Brooklands Autumn MotorSport Day – October 2015

The first Autumn MotorSport day at the historic Brooklands site was held in 2011. A new event, initiated and organised by Phil Ward and his team at Ginger Beer Promotions, it was a welcome addition to the calendar in early October, by which time most other events of the year have been and gone, and there was quite a diverse of gathering of sporting machinery with a historic connection, ranging from sports and touring cars to an ex Formula 1 car, along with several rarities and an outing of the legendary Napier-Railton from the Museum, taking to the track as part of the lunch time entertainment. With the exception of 2013 when the weather was so indescribably foul that only the very bravest (or most foolhardy!) decided to turn up, the event has gone from strength to strength, getting bigger every year. There is no shortage of enthusiasts, it would seem, who are only too keen to bring along something interesting for display and potentially to take it out on the track at lunchtime and to try out their skills on the famous Test Hill in the afternoon. With an invitation to Car Clubs to augment the displays of historic motor-sport with their own interesting cars, there was plenty to keep attendees entertained all day. Despite a less than promising forecast in the days leading up to the 2015 event, the weather gods decided to bless this Surrey location with dry weather on the day, and whilst the sun did not shine as brightly as it had done in 2011 and 2012 (combined with a morning frost and cold temperatures), it did burn through the morning cloud to make it a fitting finale not just to Ginger Beer’s 2015 events program, but also the last weekend outdoor gathering of the year for Abarth Owners Club, and doubtless other as well. I arrived early in the morning, and stayed until the last stragglers had started to pack up, around 4pm, and there was lots to see during all this time, as this report evidences.

SPECIAL DISPLAY CARS

As in previous years, the area in front of the Club House was reserved for the rare, unusual and cars with their own sporting past. This was one of the busiest areas of the event, of course, though all that changed at lunchtime, as all the cars in here were invited to go out for a few laps on the adjoining Mercedes-Benz World test track. The crowds followed, of course. When the cars came back, many ended up parked in slightly different places to where they had been in the morning.

ABARTH

Rarest Abarth here was this 1000 OTR Coupe Berlinetta. Phil Ward had sent me a picture of this car before the main Auto Italia event in May, and I was a little disappointed then when the car was not there, but here it was. Based on the Fiat 850 Spider of the mid 1960s, this car was seen  at the 1965 Turin Motor Show on the Bertone stand. Initially thought of as a one-off, it was based on the 850 Spider but with a fixed roof and a front radiator opening. In other respects, it was  mechanically the same as the better known though far from common 1000 OT Saloon and Coupe models. There’s very little information about this car on the internet that I found, but it would seem that it is not actually a one-off, as a few of them were produced, though suffering the competition of less expensive and less complex OT models, production of the OTR 1000 ended with the arrival of the restyled 850 Coupé in 1968. How many were made is unclear. Record keeping was not a priority for Carlo!

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Much more, of course, is known about the Fiat-Abarth 595SS. Offered as a “regular” model, this car, as well as the more potent 695SS took the familiar Nuova 500 bodyshell and had a more powerful 2 cylinder in the rear and modifications to the suspension and steering to create an Italian rival to the Mini Cooper. A handful were imported to the UK when they were new. A lot of 595 and 695SS cars have been created more recently, by taking the shell of a regular 500 and applying the Abarth upgrades, so care is taken if buying one, to make sure you know what you are getting.

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Plenty of people were looking at this car, and appearing puzzled, as they could tell it was not quite the same as the regular Nuova 500, but were unsure what it was. The answer is that it is a Steyr Puch, a version of the 500 made under licence in Austria. In 1954 Steyr-Puch decided to resume car production after the war. Because of the high costs associated with the development of a completely new design, an agreement was made with Fiat to acquire and adapt the body in white of their Fiat 500 model. Of the body, only the engine cover and later the roof was produced in-house. On the other hand engine, transmission and carriage were all manufactured by Steyr-Puch. The engine was a two-cylinder 16 hp flat engine which proved to be far more smooth-running than the in-line engine used by Fiat. It brought good driving behaviour for its time, especially in mountain rides. The first Steyr-Puch 500 was launched in 1957 and sold well. At first it was offered with a folding roof only, and it was expected to draw in motorcyclists as a buying audience. The ‘Puchwagen,’ as it was called, was the official car for the Austrian AA-service. In 1959 came the first revision. The Steyr-Puch 500 D was provided with a metal roof (D for Dach, roof in German), and in addition to that,  the 500 DL was equipped with a stronger engine with 20 hp. 1961 saw the launch of two estate models, 700 C (C for Combi) and 700 E (E for Economy), both featuring a larger engine but with different power ratings. In 1962 the sedan, too, was equipped with the larger engine, leading to the 650 T (T for Thondorf, the location of the plant). A few years later the engine was boosted even more, resulting in the models 650 TR and 650 TR II (R for Rallye) – models at first intended for police use, but later also offered as standard. Up until this point, the body had remained more or less the same, but in 1967 the modified body which the Fiat 500 had adopted  in 1965 was adopted in Graz. The most significant  new feature were the front hinged doors as opposed to the former suicide doors. At the same time, the roof was adopted from Fiat. The new models were given the additional label “Europa”. In 1969, due to decreasing demand, it was decided to adopt not only the body but the complete drivetrain minus engine from Fiat. The engine was the only unit remaining under local manufacture and the model was now called 500 S (Sport). In 1974, Fiat’s successor model, the 126, was adopted in Graz. Here, too, Puch restricted themselves essentially to fitting a Puch engine in the otherwise nearly finished car. As early as the following year, production was stopped due to diminishing demand. The Stey Puch had some success on the track, with Gerard van Lennep winning the Production Cars Championship (up to 700 cc.) of the Netherlands in 1966 and 1967 with a yellow 650 TR. He also competed in European Cup races, winning in Belgrade. This small car sold well, with around 60,000 units produced between 1957 and 1975. Despite restrictive licensing terms from Fiat, quite a few cars were exported outside Austria, most of them to Germany, Finland and Hungary. This is the first one I have seen in the UK.

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Parked alongside it was a regular 500D, so you can see the subtle differences between the two cars.

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Abarth put more effort into the 600-based cars, the 850TC and later 1000TC models. There were a couple of these here, including the one which Mike Kason has recently finished restoring. He brought it along to the Ace Cafe Italian Night in September as promised, and then the car was here so he could show it off on track as well letting people admire it when parked up, It is, he says, an absolute blast to drive.

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It’s still hard to think of an Abarth that will capture more interest from everyone, though, than this amazing 500-based device that belongs to Carlo Caccaviello. Although this is not a car in which you would comfortably travel long distances on the road, Carlo brings it out a lot during the year. It has a potent Alfa engine in the back, so it is definitely not just a case of all show and no go.

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Final Abarth here was an OT1600. Abarth produced several tuned versions of the 850 Berlina, Coupé, and Spider, with ever increasing displacements. These constituted the OT series of Abarth cars—standing for Omologata Turismo or “touring homologated”, which also included two-seater sports racing cars. The first was the  Fiat-Abarth OT 850, introduced in July 1964. Its Tipo 201 engine was the regular saloon’s 847 cc inline-four brought from 34 PS to 44 PS; top speed went up accordingly from 120 km/h (75 mph) to 130 km/h (81 mph). The OT 850 could be distinguished from the standard Fiat model by its Abarth badging, an asymmetric front ornament with the Abarth shield on the right hand side and the “Fiat Abarth” script on a red field on the left, and wheels with cooling slots. From October of the same year it became available in two guises: OT 850 Oltre 130 (“Over 130”), almost unchanged from the initial model, and OT 850 Oltre 150, with a 53 PS engine, front disc brakes and a 150 km/h (93 mph) top speed. The Fiat-Abarth OT 1000 was introduced in October 1964. The engine displacement increased to 982 cc, it produced 61 PS and 58 lb·ft of torque. Front brakes were changed to disks. OT 1000 Coupé and Spider came along in October 1965. Compared with the saloon version, the engine was a more powerful Tipo 202 producing 62 PS and 79 58 lb·ft of torque. Top speed was 155 km/h (96 mph) for the coupé and 160 km/h (99 mph) for the spider. The coupé was facelifted in November 1968 concurrently with the regular Fiat 850 Coupé, receiving a full-width grille and twin round tail lamps. The  Fiat-Abarth OTR 1000 was launched alongside the OT 1000 Coupé, and based on the 850 Coupé bodyshell as well. Its type 200 engine had an all-new Abarth-designed cylinder head with valves arranged in a V instead of parallel—hence the R in the name, standing for Radiale, radial. The combustion chambers were shaped as two spherical caps, one around each valve; there was a inlet duct per cylinder, each fed by one choke of the two twin Solex carburettors. Abarth claimed an output of 74 PS at 6,500 rpm and a top speed of 172 km/h (107 mph) for the road version. The OTR was set apart from the OT 1000 Coupé by a rectangular front grille bearing the Abarth badge, needed for the front mounted radiator. That was far from the end of the story for in April 1966, Abarth introduced the OTS 1000. It used the OTR 1000 bodyshell, with a standard head OT 1000 engine but output upped to 68 PS  and top speed to 160 km/h (99 mph). The FIA homologated it in the GT class in 1966. Abarth later developed several modifications, including a new inlet manifold for two twin-choke Solex carburettors. This gave birth to the OTSS 1000 or OT 1000 SS. Both OTS and OTSS were restyled in November 1968 like the OT 1000. Larger capacity OT models appeared in November 1966 with the launch of the OT1300. Visually identical to the OTR 1000 save for the widened wheels, it used a Fiat 124-derived engine displacing 1,280 cc. Engine power was 74 PS and the top speed was 172 km/h (107 mph), both the same as on the OTR 1000, but thanks to the simpler engine the car was cheaper.[ It was restyled in 1968 together with the 1.0-litre OTs. Wilder still was the OT 1600 Mostro (model 136/C), an extreme variant based on the 850 saloon body, unveiled at the October 1964 Turin Motor Show and nicknamed Mostro, monster. It was fitted with a Tipo 236 1,592 cc twin cam, twin spark engine from the Fiat-Abarth 1600 Sport racing car. The 1.6-litre put out 155 PS and had a  top speed was 220 km/h (137 mph). The rear wings were greatly enlarged to clear wide rear alloy wheels.

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AC

This AC Ace Ruddspeed dates from 1954. This was car, chassis number AE35, with an aluminium hand-formed body and 2 litre tripe SU carburettor works engine and Moss gearbox was the Pioneer Ace, developed for le Mans, and first owned and raced by Ken Rudd, as part of the Rudd Racing Team. It was the first AC to run a quarter mile sprint. It served as personal transport for Ken Rudd as a demonstrator as well as being raced hard. Ken developed the cowl on this car which has since been fitted to all other racing Aces, and also the disc brake conversion for AC Cars Ltd. For many years, it  sat in a garden in Birmingham before finally going to auction in 2003. Even though the car was in a terrible condition, the new owner found that it was still very original and hadn’t been modified since its racing days. It was decided rather than to make a new body for the car that it would be restored, repairing sections and trying to keep as much originality and patina as possible. The car came with the car was the works development AC engine which was fitted to the works prototype Aceca – later owned by Donald Campbell. The engine is the only surviving works unit and has a unique completion sump and cooling system. Since restoration, it has been used extensively in historic events, coming 1st in the Goodwood Sprint in  2004, 50 years since Ken Rudd won the same event in the same car, at again in the Goodwood Sprint in 2005 and the car was raced at the Le Mans Classic 2004 and the Goodwood Revival in 2005. In 2008, Rudd chose RPO 826 to represent him at the Goodwood Revival Legends and it has also competed in two Fordwater Trophies. In March 2014, Rudd even used it as a wedding car for his granddaughter. These days the car lives at the Brooklands museum, but it still emerges for action quite frequently.

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ALFA ROMEO

A couple of cars that are better known on the road, but which were popular in period and even now as historic racers, were part of the display here: the Giulietta Berlina Ti used a high performance 1290cc overhead cam engine to great effect to give the car a performance that belied its engine capacity, and the Alfetta GTV had a rear-mounted transaxle to give the car perfect weight distribution and hence excellent handling.

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The 155 was very successful in touring car racing, using the Supertouring-homologated GTA and the V6 TI for the DTM. The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI was a FIA Class 1 touring car which was powered by a high-revving 2.5 litre 60° V6 engine, coupled to a four wheel drive system, producing 400 PS at 11500 rpm. Alfa Corse entered two 155 V6 TIs for works drivers Alessandro Nannini and Nicola Larini; the 1993 season was dominated by Larini winning 11 of 22 races, In 1994 the rivals from Mercedes seemed to have the advantage but Alfa did manage to win a further 11 races. A more consistent performance from the Germans gave them the title. In the UK in 1993, Larini in an Alfa 155 was placed second in the FIA Touring Car Challenge behind Paul Radisich in a Ford Mondeo. Between 1992 and 1994, the 155 also managed to take the Italian Superturismo Championship,  the Spanish Touring Car Championship (with Adrián Campos), and the British Touring Car Championship (with Gabriele Tarquini). For the 1995 season the team got new sponsorship livery from Martini Racing. The 1996 version had a 2.5 litre 90° V6 engine based loosely on the PRV engine delivering 490 PS at 11,900 rpm, had a top speed of around 300 km/h (190 mph) and weighed 1,060 kilograms. The 155 remained competitive until it was replaced with the 156, finishing third in the DTM (then known as the International Touring Car Championship, or ITC) in 1996 with Alessandro Nannini and winning the Spanish championship again in 1997 with Fabrizio Giovanardi. All told, the Alfa 155 V6 TI achieved a total off 38 wins (plus 3 other non championship races). The victories were obtained by seven different drivers: 17 (+1) Nicola Larini, 13 (+1) Alessandro Nannini, 2 Stefano Modena, 2 (+1) Christian Danner, 2 Michael Bartels, 1 Kris Nissen and 1 Gabriele Tarquini. In the UK, the car is best remembered for its winning ways in the Touring Car Championship (my 1995 Alfa had a sticker in the rear window reminding everyone of the fact). The 156 was to continue the high standard set by the 155, winning the European Touring Car Championship multiple times. The car seen here is not actually one of the original race cars, but a recreation in homage to this successful career.

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The 4C has been on sale in the UK for well over a year now, but with limited production volumes, this would likely have been one of the first times that many would have seen this striking looking 2 seater sports car. Objectively probably something of a disappointment, with the driving characteristics not quite living up to the looks or expectations, the owners I’ve spoken to are still in love with their cars. A recent software update is said to have transformed the handling characteristics, making it more like the car it always should have been.

