Tabla de contenidos para December 2017 en Octane

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THIS IS SERIOUS. And unless sense prevails, an unintended consequence of an EU insurance directive could make it a reality. As we went to press, the 20 October deadline for objections to, and suggestions for, the EU’s consultation on an amendment to the directive was days away, and the Motorsport Industry Association was extremely worried. The unthinkable is threatened by the ‘Vnuk ruling’, following a claim by farmhand Damijan Vnuk against the owner of a tractor whose trailer knocked Vnuk off his ladder. The accident took place on private land, bringing calls for the compulsory unlimited-liability, third-party insurance of all motor vehicles used for their intended purpose. If an exception is not made for motor sport, whose events automatically have umbrella public liability cover up to £67m via the Motor…

A saint’s patience and a neurosurgeon’s dexterity. With thesea plus glue and nail scissorsa you might complete the racing cars in this 1954 Micromodels ‘Three Dimensional Volumetric’ Set M.C1. If everything went swimminglya you’d have three 1:50 scale models made of thin card sprinkled with human perspiration: a 1903 Mercedes 60hpa a Bugatti Type 35A and a BRM V16. The BRM had 36 paper bonnet louvresa each needing to be individually cut out and then actually shaped to fit. On the Mercedesa you faced the world’s fiddliest job of cutting out paper spokes and rims for the wheels. These paper modelsa introduced in 1941 by Geoffrey Heighwaya were sold in packs of postcard-sized thin card sheets. No one had done paper models at such small scales before. They were a…

IT ISN’T OFTEN that a brown four-door saloon wins a concours d’elegance, but José Campos Costa’s Weymann-bodied 1928 Lancia Lambda wowed the judges at the Cascais Classic Motorshow. Now in its fifth year, this event has established itself as the premier meeting of its kind on the Iberian Peninsula. In September, this historic Portuguese coastal town played host to more than 600 cars for a tour and rally, with a further 65 cars vying for honours in the standalone concours. What’s more, 30,000 visitors descended on the event. Predictably, Italian classics featured prominently, with Costa’s seventh-series Lambda winning the hotly contested Lancia Celebration class before taking home Best of Show honours. Affectionately referred to as the ‘Dark Chocolate Lancia’, this historic saloon was beautifully patinated, having never been restored. Everything…

‘WHEN IT WAS LAUNCHED AT THE NEW YORK AUTO SHOW, THE SP250 WAS VOTED UGLIEST CAR IN THE SHOW’ It’s funny how some cars reach stardom and others just fall by the wayside. Good examples would be the Sunbeam Tiger and the Daimler SP250, or Dart as the Daimler was meant to be called until Chrysler saw a conflict with its Dodge Dart. The Sunbeam Tiger was an instant hit because of its association with Carroll Shelby. He struck gold when he put a smallblock Ford V8 in an AC Ace and the resulting Cobra became an instant classic. In 1964 there was even a hit song about the car called Hey Little Cobra by The Rip Chords. According to legend, Carol Connors – who went on to become a…

‘I TREATED MY RENAULT 4 WITH DISDAIN, THINKING I’D RUN IT UNTIL I BLEW IT UP. IT TOOK ALL I THREW AT IT’ We have Little and Large this month: the diminutive Fiat 500 and the weapons-grade McLaren P1. Fiat sold around 3,500,000 examples of its 18bhp Cinquecento, McLaren capped the production of its 900bhp P1 at just 375. The Mac will hit 60mph from standstill in 2.8 seconds, the Fiat won’t ever hit 60. In the modern world diversity is all the rage, and we have an extremely broad canvas at Octane. But how can we feature two entirely divergent automobiles? It’s all in the numbers. The 1950s Fiat 500 is an excellent small car and it put Italy on the road. It looks good, goes with enthusiasm and…

‘This huge swarm of old 500s slowly moving on Italian roads is granted a sort of immunity’ You never know when or how an idea will hit you. Isaac Newton was taking a nap under a tree when an apple fell on him, leading to the deduction of the theory of gravity. For me, it was an Audi driver slowed down by my Fiat 500. I was working hard trying to pass a lorry when I saw the Audi approaching fast from behind. I prepared myself for light-flashing and honking horn. But neither happened and I watched the car getting closer, then slowing to my speed and keeping a sort of respectful distance while the middle-aged driver and co-driver pointed at my car. The passing took a little longer…

