Inhaltsverzeichnis für July 2024 in Octane

WHEN I WAS a pup – well, probably in my teens, which means my opinions were even more virulent yet even more unfounded – I didn’t much care for new Porsche 911s. You couldn’t blame me: I was born in 1968, so when I was most full of revolution and rebellion and looking for a system to smash, 911s were at their new-establishment peak, that thankfully brief window in the mid-80s when all the cliches were formed. Red-braces wearing yuppie a-holes going backwards into hedges in matching Guards Red impact-bumper 911s while swilling from a bottle of Pol was real (though perhaps rather less frequent than the tabloids made out). As was the 911’s guilt by association, sadly. By the time I got into the classic car magazine game in the…

81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting, 13-14 April The tenth running of the Members’ Meeting since its rebirth in 2014 was as spectacular as ever, especially if you like Can-Am, and even more so if the menacing Shadows are your favourite cars. There was a big tribute to Niki Lauda, too, while the GMA T.50 made its long-awaited dynamic debut with Dario Franchitti at the wheel, and there was frankly terrifying sidecar action around the circuit for the first time. For us the star turn was the opening of the famous Tyrrell Shed, saved from its Surrey location and transplanted to its new forever home at Goodwood.…

Letter of the month YOUR COVER FEATURE in Octane 252 on the McLaren 12C was a great article about a game-changing supercar. I would, however, strongly disagree with author Ben Barry’s description of the Alfa Romeo 4C – which he admits is ‘[the only car that] offers carbonfibre construction for less’ – as ‘underwhelming’. When it was launched ten years ago, the 4C [pictured in original concept form, above] was also a game-changing yet more affordable sports car, offering near supercar performance in the real world at a much more affordable price. Carbon tub, light weight, mid-mounted engine, gorgeous looks: what’s not to like? OK, so the steering geometry divided opinion and resulted in very mixed reviews at the car’s launch, due to nervous handling on the UK’s atrocious roads.…

‘THAT’S THE THING ABOUT THE 365 GTB/4 NART SPIDER: IT PRE-EMPTED SO MANY STYLES OF LATER ERAS’ You could squint and stare at this curious vision in black and red for as long as you like, but without prior knowledge would you ever come to the conclusion that it started life as a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona? You surely wouldn’t. And then would you come to the conclusion that it’s significantly more valuable than the iconic Daytona? Maybe don’t answer that at this stage… After all, there’s more than a touch of the lovechild of Triumph TR7 and Pontiac Fiero at first glance in this rare machine. But that’s the thing about the 365 GTB/4 NART Spider: it pre-empted so many styles of later eras. This car, chassis 15003, hasn’t…

THE PONTIAC TEMPEST was a product of General Motors’ post-war ‘anything goes’ period. These halcyon years of designer-led innovation and iconoclastic engineering brought us the plastic-bodied 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, the fuel-injected 1957 Pontiac Bonneville, the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham with Citroën DS-inspired pneumatic suspension, and the 1960 Chevrolet Corvair with its unitary construction and air-cooled rear-mounted flat-six engine. It gave birth to the world’s first two turbocharged production cars – the 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire and Corvair Monza Spyder – and climaxed with the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, which had a 7.0-litre V8 driving its front wheels via a Hy-Vo chain. The 1961 Pontiac Tempest was the dark horse of this bunch. Its unassuming Eisenhower-cool body cloaked what was possibly GM’s weirdest ever drivetrain: a 3.2-litre slant-four engine at the front, a…

AUTOMOBILE HISTORY IS made up of thousands of marques, so many lost in time and remembered only by very few, some undeservedly so. ‘To see Hotchkiss so forgotten is surprising and very sad indeed,’ says collector Nicola Bulgari. ‘I can’t understand why, except to say that the Americans forgot their history and Hotchkiss’s place in car history. After all, although Hotchkiss is formally considered as a French car manufacturer, it was founded and managed for many decades by Americans.’ Hotchkiss cars were made between 1903 and 1955 by the French company Hotchkiss et Cie, based in Saint-Denis, Paris. The marque badge featured a pair of crossed cannons, evoking the company’s history as an arms manufacturer. Founder Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was born in Watertown, Connecticut, USA, in October 1826. A perfect…

