Archives for May 2015
Inaugural Holy Land Tour 1000 Part 1
By Charles Schoendorf
All photos by Ronen Topelberg
Location, location, location
If vintage car tours are your bag and you’re looking for the next great and different one, I’m afraid you just missed it, the inaugural HolyLand 1000, yes, in Israel, held March 22-27. But there is hope that the organizers Elad Shraga and Amir Almagor will have the chutzpah to stage a sequel in a year or two. They are talking about it.
In lots of ways the HL 1000 was similar in format and execution and as big a rush as the best tours I’ve ever done in CO, CA and AZ and elsewhere in the US and in Italy too, only more so, because it was in Israel.
The top three things that give this road tour the edge over the other great ones are simple: location, location, location. Israel has all the scenery to rival the best of tours but what Israel also has that the others never will is the Biblical and historic and geographic locales. Add to that what has to be without exaggeration the most flavorful produce grown on the planet, which they prepare and present so incredibly, and this has to be the best bang for the tour buck in the world.
Inaugural Holy Land 1000 Tour Part 2
By Charles Schoendorf
All photos by Ronen Topelberg
DAY 3 Sea of Galilee-Nazareth-Mitzpe Ramon
As the inaugural Holy Land 1000 progressed, the cars headed south to the Negev Desert, with a lunch stop along the way at a horse breeding estate, literally in the stables, and on to spend the night on the edge of the Great Crater of Ramon, nearly 1000 meters above sea level. This crater, so called, was actually formed naturally over millions of years through the forces of erosion and subsidence to be over 500 meters deep, and is as amazing a geological spectacle as can be found anywhere.
Mille Miglia, 2015
Photos by Alessandro Gerelli
Alessandro Gerelli has been covering the Mille Miglia for us since 2004, not missing a year since. Each May, he takes us down to Brescia were he has a chance to wander about, finding fascinating cars even he has not seen before.
This year was no exception…the Zanussi, seen above, is a new one on us and just as attractive as a Fiat can possibly be. And every year there are new restorations, new owners and new experiences.
Missing in the captions are the name of the entrants, however, these can be seen on a PDF offered by the Mille Miglia website. Click here to obtain the PDF.
Or, just enjoy the Italian car show at Brescia, arranged in alphabetical order below.
[Read more…] about Mille Miglia, 2015The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, 2015
Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos and captions by Steve Snyder
Many car shows describe themselves as a “Concours d’Elegance,” but there is only one motorcycle event in that category, and that is The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California. [Read more…] about The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, 2015
VeloceToday for May 19, 2015
VeloceToday Gallery: Vanhoolandt’s Etceterinis
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Click to enlarge
From the archives May 19,2015
Hugues Vanhoolandt
Belgian Hugues Vanhoolandt has been image-making for VeloceToday since 2007, and covered every major event from Monterey to Monaco. Below, he has gathered up 27 photos of what we call Etceterinis.
The term Etceterini may require some explanation. According to Andrea Curami in the indispensable La Sport e i suoi Artigiani (1937-1965), (The Sport and Its Artisans), there were at least 84 different constructors of small displacement racing cars to compete in the Italian National Championship races. There were many more that were simply listed as Fiat Specials, both in the 750 and 1100 cc classes. Etcetera, from which the word Etceterini is derived, means ‘and so on’ or ‘and the like’. Tacking on the ‘ini’ was a stroke of linguistic brilliance; not only were most of the artisan cars built from Fiat components and therefore somewhat like, all but seven of the 84 constructors had names that ended in a vowel such as “Stanguellini”; hence the ‘ini’. So fitting is the moniker that to try to categorize the cars by any other means seems hopeless. We believe the term was first used by an American enthusiast in California in the late 1980s. For more on this, read “The Essential Etceterini.”
In alphabetical order, with the event and year, Vanhoolandt’s Etceterinis:
Alfa Romeo 164 V10 Pro Car: From F1 to Four-Door
Story and photography by Roberto Motta, archive photography by Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo Centro Documentazione
The history of the 164 Pro-Car has its origin in 1985, when Alfa Romeo decided to return to the Formula 1 World Championship, and the management decided that they would build a new 3.5 liter engine, which would be installed in the French F1 Ligier.
