship. This race at the 14-corner street circuit at the foot of the Pyrenees was important in as much as it was the first GP run to the new 1.5-litre engine regulations, if not necessarily the first race. Clark didn’t have everything his own way, though – not least the small matter of his car suffering from intermittent fuel starvation. It may not have been a virtuoso display by the Scot, but it left his rivals in no doubt that he was quick but also consistent. The Autocar opined: “Clark’s was the race of his life, and those who tip him for Championship honours will be encouraged that he has now showed that he is capable of lapping an entire field.” He would win the Pau Grand Prix on three further occasions…

THINK back to 1960, and Stirling Moss was at the height of his powers. However, he and his team principal Rob Walker were aware that Lotus was in the ascendency. This was all too apparent at the Goodwood Easter meeting in April of that year, when Innes Ireland claimed the Glover Trophy in a Type 18. Not only that, the Scot also bagged the F2 Lavant Cup support race. Moss and Walker hadn’t lost faith in their Cooper so much as they knew that they wouldn’t be able to purchase the latest version. Switching to a Lotus was a means to an end. The rest is history. Moss took the marque’s first World Championship victory at the following round, the Monaco GP. He may have soon rued the decision to switch, though. That year’s Belgian GP entered into infamy, as hub failure and the loss of a wheel at the exit of Burnenville corner during practice saw Moss crash violently. The future knight was thrown from his Lotus and broke both legs, his pelvis and his back.

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Colour of money

NOT all of Lotus’ great innovations were technical. It also ushered in corporate sponsorship in F1 as we now know it. And how. There had been involvement from big business before, but team nationality denoted the colour of the car until 1968. The withdrawal of major backers in motor racing such as BP and Shell in 1968 saw the FIA allow overt sponsorship, although strictly speaking privateer John Love’s Brabham got there first in F1 with backing from Gunston cigarettes in the ’68 season-opener in South Africa. Next up Spain, where the Works 49s sported Gold Leaf colours – and where Lotus led, others followed. Despite dismay from the old guard, the die was cast. Intriguingly, Imperial Tobacco had been set to sponsor a three-car Le Mans bid with Ginetta G12s via its Gold Leaf brand. Chapman got wind of this and suggested they aim higher.

Ireland wins but loses

INNES Ireland’s 1961 campaign didn’t get off to a flier thanks to a heavy shunt at Monaco. Nevertheless, he didn’t let a fractured kneecap get in the way; he shone in the non-series Solitude GP near Stuttgart in his Lotus 21, beating Porsche’s Jo Bonnier. He next won the Flugplatzrennen at Zeltweg in Austria, besting second-place man Jack Brabham by a lap. He celebrated by drinking heavily, before climbing a nearby clock tower… Ireland rounded out the year with honours in the F1 season finale, the US GP, after Brabham’s Cooper and Moss’ Lotus retired. He beat Porsche ace Dan Gurney into second by more than a minute. What happened next has entered into F1 legend. A fortnight after claiming Team Lotus’ biggest-ever win, he was dumped. Colin Chapman neglected to tell him; Ireland found out purely by chance that he had been replaced.

Dicing with DeLorean HOW and why John DeLorean set up on his own has been recounted ad infinitum, but the first glassfibre-bodied prototype to bear his name appeared in October 1976. The car ultimately ended up being re-engineered by Lotus, bodied in stainless steel and styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro. In ’78, the British government sunk £53m into the scheme (almost as much as Chrysler UK had received for a controversial ‘rescue’ plan). A major facility was built in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, with production finally starting in January 1981. By December ’82 it was all over, after around 8500 cars had been made. John DeLorean had earlier been arrested on drugs charges, but was (much) later acquitted because he was deemed to have been entrapped by the FBI. It then transpired that a great deal of taxpayers’ money had disappeared into a wormhole; only Group Lotus’ finance director Fred Bushell served jail time over the scandal.

ABOVE DeLorean was ahead of its time – but that wasn’t enough to save the project.

All hail the Elite

Clark goes forth

Monocoque trailblazer

THE two cars could not have been more diametrically opposed in ethos. Unveiled alongside the Lotus Seven at the 1957 British Motor Show, the Elite (above) was as daring as its Seven stablemate was simplistic. It seems incredible in retrospect that Lotus – a marque that had started out with an Austin Seven special less than a decade earlier – produced something so utterly leftfield. Here was a car that comprised a glassfibre monocoque that was highly unorthodox in itself, but it was powered by something rooted in a portable, highcapacity water-pump engine used in firefighting. Not only that, it was styled by an accountant – Peter Kirwan-Taylor’s design (with a few tweaks by others) recording a drag coefficient of a scarcely believable 0.29Cd. By means of comparison, a ‘jelly mould’ Ford Sierra recorded 0.34 a quarter of a century later. And while the ‘Type 14’ Elite was created as an aspirational road car, it inevitably shone on track – witness six consecutive class wins at Le Mans. The only problem-ette here was that it almost bankrupted Lotus…

IT represented another bravura performance for Jim Clark, and one on a circuit that he famously loathed; Spa-Francorchamps. In its original ‘long’ configuration form, which was over twice its current length, average F1 speeds of 130mph or so were common – and that was 60 years ago. Spa was dangerous and challenging – the Masta Kink, for example, being a left-right jink between houses with your right foot butted against the bulkhead. Clark claimed his first World Championship victory at Spa in 1962, and a year later won again by almost five minutes from Jack Brabham. He claimed a hat trick in 1964 after long-time leader Dan Gurney dropped out, and arrived in Belgium in June ’65 looking for his fourth win in succession. He was armed with a Type 33 sporting a 32v Coventry Climax V8, with which he’d won at Goodwood on Easter Monday. With nine laps left he had just over a minute in hand, and he romped home to claim a brilliant win (top).

THE Lotus Type 25 (above left) was the first F1 car with a fully stressed monocoque. However, the shock that greeted its arrival at the 1962 season opener, the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, was also freighted with anger. Most of this ire was directed at Colin Chapman by customer teams; the ones that had stumped up for the Type 24 GP challenger. Their new cars were already also-rans; so much for the promised Works/privateer parity. Chapman had pulled a fast one, they reasoned, and it’s hard to argue to the contrary even if the two cars looked relatively similar and shared some componentry. If there was going to be a Big Bang, it would belong to Team Lotus. Even so, leader Jim Clark narrowly lost out to Graham Hill in the ’62 drivers’ standings, Lotus also being pipped to the makers’ title by a point. Yet 1963 was another story: Clark won seven of ten World Championship events, and also accrued wins in non-series races at Imola, Silverstone, Karlskoga, Pau and Oulton Park.

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Key Lotus moments

MAGIC CAR PICS / GETTY IMAGES

Key Lotus moments

Staying power

Rindt perishes

Conquering Cortina

THERE was a time when F1 cars remained in service for more than a season. The Lotus 72 (top left) was a case in point. Scroll back to April 1970, when two cars were fielded in the Spanish GP. Characterised by their wedge-shaped profiles, Gold Leaf liveries and hip-mounted water radiators, they were driven by Jochen Rindt and John Miles. In October 1975, Ronnie Peterson and Brian Henton finished fifth and 12th respectively in the US GP during the 72’s final World Championship outing. In six seasons it accrued 20 World Championship GP wins, two drivers’ gongs and three constructors’ titles. Oh, and 39 podium finishes. And 17 pole positions. The 72 was never intended to soldier on for so long, but its replacement – the 76 – proved problematic, so the old-stager was wheeled out time and again. Few cars, save for perhaps the Maserati 250F and the McLaren M23, enjoyed such a lengthy campaign. What’s more, the 72 was a winner in all bar the last of its six seasons as a Works entry.

IT had been a long time coming. Jochen Rindt (top right, with Chapman) had finally claimed a World Championship GP win. The Team Lotus man, who had virtually owned F2 for as long as anyone could remember, had belatedly broken his duck in style. Victory in the 1969 season’s penultimate round at Watkins Glen was rewarded with more than mere silverware, too. This being the era before prize money was standardised, Rindt pocketed one of the biggest cheques in motor racing; certainly the one with the most zeroes in F1. This New York win was a mere opening salvo. A year later, Rindt would accrue five more points-paying GP victories, four of them consecutively. He would be anointed World Champion by season’s end. Tragically, though, he was dead when the title was bestowed. His life came to an abrupt and violent end on September 5, 1970, against the Armco at Monza during practice for the Italian GP. He was just 28 years of age.

THINK back to a time before the GT40 starred at Le Mans and the DFV engine turned F1 on its head, and Ford had zero interest in competition at board level. Then along came the 1960s. There was the famous falling out between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II, which led ‘The Deuce’ to initiate the Total Performance programme. The Cortina GT proved a fleeting success in competition, but something more focused was needed; the sort of machine that a cash-strapped sports car maker run by an engineering futurist could rustle up in a hurry: enter the Type 28. Original plans called for 1000 examples of the Ford Cortina Lotus to be homologated as Production Touring cars for the International Sporting Code’s Group 2 category. Colin Chapman had long been keen to produce an engine in-house, and with a timely injection of funds behind him, he turned to The Autocar’s technical editor Harry Mundy to create a twin-cam head for the rugged five-bearing Ford Kent bottom end. The result was arguably the first true homologation special.

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ABOVE The twin-cam Ford Cortina Lotus was arguably the first true homologation special ever built.

Lotus saved BY summer 1983 British Car Auctions had injected £1.2m and underwritten shares worth £2.3m to shore up a haemorrhaging Lotus. Toyota also invested £1.16m to take a 16.5 percent stake. Merchant banker Schroder Wagg had a big share, too, as did JCB, while the Chapman family, finance director Fred Bushell and various small investors held the balance. The deal was struck to the annoyance of MD Mike Kimberley, who had hitherto negotiated with Toyota for it to take on Lotus both as a manufacturer and as its European tech partner. BCA’s flamboyant chairman David Wickens then set about eliminating all reference to Colin Chapman and his legacy, deleting the ACBC initials from all badges, letter headings, corporate logos etc. He also pressurised Kimberley to focus on Lotus Engineering and close down Lotus Cars. Fortunately, Kimberley had strong board support from Toyota, JCB and ex-Aston Martin man Alan Curtis, who was by then vice chairman, so the sports car side continued. Also, the historic badge was reinstated.

GM buys Lotus

COME January 1986, it was all change again. General Motors acquired 91 percent of Lotus, and Wickins departed. GM proved to be an excellent custodian, even if the new set-up caused a few issues for Lotus Engineering, whose clients included Nissan, Volvo, Chrysler and Saab. That, and a bit of discord between UK and US stylists. Lotus was now finally able to engineer and introduce an allnew model – the M100-series Elan. It also collaborated on all manner of hot GM products such as the Corvette ZR-1, for which Lotus developed a 32v V8. That, and the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (above). GM paid £22.7m, but sold out to ACBN Holdings (controlled by Italian dealer/importer Romano Artioli) in August ’93 for £30m. It, in turn, sold the majority share in Lotus to Proton three years later, in an attempt to recoup huge losses accrued by its other brand, Bugatti.

Super Mario

MARIO Andretti was the last driver to win a world title with Team Lotus. He was one of racing’s great all-rounders, equally at home running a stock car on the Daytona banking as sliding a sprint car on dirt at Langhorne Speedway, hustling an IndyCar on a super speedway or braving a sports-prototype at Sebring. He arrived at Team Lotus with a big reputation, but he didn’t commit straight away. His early F1 forays were of the staccato variety, running as and when he had a free weekend. Born in Montona, Italy, he emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania in 1955. Four years later, he and his twin Aldo began racing a 1948 Hudson. Andretti made his F1 debut in the 1968 US GP. What is more, he qualified his Lotus 49B on pole. He took the 1978 Drivers’ Championship with Team Lotus, but failed to add to his tally of 12 points-paying GP wins thereafter.

Geely steps in

Lotus excels

LOTUS has been passed from pillar to post for as a long as we can remember. Each new regime promised big things, yet none had staying power. Geely acquired the majority shareholding in 2017, and so far there has been plenty of positive news. The decision to create an electric SUV upset the marque faithful, but the Eletre has been lauded by the motoring media. The Evija hypercar has also kept the name in the headlines. And then there’s the Emira (opposite), a car that is truly brilliant in parts. What is telling is that buying one isn’t a brave choice. That’s the thing. For years, you had to really want a Lotus over, say, a comparable Porsche. The marque has historically pushed envelopes, uprooted goalposts and all those other clichés when it came to the dynamic stuff, but this revelation isn’t any of that. It’s the perception of quality. It’s light years better than anything Lotus ever made before, which would explain the current record sales.

THE 1967 Dutch GP, round three of that year’s World Championship, witnessed the arrival of a new car. What was conceived as essentially a stopgap would prove to be the mainstay of the Norfolk squad’s tilt at F1 glory as late as 1970, its influence proving far-reaching for reasons beyond ‘just’ the design of the car. In order to understand the Type 49’s place in the history, first you need to appreciate the circumstances under which it came together. In 1966, Coventry Climax announced that it was withdrawing from F1. Lotus was left without a power unit, but the Ford Motor Company stepped in and said it would finance an engine project for Lotus to the tune of £100,000. The job of designing and building the proposed motor was given to Cosworth Engineering. Not only was the 49 light and compact, but the new DFV V8 acted as a load-bearing structure that also carried the rear suspension. This brave new world won on its debut and carried Graham Hill to the 1968 drivers’ title.

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Black beauty

Lotus reawakened

Indy steamroller

LOTUS produced its fair share of ground-breaking racing cars, not least the Types 25, 49 and 72. The 79 was arguably the firm’s last truly great design. It was also a work of great beauty, even if its attractiveness relative to its contemporaries was a happy by-product of its radical outline. Team Lotus’ 1977 car, the Type 78, should have carried Mario Andretti to that year’s drivers’ title. Colin Chapman’s ‘Wing Car’ was the class of the field, but only while it was running. Andretti won four rounds, Gunnar Nilsson one – yet it wasn’t enough. With this car, Lotus had ushered ground effect into F1. The Type 79 picked up the baton and ran with it a year later. Lotus’ pioneering work in groundeffect technology was a giant leap forward, the story having been told in full in issue 19 of Magneto. Sadly, Andretti’s joy at winning the 1978 title was nullified by the loss of his team-mate Ronnie Peterson following a start-line shunt at Monza.

THE lightweight Elise roadster (right) effectively saved Lotus. It also reinvented the marque by returning to core values. The idea of a compositebodied Lotus with an extruded-aluminium chassis held together with glue was a bit of a leap for some, but it worked brilliantly. Yes, there was the Caterham Seven, yet the Elise effectively ushered in the stark, no-frills modern sports car as we know it. The concept has since been copied ad infinitum. Julian Thompson’s styling was also fresh and original yet somewhat retro (with hints of the 23), subsequent iterations by Russell Carr being equally striking. And of course the Elise spawned numerous variants, not least the 340R, Exige and Europa S, plus products that didn’t wear a Lotus badge such as the Vauxhall VX220/Opel Speedster and Tesla Roadster. The issue is, while the Elise was a success (to begin with, at least), Lotus became predictable for a spell; entered into a holding pattern. There was only so much you could spin off one platform.

THE Indianapolis 500 may have lost its lustre over the past few decades, but it was once a huge deal. The ‘British Invasion’ at The Brickyard was ignited by Cooper, Jack Brabham finishing ninth in 1961. However, it was Lotus that proved that these mid-/ rear-engined ‘funny cars’ could best their front-engined roadsters. Jim Clark almost won in 1963, only to be bested by the brilliant Parnelli Jones in his front-engined machine; some might argue that the small matter of it leaking oil onto the track from a cracked overflow tank should have seen it black-flagged. Two years on, Clark dominated aboard his Type 38 (right). He also came second to Lola’s Graham Hill 12 months after that. Lotus continued to appear at Indy to 1968, the year that Mike Spence fatally crashed his Type 56 during practice, his team-mate Joe Leonard retiring from the lead with just eight laps remaining. Lotus almost made a return in 1985, but the Type 96T never raced.

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1959 Lotus XV Chassis 623/3 was completed as a Team car early in 1959 for the exclusive use of Graham Hill and is the only Lotus XV fitted from new with the 2.5L Coventry Climax Engine. Hill raced the car on 7 occasions during 1959 winning 5 of the races including the GP support race at Aintree. Subsequently sold to Australia where Frank Matich raced the car with great success. More recently the car has returned to The UK and has been raced successfully in historic racing and winning at Goodwood Revival. Maintained to the highest standards and available for sale with extensive spares package including original bodywork and spare 2L Climax engine and HTP papers. Today 623/3 remains remarkably original and is eligible for events such as Peter Auto, Motor Racing Legends, Goodwood and Le Mans Classic.

SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773 info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com

MAGIC CAR PICS / MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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Elan outdoes itself

Clark dies

THE problem with blazing trails is that you often get burned. The original Elite was a radical design, and each car was sold at a loss. The Elan (below), by contrast, was not a work of starry-eyed futurism. Its design was a prudent one, the decision to go with a steelbackbone chassis being down in no small part to cost. It was cheap to produce. It was also a lot easier to manufacture than a glassfibre monocoque. The thing is, the Elan was initially conceived as a lowbuck Seven replacement. Then things got a bit more aspirational. What is clear is that despite being relatively conventional, the Elan was a brilliant design and a packaging masterpiece. It was also clever, not least in details such as the wooden dash that acted as a structural member. With the Ford-based twincam engine, there was so much to love. Nothing could match an Elan cross-country in period. It wasn’t a brilliant track car to begin with, though, but this changed via the 26R competition variant.

FROM 1960 to early 1968 Team Lotus claimed 26 World Championship GP wins, and all bar one of these were amassed by Jim Clark. He was the driver everyone wanted to beat, assuming they could get close enough to challenge him. Few could, or did. And then the unthinkable happened: the sainted Scot perished after crashing his Lotus 48 barely four laps into an F2 race at Hockenheim in April 1968. He was just 32, and wasn’t even meant to be in Germany. He was originally down to drive a Ford P68 in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch, a round of the International Championship for Makes, but then contractual obligations came into play. Oddly off-form for a man so used to leading from the front, Clark was battling for eighth place in the Deutschland Trophy race when his car left the road and connected with trees lining the circuit. The precise cause of the accident remains a source of conjecture, but rear-suspension failure may have been a contributing factor. What is beyond doubt is that the passing of half a century hasn’t diminished his standing in motor sport lore. If anything, his legend has been amplified. Statistically, Clark remains

one of the all-time greats. As an all-rounder, there have been few who could match his tally. He excelled in everything, whether he was racing an open-wheeler, a sports racer or a saloon car. More than that, he was that rarest of things: a man who was universally liked the length and breadth of any pitlane. That, in itself, speaks volumes – far louder than his gilded résumé ever could. His passing also had a profound effect on Chapman, to the point that Colin briefly went AWOL. He didn’t attend the next round of the F1 World Championship in Spain, either, electing instead to stay home.

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Colin Chapman and a life less ordinary

HAVING the number-two slot taken up with the death of a legend gave us cause to think and rethink. We struggled with having Colin Chapman’s death as the key defining moment in 75 years of Lotus, which reduced us to even more pencil-chewing contemplation. And then it dawned on us: Lotus has existed for more than half of its life without its talismanic founder. Just think about that for a moment. As such, it’s clear that Chapman’s greatest contribution to Lotus – to motor racing and a lot more besides – is simply that he lived; that he inspired. Chapman took on the Continental elite in motor sport and demolished them – before turning his attention to the US, where he similarly upset the established order. The Lotus guiding light also had a knack of recognising talent and nurturing it (perhaps exploiting it is more apposite), making umpteen landmark sports cars along the way. He was the maverick entrepreneur who proved adept at teasing open corporate purses, even

if he was not well liked by HMRC. Chapman was all of these things and more, but most of all he was a hero to many. To others he was a rogue – if you were being polite. One thing is clear: for all his flaws, Chapman was brilliant. He was defiantly self-directed. He did things his own way. The remarkable thing is that the publican’s son – whose Team Lotus squad accrued seven Formula 1 Constructors’ Championships, six Drivers’ Championships, victory in the Indianapolis 500 and heaven knows what else besides during his lifetime – became a motor mogul more by happenstance than planning. He never intended to make cars. He never envisaged racing them, either. You sense that he would have been an over-achiever whatever he turned his hand to. The early 1980s weren’t kind to Chapman, though. Another global recession saw Lotus’ share price fall to just 9p amid another global economic meltdown. Running a sprawling empire with its inherent need to

appease stakeholders was a chore (Lotus had been floated on the stock market in 1968). What’s more, his standing as F1’s great lateral thinker had waned. External pressures were such that he looked prematurely old. Something had to give, and ultimately it was his heart. He died on December 16, 1982 aged 54. His passing left many questions, not least the location of taxpayers’ money that went missing following the DeLorean scandal. Inevitably, conspiracy theories continue to rage that Chapman somehow slipped the net and hotfooted it to South America to avoid prison. There isn’t an iota of proof – and mention this to those who knew him and you will invariably be met with rolled eyes and laughter. Or anger. Sometimes all of these. Countless hatchet jobs have been performed on Chapman since he passed on, but even his harshest critics cannot deny one thing: he changed the face of motoring and motor racing forever, and his influence looms large over Lotus still.

A D V E R T I S I N G F E AT U R E

CASTROL GTX: WIN ON SUNDAY, SELL ON MONDAY While the motor sport marketing mantra may not have been invented by the sharp-suited gurus at Castrol, it’s fair to say they knew how to run with it – by sponsoring the Gerry Marshall/Baby Bertha pairing of the swaggering ’70s

Words Paul Cowland

Photography Vauxhall

BELOW The triumvirate of Gerry Marshall, Baby Bertha and Castrol certainly earned their stripes.

THINK OF THE AVERAGE RACING DRIVER TODAY, complete with ripped physique, diet plan and impeccable Instagram presence, and it’s hard to imagine a time when drivers really did look – and drink – like your dad. The late Gerry Marshall was definitively one of the true hard-partying, hard-driving legends of the 1970s, who always appeared to have rolled out of a working men’s club – which, to be fair, he probably had. Not so much a role model as a sausage-roll model. His monolithic talent needed a car to match, and that would require a fighting fund. Castrol was keen to tip in as title sponsor, of course, but that still left large Blydenstein Racing bills to pay. The remainder would come from the clever idea of asking Vauxhall dealers to chip in to fund the venture, hence the Dealer Team Vauxhall or DTV moniker that the car would ultimately run under. Blydenstein had already tweaked and widened the Old Nail Firenza coupé with which Marshall won championships in 1972, ’73 and ’74. Then came the huge Big Bertha Ventora, complete with a hairy-chested 476bhp Repco-Holden V8. It battled its significant weight to a few wins before losing an argument with a Silverstone barrier. Freed from the shackles of a pure factory silhouette, John Taylor penned a cartoonish version of a Magnum coupé, Baby Bertha, with DTV fabricating the missing elements. Castrol came on board once again, considering the perfect proportions of the GRP bodywork, with its swooping vents and holes, the perfect canvas on which to paint those iconic GTX stripes. Marshall and Baby Bertha were the trophy magnets everyone hoped they’d be. The ’75 and ’76 Super Saloon Championships tumbled, and the times laid down by the ‘little’ Vauxhall meant four lap records still stood by the end of 1977. Both Baby Bertha and Castrol GTX are still very much with us. The former can often be seen at Goodwood, and has been brought up to a more modern spec with a small-block 350ci Chevy, whereas the latter can be found at your nearest Castrol Classic dealer, and has been similarly refined to a contemporary 10w40 formulation. Both still wear their stripes with pride, but unless you can match the powersliding, pint-decimating style of the great man himself, our advice is to go for the one that comes in 5.0-litre cans.

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Market Watch: Buying a Porsche 911 930 Turbo

Watches and art: Heuer Carrera Ref 1158 and Andy Shore

Automobilia: Autographs – and avoiding fakes

Collecting: A modern spin on vintage turntables

Books and products: Latest must-reads and luxury goods

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M A R K E T WAT C H

Words Elliott Hughes Photography Magic Car Pics and Porsche

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Porsche 911 930 Turbo With its roots in Porsche’s burgeoning motor sport division, one of the ’80s most iconic supercars is more practical and lower priced than many of its Italian rivals. Here’s what you need to know about the ‘Widowmaker’

ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO, ON October 7, 1974, the 911 Turbo (930) was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. Porsche couldn’t have picked a more challenging time to release its first supercar. Only a year previously, embargoes imposed by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led to a surge in oil prices, plunging the global economy into its most severe recession since the Great Depression. These political and economic crises caused the German automotive market to collapse; Porsche’s order book contracted by 40 percent in 1974 – and, to make matters worse, the German government imposed a 100km/h limit on the Autobahn and banned driving on Sundays. Yet despite the odds, the 930 Turbo proved to be a prolific success, the genesis of an eight-generation dynasty of ‘halo’ cars that continues to this day. The 930’s origins can be traced back to the early 1970s, when Porsche’s burgeoning motor sport division began experimenting with turbocharging the 917’s 5.0-litre flat-12 for the CanAm series. This was an inspired decision, and the turbocharged 917/30 went on to dominate CanAm, winning 12 of 17 races across the 1972 and ’73 seasons. The project was led by the marque’s legendary engine designer Hans Mezger, who said some years later: “Without the 917, there probably would never have been a 911 Turbo.” Despite this success, Porsche never intended to homologate turbo technology for its production machines. Fortuitously, that all changed when the brand decided to harness turbocharging in the Group 4 and Group 5 Sports Car series. Group 4 regulations mandated the production of 400 road-going vehicles as the basis for the now-legendary 934 Turbo RSR. Thus the 930 was born. The 930 Turbo was first unleashed on the public roads in 1975, touting a turbocharged 3.0litre flat-six that developed 256bhp (230bhp in the US due to emissions legislation). Setting it apart from all the other 911s were bulging

ABOVE Trim is generally well built, but electrical issues are known. Worn seats can be costly to replace. wheelarches, widened Fuchs alloy wheels and a ‘whaletail’-winged engine lid. With a kerbweight of just 1210kg, the earliest 930s could breach 60mph in 5.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 155mph. Such performance was otherworldly for the time, and the 930 was crowned the world’s fastest production car. Pessimistic sales forecasts from Porsche’s marketing department proved unfounded as the 400 homologation models were soon snapped up. Despite its popularity, the 930 also proved controversial. Its short wheelbase (the same as that of a Mazda MX-5 Mk1), rearengine layout and laggy power delivery conspired to create tricky handling characteristics that sent many owners spinning off into the scenery – hence the car’s ‘Widowmaker’ nickname. It’s fair to say customers were not put off by the car’s unforgiving reputation, however. Over 15 years Porsche built approximately 23,000 examples and introduced several improvements along the way. Of those, just 2850 were early 3.0-litre models made between 1975 and 1977. In 1978, Porsche made its first and most significant changes to the 930, enlarging the displacement to 3.3 litres as well as adding an intercooler, upgraded

shock absorbers, larger rear torsion bars, new anti-roll bars, and servoassisted brakes from the 917 racer. To accommodate the intercooler in the 911’s crowded engine bay, the whaletail was reprofiled, becoming what’s known as the ‘tea-tray’ spoiler in Porsche parlance. The 3.3-litre cars are slightly heavier than the 3.0s, with a kerbweight of around 1300kg depending on specification. The weight penalty is negated by an increased output of 300bhp, delivering a slightly improved 0-60mph time of 4.9 seconds. Also, 930s were never equipped with anti-lock brakes. Porsche withdrew the 3.3-litre 930 from the Japanese and US markets in 1980 due to a change in emissions legislation. In 1983 the maker introduced the Works Performance Increase option, which raised the peak power to 325bhp. So-equipped cars are differentiated by a quad-pipe exhaust system and a remodelled front spoiler to accommodate an additional oil cooler. In 1986, the 930 was reintroduced in the US and Japan with a 280bhp emission-controlled engine. Targa and cabriolet versions were launched in the same year. Mechanical specs remained largely unchanged until the 930 reached its final period of production in 1989. These models were fitted with a five-speed G50

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trans, replacing the four-ratio unit that was used from 1975 onwards. The same year also saw the release of the 930 LE run-out cars, ahead of the 964’s launch in 1990. Just 50 LEs were built by the marque’s Exclusive team at Zuffenhausen. They had features that were previously available as factory options, marked out by rear-wheel air intakes, side skirts and a front spoiler. There are also models with pop-up headlights, known as Flachbaus, or flatnoses. The Kremer Racing conversion kit served as the basis for the 935inspired Flachbaus before Porsche began offering it as a factory option through its Sonderwunsch Programm (or Special Order Programme) in 1986. Porsche produced just 948 units. The 930 gave way to the 964 after a 15-year production run, becoming one of the longest-lived and most iconic models the

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ABOVE ‘Tea-tray’ wing is a distinctive feature of this era of Porsche 911 Turbo.

company has ever produced. It became something of a pop-culture icon through its appearances in films such as No Man’s Land and Freedom, and garnered a reputation as a fearsome driver’s car that could both punish and reward in equal measure. While one could argue that subsequent 911 Turbos don’t possess the driving engagement and analogue thrills of the original incarnation, there’s no doubt the 930 helped maintain the 911’s position as a stalwart of the sports car landscape.

‘It’s fair to say customers were not put off by the car’s unforgiving reputation’

The Porsche 911 Turbo (930) was a landmark car for many different reasons, and has become extremely collectable with prices roughly quadrupling over the past decade. In both the UK and the US values have softened recently after a pre-Covid peak, but the early 3.0 coupés and late five-speeds remain

T H E VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N

extremely desirable – and this is reflected in the figures. As is usual with all 911 models, the coupé tends to outperform the cabriolet and Targa in terms of value, although in the US the Targa is much closer in value to the coupé than in the UK. Unusual trim and body-colour combinations and low mileage all add to the desirability. An array of 930 variants were built over the years, despite the fact that Porsche made relatively conservative updates during the model’s lengthy production run. The recent influx of third-party restomods onto the car market complicates matters even further. “It’s essential to think about what model you want and why,” explains James Turner, founder of Bicester-based Porsche specialist and dealer Sports Purpose. James has intimate knowledge of classic Porsches, and his company has been sourcing and selling some of

TIMELINE

VA LU E S F R O M H AG E RT Y P R I C E G U I D E

1974

Porsche 911 930 Turbo, Condition 1 (US)

Porsche 911 930 Turbo, Condition 1 (UK)

3.0-litre Turbo announced with 260bhp (US cars 245bhp from 1975), wide arches, large rear spoiler and four-speed trans.

$300,000

£250,000

1976

Martini edition revealed.

1978

$250,000

3.3-litre model (300bhp or 260bhp for US); intercooler and 917 servo-assisted brakes.

£200,000

1980

$200,000 £150,000

Japan and US lose Turbo.

1983

$150,000

Exhaust system revised to improve emissions and noise.

£100,000 $100,000 3.0 COUPÉ 3.3 COUPÉ

$50,000

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

£50,000

3.3 COUPÉ

3.3 CABRIOLET

1986

3.0 COUPÉ 3.3 CABRIOLET

£0 2016

2018 2020 2022

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Upgraded with Mototronic engine management, 930 reintroduced in Japan and US. Turbo SE/930S (flatnose) edition; cabrio and Targa arrive.

1989

G50 five-speed ’box introduced, 930 Turbo discontinued.

the rarest 911s since 2017. “When we’re looking for a car, we’re looking for evidence of highquality ownership. There needs to be a full history, including regular servicing and proof that all the necessary jobs have been completed. There is a premium for early 3.0 litres, and for good reason – they are a rare and special car.” Porsche built just 2819 3.0-litre models between 1975 and 1977. Of these, the cars made in the first five months of production are particularly desirable and can be differentiated by a chrome mirror on the driver’s side. Hagerty values the earliest 1975 examples from £128,000-£280,000 in the UK and $89,000-$385,000 in the US, depending on condition. “Yes, early 3.0s have traded in the high two-hundreds and occasionally in the low threehundreds,” James concurs. “You can definitely make a case for them being worth more, but I’m not 100

percent convinced that the market is quite ready for that.” That said, later 3.0-litre models can be had for as little as £52,000 for a project on UK soil, while values in the US sit slightly higher at around $70,000. On average, the top of the market is £136,000, or $257,000 in North America. The G50 five-speed models built in 1989 are also highly sought after, with coupés valued at £93,000-£205,000 in the UK and $85,000-$208,000 in the US. Fivespeed Targas and cabriolets are both valued identically in the UK at £85,100-£189,000. In the US, an ’89 Targa costs $75,000-$260,000, with the equivalent cabriolet fetching $69,000-$220,000. It is debatable whether the premium for five-ratio cars is warranted, and money can be saved by opting for a high-quality four-speed. “I think buyers are too focused on the five-speeds. The ratios in the four-speed are spot

on, and it’s an extremely usable car,” says James. In the US, the finest 3.3-litre four-speed coupés are valued at $223,167, which is down from a peak of $277,333 in 2016. The best coupés back on this side of the Pond are similarly valued at £191,000 – just under their £194,000 high in 2018. Flachbau models were pitched at 60 percent more at Porsche dealerships in period, and are rare as a consequence. You might reasonably expect these cars to command a heavy premium over a standard 930 but, as James reveals, this isn’t usually the case. “The market is pretty thin for those cars, and you just don’t see them very often,” he explains. “It’s possible that some of them have even been converted back to standard wings. Back in the day the flatnose was the ultimate incarnation, probably because Porsche was racing 935s. Now,

there’s definitely not a premium on those cars for most people.” Rare, high-value examples do include the 50 special-edition 930 LE run-out models that feature distinctive side air intakes and colour-matched wheels, in addition to the three 3.0-litre Martini editions. LEs generally sit at the high end of the value range for 1989 cars. Meanwhile, it’s difficult to firmly value Martini editions given their rarity, but one would expect them to be among the models changing hands at the £300,000-plus mark James alluded to earlier. Whatever your preference, when it comes to sourcing your perfect 930 the golden rule is patience, he says: “A really goodquality Turbo is a pretty rare car. We see around two or three 930s on the market every month, and it is only every two or three months that one appears which we get excited about.”