ON 21 JUNE 1947, 151 cars departed Brescia for the start of the first post-war Mille Miglia. Among them was a five-car team from the fledgling Cisitalia company: three 202MM roadsters and two MM coupés, one of which was an extravagantly finned, aerodynamically advanced streamliner unlike anything yet seen in a motor race. It was the work of a relative newcomer, Giovanni Savonuzzi, who had joined Cisitalia as technical director from Fiat’s aviation division in August 1945. Savonuzzi was born in Ferrara in 1911. His father died in the First World War, but Giovanni was able to complete an engineering degree at the prestigious Turin Polytechnic. Graduating in 1939, he was soon employed by Fiat in aerodynamic and turbine research. During WW2 and Italy’s realignment with the Allies, Giovanni’s younger brother,…

By Ixo Price £83.95 Material Diecast The 1990 Marlboro Safari Rally was a particularly tough event, the wettest since 1977, and only ten cars finished from a field of 59 starters. The Lancia Delta Integrale of Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen came second, 38.12sec behind the winning Toyota Celica GT-4 of veterans Björn Waldegård – the oldest driver to win a WRC event, until the 2022 Monte – and his co-driver Fred Gallagher. Inconveniently, the mirror-tinted side and rear windows of Ixo’s model are authentic, so you can’t see much of the interior – but that hardly matters when the exterior is such a riot of colours, graphics and sponsors’ decals. The white plastic wheels are a minor disappointment but overall it’s a stunning model that you’ll spend ages poring…

AFTER THE YELLOWBIRD, German manufacturer RUF continued to push boundaries, offering performance far in excess of the Porsches on which they were based. This 1998 CTR II is one of approximately 30 ‘Body in White’ cars built by RUF, as opposed to the many converted cars. It was ordered from the factory with an uprated 580bhp engine, wide body and four-wheel drive. Other options include a short-ratio gearbox and carbon brakes. Showing 28,700km from new, and coming from its original owner with a comprehensive history, it’s estimated to make $2.2-2.5million when it heads to the Monterey Jet Centre in August. broadarrowauctions.com 1960 Renault Floride Gordini Convertible H&H Classics, Duxford, UK 19 June, handh.co.uk Originally a resident of the Channel Islands, this convertible Floride was optioned with an uprated 40bhp Gordini…

22-23 May Concours on Savile Row London’s famous Savile Row closes to traffic as ultra-stylish cars go on display. concoursonsavilerow.com 24-26 May Nürburgring Classic Wheel-to-wheel racing at the Nürburgring, where spectators are invited to walk the grid. nuerburgringclassic.de 24-26 May Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este The ultimate European glamour event on the shores of Lake Como. Classics compete in classes including ‘Time Capsules’ – reserved for ‘cars that the outside world forgot’. concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com 25-26 May Masters Historic Festival The Masters circus comes to Brands Hatch, with grids for pre-’66 GTs, F1 cars from the period 1966-1985, Touring Cars and Le Mans prototypes. mastershistoricracing.com 25-30 May Rallye des Princesses Richard Mille The route for the 2024 edition of the ladies-only regularity rally runs from Paris to Andorra. peterauto.fr 31 May – 2…

Alpine attraction THE 37TH EDITION Kitzbühel Alpenrallye in Austria is set to take place on 5-8 June. Held against a breathtaking Alpine backdrop, the event aims to build on the 2023 running, which had the theme Timeless Passion. There will be four competition classes: Sport Plus, Sport, Classic, and Youngtimers & Exotic Cars, of which the Sport Plus category is for real purists, requiring analogue timekeeping for all its tests. The Sport category permits digital timing, the Classic class allows a more relaxed touring experience, while Youngtimers & Exotics is all about leisure driving and has no timed tests at all. Also building on the 2023 route, this year’s 600km event kicks off as last year’s did at Johann’s airfield, and will include Austria’s highest peak, the Grossglockner. The rally…

