Classic & Sports Car

The mighty Ferrari Daytona (see p84) dominated the Grand Touring 5000 class at Le Mans in the early 1970s. Here the Competizione of Sam Posey/Milt Minter heads its François Migault/Luigi Chinetti Jnr North American Racing Team sister car into Tertre Rouge in 1973. Car 38 came home in 13th place, but Posey/Minter retired with engine trouble. The highest-placed 365GTB/4, for the second year running, was the class-winning Charles Pozzi team car of Claude Ballot-Léna/Vic Elford.…

There are certain cars, machines like any others formed of sheet metal, pistons, gears, oil, glass and rubber, that somehow go one step beyond mere conveyances. They have a heart and a soul that gives them an emotional draw quite apart from their obvious visual, aural or tactile appeal. This makes them able to transcend their era, genre and, in some cases, even their innate shortcomings to become living legends. Cars such as the sublime Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona. Motoring hacks tend to be a fairly cynical bunch, having been spoiled by years of privileged access to some of the worldʼs greatest cars, yet even we are not immune to the Daytonaʼs near-magical aura. Months in the planning, our cover story (p84) yielded just a four-word text message from an emotional…

The UK capital is preparing for the expansion of its Ultra Low Emission Zone to all of Greater London on 29 August – which will mean that non-compliant cars, including all of those aged 22-40 years old, are charged £12.50 a day to use the cityʼs roads. The ULEZ was first introduced over Central Londonʼs existing 8.1 square-mile Congestion Charge zone, in April 2019. Unlike the Congestion Charge, the ULEZ is enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on every day except Christmas. It was then expanded to ʻinner Londonʼ, a 236 square-mile area inside the North and South Circular ring-roads, in October 2021, following Mayor Sadiq Khanʼs re-election in May 2021. The upcoming expansion, first put forward for public consultation in March 2022, will grow the zone…

The ULEZ targets petrol cars that don’t meet Euro IV emissions regulations, which officially came into effect in 2005. However, many petrols were already meeting these by 2001 and are therefore ULEZ-compliant. The cut off for diesel engines is much more recent, at 2012’s stricter Euro VI standards. Cars with a historic vehicle designation, available to those over 40 years old, are exempt from the charge. NOx emissions were measured as a combined figure with hydrocarbons in Europe before 2001, so all cars older than that do not meet the standards, regardless of their actual NOx emissions, including those fitted with emissions-reducing lambda sensors and electronic engine management. Transport for London does allow vehicles to escape the ULEZ charge if they can prove their NOx emissions (and particulate-matter emissions, in…

Clean Air Zones (CAZs), as they are known outside of London within England, or Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in Scotland, that target private cars have already been established in a number of other UK cities. These areas all follow the same emissions standards but, unlike the London ULEZ, the zones in Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford, Glasgow and – due to arrive in 2024 – Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, only cover a small central portion of the city. Charges and conditions vary considerably, however, from an £8 fee in Birmingham to an outright ban in Scottish LEZs, with the penalty fines starting at £60 and increasing for repeat offenders. While the English cities have mirrored London’s historic vehicles exemption for cars of over 40 years old, the Scottish system has set the…

The ʻTwiggyʼ Miura led a world-record 382 Lamborghinis around the Silverstone circuit to celebrate 60 years of the marque and to welcome its new hybrid supercar, the Revuelto, on 29 April. The leading 1968 Miura earned its name from its first owner, Justin de Villeneuve, who was an agent for model ʻTwiggyʼ (Dame Lesley Lawson). Both were regular sights along the Kingʼs Road in the ʼ60s. In later years, the car was part of Bernie Ecclestoneʼs collection and it is now owned by Jane Weitzmann (C&SC, June 2013). It was the highlight of the Bull Run, which saw Lamborghini owners congregate at dealerships across the country and travel in convoy to Silverstone. Polo Storico, Lamborghiniʼs heritage division, curated a special display of historic cars outside; highlights included an American-market 1991…