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Joining the 4C was one of the larger and earlier 8C Competizione models. First seen as a concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003, the 8C was a two seater Coupe model intended to remind people who were perhaps slightly disillusioned with contemporary Alfa products that the company could still style something as striking in the 21st century as it had been able to do in the 1950s and 1960s. Public reaction was very positive, but Fiat Group Execs were very focused on Ferrari and Maserati and they were not entirely convinced that a car like this was appropriate as it could encroach on those brands’ territory. It was only in 2006, with new management in place that it is decided that a limited production run of just 500 cars would give the once proud marque something of a boost. Announcement of the production version, visually little different from the 2003 concept car was made at the 2006 Paris Show, and it was soon evident that Alfa could have sold far more than 500 cars To turn the concept into reality, Alfa used a shortened Maserati Quattroporte platform with a central steel section, subframes front and rear and main outer panels that were all made from carbon fibre, with the result that the complete car weighed 300 kg less than the GranTurismo. . Final assembly was carried out by Maserati, with the cars being built between 2007 and 2010. Competiziones (Coupes) first, and then 500 Spiders. Just 40 of the Competizione models came to the UK. Most of them were sent to the US, so this car is exceptionally rare and is much sought after by collectors. Featuring a 4.7 litre V8, the Alfa Romeo 8C sounds as good as it looks and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful supercars ever made.

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Also with its roots in a concept car is the Montreal. First seen at  Expo67, the car took its name from the Canadian city where the event was held. Reaction was so positive, that Alfa decided to put the car into production, though it took a further three years to get the car ready for commercial sale. This V8 Coupe was then offered for five or so years, and proved quite difficult to sell. Until recently, that was still the case, as it was a complex car with a reputation for being very difficult to get it to run perfectly. In the last couple of years, though, its true merits have been recognised, there are far fewer for sale at any given time, and prices have risen accordingly.

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AUTOBIANCHI

The Autobianchi A112 Abarth, sadly, was never sold in the Uk, and so there are only a very few of these cars which have reached our shores. Developed using a shrunken version of the contemporary Fiat 128’s platform, and using the mechanicals which  subsequently underpinned the Fiat 127, the A112  was introduced in November 1969, as a replacement for the Bianchina and Primula, and it continued in production  until 1986.  Over 1.2 million A112s were produced in Autobianchi’s Milan factory. Only ever available with a 3-door body, it was offered with the OHV engine of 903 cc from the Fiat 850 capable of attaining 42 PS. The Autobianchi represented the first appearance of this engine in a front-engine, front-wheel drive configuration which would later become familiar to a wider range of drivers in the top selling Fiat 127 and its derivatives. Claimed power increased to 47 PS in 1971, but without any mechanical changes having taken place. A series of upgrades were made every couple of years, with higher grade trim and more equipment being added. In September 1971 when the first of these changes came, a performance Abarth edition joined the range. It was prepared by the motorsports division of the Fiat Group, at first with a 982 cc engine, obtained by increasing the stroke, coupled to a sportive exhaust, a twin carburettor, and a different camshaft. In 1975, displacement was increased to 1,050 cc, while power climbed from 58 HP to 70 HP at 6600 rpm, for a weight of only 700 kg (1,540 lb). The two engines were offered in parallel until production of the smaller unit ended in late 1976. The 1975 model was also the first A112 to use a 5-speed manual gearbox. These changes turned the A112 into a nervous machine, much admired by young performance enthusiasts. The car was entered in various rallying events throughout Europe and even spawned a one-make trophy: the Campionato A112 Abarth spanned eight editions, from 1977 to 1984, and adopted contemporary Group 1 rules, which meant nearly-stock cars. Some famous Italian rally drivers, including Attilio Bettega, Fabrizio Tabaton and Gianfranco Cunico, were among the winners of the championship. The increasing popularity of the A112 in historic rallies and hillclimbs led to the reintroduction of an one-make trophy, called Trofeo A112 Abarth, in 2010. Abarths have often led hard lives, having been preferred by young owners with aggressive driving styles. Formula One driver Olivier Panis is one of many to have crashed an A112 Abarth.

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BENETTON

Making another appearance here was the 1990 Benetton F1 car of Nelson Piquet. This is the very car that he drove to victory at both Suzuka and Adelaide that year. Sadly, a mechanical issue meant that it was unable to take to the track, so it remained a static exhibit for the entire day.

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BLUEBIRD

This is a replica of the original Bluebird, the 1927 car. The Napier-Campbell Blue Bird was a land speed record car driven by Malcolm Campbell. Its designer was C. Amherst Villiers and Campbell’s regular mechanic Leo Villa supervised its construction. It was Campbell’s first car to use the Napier Lion aero engine. His intention was to surpass his previous Sunbeam Blue Bird’s achievement of the 150 mph barrier and to reach 200 mph. When first built, the car used a Napier Lion engine of around 500 bhp. It was of conventional form with a front-mounted vertical radiator and the driver behind the engine. The three banks of the 22.3 litre W-12 engine were hidden behind bulges in the narrow bonnet, with exhaust stub pipes protruding. Bluebird’s first record attempt was on 4 February 1927 at Pendine Sands. A peak speed of 195 mph was achieved, tantalisingly close to the magic 200 mph (320 km/h), but the two-way average recorded for the record itself was lower, at 174.883 mph. This 1927 record was short-lived, as Segrave’s Sunbeam 1000 hp achieved both the 180 mph and 200 mph targets a month later. This prompted Campbell to rebuild the car as ‘Blue Bird III’ for 1928. He persuaded the Air Ministry to allow him a Schneider Trophy-tuned “Sprint” engine, as fitted to the Supermarine S.5 seaplane, of 900 hp. Improved aerodynamics were innovatively tested in Vickers’ wind-tunnel by R.K. Pierson, their Chief Designer. Blue Bird’s body shape was substantially changed, with the famous coachbuilders Mulliner producing the bodywork. The results were unorthodox. A vertical tail fin was added for stability, a first for Blue Bird and land speed record cars. Open spats behind the wheels also reduced drag. The biggest change was to the radiators, which were moved to the rear of the car and mounted externally. These surface radiators were made by Fairey Aviation and contained 2,400 ft (730 m) of tube. Removing the nose radiator allowed a low, rounded nose with better streamlining. However, one French newspaper compared its looks to a whale. Following Segrave to Daytona Beach, on 19 February 1928 Campbell took the record at 206.956 mph (333.063 km/h), breaking the 200 mph barrier for his first time. Once again though he only held the record for a couple of months, losing it by a whisker to Ray Keech and the White Triplex. Further attempts were made with revised Bluebird machines again in 1931 and 1935.

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BROOKE

Established in 2002, Brooke Cars is a Devon based manufacturer who currently produce one model, the Double R, a lightweight two-seater open sports car weighing around 510 kg (1,120 lb). It is powered by a 2.3-litre Cosworth engine with a range of outputs from 200 bhp to 400 bhp The Double R is similar to the previous 1990s Brooke Kensington ME 190.

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CHEVROLET

Camaro

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DRAGSTERS

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FERRARI

This splendid Ferrari 212 dates from 1951, and is one of just two such cars, the other living in the Schlumpf Collection in Mulhouse. It has been seen quite a lot at UK events in the past couple of years. Based on an F2 car but fitted with a 2.5-litre V12, the car made its debut in 1951 at the Siracusa Grand Prix, driven by Dorino Serafini and is thought to have also been driven by Villoresi, Marzotto and Gonzalez. Raced extensively during the 1950s, it was later discovered stored in Uruguay and eventually found its way into various UK, Italian and Japanese collections. Restored by DK Engineering in 2008, the car is currently owned by a UK collector who has brought it to a number of events where it can often be seen in action as well as being a static display car.

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FRAZER NASH

Frazer Nash is known for making a series of small sports cars in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which featured a chain drive, mostly with 1.5 litre engines. Initially successful on the track as well as popular on the road, the limitations of their solid rear axle and relatively crude chassis started to tell, and in the mid 1930s, the company set up an arrangement with BMW to import their models instead, losing focus on their own cars. Frazer Nash models are nevertheless still popular among enthusiasts today. This one dates from 1934 and has a 3.5 litre engine under the bonnet., a one-off, it is known as the Norris Special, and it makes regular appearance at vintage motor sports events around the country.

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FIAT

I’ve seen this 850 Sport Spider a number of times before. A pretty little car, this model was sadly never sold in the UK. Fiat introduced it at the same time as the equally attractive 850 Coupé, at the 1965 Geneva Motor Show, a few months after the launch of the 850 Saloon on which both cars were based, even though visually you would not guess it. The cars had the same 843 cc engine as the Saloon,. but tuned to produce 49 hp which allowed it to reach a top speed of 90 mph. This engine ran counterclockwise, a unique feature compared to other engines. The body was designed and built by Bertone in its Grugliasco, Turin plant. The folding roof section made of fabric could be stowed away completely under a rear flap. The Bertone design also featured smooth, essential lines and simple yet elegant details, such as the recessed headlamps equipped with tilted plexiglass covers to follow the lines of the wings, and the dihedral side panels inspired by Bertone’s 1963 Corvair Testudo. At the time of their introduction into the United States the Sedan, Coupé, and Spider were marketed with a reduced capacity, high compression 817 cc engine in order to beat US emissions regulations at the time which applied only to engines equal to or larger than 50 cubic inches. Compression was raised from 8.8:1 to 9.2:1, requiring premium octane fuel. In order to separate the sportier variants Coupé and Spider from the basic version, apart from the increase of engine performance, the equipment was also extended and adapted to the higher expectations. Both received sport seats, a sport steering wheel and round speedometer; Spider even received a completely rearranged instrument panel. The front drum brakes were replaced with disc brakes, although drum brakes remained on the rear wheels. In 1968, Fiat revised the successful Spider and Coupé again and gave them an even stronger engine with 903 cc and 52 hp. They were called Sport Spider and Sport Coupé. The Sport Spider body stayed essentially the same, but with a restyled front. The headlamps were moved forward slightly and the glass covers were eliminated giving the car a “frog-eye” look, and the original flush front turn indicators were replaced with units hung below the bumper. Several limited special edition versions of the Spider were offered, including the Racer featuring a body-coloured metal hard top and the Racer Berlinetta featuring a black vinyl hard top.

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Also present was the incredible 1905 Isotta-engined 200HP car. Over 17 feet long and weighing nearly 2 tonnes, and sporting a vast Isotta Fraschini-designed 16.5 litre aero engine which occupies almost the entire length of the car, it looks suitably period, with a most wonderful patina. It was originally designed for an attempt on the World Land Speed Record 110 years ago, but Fiat never actually built it, so in fact it has only recently been completed, albeit using all original parts. I’ve seen it in action at a number of events in the last year or so, with it making dramatic appearances on the hill at Prescott, among other venues. Incredible.

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LISTER

The Lister-Jaguar was Britain’s most successful sports racing car of the 1950’s. It won at almost every circuit in Britain and was virtually unbeatable both in the UK, overseas and in the USA and continued to keep the Jaguar name in the forefront of sports car racing long after the Jaguar D Type had become obsolete. The ‘Cars from Cambridge’ designed, and built by Brian Lister, were simply the best of their kind and dominated the field with Archie Scott Brown driving, even when driven by Stirling Moss, who also drove a stint for Lister. Brian Lister’s big break came when he was offered the engines and gearboxes by William Lyons from the retiring Jaguar D Types which had previously dominated at Le Mans, but which by 1956 were fast becoming outdated. Lyons was correct in believing that Lister would be capable of developing a race winning car, thus keeping the Jaguar name in the forefront of racing and at little cost to Jaguar and so Lister-Jaguar was born. Brian Lister designed and built a new lightweight and aerodynamic chassis and ‘knobbly’ body to take the Jaguar drive train and the world’s best sport racing car of the 1950’s was born! For five seasons from 1954 Lister cars were always in the headlines and consistently beat the much larger works teams such as Aston Martin and Jaguar. It caught the public’s imagination, especially popular was the mercurial and respected Archie Scott Brown, he was fiercely competitive, fun to be with, adored by everyone with film star looks even though he was severely disabled from birth. Unfortunately, in 1958 Archie Scott Brown died after suffering severe burns in a racing car accident at Spa. The car was criticised for having magnesium alloy bodywork which was inflammable, although an RAC examination found no faults with the car. Brian Lister persevered for a few years afterwards, but without his friend Archie things were just never quite the same. The Lister name did not disappear, though, and in 1995 a new series of Lister Storm GT race cars were produced. More recently, an exciting announcement came in September 2013. that after a gap of almost 25 years since the last Lister had rolled off the production line, the three Lister companies of Lister Jaguar, Brian Lister Light Engineering and Lister Storm, had been reunited into one organisation, called Lister Motor Company Limited, after a significant investment by Warrantywise, one of the UK’s most successful aftermarket used car warranty providers, and that there would be a return to “production” of  the Lister ‘Knobbly’ Jaguar. Just 10 of these cars are going to be made. There is still lots of debate as to whether these qualify for historic racing or not. No such debate about the car in action here, though, as it is an original.

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LOTUS

This pair of Mark VI models show how Chapman’s thinking was evolving from his very earliest cars, made 60 years ago, in advance of giving us this legendary Seven. After building multiple trials and road racing cars, Colin Chapman introduced his first ‘production’ car, the Lotus Mark VI, in 1952. The heart of the Mark VI was a space frame chassis. Rather than a complete car, it was available to the general public as kit, wherein the customer could install any preferred engine and gearbox, making it eligible for a wider number of formulae. The Mark VI in many ways reflected Chapman’s background in engineering: his designs resulted from a stress analysis of loads into the frame, they were extremely light (the 6′ space frame weighed only 55 lbs), and the suspension incorporated the latest advances. The prototype chassis was built up by the Progress Chassis Company and the aluminium body was constructed by panel beaters Williams and Prichard. (Both firms would later furnish bodies and chassis for subsequent models.) The cheap and easily available mechanical parts were sourced from the Ford Prefect. The Mark VI became a popular sight on Britain’s racetracks, and was a frequent winner, beating many more powerful and expensive cars, earning praise for very good handling and superior low-speed acceleration. An important facet of the success of the kit was Chapman’s offering a comprehensive package in the Mark VI, including most of the special parts needed, and not just the chassis. The Mark VI chassis came with mounting points for several different engines including the 1172cc Ford 10, the 1250 cc or 1500 cc MG TF, the 1500cc Consul, and the exalted Coventry Climax. Standardised as far as possible for volume production, some units were customised per the owners wishes. Lotus even modified the owner’s parts, if needed.  When fitted with the 1172cc Ford engine, and a 3 speed gearbox,  the car put out 50 bhp at 5000 rpm, and generated 57 lb/ft of torque, which gave the car a 0 – 60 time of 15 seconds and a top speed of 93 mph. The success of the Mark VI in competition and sales  – 100 had been built by 1955 – established Chapman as a manufacturer of specialty cars.

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With the Mark VI models was an early Seven, Chapman’s enduring masterpiece that was first shown in 1957 and which – admittedly somewhat modified in the mechanical components that it uses – is still in production in Caterham guise some 58 years later.