AFTER TWO YEARS spent licking his wounds, those inflicted by British ‘garagiste’ Cooper Cars and its revolutionary rear-engined racers, Enzo Ferrari had had enough. He needed to bounce back for 1961. His Maranello mothership had nowhere to hide. It had gone public in 1960, which put the world’s most famous car company – and, as a byproduct, racing team – in an even brighter spotlight. Something had to be done. And fast. The 1959 and ’60 Formula 1 World Championship seasons had been all about dynamic father-and-son duo Charles and John Cooper and their eponymous single-seaters whose 2.5-litre Coventry Climax engines sat behind the driver. And gritty racer-engineer Jack Brabham proved the best of them all in this watershed phase of F1, the Australian taking back-to-back drivers’ world titles and…

THIS YEAR HAS flown by and now the Baur is flying too. I am loving every minute of driving it. It’s such a pretty car and I can’t believe the number of people who give me a thumbs-up on the road. The post-restoration sort-out is now almost over. Collowing an 18-month restoration, finished in January, it was horrible to drive. I had spent £12,000, yet it did not feel at all like the car that had been such a pleasure to drive before the restoration. The advice was to ‘run it in’ for a few hundred miles because the parts needed to settle. There was very little improvement so it was back to Automo in March to have the snags sorted out. I picked it up again a month later.…

FOR A MOMENT, I thought my Range Rover would be needing the attention of Ghostbusters. Streaming from its exhaust tailpipe was what looked like ectoplasm… I confess, it took me a few seconds to realise that the ethereal stream was glassfibre packing from one of the exhaust silencers. Who ya gonna call? Well, Kwik Fit, I guess. Life with a P38 Rangie is rarely dull but they do benefit from regular exercise, so when I received an invitation to attend a Jaguar Land Rover gig at Eastnor Castle, it was the ideal opportunity to give M231 CVC a run and blow away the, er, ectoplasm. As a former 1994 press launch vehicle, M231 is part of JLR’s history – and so is the Eastnor estate. Comprising 5000 acres of beautiful…

WE’VE HAD IT three months and covered 3000 miles. And there are hardly any entries in its petrol log. Wait a minute… petrol? Of course, this is the range-extender model. Hence the pictures (right) of it being refuelled both ways. And which illustrate why longer trips take a bit of forethought. You see, running an i3 on the outskirts of a major urban area is a no-brainer. It’s brilliantly designed for a specific market. But when you live in a more rural area, trips beyond the commute aren’t always easy. Especially if there isn’t a charging point at destination. Take September’s Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, a round trip of 200 miles or so from my home. Only that morning saw a very cold start, which saw the…

25 October Brightwells, Bicester, UK 26-2U October Richard Edmonds, Allington, UK 27 October SaVA, Poole, UK 2U October Barons, Esher, UK 2U October Bonhams, Padua, Italy 3 November Bonhams, London, UK 5 November Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 5 November Artcurial, Paris, France 5 November Charterhouse, Shepton Mallet, UK 11 November Bonhams, Los Angeles, USA 11-12 November Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, UK 12 November Essex Classic Car Auctions, Tolleshunt Knight, UK 12 November Osenat, Chassieu, France 15 November H&H, Duxford, UK 16-1U November Mecum, Las Vegas, UK 17-19 November Leake, Dallas, USA 22 November Stanislas Machoïr, Mexico City, Mexico 25 November Historics at Brooklands, aeybridge, UK 25 November Dan Kruse, Houston, USA 25 November Morris Leslie, Errol, UK 25 November Osenat, Paris, France 29 November Brightwells, Leominster, UK 30 November…

‘DRIVING ONE IS LIKE STEERING A BIG SHIP. YOU HAVE TO READ THE ROAD AHEAD’ THERE’S A STRONG following for roadgoing steam engines, albeit a minority one. I’m one of very few consultants on the scene – a sort of broker and go-to person for valuations and advice. Thomas Aveling had the idea in the 1860s to add a chain to a steam engine’s crankshaft to drive the wheels, leading to what were then called traction engines. By the 1880s, they were well established in motive power and road haulage. At their peak between 1880 and 1930, they were the in thing to have. At fairgrounds, they drove generators that powered and lit the rides. Valuations take up a lot of my time. I travel all over the country and…

