Sommaire pour September 2024 de Octane

THERE’S A REASON why the Audi Sport quattro is celebrating its 40th anniversary fully four years after the original model (above) took a bow in 1980. For years the permanent four wheel-drive quattro and its clearly road-car based A1 and A2 evolutions were deemed perfectly adequate for road and competition use. They did OK, too, in the hands of Mouton, Blomqvist, Röhrl and Mikkola. But even with hindsight it is difficult to acknowledge the depth of change that Group B brought to motorsport – there was a 288 GTO, for heaven’s sake – and the sheer lunacy that homologation would then repackage for the road. Group B was gloriously special, and shifted the pace of competition in such a way that the technology race became just as important as the rallies.…

Heveningham Concours, 29-30 June Best of Show at the glorious Suffolk event (with adjacent Country Fair, sprint and aircraft fly-in and concours) was snapped up by a 1961 Jaguar E-type roadster, while setting the pace on the short Horsepower Hill blast was a Ferrari SF90, though it couldn’t compete with the 1934 Barnato-Hassan special for sound and fury. Most stylish owner was Mrs Deanna Peters while the Hanna Aviation Trophy went to a 1934 Lockheed Model 12A Electra Junior. The car judges, marshalled by Max Hunt, included Octane founder David Lillywhite along with designers Peter Stevens and Tony Hatter, racing driver Marino Franchitti and Prodrive chairman David Richards.…

CHINA NOW DOMINATES the automotive world in a way even Detroit in its heyday would have struggled to comprehend. Helped by Government incentives, the new car world is dominated by China’s industries: whether full cars that undercut Western models by huge amounts, ownership of storied European brands such as Lotus and Volvo, or ownership and access to the vast majority of raw materials that go into EV cars, its influence is far-reaching and deep. However, this automotive enlightenment hasn’t manifested itself in the classic world in any meaningful way – until now. Representatives from European body FIVA (Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, fiva.org) met with the Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce, Shen Qiuping, in December 2023 to discuss the future of the classic car movement, and in April FIVA President…

ONLY NINE Siata 208 CS Balbos were built, only seven survive, and this one will be a star car of the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court from 30 August to 1 September. Siata (Società Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori) was founded in Turin in 1926 by Giorgio Ambrosini and started building its own cars after WW2, initially small-bore Fiat-powered sports cars before taking the leap to V8 engines with the 208S in the mid-50s. This rarely seen car, chassis CS 071, is powered by Fiat’s Otto Vu motor, wears a Carrozzeria Balbo-styled aluminium coupé body and has been in one family ownership since 1959, having had a long and varied history in the USA. Dealer Tony Pompeo imported it new and it was competed in widely before winding up on…

All Elans are equal, but some are more equal than others. Heck, with the rare beast we have here you could distil it even further to ‘All 26Rs are equal, but some 26Rs are more equal than others.’ Probably best to start at the beginning… It’s 1962 and Lotus launches a road car, a follow-up to the groundbreaking blind alley that was the glassfibre monocoque Elite. This new one is cutesy in the extreme, designed not by Lotus’s financier-cum-skier-cum-draughts man Peter Kirwan-Taylor but by South African engineer and Mr-Workmate-to-be Ron Hickman. The car epitomises Lotus philosophy in plastic, taking basic ingredients from Ford and Triumph (except Maserati air horns!), adding its own spices, and scorings Michelin stars for pep and handling. At its core, literally, is a simple, lightweight 18SWG…

Nature or nurture? Philosophers, behavioural scientists and bewildered parents have been arguing over that one for centuries. Sean Machado blames both for his devotion to – no, make that obsession for – the outrageous high-wing, shark-nose exemplar of American exceptionalism officially known as the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. In 1969 and 1970, the Daytona and its Mopar twin, the Plymouth Superbird, leveraged the power of the Chrysler Hemi V8 and the skills of drivers such as Richard Petty and Bobby Allison to dominate NASCAR’s superspeedway races. But first, to homologate the models for stock-car racing, street versions of the winged warriors were briefly sold in Chrysler showrooms. And Machado’s father, Joe, had to have one of his own. The thing you’ve got to understand about Joe Machado is that he…

Ariel Dash The history of the modern-day Ariel company goes back only as far as 1999, when Simon Saunders launched the brilliant Atom sports car. The history of the Ariel name, however, goes back over 150 years. In 1871, James Starley, the father of the British bicycle industry, developed an advanced penny-farthing that he christened ‘the Ariel’. Uniquely for the time, it was available with a ‘speed gear’ that gave two revolutions of the front wheel for one revolution of the crank. An example of Starley’s creation is displayed at Ariel HQ, and it inspired Saunders and his team to produce this, the Ariel Dash e-bike. Like the Atom, the Dash is impressively svelte, with the titanium and carbonfibre frame weighing just 1.3kg. Two variants are being offered: the Dash…