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MASERATI

Although there were a number of other Maserati models parked up on the banking, one of them was included in this part of the event, a striking 4200GT looking particularly good in its bright red paint.

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MG

The 4WD mid engined MG Metro 6R4, a 6-cylinder four wheel drive rally car, was a world away from the supermini to which it bore only a superficial cosmetic resemblance. Produced as Austin-Rover’s attempt to claim glory in Group B rallying, the competition car effectively only shared the name of the production Metro as it featured a mid-mounted engine with four wheel drive transmission enclosed within a seam-welded tubular chassis. The development of this vehicle had been entrusted to Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The resulting car was shown to the world in May 1985. It was powered by a David Wood designed bespoke 3-litre V6 powerplant which used some of the engine architecture of the Cosworth DFV. It featured twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The engine was a break from the norm, as it wasn’t turbocharged as the majority of its competitors were. The engine was mounted back to front in the car, with the forward end of the engine facing the hatchback and the gearbox attached conventionally behind it and, therefore, in the middle of the vehicle. The four-wheel-drive was permanently engaged, and drove separate propshafts to the front and rear differentials. The rear differential was mounted on the side of the engine sump with one driveshaft running through the sump to the nearside rear wheel. Much of the outer bodywork was made of GRP, with the only exception being the roof panels (which were aluminium) and the steel doors. These were, however, concealed by plastic airboxes. Indeed, models now on show generally have stickers demonstrating where it is safe to push from when moving the vehicle, so as not to damage the bodywork. The 6R4 appeared in two guises. There was a so-called Clubman model which was the road going version which developed in the region of 250 bhp, of which around 200 were made and sold to the public (the homologation version). A further 20 were taken and built to International specifications which had a recorded output of over 410 bhp. The car never achieved its potential, as Group B rallying came to an end in 1986, and with it the car lost its prime purpose.

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NAZZARO

Together with his brother-Pilade Masoero, Maurizio Fabry and Arnold Zoller, renowned race driver Felice Nazzaro founded on July 1, 1911 the company Nazzaro & C. Fabbrica Automobili Torino and started the production of automobiles. The brand name was Nazzaro. In 1916 the company was liquidated and bought by Franco Tosi. After the First World War, the new company Automobili Nazzaro, continued production until 1923. The first model,  Tipo 1,  had a four-cylinder engine with 4398 cc, 70 bhp and a four-speed transmission. It was offered in Touring Car and Limousine versions. The next model, the Tipo 2 or 20/30 HP, although powered by the same engine, was designed to be more sporty, and was offered as an open two-seater. The maximum speed was indicated as 100 km / h. The Tipo 3 or 35 HP was based on the Tipo 2, but had a more powerful engine. 1914 produced some racing cars for the French Grand Prix. These were for vehicles equipped with four-cylinder engines with 4500 cc capacity, which were equipped with four-valve technology. The Tipo 4 followed before the war. Starting from 1915, trucks were produced, some of which had an Anzani engine. Up until 1916, Nazzaro made about 50 trucks and 230 passenger cars. This is a Tipo 3, dating from 1913 and it has just been used for a film telling the story of the Targa Florio called “Pistons, Passion, Pleasure – a Sicilian Dream” which was due to make its premiere a couple of weeks after this event.

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Another of the cars starring in the film was displayed with it.

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PORSCHE

In 1976, endurance racing had two world championships: the 1976 FIA World Championship for Makes for Group 5 special production cars, and the 1976 World Sportscar Championship season for Group 6 prototypes up to 3.0 litres. Porsche designed a car for each category. Accordingly, the 935 and the new Porsche 936 were the two-pronged Porsche effort for 1976. Each championship had seven races, with only Dijon hosting both on the same weekend, while on two other weekends, the races were even run in different countries, which forced Porsche to divide its resources. Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass were the main drivers, when the F1 schedule permitted. Rolf Stommelen, who was recovering from his bad crash in the 1975 Spanish GP, was the backup, along with Manfred Schurti. Under Group 5 rules, also known as “silhouette rules”, several significant modifications were allowed (including bodywork modifications, larger wings, wider axles and water cooling), provided that the basic silhouette of the car remain unchanged when viewed from the front. The 935’s engine was a 560 hp version of the regular 3.0 litre flat-six, with 438lb-ft  torque at 5400 rpm. Boost was between 1.35 and 1.55 and fuel consumption was 52 litre per 100 km. Capacity was reduced to 2.85 litres, and with the turbo charging penalty factor of 1.4, it fitted into the 4.0 litre class which had a prescribed minimum weight of only 970 kg (2,140 lb). Porsche, having a lot of experience with lightweight cars, had managed to get the Carrera RSR prototype to under 800 kg. The empty 935 tipped the scales at 900 kg, and weight distribution could be balanced with an additional 70 kg. Preseason testing at the fast Paul Ricard circuit showed a top speed of 295 km/h. In addition to the naturally aspirated 340 hp Carrera RSR introduced in 1974, Porsche offered a customer racing version of the 911 Turbo prepared for the more standard Group 4 rules, the 485 hp Porsche 934. Some customer teams modified their 934s to Group 5 rules with body kits supplied by Porsche, these were often designated 934/5. Cologne-based Kremer Racing entered a 935 K1 built on a factory shell which in the first race, the six hour Mugello, finished second behind the Martini Racing sponsored factory entry of Mass and Ickx. Porsches occupied the first seven places ahead of a BMW in eighth, which according to the points scheme meant that Porsche had now twenty points, and BMW three. The factory 935 also scored the pole, fastest lap and win at the six hour Vallelunga, where a BMW was second and the best 934 finished fifth. After the second race, the CSI rule makers insisted that the “whale tail” hood of the road-going 930 must fit on the race car. The air-to-air intercooler setup under the rear hood had to be altered to a more compact air-to-water layout, which cost Porsche several weeks of testing and half a million Deutsche marks. The hastily modified 935 again won the pole and fastest lap at the six hour Silverstone, but due to a clutch problem at the start, the Martini car could finish only tenth, with the second-placed Kremer 935 collecting valuable points for Zuffenhausen. A private BMW 3.5 CSL had beaten it to the finish by a second. Even more worrisome to Porsche was the fact that BMW Motorsport had also entered a turbo, a 3.2 CSL driven by Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson. That new BMW had qualified only one second behind the factory 935, but two seconds ahead of the third placed Kremer 935. The powerful BMW did not last long in the race, however, due to gearbox problems. Initially, Porsche ran the 935 with the 911’s original bumper-mounted headlights, in two different guises: a sprint version with a wider version of its wheel arches, and a high speed version with modified aerodynamics. The sprint setup was rarely used. However, after carefully studying the rulebooks, Porsche engineers, namely Norbert Singer, discovered a loophole regarding the modifications of fenders that gave them the liberty to remove the headlights to reduce drag and create more downforce, to which the venting slits contribute. This “flat nose” (also known as the “slant nose”) with headlights in the front spoiler, became the distinguishing feature of the 935 and was later offered on the roadgoing 930 as the flachbau, or “flatnose”, part of Porsche’s sonderwunsch, or “special wish” program. Also, the 935 now had extended “long tail” rear bumpers, similar to the low drag setup seen years earlier on the Carrera RS. These bumpers also offered more space for engine periphery and efficient cooling. The 1000 km Nürburgring, usually consisting of 44 laps, was run in 1976 as a 47 lap 1073 km race, putting even more strain on the new Group 5 machinery. With Mass and Ickx being at the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix, Rolf Stommelen and Manfred Schurti stepped in to drive the 935 which by now had the new look it became famous for. With the help of higher turbo boost, Stommelen qualified the 935 on the pole with a stunning 7:37.5, while the BMW turbo did not take part. The fastest of only nine race laps was just over eight minutes, though, as the engine was not sorted out, and vibrations caused ignition failure. Again, a reliable Schnitzer Motorsport-entered naturally aspirated BMW CSL took the win, with the customer 934 of Loos salvaging valuable second place points for Porsche. The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans counted towards neither world championship, but Le Mans was often considered the real championship. For that race, it was possible to use the 935’s well-tested original engine setup. The main battle was between the sportscars, with a Renault Alpine setting the pole. The 935 driven by Stommelen and Schurti qualified third and, despite the weight and drag of a Group 5 silhouette, finished fourth overall, with one of the Porsche 936s taking the win. At Zeltweg, Ickx was back, setting the pole, but the throttle link broke before mid-race. Derek Bell set the fastest lap in the Kremer 935, but nonetheless two BMW coupés won ahead of a private 934. Porsche still had a narrow lead in the points standings, but only the best five of the seven events would count. BMW had now three wins compared to Porsche’s two, which meant that Porsche had to win the final two races. The new engine setup was tested at Weissach in a modified 934 while the race cars were shipped overseas. At Watkins Glen, the regular race chassis 002 of Mass and Ickx needed an extra stop for new pads for the Porsche 917 derived brakes, and the test chassis 001 of Stommelen and Schurti won, with the best BMW being fourth. Porsche now had three wins and two seconds equaling ninety points, which meant that only another win could add five more points to their tally. BMW had also three wins, but only one second and a fourth, equaling 85 points. Without a competitive third brand, the winner of the final round would take the world championship. In Dijon, the turbo of BMW Motorsport was back, now with 3.5 litres, and this time the fast Swedes Peterson and Nilsson put it on the pole, half a second ahead of Ickx. Again the transmission was not as strong as the Bavarian Motor Works 750 hp engine, failing before the first of the six hours had passed. Three 935s plus two Group 5 spec 934/5s won ahead of the best normally aspirated BMW. The 935 and 936 had each won its championship, and Le Mans, too. The age of turbo engines had begun in endurance racing. Based on the 1976 version, thirteen Porsche 935/77A were sold to privateer teams in Australia, Italy, France, the US and Germany. Among others, Cologne-based rivals Georg Loos and Kremer Racing entered 935 in the 1977 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft which introduced the Group 5 rules. As the naturally aspirated BMW Coupés and Ford Capri had pulled out of the Div. I (over 2.0 litre) of the DRM, these Porsches had no serious competition in the big division until other turbo-charged cars like the BMW-powered Schnitzer, Toyota Celica and the Zakspeed Ford Capri showed up, The DRM was a drivers’ championship, and with equal Porsche customer machinery, no driver could dominate, which meant that despite the customer 934 of 1976 and the 935 since 1977 dominating their division, the championship was often decided in favour of a small division pilot. Kremer went on to develop yet another special 935, the K2, and also ran the optional 3.0 litre engine offered by Porsche, which was connected with sixty kg more minimum weight. Slightly modified, Porsche also sold customer cars in 1978 and 1979. As Porsche hesitated to sell their 935 Evolution models, some teams developed their own ideas, especially Kremer Racing from Cologne, Germany. Parallel to the factory in 1976, they had built a 935 K1, and in 1977, modified their customer 935 to the K2. For 1979, they introduced the 935 K3 (for “Kremer Type 3”; the derivative of the successful K2). Driven mainly by Klaus Ludwig, it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, beating all prototypes, in heavy rain, which is usually considered a disadvantage for race cars with windshields. Coming in second was a factory spec model, driven by Rolf Stommelen, and supported by team owner Dick Barbour and actor Paul Newman. Facing strong competition in the 1980 DRM by the big Zakspeed Ford Capri, the K4 was introduced in mid 1981, for 400 000 Deutsche Mark. Porsche supplied an 3,1 litre engine with 750-800 hp at 1,5 bar boost for 91 000 DM in total. Sadly this particular Kremer modified 935 did not get very far around the track before a monumental engine blow out. At least we could still admire it as a static object after that, though.

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RENAULT

Second historic F1 car of the day was this Renault.

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This is a Renault-Alpine A110, a model which was introduced as an evolution of the A108. Like other road-going Alpines, the 1961 A110 used many Renault parts – including engines. But while the preceding A108 was designed around Dauphine components, the A110 was updated to use R8 parts. Unlike the A108, which was available first as a cabriolet and only later as a coupé, the A110 was delivered first with “Berlinetta” bodywork and then as a cabriolet. The main visible difference with the A108 coupé was a restyling of the rear body to fit the larger engine, which gave the car a more aggressive look. Like the A108, the A110 featured a steel backbone chassis with fibreglass body. The A110 was originally available with 1.1 litre R8 Major or R8 Gordini engines. The Gordini engine delivered 95 hp at 6,500 rpm. The A110 achieved most of its fame in the early 1970s as a victorious rally car. After winning several rallies in France in the late 1960s with iron-cast R8 Gordini engines the car was fitted with the aluminium-block Renault 16 TS engine. With two dual-chamber Weber 45 carburetors, the TS engine delivered 125 hp at 6,000 rpm. This allowed the production 1600S to reach a top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph). The longer wheelbase 2+2 Alpine GT4, originally considered a version of the A108, was updated with A110 engines and mechanicals, now being marketed as the “A110 GT4”. The car reached international fame during the 1970–1972 seasons when it participated in the newly created International Championship for Manufacturers, winning several events around Europe and being considered one of the strongest rally cars of its time. Notable performances from the car included victory in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally with Swedish driver Ove Andersson. With the buy-out of Alpine by Renault complete, the International Championship was replaced by the World Rally Championship for 1973, at which time Renault elected to compete with the A110. With a team featuring Bernard Darniche, Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Jean-Luc Thérier as permanent drivers and “guest stars” like Jean-Claude Andruet (who won the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally) the A110 won most races where the works team was entered, making Alpine the first World Rally Champion. Later competition-spec A110s received engines of up to 1.8 litres. As well as being built at Alpine’s Dieppe factory, A110 models were constructed by various other vehicle manufacturers around the world. The Alpine A110 was produced in Mexico under the name “Dinalpin”, from 1965 to 1974, by Diesel Nacional (DINA), which also produced Renault vehicles. The Alpine A110 was also produced in Bulgaria under the name “Bulgaralpine”, from 1967 to 1969, by a cooperative formed between SPC Metalhim and ETO Bulet, whose collaboration also resulted in the production of the Bulgarrenault. In 1974 the mid-engined Lancia Stratos, the first car designed from scratch for rally racing, was operational and homologated. At the same time, it was obvious that the tail-engined A110 had begun reaching the end of its development. The adoption of fuel injection brought no performance increase. On some cars, a DOHC 16-valve head was fitted to the engine, but it proved unreliable. Chassis modification, like the use of an A310 double wishbone rear suspension, homologated with the A110 1600SC, also failed to increase performance. On the international stage, the Stratos proved to be the “ultimate weapon”, making the A110, as well as many other rally cars, soon obsolete. The A110 is still seen in events such as the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique and there was a nice example here.