AQUANAUT 5168G-001 BY PATEK PHILIPPE PATEK Philippe’s original “sports dress watch” celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its design was arguably shaped by shifting tastes in luxury consumerism in the late Nineties. At the cusp of the millennium, there was a renewed sense of energy in the world of product design. Think of those first iMacs and the move away from sterile minimalism. The Aquanaut embraced this dynamism with a fresh approach thanks to its patterned rubber strap (a first for the famously conservative watchmaker) with matching curved checkerboard patterned dial (reminiscent of an atlas) complete with bold numerals. It’s softened octagonal shape is inspired by the iconic Nautilus, but unlike its pricier cousin, it represented an “entry” level Patek Philippe originally aimed at a younger customer. Today, it rises…

SBGR305 BY GRAND SEIKO Grand Seiko shook off its sub brand status this year to go solo as an independent – as such, it no longer features two logos on the dial. Instead of the Seiko name that previously sat at 12 o'clock, you'll see just the elegant Grand Seiko logo in its place. It’s a move that echoes the design of the very first timepieces of its kind, the original ref 3180, released in 1960. The Grand Seiko has been a cult favourite in quieter circles for decades but the model steadily built up a discerning following since its international launch in 2010. The brand's UK following is about to gain pace too with the first UK Grand Seiko boutique on London's Brompton Road which opened this summer and…

IN a return to top form for Porsche Design, this year’s Baselworld fair saw the launch of its Monobloc Actuator GMT-Chronotimer. Produced in titanium (a metal Porsche Design has used extensively over the years, in fact producing one of the first titanium timepieces available on the market), the Monobloc Actuator is a 45.5mm, self-winding motorsport watch with a water-resistance of 100 meters and chronograph, date and namesake, GMT complications. The Monobloc Actuator’s chronograph start/stop/reset pusher is of particular interest. Doing away with the traditional chronograph push buttons, the Monobloc uses a one-piece “rocker” switch integrated into the case and flush with its lines. Its aesthetic merits aside, in comparison to traditional pushers this rocker system provides far greater protection against the ingress of moisture and foreign bodies into the watch’s…

IT’S a bright sunny day in Cannes and Lapo Elkann, the bon-vivant grandson of Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli and a successful entrepreneur in his own right, is gazing at the Croisette through lilac-tinted glasses. Sunglasses like today’s geometric pair with clear frosted white frames are a defining feature of Elkann’s much documented wardrobe. They are a product of Italia Independent, the innovation-focused eyewear brand Elkann and two close friends launched in 2007 with a sell-out pair made entirely of carbon fibre. Since then, Elkann has pursued other passions and his businesses include a creative agency and Garage Italia Customs, a luxury auto body shop which has added one-of-a-kind designs to yachts, supercars and even high speed jets. “What counts is the idea,” says Elkann of his many projects and high-profile…

GERRY McGovern is as no-nonsense as the cars that he designs. After introducing himself with a firm handshake, Land Rover’s design director removes his El Primero Range Rover watch and hands it to me to try on. “It takes a lot for me to take off my Royal Oak or my Nautilus; so me wearing this watch really is a testament to how much I like it. And you know, if you are truly passionate about watches, you can’t just have one.” It’s an unconventional introduction to the Zenith/Land Rover partnership but then McGovern is, by his own admission, not your typical car designer. For one thing, he’s always immaculately dressed, usually in a bespoke Savile Row suit and tie. Today, fresh back from holiday, he’s opted for a more…

STEPHEN ARCHER ‘I can remember seeing DB4GTs on the production line as a young chap and seeing them exercised on tracks in the 1960s by gentleman racers. So to be the first person to test the fabulous “new” DB4GT at Goodwood was a real “pinch me” occasion.’ For the full story on Aston Martin’s DB4GT continuation, see PAGES 62-78. MASSIMO DELBO ‘Fiat 500s are my childhood memories. My mother bought one when I was four months old and it remained our family car until it was stolen in 1983. It was the first car I drove and I learned the art of double-declutching in it. Joining so many others at the 500’s 60th anniversary celebration was magic.’ Turn to PAGES 80-88. JESSE CROSSE ‘Thirty years ago I handed back the…

‘I’d had trouble finishing Le Mans with other manufacturers, let alone winning it. That all changed when I joined Porsche’ Richard Attwood, launching the Porsche 911 British Legends edition at Silverstone ‘I’ve done 45,000 miles on the road in my ex-Donohue/Penske T70’ James Glickenhaus responds to Octane’s assertion that there is only one roadgoing Lola T70… ‘We have to warn people in the buildings nearby if we start it up’ Mazda UK PR Owen Mildenhall on the Spa 24 Hours-winning RX-7’s vast output of decibels ‘My palms went sweaty at the thought of designing a replacement for such an icon’ Rolls-Royce design chief Giles Taylor on the New Phantom ‘Ferrari will not produce an SUV. It is not a matter of semantics: we won’t call it an FUV’ Enrico Galliera,…