The Porsche 911’s endurance in production is part of its continuing appeal. There always seems to be a significant date or anniversary to mark. Look away now if such things make you feel old, but this one definitely deserves recognition because 2024 is the 50th birthday of the G-Series. The 911 had already been 11 years in production, yet this ‘impact bumper’ generation was the first significant styling and engineering revamp since launch, albeit an enforced one. The period 1973 to 1974 was a traumatic one for sports cars. American safety and pollution-busting legislation meant a hefty aesthetic blow from the ‘ugly stick’ combined with a double-whammy drop in performance. Previously elegant and svelte designs grew unattractive appendages front and rear. Think MGB, Fiat 124 Spider, X1/9. And, of course,…

‘So the guy who’s doing the pin-striping shows up with his box of paints, and a bottle of whiskey. He takes one swig and does a whole stripe in a single pass. Then he goes around and does the other side. I come back a few hours later and he’s passed out. When he wakes up, he goes home and then he comes back the next day to carry on. But just look at the job he did! It’s incredible!’ You can’t walk past a single vehicle in Jay Leno’s garage without the man himself telling you a story about it – he knows every one intimately – and a bright-red fire engine, beautifully decorated with gold-leaf and (perfect) pin striping, is a natural candidate. As Jay recalls with a…

‘THE LAST TIME I saw the car in motion was in Burbank, California, with Jay Leno driving it,’ remembers Ian Callum, designer of the Jaguar C-X75. ‘So for the next time to see one driving, moving around an industrial estate in Warwick, was quite surreal.’ It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the C-X75: what began as a prospective technical showcase ended up being another unfulfilled hypercar prototype footnote, before finding immortality as a villain’s car in a James Bond film. After celluloid infamy, the remaining stunt cars were sold off on the proviso they couldn’t be driven on the road – yet here we are, watching the sunlight glint off not only an extensively freshened-up C-X75 (Chassis 7) but also the public road it’s legally allowed to drive on. Perhaps fittingly,…

London never ceases to intrigue me. No longer regarded as one of the world’s largest cities, still it sprawls out either side of the mighty Thames, made up of a patchwork of what are in essence many villages with their low-level housing, parks, high streets and pubs. Grand townhouses in the affluent enclaves are immaculately maintained and, even in less salubrious areas, where the London Blitz ravaged the terraces that in many instances have been replaced with modern ugly functionality, enough proud old Georgian and Victorian constructs remain, imbuing this city with its genteel mien. Having been fortunate enough to call ‘The Smoke’ home for some 35 years, I’ve lived in every compass direction, from Cockney London’s heart, Bow Bells in Cheapside, via a minuscule bedsit in Islington and the…

MERCEDES-BENZ W196 TETHER CAR Mercedes shortened its W196 racer for the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, certain that the standard chassis was not ideally suited to the Principality’s tight street circuit. The team wasn’t sure, though, of the optimal weight distribution in the short-chassis W196, so it prepared one car for Stirling Moss with the engine in the usual place, and shifted the straight-eight forward in the car allocated to Juan Manuel Fangio. During practice, Moss tried his teammate’s car and was irritated to realise it was superior, but on race day Fangio’s mount expired at half-distance, leaving Moss to inherit the win – or so it seemed. After 30 more laps, poor old Stirling was engulfed in smoke as his car’s engine blew up without warning. Maybe it’s for the…