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RILEY

As well as a bewildering array of production sports and saloon cars that were produced by Riley in the 1920s and 1930s, there were also a lot of Specials produced, and this is one of them. It dates from 1935 and has a 1.5 litre engine, though interestingly, the DVLA reckon the car is red!

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WOLSELEY

Although most people would picture a luxurious version of the Issigonis styled Mini with a boot on when the word “Hornet” is mentioned, in fact Wolseley had used the name before in the 1930s.  First time round, the Wolseley Hornet was a silky six-cylinder twelve fiscal horsepower lightweight saloon car available as a coupé and open two-seater as well as the usual rolling chassis for bespoke coachwork. Produced by Wolseley Motors Limited from 1930 to 1936 the Hornet was unveiled to the public at the end of April 1930. This car’s tiny six-cylinder engine reflected the brief vogue for less vibratory 6, 8, 12 and 16 cylinder engines soon superseded by greatly improved flexible engine mountings. Their overhead camshaft engines were so good that cars built on their Hornet Special chassis developed an outstanding reputation on the road and in club competition. The initial offering was something of a quart in a pint pot, tiny but powerful for its size. Furthermore, four passengers might be fitted into the very lightly constructed car. However the market soon required more room and more comfort and the car’s nature changed. This was countered by making and selling the Special with a more highly tuned engine. Two sporting versions were sold only as Hornet Special “rolling” chassis. The first with Hornet’s 1271cc engine, the last with a Wolseley Fourteen 1604cc engine. They were sometimes referred to as Special Speed chassis. Saloon and Tickford coupé as well as sporting bodies were fitted. Later cars had a large S mounted on the radiator cap with a small H for hornet in its lower section, the S shaped to be like a striking snake or a preening swan. The new Special chassis was announced 18 April 1932. It had twin carburettors, higher compression (domed pistons) and numerous smaller modifications including a revised exhaust system (triple-piped manifold —2 inch pipe to the straight-through silencer), duplex valve springs, metal universal joints in the propeller shaft, three inches wider front track and specially large 12-inch brake drums. The long flexible gear-lever was replaced by a remote control and a small short-travel lever. Special front (3 inches wider track at 3″ 9″) and rear axles were supplied with the saloon’s large-hub stud-fixed Magna wire-wheels. Small knock-on hubs in Rudge-Whitworth wheels were optional and usually preferred. A particularly large speedometer (a quick-reading five inch dial), matching engine revolution counter, and ten inch headlights were supplied as part of the complete kit for the coachbuilder. The large headlights were supported by braced mountings included in the kit. In the autumn of 1933 to improve its breathing the engine was given a cross-flow head with inlet and exhaust manifolds on opposing sides. The block casting was redesigned to increase its stiffness and the Special received the long wheelbase underslung chassis and other modifications of the saloon including freewheel. The Special chassis was supplied to various specialist coachbuilders particularly Swallow, Whittingham & Mitchel, Jensen and, now also part of the Morris group, Cunard. The last Hornet was replaced following acquisition of Wolseley by Morris Motors with Morris’s badge-engineered Wolseley 12/48 announced 24 April 1936. A total of  2307 were made.

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WOLSELEY SIDDELEY

There’s quite a complex history to this car, a 1907 Wolseley-Siddeley Wolsit Targra Florio race car. Wolseley Racing consisted of a number of motor car racing efforts between 1903 and 1969 supported by the Wolseley Motor Company which resulted in many victories and helped promote the brand and prowess of the company. In addition to the company-sponsored racing there were individuals who entered Wolseley cars or cars with Wolseley motors into races. The history of Wolseley Racing can be split into three periods matching the history of the automobile: the early days before World War I when the automotive industry and racing was in its infancy; between the wars after production was switched from a war effort back to domestic products and the innovations of WW1 had been applied to engine technology; and from after World War II to the present day. Gong back to that pre WW1 period, wiith Napier & Son, the Wolseley cars were Britain’s only entries in early races such as the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and Paris-Vienna Trial, 1903 Paris–Madrid race, the 1904 Circuit des Ardennes and 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup where Charles Rolls was a driver. The 1903 race saw not only a Wolseley car driven by Herbert Austin himself (later to own the company) but another of the Wolseleys was involved in a high-speed accident (one of a number during the race) that ultimately caused this form of city to city road-racing to be banned.  In 1907 Wolseley Italiana entered three cars under the Wolsit name in the Coppa Florio with just one of them finishing. Wolsit Officine Legnanesi Autmobili was incorporated in 1907 by Macchi Brothers and the Bank of Legnano to build Wolseley cars under licence in Legnano, about 18 kilometres north-west of central Milan. A similar enterprise, Fial, had started there a year earlier but failed in 1908. Wolsit automobile production ended in 1909, the business continued but made luxury bicycles. Emilio Bozzi made the Ciclomotore Wolsit from 1910 to 1914. A team of Wolsit cars competed in motoring events in 1907. This is one of those 1907 Coppa Florio cars.

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BUS

There’s a whole Bus Museum on site, housing a comprehensive collection of historic models from the past century or more, and if you have time, it is definitely worth having a look, even if you are somewhat prejudiced against the theme by today’s bus travel experiences, few of which tend to be good! One of the historic models was parked up outside for people to have a look at.

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ITALIAN CARS

Although this is not specifically an Italian car themed event, the publicity for the day does say that anyone who arrives in an Italian car is welcome to park in the event, and many of the Italian car clubs make a special effort for what will, for many members, be one of the last meets of the year. Accordingly, there were plenty of Abarths, Alfa, Fiat and Lancia here as well as good showing of Ferrari and a handful of Maserati.

ABARTH

In 2014, we managed to amass around 10 Abarths for the Club display, but the response on the Abarth Owners Club forum suggested that we would do better than that in 2015. A lot better, as it turned out. True to form, Paul Hatton arrived so early that he managed to get in before anyone else, and indeed before the front gate was ready to sell him a ticket (he did buy one later, fear not!), so I was not quite the first to arrive, to ensure we made the most of our allocated space. This year we had the area to one side of the Bus Museum and backing off towards the Concorde, which should have been ample, were it not for the fact that – unplanned and unbeknown to the organisers – someone had left a long wheeled artillery gun right in the middle of area. As Abarths poured in, which is what happened early in the morning, it looked like we could potentially run out of space. Certainly by 9:30, there were more Abarths here than any other marque, beating even the Alfa Owners Club for quantity of cars, no mean feat indeed. All told, we amassed more than 25 cars during the day, which made for an impressive display.

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The majority of them were 500-based models, of course. Among these, two cars attracted even more attention than the others: Neil Potter’s Edizione Maserati is an elegant looking car, with its rich burgundy coloured paint, and as there are only a handful of these cars in the UK, a very rare model indeed.

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The other attention getter is the Oakley Design 595 Competizione special that was created by Daron Brown at TMC, to show some of the work that he could do. It took many weeks after stripping a standard 595 and rebuilding to produce the car you see here. There is some serious re-engineering to the car as well as the restyled body and the lustrous paintwork. That Alfa 8C red paint finish took several days, and just the paint alone cost several thousand pounds. The car has been measure on a dyno to validate its claimed power output of 235 bhp and 270 lb/ft or torque, a significant increase on the standard car (160 bhp for Competizione models at the time). There’s a bigger Garret GT1446 turbo with a front mounted intercooler (it is side mounted on the regular models), a new set of injectors, a race Cat’ and a bigger central exhaust framed by a deeper rear bumper. To cope with the extra power, there are 305mm, two-piece floating discs clamped by Brembo four-piston calipers at the front, though the rear brakes are still the standard ones. It is the bodywork changes that cause the car to get notice, though. The tack is 60mm wider, which means that new arches are needed so the wheels do not protrude. That called for new winds front and back, which are glassfibre items, and hence somewhat lighter than those on tbe standard car. The bonnet is glassfibre, too, and is dominated by two huge vents to let heat out. Standard 500s get quite hot under the bonnet, as there is not a lot of space, so with the extra power, extra cooling was clearly essential. The front bumper assembly is new, too. Inside, the car is more or less standard, with a pair of Sabelt two-piece bucket seats to hold the driver and passenger firmly in place. They will need that, as the car is a riot in the road, as you might imagine. Apparently there is some torque steer, but the electronics of the Torque Transfer Control system allow you to keep things in check and those huge Brembo discs make sure you can stop neatly. Daron built the car during the winter of 2012/13 and then showed for most of the 2013 events season, with the car getting lots of publicity and generating plenty of interest. All the modifications did not come cheap, though, so the asking price when he put it for sale was a nudge over £40,000. That meant it would take time find to find a new owner, but during 2014 that person came forward, a gent called Mario Cee, who has had a lot of fun with it, and who has brought it to many events since he acquired it. However, Mario got excited about what could done, so decided to sell it, and he found a new buyer for the car just after this event. He’s not giving up on the idea of a completely mad Abarth, though, as he has just bought a new  595C, which was also here, and was poised to send that over to Daron for a similar conversion. No doubt that one will just as omnipresent at 2016 events, and hopefully the new owner of Bad Box will show it like Mario has done.

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Among the other 500-based models, there was great variety, with no two cars the same, as is always the case, of course. This was the first time that my new 595 Competizione had been seen at a significant gathering (having made its public debut at Prescott the previous weekend), and there were lots of fellow owners who wanted a look, and to know how I managed to keep its arrival so quiet!

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Punto models were very much in the minority, with just a couple of them present: Will Webb’s SuperSport and Olaf Svendsen’s Punto Evo being the two cars on display.

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ALFA ROMEO

Although early on it looked as if Alfa would be outnumbered by Abarth, by late morning this position had changed and there were a good number of models from this much loved marque parked up on the tarmac in the area between Concorde and some of the other planes. Many of them were relatively recent cars, showing that although sales volumes are still relatively small, there is plenty of enthusiasm among the owners.

Arguably the prettiest, and certainly the most valuable Alfa present was this 105 Series 2000 GTV Prices of these cars have rocketed in the last couple of years. Several have been converted into historic racers, but the later cars, such as this one with the 2 litre engine, tend to be spared.

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There were a couple of examples of the final iteration of Alfa’s long running 105 Series Spider. First launched in 1966, with a 1600 engine under the bonnet and a rounded tail, the model underwent three major updates, and the cars seen here are examples of the final  S4 style, first seen in 1990, which many will tell you (and I agree with them) was something of an improvement on the previous S3 which had been somewhat spoiled by the addition of too much plastic around the edges. The S4 was produced largely to continue to satisfy demand in America,  with the last cars being made in late 1993.

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There were a trio of Alfetta GTV models here. One of them was a rare South African market 3.0 litre model, whilst the other two were UK-spec 2.5 litre cars, one of the a multiple prize winner at Italian car events and inveterate attendee at all things from Ace Cafe to Stanford Hall.

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A familiar car to me was this one, Nick Grange’s Alfa 33, but when I first saw it, I did have to raid the memory bank as it somehow looked different. When I found Nick, he did tell me that the bonnet vents are indeed a new feature, so my memory was not playing tricks with me. They are there, he said, as much for aesthetic reasons as practical ones. The low-set boxer engine in a 33 does not generate that much heat that it really needs extra ways of dissipating it.

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The 155 is one of those cars for which enthusiasm and admiration has increased as it ages. The first cars, seen in 1992, were something of a disappointment. Boxy styling and some rather uninspiring driving dynamics, largely a consequence of the fact that the car was based on the Type Three platform which underpinned the Fiat Tipo, even if the Twin Spark 4 cylinder and 2.5 litre V6 engines were as characterful as one would expect from any Alfa. The new body was aerodynamic, with a drag coefficient of just 0.29, and the styling whilst a bit boxy endowed the car with lots of space inside, but enthusiasts bemoaned the fact that the car had switched from rear to front wheel drive and all that this meant  A revamp with a new quicker steering set up and wider track, though, transformed the car from 1995, and the later cars, produced until 1998, were actually pretty good. Just under 200,000 cars were produced between 1992 and 1998, of which the 1.8 and 2 litre models were by far the most popular. Only around 7,500 examples of the 2.5 V6 were made.

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There were lots of 916 series cars, with a mix of Spider and GTV models,  including the limited edition Cup model.

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When the 156 was launched in 1997, things looked very bright for Alfa. Striking good looks were matched by a driving experience that the press reckoned was better than any of its rivals. The car picked up the Car of the Year award at the end of the year. and when it went on sale in the UK in early 1998, waiting lists soon stretched out more than 12 months. Reflecting the way the market was going, Alfa put a diesel engine under the bonnet, launched a (not very good, it has to be admitted) automated transmission with the SeleSpeed, added a very pretty if not that commodious an estate model they called Sport Wagon and then added a top spec 3.2 litre GTA with its 250 bhp engine giving it a performance to outrun all its rivals. And yet, it did not take long before the press turned on the car, seduced by the latest 3 Series once more, citing build quality issues which were in fact far from universal. The 156 received a very minor facelift in 2002 and a more significant one in late 2003 with a new front end that was a clue to what would come with the car’s successor. Production ceased in 2005. There were several 156s here, including a number of GTAs, one of them very cossetted with only 5000 miles on the clock.

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The 159 took over from the 156, offering the same much-praised sort of style in a slightly larger footprint, aimed at providing more space for passengers and luggage. The proposed fire-breathing GTA model never materialised, cancelled as a result of the credit crunch of 2007/8, meaning that the model lacked a halo version in the range. It was offered with the new 3.2 litre engine which was a joint venture with GM which was a bit of a disappointment, lacking the character and sound track of the Busso engine which had gone before it. The car was heavy, too, a result of sharing a platform with a still-born new SAAB, who demanded lots of strength for crash protection purposes. I drove a couple of 159s and liked it, but it never quite hit the spot enough for me to go ahead an buy one. That said, the looks of both the Saloon and the Sport Wagon won it many friends when new and will continue to win it plenty more as it ages. In years to come, I am sure you will see more of these in the classic car world than you will any of its German rivals that outsold it big time when new.

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Even better looking, to my eyes, was the GT. This was one of two replacements that Alfa produced for the 916 series GTV. Based on an amalgam of 147 and 156 componentry, this was a truly practical GT Coupe with seating for 4 adults and a good boot. a lot of them were sold with the 1.9 litre diesel engine, of course, but you could buy one with a petrol including the 3.2 litre V6, and that would be my pick of the range.

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The MiTo has gained quite a following in recent years and I noted earlier this year that there is now an Owners Club dedicated solely to the model, surely testament to the popularity of any car. Accordingly, there were several examples of Alfa’s smallest car on display here.

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The other volume car in Alfa’s current range is the Giulietta hatchback. It’s been on sale for 5 years now, so there are decent numbers of these on UK roads, and you now can reckon seeing several of these elegant looking machines where Italian cars are gathered. This event was no exception.

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FERRARI

Ferrari models were parked up in two places: around the back of the main collection of buildings and in a line in the area just at the bottom of the main entrance hill. All told there were an impressive number of them present, with 10 different model types represented.