At this time, Pino D’Agostino, one of the world’s most famous engineers, was convinced that it was possible to balance a 72 degree V10 engine. He reasoned that if 8 cylinders had been the best engine in the Formula 3000, a V10 would be the best engine for the new Formula 1. After receiving the necessary authorization, in November 1985 the V10 project officially began.
Engineer D’Agostino was the head of this project and had a great team: Bodini, Bordoni, Flor, Giani, Mazzoleni, Rossetti, Teruzzi and Turina. In an amazingly short time, the Alfa Romeo V1035 (10 cylinders, 3.5 liters) engine became the first modern F1 V10 engine (Honda presented a model of the engine only one month after the introduction of the Italian V10 while Renault produced its V10 the following year).
Iso Meeting in Bresso, Italy, 2015
Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli
At the very beginning of the EXPO 2015 that is held in Milan from May to October, the local fansorganized an Iso Rivolta meeting in Bresso, just inside the old, now neglected factory.
As already told in VeloceToday, (“Iso Rivolta Anniversary” of 2002 see archived story), there was a dream to build an Iso museum and other attractions, but the project was delayed due to the crisis that involved the whole Italy. [Read more…] about Iso Meeting in Bresso, Italy, 2015
Iso Rivolta Anniversary, 2002
Thirteen years have passed since our faithful Italian correspondent Alessandro Gerelli submitted this story about the 50th anniversary meeting of Iso enthusiasts at Bresso, Italy. And what has changed?
The prices!
October 11, 2002 Iso Rivolta Anniversary
Story and photos by Alessandro Gerelli
The Iso Rivolta company was born in 1939 in Bresso, a small town just bordering Milan in the north of Italy. Iso was characterized by an amazing variety of production during its life including refrigerators and water heaters, motorbikes, small city cars, sport cars, and other sundries; most of which were manufactured after the end of WWII. The founder, Renzo Rivolta, was as interesting as the product line. He even built the factory in the park of his villa! [Read more…] about Iso Rivolta Anniversary, 2002
VeloceToday for May 8th, 2015
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Etceterini Guy Cliff Reuter
By Pete Vack and Cliff Reuter
Photos courtesy Cliff Reuter
VeloceToday has been publishing articles weekly since 2001, but Cliff Reuter’s excellent site, Etceterini.com, is almost as old. “I started my first web site cliffreuter.com in 2002 as a way to connect with friends around the world (before Facebook) and then in 2005 launched Etceterini.com”, said Cliff.
In 2006, Cliff and VeloceToday shared a unique experience we found the ex-Clair “Sonny” Reuter Bandini. VeloceToday did the story and Cliff and his father Jack (no relation to Clair Reuter) rescued the car and it is now being restored. A few years later in 2010, Cliff helped organize an Etceterini show at Amelia Island Concours, and with Sportscardigest.com, we ran a series of articles and a contest for the favorite Etceterini entry at Amelia.
Etceterini.com has turned out to be the ‘go to’ site for anyone interested in SCCA racing in the 1950s and 60s. “I started my SCCA results pages in 2006 after we purchased the ex-Sandy MacArthur 1951 Bandini Siluro Motto Crosley Mercury Devin. We knew some of the history of the car but wanted to know more. I searched the Internet for 1950s SCCA results and was VERY disappointed with what I found – almost nothing. I then began going through my Father’s boxes of 1950s-60s race photos, car magazines, racing memorabilia, SCCA race programs and these yielded some very enlightening information!”
While Cliff’s site focuses on Etceterinis, all cars are included, particularly Ferraris. “I’m constantly buying and adding to this collection of American sports car racing history so keep checking back (and refreshing)! Also, PLEASE help me grow these pages by sending YOUR scans of SCCA race results, programs and articles,” said Cliff.
Cliff’s background is as interesting as his site. He is originally from St. Louis Missouri, and his mother is from Liverpool, UK. Father Jack is from St. Louis and was a passionate car enthusiast from early on. Growing up, Cliff says he “played a lot of tennis and shared my dad’s love of European cars.”