Grand Touring

Welcome DriveCult.com

2010-10-31T22:08:00.000Z

The new site is now live and as you can probably guess by the title of this blog it's www.DriveCult.com. Here is a brief introduction, but I really hope you just click on the link and go straight to the new site to see for yourself. Grand Touring has combined up with DriveCult.com to form the new site retaining the Drive Cult name. Drive Cult was created by Jamie Wolfcale who lives in the far

A Change is coming to the Grand Touring Blog

2010-10-25T21:59:00.000+01:00

Regular readers may (or may not) have noticed a reduction in activity to the blog over the last couple of months. This has not been due to laziness or lack of interest on my part, far from it. In actual fact I have been working behind the scenes on a new project which will see lead to a new home for Grand Touring. Rather than be a stand alone blog, Grand Touring will form part of a new

The search for a Magazine about Italian cars

2010-10-16T20:10:00.000+01:00

A significant event in my life as a car nut happened in May 1985, it was the first time I brought a motoring magazine with my own money and I was eleven years old. The particular magazine was the latest edition of Car Magazine the, cover had a picture of the new Lamborghini Countach QV version and the headline read, "Counter-attack the 455bhp Countach which tames the Testarossa, we drive both."

New Favourite Ferrari Daytona Competizione photograph

2010-10-10T15:31:00.004+01:00

A random troll through the internet turned up this wonderful shot of a Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona Competizione getting rather sideways at Spa. The photograph was taken by Dirk De Jager who having contacted through the wonders of Facebook has kindly allowed me to post it here. Dirk describes the photo, "it's the previous style busstop chicane at Spa, that's when they had already ruined it a

Pssst Want to See A Naked Italian Beauty?

2010-09-27T19:55:00.000+01:00

Apologies for those of you clicking on this link expecting to see Monica Bellucci in the altogether, but here are the latest pictures of Dad's Iso Grifo. As you can see the car has been stripped back to bare metal and the considerable amount of rust cut out of the shell. This has left more than a few holes which obviously need repairing. We suspect the entire floor of the cabin will need

A Ferrari GTO with a difference

2010-09-21T22:50:00.000+01:00

The TT Celebration race on Sunday featured a number of Ferrari's fabled 250GTO's. The GTO64 bodied example (SN4399GT) owned by Sir Anthony Bamford won the race and I'm wondering if in the process it became the first chassis to win both an original Goodwood TT and a revival TT although it's original win was with a 62 body? Will have to look into that. As well as the 250GTO's and the 330LMB

Ferrari Daytona (Very) Long term test Update 8 - Goodwood Revival

2010-09-20T21:31:00.001+01:00

If you're at all interested in classic cars it will not have escaped your notice that it was the Goodwood Revival meeting this past weekend, it was also the perfect opportunity to stretch the Daytona's legs on the country roads down to Goodwood. I've not used the Daytona much since the Le Mans Classic mainly due to work and trips overseas, and I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. The lack

Trans Am Race at Rolex Reunion Monterey

2010-09-16T15:32:00.000+01:00

Here is an in car camera video of the Trans-Am race at the recent Rolex Reunion Monterey. The camera car is an ex Dan Gurney Boss 302 Ford Mustang and driven by Bruce Canepa, battling with a Chevrolet Camaro and a Dodge Challenger

Ferrari Dino 268SP

2010-09-13T22:26:00.000+01:00

One of the more interesting cars exhibited at the recent Chelsea Autolegends show was a rare Ferrari 268SP. Unveiled in 1962 the 268SP was one of a series of Sports Prototypes unveiled that year using broadly the same chassis design and bodywork but with a variety of different engines. The engine is broadly 2/3s of a Ferrari 400 Superamerica V12, with a single cam per bank, and with a larger

Goodwood Revival Bonhams Auction

2010-09-10T20:58:00.003+01:00

Next weekend is the Goodwood Revival, for many (me included) the highlight of the classic motoring calendar. Bonhams will he holding their usual auction on Friday evening, featuring a selection of automobilia and classic cars. The star car is a C Type Jaguar that competed in the 1953 Mille Miglia.and is estimated at £800,000 to £1,000,000. Looking through the lot lists something a little

Chelsea Autolegends photo slideshow

2010-09-05T18:05:00.001+01:00

I went to the first Chelsea Autolegends show today, held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea with proceeds going towards the aid of the Chelsea Pensioners. Themed around Le Mans, the organisers had pulled together an excellent selection of endurance racing cars, including rare Ferraris such as the 268SP and P3 (412P) Sn0844, and a number of Porsches, Bentleys and Jaguars . Aside

The Ferrari 458 Flambé

2010-09-04T14:58:00.001+01:00

The end of August is a quiet time for the mainstream news. Newspapers need to fill column inches and what better way than to report that Ferraris latest model has been recalled after a spate of fires now traced to the glue used to fix the inner wheel arch liners. All the mainstream press have run the story after five 458s went up in flames (I'm not sure if this includes the one which was

Porsche 356 chasing Ferrari 246 Dino on Classic Adelaide rally

2010-08-30T17:46:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite You tube in car video's, mainly for the straight to the point Australian pace notes. The Porsche is clearly being held up by the Ferrari but I suspect it was better prepared for the event than what looks to be a stock Dino.