308 GTS and 328 GTB

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Mondial 3.2

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348tb

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F355 berlinetta and Spider

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360 Spider
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F430 Spider and Coupe

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458 Italia and Spider

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550 Maranello

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California

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246 GTS Dino

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FIAT

Sole Fiat representation here was a line of Coupe models. It is now 20 years since this distinctive Chris Bangle hit UK streets, and if you thought the car was good looking then, you will surely appreciate it now. Looking at its best in bright colours, as most of the display cars here were, this was a practical 4 seater that was genuinely good to drive, especially when Fiat upgraded the engines from 4 cylinders to 5, creating with the 220 bhp 20V Turbo car one of the fastest front wheel drive cars on sale at the time. A tax friendly 1800cc 4 cylinder came late to the range, but these were aimed more at Italy than here. The Coupe was only on sale for 4 years, but it was quite popular and it is believed that there are still around 1000 of them on our roads.

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LANCIA

Parked up on the approach to the banking were a number of Lancia models. It was good to see such a strong presence here, and plenty of variety of the types on show, as Lancia is a brand that has little recognition among many of the younger generation who probably know the marque for one car. That car, of course is the Delta Integrale, and there were lots of these here. The Integrale evolved over several years, starting off as the HF Turbo 4WD that was launched in April 1986, to homologate a new rally car for Lancia who needed something to fill the void left by the cancellation of Group B from the end of 1986. The Delta HF 4X4 had a four-wheel drive system with an in-built torque-splitting action. Three differentials were used. Drive to the front wheels was linked through a free-floating differential; drive to the rear wheels was transmitted via a 56/44 front/rear torque-splitting Ferguson viscous-coupling-controlled epicyclic central differential. At the rear wheels was a Torsen (torque sensing) rear differential. It divided the torque between the wheels according to the available grip, with a maximum lockup of 70%. The basic suspension layout of the Delta 4WD remained the same as in the rest of the two-wheel drive Delta range: MacPherson strut–type independent suspension with dual-rate dampers and helicoidal springs, with the struts and springs set slightly off-centre. The suspension mounting provided more isolation by incorporating flexible rubber links. Progressive rebound bumpers were adopted, while the damper rates, front and rear toe-in and the relative angle between springs and dampers were all altered. The steering was power-assisted rack and pinion. The car looked little different from the front wheel drive models. In September 1987, Lancia showed a more sophisticated version of the car, the Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V. This version incorporated some of the features of the Delta HF 4WD into a road car. The engine was an 8-valve 2 litre fuel injected 4-cylinder, with balancing shafts. The HF version featured new valves, valve seats and water pump, larger water and oil radiators, more powerful cooling fan and bigger air cleaner. A larger capacity Garrett T3 turbocharger with improved air flow and bigger inter-cooler, revised settings for the electronic injection/ignition control unit and a knock sensor, boosting power output to 185 bhp at 5300 rpm and maximum torque of 224 lb/ft at 3500 rpm. The HF Integrale had permanent 4-wheel drive, a front transversely mounted engine and five-speed gearbox. An epicyclic centre differential normally split the torque 56 per cent to the front axle, 44 per cent to the rear. A Ferguson viscous coupling balanced the torque split between front and rear axles depending on road conditions and tyre grip. The Torsen rear differential further divided the torque delivered to each rear wheel according to grip available. A shorter final drive ratio (3.111 instead of 2.944 on the HF 4WD) matched the larger 6.5×15 wheels to give 24 mph/1000 rpm in fifth gear. Braking and suspension were uprated to 284 mm ventilated front discs, a larger brake master cylinder and servo, as well as revised front springs, dampers, and front struts. Next update was to change the engine from 8 valves to 16. The 16v Integrale was introduced at the 1989 Geneva Motorshow, and made a winning debut on the 1989 San Remo Rally. It featured a raised centre of the bonnet to accommodate the new 16 valve engine, as well as wider wheels and tyres and new identity badges front and rear. The torque split was changed to 47% front and 53% rear. The turbocharged 2-litre Lancia 16v engine now produced 200 bhp at 5500 rpm, for a maximum speed of 137 mph and 0–100 km/h in 5.5  seconds. Changes included larger injectors, a more responsive Garrett T3 turbocharger, a more efficient intercooler, and the ability to run on unleaded fuel without modification. The first Evoluzione cars were built at the end of 1991 and through 1992. These were to be the final homologation cars for the Lancia Rally Team; the Catalytic Evoluzione II was never rallied by the factory. The Evoluzione I had a wider track front and rear than earlier Deltas. The bodyside arches were extended and became more rounded. The wings were now made in a single pressing. The front strut top mounts were also raised, which necessitated a front strut brace. The new Integrale retained the four wheel drive layout. The engine was modified to produce 210 bhp at 5750 rpm. External changes included: new grilles in the front bumper to improve the air intake for engine compartment cooling; a redesigned bonnet with new lateral air slats to further assist underbonnet ventilation; an adjustable roof spoiler above the tailgate; new five-bolt wheels with the same design of the rally cars; and a new single exhaust pipe. Interior trim was now grey Alcantara on the Recaro seats, as fitted to the earlier 16V cars; leather and air conditioning were offered as options, as well as a leather-covered Momo steering wheel. Presented in June 1993, the second Evolution version of the Delta HF Integrale featured an updated version of the 2-litre 16-valve turbo engine to produce more power, as well as a three-way catalyst and Lambda probe. A Marelli integrated engine control system with an 8 MHz clock frequency which incorporates: timed sequential multipoint injection; self-adapting injection times; automatic idling control; engine protection strategies depending on the temperature of intaken air; Mapped ignition with two double outlet coils; Three-way catalyst and pre-catalyst with lambda probe (oxygen sensor) on the turbine outlet link;  anti-evaporation system with air line for canister flushing optimised for the turbo engine; new Garrett turbocharger: water-cooled with boost-drive management i.e. boost controlled by feedback from the central control unit on the basis of revs/throttle angle; Knock control by engine block sensor and new signal handling software for spark park advance, fuel quantity injected, and turbocharging. The engine now developed 215 PS as against 210 PS on the earlier uncatalysed version and marginally more torque. The 1993 Integrale received a cosmetic and functional facelift that included. new 16″ light alloy rims with 205/45 ZR 16 tyres;  body colour roof moulding to underline the connection between the roof and the Solar control windows;  aluminium fuel cap and air-intake grilles on the front mudguards; red-painted cylinder head; new leather-covered three-spoke MOMO steering wheel; standard Recaro seats upholstered in beige Alcantara with diagonal stitching. In its latter years the Delta HF gave birth to a number of limited and numbered editions, differing mainly in colour, trim and equipment; some were put on general sale, while others were reserved to specific markets, clubs or selected customers. There were examples of most of these different versions of the car here, as well as a front wheel drive HF Turbo car.

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Oldest Lancia models present were a trio of examples of the achingly pretty Fulvia Coupe S2 and one of the more costly, and more visually daring Fulvia Sport Zagato 1600 cars. The Fulvia was a small front drive saloon launched in 1963 to replace the long running Appia. It did not take long before a Coupe model was added to the range, appearing in 1965. This model lived on the longest of all Fulvia variants, surviving until 1976 when it was effectively replaced by the 1300cc version of the Beta Coupe. Before that, it had undegone a steady program of updates, with more powerful engines, including a capacity increase from the initial 1200cc of the narrow angle V4 to 1300 and then later 1600cc, and the car was developed into a successful rally machine for the late 60s. The Sport Zagato version was designed by Ercole Spada at Zagato and was intended to be the more sporting model of the range. It was also considerably more expensive. Early cars had an unusual side hinged bonnet, but this was changed on the Series 2 models which were launched in 1970, and which also switched to all-steel bodies.

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Representing the Beta were examples of the HPE and the Spyder. The HPE – the letters standing for High Performance Estate – proved quite popular in the UK when introduced in 1977, as it combined the mechanicals of the Beta Saloon with a stylish and practical hatchback body. It was offered with the 1600 and 2000 twin cam engines for the first few years, but when the model was facelifted in 1982, it received the new 2 litre injected engine, as seen here, and then a few months later, the supercharged Volumex 2 litre unit which gave it a lively performance without the turbo lag that was a feature of many of the rival cars of the day. It is often thought that all models of the Beta were afflicted by the dread rust scandal which hit the headlines in 1980 and which was to lead to the brand’s early demise from the UK, but in fact the Coupe.  HPE and Spyder models did not suffer. Well, no more than any other cars of the period, which means, of course, that they did rust. This does explain, though, why the survival rate of the non Berlina models is greater. The Spyder, launched in 1976, was designed by Pininfarina but actually built by Zagato, which is why it was known as the Zagato in America. The Spyder used the Coupé’s shorter wheelbase and featured a targa top roof panel, a roll-over bar and folding rear roof.. Early models did not have a cross-member supporting the roof between the tops of the A to B pillars. Later models had fixed cross-members. It was initially powered by either the 1600 or 1800 twin-cam engine, later being replaced by the new 1.6 and 2.0. It never received the IE or VX engines. There were fuel injected engines for the US market.  Lancia spelt the name with a “y” rather than an “i” possibly to differentiate the car from the Alfa Romeo Spider, though most people tend to use the “Spider” spelling these days. 9390 examples were built.

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I have a soft spot for the Gamma, and there was a Coupe model here. Presented in 1976 at the Geneva Motor Show, as Lancia’s new flagship, the Gamma filled the void in Lancia’s lineup left by the demise of the Flavia. Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. Greek letters had been used to denote Lancia models before 1945, and this tradition was revived with the presentation of the front-wheel drive Lancia Beta in 1971, the first Lancia to be developed under Fiat supervision. The Gamma can be seen as a continuation, also being FWD and utilising some suspension elements from the Beta, so the choice of the following Greek character appears as logical. The Gamma sports the γ (lower case gamma) sign on several badges both inside and outside. The car came initially as a 4-door fastback saloon/sedan (called Berlina), with a 2-door coupé following a few months later. Both were designed by Pininfarina. As with several other cars of the period, the fastback style of the Berlina featured a conventional boot at the rear, and was not a hatchback, despite its appearance. At the car’s press launch Pininfarina explained that a hatchback was avoided to save the inconvenience to back seat passengers when luggage was being loaded: “inconvenience” was thought to be a reference to possible draughts. The Lancia Gamma was a front-wheel drive car with longitudinally-mounted boxer engines. It was available with either a 5-speed manual transmission or later a 4-speed automatic transmission. There were effectively two series of the Gamma, though Lancia referred to the change merely as a “face-lift”. The main change was that the engines went from carburettors to Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection. At the same time a lot of cosmetic work was done; the cars got a new corporate grille, 15-inch “sunburst” alloy wheels, and a slightly upgraded interior, with new instrumentation and interior lighting, new badging, a new style handbrake and gear lever gaitor. Lancia developed unique flat-4 engines for the Gamma (an idea initially was to use a Fiat V6). Engine designer De Virgilio also drew up an engine for the Gamma which was a V6 4-cam with either 3- or 4-litre displacement, but this never came to fruition. The Flat four engine finally chosen for the Gamma lacked the cachet afforded to luxury cars in this sector, which generally came with 6 or 8 cylinders. The 4-cylinder engine was unusually large for a modern 4-cylinder petrol engine, though Subaru EJ flat-4 engines matched it in volume and the Porsche 944 and 968 had 3L straight-4 engines. The “4” had certain engineering advantages, but more than anything it allowed Aldo Brovarone (Pininfarina chief stylist) to design a rakish looking coupé with a low bonnet line and a steeply raked windscreen. When launched at the Geneva show in 1979 there were crowds around the Lancia stand. Pressure cast in alloy with wet cylinder liners, the engine was also extremely light and though it only produced 140 bhp, (120 bhp in 2.0-litre form) in line with traditional Lancia thinking it generated a huge amount of torque, most of which was available at just 2000 rpm. Initially available with a displacement of 2.5 litre, it was later joined by a 2.0 litre version , which resulted from the Italian tax system (cars with engines larger than 2 litres are subject to heavier tax burden. The displacement was lowered by decreasing the bore rather than the stroke of the engine. Both displacements were using Weber carburettors, and the 2.5 litre later came in a version fitted with fuel injection, the Gamma 2500 I.E. Ironically, it was the engines that caused the Gamma to have a poor name. They overheated far too easily, wore its cams, and leaked oil. The wishbone bushes wore out early, and, because the power steering was driven from the left cam-belt, the car was prone to snapping that belt when steering was on full lock — with disastrous results. By the time the mildly facelifted cars came in 1982, most of these problems had been addressed, but the damage was done, and the car’s poor reputation cemented. The whole marque suffered from  reputation problems just Lancia were also in the news over the rusty Betas. It took until mid 1978 before the cars reached the UK, and when they did, they were seen as costly, and the fact that they used a 4 cylinder engine when rivals had 6 was also seen as a demerit. Sales in the UK never amounted to much, mirroring the problems the car had elsewhere. Production ceased in 1984, by which time 15,272 Berlinas and 6,790 Coupés had been built. These days, you are more like to see a Coupe than a Berlina.

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Replacing the Gamma was the Thema. This was Lancia’s luxury car based on the Tipo Quattro platform, the others being the Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma and Saab 9000. The Thema re-established Lancia as a high-quality luxury manufacturer with a galvanised steel chassis and rust protection that equalled or bettered that of its competitors. Build quality was higher than the Fiat Croma’s and on par with the Saab 9000, with which it shared a great deal of body engineering, including doors. Lancia’s sales organisation, however, was poor in many markets and secondhand values for the car suffered. The first series was built between 1984 and 1988, and was available with 1995 cc 8 valve, twin-cam fuel injected or turbocharged engines or a 2849 cc V6. For most European markets a 2445 cc four-cylinder turbodiesel was also available, though this was not offered to UK buyers. The Thema was initially available only as a saloon but in 1986, a station wagon designed by Pininfarina was added to the range, though this was also never sold in the UK. 21,074 Thema station wagons of these were built.  The second series Thema, as seen here, was presented in the Paris Motor Show in September 1988 with 16v 2.0 litre engines replacing the 2.0 litre 8v units increasing the power output of the injection version to 146 PS and the turbo to 205 PS. The diesel engine size increased marginally, to 2499 cc. The series two was then replaced by the facelifted third and last series, introduced in Paris Motor Show in September 1992 and produced from 1992-1994. Production of the Thema ceased in 1994 when Lancia presented a replacement.

