Octane January 2021

GATHER A NUMBER of car enthusiasts in a room, preferably with a pint or two, and it won’t be long before they start playing that ancient old parlour game, Which 911? This tends to progress in the same manner every time. Like so many things when you get a bunch of people who actually know their stuff, the uncontestable options (the givens, like a 1973 2.7 Carrera RS Lightweight) are quite swiftly put to one side while more obscure options are championed and discussed. Think of it as like a bunch of 1960s British music nerds not bothering to argue the merits of The Beatles and The Stones, but kicking off with The Kinks and The Who and working their way down (or up, depending on quite how much of…

DONALD OSBORNE ‘Having the chance to meet Cliff Hall was a great honour. I was brought up to believe that hard work, curiosity, imagination and confidence were the keys to a fulfilling and successful life – Cliff Hall embodied all those qualities and more. His is a story that must be known by as many as possible.’ Corwin Getaway: the full story, pages 80-86. DEAN SMITH ‘The 993 Turbo sounded fantastic and it certainly looked quick – I kept having to remind myself that this car was a quarter of a century old, and I’ve been shooting 911s for well over a decade! Only those rain gutters really give the game away.’ Dean’s incredible photography accompanies Glen Waddington’s story on pages 54-64. JAMES PAGE ‘There have been great characters in BTCC over…

Celebrating its 20th anniversary on 11-15 October, this fabulous event in the Apennines covered 1000km in 100 hours, visiting three race circuits – Autodromo dell’Umbria at Magione, the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit at Imola, and the Mugello Circuit – 11 special stages, 11 speed trials and four major cities. Participants came from as far afield as Hong Kong and the USA and drove a sensational line-up of classics that included Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta SEFAC, Ferrari 212 Berlinetta Touring, Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM ‘Facetti’, Porsche Carrera 911 3.0 RS and semi-lightweight Jaguar E-type. The class winners were Kerne/Peyer (Jaguar E-type, Pre-1965), Janssens/De Geetere (Porsche 911 SC, Post-1965), Kennedy/Kennedy (Lancia Aurelia B20GT, Index of Performance) and Rohleder/Hahn (Porsche 911 2.4T, Regularity).…

3-6 December Classic Sebring The Classic Sebring 12 Hour is the main attraction, but it’s not the only element. The International Raceway was built on a portion of Sebring Airport, which is still active, and many vintage aircraft will fly in to be displayed. hsrrace.com 5 December VSCC Winter Driving Tests Vintage Sports-Car Club members gather at Bicester Heritage for a season-closing challenge. vscc.co.uk 19 December Per Ardua ad Infinitum Following the unavoidable cancellation of the RAC Rally of the Tests and LeJog, HERO has set up a festive challenge merging elements of both. Based at Bicester Heritage, it will have 13 speed and driving tests and four regularities. heroevents.eu 14-17 January Autosport International There’s something for fans of just about every motorsport discipline at Birmingham’s NEC, and tyre-smoking antics…

NOTHING KICKS off summer in America quite like the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. First held in 1911, the race takes place on the final weekend in May, during the Memorial Day bank holiday weekend. Today, the Indy 500 is one of the premier auto races in the world, with a roster of champions that includes Mario Andretti, brothers Bobby and Al Unser, and the still-active Brazilian Hélio Castroneves. The track is traditionally referred to as ‘The Brickyard’, which harks back to 1911 when 3.2 million paving bricks were laid over the existing crushed stone and tar surface. The track has been covered over with asphalt since then, but a 36in strip of the original bricks signifying the start/finish line remains as an homage to the pioneering age of…

AFTER EVENT-STARVED enthusiasts were thrown a late-summer lifeline by Goodwood, many were left wondering whether SpeedWeek might change the face of festivals forever, just as Covid-19 has forced the classic car auction world to evolve rapidly, developing and rolling out online solutions in a matter of weeks. It seems unlikely that Goodwood’s innovative SpeedWeek will be a template for any future in which spectators are permitted to attend events, but it did offer hope. By staging this behind-closed-doors live-streamed spectacular, the West Sussex team showed that pandemics, lockdowns and enforced absences need not augur inevitable postponement, or even ring the death knell, for leading events. Best of all, SpeedWeek brought a little joy to legions of fans deprived of events and on-track action in 2020. But, then, Goodwood is special…