In 1955, Martin Schøyen travelled from his native Norway to Italy, and in Florence he bought an old book. Inside, the 15-year-old found a fragment of a French manuscript dating from the late Middle Ages, and his inner Indiana Jones was awakened. He has since hoovered up thousands of historically important manuscripts. Christie’s, which will auction some of them in London on 11 June, notes ‘it should not have been possible to build a collection of such quality in the second half of the 20th Century’. Many cultural commentators and academics would say the same, in less admiring tones… But build it Schøyen did, and you’re looking at one of his most significant acquisitions, the so-called Crosby-Schøyen Codex. More precisely, you’re looking at a couple of leaves from the Codex…

Ferrari unveiled the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina in 2000 to commemorate the coachbuilder’s 70th anniversary. Production was limited to 448 examples, all pre-sold to its most loyal customers. Artcurial’s Rétromobile sale in February 2015 was a pivotal moment for Barchettas; its Italian-registered example with 3500km that fetched €274,160 (£234,750) marked the point when the best collector-grade cars began to consistently make in excess of £200,000 at auction. Six months later the Pebble Beach sales indicated the market had moved on significantly, RM Sotheby’s selling a 3000-miler (pictured) for $462,000 (£370,000) before Gooding & Company set a new record the following day when its car with only 150 miles brought $726,000 (£581,250). Gooding subsequently resold its record-holder in 2022 with negligible additional miles for $665,000 (£532,500). Max Girardo comments: ‘The 550 Barchetta…

I’M NOT AN OFF-ROAD enthusiast, but I’m always wanting to see what’s on the other side of the hill; to go places that other people can’t or won’t go to. I used to be very gregarious but having Parkinson’s has made me more solitary, because I don’t want to keep having to explain myself. And I like to be self-sufficient. I was serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2010 as a Colonel in the British Army when the first signs of the disease appeared. I was tripping and stumbling more than usual, and my right hand seemed to have a mind of its own – while I was brushing my teeth with my left hand, the right would float upwards independently. Shortly after I returned home in…

To take advantage of this month’s special offer and get three issues of Octane for £5, either visit octane.co.uk/subscribe or call +44 (0)330 333 9491 and quote code DMAY24 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 magsdirect.co.uk and searching for ‘Octane’. 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 (order…

24-27 September 2024 Amsterdam – Paris Great hotels, great roads, Champagne and lots of camaraderie! Enjoy all this this in your pre-war car on a four-day journey through the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France. Shortest day 200km, longest 330km. Entry €4900. classicevents.nl 30 September – 13 October 2024 Austria to Athens Challenge A two-week, 4000km competitive rally across Europe from the snow-capped Austrian Alps to the ancient city of Athens on the Aegean Sea. Asphalt and gravel roads, a variety of Tests and Regularities, and an adventure through some of the less-explored parts of the Balkans. Open to pre-1977 cars, with a separate classification for pre-1946 cars. rallytheglobe.com 25-31 January 2025 Winter Trial A Trial like no other for pre-1986 cars. Regularity rally averaging 350km a day, plus, for those…

THESE DAYS ALL mainstream 911s are turbocharged; only the hardcore GT3 models are naturally aspirated. Yet still the daddy is a Turbo with a capital T. And that began in 1974, when racing began to improve the breed in a whole new way. I vividly recall my first drive of a 911 Turbo, actually a 1980s one, in Guards Red (of course) and with the 3.3-litre engine that replaced the original 3.0-litre, though still a G-Series – and still with a four-speed manual gearbox! It arrived, codenamed 930, in 1974, transmogrified by the addition of a Kühnle, Kopp and Kausch turbocharger, inspired by the racing RSR and the fire-breathing 917/30 Can-Am car. Bulging rear wheelarches housed a wider track, and that whale-tail spoiler (it started here, folks) helped keep the wider…