VISITORS TO THE Geneva Motor Show in 1960 were among the first members of the public to witness the style and beauty of the glorious SWB 250 California Spyder first hand. This exact SWB, to be precise. Chassis 1795 GT was the first of the 56 that Ferrari would produce in total. On the show stand it was finished in Grigio with a red leather interior. It is also one of very few to be fitted with a competition-spec engine from the factory. Other desirable features include a factory hardtop and covered headlights. RM also states that the dashboard layout is believed to be unique. Following the show it was returned to Maranello, where the interior was re-trimmed in black, before being delivered to its first owner, racer John Gordon…

The road-focused 911 R was one for the purists: manual gearbox, 4.0-litre 493bhp engine from the GT3 RS, no fixed rear wing, and the lowest weight of the 911 range. Launched in 2016, only 991 were built, priced at £136,901, all pre-sold to preferred customers. It didn’t take long for the first example to turn up at auction, with Bonhams’ Zoute sale in October 2016 indicating just how much of a premium the market was prepared to pay. Estimated to fetch €250-350k, its European-spec example (pictured) with only 52km set the bar at €483,000 (£408,000). RM Sotheby’s raised the stakes four months later at its Paris sale, with a French-delivered car that had covered 600km bringing €515,200 (£435,000) – a portion of which went to charity. Auction results dipped in…

I GREW UP in a modern house that had nothing old in it, but my father had inherited tea-chests full of car spares from his own father, and I remember being fascinated by the huge old Lucas headlights and oil cans that cluttered up his garage. One of my earliest memories is of helping him to silver-paint the rusty bumpers on his Ford Pop. While my parents had no particular interest in antiques, my father would sometimes take me to see the cars at the Coventry Motor Museum, when it was part of the old Herbert Art Gallery, because it was an interest we shared; he was a quantity surveyor for the city so had a foot in the door of many places during its post-war reconstruction. In recent years,…

24 July Veloce charity track day Held this year at Goodwood Circuit, where guests will meet some famous faces and enjoy passenger laps in a variety of classic cars. v-events.co.uk 26-28 July Oulton Park Gold Cup Classic Grand Prix cars return to Oulton Park, which hosted non-championship Formula 1 races back in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. oultonpark.co.uk 27 July Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire hosts a gathering of charmingly ordinary cars built between 1969 and 1999. hagerty.co.uk 28 July Rally of the Giants The All American Auto Club heads to Stonor Park, bringing with it many cars rarely seen on this side of the Pond. allamericanautoclub.com 28 July Brooklands Summer Classic Gathering & Autojumble Brooklands welcomes two-and four-wheeled classics, and hosts a 100-stand autojumble. brooklandsmuseum.com…

THE 2024 SILVERSTONE Festival during 23-25 August is to gather more than 20 cars raced by legendary Brazilian F1 star Ayrton Senna. The Northamptonshire circuit has always had a special connection with the three-times drivers’ champion, because he chalked up more senior wins there than at any other major circuit. The cars will be complemented by a selection of memorabilia – ranging from driving gloves and helmets to trophies – that will be on display in the Silverstone Museum, entry to which is included with a Festival ticket. The cars are descending on Silverstone from all over Europe and will span his entire career, from karting to Formula 1 via Formula Ford and Formula 3. Those on display in Silverstone’s International Paddock will include the Toleman TG184 that Senna raced…

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Of course, we Octane types love to drive. But sometimes the passenger seat is a very privileged spot indeed. And here I am, sitting next to Stig Blomqvist, 1984 World Rally Champion and runner-up in 1985. OBoth of those notable championships were with Audi Sport. And the 1984 season was the one in which the Ingolstadt company turned up the wick, building a shorter, more powerful Group B weapon to keep it at the top of the table, Technik having done its Vorsprung to perfection. That car was the Sport quattro and, 40 years on, man and machine are in harmony once more. Though perhaps with a less experienced co-driver this time. This is not the first occasion on which I’ve shared the cockpit with the veteran Swedish rally driver,…

THE PEKING TO PARIS Motor Challenge is a 14,500km rally for vintage and classic cars, a modern recreation of the original event that took place in 1907. I had the privilege of being the rally photographer for this year’s rally, the eighth edition of the P2P and the seventh since its revival by the late, great Philip Young. I’ve worked all over the world, covering many facets of motorsport, but there is nothing like the challenge of documenting a rally that takes place across 37 days in seven countries, and travels across the world’s largest continuous land mass. I’ve worked for HERO-ERA, the current custodians of the event, for five years, but this was my first P2P. You become completely immersed in it. The rally governs everything you do and…

Approaching from the south, it appears with little warning as the grass verge drops away to the dark loch below and ahead the tarmac takes on a gently tightening curve, guided by aluminium rails bounding the modern concrete structure that you’re driving over. The best view is now behind you and, perfectly on cue, a parking area allows you to pull over and take in the full panorama of the Kylesku Bridge. It has become one of the iconic landmarks of the north-west coast of Scotland – no NC500 trip is considered complete without that classic bridge photo, taken from an overlooking knoll, grass worn thin by Instagram. Opened by HM The Queen in 1984, the bridge was already 16 years old when I made my first visit. I’d seen…

Better than discretion 2024 ASTON MARTIN VALOUR David Lillywhite ASTON MARTIN’S director of design Miles Nurnberger grins when I suggest that this must be the car he scribbled on his books at school. With its shark nose, boxy ’arches, Kamm tail and even faux rear window louvres, it’s an almost cartoon-ish take on the original V8 Vantage, peppered with modern touches such as the LED rear lights and clever aero. It’s certainly not subtle. This, then, is the Valour, of which 110 will be made, priced at just over £1m each depending on the Q Division options chosen. It’s a supercar that doesn’t look like a supercar, an Aston Martin that only sort of looks like an Aston Martin – but underneath the carbonfibre skin is an adaptation of the…

DESPITE A somewhat lethargic European market, Artcurial managed to achieve a near-€11m result from its inaugural ‘Garden Party’ auction at the Golf Club Saint-Tropez. That’s an especially impressive total, given that just 66 out of the 100 cars parked up on the lawn sold successfully, and a good number of those barely nudged their lower estimates. Top-seller was a 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, which made €905,920. The German manufacturer was well represented in this sale, with other highlights including a 2006 SLR McLaren 722 Edition at €512,560, as well as a 1997 Mercedes-Benz SL70 AMG at €226,280. Of the cars that failed to find homes, more modern supercars seemed to struggle – with neither the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder nor 2010 Ferrari 599 GTO gaining enough interest to get over…

BEAUTY IS SUBJECTIVE, and no coachbuilder is as polarising as Zagato. This trio of limited-run Zagatos is to be offered at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction. Front and centre is the one-of-three 2001 Ferrari 550 GTZ Barchetta, featuring the same 5.5-litre V12 and gated six-speed manual as the 550 Barchetta. It’s estimated at $600-800k. Next up, on the right, is a 2010 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale, one of only nine built. This was based on the 8.4-litre V10-powered Dodge Viper ACR ($450,000-550,000). Last but not least is a 2013 Lamborghini 5-95, built to celebrate Lamborghini’s 50th and Zagato’s 95th anniversary ($400-600k). goodingco.com 1995 Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG Limited Broad Arrow, Monterey, USA 14-15 August, broadarrowauctions.com Mercedes-Benz worked with Porsche to develop and build the ‘bahn-storming 500E, yet for a select…

OF THE MANY companies that have turned their attention to tuning Porsches over the years, German outfit Gemballa has always been one of the most extreme, not to mention the most technologically advanced. This 1996 Porsche 993 Turbo-based GTR 600 – which cost £173,000 on top of the price of the base 911 Turbo when new – is a slightly different take on the factory GT2. To begin with the external transformation, Gemballa fitted its own full wide-body kit, carbon kevlar front wings with ‘Le Mans Bi-Turbo’ headlights, and an aggressive front and rear aero kit. A set of 18-inch BBS wheels finishes it off. Sitting behind the rear wheels, as you might expect, there is something particularly monstrous. The car was ordered from Porsche with the X50 Power Kit,…

To take advantage of our special offer and get three issues of Octane for £5, either visit octane-magazine.com/subscribe or call +44 (0)20 3966 6695 Buying your issue of Octane – new and old PRINT ISSUE Octane is available at the usual branches of UK shops, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and independents, as well as WH Smith High Street and Travel. You can order the latest magazine or a back issue, delivered direct to your door, by visiting octane-magazine.com. DIGITAL ISSUES Download the Octane Magazine app on Android or Apple and you will be able to enjoy the new issue. Alternatively you can source the digital edition via either Zinio or Readly. SUBSCRIBE You can find superb offers on print and digital at octane.co.uk/subscribe. Order before 15 August 2024 to…

21-27 September 2024 Flat 6 Rallye au Maroc Organisers have already received over 20 registrations for the fifth edition of the lavish Porsche-only event in Morocco. The touring rally offers asphalt driving plus five-star hotels and gourmet stopovers. rallystory.com 27-29 September 2024 Founders Run by Cartrack The Portuguese rally for pre-war cars and motorcycles will take participants on a 250km route along the best roads and landscapes in Portugal, starting in Figueira da Foz. See Octane 247 for a full flavour of the event. fundadores.pt 22-29 November 2024 Silver Fern Rally New Zealand’s South Island hosts a rally featuring 1000km-plus of closed road stages that are the equal of any in the world. Starting in Christchurch. silverfernrally.co.nz 11 March to 1 April 2025 Royal Rajasthan Rally A 21-day touring event…

