Octane December 2022

MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT about electrification is that our Government (and most others, to be fair) plunged headlong into it to the exclusion of all else. Sure, it’s a shrewd economic solution – many millions of cars to be scrapped and new ones to be built and bought in the UK alone – but it never seemed a truly environmentally conscious one. In fact, given the current fuel crisis and the dirtiness of battery and EV manufacture, the day when building, fuelling and maintaining for life (and then scrapping and replacing) an electric car is anywhere near as environmentally justifiable as continuing to run the nation’s current fleet, even on fossil fuels, never felt further off. It makes existing policy seem at best ignorantly blinkered and at worst wilfully reckless. What has…

PETER TOMALIN ‘William Towns’ designs have never looked better. Bringing together the trio of cars he designed for Aston Martin seemed a fitting way to pay tribute to one of Britain’s great talents. A passenger ride in the Bulldog supercar was just the icing on the cake.’ Peter spoke to those who knew Towns best. See the DBS, Lagonda and Bulldog on pages 52-62. GERARD BROWN ‘I’m more used to chasing rally cars through the wilder parts of the world, so jumped at the chance to photograph exotica on the Salon Privé Tour, keeping the Ferrari 330GTC in my viewfinder as it made its way through the Cotswolds with Octane editor James Elliott at the wheel.’ Ferrari 330GTC at Salon Privé: pages 64-72. SAM CHRISTMAS ‘It felt exhilarating – and appropriate –…

To take advantage of this month’s special offer and get three issues of Octane for £5, either visit subscribe.octane-magazine.com or call +44 (0)330 333 9491 and quote code DOCT2 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 Superb offers on print (starting with issue 235…

Goodwood Revival, 16-18 September The 2022 Goodwood Revival was an astounding success. On the track the frenetic action was punctuated only by a series of wonderful parades, including 100 years of the Austin Seven, 75 years of Ferrari and 60 years since Graham Hill’s first F1 championship. Elsewhere, the new Revive & Thrive village was a triumph. Pictures, clockwise, from main: period atmosphere before the off in the blue riband race, the RAC TT Celebration; the Freddie March Memorial Trophy field pouring down the Lavant Straight towards Woodcote at dusk; ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen guides the Lister Jaguar coupé through the Chicane; determined youngsters underway in the Settrington Cup.…

28-30 October Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance Jay Leno will serve as grand marshal at this year’s event, which is set to include a special celebration of the Ferrari F40. lasvegasconcours.com 2-6 November Classic Daytona A wonderful opportunity to see some of the old monsters of motorsport thundering around the famous Florida circuit. hsrrace.com 3-6 November RAC Rally of the Tests For the 20th edition of the rally, organiser HERO has chosen a route that runs from Blackpool to Torquay and features 30 tests for the 70-plus entries. It is open to vehicles of a type available before 1991, but only pre-’68 cars will be eligible for the overall results. heroevents.eu 5-12 November TransMaroc It begins and ends in Marrakesh, but this rally takes entrants far from big-city tarmac, through mountains…

PUMP-READY environmentally friendly fuels that can be used in internal combustion engines with little or no adjustment are the silver bullet solution that enthusiasts have been praying for. Once the stuff of science fiction, the actual fuels now seem to be a workable reality, but they still face a raft of obstacles: not least price, scaling up of production, and huge tax and legislative hurdles. However, the carbon-neutral fuel manufacturer, P1 Performance Fuels, says the cost of its fossil-free, carbon-neutral fuels could become significantly more affordable from next year. Its sales and partnerships representative, Benjamin Cuyt, says prices of the fuel could fall from the current €5-€6 per litre (£4.39-5.27) to between €2.50-3.50 per litre when it ramps up. The Berlin-based firm currently produces three million litres of synthetic fuel…