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By the time that Lancia replaced the Thema in 1994 with their new Kappa, the marque had given up on the UK market, so we were never able to buy this executive car in right hand drive form. A handful of cars have subsequently been brought into the UK. Kappa is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Greek letters have frequently been used to denote Lancia models. Back in 1919, Lancia had already produced a Kappa (and its later evolutions called Dikappa and Trikappa), but these are far less known nowadays than the 1990s Kappa. In writing, Lancia often referred to the Kappa simply as the k (lower case “k”), which is fairly similar to the original Greek letter κ. The 1994 Kappa was deliberately a conversatively styled car, offered initially as a four door saloon, with a 2 door coupe and practical Pinifarina built 5 door estate being added to the range. It was built on the same platform as the Alfa 166, a car which would not appear until 5 years later, and was offered with a range of 4 cylinder Turbo and 5 cylinder 20 valve  2 litre and 24 valve V6 3 litre petrol engines and a 2.4 litre turbo diesel.  It was a roomy car, with a particularly accommodating rear seat. Less appealing to many was the vast quantity of mock wood which Lancia had liberally applied to the dashboard and centre console. The car was, apparently, not bad to drive, with no trace of the torque steer which had been a feature of the Thema, and good levels of ride and handling Even so, the Kappa was not particularly popular, with only 117,216 made in total. Italy remained Kappa’s most important market, absorbing the bulk of sales. It is also worth noting that in Poland, where Fiat Auto is the biggest domestic car manufacturer, Kappas served as official government cars (replacing Themas). This boosted the Kappa’s profile in that country and gave it a peculiar cachet, which is why the Kappa enjoys a solid enthusiast base there. Production ended in mid 2000.

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MASERATI

A small grouping of Maserati models completed the Italian Clubs part of the display with 3200GT, the later 4200 and Spider as well as the current GranTurismo all represented.

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OTHER MARQUES

Although there was a clear hint in the event’s promotional material that Italian cars were especially welcome, it was also stated that other “interesting” cars would be just as gladly received and invited to park in the event itself as opposed to the public car parks. A couple of stray BMWs (an X1 and a 1 series) and a new Mercedes !80 CDI somehow seemed to get through any filtering of cars at the entrance gate, but there were plenty of other cars that I think met the criteria of “interesting”, many of them relatively uncommon sights, and worthy of a photo or two.

AC

Brooklands is the home of AC these days, and at the top of the Test Hill, there is a large workshop where old ACs are refurbished. Concentation there is on the cars that were once made in nearby Byfleet when AC was producing new cars, of course, so whether they are that interested in the various Cobra 427 replicas such as this one, I am not sure.

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They certainly would be interested in this AC, though, which is a 2 litre. This model was made between 1947 and 1956. Two and, from 1952, four-door saloons were sold. In addition, as from 1949, a small number of drophead coupés and “Buckland” tourers were produced. The car’s wetliner, aluminium cylinder block, six-cylinder 1991 cc engine was the unit first offered by the company in the AC 16, back in 1922. However, by 1947 the engine was fed by three SU carburettors, and boasted a power output of 74 bhp, increased again in 1951 to 85 bhp which was more than twice the 35 bhp claimed for the engine’s original commercial application. The aluminium-panelled body on a wood frame was fitted to a conventional steel chassis with rigid axles front and rear with semi-elliptic leaf springs with, for the first time on an AC, hydraulic dampers. Until 1951 the car had a hybrid braking system, hydraulic at the front and cable at the rear with 12 in drums. The car changed very little during its ten-year production run, though the wheel size did increase slightly to 16″  in 1951. The AC 2-litre was outlived by its engine, which continued to be offered in other AC models until 1963.

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ALVIS

This an example of the Alvis 12/50, a model first introduced in 1923. It went through a series of versions, with the last ones being made in 1932. A range of factory bodies (made by Carbodies and Cross & Ellis) could be specified in two- or four-seat form, with either open or closed bodies. The first models were designated SA and SB and had a 1496 cc 4-cylinder overhead valve engine in a chassis with a wheelbase of 108.5 in for the SA and 112.5 in for the SB. The engines of these early cars were carried in a subframe bolted to the relatively slender ladder chassis. The SA usually carried two-seat bodywork; often the classic so-called “duck’s back” style named after its pointed rear end, which was said to resemble that of a duck. The SA and SB 12/50s were built with brakes on the rear wheels only. All the 12/50s had a four speed non-synchromesh gearbox with right hand change. The cars were right hand drive. The SC arrived in Autumn 1924 for the 1925 model year with a larger 1598 cc engine (unless the 1496 cc unit was specified for sporting use) and, like all the remaining cars, the longer chassis. Front wheel brakes were offered as an option on this model. A new stronger chassis was designed and used for the TE of 1926, which had its engine (now built around a redesigned crankcase) enlarged again to 1645 cc, and the TF of the same year which retained the smaller 1496 cc version. A single-plate clutch replaced the previous cone type, and for these and all subsequent 12/50s the engine was bolted directly to the chassis, dispensing with the subframe of previous models. From the TE and TF models onwards four-wheel brakes were fitted as standard. The TE and TF were superseded in 1927 by the TG and SD with large and small engine respectively. The TG was the standard ‘touring’ model, while the SD – powered by the 1496cc engine, now fitted with a large-port cylinder head – satisfied the needs of the sporting motorist. Also available in this year was the TH, which had the gearbox and rear axle ratios of the ‘touring’ TG, but the sub-1500cc engine of the SD. The TG and SD models were available until 1929. The 12/50 was withdrawn between 1929 and 1930 when the company decided that the future lay with the front-wheel drive FD and FE models, but when these did not reach the hoped for volumes a final version of the 12/50 was announced as the 1645 cc 1931 TJ continuing until 1932. The TJ is referred to by Alvis historians as being from the ‘revival period’, and it differs from its predecessor in a number of ways, notably coil instead of magneto ignition, deep chromed radiator shell, and rear petrol tank in place of the scuttle-mounted tank on most older 12/50s.

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ASTON MARTIN

There were a couple of Astons here: a V8 Coupe from the 1980s and a more recent V8 Vantage

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AUSTIN

Herbert Austin introduced his new baby car, the Seven, in 1922, and within months he had wiped out many of the struggling British makers of small cars, as once he as able to get the production volumes of his product up, economies of scale allowed him to sell the car at a very competitive price. This car, more than any other, can be credited with mobilising large numbers of Britains who were able to afford their first car. The Seven stayed in production for a further 17 years, steadily evolving during that time. This is a Ruby, the closed four seater model which was introduced in 1934 and which apart from its diminutive size looks quite different from the earlier cars.

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CATERHAM

Providing a contrast with the early Lotus Seven seen earlier in this report was a recent example of the Caterham product.

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CHRYSLER

I doubt you will ever see as many examples in one place in the UK of the Chrysler  Crossfire as there were here, with around 25 cars on show, thanks to an enthusiastic Owners Club. Developed during the union of Daimler and Chrysler, this rear wheel drive two-seater was based on the R170 Mercedes SLK platform and shared 80% of its components with that car. Seen initially in 2001 as a concept car styled by Eric Stoddard, the Chrysler was further refined by Andrew Dyson before production began in 2003. The name “Crossfire” refers to the two character lines that run from front to rear along the body sides — crossing each other midway through the door panel.  The Crossfire’s fastback roof and broad rear haunches were certainly distinctive, but they did not appeal to everyone, with one Jeremy Clarkson being among the more critical, stating that the shape of the rear end resembled the stance a dog takes when defecating. Chrysler had executed the interior and exterior styling. All other elements of the car such as wheelbase, track, engine, transmission, chassis structure, suspension components, were shared with old R170 platform. An example of this is the engine bay of the Crossfire, which is virtually identical to the Mercedes-Benz SLK320 on the R170 platform. The seats from the Mercedes-Benz SLK320 would bolt directly into the Crossfire chassis. The dashboard layout, controls and instruments are also similar to those on the Mercedes-Benz SLK320. The standard transmission was a 6-speed manual with an optional 5-speed automatic. Base (Standard) and Limited models, originally sold beginning in the 2004 model year, were equipped with a Mercedes-Benz 3.2 litre  18-valve, SOHC V6 engine which produced 215 hp and 229 lb.ft of torque. SRT-6 models were equipped with a special supercharged version of the engine built by AMG. SRT-6 models came only with the 5-speed automatic transmission, consistent with AMG cars of the same era. The 6-speed transmission used by the Chrysler Crossfire was a variant of the Mercedes sourced NSG-370. The 5-speed automatic transmission in the Crossfire (known as 5G-Tronic) was also Mercedes sourced and a variant of the 722.6 family. The automatic achieved a better EPA fuel efficiency rating over the 6MT, mostly due to the difference in gear ratios. Unlike most cars of its time, the Crossfire did not use a rack and pinion steering system; instead, it utilises a recirculating ball system as employed on the donor R170 platform. Front suspension was unequal length (SLA) double wishbone suspension with 5 point multi link in the rear. All Crossfire models were built with 2 different wheel sizes, the front wheels are 18-in. x 7.5-in. with 225-40/18 tyres and the rear wheels are 19-in. x 9-in. with 255-35/19 tyres. Sales of the Crossfire were slow, with an average 230 day supply of the vehicles during November 2005. In December, the cars were listed on Overstock.com to clear out inventory. Very few Crossfires were imported to the United States and Mexico for 2006, almost all of these were roadsters. The car fared little better elsewhere once the novelty had worn off. Chrysler discontinued the Crossfire after the 2008 model year, as part of its restructuring plans. The last Crossfire rolled off of the assembly line on December 17, 2007.

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DAIMLER

The Sovereign was little more than a Jaguar XJ Series car with the traditional Daimler fluted radiator grille and minor trim differences, and it sold in small quantities compared to the Jaguar. This is a Series 2 model, to many eyes, the most elegant of the three generations of the long running model.

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DODGE

Making another appearance at a UK event is this recently acquired Challenger SRT HellCat, the utterly bonkers 707 bhp top model in the Dodge range. Subtle, it is not!

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FORD

No mistaking the second generation Focus RS with its bright green paint.

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JAGUAR

There were a number of classic Jaguars here, and all of them supremely elegant, exemplifying the adage of Sir William Lyons, the marque’s founder of “Grace, Space and Pace”. These were an E Type Coupe Series 1 4.2, the earlier XK120 Fixed Head Coupe and from the saloon car range, the Mark 2 3.8 and later 340.

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LINCOLN

An absolute giant by the standard of anything else that was here, was this Continental IV. A two-door personal luxury coupe, designed to compete against the equally massive Cadillac Eldorado, this model was sold by Lincoln from 1972 to 1976. Following the success of the Continental Mark III,  the new Mark IV built upon the “long-hood, short deck” proportions with sharp-edged bumpers, hidden headlamps, and a tall, radiator-style grille. At the rear, the “Continental spare tyre trunk lid” made its return. However, as a cost-cutting move, the roofline of the Mark IV and the Thunderbird was a shared design, as indeed were the underpinnings. In a change from luxury-car tradition, the rear wheel openings were the same height as the front openings as they were on the Oldsmobile Toronado. All Mark IVs were equipped with a vinyl roof. The Mark IV introduced the opera window to the Mark series, a feature that would become a Mark trademark until 1984. In 1972, it was an almost universally specified option and from 1973 onward it was standard equipment. All Mark IVs were equipped with the 7.5 litre Ford 385 series V8 engine. 1972 Mark IV’s were rated at 365 bhp Gross, the engine being a direct carry-over from the previous Mark III. In 1973 the compression-ratio was lowered considerably due to new changing EPA requirements, and Ford adopted a new SAE method of measuring horsepower, resulting in 212 SAE net hp. The performance-gap between the 1972 and its later-year brethren was significant. All model years drove through a C6 3-speed automatic transmission. A feature retained from the Mark III was “Sure-track” brakes, which was one of the first American cars to become equipped with anti-lock brakes. Both front seats were power adjustable.In 1973, the federal requirement of 5 mph bumpers necessitated a redesign of the front grille; a year later, the rear bumper was redesigned with higher-mounted taillights. The Mark IV debuted a new tradition for the Mark Series, which later spread to other models in the Lincoln model range. Earlier, the Mark III had an Cartier-branded clock installed optionally. In 1976, the Designer Series was introduced as four special-edition models. Each edition was an option package with colour, trim, and interior choices specified by notable fashion designers (Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy, and Pucci). Each edition carried the designer’s signature on the opera windows and were fitted with a 22 karat gold-plated plaque on the instrument panel which could be engraved with the original owner’s name. The concept was successful and would continue on other Lincolns until the end of the 2003 model year. All Continental Mark IVs were assembled at the Wixom Assembly Plant in Wixom, Michigan, alongside the standard Lincoln Continental and the Ford Thunderbird.

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LOTUS

There were a couple of examples of the diminutive Elan, a Coupe and a Drophead

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You don’t see the mid-engined Europa that often, even though 9,300 of them were built between 1966 and 1975. The concept originated during 1963 with drawings by Ron Hickman, director of Lotus Engineering (Designer of the original Lotus Elan, as well as inventor of the Black and Decker Workmate), for a bid on the Ford GT40 project. That contract went to Lola Cars as Colin Chapman wanted to call the car a Lotus and Henry Ford II insisted it would be called Ford. Chapman chose to use Hickman’s aerodynamic design which had a drag coefficient of Cd 0.29 for the basis for the Europa production model. The car was originally intended to succeed the Lotus 7. Volkswagen owned the rights to the Europa name in Germany so cars for sale in Germany were badged Europe rather than Europa. The original Europa used Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s minimalist steel backbone chassis that was first used in the Lotus Elan, while also relying on its fibreglass moulded body for structural strength. The four-wheel independent suspension was typical of Chapman’s thinking. The rear suspension was a modified Chapman strut, as used for Chapman’s earlier Formula racing car designs.Owing to the rubber suspension bushes used to isolate engine vibration from the car body, the true Chapman strut’s use of the drive shaft as the lower locating link could not be followed whilst still giving the precise track and handling desired. The forward radius arms were increased in size and rigidity, to act as a semi-wishbone. A careful compromise between engine mounting bush isolation and handling was required, culminating eventually in a sandwich bush that was flexible against shear but stiff in compression and tension. The car’s handling prompted automotive writers to describe the Europa as the nearest thing to a Formula car for the road.[citation needed] Aside from the doors, bonnet (hood), and boot (trunk), the body was moulded as a single unit of fibreglass. The first cars has Renault 1470cc engines, and suffered from a number of quality issues as well as limited visibility. An S2, released in 1968 brought improvements to the build quality, but Lotus knew that the Renault engine was not powerful enough for what they thought the car could achieve on track and on the road, so the Europa  underwent another update in 1971 when the Type 74 Europa Twin Cam was made available to the public, with a 105 bhp 1557cc Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine and a re-designed bodyshell to improve rearward visibility. Initially with the same gearbox as the earlier cars, once the supply had been exhausted in 1972 a new stronger Renault four-speed gearbox was introduced. Mike Kimberley, who rose to become chief executive of Group Lotus, then a new engineer at Lotus, was appointed Chief Engineer of the Europa TC project. 1,580 cars were shipped as Europa “Twin Cam” before Lotus switched to a 126 bhp “Big Valve” version of the engine. The big valve “Europa Special” version was aspirated by Dell’Orto carburettors version of the same engine; in addition it also offered a new Renault five-speed (Type 365) gearbox option. It weighed 740 kg (1631 lb), Motor magazine famously tested a UK Special to a top speed of 123 mph (198 km/h), did 0–60 mph in 6.6 seconds, and ran the 1/4 mile in 14.9 sec. This at a time when all road tests were carried out with both a driver and passenger, with only the driver on board the 0–60 mph time would have been well under 6 seconds, a phenomenal performance for the period. Introduced in September 1972 the first 100 big valve cars were badged and painted to honour the just won Team Lotus’s 1972 F1 World Championship title with John Player Special as sponsors, all with five-speed gearbox, these were all black with gold pin stripe matching the livery of the GP cars – plus a numbered JPS dash board badge, becoming the first ever John Player Special commemorative motor vehicles. The “Special” name and colour scheme was planned to be dropped after the first 200 cars, reverting to the Twin Cam name, but such was the reaction to the new car that the name and pin stripe scheme remained until the end of Europa Production although colours other than black were made available. In the end only the numbered plaque distinguishing the first 100 JPS cars from other black Europa Specials. According to Lotus sources, no Special left the factory with “numbered JPS badges” or “JPS stickers” – these were added by the American importer & weren’t official done by Lotus. There were no “badged” cars sold in the UK, Australia, etcetera, just in the USA. In total 4710 Type 74s were produced of which 3130 were “Specials”, of which this is one.

