Classic & Sports Car

Idyllic light bathes the Pacific-fronted fairway at the 1957 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which nearly didn’t happen due to a wave of antipathy after the death of Ernie McAfee at the Del Monte Forest circuit the year before. Early events featured new cars as well as ‘antiques’, with overall winners dominated by Jaguars. Here Ralph Boster’s Morris Minor, complete with whitewalls, competes with a Vauxhall Victor in the under-$2500 class. Best in Show was a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III (see Books, p37).…

Five decades ago, 35 BMW employees were seconded to form a special new division. Its purpose was to build a series of high-performance flagship models to crush the Munich marque’s rivals – both on the track and, as a happy by-product of the need for competition cars to be homologated, in the showrooms. The magnificent 3.0 CSL (left) that arrived a year later was a pretty good start, swiftly establishing the blue, violet and red stripes of BMW Motorsport as a dominant force in Touring Car racing, and building the foundations for the first true ‘M-car’, the M1. Yet the division’s legend was cemented not by exotic supercars, but thrilling halo models derived from regular production machines. Beginning with the E12 M535i and the first M5, it reached the peak of its…

With a return to its springtime slot, the 9-10 April 79th Members’ Meeting opened Goodwood’s 2022 season. And while the blue skies, sunshine and daffodils were signs of positivity, they’re also the colours of the Ukrainian flag, ever-present as the Duke of Richmond sought to support the war-torn country. The flag of Ukraine was flying along the pitlane and affixed to every racer as a stylish show of solidarity, alongside a fundraising appeal. Auto Artists for Ukraine was also at Goodwood, a charitable effort founded by artists Reverend Adam Gompertz (Motoring art, August 2016) and Jonny Ambrose (March 2019), who have teamed up with others to make and sell artworks to raise money for the British Red Cross and the Disasters Emergency Committee – and it has hit £45,000 to date.…

1958 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE Television host and lifelong VW fan Drew Pritchard revelled in the power of the freshly rebuilt engine in his ’58 Bug. After a few years of ironing out the technical glitches associated with a highly strung 1300cc flat-four, it was great to see him charging through the Sopwith Cup field. Powersliding out of the chicane on every lap, he converted a 15th grid position into a creditable sixth at the chequered flag. Excitedly bouncing out of the car afterwards, his beaming smile was evidence he won’t forget this Goodwood experience any time soon. DC 1966 LOLA-CHEVROLET T70 SPYDER I’d been looking forward to the Surtees Trophy, and Sunday’s grid for 1960-’66 sports-prototypes didn’t disappoint. Rob Hall had been the class of the field all weekend, and he quickly dispatched the…

GERRY MARSHALL TROPHY Jack Tetley/Alex Buncombe Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 ROBERT BROOKS TROPHY Andrew Kirkaldy Lotus Eleven WESLAKE CUP Charles Rainford Lenham GT SOPWITH CUP James Colburn Standard Vanguard Six DEREK BELL CUP Andrew Hibberd Brabham-Ford BT18 GRAHAM HILL TROPHY Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen Jaguar E-type ‘Semi-Lightweight’ SURTEES TROPHY Oliver Bryant Lola-Chevrolet T70 Spyder AFP FANE TROPHY Patrick Blakeney-Edwards Frazer Nash Monoposto VARZI TROPHY Patrick Blakeney-Edwards Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Monza PETER COLLINS TROPHY James Thorpe Lister-Jaguar ‘Flat-Iron’ GERRY MARSHALL SPRINT Jack Tetley Chevrolet Camaro Z/28…

Salon Privé added an extra event to its annual calendar this year, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, from 21-23 April. More than 20 high-end dealers presented their finest on the groomed lawns that front the 17th-century hospice. A trio of Ferraris brought by Furlonger Specialist Cars included the light-blue 365GTB/4 Daytona that was the very first supplied to the UK. Beside it sat the 1934 Barnato-Hassan Bentley, former Brooklands Outer Circuit Class B record-holder at 142.6mph, on offer with Vintage Bentley. One of three 1965 TVR Tridents was displayed by DT Vintage, while another Ford V8-powered British prototype, the 1963 AC MA200, was on show with DK Engineering. The stillborn Ace replacement was styled by ex-MIG engineer Zdislaw Marzewski – yours today for £800,000. At the top of the lawn, several manufacturers…