One of my favorite automotive books is Doug Nye’s “Motor Racing Mavericks”. Published in 1975, it explores failures—high-end failures—in Grand...
Now available on Netflix is “A Life of Speed: The Juan Manuel Fangio Story.” The 92-minute movie originates in Argentina...
Bristol, once a significant marque, has relocated to the “Great Paddock In The Sky.” For some time it had been on life support and a car make in name only. In 2011, it had been acquired by Kamkorp a privately-owned small group of engineering companies, among them Frazer-Nash Research Ltd....
For most of my adult life I have lived within two miles of the Goodwood Motor Circuit. Between the last...
Before WWII, the company which became Jaguar was called Swallow Sidecars and it had diversified into making special bodies for...
Aston Martin has announced a collaboration with revived motorcycle company, Brough Superior, to make the AMB001, a limited edition track-only bike. It is unclear whether the 001 designation is a statement of future intent (up to 999 models or if it is a reference to 007.) The one thing most...
For the majority of VR’s readers, 2019 has been the 50th anniversary of Formula Ford, although it actually started in...
Bentley is to make 12 “continuation” examples of the supercharged 4.5-liter Birkin “Blower,” one of those cars whose legend far...
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...
In a recent “Last Lap” [60 Years of the Upscale Mini] I considered the expensive customized Minis of the Swinging Sixties,...
The Lister Motor Company has made “continuation” examples of the “Knobbly” Lister-Jaguar. An auction house has claimed that a car...
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...
Anyone who has studied literature will know about footnotes and the glossary of terms because the language is constantly changing....
We are frequently told that Formula One is at the cutting edge of technology, but that has been true only...
Most people when launching a new product normally try to come up with a new name to reflect innovation. Then it comes to cars, however, there is a trend to resurrect a name from the past so we have had Allard, Connaught, Osca, Lea-Francis, Jensen, Invicta, Spyker, Ermini and that...
Once upon a time in a bar…well, near a bar…I was talking to a couple who had just bought a...
A recent visit to the famous Donington circuit in England, for the launch of a wonderful book about the history...
There is an old maxim which says America and Britain are two countries divided by a common language and in the automotive world this does seem to hold true. Not having been born in America, nor in England, I can see the broader picture with what I believe to be...
Do you like your racing cars to be aesthetically pleasing? Most people do, me included. So how do we finish...
As the calendar year moves into its second half, we come to what motor racing calls its “Silly Season,” when...
For the Historic Formula Junior Diamond Jubilee World Tour (quite some title) it really was the “last lap” of this three-year long series, when they held the final races as part of the 2018 Silverstone Classic. I apologize for returning to the Formula Junior theme again (so soon?) but I...
There is a small town in Lincolnshire, England, which became the home of not one, not two, but three major...
In the history of racing there have been formulae that quickly become popular and continue to grow, while others are...
Remember when Hollywood used to produce the odd “fun” movie—in somewhat the same theme as “the Grand Old Opry?” A young guy (our hero) would be motoring along with his girlfriend in a sports car, usually a MG TC or similar, and suddenly he sees a sign telling him that...
There comes a time, all too often in history, when there arrives the “end of an era,” and with the...
Have you ever stopped to add up all of the different driver nationalities in motor racing and perhaps spotted a...
Everybody has one…or rather lots of people have one. Lots of people think they should have one. Every business needs one and every government agency has one whether they need it or not. There are others—writers, photographers, bloggers, self-employed ladies, chefs, doctors and, of course, those with whom we identify,...
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall; Who is the fastest of them all?” Many are the racing drivers, fast and slow,...
One of the things to particularly love about ladies, is their ability to “multi-task,” something most men are not very good at, or at all. Women can have babies, manage households, manage husbands, drive racing cars, fly aeroplanes and run countries. Of course, men can do most of those—pregnancy excepted—but...