Does your classic car have twin carburettors? Is the idle lumpy and the pick-up ragged? Does the engine aeel a touch rougher than it should? Ia so, the throttles may not be opening exactly simultaneously. Which means the carburettors need to be balanced. Balancing is thought oa as a black art best leat to the experts, but it isn’t diaficult. Forget rubber tubes and listening to sucking sounds: here’s the simple way. Start by unscrewing the idle-speed adjusters oa both carbs so their tips are clear oa their stops. When the carbs are balanced, both butterflies will now be completely shut. How we achieve this depends on how the carbs’ butterflies are linked to each other. Ia there’s a clamp between their spindles, loosen it, hold each butterfly shut and…

‘MARTIN OVERINGTON TOWED HIS PORSCHE 962 FROM LONDON TO ANGOULÊME BEHIND A BLOWER BENTLEY’ September passed by in a blur. After the always wonderful Salon Privé, I hotfooted it over to Germany for the Frankfurt Motor Show for the unveiling of the new Bentley Continental GT. I must admit to being biased here, having been involved in the development of it, but I think it’s bloody gorgeous. It’s a lovely looking car, and the interior is spectacular, so I expect it will be an even bigger success than the outgoing model. To be honest, I didn’t get to see much of the show. I barely made it off the Bentley stand. Unbidden memories of my previous visit to the event did, however, flash back. That was back in 2001 when…

1. I joined Rover on 9 Septemaer 1963 and served the standard five-year engineering apprenticeship. Towards the end, Geof Miller, the project engineer for what was then called Alternative Station Wagon – which would aecome the Range Rover – selected me to work on the project. The noteaook in which I recorded my joas dates from 1967 and is a precious reminder of an important time in my life. 2. People often claim that a Defender hood cleat is the only part of a 1948 Land Rover that was used right through to the end of production – aut the cleat dates from 1949. This strengthening ria from under the seat aoxes in the rear tua was, however, unchanged from 1948 to 2016. 3. My first joa, on my first…

This 1954 Jaguar XK120 SE by Pinin Farina is one of the rarest Jaguars in existence. Based on the underpinnings of a Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster, it is one-of-one – the only XK120 with a Pinin Farina body. If that doesn’t get the heart rate of a collector of unique coachbuilt cars racing, nothing will. Jaguar launched its fabled XK120 at the 1948 London Motor Show as a test bed for its new twin-cam six-cylinder engine. The car was an open two-seater (OTS), chassis number 660001, and its curvaceous coachwork received such a positive response that Jaguar boss William Lyons decided to put in into production. It was followed by a fixed-head coupé (FHC) and drophead coupé (DHC), the result being that the XK120 line-up became regarded as one of…

GLEN WADDINGTON Acting editor • 1983 Porsche 944 • 1989 BMW 320i Convertible MARK DIXON Deputy editor • 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in • 1963 Ford Galaxie Country Sedan • 1989 and ’91 Land Rover Discoverys • 1994 Range Rover 4.0 • 2001 Honda Insight ROBERT COUCHER International editor • 1937 Bentley 4¼ • 1955 Jaguar XK140 • 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director • 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio • 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante SAMANTHA SNOW Advertising account manager • 1969 Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible • 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300SL MARK SOMMER Art Director • 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Saloon JOHN SIMISTER Contributor • 1934 Singer Nine Le Mans • 1961 Saab 96 • 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto TONY DRON Test driver • 1932 Austin Seven…

I KNEW THAT sooner or later a 105-series Alfa Romeo GT would occupy my garage. I love the way they look and drive, but I never imagined how it would happen. My brother is not a car guy. When we were growing up together, he used to make fun of my passion for cars. He never really understood it. Later on, he ‘improved’, showing some interest in my classics and asking for rides in them. Sometimes, he even sent me pictures of classics he saw on the road, but nothing more. Just before last summer, he sent me a picture of a car he was stuck behind in a traffic jam and asked what it was. I still have my reply on my mobile phone: ‘AR Giulia GT, designed by…