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T H E D E S I R A B I L I T Y FA C T O R “If you wanted to have a collection of five air-cooled 911s, you would definitely have a Turbo in it – whether it’s a 3.0-litre, or a fivespeed, or an example in a funky colour – which would probably be my choice,” James says. One of the most appealing aspects of the 930 is how usable it is, especially for a supercar of the era: “I don’t know another pre-964 911 that has the breadth of abilities that the 930 Turbo has. They will sit in traffic, they can go up the motorway at 100mph, they are fun to drive across country and they are as tough as old boots.” These sentiments are as true of the 930 as they are of its modern descendants, yet one area where this model is unique is in its reputation for volatile handling. This is largely due to the rearbiased weight distribution, rearwheel drive and laggy power delivery. Treat the car with respect, however, and these characteristics simply add personality. While all 930s allow you to sample the very best of the marque, there are key differences between how the 3.0- and 3.3-litre models drive. James says: “The 3.0 is a lot sportier, it’s lighter and it looks more like a 1970s car with the chrome and fantastic colours such as Emerald Green and Copper Brown Metallic. The 3.3 is what I think of as a Turbo, because it’s Porsche’s best effort at a luxury 911; it is fast, quiet and comfortable, and I think it suits today’s roads very well.” Nonetheless, even 3.3-litre cars are far more demanding to drive than a modern Turbo; the floormounted clutch pedal is heavy, as is the gearlever, and there are no anti-lock brakes or power steering. So while there are distinctions between how the early and later examples drive, the desirability of a car for a particular purchaser will come down to whether they favour a particular bodystyle, colour or mechanical specification. Buyers should be wary of thirdparty Flachbau conversions that have been carried out to a poor

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T H E D E TA I L S 1975-1977 PORSCHE 930 TURBO 3.0-LITRE (ROW/US) ENGINE TURBOCHARGED FLAT-SIX, SOHC 24V, 2994CC

POWER 260/245BHP TOP SPEED 155/156MPH 0-60MPH 5.2/4.9SEC 1978-1989 PORSCHE 930 TURBO 3.3-LITRE (ROW/US) ENGINE TURBOCHARGED FLAT-SIX, SOHC 24V, 3299CC

POWER 300/260BHP TOP SPEED 161/157MPH (167MPH WLS, 171MPH FLACHBAU)

0-60MPH 4.9SEC (4.6SEC WLS AND FLACHBAU)

standard, 911 Carreras that have had Turbo conversions and other such look-a-likes.

T H E N U T S A N D B O LT S Sports Purpose enlists the expertise of classic Porsche engineering specialist Neil Bainbridge in Buckinghamshire, who provided sage tips regarding what to look out for when purchasing a 930. As with any classic, the Turbo you are considering should be rust free. Happily, all models from 1976

‘Rare, high-value examples include the 930 LE run-out models and the Martini editions’

onwards were protected with partially galvanised steel bodywork, and cars from 1981 on were fully galvanised – but don’t let this lead you into a false sense of security. Typical areas for rust are usually the wheelarches and under the bonnet, particularly around the petrol tank and spare wheel. Prospective buyers are advised to lift up the under-bonnet carpet to check for rot and accident damage, in addition to inspecting the kidney bowls (which reinforce the sills to the B-pillar joint) and the underside of the doors. Rust can also appear around the screen, sills and fuelfiller cap. Body-panel gaps should be relatively uniform, and dramatic deviations could indicate that the car has been crashed. The engines of 930s are known to leak small quantities of oil. However, any leakage from the crankcase or cylinder-head area is frequently caused by cracked stud bolts, which is a major repair job. Timing-chain tensioners on pre1983 models can fail and should be replaced every 50,000 miles. Alternatively, the problem can be permanently solved by installing the hydraulic chain tensioners used in later examples. Blue smoke billowing from the exhaust can indicate worn valve guides. The factory exhaust system is robust, but corrosion is known to affect the flanges. Third-party systems are of varying quality and can sometimes sap power. Blue smoke under acceleration may well point to a worn turbo. Hot shutdowns can result in

engine-oil coking on the turbo shaft, which destroys the bearing and causes turbocharger wear. Whether it’s a four- or five-speed car, attention should also be paid to the transmission. If the shift action feels baulky or grinds once the ’box is warm it would definitely require further investigation. With MacPherson struts up front and semi-trailing arms at the rear, the 930 has a conventional 911 suspension layout. Check that the steering tracks straight and there are no unusual knocking sounds over bumps or excessively spongy damping. The interior is generally hard wearing and well built, but electrical issues are not uncommon, so ensure that all the switchgear, instruments, speakers and lights work as they should. Seats can wear over time, and sourcing used replacements is expensive.

THE FINAL DECISION The Porsche 930 Turbo sits alongside the Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer and Lamborghini Countach as one of the most iconic supercars of the 1980s. Unlike its Italian rivals, however, it is far more practical and comes at a lower price – even in today’s market. While keen drivers are perhaps better suited to the lighter 3.0-litre cars, the later 3.3 variants are available in more bodystyles and provide a spectrum of capabilities rivalled by few classics. Thanks to James Turner at Sports Purpose, www.sports-purpose.com, and to www.neilbainbridge.com.

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M A R K E T A N A LY S I S

Trend setters

Words Dave Kinney

Buyer, seller or keeper, you should be aware of these current collecting trends to ensure you get the best car for your money – or the best money for your car...

MY DAY JOB IS TO VALUE automobiles. As a valuer and the publisher of the US edition of the Hagerty Price Guide, I see trends in the automotive sales arena come and go, with some cars gaining favour while others get left behind. That’s what happens in almost any marketplace. While certain trends speak only to one sector, in the following list are some of those that are affecting every collector segment, from A to Z.

increased renovation costs, all combined with a lack of free time and perhaps patience, have given rise to the ‘point and shoot’ buyer. Most of the high-end auction houses – and indeed most highend dealers – cater to this genre of purchaser, a buyer who is often well heeled and who has done the homework on the car they are looking for. They have also done the ‘time invested vs money spent’ equation, and made the decision that paying more, even if it is much more, is worth the extra expense to have their new-to-them car now, and not later. Sellers should take notice. If your car is ‘almost’ as nice as the one that did sell, the chances are good that yours will take longer, perhaps

1. Buyers pay up for ready-to-go cars. They’re increasingly leaving cars with physical (mechanical or cosmetic) needs behind. There are thousands of examples one could find here. Diminishing repair and restoration skills, plus

much longer, to market and will likely bring a noticeably lower price.

‘The “sizzle” of interesting facts can be just as enticing to a buyer as the car itself’

2. Great cars sell for much more than almost great ones. Often astonishingly more. A sub-set of the ready-to-go market above, there is an increasing number of buyers who will pay seemingly any price for the car that ticks all of the boxes. Not unlike the art collector who will pass on works with a clouded history, a non-representative subject or a trace of doubt of legitimacy, this is the buyer who when purchasing a car is looking only for the greatest example likely to come to the marketplace in their adult lifetime. In a newer collector model, this might be the example in a custom colour with numerous options, combined with an unbroken chain of ownership history, often famed collectors of the marque. In an older car, this might include a history of attendance and awards at some of the world’s best-known events, a famous (or possibly better yet, infamous) first owner, an unbroken ownership chain and a condition described as original, well preserved or restored by a top-flight specialist. The premium here can be as high as a whopping 100 percent, but can normally run from 20 to 50 percent. 3. Paperwork, which was once given little thought, can now easily be worth its weight in gold. Having a full service history was once hoped for or possibly expected, but it can now be imperative. In

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THIS SPREAD ‘Well worn’ Ferrari – a desirable barn find or too much effort required? A $1.875m sale at RM Sotheby’s suggests the former. today’s market, to bring a top price, you’ll need more than that. A friend of mine has made what he calls a ‘baby book’ for each of his collector cars. All paperwork, including notices for dealer service specials, recalls, business cards, photos of the car when in different owners’ hands, even in some cases repairs for an accident or two, are in it. Under his plan, a five-year-old car with 30,000 miles should have perhaps 25 pages of information included. He has 40-year-old cars with well in excess of 200 pages,

including information about all previous known owners. He has made a rainy-weekend hobby out of contacting each living former owner for an interview, which he records and then prints out. The vendors who are selling leather-bound, gold-leaf-embossed books have been onto this trend for a few years; if you wish to further enhance the value of your motor, your guidebook awaits you. This is a low-cost but high-touch item that takes huge amounts of time, yet usually a small amount of money. It might not pay off for everyone, but in this era the ‘sizzle’ of interesting facts about the car can be just as enticing to a buyer as the automobile itself.

4. Barn finds, shed finds and other ‘lost and found’ cars still attract out-sized interest – and usually buyers. Preserved cars, however, are what the smart purchasers are looking for, and they are coming on fast. So much ink has been spilled about barn finds that writing more seems somehow redundant. There is a fine line between poorly maintained and true barn or shed finds, and we are seeing a bit less interest in these so-called ‘finds’ in all but the most desirable of marques and models. Recent no-sales at auctions have been noticeable. Preserved cars, those with wear, old paint, original interiors and dripping with patina have become

a must-have for a new generation of collectors. This preserved movement has been growing under the radar in the US, while it has been a force in the UK and Europe for many years. We are adopting more of the rules of fine-art collecting; once found only in big-money cars, expect to see more Minis, VWs and plain old family Fords being cherished for what they are as opposed to what they could be. None of these trends is new, though, and one needn’t look far to see that the best collections are no longer measured in degrees of fresh paint and shiny chrome, but in authentic finishes and detailed histories.

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WAT C H E S

Words Jonathon Burford

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Striking gold The gold-cased Heuer Carrera Ref 1158 is one of the rarest and most storied vintage chronographs of them all

IT MAKES SENSE THAT MOST post-war ‘tool’ watches were originally cased in steel. Their intended owners were active in motor sport, aviation, sailing or other outdoor activities, and steel’s lightness and robustness was the perfect base material. Combining sports and tool watches with goldcased variants was a rarity, with production numbers in the region of 9:1 of steel to gold from brands such as Rolex and Heuer. For the latter, this changed in 1969 with the arrival of a dedicated gold chronograph, the automatic Carrera Ref 1158 – a beautiful C-shaped piece with a screwdown case back and a champagneor white-coloured dial. This watch, which was Jack Heuer’s favourite Carrera, holds a special place in the brand’s history for several reasons. In the early 1960s, Jack – the Swiss company founder’s great grandson and majority shareholder – journeyed to America to promote his brand’s stopwatches. He made relationships across the motor sport sector – a perfect customer base for these precision timekeeping instruments. The pivotal moment came in 1970, when Steve McQueen chose to wear a Heuer Monaco for Le Mans (eight pieces were provided for the film). This association with a Hollywood icon catapulted the brand into the spotlight. In 1971, the Heuer/ Ferrari Formula 1 relationship began, alongside Jack’s innovative ‘ambassadors’ marketing strategy’. The relationship between Heuer and Ferrari lasted until ’79. Initially, Jack hoped the marque would pay his company for precision timing instruments. However, aggressive negotiator Enzo quickly reversed the idea, insisting that Heuer pay a large fee to supply the instruments. In return, Ferrari agreed to display the brand’s decals on its F1 cars, as well as sew Heuer patches onto its drivers’ racing suits, starting with Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni. Jack seized this opportunity to forge deeper relationships in the motor sport world, solidifying his company’s reputation. He would personally present 18c Ref 1158s to all the Ferrari F1 drivers, including

Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Scheckter. Beyond these, he handpicked other Heuer ‘ambassadors’ to receive 1158s, such as Emerson Fittipaldi, Jo Siffert and Mike Hailwood. Notably, Hailwood’s watch commemorated his 1973 act of extreme bravery: stopping midSouth African GP to extract stricken fellow driver Regazzoni from the mangled wreckage of his own car. Why is the Ref 1158 so special? In ’69, Heuer, with the Chronomatic Group (Buren, Breitling and Dubois Dépraz) unveiled Project 99 – a secret programme to create the first-ever automatic chronograph movement. The Calibre 11 (hence the first two digits of ‘1158’) thus beat Zenith and Seiko to the punch. While most were steel cased, only a tiny number were fitted into the Ref 1158’s 18c gold case. Some say as few as 150 exist, although the actual number is likely slightly higher. Those gifted to F1 drivers received personalised case-back engravings from Jack; the rest were offered to the public, occasionally on the optional, original and very heavy 18c gold Maglia Milanese bracelets made by Gay Frères. The reference was made over ten years in eight dial executions. Four had silvered dials with matching sub-registers, and four champagne dials with contrasting subs. The most sought-after are the 1158 CHN (with CH indicating the champagne dial colour and N the black/noircoloured subs). The main difference between these two executions of this combination is the contrasting date wheels, with white text on a black wheel for the first execution and black on white for the second. From a price perspective, in the US in 1972 the 18c gold Ref 1158 sold for $660, just $10 cheaper than a gold Rolex Ref 6241/6264, with the bracelets a $1200 option. While good examples rarely come up for sale, potential buyers should anticipate paying over $40,000 for one of the most storied and rarest vintage chronographs. Writer Jonathon Burford is SVP and specialist at Sotheby’s watch department. For its ongoing watches sales, see www.sothebys.com.