Another Found in the Classifieds: Ferrari 365GTS/4 NART Michelotti Spyder

2010-08-29T17:23:00.000+01:00

Following the Bertone Pirana here is another unusual car found in the Classifieds, the Michelotti bodied Ferrari Daytona Spyder. Unusually for a rebodied Daytona this is based on a factory built Spyder rather than a Berlinetta. It also has quite a movie career featuring in both the Gumball Rally (the original movie staring Raul Julia and Peter Fonda not the terrible series of tours/races with

Found in the Classifieds: Jaguar Bertone Pirana

2010-08-27T22:08:00.000+01:00

This is something you don't see everyday. Lurking in the classifieds of carandclassic.com is this one off Bertone bodied Jaguar E Type named the Pirana. Shown at the 1967 London Motor show the Pirana remained a one off and was actually commissioned by the Daily Telegraph newspaper as a concept of the ideal car, one suspects that any newspaper today would commission a small hybrid city car rather

BMW 1 Series M Coupé Teaser video

2010-08-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

BMW have released this teaser video of the new 1 Series M Coupe. Love or loathe (and most people loathe) the looks, of the 1 series this M version with it's flaired wheel arches is going to add a serious dose of attitude to the baby BMW. Almost certain to feature a tweaked version of BMW's 3 litre turbo six, this is the sort of car BMW that the M division should be making rather than tweaked

Weird Car Lusts, and the Maserati Biturbo

2010-08-26T22:57:00.000+01:00

Most car enthusiasts I know spend a lot of time dreaming or lusting after cars that they don't own. Sometimes this manifests in a long term desire for one particular type of car which results in ownership and either happiness or heartbreak. Other times this is a short term deal possibly triggered by an article in a magazine or spotting a particular car in the street. For me when this happens a

Ferrari 250GTOs at Goodwood

2010-08-25T21:57:00.000+01:00

Classic Cars magazine's news preview of the Goodwood Revival meet has indicated that up to nine Ferrari 250GTOs will be competing in the Blue Riband Royal Automobile Club TT celebration race. Not sure if that is accurate (or possibly includes the 330LMB and the 250SWB based Breadvan), but it is sure to be an impressive line up for a race that is some say (and I don't doubt) has a grid worth

New Mercedes CLS

2010-08-22T18:07:00.001+01:00

Mercedes have released this short You Tube of the new Mercedes CLS, scheduled to be unveiled at next months Paris Show. As expected many of the styling cues follow directly from the Shooting Break Concept from earlier in the year. The front is very successful but the rear slightly non descript in my opinion. Somehow I think the AMG version (in metallic black) with look best and will probably

Rolex Reunion Monterey

2010-08-18T21:51:00.002+01:00

By happy coincidence my current trip to California coincided with the Monterey Historic Car week. A busy personal schedule meant that I could only be there on Sunday, which did present soemwhat of a dilemma as to whether or not to go to the Pebble Beach Concours or the Reunion race meet at Laguna Seca? The racing won out as I prefer to look at cars doing what they are supposed to do rather than

The Case for the Shooting Break

2010-08-07T20:48:00.002+01:00

Car manufacturers are constantly seeking new niches to try and differentiate their models from the rivals. Gone are the days of the hatchback, Saloon, Coupe and Estate. We now have the MPV, SUV, 4 door coupe , even the SUV coupe (although the less said about BMW's monstrosity the better), along with the more traditional configurations. One area so far passed over has been the shooting break, or

Ferrari 375 MM

2010-08-07T14:11:00.000+01:00

RM Auctions have released this video of the Ferrari 375 MM, I discussed in the auction preview blog.

Carver One

2010-08-06T20:35:00.001+01:00

Something different today as I spotted a Carver One while heading out to get the lunch time sandwich from work. I have to confess I know very little about the Carver other than from a Top Gear test a few years ago, so a google and wikipedia search was needed for a little more research; From Wikipedia; The Carver is a tilting three wheeled vehicle using an automatic balancing technology to

Grand Touring, One year old

2010-08-02T21:30:00.000+01:00

From Le mans classic 2010 I was a little surprised when I realised that it has been a year since I started this blog. I never really intended to start my own blog but I enjoyed writing a few blogs for the now defunct Drivers Republic website on the Daytona and Ferraris in general and wanted to find a new home for them. Since then the basic blog page has been joined by the Facebook page and

Gooding & Co at Monterey

2010-07-31T22:10:00.002+01:00

Following my picks from the Monterey auction here are my three picks from Gooding & Co's auction. The first pick is also the star car of the Auction. The Ferrari 250SWB "SEFAC" Hot Rod. The SEFAC's were the ultimate development of the SWB with ultra lightweight bodies and more powerful engines. This example has a cast iron and Ferrari certified history, and took 3rd place overall in the 1961