Category Archives: Cool Stuff

Chelsea Morning

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Now in its third year, the Chelsea Auto Legends is maturing nicely and has become a must do event if you are in and around London in early September. The timing of the show is providential from a family perspective, marking the end of summer holidays and just before the schools go back.

While bringing a dash of speed and style to this exclusive part of London, not that the Royal Borough needs much more of either, there is a more serious purpose to the Chelsea Auto Legends and that is to raise money for The Royal Hospital and other Armed Services’ charities. For this year the featured charity was Walking with the Wounded, a very worthy cause.     http://walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/

The Royal Hospital was opened in 1692 and is a retirement and nursing home to former British service men and women. Designed initially by Sir Christopher Wren, the buildings are in need of extensive refurbishment. This expensive project formed the catalyst for Chelsea resident, and long time Le Mans fan, Michael Scott, to conceive and then create a show that brings the flavour of the world’s greatest race to Central London. Since that initial objective was first achieved the horizons have expanded and this year something could be found for everyone of a automotive mind.

Greeting the visitors as they pass into the grounds was a fine collection of cars brought along for the day by their proud owners. Ferrari, Cobra and Jaguar on the roll call, and all marques with real Le Mans pedigree.

Further into the estate and the first real racers were encountered, a Porsche 911 GT1 from Le Mans  1997, though the front diveplanes and rear aerofoil configurations came from later developments of the car.

Another factory Porsche on parade was the 1983 winning 956/003. That was a real skin of the teeth performance as the engine started to smoke badly during Al Holbert’s final laps with the water temperature going off the scale. Holbert just about made it across the line at the conclusion of 24 hours, another lap would have seen the engine seize.  Another lap would also have seen Derek Bell’s factory 956 run out of fuel, which would have left Mario and Michael Andretti as winners in the Kremer 956. Small margins always play a big part at La Sarthe.

How could you have an event in London with a Le Mans’ flavour and not feature the Bentley Boys?

Or my old friend the Harrods McLaren for that matter.

The cars that raced at Le Mans is an important element in the Chelsea Auto Legends but another strong representation comes from the Italian Car Clubs and the turnout for 2012 was fantastic. I was drawn to this Maserati MC12, outshining its cousin , the Enzo. My old friend and Le Mans racer, Joe Macari was prominent with his fabulous set of Italian classics.

And who can resist a pretty Alfa Romeo?

Or this butch Abarth 500?

When it comes to tough guys, who is going to argue with the Subaru, smart in East African trim?

Quattro, still with the capacity to startle in the flesh.

Another integral part of the London Auto scene are the folks from the Ace Café, though we are all Mods at heart.

Perhaps one of the biggest draws of the day was the SuperCar Parade, certainly the audience flocked to see the cars arrive.

Bugattis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsche all sounding like an automotive celestial choir.

At the other end of the noise scale is the electric powered Lola B12/69EV of Lord Drayson.

The Brooklands Museum had a substantial presence, reminding us of our sporting heritage.

And the ROFGO collection also brought along a few gems.

The Show expanded in area to virtually all parts of the estate and dotted around the place, like garden sculptures, were classics such as this Citroën DS21.

Another Citroën on the grass, this one a modified DS19, Le Dandy Coupé, only 50 made and snip at £79,995……………..

For those in need of their regular Sunday fix of retail therapy, there were many fine stalls. Budding Eric Claptons could source exactly the right shade of blues……………

Those wanting automotive art for the walls could do worse than this colourful depiction of the 1971 Daytona 24 Hours.

Art and motorsport come together with this McLaren F1 GTR

And then there were other distractions………………..

The Chelsea Pensioners also inspected the visitors………………one hopes that they approve of the disruption to their regular Sunday morning routines.

Though what they made of the Ghost Busters Wagon is anyone’s guess.

The Chelsea Auto Legends is well worth the time to visit, great cars in an historic location, well organised and for the benefit of a host of worthy causes. What’s not to like? See you there next year.

John Brooks, September 2012

Glorious Goodwood

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One of the high points in the motorsport calendar is the visit to Goodwood House and its grounds for the Festival of Speed. Stunning cars in a stunning setting, what could be more agreeable? Luckily we have the fine work of Simon Hildrew to remind us of the delights on show this year. Enjoy!

 

Front of House

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TS Eliot declared that “April is the cruellest month” well he never worked at Le Mans, the Great Race sucks the life force out of you, so poor DDC and its reader have been neglected.