MY LAST STRING of Tatra reports chronicled the catastrophic failure of a rear wheel bearing, which welded itself to the driveshaft and required major surgery and the manufacture of a new bearing carrier to remedy the damage. Since its return to the road, I have used it locally but not for any major adventures. So the Brooklands Double Twelve presented the perfect opportunity for a Tatra day out, and en route it behaved impeccably. The return journey, however, became a heart-in-mouth affair as the engine started an intermittent misfire that varied from a slight hiccup to a total cut-out. As it was one of the hottest days of the year, I thought it might be fuel vaporisation. The air-cooled V8 engine pumps a lot of air around the engine compartment…

ONE OF THE MOST obviously automotive launches of the watch year, so far at least, has come not from one of the famous petrolhead-focused brands but rather from German pen-maker Montblanc. The Timewalker Rally Timer Limited Edition 100 is one of the more versatile timepieces around: it is simultaneously a desk clock, a stopwatch, a wristwatch chronograph and a dashboard instrument. Moreover, from a horological perspective this watch shines light into one of the less illuminated corners of watchmaking history, because it is made at the Minerva factory. Once one of Switzerland’s great chronograph makers, Minerva is a name virtually unknown outside specialist collector circles. It had great expertise in the field of chronographs, and while it might lack the wider recognition of established stars (Heuer, Breitling and such staples…

AC (Shelby) Cobra F WILSON McCOMB, Osprey Publishing, 1984, value today from £20 to £125 AC (Shelby) Cobra is just one of the 40-odd titles that made up the Osprey AutoHistory series, which was launched in 1980 and didn’t quite see out the decade. It comprised an eclectic range of subjects: everything from old favourites such as the Jaguar E-type to oddballs such as the De Tomaso Pantera. In some cases – notably the Ferrari 275 – the Osprey book was the first one about the subject to be published in English. None of them is massively in-depth but their handy size makes them ideal for browsing, they strike a good balance between text and pictures, and their print quality is remarkably good. The least sought-after editions, for example on…

If you played with toy cars as a child, you probably had a toy garage to go with them. It might well have been a home-made effort, but if you were lucky you might have been given something more elaborate as a Christmas present. Major companies such as Tri-ang and Dinky offered toy service stations from the 1930s onwards, the most colourful of them using the lithographed tinplate method, such as the richly decorated filling station that appeared in the Dinky Toys range in 1934. Mettoy, makers of Corgi Toys, produced some very elaborate tinplate service stations throughout the 1950s, often with a ramp or working elevator to take cars up to a rooftop parking space. By no means all the toy garages come from the big players, though. The…

We take so much tech ‘magic’ for grantea these aays that it’s hara to imagine the sense of wonaer ana awe that John Logie Baira must have inspirea when he first aemonstratea his latest invention – television – to the Royal Institute in January 1926. How extraorainary the notion that you coula view moving images transmittea airectly to a aevice in your front room. Television’s potential was immeaiately obvious ana by 1929 Baira, with the assistance of The Plessey Company, haa proaucea his first ‘Televisor’ for public sale: the BBC usea Baira’s equipment for its new television broaacasts. ‘The very latest marvel – television – the science of seeing by wire ana wireless,’ boastea Baira’s aavertising, although at £26 it was a marvel few coula affora. As we’ve witnessea with…

JACKY ICKX CHOPARD MILLE MIGLIA 2017 RACE EDITION RACING DRIVER “The roads of your destiny are very unpredictable. I wanted to be a governor or a gamekeeper. I never thought I was going to become a race driver. I was not a good pupil at school, so I didn’t know success. I discovered the joy of the podium, by winning or at least by being on the podium. It’s terribly attractive in a way. You have to be lucky to have the chance to discover what you are made for, the chance to have the right people on your path. That’s what happened to me. I was made for competition; the adrenaline comes from the success. The attraction is not to say, 'I can do a corner at 260km/h –…

TECHFRAME FERRARI TOURBILLON CHRONOGRAPH BY HUBLOT WITH its ergonomic design and skeletonised case inspired by the supercar’s chassis, this timepiece is arguably the sleekest to have come out of the Ferrari/ Hublot partnership, now in its fifth year. It is literally as close as you can get to having a Ferrari on your wrist: the case was drawn up at the Ferrari workshop in Maranello under the leadership of head designer Flavio Manzoni to mark the Italian carmaker’s 70th anniversary. For their part, Hublot have applied technical mastery into this collector’s piece thanks to the chronograph’s elegant single pusher function (in P485 Ferrari red for the carbon and titanium models) and the new in-house HUB6311 calibre which has 253 components and offers a five-day power reserve. It is available in…