MOTORING ART

A Shore thing

Words Rupert Whyte

A strong hands-on background in the automotive world gives artist Andy Shore’s work a unique perspective

EXPERIENCE OF WORKING on a vast array of different cars is a useful and somewhat enviable background for an automotive artist. Andy Shore started doing exactly that almost 50 years ago when, as a young man in 1976, he landed a job working on Porsches, Lotuses, Jensens and Alfa Romeos for then rally driver Roger Clark. In the 1980s Shore moved to a small Leicestershire engineering company restoring Historic sports and racing cars. “I was lucky enough to have worked on both the Uhlenhaut Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Coupés,” he says today. “Who’d have thought that one of them would become the most expensive car ever sold at auction? I then worked for Team Lotus F1 as a wind-tunnel technician and model maker. I have also worked with Minardi, Dallara and Tom’s Toyota.” It’s this wealth of hands-on experience working within so many elements of the automotive world that has given Shore the technical eye that is evident throughout his artworks. Although he never received any formal art training, he took up airbrush painting at the age

of 15, eventually creating crash-helmet livery for race drivers including a spell working for the AGV brand. “Artistically I am totally self taught, but I was inspired at an early age by my late father, who was an architect and a fabulous artist,” he says. It’s the airbrush that still provides the medium for one of his two very different artistic approaches: detailed airbrush side profiles, and loose watercolour motoring scenes. Yet despite having many, many years’ experience with an airbrush, Shore prefers watercolour: “Some of my favourite and most inspirational artists are watercolourists: Joseph Zbukvic, David Curtis and Edward Wesson. It is one of the hardest mediums to master – if you make a mistake it is hard to rectify, and you often have to start all over again.” Inspiration for Shore’s motoring artworks specifically come from Dexter Brown, Michael Turner and Roy Nockolds, “although my favourite motoring artwork I think is a painting of the Blower Bentley team pitstop at Le Mans, by Terence Cuneo”. When it comes to choosing

subjects, especially for his watercolour works, Shore favours anything mechanical that lends itself to allowing atmosphere to be created within the painting. This is evident if you look at his Patchings Art Festival awardwinning piece, of the interior of a locomotive engine shed. “I try to convey in my artwork the reasons that have inspired me to paint that particular subject, such as the light and shade, atmosphere and reflections,” he explains. Meanwhile, subject selection for the airbrush works is much easier: “I just paint whatever I like or am asked to paint by a client. If required, I can paint just about any car that has ever been produced.” Any of Shore’s paintings represent fabulous value for money. His original airbrush profile paintings (above) start at a modest £150, and his atmospheric watercolours range upwards from less than £500. To be sure, that’s original art for limited-edition print money. Writer Rupert Whyte runs Historic Car Art, www.historiccarart.net, selling original works and posters.

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AUTOMOBILIA

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Signing up for authenticity

Words Mike Thomsen

When signature changes are real – and when they’re not

AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING IS a fun and satisfying hobby. The rewards are not only financial in terms of the growing value of your collection; the joy of the hunt and the friendships you can make along the way are just as gratifying. There’s one point many collectors may not have considered, though: authenticity. How do you know whether or not a driver’s autograph is real? It takes experience, as well as a willingness to network with top collectors in the hobby. Over the years I have learned a lot from mentors such as my late friends Dr Harlen Hunter and Jack Mackenzie, two giants in the hobby who taught me a great deal. One early lesson was to watch out for changes to a signature over the years. While many people keep the same signature for their whole lives, there are instances where a driver’s autograph has dramatically changed, whether by conscious choice or due to health reasons. There are some instances where a driver simply chose to change it, and one prime example is the great Mario Andretti. In the early 1960s, while driving on the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) midget circuit, his signature was distinctly different to the way it looks today. When Andretti changed circuits in 1964 to USAC (United States Auto Club) championship racing, he modified his signature as well. There are major differences from the ARDC autograph: especially noticeable are the ‘M’ in Mario and the ‘A’ in Andretti. This mid-1960s signature remained largely the same for the next few years, but following his 1969 Indianapolis

500 win, he decided to change it again. This time Andretti adopted a much more stylistic approach, and that distinctive autograph became his company logo as well. By the early 1980s the autograph had become more streamlined, similar to what Mario continues to sign countless times each race weekend for his adoring fans. In 2019 I asked Andretti about the changes to his signature. “I just kept shortening it over time, to the point where it almost became a straight line,” he told me. That is understandable when you consider just how many autographs the legend continues to sign, both in person and through the mail. So, which of these Andretti autographs is genuine? All of them. That’s why it is important to know the evolution of a driver’s signature, especially if you are looking to make a purchase. By the way, three recent Indianapolis 500 drivers are also on the list of those who have consciously chosen to change their autographs: James Hinchcliffe, Jack Harvey and Pietro Fittipaldi. As a collector, it’s important to know the difference between an early signature and an autograph signed later in life, or after a major medical event. The late Sam Hanks had two very different signatures over time. His early autographs look nothing like the ones he signed late in his life, and that is due to medical reasons. Again, both of Hanks’ autographs are legitimate; however, if you hadn’t researched the signature over time, you might not know it. The great Cale Yarborough has

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FROM TOP Mario Andretti’s signature has evolved through the decades, from this second version from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1966, to this third variant (retrosigned in the mid1970s on a 1967 Indy image), to the fourth and most current incarnation.

been an incredible signer through the mail for many decades, but this legendary driver has recently been facing some health issues, and as a result his autograph has sadly changed dramatically. The more knowledge you have regarding these trends, the better your collection will ultimately be. Don’t be afraid to reach out to folk who have been studying and documenting these trends for many years – their experience and insight can invariably guide you to better collecting. Thanks to Automobilia Resource, www.automobiliaresource.com.

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COLLECTING

Words Nathan Chadwick

“THERE’S THE LINN WAY, AND then there’s the wrong way.” This statement infuriates as much as it inspires audiophiles, but few companies in any field, let alone in high-end audio, still produce their very first product. Scottish specialist Linn has a controversial reputation – as does founder Ivor Tiefenbrun – because unlike the prevailing thought in audiophile circles five decades ago, which considered the key to peak performance as dependent on the speakers, it prioritised the source of the audio as the most important part of the set-up. Tiefenbrun, who came from a mechanicalengineering background, took a close look at a record deck and thought he could do better – and created the 1973 Sondek. Linn’s Joe Rodger explains: “Other turntables had technology to improve performance, or the ability to dance next to without the stylus skipping, but Tiefenbrun found that the main requirement for a turntable to perform better was for it to be isolated from acoustic vibration. He changed the way suspensions were traditionally made, and the way the bearing on which the platter is spun is made, to minimise distortion and rumble.” At that point, nobody had seen the turntable as something that deserved to be precision engineered. Joe goes on: “People mocked Ivor, saying that all a turntable does is go round – the idea was that to make the sound reasonably accurate, you amplify it and put it through some hefty speakers. Ivor’s retort was that a speaker just goes in and out – and a record deck is a mechanical

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’Dek the halls For 50 years a single-minded approach has garnered Linn’s Sondek LP12 a devoted following. What’s behind the appeal?

ABOVE The LoveFrom Jony Ive LP12-50 marks Linn’s 50th year. item that can be improved. It was all born from his fanatical devotion to music and its ability to produce an emotional response; he knew there was information in the groove of a record we just weren’t hearing.” Although the tech within the Sondek was available in other decks then, Ivor brought it all together – and 50 years later the turntable has

‘Ivor knew there was information in the groove of a record we just weren’t hearing’

a keen following across the world, fed by continuous refinement: “Every element has changed, with well over 50 upgrades,” Joe says. These are applicable to every Sondek, from the earliest models to the current line-up. The modularity of the range means you can choose the £3700 Majik model, £11,220 Selekt or £25,100 full-bore Klimax – or upgrade over time. Used Sondeks start at under £1000, while special editions such as the 40th Anniversary, which featured a plinth made from oak casks from Highland Park Distillery, are highly sought after. The current LP12-50 special edition has been designed in association with Sir Jony Ive; its 250-strong production run is nearly sold out. However, the most collectable standard decks are the 1973-1978 models, which

use afromosia – a protected wood that is no longer available. Joe’s found that the Sondek has staying power because it’s become a family heirloom, being passed down through the generations. “We get calls from people asking how they go about getting their inherited Sondek working,” he says, also pointing to the massive increase in vinyl sales over the past few years. Linn’s process of improvement will continue. “The mechanicalengineering department has little skunkworks,” Joe laughs. “One of them will sit up one day and say ‘Eureka!’ – and we’ll run with that. Everything is done in-house, so we can quickly prototype something and put it into production. As long as the vinyl medium still exists, we’ll keep making the LP12.” www.linn.co.uk

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E-TYPE R A SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE PACKAGE FOR YOUR E-TYPE JAGUAR BESPOKE

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DIVERSIONS

AUSTIN J40 CONTINUATION The iconic J40 pedal car is back! Production of the original spanned 1949-71, with 32,098 built. This new Continuation from Austin Pedal Cars looks the same but is re-engineered with an all-new pedal system, rack-and-pinion steering, working instruments, leather seat and more. Each one is £25,000; the company also sells and restores originals, and stocks a range of spares. www.austinpedalcars.com

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THE OUTLIERMAN MULSANNE 24 HEURES DU MANS DRIVING GLOVES In honour of the Le Mans 24 Hours, these limited-edition gloves feature the iconic colours of the race, and are made from nappa lambskin with contrasting waxed thread. They are available in sizes 7.5 to 9, and cost £328.97. www.theoutlierman.com

Compiled by Nathan Chadwick and Sophie Kochan

BAILEY SHEARLING DRIVING CAP Crafted using cream Merino sheepskin with ultrasoft tan leather, this trapper hat was created for The ICE International Concours of Elegance in St Moritz. The ear flaps can be worn up or down using the suede toggle closure, while the back-mounted tightener adjusts the size. It is priced at £595. www.mistermiller.co.uk

ARANYANI KIKO TOP HANDLE Forming part of Aranyani’s Classic Monogram Collection, which celebrates the life-force of the forest and essence of new beginnings behind the firm’s monogram, this bag is crafted from smooth Italian calf napa leather with a gold-foil debossed monogram. Available in Sand, Lava Red, Obsidian, Terracotta and Deep Forest (pictured), it costs £1440 from 21 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 6QD.

