Porsche claims the first of what will become a record number of victories at the Le Mans 24 Hours. But rather than its ‘hares’, the relative ‘tortoise’ 917K driven by understated Richard Attwood and veteran Hans Herrmann prevails in a rain-affected r

The Formula 1 World Championship takes its bow at Silverstone on May 13, as Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina becomes the first (post-war) world championship grand prix winner. Pre-war ace Luigi Fagioli and Britain’s Reg Parnell make it an Alfa Romeo 1-2-3 in a

The phrase ‘ultimate track-day car’ will be familiar to anyone who regularly scans the adverts in search of race-ready exotica – but it could be a description that’s wholly justified in the case of this Ariel Atom on offer at Andreas Hicks’s young Kl

Sandra Button’s Pebble Beach KEEPING THE CONCOURS ON COURSE Monterey calendar DON’T MISS A SINGLE CAR WITH OUR PLANNER Concept Lawn COME AND JOIN THE FUTURE Rolex Reunion A RACING REWIND AT LAGUNA SECA David Gooding AUCTION CHIEF ON SIGNIFICANT S

It’s the age-old daydream: pick an imaginary car budget and spend it in your head. Do you buy a brand-new sports car or invest your fictional funds in a characterful classic that’s sure to appreciate? For those lucky enough not to have to use the pow

In 2003 David Gooding was successfully making his way as a collector car broker when an unexpected phone call led to him running the auction at the Pebble Beach Concours. While making preparations for what will be Gooding & Company’s 20th appearance

Don’t imagine that Brooklands was only about cars. With a landing strip down the centre, aircraft assembly and maintenance and a busy flying school were part of the daily mixture. Remember the moment in the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Fl

I was fortunate to race with and against so many great characters in the 1970s, some of whom became close friends. I didn’t get to race in F1 for a full season until 1974, but clearly Jackie Stewart – who retired at the end of the previous year – was

Although the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola was a fairly standard one-stop event and there was no safety car interruption for once, the strategy intrigue wasn’t so much about pitstop timings as how to use the tyres. The weather forecast impacted

How do you get 10 of the most incredible racing cars in history in the same place at the same time? The answer: with a bit of luck and a lot of goodwill. From the moment we conceived the idea of getting our Race Car of the Century shortlist together

Thruxton, March 30, 1970, European Formula 2. My second race on the British mainland. I turned up with a private Brabham BT30 with a couple of ex-Roy Winkelmann engines, completed qualifying on the Goodyear tyres that were supplied, and ended up on t

Imola was sweet relief for racing eyes after Bahrain/Shanghai/Miami – “I wish we had 24 of these on the calendar,” said Verstappen. Full respect to thrifty playboy Eddie Irvine for not buying new overalls, just using his old Jaguar garments for the

You’re born when you’re born, and I’m happy with my time. But looking back, the 1970s must have been a fascinating era to work in Formula 1, which went from the cigar-shaped tubes of the mid- to late-1960s to a huge explosion of shapes. Motor sport t

It’s a given that wherever you find the best of motor sport, you’ll also find the name Rolex. The Swiss watchmaker’s presence on the race track encompasses everything from the Daytona 24 Hours and Le Mans, and from the World Endurance Championship to

I finished working for Chaparral in September 1979, although I had been based back at my father’s house in North-west London since about October 1978. I designed the Chaparral 2K in my father’s front room with another base at BS Racing in Luton, wher

Briefly, it feels like it might get away from you. When the turbos light up and the needle of the boost gauge flickers, then hurls itself around the dial, you wonder if you’re going to be able to contain it. You have to think so fast, because if you

The Miami Grand Prix safety car for the Kevin Magnussen/Logan Sargeant accident was decisive in vaulting Lando Norris to the front and the foundation of his first grand prix victory. But there was some confusion about the sequencing and why the safet

There’s a lot not to like about the all new Mini Countryman, at least for traditionalists. First, it’s absolutely vast, the biggest Mini to date, an entire size category above its scarcely svelte predecessor. Second it’s not even built in Britain, bu

It’s a fair bet that those responsible for producing the rowing lake on Montreal’s Île Notre-Dame in time for the 1976 Summer Olympics never envisaged a scene such as this. The Sauber-Mercedes ‘vessel’ – for want of a better word – is a far cry from

Slowly, but apparently quite surely, car manufacturers are re-appraising their approach to electric cars, nowhere more than at the top end of the market. At a journalist lunch a few weeks back, Lawrence Stroll told me his customers were in no hurry w

On this magazine’s centenary may I muse upon one half of the editorial duo who built its reputation postwar; ‘W.B.’ – the renowned William ‘Bill’ Boddy – and his sometime friend/rival ‘D.S.J.’ – Denis ‘Jenks’ Jenkinson. What a remarkably eccentric du

It’s been brilliant to watch Lando Norris finally take his first win. As he and the McLaren team have progressed over the past couple of seasons, it feels like the whole sport has been waiting for this day and in Miami he took an incredibly popular v

One hundred years ago a man called Oscar Seyd decided that the world of motor racing needed a dedicated publication on the subject. Back then motor racing in Britain was centred on Brooklands’ track, so the title seemed obvious – The Brooklands Gazet

Back in 2003 I went to drive a new kind of Porsche. Writing in a Sunday newspaper I concluded: “Porsche has failed with the Cayenne. By any of its own terms of reference, be it that a car should look, feel or drive like a Porsche, it has missed by a

The Pebble Beach Concours is best known as the ultimate venue in which to see the world’s finest classic (i.e. ‘old’) cars in one place but, as concours chairperson Sandra Button explains elsewhere in this issue, despite a strong emphasis on the past