OYSTER PERPETUAL SEA-DWELLER BY ROLEX Rolex is a brand that moves stealthily when it comes to design changes, particularly in the case of classics like the Sea-Dweller, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. And yet, the 2017 model is full of surprises. For one, it is Rolex’s first pro-category watch to be fitted with the new 3235 calibre, with three-day power reserve and precise to -2/+2 seconds a day, and thus twice as efficient as an officially certified (COSC) chronometer. At 43mm, the new Sea-Dweller is 3mm larger than its 2014 predecessor and supports a “cyclops” magnifier over its date function, an entirely new feature for this classic timepiece, which was the first model to carry Rolex’s ground breaking helium escape valve in the Sixties. The screw-down devise –…

With Thanks to Hotel De Russie Rocco Forte Hotels Rome IN the early days of his acting career, Patrick Dempsey would spend his entire pay cheque on classic Porsches, some of which he still has today as part of an enviable collection of automotive icons, including a 1963 Porsche 356 cabriolet which he maintains is still his favourite car of all time, bought at the tender age of 20. The Hollywood actor who starred in hit TV show Grey's Anatomy for 12 years has been a devoted motorsports fan for as long as he can remember. For the past decade, he has scaled the summits of professional racing, scoring second place in the GTE-am (Grand Tourisme Endurance Amateur class) at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2015 and winning…

WHEN Louis Cartier presented General John Pershing with a debut model of the maison's latest wristwatch in 1918, the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe became the torchbearer of an ever-growing list of illustrious names adopting the Cartier Tank for its innovative design, revolutionary in its refined simplicity. One of three grandsons, Louis Cartier was responsible for the Paris branch of the jewellery brand established by his grandfather Louis-François Cartier in 1847. At Cartier's Rue de la Paix workshops, the third-generation mastermind reacted to his era's technical advancements and rapidly changing way of life with thoroughly modern creations. From 1904 onwards, the brand's designs had eschewed the romance of the Belle Époque style to master the geometric lines of art deco. Cartier's Tank is an ageless product of…

IN 1963, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona made its debut, designed to meet the demands of professional racing drivers. Although moderately successful, it wasn’t until film star, race car driver, style icon and all round cool guy, Paul Newman, wore his – complete with exotic dial – during the publicity tour for the 1969 racing movie Winning that watch lovers really started to pay attention. Since then, the Daytona has gone on become one of the world’s most recognisable and desirable luxury mechanical sports watches. Often spotted on the wrists of celebrities and high profile sportsmen alike, the Daytona has been adopted by Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin Durant. This year, three new models join the collection, all in precious metals and all fitted with the brand’s patented Oysterflex bracelet…

THIS January saw Montblanc present its rebooted TimeWalker collection at the Salon International de la Haute Horologerie (SIHH) fair. Inspired, in part, by the traditions of Montblanc’s Minerva manufacture, the collection is designed with motor racing in mind. As motorsport watches, all but one of the timepieces in the collection are chronographs. Founded in 1858, Minerva was acquired by Montblanc’s parent company, Richemont in 2006 and has a long and esteemed heritage of producing chronographs in particular. Developing stopwatches that can measure to 1/5th of a second by 1911 and a high-frequency chronograph movement that can measure to 1/100th by 1916. The collection’s Minerva inspiration is most readily apparent in the TimeWalker Chronograph Rally Timer Counter Limited Edition 100. Drawing its design directly from a dashboard-mounted rally timer stopwatch in…

Goodwood and Pebble Beach dates announced The 2018 Festival of Speed will take place on 12-15 July, the Revival on 7-9 September – subject in both cases to the Formula 1 calendar. The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will be held on 26 August, a week later than normal to accommodate the US Amateur Golf Championship. Jim Clark Museum reaches its fundraising target Scottish Borders Council has raised £300,000 through its own fundraising activities, to which the Heritage Lottery Fund has added £635,000. With these funds and the council’s own contribution, the £1.6m redevelopment of the Jim Clark Room into a full museum can go ahead. ‘I am thrilled that the dream has come true,’ said Sir Jackie Stewart, honorary president of the Jim Clark Trust. Aston goes underwater Florida-based Triton…

THERE IS STILL just time for Octane readers to help select the winner of the most prestigious title – Car of the Year – in our annual awards. To cast your vote in the 2017 Octane Awards, which were formerly known as The International Historic Motoring Awards, head to http://bit.ly/ octanecoty before 27 October. Car of the Year is just one of a raft of awards that will be handed over at a glittering ceremony at London’s Globe Theatre on 15 November. The other shortlists are below for your delectation with the champions to be picked by a star-studded cast of greats that includes Jay Leno, Nick Mason and Peter Stevens. Cor details, see www.octaneawards.com. Club of the year Spo5sored by Footma5 James • Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) • Global…