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Also not a common sight, but that’s because not that many of them were built, is the 340R. Effectively a special edition of the Lotus Elise, this model is, amazingly, already celebrating its 15th anniversary. Just 340 of them were built, in 2000, and all were sold before they were manufactured. It used a custom built bodyshell with no roof or doors. All the cars came with a silver and black colour scheme. They used a  tweaked version of the familiar Rover K-Series engine called VHPD (Very High Power Derivative) used in the regular Elise, producing 177 bhp at 7800 rpm and 127 ft·lb of torque at 6750 rpm as standard, or 187 bhp  at 7500 rpm and 139 ft·lb at 5600 rpm with optional Lotus accessories. Weighing just 700kg, this was sufficient to give the car a 0 – 60 time of just 4.4 seconds. Special A038R tyres were developed for the 340R in collaboration with Yokohama. Whilst it is road-legal in the UK, most of the surviving cars are used for racing, track use, or demonstrations

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Also on display was one of the latest Exige Spider models.

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MARCOS

Many assumed that Marcos disappeared, as did a number of other British specialist and kit car manufacturers in the early 1970s, but that was not the case, and in the mid 1980s, the company started producing completed cars again. They used the shape of the legendary 1800/3litre cars that had first been seen in the early 1960s, initially only with minor modifications, and contemporary engines, with the Rover 3,5 litre V8 engine the staple. Over the next few years a bewildering array of models emerged, all with a name starting with the letter “M”, among the Mantula and Mantara, and then fuelled by the competition of Sports GT Racing, some ever wilder LM cars appeared with far wilder styling and ever more powerful engines. The company did over-reach itself, though and finally went out of business in 2004. Seen here are a couple of those late 1980s cars.

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MERCEDES-BENZ

Two very nice, and very different classic Mercedes were on show. One more familiar than the other. The one that most people would recognise is the 280SL “Pagoda”, ultimate version of a Paul Bracq styled open topped sports/GT that was launched in 1963 with a 2.3 litre engine, to replace the W121 190SL. Beautifully engineered, though far from cheap, the car gained a strong following, something it still enjoys today. In 1967 the engine was upgraded to a 2.5 litre unit and only a matter of months later, it was enlarged again to the 2.8 unit of this car.

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Less well known, perhaps, is this 220S Ponton, the staple of Mercedes’ range in the 1950s. The Ponton was Daimler-Benz’s first totally new Mercedes-Benz series of passenger vehicles produced after World War II. In July 1953, the cars replaced the pre-war-designed Type 170 series and were the bulk of the automaker’s production through 1959, though some models lasted through 1962. The nickname comes from the German word for “pontoon” and refers to one definition of pontoon fenders — and a postwar styling trend, subsequently called ponton styling. A bewildering array of models were produced, with a mixture of 180 four and  220 six cylinder engines, with Mercedes W numbers of W120 for the 4 cylinder cars, and W180 for the 220s,as well as W105 for the little known or seen 219, a six cylinder model with a smaller engine. Mercedes introduced fuel injection  to the 220 model in 1958, creating the W128 220SE, and the company was rare among car makers in the 50s in offering a diesel engine, so 180D models were also offered. As well as the regular saloon models as seen here, there were Coupe and Cabriolet models which are very highly prized (and priced) these days. The 190SL roadster was closely related under the skin, despite its 300SL Gullwing like looks.

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MG

The MGB is one of the most popular and affordable classics out of there. With plentiful supply of cars, and good availability of parts, it has massive appeal to those who want something to bring back the long-lost fun of motoring in the 60s, before traffic and traffic laws became the constraint that they are now. There were examples of both the open topped MGB Roadster and the MGB GT here. Joining them was an MGC, the short-lived 6 cylinder version which put the C Series 3 litre engine under the bonnet, complete with identifying hump to clear the top of the large and heavy unit. Period tests were not kind about the C, and the car was axed in 1970 after just three years sales, but these days the cars are viewed more positively, and you will struggle to find a good one for less than £20 – 25,000.

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There was also an example of the MG TF, the last classic T Series models here. Although we think of it is good looking car now, it must have seemed somewhat old-fashioned in 1955 when it was finally replaced by the far more modern MGA.

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MINI

This is a late model Cooper S, the 1275cc engined little pocket rocket that found success on the rally circuit as well as the roads throughout the 60s and which is a popular classic now.

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MORRIS

This is a Morris Ten Tourer of 1934. Announced on 1 September 1932, the Ten was a medium-sized car introduced for 1933 as the company’s offering in the important 10 hp sector of the British market. It continued through a series of variants until October 1948 when along with Morris’ Twelve and Fourteen it was replaced by the Morris Oxford MO. The Ten was powered by a Morris 1292 cc four-cylinder side-valve engine employing a single SU carburettor which produced 24 bhp at 3,200 rpm. The gearbox was a four-speed manual transmission unit, and Lockheed hydraulic brakes were fitted. At launch, available bodystyles were restricted to a saloon and two door coupé but a four door tourer joined the range in December followed in 1934 by a two-seater with dickey seat and a Traveller’s Saloon. On 28 August 1933 a 12 hp six-cylinder version of the Ten, with a slightly larger 1378cc engine,  was announced on the longer-wheelbase chassis of the Cowley Four. With the introduction of the Ten Six,  Four was added to the regular Ten’s name. The chassis was strengthened, engine mountings were revised and synchromesh appeared on the gearbox. Engine output was increased to 27½ bhp by April 1934. Two tone paint schemes were optional from 1935. A sporting version, the Ten-Six Special was also made in small numbers with tuned engine and twin SU carburettors. The standard body for this version was an open four-seater, but some chassis were supplied to coachbuilders. Just under 50,000 Morris Tens were sold before a Series 2 car was introduced in 1935.

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Joining the range in 1935 was a slightly smaller and less powerful car, the Eight. It was inspired by the success of the similar powered Ford Model Y, and with it, Morris reclaimed its position as market leader in the UK. The car was powered by a Morris UB series 918 cc four-cylinder side-valve engine with three bearing crankshaft and single SU carburettor with maximum power of 23.5 bhp. The gearbox was a three-speed unit with synchromesh on the top two speeds and Lockheed hydraulic brakes were fitted. Coil ignition was used in a Lucas electrical system powered by a 6 volt battery and third brush dynamo. The body which was either a saloon or open tourer was mounted on a separate channel section chassis with a 7 feet 6 inches wheelbase. The tourer could reach 58 mph and return 45 mpg; the saloons were a little slower. The chrome-plated radiator shell and honeycomb grille were dummies disguising the real one hidden behind. In September 1934 the bare chassis was offered for £95. For buyers of complete cars prices ranged from £118 for the basic two-seater to £142 for the four door saloon with “sunshine” roof and leather seats. Bumpers and indicators were £2 10 shillings extra. Compared with the similarly priced, but much lighter and longer established Austin 7, the 1934/35 Morris Eight was well equipped. The driver was provided with a full set of instruments including a speedometer with a built in odometer, oil pressure and fuel level gauges and an ammeter. The more modern design of the Morris was reflected in the superior performance of its hydraulically operated 8 inch drum brakes. The Morris also scored over its Ford rival by incorporating an electric windscreen wiper rather than the more old-fashioned vacuum powered equivalent, while its relatively wide 45 inch track aided directional stability on corners. The series I designation was used from June 1935 in line with other Morris models, cars made before this are known as pre-series although the official Morris Motors designation was by the model year even though they were introduced in October 1934. Of the 164,102 cars produced approximately 24,000 were tourers like this one.

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PACKARD

Packard had a reputation in the 1930s for building America’s best automobiles, and there is no doubt that they produced some very imposing machinery at the time. This splendid device, a Super Eight, dates from 1937. It boast a 4.8 litre engine.

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PORSCHE

Among the Porsche models on display were a 944, a 911 GT3 RS and a 1970s 911 Carrera RS

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RENAULT

There had been a Turbo version of the first R5, the Alpine Turbo in its native France, of Gordini Turbo as it was called in Britain. Created in 1982, just as the craze for everyone putting a turbo on to every car they could find to create a performance version was getting under way. It was not a bad effort, and sales were decent, but by the time it was launched, the R5 was 10 year old design and fading somewhat in the market, By the time that Renault got the R5’s replacement to market, in late 1984, with the “SuperCinq”, there was a much formidable competitor to beat in the emerging hot hatch market, the 205 GTi and this required a more thoughtfully engineered response. It came with the R5 GT Turbo, introduced in 1985. It used a modified four cylinder, eight-valve Cléon 1,397 cc engine, a pushrod unit dating back to the 1962 original (in 1,108 cc form). It was turbocharged with an air-cooled Garrett T2 turbocharger. Weighing a mere 850 kg (1,874 lb), and producing 115 PS, the GT Turbo had an excellent power-to-weight ratio, permitting it to accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds. To differentiate it from the standard 5, it came with blocky plastic side skirts. Although slightly faster than the Peugeot, unfortunately, turbo lag was an issue, along with poor hot starting, and was considered rather difficult to control. The same engine was used, with similar issues, in the Renault 9 and 11 Turbos. In 1987, the facelifted Phase II was launched. Major changes included installing watercooling to the turbocharger, aiding the Phase I’s oil-cooled setup, which extended the life of the turbo. It also received a new ignition system which permitted it to rev 500 rpm higher. These changes boosted engine output up to over 120 PS. Externally, the car was revamped, with changes (including new bumpers and arches) that reduced the car’s drag coefficient from 0.36 to 0.35. Giving the Phase II a 0–100 km/h time of 7.5 secs. In 1989 the GT Turbo received a new interior, and in 1990 the special edition Raider model (available only in metallic blue, with different interior and wheels) was launched. In late 1991 the Renault 5 GT Turbo was discontinued, superseded by the Clio 16v and the Clio Williams. The survival rate is far lower than that of the Peugeot, and most of the cars that are still around appear to have been quite heavily modified, so it was nice to see this very original looking Phase 1 car.

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ROLLS ROYCE

The Rolls-Royce Corniche was a development of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, made from 1971 until – in convertible form – 1995. With exterior design John Polwhele Blatchley, the two door variants of the Silver Shadow had been marketed as the “Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward two door fixed head coupé & drop head coupé” from their launch in 1966 until 1971 when the Corniche name was applied. They continued to be assembled and finished in London at Mulliner Park Ward. The Corniche was also sold as a Bentley, though that model became known as the Continental in 1984, and these were made in small quantities compared to the Rolls-Royce version. The Corniche was updated to Series 2 form at the same time as the Silver Shadow, adopting the same updates to bumpers, mechanics and interior trim. Production of the Coupe ceased in the early 1980s, but the Drophead Convertible continued with two more minor revisions for many years more. Seen here is a Series 1 car.

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ROVER

Like many manufacturers, when production resumed after the Second World War, Rover continued making the same cars as they had been producing before hostilities had broken out. The first new car that they announced was the P4 model, known as the 75. It was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show in September 1949, to replace all previous models and then continued in production until 1964, though the car underwent lots of change under the skin in those 15 years. Designed by Gordon Bashford, the car went into production in 1949 as the 6-cylinder 2.1-litre Rover 75.  It featured unusual modern styling in stark contrast with the outdated Rover P3 model 75 which it replaced. Gone were the traditional radiator, separate headlamps and external running boards. In their place were a chromium grille, recessed headlamps and a streamlined body the whole width of the chassis. The car’s styling was derived from the then controversial 1947 Studebakers. The Rover executives purchased two such vehicles and fitted the body from one of them to a prototype P4 chassis to create a development mule. In James Taylor’s highly regarded book ‘Rover P4 – The Complete Story’ he advised that this vehicle was affectionately known as the ‘Roverbaker’ hybrid. Another, at the time minor, distinctive feature but this one did not catch-on was the centrally mounted light in the grille where most other manufacturers of good quality cars provided a pair, one fog and one driving light often separately mounted behind the bumper. Known, unkindly, as the “Cyclops eye” it was discontinued in the new grille announced 23 October 1952. The earliest cars used a more powerful version of the Rover engine from the 1948 Rover P3 75, a 2103 cc straight-6 engine now with chromium plated cylinder bores, an aluminium cylinder head with built-in induction manifold and a pair of horizontal instead of downdraught carburetters. A four-speed manual transmission was used with a column-mounted gear lever which was replaced by a floor-mounted mechanism in September 1953.  At first the gearbox only had synchromesh on third and top but it was added to second gear as well in 1953. A freewheel clutch, a traditional Rover feature, was fitted to cars without overdrive until mid-1959, when it was removed from the specifications, shortly before the London Motor Show in October that year. The cars had a separate chassis with independent suspension by coil springs at the front and a live axle with half-elliptical leaf springs at the rear. The brakes on early cars were operated by a hybrid hydro-mechanical system but became fully hydraulic in 1950. Girling disc brakes replaced drums at the front from October 1959. The complete body shells were made by the Pressed Steel company and featured aluminium/magnesium alloy (Birmabright) doors, boot lid and bonnets until the final 95/110 models, which were all steel to reduce costs. The P4 series was one of the last UK cars to incorporate rear-hinged “suicide” doors. After four years of the one model policy Rover returned to a range of the one car but three different sized engines when in September 1953 they announced a four-cylinder Rover 60 and a 2.6-litre Rover 90. A year later, an enlarged 2230cc engine was installed in the 75, and an updated body was shown with a larger boot and a bigger rear window and the end of the flapping trafficators, with redesigned light clusters. Further detailed changes would follow. Announced 16 October 1956, the 105R and 105S used a high-output, 8.5:1 compression version of the 2.6 litres engine used in the 90. The higher compression was to take advantage of the higher octane fuel that had become widely available. This twin-SU carburettor engine produced 108 hp. Both 105 models also featured the exterior changes of the rest of the range announced a month earlier. The 105S featured separate front seats, a cigar lighter, chromed wheel trim rings and twin Lucas SFT 576 spotlamps. To minimise the cost of the 105R, these additional items were not standard, however they were provided on the (higher priced) 105R De Luxe. The 105R featured a “Roverdrive” automatic transmission. This unit was designed and built by Rover and at the time was the only British-built automatic transmission. Others had bought in units from American manufacturers such as Borg-Warner. This unit was actually a two-speed automatic (Emergency Low which can be selected manually and Drive) with an overdrive unit for a total of three forward gears. The 105S made do with a manual transmission and Laycock de Normanville overdrive incorporating a kick-down control. The 105S could reach a top speed of 101 mph. Production of the 105 line ended in 1958 for the 105R and 1959 for the manual transmission 105S, 10,781 had been produced, two-thirds with the manual transmission option. For 1959 the manual model was described simply as a 105 and the trim and accessory level was reduced to match the other models. In 1959, the engines were upgraded again, with the 80 replacing the 60 and the 100 replacing the 90 and the 105. The four cylinder cars were not particularly popular, though and in September they were replaced by the six cylinder 95. Final model was the 110, seen here, which took its place at the top of the range until production ceased, a few months after the very different P6 model 2000 had come along. These cars are popular classics these days.

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SINGER

The Gazelle was the first Singer to be produced following the take-over of the Singer company by the Rootes Group in 1956 and was a version of the new mainstream “Audax” Hillman Minx differing mainly in retaining the Singer overhead cam engine. Externally the only significant difference was a restyled nose based around a traditional Singer grille. The Gazelle was initially offered in saloon and convertible body styles, though when the first changes came through, creating, the Gazelle Series II, in the autumn of 1957, an estate car was added to the range, which had optional overdrive and larger fuel tank. Engineering of the car was pretty conventional, with independent suspension at the front using coil springs while at the rear was a live axle and half elliptic leaf springs. The steering gear used a worm and nut system. As standard, the car had a bench front seat but individual seats were available as an option. To allow for the bench seat, the handbrake lever was between the seat and the door. Roots Group made frequent updates to their cars, so the Series II was soon followed by the Series IIa, the main difference being the substitution of the standard Hillman pushrod overhead valve engine for  the Singer overhead cam unit, though the new engine was more powerful, developing 56 bhp against 49 bhp. In September 1958 the car became the Series III and received better seats, now enhanced at the front by a folding central arm rest. A new two-tone paint became available with this upgrade. The Series IIIA of 1959 gained small tail fins and a larger windscreen. The engine was upgraded with twin Solex carburettors replacing the single Solex, distinguishing it from the Minx, and lifting output to 60 bhp. Home market cars got a floor gear change and as well as overdrive, Smith’s Easidrive automatic transmission also became an option. The Series IIIB was launched September 1960,. It  reverted to a single carburettor which improved fuel consumption and facilitated servicing “in remoter territories”. The IIIB also received a new back axle featuring a hypoid bevel in place of the former model’s spiral bevel. A larger engine of 1592 cc developing 53 bhp was fitted to the July 1961 Series IIIC. The convertible was dropped in February 1962 followed by the estate car in March 1962. There was no Series IV, as this name was intended to be applied to the larger model that emerged as the Hillman Super Minx and Singer Vogue. That was not the end for the model, though, and a Series V was introduced in August 1963. Following a similar change to the Hillman Minx  it had an updated body with longer rear doors and no longer having a wrap-around rear window, the front brakes became discs and from 1964 it gained a new gearbox with synchromesh on first gear. The optional Borg Warner automatic got a floor mounted selector lever. The final change came when the Series VI was announced. It had an all new, five-bearing crankshaft engine of 1725 cc at first developing 65 bhp but this was later reduced to 59 bhp. These cars are easily recognised by a change to the Singer grille, with the top now somewhat flattened and no longer attached to the opening bonnet but fixed to the front panels on opening. Only 1182 of the Series VI were made before the Gazelle was replaced, in 1967 by the “Arrow” based “New Gazelle”. The car seen here is a Series IIIC.

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SUNBEAM

Still somewhat under-appreciated by the market is the Tiger, a high-performance V8 version of the Rootes Group’s Sunbeam Alpine roadster, designed in part by American car designer and racing driver Carroll Shelby and produced from 1964 until 1967. Shelby had carried out a similar V8 conversion on the AC Cobra, and hoped to be offered the contract to produce the Tiger at his facility in America. Rootes decided instead to contract the assembly work to Jensen at West Bromwich in England, and pay Shelby a royalty on every car produced. Two major versions of the Tiger were built: the Series I (1964–67) was fitted with the 260 cu in (4.3 litre) Ford V8; the Series II, of which only 633 were built in the final year of Tiger production, was fitted with the larger Ford 289 cu in (4.7 litre) engine. Two prototype and extensively modified versions of the Series I competed in the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, but neither completed the race. Rootes also entered the Tiger in European rallies with some success, and for two years it was the American Hot Rod Association’s national record holder over a quarter-mile drag strip. Production ended in 1967 soon after the Rootes Group was taken over by Chrysler, who did not have a suitable engine to replace the Ford V8. Owing to the ease and affordability of modifying the Tiger, there are few surviving cars in standard form.

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TRIUMPH

Needing little in the way of introduction were a number of examples of Triumph’s popular TR Series: TR4a, TR5 and TR6

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ULTIMA

In the last couple of years, Ultima cars have started to become quite a regular sighting at events, and yet – thanks perhaps to the fact that they receive negligible coverage in the motoring press, an awful lot of people still have no idea when they see one as to what the car is. Ultima models are manufactured by Ultima Sports Ltd of Hinckley, Leicestershire, a company founded in 1992 by Ted Marlow and Richard Marlow and it makes cars which are described by commentators as a “supercar”, The cars have always been available both in kit form and as a “turnkey” (i.e. assembled by the factory) vehicle. Three different generations of Ultima have been offered since 1992. The current Evolution cars are available in two body styles: coupe and convertible, both of which are preceded by the Ultima GTR and Ultima Can-Am models. Prior to the GTR and Can-Am models, the two models produced were the Ultima Sport and the Ultima Spyder. In all cases, the design is mid engined, has a rear wheel drive layout, with a tubular steel space frame chassis and GRP bodywork. Kit builders are free to source and fit a variety of engines and transmissions but the Chevrolet small block V8 supplied by American Speed mated to either a Porsche or Getrag transaxle is the factory recommended standard, and this configuration is fitted to all turnkey cars.

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VAUXHALL

An interesting display of sporting Vauxhalls had been assembled at the bottom end of the approach to the banking, reminding us that although dread rival, Ford’s older sporting products are the ones we tend to see more often, the Luton Griffin has some worthy rivals in the back catalogue as well. Most interesting among them were the Firenza cars. When someone says Firenza, you tend to think of the silver coloured “droopsnoot” cars that were made between 1974 and 1975. And they are of course part of the story, but they were not the beginning. That goes back to May 1971 when Vauxhall launched a Coupé  version of the HC Viva that had premiered the previous autumn, in the hope that this would give them a rival to Ford’s Capri and the new Morris Marina Coupe. The initial Firenza was available in a base model 1159 cc overhead valve and two models with overhead camshaft, in 1598 cc and 1975 cc variants. The latter was the same engine as used in the earlier Viva GT. Some six months after launch, in December 1971, performance was boosted when the engine capacities were enlarged to 1256 cc, 1798 cc and 2279 cc respectively. All models had a front-mounted four-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels. Suspension was double wishbone and coilsprings at the front, and a live rear axle with trailing arms and coils at the rear. The SL model in each engine size carried the highest level of trim. The model changes in early 1972 included the introduction of a top-of-the-line 2300 Sport SL model (introduced at the Geneva Motor Show), using the 2279 cc engine. The 2300 Sport SL was the only version to feature the seven dial dash (speedometer, clock, rev counter, fuel, oil pressure, water temp, & battery charge). The engine was an inclined four-cylinder with single overhead camshaft and twin Stromberg carburettors, producing 122 bhp. The oversquare straight four engine was renowned for its big torque curve, making the car very flexible and easy to drive. The interior was equipped with bucket seats, front and back, to carry four persons. The centre console with heater controls and warning lights was quite distinctive and luxurious for the time. The 2300 Sport SL was raced by the Dealer Team Vauxhall, following their successes with the Viva GT. In Castrol colours, these cars enjoyed many successes. A limited edition version of the Firenza was built in South Africa, using the Z28 engine from the Chevrolet Camaro, in order to qualify the vehicle for racing. In 1973, Vauxhall acknowledged that their rather dull model range needed a makeover, and developed a radical version of the Firenza, known officially as the High Performance (HP) Firenza, but known colloquially as the “droopsnoot” after its dramatically styled aerodynamic nose. The nose was moulded from GRP, and featured two pairs of Cibié headlamps behind toughened glass covers. The overall look was somewhat reminiscent of the Renault Alpine A310, and used the same headlamp units. Several prototypes of the HP Firenza were considered with different types of front end treatment, requiring different degrees of change from the standard production front end, including cars known as Black Knight and Daytona, the latter for its resemblance to the Ferrari Daytona, a favourite of Wayne Cherry. At that time, the original flat-fronted Firenza model was rebadged as the Magnum coupé, and the name Firenza was used exclusively for the HP version. This car was an exciting styling departure for Vauxhall, and certainly created something of a buzz. The engine was the 2.3-litre variant of the OHC Slant Four engine, uprated to a very torquey 131 bhp using a variety of parts developed by Blydenstein Racing. It had twin 175 Stromberg carburettors, high-lift camshaft and free-flow tubular exhaust manifold. The car was restyled on the David Jones original by American designer Wayne Cherry and the result was an exceptionally low drag coefficient for its time. Suspension was uprated and lowered, brakes uprated, and a 5-speed ZF dog leg gearbox was installed, a much stronger unit than fitted to the standard model (though rather noisy). Another unusual and unique feature of the car was the alloy Avon Safety Wheels, which were designed to retain the tyre safely in the event of a puncture. This was the first car to use these wheels in production. All production cars were painted in the same colour – Silver Starfire, and featured a largely black interior with silver-grey cloth seats. An unusual interior feature of dubious utility was the passenger grab handle on the dash in place of the standard glovebox. The car was a design triumph for Vauxhall, but a marketing failure. The car was launched to much publicity in a special one-off race at Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, with top drivers of the day taking part including Gerry Marshall and Barry “Whizzo” Williams, who won the race. However, the fuel crisis of the time meant that suddenly it became very hard to sell gas-guzzling cars like this (even though the aerodynamics increased fuel economy greatly, reducing the power needed to attain its top speed by some 30 hp), and coupled with some production line difficulties in actually building the car meant that sales and delivery were slow, and eventually just 204 examples were built, far short of the 30,000 projected. This very low volume was obviously a disaster for Vauxhall, but ironically it has led to the car becoming a very collectible classic, thus ensuring its survival—some of the much more common production cars produced alongside it can be now harder to find. Celebrity owners of droopsnoot Firenzas are footballer Luther Blissett and former sports commentator Stuart Hall. The Firenza was also very successful in saloon car racing in the 1970s, especially in its Old Nail and Baby Bertha versions, piloted to great effect by Gerry Marshall. Seen here were a couple of examples of the HP Firenza, one of which had been painted red, as well as some of the earlier car.

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Needing little of an introduction, the Monaro was another attempt by Vauxhall to bring some sparkle into their range. Although Vauxhall had abandoned the large car market with the end of production of the Omega in 2003, the Australian part of GM, Holden, has continued to produce large saloons – the Commodore  – and to sell them with large V8 engines as these still appeal to the local Antipodean customers. So, the Monaro is no more than a rebadged Coupe version of the Holden Commodore, fitted with a series of 5.7 and 6.2 litre engines, offered for tens of thousands less than equivalently powerful German machines of this size. It found a narrow appeal as although the cars were cheap to buy, they were costly to run (fuel) and depreciation was savage, thanks to an extent to the lack of the prestige badge.

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VXR is the branding for the high-performance Vauxhalls, used since 2004 for models in many of Vauxhall’s car range in the United Kingdom. European-sourced VXR models are produced and developed by Opel Performance Center, a division of Opel which uses the OPC branding on continental cars. The VXR brand is closely linked to VX Racing, Vauxhalls British Touring Car Championship team, with cars prepared by Triple 8 Race Engineering and the VXR versions of the cars are race track-styled models, with high performance capabilities. The VXR badge was first launched in the summer of 2004 at the British Motor Show with enhanced consumer versions of the Monaro and VX220. and in 2005 the VXR range was extended to include the Astra VXR and subsequently Zafira, Vectra, Corsa, Insignia and Meriva versions. The original Astra VXR was announced in January 2005 and went on sale in the summer of 2005. Based on the Vauxhall Astra Mark 5, it was fitted with a 2.0i turbo 16V engine (Z20LEH) producing 236 bhp. It could accelerate 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 6.2 seconds and reach a maximum speed 152 mph . Externally it was different from the standard Astra with a central trapezoidal rear exhaust, 18″ six-spoke alloy wheels with 225/40R18 tyres (optional 19″ 10-spoke wheels), lowered and uprated suspension and VXR front fog lamps and other external styling including spoiler. If that was not enough, you could always upgrade your VXR to 888 spec. Available from Vauxhall dealers, and fitted in a similar manner to Mountune’s Ford Fiesta and Focus tuning kits, Triple Eight’s work on the VXR outstrips the STs, though. An £850 Remus exhaust offers a rawer sound and a 20bhp-boost in power, while the ECU can be adapted to free an extra 48bhp from the Astra’s 2-litre engine. That brings the total power on-tap to a slightly staggering 305bhp. To reign-in the extra shove, there’s a Triple Eight wheel and tyre package. Bespoke 18in alloys wrapped in 235/40 Toyo Proxy rubber will set you back £1380. There’s also a VX Racing brake kit, boasting four-pot front calipers and larger 343mm x 26mm front discs, and an Eibach suspension kit that allows the ride-height to be lowered by up to 15mm.

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As in previous years, this was a very good event, and the hours shot by, so suddenly it seemed to be mid-afternoon and everyone was packing up. ready to go home. Dates for 2016 have already been announced, to be Sunday October 13th. It’s a fitting finale to the end of a busy season, so mark up your diaries now.

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