CHOPARD ALPINE EAGLE CADENCE 8HF This Alpine Eagle combines the comfortable feel of a titanium watch with an elegant chronometer movement. The 41mm case houses a black dial with subtle orange accents, and the Chopard 01.12-C high-frequency escapement automatic movement allows it to reach a cruising altitude of 57,600 vibrations per hour (8Hz). The price is £18,500. www.chopard.com

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DIVERSIONS

AMALGAM FERRARI PUROSANGUE This 199-piece 1:8-scale model beautifully recreates Ferrari’s controversial four-door. Each one takes 300 hours to build and features precisely engineered castings, photo etchings and CNC-machined metal components, using original specifications from Ferrari. Cost is £12,185 each. www.amalgamcollection.com

PATEK PHILIPPE AQUANAUT ROSE GOLD 5261R-001 A complication that isn’t complicated – Patek Philippe’s patented annual calendar means the day/date/month set-up needs only one manual correction, each February. The 18ct rose gold and bezel’s rounded octagonal shape are contrasted with polished and satin-brushed finishes, while the blue-grey dial and composite Aquanaut pattern lend an air of sportiness. Price is £49,530. www.watches-of-switzerland.co.uk

S.T. DUPONT CAR LE MANS COLLECTOR SET

PINEIDER GOLF BAG Constructed from tumbled, mini-franzi and smooth leather, this golf bag is available in both Rum and Nuanced Dark Brown (pictured). There are several large pockets for storing clothing, footwear, golf balls, telephones and other personal items. It is priced at £14,100. https://uk.pineider.com/en

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To celebrate 100 years of Le Mans, S.T. Dupont Car has put together this boxed set, including a Dupont car. The blue lacquer and gold finishes pay homage to the 24 Hours’ colours. It contains a Le Grand S.T. Dupont lighter, an XL multifunction pen, a pair of cufflinks and a keyring, for £8785, with 188 numbered pieces available. Discover the full collection in the S.T. Dupont Harrods Boutique. https://uk.st-dupont.com

MISTER MILLER MASTER HATTER Luxurious British artisan hats for him & her

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DIVERSIONS

DELVAUX PIN D POUCH PM ARSENAL XL This pouch is finished in Taurillon Soft grained leather with the textured Leather D signature. Open the zip closure and you’ll find a textile lining, while the metal hardware is made from palladium. There is a choice of finishes – Azure (pictured), Black and Aloé – and it costs £1450. https://uk.delvaux.com

MONTRES F.P. JOURNE LINESPORT AUTOMATIQUE RÉSERVE This 44mm-diameter watch is crafted from titanium, and features a yellow aluminium-alloy dial with luminescent indexes and numerals, while the seconds counter is in white sapphire. It features the 1300.3 calibre, and costs £67,500. www.fpjourne.com

FOPE SOLO NECKLACE Aimed at both men and women, the new Solo necklace is crafted from 18ct white, yellow or rose gold, and boasts a hidden clasp within a design feature on the front of the necklace. A rondel with a central white or black diamond hides a D-click button that activates the opening mechanism. It costs £11,305. www.mappinandwebb.com

CAD & THE DANDY SAFARI JACKET IN TOBACCO SUEDE This ultra-soft suede jacket features three buttons, four patch pockets, handmade buttonholes and an internal drawstring to cinch the waist. It’s available in sizes 38 to 48, and is priced at £1200. www.cadandthedandy.co.uk

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DIVERSIONS

LA PRAIRIE FESTIVE RITUALS PLATINUM RARE LUXURY RITUAL With full and ‘replica’ sizes, this five-piece set has all you need to rejuvenate your skin at home or on the road: Cellular Life-Lotion, Haute-Rejuvenation Elixir and Night Elixir, Haute-Rejuvenation Cream and Eye Cream, in a Bauhaus-inspired coffret. It costs £3370. www.laprairie.com

TUDOR PELAGOS FXD M2570B/23-0001 The Pelagos range is inspired by the timepieces worn by the US Navy. Waterproof to 200 metres, this 42mm-diameter watch features a titanium case that encapsulates a MT5602 mechanical movement. It has a power reserve of circa 70 hours, comes with a fabric strap and a navy rubber strap, and is priced at £3490. www.tudorwatch.com

SWAINE SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN BRIGG WHANGEE UMBRELLA

TUMI CONTINENTAL EXPANDABLE CARRY-ON 55CM This 55cm carry-on luggage is made from Tegris, a lightweight yet durable material that offers robust strength and impact resistance. It is customisable with modular accessories that are made to work seamlessly with daisy chains, D-rings and hooks to make packing easy. It’s available in Blush (pictured), T-Graphite and Black/Graphite, and costs £850. https://uk.tumi.com

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For fans of The Avengers, Steed’s signature bowler hat and Brigg Whangee umbrella made an indelible impression. Crafted from one piece of Whangee bamboo, this Swaine umbrella has either a plated-gold or sterling-silver collar, and is available in 25in and 27in. Canopy colours are Black, Dark Navy, Jaguar Green and Brown, and it costs £520. www.swaine.london

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BOOK REVIEWS

Reviews Nathan Chadwick

A glorious tribute to both the golden era of coachbuilt French masterpieces and one of the genre’s most respected proponents, the late Peter Mullin

THE SAD LOSS OF PETER Mullin as we put together this issue of Magneto shed a new light on reviewing this book. Peter and his wife Merle were dedicated to bringing this most maximalist of motoring eras to the wider public, rather than hiding its very best designs away in a private collection. See elsewhere in this issue for our tribute to Peter. It’s no surprise to find that Peter and Merle were big supporters of Figoni on Delahaye, which chronicles the bodies Figoni et Falaschi built on Delahaye chassis through a mixture of archive imagery, technical drawings and stunning new photography. This is all backed up with the story behind each chassis. The imagery really is excellent – in particular the faithfully reproduced technical diagrammes and contemporary advertising – and it gives the reader a real sense of the time’s glamour. Richard Adatto and Diana Meredeth’s writing is a delight to read, really painting a detailed picture of a heady time where dreams could be rendered on four wheels. There are many amusing tales from each car’s history, such as when no. 532’s door handle fell off during a snowstorm, which

meant that the door had to be wired shut, and the sunroof and the driver’s window kept open to allow the wiring to be fixed in place. This is what makes these cars fascinating beyond their lustinducing lines; often, the people who ordered them new were characters as fascinating as the vehicles that eventually appeared. Some cars are lucky to survive at all – no. 700 was found in a scrapyard in Algeria in the 1990s and is now in glorious condition. Or how about the third Type 165, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s son claimed had been seized in Romania by the Russians and presented by the Communist Party as a gift to Stalin, before having its V12 replaced with a truck engine? Then there was no. 1009, which was bought for pennies in France by an American soldier, shipped back home by the US Army and left in the New York docks until 1956. Each car has morsels of fascinating history – vehicle related, human, social or, often, all three – that will have you coming back for more. There are plenty of interesting diversions – the bitter dispute with French illustrator Géo Ham is worth a read, to put right many internet ‘truths’ that are anything but. This book has to be an essential purchase for those with an interest in the breed, while for people who have yet to fully fall in love with this era of car, this is an excellent way to start your odyssey. Moreover, this 302-page, $250 tome is an excellent way to remember and honour Peter Mullin’s passionate dedication to such four-wheeled art. www.daltonwatson.com

‘For people who have yet to fully fall in love with this era of car, this is an excellent way to start your odyssey’

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FROM LEFT New book boasts detailed text, archive imagery, technical drawings and stunning new photography.

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BOOK REVIEWS

The Atlas Of Car Design: The World’s Most Iconic Cars Mapping the world’s car design seems like a good idea – but this volume may leave you a little lost

AN ATLAS OF CAR DESIGN makes for an obvious subject – there’s a particular vibe to the models that appear from each country, after all. A BMW will never look like an Alfa Romeo, and a Saab will never look like a Toyota. Well, that’s the theory. Viewed through the prism of someone with a more casual interest in cars, mapping the world through auto design makes sense, and this book – a co-production between Jason Barlow, Guy Bird and Brett Berk – develops that theme. Each continent’s high and low points in design are pulled out, with individual cars provided as examples alongside longer essays. It’s an entertaining read – but

it’s clearly not aimed at us hardcore nerds. We know that, for example, a lot of golden-era ‘British’ and ‘German’ designs were actually by Italians (Giovanni Michelotti and Bruno Sacco, respectively, are two examples – and that barely scratches the surface). Much of the late-1950s American fins and chrome was, again, the result of Italian-Detroit back and forth. This also works in reverse – a lot of ‘Swedish’ design owes a great deal to the late, great (and British) Peter Horbury, and Italian houses such as Pininfarina and Zagato have been and still are led by Japanese stylists. While the writers briefly acknowledge this, an atlas of car design, for said nerds, doesn’t

quite work beyond general themes. It neither reflects the co-operative nature of design that blurs international boundaries, nor takes into account the business realities of ‘world’ cars. And then there’s the antics of the Big Three when it comes to market niches, and how this affects regional auto design. A more interesting take might be how a ‘world’ car is adapted for different markets – and why. In fairness, Phaidon’s books are aimed at a broader audience, drawing on contemporary fashion and culture – and as pointed out earlier, this doesn’t feel like a book aimed at the hardcore enthusiast. This filters down to its design, which owes a lot to the kind of

typesetting and layouts found in high-end fashion magazines. It’s a little jarring – that’s the point, my design chums say. Even with that in mind, a wall of essay text is probably more challenging for longform, intelligently written copy on car design than for, say, blouses. Nevertheless, this £100, 568page book is an entertaining overview of design language through time, even if it’s not a granular discussion of the topic and has little in the way of bespoke photography for the price. As an introduction to the subject of car design, it would make a good gift and a gateway drug for someone to become a nerd – just like us. www.phaidon.com

FERRARI 330GTC: ELEGANCE AND PEDIGREE

LOST CARS OF THE 1940S AND ’50S

50 YEARS WITH FERRARIS

Some of the best ideas are formed around a kitchen table – Lotus, for example. Gibson Technology is another; what began as Bill Gibson building electronic-management systems at home developed into his firm, Zytek, helping to give the likes of Ayrton Senna the edge on track. This is the story of how Gibson built engines for single-seaters and more, and how it eventually became a giant-killing Le Mans chassis maker. Mark Cole’s 128-page, £40 book is a fascinating insight into a rarely heralded company that took on the world’s best – and beat them. www.porterpress.co.uk

As the world’s car manufacturers emerged from World War Two, nobody could have foreseen the stylistic sprint to automotive maximalism, primarily from the Americans, in the mid-to-late 1950s. Giles Chapman’s entertaining, 160page, £19.99 book shines a light on the obscure cars that have either slid out of public consciousness or simply existed as an offshoot of a regional Big Three outpost. Engagingly written and illustrated largely with period advertising imagery, it’ll certainly provide many ‘what on earth’ moments. www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Neill Bruce’s long association with Surrey Ferrari dealer Maranello Concessionaires makes for a fascinating pictorial archive of ‘old’ Ferrari, before the mid-90s revival. His job included shooting brochure photos, type-approval images and much more, which gave him access to great characters in the UK and Italy alike. With amusing anecdotes, rarely seen images of the great and good and, of course, fine Maranello machines, this 192-page, £45 book is well worth a look for the British tifosi whose heart soars just a little when ‘Egham’ appears on a road sign. www.evropublishing.com