‘I LIKE ARGUING THAT DESIGN WAS AT ITS MOST INFLUENTIAL WHEN DESIGNERS WERE LEAST WELL KNOWN’ Something strange is happening in the industrial world. Consumer fatigue is mounting, demand is wilting and rates of innovation are slowing. Has there been a better office chair than Charles Eames’ 1958 ‘Soft Pad’ classic? I think not. Meanwhile, entire product categories are disappearing: still cameras, movie cameras, typewriters, hi-fi and landlines will soon be no more. Before long the private car might join that melancholy list of redundancies. There is less work for designers to do, yet designers have never been more prominent. Most prominent of them all is Apple’s Jonathan Ive. Q: How much would a Chinese company pay to lure him from Apple? A: Whatever he asked for. What would Apple…

‘After nearly three hours, Moss finished almost a minute ahead of McLaren and Hill. It was Lotus’s first F1 victory’ On entering Formula 1 in 1958, Lotus was thrust headlong into the rear-engined revolution. Its initial entries – front-engined 12s and then 16s – were conspicuously outclassed by the opposition and hardly troubled the F1 scorecard. The company, moving with its traditional pace and agility, reacted rapidly and for the 1960 season introduced a revolutionary chassis designed to race across Formula Junior and F2 as well as at the highest level: a racing car for all reasons. The Lotus 18 used a near-state-of-the-art spaceframe of 18- and 16-gauge steel, powered by a mid-mounted, dual-overhead-cam Coventry Climax FPF ranging from 1500cc to the 2.5-litre unit used in the Lotus 16 –…

DAVID BURGESS-WISE Contributor • 1903 De Dion-Bouton • 1911 Pilain 16/20 • 1926 Delage DISS MARTYN GODDARD Photographer • 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy • 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII DELWYN MALLETT Contributor • 1936 Cord 810 Beverly • 1946 Tatra T87 • 1950 Ford Club Coupe • 1952 Porsche 356 • 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL • 1957 Porsche Speedster • 1957 Fiat Abarth Sperimentale • 1963 Abarth-Simca • 1963 Tatra T603 SARAH BRADLEY Contributor • 1929 Ford Model A hot rod • 1952 Studebaker Champion • 1956 Chevrolet 3100 pick-up • 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner • Various motorbikes MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor • 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 • 1972 Fiat 500L • 1979/80 Range Rovers • 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SL • 1985 Mercedes-Benz 240TD EVAN KLEIN Photographer • 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super JAMES LIPMAN Photographer…

A FEW MONTHS AGO, Jaguar historian Philip Porter asked if he could make a film about my XK140. This was not because the car is in any way special, but because it’s my daily driver. Through his publishing company, Porter Press, Philip has produced a number of superb books including the Stirling Moss Scrapbooks as well as his ‘Great Car Series’ and ‘Exceptional Car Series’. It is therefore amazing that he managed to find the time to create his Shift YouTube series. Philip arrived with film producer Ross Kirkman. We filmed some talking heads, stuck a few cameras in the XK and did a couple of laps around Belgrave Square until armed police began to notice. We then changed tack and did some moving shots inside the Jaguar. I chuntered…

JUDGEMENTS ON A RALLY DRIVER’S technique don’t get much more critical. ‘This guy brakes in the corners, not before them. He can’t corner, nor brake. The only rally Shekhar will ever be good at is a wet Safari.’ So said shaken reporter Garry Phillips when he staggered from his co-driver’s seat in a Datsun 240Z during the 1973 Morocco Rally. Like the driver, Shekhar Mehta, he’d just survived a near-fatal crash. Like Mehta should care. Wet East African Safari rallies were his speciality. He won the Kenyan killer a record five times, every one behind a Datsun steering wheel. Roy Gachuhi of the Kenya Daily Nation newspaper said: ‘Apparently, competitors ran out of ideas about how to beat him.’ Mehta was born in Uganda in 1945. His Indian ancestors moved…