During two days at the Goodwood Festival of Speed I have seen the usual cornucopia of goodies, so here as a taster is the Lotus Position. On the front lawn no less…….

John Brooks June 2102

 

 

Deutsche Post

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24th TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN

 

Others may try to emulate or even usurp Techno Classica’s position as the biggest and best classic car show in Europe but they’ve got a long way to go to match the sheer breadth and depth of quality drawn to the Messe Essen where organisers S.I.H.A. packed all nineteen halls of the huge complex and even have a waiting list of exhibitors. The visitors obviously appreciate their efforts too, as attendance figures of 181,400 testify – and that was up by just over 11,000 despite there bizarrely being a rival event staged in Stuttgart on the same weekend.

Techno’s strength is the sheer variety of exhibits from major manufacturers, high-end dealers, clubs large and small and an array of traders and autojumblers. Many European manufacturers are proud of their heritage; Mercedes for instance made much of the 60th anniversary of their SL models which began with the 300SL and that Le Mans victory in 1952, whilst the VW Audi Group now encompasses so many brands that they fill an entire hall with everything from a humble NSU to Lamborghini Countach. Opel meanwhile were concentrating on record breakers from their past.

Numerically, Porsche 911 was probably the most common car with every conceivable variant to be seen, but the factory chose to honour the RS Carrera with a pair of Martini-liveried racers adorning their area in the VW hall. 356’s abounded too with several restorers – most notably Hackenberg – displaying their abilities, whilst one of the dealers concentrated on cars that had clearly spent too long in the Californian sun!

BMW somewhat amusingly put a lot of emphasis on the British brands – Rolls-Royce and Mini – that they now own. But did they shoot themselves in the foot by displaying their latest Mini Coupe alongside a gorgeous Broadspeed Mini GT? The latest product looks truly hideous anyway, only emphasised by putting the Broadspeed gem beside it.

As befits a company that has passed its 100th birthday, Alfa Romeo has had much to celebrate in recent times and this year the boxy-looking but remarkably aerodynamically efficient Giulia saloon clocks up its 50th. Celebrations are taking place in Italy in June but in the meantime the factory brought an example along from their Museo Storico, whilst other examples were to be found on club stands, one of which was also marking the 40th birthday of the Alfasud, almost certainly the best small saloon of all time (well, this writer did own four of them over a 27-year period so should know!).

Moving on to a more obscure anniversary, did you know that the Volvo Amazon Kombi is 40 this year? Well, no neither did I until I got to Essen but Volvo devoted their entire display to the model, with examples in Polis and Fire Chief livery as well as a mildly customised one (it had big shiny wheels). Attracting most interest though was a rather ratty 1967 model that had been converted to electric power in 1995 and has subsequently covered some 200,000km despite having a range of only 120km. For longer journeys the owner takes a trailer-mounted generator with him.

Show organisers S.I.H.A. always mount an impressive central display and this year featured Spanish manufacturer Pegaso, bringing together a remarkable 21 of the total 86 cars built. They made for an eye-catching display arranged around the outside of S.I.H.A’s ‘palace’.

Indeed, look hard enough at Essen and you will find examples of many obscure and long-forgotten marques but who would have thought that a humble Riley would be awarded the ‘Best in Show’ accolade? Actually this particular representative of the Blue Diamond was not so humble, being a one-off coach-built model built for the 1949 Geneva Motor Show by Walter Koeng, who was better known for working on more upmarket brands. However, he created the Riley as his personal dream car and it remained in his ownership for many years until passing it on to a close friend. Only now has it come to market via well-known dealer Lukas Huni, who was showing it at Essen.

Having visited Essen several times in the company of a Riley enthusiast who has always been frustrated by the lack of Riley’s, it is somewhat ironic that he did not come this year as there were several examples to be found. In particular, pre-war sports cars were found on several dealer stands, a reflection of growing interest on the back of a burgeoning series of events in Germany for just such cars.

Whilst many of the dealers inevitably cram as many cars as possible into their allotted space, making inspection and photography difficult, it’s often some of the smaller traders and individual sellers that have the real gems. How about a 1961 Austin Mini Seven with less than 3,000 miles on the clock? This genuine, remarkably original example must be one of the lowest mileage Mini’s to be found anywhere and comes with all its original documents and some very period accessories.

The clubs run their own competition, leading to some innovative displays, some very well done, others a little bizarre (how about the gay car club promoting sex on the beach?) but again you never know what you’ll find. Whilst the Smurfs carrying out maintenance on a VW Kafer was different, equally so was the one and only 4-door version of the original Audi Quattro, restoration of which had only been completed the night before the show opened.

And that’s the beauty of Essen – there really is something for everyone. Next years’ event has already been confirmed for 10-14 April 2013, so make a date. More information can be found on www.siha.de

John Elwin, April 2012

 

 

Through The Looking Glass

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It is March, the days grow longer and the spirits lift. It is also the month for the annual trek to the Central Highlands and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Many years ago Michael Keyser made this journey, camera in hand, here is some of what he saw, from 1969 and 1970. All images courtesy of and copyright Autosports Marketing Limited.

See more HERE

I See It Shining Plain………..

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The internet has for the most part been beneficial to me. It allows me to conduct what passes for my business in some sort of order and it has introduced me to many good people around the globe. It is also the biggest time waster invented since bureaucrats crawled out of the swamps in Jurassic times, but I digress.

Michael Keyser is someone who should be familiar to sportscar fans, especially the more fanatical amongst you. Real anoraks will recall him winning the 1976 Sebring 12 Hours with Al Holbert, well the few that were sober at that particular event. As the doyen of chassis plate fondlers, Janos Wimpffen, describes the scene in his epic work Time and Two Seats.

“None of the on-track incidents were as thrilling as those of the notorious Green Park spectator area. Several large bonfires had been started, wild parties were in full swing, and one section by Turn Seven had been taken over by a motorcycle gang. In full view of the passing race cars, a woman mounted a bike and performed a striptease. Needless to say, lap times slowed considerably.”

Typical of me to miss fun like that, still ’76 was the long, hot summer of James Hunt and I am sure that he would have enjoyed racing in such conditions. I certainly have some vague memories of a few wild days myself that year, it was the spirit of the time, but perhaps I imagined it all.

Michael Keyser is also known for his work as an author and film maker, in particular “A French Kiss With Death” about Steve McQueen and the making of the movie Le Mans.

Le Mans is certainly a candidate for the Oscar awarded to maddest film ever conceived. No plot to speak of, no dialogue really and obsessively focused on a race that most the audience had never heard of. It was a commercial disaster when released but since has grown to achieve cult status. Partly this is a consequence of the purity of the production, no CGI and McQueen’s insistence on emulating real racing from the time rather than allowing a Hollywood blockbuster approach.

Perhaps the greatest appeal lies in the cast of cars, Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, surely some of the most evocative racers ever run. Like racing dragonflies they emerged in mid-69 and were gone by ’71. A golden time immortalised on screen, we can all be young again while drinking at this fountain of youth.

Steve McQueen was the coolest guy on the planet when he started making the film, he had just enjoyed huge success with Bullitt and here were the coolest cars, at the coolest race. What could go wrong?

Well that answer to that question judged in the long term, is not much. That is why the original book about the film sold so well, that and the fact it is a well researched and written account.

Les Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans tends to attract obsessives and Hollywood’s version of the race receives similar attention, hence the raison d’être of this photo book. It is produced to the usual high standard associated with any Michael Keyser project. For those interested in the movie and its background, these images will add to their understanding and enjoyment of the film.

The majority of the shots were taken by the great photographer, Nigel Snowden. I was lucky enough to meet him in my early days trackside. He and his charming wife, Diana, were always very gracious to a complete no hoper like myself. The monochrome images have a depth to them that reflects a master at work. Despite what many of the up and comers of today imagine, there is nothing new in the world of photography. Composition, the ability to see the finished product before firing the shutter, is as important today as it always has been. The images in this book could act as a guide to many, of course they are too talented to see that.

The whole story of the process of making the film is covered from the planned mayhem inflicted on two Lola T70s, disguised as a 917 and a 512.

Art imitates life and as with real racing back then, there were unplanned accidents, this one costing David Piper his leg.

Perhaps the question is why should you buy this book ? That almost answers itself. Anyone who has more than a passing interest in the McQueen epic will enjoy this book, it has integrity and is a faithful depiction of the greatest movie ever made, or likely to be made, about the sport.

And who can resist this iconic, very British gesture, The Longbowman Salute? We have been winding up the French with it since Agincourt. Clearly Steve was one of us………………..

Those who might like to purchase a copy of this book can do so HERE

Apologies for the poor quality of the scans,

John Brooks, January 2012