THE UNIQUE 1950 Ferrari 166MM/212 Export Uovo (‘egg’) that featured in Octane 170 is to make a rare public appearance at Salon Privé presented by Aviva Private Clients at Blenheim Palace on 28-31 August. Masterminded by Giannino Marzotto in collaboration with Paolo Fontana and Franco Reggiani, the distinctive car had a range of 300 miles thanks to its extra-large fuel tank and famously led the 1951 Mille Miglia and won the Coppa della Toscana the same year. The following year it triumphed in the Trento-Bondone hillclimb, driven by Giulio Cabianca, and then moved to North America, competing for a few years before retirement. ‘This exceptional car has been something of an undiscovered gem for decades,’ said Salon Privé Concours chairman Andrew Bagley. ‘It is an icon that has spent its…

During the Roaring 1920s, the white heat of technology had created an automotive arms race in the Western World and Bentley Motors was a leading protagonist. Personal freedom was becoming more attainable thanks to rapidly advancing mechanisation, and at the forefront of this technological drive was the automobile industry. Based in Cricklewood, North London – admittedly a world away from Motown, Detroit – Walter Owen Bentley built his first 3 Litre motor car in 1919, and soon thereafter in 1924, privateers John Duff and Frank Clement won Le Mans in a Bentley that put the marque on the shopping list of every fast-driving motoring enthusiast, many ex-servicemen and intrepid adventurers who had no fear of living life on the edge. The Bentley Boys had arrived with a ‘bloody thump’, the…

THERE IS SOMETHING rather zen about McKeel Hagerty, an air of pensive calm that suggests deep thought, reflection and divine equilibrium. It will come as no shock later in the interview when he reveals that he came close to taking religious orders, but for now he is chuckling at the accusation that he might be taking this video call in a hotel suite or some labyrinthine office at the centre of his sprawling Traverse City, Michigan, classic car empire, when it is ‘just’ his home office. Having turned away from a future of piety in the Russian Orthodox Church, he instead finds himself commanding a business the scale of which has never before been seen in the classic car industry, a lifestyle brand that straddles insurance, an auction house and…

IT WAS A FANTASTICAL yarn and the judge wasn’t buying it. Ian Burgess’s trial in August 1981 wasn’t going as well as he might have hoped, but then you could argue that he was his own worst enemy. The London-born businessman had been collared attempting to smuggle heroin into the UK and claimed – insisted – that the smack was merely a cash substitute. MI5 preferred to pay for services rendered by means of ‘nasal party favours’; smack was the currency of espionage, apparently. The 51-year-old had been helping Queen and country in the Middle East and he had been rewarded with Class A pharmaceuticals worth an estimated £1m. The intelligence service didn’t corroborate his story. Nor, it must be said, did it deny it. Burgess was sent down for…

Nash-Healey A Grand Alliance THE ‘GRAND ALLIANCE’ subhead to this impressive two-volume slipcased set could equally well apply to the people involved in the book project. John Nikas has already authored a 2020 Healey history, Healey, the Men and the Machines, which our own James Elliott described in his review as ‘a masterwork… brilliant’. As Nikas explains in his foreword to this new work, however, he wasn’t able then to devote as much space to the Nash-Healey as he would have liked. Coincidentally, leading Healey expert Hervé Chevalier, who himself has written nine books about various Healey models, was working on a book about Nash-Healeys in competition and, very graciously, rather than produce a rival title he agreed to pool resources with Nikas. Combine this dream-team with publisher Dalton Watson’s…

A FEW MONTHS AGO, after I’d just finished giving a market talk at a car show, I was approached by a dealer. We started chatting, and he told me that, in his sector of the market, advertised values are vastly different from those achieved by the same models at auction. He was frustrated that some people based their price expectations on auction results. ‘They’re two very different things,’ he told me. ‘The cars we sell are in a different league.’ For the most part, he’s right. Although most top auctions, both online and live, tend to select high-quality cars for reputational reasons, sometimes larger collections that have been stored for long periods of time are sold and these can present in various states of repair. A good example is the…

FEW METHODS OF transportation inspire such unconfined joy as a beach car. Who wouldn’t grin at the sight of a Mini Moke or Fiat 500 Jolly? Get behind the wheel of a Citroën Mehari and, even more so than with its 2CV siblings, unbridled laughter is destined to follow. While Citroën never thought there would be any call for something so exposed to the elements in the UK – the Mehari was never officially sold here – we can’t help but think they make a brilliant buy. Not only affordable, but easy to run and, of course, great fun to drive. The brainchild of World War Two fighter pilot turned plastic expert Roland de la Poype, the Mehari was intended to be a rugged utilitarian vehicle. It was launched in…