Bentley is to make 12 “continuation” examples of the supercharged 4.5-liter Birkin “Blower,” one of those cars whose legend far surpasses its achievement. For a time it could claim to be the world’s fastest car, but it was built for racing and in that context it must be regarded as a disappointment. Part of its...
When he competed in his first Formula One race, Eddie Cheever was even more baby-faced than when I got to know him, which is saying something. It was the 1978 South African Grand Prix and Eddie, who looked about 16 at the time, had actually just turned 20. He qualified Lord Hesketh’s valiant Ford-powered car into second to last place on the grid at Kyalami, but went out after eight laps with engine trouble. Since then, he has seldom been far away from single-seaters in a career that culminated in his 1998 Indianapolis 500 victory in his own Team Cheever…
One of the most memorable motor races I have ever seen was broadcast from the 1959 Easter Monday Goodwood Meeting and it was for 1100-cc sports cars. For three years, the class had been dominated by the Lotus Eleven, but the top three spots on the grid were filled by Lola, a new marque, with...
In a recent “Last Lap” [60 Years of the Upscale Mini] I considered the expensive customized Minis of the Swinging Sixties, which got me thinking about Mini specials. I cannot help but think of Minis since I now live in Oxford where the 10 millionth Mini was made recently. BMW has tried to make out that...
It was a word-of-mouth, invitation-only affair organized by his lovely wife Susie and a friend without Stirling Moss knowing a thing about it. No mean feat, considering about 400 people attended the celebration. How Susie kept the party from her husband I’ll never know, except that all the invitees were sworn to secrecy! But people are not perfect: a word here, a couple of drinks there can often spoil a surprise like that. Even so, Stirling knew nothing of his surprise 60th birthday party as he and Susie strolled into the sumptuous ballroom of The Berkeley Hotel in London on September…
The Lister Motor Company has made “continuation” examples of the “Knobbly” Lister-Jaguar. An auction house has claimed that a car it was selling was the prototype Knobbly, so the Knobbly has become important. After the Knobbly came the Costin, but before the Knobbly there were three Lister-Jaguars best described as “Lumpy” though they had not...
At the end of June, a commercial tribunal, in Bologna, Italy, handed down a stunning decision that could have massive implications for the collector car world. And yet, I’ve hardly seen a mention of it in anywhere in the automotive media world. The case in question was a lawsuit, brought by Ferrari, who was suing to stop a small Modenese shop from building replicas of the haloed 250 GTO. Say what you will about Ferrari, but for decades they have been one of the most aggressive auto manufacturers, in terms of asserting their intellectual property rights. Unauthorized use of the…
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Morris Mini-Minor and Austin Se7en, and the Goodwood Revival will feature some examples once owned by stars of the period, including the odd Beatle. The Mini was praised for being egalitarian, which fitted the mood of the time when social barriers were perceived to be crumbling and...
Anyone who has studied literature will know about footnotes and the glossary of terms because the language is constantly changing. When Charles Dickens referred to a “chairman” he did not mean a nabob on a board of directors, he meant a guy at one end of a sedan chair. As governments become ever more keen...
I have admired Tazio Nuvolari all my life and so has just about every other motor racing enthusiast of my generation. My friend Murray Walker, the British television Formula One commentator, often likes to say he saw the Flying Mantuan race, but I was born too late to enjoy such a spectacle. So I did the next best thing: I read everything I could about the diminutive Italian. But in spite of all that reading, one thing remained a mystery to me: the gold tortoise that became Nuvolari’s trademark. Of course, I knew the Italian poet and dramatist Gabriele D’Annunzio…
We are frequently told that Formula One is at the cutting edge of technology, but that has been true only occasionally, most recently with new heights being reached in the thermal efficiency of engines. This is something we cannot see and how it is achieved is something that not all of us can understand. Most...