‘i am a terrible driver!’ says Peter ‘Morty’ Morton, before a wince of regret flashes across his face. Not regret for his assessment of his abilities as a wheelman, but the remorse of a man who has spoken to the press enough to know that such a lighthearted comment will definitely be the opening to this story. He was right! Morty cannot be a terrible driver, though, having recently secured his maiden long distance rally victory on Rally the Globe’s Road to Hanoi Marathon, a four-week dash around the spectacular Indochina Peninsula from 27 January to 23 February. Though you could perhaps McRae your way through a couple of special stages and get away with it in a fortes fortuna adiuvat manner, over that sort of distance destiny will overcome…

THERE ARE ALL sorts of vestigial things around us. Radiator grilles on electric cars, pelvic bones in snakes, public telephone kiosks – and that little pocket on the front of your jeans. What do you do with it? Fill it with change? Keys (never works, they always snag)? Your AirPods? It may be vestigial today but that pocket used to have a very deliberate function: it was designed to hold your watch. Wristwatches are a distinctly modern innovation, particularly for men. Women wore wristlet watches as jewellery, so it simply wasn’t done for a chap to sport a watch on his wrist. Men carried their watch in their waistcoat pocket or, if they were agricultural workers in the US, the watch pocket on their jeans. Ideally positioned close to a belt…

FORGIVE THE PORSCHE overload this month, but Broad Arrow Auctions’ $15.6m Porsche exclusive sale at the Luftgekühlt Air|Water event has proved an interesting barometer on the current auction market for the Stuttgart brand. Being located on-site at a Porsche event ensured a busy saleroom, which translated into a decent 80% sell-through rate. Top sale of the day went to the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach – just under its lower estimate at $2,865,000 – closely followed by a Canepa-modified 1988 Porsche 959 Komfort at $1,930,000. One particularly strong performer at just over its estimate was a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT at $1,792,500. Less successful was the glorious 1969 Porsche 908/02 Langheck ‘Flunder’ Spyder, which failed to sell on the day with a high bid of $4.2m. It’s currently offered post-sale…

AN INCREDIBLE COLLECTION of cars, motorcycles, automobilia – not to mention a world-class sneaker collection (see last month’s Also Look Out For) – will be offered by RM Sotheby’s from the Dare to Dream collection, put together over many decades by Miles Nadal, a Canadian entrepreneur. It’s a particularly eclectic collection, which at one end features fairly humble Japanese classics such as a Honda S800 and Nissan Figaro, right through to modern hypercars and all-time classics Nadal acquired a taste for after a private tour of Ralph Lauren’s collection. There’s a strong contingent of Ferraris, with a full set of the ‘halo’ models from 288 GTO and F40 right through to Enzo and LaFerrari hypercars – not forgetting the pictured F50, estimated at $3.8-4.5m. The cars in this collection are all…

OVER THE YEARS, the taste for Rosso Corsa Ferraris (or Dinos) has certainly shifted. For a long time, red was the only colour that the market demanded, but today other colours are now deemed more desirable. It’s nice to stand out from the crowd. This matching numbers 246, currently offered by Rardley Motors, was one of those not originally ordered in red when it was sold to its first owner in Jersey. Presented in this fine shade of Grigio Ferro Metallizzato today, it was actually originally ordered in Oro Chiaro (pale gold) in 1971. It first came to the UK in 1976, imported by Duncan Hamilton & Co. After a couple of years with its second owner, it was once again sold, this time by Hendon Way Motors to its…

DURING THE ERA when Renault and Fernando Alonso were ruling the racetracks in Formula 1, the Renaultsport team building hot hatchbacks in Dieppe was every bit as untouchable. Sure, the Golf GTI was always going to be a better all-rounder than a Megane, but the extra dynamic sparkle positioned the French hatches at the top of the pack for all-out thrills and engagement. Sadly, Renaultsport no longer builds any cars, but enthusiasts have really started to covet most things with an RS badge. Twenty years on from its launch, the first-generation RS Megane is a particularly appealing drivers’ car, and one that is (potentially) a shrewd purchase at the moment. Strangely, the early reviews of the Megane 225 were a little lacklustre. After the brilliance of the Renaultsport Clio, it…