This is one of the more surprising books of the year. Initial impressions, from the lavish case, hardbound cover and paper quality, is of an art book. However, delve within the pages and it’s actually a fantastic warts-and-all resource item for 330GTC enthusiasts as well, with how-to guides and precise tech data, plus a chassis-by-chassis run-down. Also, interviews with Tom Tjaarda and Aldo Brovarone offer fascinating insight. Maurice Khawam’s 376-page, $575 book is clearly a labour of love, and if you’re a 330GTC lover this has to be a must-buy. www.makgroupbooks.com

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BOOK REVIEWS

Goodwood: 1948-2023 Sumptuous tribute to the circuit, the FoS and all those who have been involved along the way

THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL OF Speed may well be remembered for the weather-enforced Saturday closure, which is a shame – 2023 was the grand celebration of both its 30th anniversary and the Goodwood Motor Circuit’s 75th. This 336-page, £75 book runs through Goodwood’s full story, from its original racing days right up to its current, multi-faceted events programme. Since the first Festival of Speed back in 1993, augmented by the first Revival five years later, the venue has continued to innovate, improve and wow with stunning attention to detail. It’s little surprise, then, that the world’s greatest racing drivers, teams and manufacturers all want

to be a part of it, and notable luminaries who’ve contributed to the Goodwood story are profiled here. On more than a few occasions this can prove poignant, especially with regards to the likes of Colin McRae, Peter Brock and Dan Wheldon, who all made spectacular appearances (particularly Wheldon with his Star-Spangled Banner routine), only to be tragically killed just months or even weeks later. Witnessing Bruno Senna driving his late uncle’s McLaren MP4/6 F1 car at the Members’ Meeting was a ‘dust in the eye’ moment for anyone who saw it live in 2021, and the simple sight of the Brazilian national colours blended with McLaren’s red and white brings it

back here. However, Goodwood is a place of joy, and there’s plenty of that, with evocative images of cars, riders and drivers getting stuck in, or just relaxing in the ambience. The book is not simply a pictorial history, though. Mark Walton has corralled a fine selection of both writers and interviewees; Doug Nye delves into the circuit’s history, while Nick Mason and Gordon Murray look back at the trials and tribulations of the first Festival of Speed – the latter making the trip down with George Harrison in their Light Car Company Rockets. However, it is Sir Jackie Stewart’s memories of the circuit’s very early years that prove most

interesting; it was, after all, the site of his critical test for Ken Tyrrell that set up his glorious Formula 1 career. The Revival memories from Damon Hill and Tiff Needell strike a chord – particularly from the latter, who actually watched races at the circuit as a nipper. He agrees that 1998’s opening event was like stepping straight back in time. And yes, Ray Hanna’s Supermarine Spitfire antics along the pit straight make an appearance... As you can expect with a Goodwood production, the design, layout, photography and general presentation are excellent. Avowed Goodwood groupies will adore it. https://shop.goodwood.com

RAINER SCHLEGELMILCH: PORSCHE RACING MOMENTS

THE AUSTIN PEDAL CAR STORY

BENETTON: REBELS OF FORMULA 1

TWR-PORSCHE WSC95

One of the highlights of the Goodwood Revival is the Settrington Cup for Austin J40 and Pathfinder pedal cars. Their background story is even more dramatic than the races, and David Whyley’s 488-page, £85 book tells it in vivid detail. It’s a warm, human tale – Welsh miners left with lung disease found a new role and hope building these beloved vehicles. The story goes beyond that, relating a dramatic development and enduring legacy, with fascinating interviews and rarely seen images and data. This comprehensive book is heartening to read, and full of remarkable tales. www.porterpress.co.uk

Love or hate them, there have certainly been Characters with a capital C involved in the Benetton team. Damien Smith’s 344-page, £60 book charts the rise from sponsor to constructor (via Toleman’s ashes), world-beater to also-ran. Along the way there’s glory, innovative approaches to the rules, tantrums and more, which makes for a pacey narrative that’s illuminated by interviews with key players such as Flavio Briatore. It’s a thrilling read, often entertaining and certainly worth the price, particularly for the insiders’ view of the infamous 1994 season. www.evropublishing.com

If you’d told anyone in Jaguar or Porsche during the white-hot days of Group C that the former’s chassis would combine with the latter’s allconquering endurance flat-six to create that rare breed, a dual Le Mans 24 Hours winner, they’d have laughed. However, it’s just what happened, and Serge Vanbockryck’s engaging £69, 320-page tale brings the story to light with previously unseen designs and imagery, insider insight and absorbing tech precision. It’s a tale that deserves to be told widely, about a project that, despite all the odds, recorded two unlikely victories. www.porterpress.co.uk

Within 25 years Porsche went from racing outsider to the dominant force in endurance racing – and Rainer Schlegelmilch was there to capture it all, from the 550 through to the all-conquering 962. The car imagery here is magnificent, as you’d expect – who doesn’t love airborne 908s at the Nordschleife? But as is always the case with Rainer’s work it is the human side that truly hits home, from either side of the paddock wall. Beautifully realised, this 356-page, $850 book is a treat even for those not under the Stuttgart spell. www.taschen.com

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CHRISTOPH GROHE S.A. I 10 ROUTE D’ALLAMAN I 1173 FECHY I SWITZERLAND

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DELAGE - D8C Faux-cabriolet Vanvooren, 1932

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FIAT - 1400 Cabriolet Bertone (Michelotti), 1950

LINCOLN - Continental V12 Cabriolet, 1947

JAGUAR - XK150S Coupé, LHD, 1960

MASERATI - 3500GT Coupé, 1960

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The Lawyer Clive Robertson

www.healys.com +44 (0)7768 997439

Whether selling, importing or gifting, the classic car ownership proposition can be fraught with tax issues

“TO SUBJECT EVERY PRIVATE family to the odious visits and examinations of the tax gatherers… would be altogether inconsistent with liberty.” So said founder of modern economics Adam Smith. While Smith – whose tercentenary we celebrate in 2023 – wouldn’t have had the concept of motorised travel within his contemplation, today’s classic car enthusiasts should have a grasp of the basic tax issues that will be relevant to the ownership proposition. In recent years the acquisition of collector cars has become increasingly popular, either for use or as ‘art investment’. The UK Hagerty Price Guide follows movement in this market with its gold index, recording 30 defined examples of the great marques. This index rose by 18.7 percent in the year to December 2022, while the S&P 500 index fell by 16.3 percent in the same period. Most will know that the principle reason for this popularity is the fact that the sale of a classic doesn’t incur a charge to capital gains tax. HMRC treats “mechanically propelled road vehicles, constructed or adapted for the carriage of passengers, except for a vehicle of a type not commonly used as a private vehicle and unsuitable to be so used” as non-chargeable assets. HMRC takes the view that motor vehicles have a predicted life of less than 50 years and are therefore treated as wasting assets. As with all general principles, there are exceptions. Race and singleseat sports cars attract gains tax on sale. The seller is duty bound to report the sale, and any profit, to HMRC. There is also a trap, lying in wait, for the enthusiast who wishes to sample as many classics as possible. One or two transactions a year might constitute a hobby; any substantial increase in numbers might draw attention and will risk the individual being classified as a trader, thereby losing the gains exemption

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BELOW The tax regime in relation to classics is relatively well judged. Adam Smith would have approved.

and being taxed as a business. Might the gains exemption be under threat? In the US, there is generally gains tax applicable at the rate of 28 percent. My instinct is that while classic owners might hold strikingly trenchant party-led views among themselves, when it comes to our hobby, conservatism is to the fore including those in government, parliament and the civil service. The temptation of securing a rustfree classic from abroad might prove beyond control, in which case current knowledge of import duty and VAT is required. The rule is that import duty is charged at five-ten percent, while VAT is 20 percent. Reduced rates of nil for import duty and five

‘There is a trap, lying in wait, for the enthusiast who wishes to sample as many classics as possible’

percent for VAT are available for classics that are 30-plus years old and deemed to be of historic interest. This relief is also available for cars that are less than 30 years old, where that car is viewed as being extremely rare, is a limited edition, is or has been owned by a famous personality, has been used in a film or an historic event, or has been successful at a prestigious or international event. These are required to be original, with no substantial modifications, although repairs and restoration are permitted. There is also a VAT-relief scheme on temporary imports for repair and restoration work. Finally, estate-duty or inheritancetax mitigation ought to bear close scrutiny. A timely gift of a major asset, such as a collector car, could result in that asset being excluded from the total of the deceased’s estate. This relief is derived from the ‘seven-year rule’, where a potentially exempt transfer can be gifted tax free, if the donor lives for seven years following the gift. A key part of the rule is known as ‘taper’ relief. If a donor dies within three years there is no tax relief, but thereafter taper

relief from 32 percent in the fourth year, reducing proportionally to nil tax after the seventh year. Best practice in securing this relief might be to enter into a formal deed of gift, thereby setting in stone both date and terms. HMRC would not accept the recounting of a conversation along the lines of: “Dad promised to leave me the Bugatti.” Furthermore, the donor should ensure that necessary changes to the V5C registration document are effected as at date of gift. A fresh insurance policy should be taken out, showing the donee as the insured party. Of course, dad will be expected to exercise the Bugatti on rare occasions. Of necessity this column is but an overview of these topics – tax is a complex subject. Your solicitor should be consulted early days; errors or failures in process are inevitably expensive. In overview, in the UK at least, the tax regime in relation to classic cars is relatively benign and well judged. Adam Smith would have approved. Clive is a solicitor and consultant with London law firm Healys LLP. Contact clive.robertson@healys.com.

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The Curator Robert Dean How the once-forbidden pleasures of riding and restoring motorcycles hooked our man for life

BEING THE BLACK SHEEP OF the family (ie the odd one out), I naturally gravitated towards motorcycles – especially as my parents hated them and forbade me to even think about ever owning one. So it was a bit strange when they agreed to let a family friend take me out on his bike when I was just nine years old. Now Rickie Garland was a rebel as well, and after a nice, easy trip he turned round and said: “Do you want to go really fast?” “Absolutely!” was my response – and that was the first time I went over 100mph. He swore me to secrecy, and it wasn’t until we were much, much older that the truth was revealed to both sets of parents at a dinner party. When I was about 12, my dad explained the principle of driving an old Morris 1000 van and told me to get on with it, so I was always able to drive things. Then, once we moved back to London in my late teens, my buddy Giles had two motorcycles and he taught me to ride one. Since I wasn’t allowed a bike, on pain of death, I decided to keep the use of it quiet. And because I didn’t have a licence, Giles and I figured we wouldn’t bother registering the bike, either – hence it had no documents, MoT or insurance. Our clever idea was that if we were followed I would ditch the machine and get on his, which was fully legal. I’m not sure we properly thought it through, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We had many lovely days riding out of London in the morning and returning late at night. We didn’t go especially fast, because the idea was just to get out and about. My first ‘proper’ bike was a Moto Guzzi Le Mans III, which I bought in 1999. It had done 2300 miles from new, and I was only going to ride it on high days and holidays – but one day a French Ford Sierra pulled out in front of me and had me off. I bought the bike back from the insurer, and

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BELOW The Scott ‘outfit’ Robert restored for Seb Vettel – right down to custom-made cycle-thread bolts.

it became my first motorcycle restoration. I still have it and ride it. I love restoring bikes, because you can really get into the detail. It has to be correct, as there is nowhere to hide something if it’s wrong. The next two I did were both Ducati Mike Hailwood Replicas. I had been trying to buy one off my dear friend, the late Paul Langton, for years, but he wouldn’t sell it to me. I then happened upon another in a local auction, parts of which were spread around other lots in the sale. The auction house said that if I saw anything just to move it to the required lot. I stood next to the bike telling anyone who’d listen how bad it was, and things went my way until I realised the back wall was ‘bidding’, too, so I dropped it. After the sale the

