Octane

I RECENTLY SPENT a wonderful weekend in Malta as one of the judges at the Valletta Concours d’Elegance. Taking place in the historic St George’s Square at the heart of this architecturally mesmerising limestone city, it meant reuniting with a band of owners, organisers and judges that had last been there in 2019. Many’s the email conversation with these friends in the interim that has concluded with our hopes for once again enjoying a pint of freezing cold Cisk (the local brew) together. When that finally came to pass last month, what was most astonishing was that all the elapsed time simply evaporated. So embracing was the familiarity that we all repeatedly referred to ‘last year’ when, of course, we meant ‘three years ago’ – yet it was suddenly as if…

JOHN SILCOX ‘Nothing compares to being squashed against a warm mass of passengers in the back of a Moroccan taxi, bouncing over rutted roads, watching the ground through holes in the footwell, smelling burning engine oil and hashish and wondering if you’ll make it to your destination.’ Morocco’s Mercs for hire: pages 120-126. JORDAN BUTTERS ‘I’ve always loved the E46 M3 and especially the CSL: that bit lighter, that bit sharper, and just the right degree of subtlety in making it look different from the standard car. And today, 20 years on, it feels even more relevant than it did when it was launched.’ Jordan’s stunning photography accompanies Glen Waddington’s feature on pages 104-112. ROBERT HEFFERON Robert is the creative genius who masterminds the stylish look of Octane and the layout of all the pages within it…

Hot rodders headed to the famous sands in South Wales for the ninth running of the Vintage Hot Rod Association’s festival in Camarthenshire. There were two solid days of racing on the sands made famous by Land Speed Record legend Sir Malcolm Campbell, when he set a new world best of 146.16mph there in Bluebird in 1924. That’s a speed that the hot rods cannot dream of, the ton being the limit of most ambitions, though the fastest speed of the weekend – 121.33mph was reached by Stephen Hill in his Ford Model A – must have felt similarly heroic to Campbell’s effort.…

23-26 June La Leggenda di Bassano Based in Bassano del Grappa in northern Italy, this regularity rally for pre-1961 racecars is as popular with slack-jawed onlookers as it is with the entrants. laleggendadibassano.com 23-26 June Goodwood Festival of Speed The theme for this year is ‘The Innovators – Masterminds of Motorsport’, so expect to see landmark cars of the past and bleeding-edge modern machinery blasting up the hill at Goodwood. goodwood.com 24-26 June Summer Trial The beginner-friendly Summer Trial will be held in Lincolnshire this time, with things kicking off in Grantham. Crews will drive some 400 miles in total, tackling eight special tests along the way. heroevents.eu 24-26 June Rallye Père-Fille The relaxed rally for father-and-daughter crews will be based in Monte Carlo for the first time. happyfewracing.com 28-30 June London Concours Eighty of the world’s finest cars gather in the gardens of the Royal Artillery Company,…

THE FIVE STUDEBAKER brothers were blacksmiths and wagon builders when they founded the company in 1852, and many a 19th Century pioneer crossed the Great Plains in a Studebaker-manufactured horse-drawn wagon known as a ‘prairie schooner’. It wasn’t until 1902 that the company leapt into the newfangled automotive world, initially building electric cars and lorries. Within a decade, however, they were focusing on the petrol-powered cars that became Studebaker’s staple. The Studebaker National Museum honours the company’s heritage in its former main manufacturing hub of South Bend, Indiana. It sprawls over three storeys, displaying a rotating assortment of about 70 vehicles drawn from the 120-strong collection. Permanent exhibits include the Presidential Carriage Collection – including the one that took Abraham Lincoln on his fateful final journey to Ford’s Theatre in Washington,…

EXACTLY 100 YEARS to the day since a World Land Speed Record was last set on a closed circuit, the car responsible – the Sunbeam 350hp – ran again at Brooklands, Surrey, the site of its original run. Billed as ‘Land Speed Record Day’, the event attracted crowds who saw not only the Sunbeam but several other record-breakers, including the 1933 Napier-Railton V12 and the 1905 Darracq V8. Meanwhile, four schools competed in a science and technology competition, held on Brooklands’ finishing straight to mark the launch of the Brooklands Innovation Academy. A subsequent panel discussion on the future of mobility – and the Land Speed Record’s role in inspiring the next generation – included World Land Speed Record holder Andy Green OBE, and Don Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell…