Octane August 2021

IN THE GREAT automotive Venn Diagram, BMW and Porsche don’t tend to have a lot of commonality in their middle section. Occasionally they stand toe-to-toe conceptually but, even then, so disparate are the German giants’ personalities and audiences that, like two heavyweight champs holding different belts and never quite setting up that unification fight, they don’t really slug it out. There is one notable exception, though, and it’s a battle that has been raging for 50 years and counting. It’s not as if the CSL and RS were strict rivals in competition, but the homologation road versions were a different matter altogether. And, I would posit, two of the greatest road cars turned racers turned road cars that the world has ever seen. These are cars about which every single true enthusiast…

DALE DRINNON ‘Travelling to Italy during Covid restrictions didn’t make for my easiest assignment ever, or maybe my smartest, either, but after covering everything Touring Superleggera has done since 2013, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let them launch their first ever mid-engined supercar without me.’ See Touring’s Arese RH95 on pages 112-118. ZACK STILING ‘The basic nature of Edwardian mechanical components demands that man and machine work together in harmony at all times and in all circumstances. The 1911 SCAT is surprisingly well-mannered, but still every bit as visceral as it should be.’ Getting to grips with this 9.2-litre special was a steep learning curve. See pages 120-126. SIMON HUCKNALL ‘I was expecting my meeting with Lee Noble to be more about a reflection on past glories, and there have been plenty. How wrong could…

The first-ever race win by a Bentley happened at Brooklands on 16 May 1921, and to mark the centenary of that achievement there was an astonishing gathering of historically important and competition Bentleys at the Surrey speedbowl. They ranged from EXP 2, the car that won that first race and brought along by Bentley Motors, to a modern GT3 racer. Away from the gaze of the public, the cars spent the day enjoying the site, including posing under the scoreboard, which was set up to show the results from 100 years earlier. On that occasion, following an unsuccessful race appearance the previous week (a plug oiled on the line), Frank Clement averaged 72mph to beat four other starters in the modest Whitsun Junior Handicap Sprint, a two-mile sprint from the…

25-27 June London Classic Car Show In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, the show will now be held outdoors at Syon Park, where exhibits will include tributes to the Jaguar E-type and the Bugatti Brescia. theclassiccarshowuk.com 26 June Aston Martin Heritage Festival This event at Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire is set to be the largest ever gathering of Aston Martins. In attendance will be A3, the oldest surviving Aston, which has been fettled into fine shape just in time for its 100th birthday. amht.org.uk 27 June The GT Memorial Tour Pre-1996 classics canter along the country roads of Hampshire and Wiltshire in memory of keen rallyist Graham Thornton, and in aid of Mesothelioma UK. bognor-regis-mc.co.uk 2-4 July Poltu Quatu Classic Concorso d’Eleganza A parade and concours on Sardinia’s chic Costa Smeralda, featuring everything from classic racers to coachbuilt beach cars. poltuquatu.between.be 2-4 July Old but…

THIS MUSEUM IS literally like no other: it’s the only example of its kind, displaying more than 60 hovercraft. Craft are dotted around the site, inside and out, and even the ticket office is, appropriately, a former SRN4 Sir Christopher cockpit, a much better repurposing than its former use as a tomato greenhouse. You don’t have to be an avid ‘hover-head’ to gain great enjoyment from a visit, though. The museum evolved from the Hovercraft Society formed in the late 1980s and nowadays enjoys charitable trust status. The first craft was rescued from being scrapped in 1986 by the society’s Warwick Jacobs. It’s a very rare and important SRN5. When Jacobs’ mother said an emphatic ‘no’ to him storing it in the front garden of the family home, it needed a…

A NEW ORGANISATION aimed at supporting all those connected with the old car hobby launched on 23 May. The Historic & Classic Vehicles Alliance, or HCVA, has been created by Henry Pearman of Eagle E-type fame in partnership with other well-known figures from marque specialists, auctioneers, importers, dealers and the media. Emma Crickmay is an advisory board member at the HCVA and joint managing director at Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialist Frank Dale & Stepsons. When asked why it was necessary to form the new organisation, she said: ‘We felt there was a space, in terms of a voice for the owners, the enthusiasts for the three million classic cars registered in this country, and for the people who make up the classic car industry in all its forms. There are many…