‘I love restoring bikes – it has to be correct, because there is nowhere to hide something if it’s wrong’

auctioneer asked if I wanted to use my last bid because the sale had “fallen through”. I told him I knew what had been going on, we came to an understanding and the bike was mine. I rebuilt the brakes and clutch etc, and flushed the engine five times before the oil ran clear, then I rode it in unrestored condition. The centre stand didn’t work, so at bike meets I had to lean it against a wall or tree, much to people’s amazement. Almost as soon as I bought the Hailwood Replica Paul rang and asked if I’d buy his Ducati, so I had to find the money for that, too. It’d been in a damp barn for 18 years, and we had a funny negotiation where I wanted to give him £1000 and he wanted £800. Finally I agreed and counted out the £800 – but when he wasn’t looking I stuffed the extra £200 in the envelope. I sold the first motorcycle to another friend, and we restored the two at the same time. By now I’d started to collect bikes – Italians specifically – and I bought a rough 1977 Ducati 900SS. I paid £6500, and over four years I restored it to 100 percent perfect condition, which cost me about £14,000. I never rode it, because I knew I’d have to sell it and I didn’t want to

form any attachment to it. When I sold it for £30,000 a few years later it paid for my son’s prep school, which I think was a good investment – but I can tell you that making a profit out of restoring old machinery is really difficult and, as you can see, it has to be done over a long period of time. One of the restorations I am most proud of is a Scott with a sidecar (or an ‘outfit’) for Sebastian Vettel. He is such a nice bloke, and a total Anglophile. He has a lovely bike collection, and I took him to his first auction at the Stafford Classic Bike Show. This takes place twice a year, and is an event I always try to get to. As it came to me the Scott looked okay but very tired. It took me over a year to sort all the missing and incorrect parts, the engine/gearbox went off to be rebuilt and the sidecar went to George Langhorn, who used to paint the McLaren F1 cars. To give you an idea of the ‘detail’ I talked about earlier, Scott used cyclethread bar-turned nuts and bolts, which is 26TPI. This bike had only two remaining with that thread, so I measured every bolt that was needed and had them made in stainless steel to the correct thread and length. Both hubs were wrong, and the girder forks were rusted from the inside out, so requiring special tapered tube to be made. It looked fabulous, and I hope Seb liked it… I never heard whether or not he did, but of course he was still in Formula 1 then and will have had more important things on his mind. I have had years of fun with motorcycles, but one of the nicest things you can do is spend a sunny Sunday afternoon at the house of one of your biker friends, cleaning and fettling your ’cycles, drinking tea and telling tall tales. Ride bikes and be at one with your machinery. Former Ecclestone Collection manager Robert now runs Curated Vehicle Management. See www.c-v-m.co.uk.

1933 ASTON MARTIN 12/50 LE MANS £235,000 1933 Aston Martin chassis D3/252/L has featured on the front cover of the iconic book about pre-war Aston-Martins by Inman Hunter. Its most recent owners, Andy Bell of Ecurie Bertelli and his father, Preston Bell, converted it to fully correct Le Mans specification with some subtle Ecurie Bertelli upgrades. BME 119 has been campaigned tirelessly by Preston, Andy and various guest drivers in concours, sprints, hill climbs, races and rallies. Ecurie Bertelli has continuously maintained it in-house, including the very recent fitting of a new MKII engine. Having held FIA HTP papers, FIVA card and the VSCC Buff form, this car is eligible for various events and ready to race, rally or go touring. It is fitted with a Brantz rally meter, additional driving lights, race catch tanks and more. For more information, go to our website, scan the code or speak to one of our team on the details below.

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The Racer Sam Hancock Why high-tech driver aids aren’t always a viable replacement for good old ‘eyes and arse’ instincts

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has also been useful in testing. I can see after just a few corners whether or not a set-up change has helped or hindered, and thus I can decide to terminate or continue the lap accordingly, potentially saving a lot of time. And, given how contrary to my natural driving style the Dino’s preferred technique is, I can satisfy myself that every armful of oversteer ‘really is quicker’. Given this use case, imagine then my frustration when, only a few days before our final pre-Revival test, my Racelogic unit was pinched from my road car along with my race kit during a smash-and-grab. With no opportunity to replace the device I was, for the first time in some years, going to have to drive ‘blind’. And you know what? It was fabulous. I didn’t know it at the time, but within a few laps of our first run we were already matching our previous best efforts and, by day’s end, we’d blitzed them to record the fastest times the Ferrari has ever achieved at Goodwood. And because the track-day rules of that particular

occasion didn’t even allow pitboards to be hung from the wall, I had to wait until trundling back to the paddock at the end of each run to discover the good news. Far from making the day less efficient, it was almost doubly so. Without the distraction of a digital display judging every metre of my performance, I felt entirely connected to the car in a way I don’t think I have experienced before. I could feel, instinctively, whether or not set-up changes had improved things and, while still having to maintain that attacking driving style, I noticed some smoothening of sharp edges in my technique… better ‘flow’, if you will. Now I’m not suggesting this was entirely due to the removal of an onboard lap-time display – perhaps I was just having a good day or the Ferrari was particularly dialled in. But there’s no doubt that the lap times came easily and that I enjoyed the freedom from being so mercilessly judged by that little OLED screen. With my eyes free

to remain glued only to the next apex or brake point, I think I felt a little more ‘ahead’ of the car – dare I say less stressed. And as I have long preached to my coaching clients, a more relaxed demeanour behind the wheel – gentle grip, soft wrists, dropped shoulders – can contribute enormously to an improved performance. There’s no doubt that these driver ‘aids’ have their place. They can be incredibly useful and, of course, I use them often when coaching. But they do invariably encourage us to ‘try harder’, which very often is the exact opposite of what’s required. So, if you find yourself butting up against a glass ceiling, unable to improve your lap times and growing frustrated at the ever-increasing deficit being projected from your onboard display, your best set-up change might just come in the form of a small piece of black tape, cut perfectly to the size of its screen. Sam is a professional racing driver, coach and dealer in significant competition cars. See www.samhancock.com.

MOTORSPORT IMAGES

THERE’S A LOT TO BE SAID for driving blind. Not literally, of course, but relieved of distracting gizmos such as onboard lap-time displays, predictive lap timers, livesegment analysis, even a pitboard (and, God forbid, live ‘coaching’ over the radio from a race engineer analysing your telemetry). As technical as this sport is, sometimes it’s important to simply use your eyes and your backside to see and really feel what the car is doing and how it is responding to your inputs. I was reminded of this while testing for the recent Goodwood Revival in the glorious 1960 Fantuzzi-bodied Ferrari 246S Dino that I have been privileged to race over recent years in the annual Sussex Trophy. Unusually for a car of its vintage, it needs to be thrashed to extract its full performance potential; late on the brakes, turn in hard ‘on the nose’, provoke the steering to trigger some yaw, then apply a generous bootful of throttle to keep it drifting – and turning – from apex to exit. It’s an aggressive style of driving that doesn’t come naturally to me, and it can be hard on the tyres. The little Dino loves it, however – and, given how awfully it understeers at nine-tenths, it seems preordained by the Maranello elders for ‘attack mode’ only. For this reason I’ve relied heavily over the years on Racelogic’s predictive lap-time display unit. Mounted on the dash, it gives a live ‘plus or minus’ indication of how many tenths (or seconds!) you may have won or lost compared with your previous best. This is useful during Revival qualifying, because finding a clear lap can be incredibly difficult and there’s no point taking unnecessary risks with such a special car or cooking the Dunlops to complete laps that are unlikely to improve the grid position. The predictive lap-time display

BELOW Practicing for Revival’s Sussex Trophy sans lap-time display was a worthy lesson for Sam.

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My Hero Peter Stevens on Denis Jenkinson

I STILL HAVE MY MOTHER’S ancient family photograph album, and it is full of men with beards – this was a clan where the chosen vocation was usually to be a church minister. Most were from Glemsford in Suffolk. My grandfather, Arthur Stanley Jenkinson, had five children – the youngest were my mother Monica and her brother Denis Sergent Jenkinson (DSJ). After being an RAF flight development engineer, working on bombsights among other secret things, Denis returned to his real loves: car and motorcycle racing. I spent quite a lot of time living with my grandparents because my mother was in hospital. At this time ‘Farnborough Denis’ was back living with his parents, but writing for Motor Sport didn’t pay enough to fund his racing, or his numerous ‘projects’. He introduced me to Meccano, something he would use to test engineering ideas. The very first lesson he taught me was to throw away the instructions; he said that if you followed these all you would build would be the same as every other boy. This was before the concept of ‘innovation’, but that is what he encouraged me to do. It’s something I never forgot. My grandmother had photographs on the piano of Denis passengering Eric Oliver and Marcel Masuy on their way to motorcycle-and-sidecar championship wins in the late 1940s and early ’50s. It seemed perfectly natural that my uncle should be such a complex and competitive yet simple man. He was a totally accessible hero. May 1, 1955 was the date of a huge family get-together, yet every member was there except for one. Denis had told me he wasn’t available

(he actually hated family gatherings) because he had something on in Italy. He had kept me updated on preparations for the ’55 Mille Miglia, sending photographs of practicing in ordinary Mercedes-Benz sedans and changing wheels on the 300 SLR, so I knew what was going on. The following day my mother and I received a telegram announcing the fantastic news that Denis and Stirling Moss – the ‘Golden Boy’, as he called him – had won the 1000-mile race at an average speed of just under 100mph. I was so proud of this achievement, but beyond my parents nobody who I knew was interested in motor racing, so I kept quiet. Denis would often come by our house in north London with a special car that Motor Sport had on test, to see what I thought of it. The experimental mid-engined Rover P6 BS was one of these, and our test route was round the Regent’s Park Inner Circle and up to Hampstead Heath. He was a very quick but smooth driver, and I always felt at ease as he described what he and the car were doing. I loved his observations about always being in control of the machine. He had a great way of assessing driving skill in ‘tenths’. He would say

‘He was a very quick but smooth driver; I always felt at ease as he described what he and the car were doing’

ABOVE Renowned designer Peter Stevens hails his uncle, the motoring writer and racer ‘Jenks’, as his hero. that Moss usually drove at 3/10ths of his ability on the road, while other road users saw that as being 10/10ths, at which point they could not comprehend his speed and thought they were all going to die. During his lengthy time driving a Porsche 356, Denis would take me out to the countryside to demonstrate ‘wischen’. He liked to quote Richard von Frankenberg on driving a Porsche fast: “The point is that when driving into a curve at high speed, one does not wait until the Porsche breaks away in a surprising thrust-like manner. On the contrary, intentionally and consciously one

brings about the breaking away in the beginning of the curve, a few tenths of a second before the turn itself.” Invaluable lessons. I learned the sensible approach to spanner work while accompanying my uncle to motorcycle sprint meetings. We’d travel in his lefthand-drive ‘split window’ VW Beetle surrounded by bike bits and the strong smell of methanol and Castrol R. There was no passenger seat, just half a rear seat where I sat with the Norbsa – Norton-BSA– or Tribsa – Triumph-BSA – on the right-hand side. I was the push-starter and general dogsbody: wonderful stuff. With my father’s art influence and my uncle’s engineering influence, it’s little surprise that I somehow found a middle course as a vehicle designer.

Magneto (ISSN No: 2631-9489, USPS number 22830) is published four times a year – in February, May, August and November – by Hothouse Publishing Ltd, UK. Magneto is distributed in the US by RRD/Spatial, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071. Periodicals postage paid at South Hackensack NJ and other additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Magneto c/o RRD, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071.

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