£7,569,500 ( 58,300,000) 2017 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £7,163,500 ( 57,855,000) 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £4,303,500 ( 54,719,000) Ferrari 250 GT CaUriolet Series I Uy Pinin Farina RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £3,078,000 ( 53,375,000) 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Uy Scaglietti RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £2,975,500 ( 53,263,000) 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £2,669,500 ( 52,927,000) 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £2,618,000 ( 52,871,000) 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Coupé Uy Vignale RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £2,260,500 ( 52,479,000) 1973 Ferrari Daytona Spider RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September £2,107,500 ( 52,311,000) 2004 Ferrari Enzo RM Sotheba’s, Maranello, Itala 9 September…

RM Sotheby’s, M5r5nello, It5ly This 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina, chassis 1035GT with disc brakes and overdrive, lost its original engine, was reunited with it years later and was recently restored in Italy. It sold for ¤575,000. Bonh5ms, Goodwood, UK There’s a Jaguar XJ-S cowering inside this 1989 Lister Le Mans. Specialist tuner cars are now showing up at auctions; I won’t declare this one well-bought at £61,980 just yet, but time may be kind. Mecum, Louisville, USA Glassfibre body, supercharged motor, Loewy design… this 1964 Studebaker Avanti adds a bigger, dealer-fit 305ci V8 and has been magnificently restored. It made $74,800 but should have topped $100,000.…

THE FIFTY FATHOMS BATHYSCAPHE BY BLANCPAIN BLANCPAIN’S 38mm Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe is a significant shrink from its 43mm iteration. The new release is the perfect size for smaller wrists and it has a sportier look too, without losing any of its original features. The new size comes with a blue “abyss” dial, blue ceramic bezel and azure strap to reflect both the heritage of the brand as well as its Ocean Commitment, a conservation initiative that finances and supports scientific expeditions. £6,950. blancpain.com POLO S BY PIAGET It may be the year of the Altiplano, which is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary, but Piaget has also given Eighties classic, the Polo S – first released in 1979 in gold – a whole new lease of life in steel. In fact,…

WHEN it comes to making strong statements in understated yet elegant ways, few do it better than Breguet. Favoured watchmaker to the world’s powerful elite for over two centuries, the brand knows a thing or two about making an impression without making a scene. For proof of this, just look to the Classique Ref 7787, introduced earlier this year at Baselworld. While not a new watch per se – the original debuted in 2011 – this latest version demonstrates once again why this model has quickly become an enduring classic. For many, the Classique Ref 7787 is the epitome of traditional Breguet-style watchmaking. The design is inspired by a pocket watch – Breguet No 5 – made more than two centuries ago, which offered moonphase and power reserve indicators, among…

NOW in year two of its partnership with the Renault Sport Formula One team, French watch brand Bell & Ross has become bolder in its racing cues with a trio of chronographs (a classic automatic, skeletonised automatic and tourbillon) that draw from the new Renault RS17 single seater, which has no carry over parts from its predecessor. More specifically, the watches riff on the new car's steering wheel, a masterpiece of colour coding if ever there was one, which helps drivers access highly complex functionality and driving modes through bright visual combinations. As you can see, this collection isn't for purists, but in keeping with driving technology, each of the watch's functions are also colour-coded, with the yellow areas fittingly designated to the chronograph features to reflect the team's bright…

EVER since Richard Mille presented the debut timepiece of his eponymous brand in 2000, the Frenchman has confidently put his own very unique stamp on haute horlogerie. That first model, the RM 001 tourbillion, used carbon nanofibre for a lightweight construction. The brand has remained at the vanguard of material innovation, turning to aeronautics, motorsports and even satellite design for inspiration. At this year’s SIHH watch fair in Geneva, Switzerland, Mille and Formula One racing driver Stoffel Vandoorne celebrated the new RM 50-03 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph Ultralight McLaren F1; weighing just 38 grams, the limited edition (75 pieces) collaboration with McLaren-Honda ranks as the lightest split-second tourbillon chronograph in the world. Mille had turned to the University of Manchester to devise his latest model, which combines titanium and the…

BRASS, steel, gold and rubies were once the most exotic materials used in the average timepiece – but today’s watchmakers need to work with a recipe book containing a list of far more glamorous ingredients if they are to remain cutting edge. Brands ranging from Richard Mille to Bell & Ross and from Hublot to Rebellion are no longer content merely to create watches from the sort of stuff that’s been the staple of horology for centuries, preferring instead to get to grips with palladium, zalium, tantalum and titanium, to say nothing of liquid metal, hard metal ceramic and, of course, the ubiquitous carbon fibre. Watches designed for aviation and sailing are obvious candidates for such materials because they are often lightweight, salt and corrosion-resistant, difficult to scratch and less…