Wednesday 11th August 2021

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BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker 

BREADVAN - A Ferrari to beat the GTO 

Author Richard Heseltine, passionate Italian car enthusiast, and lover of a good juicy story, must have really relished writing this immensely enjoyable book.

Most of us historic motorsport fans will have seen the ‘Breadvan’ in action. A well-used car, it’s exhaustive list of appearances include Tour Auto 2014 (Class Winner), Monza Historic 2015 (Trofeo Nastro Rosso Winner), Goodwood Revival 2018 (Kinrara Trophy Winner) and, most recently, The Classic 2021 at Silverstone where Lukas Halusa, son of current owner Martin, won an exciting RAC Historic Tourist Trophy Race by the slimmest of margins, less than one second, from the Cottingham/Stanley Jaguar E-type.

Written in conjunction with Keith Bluemel and Nicola von Donhoff, Richard has combined definite fact with sometimes dubious fiction, garnered from the best European and American Sunday gossip columns. For example, did wealthy playboy Giovanni Volpi really drive this racer from Geneva to Saint-Tropez overnight at breakneck speeds, just to give his girlfriend, heiress Sylvia Casablancas, a lift to her local airport? Did Gunther Sachs really land up in a French jail after frightening several residents of St. Raphael by driving through the town at midnight, using all the Breadvan’s 300bhp in an attempt to impress Soraya, the then Queen Consort of Iran? And later, did pop star Sonny Bono, against doctor’s orders, actually try to buy the car using a rubber cheque? I suppose in their crazy world anything was possible.

By the time readers reach the final page, he or she will know every detail about Ferrari chassis number 2819 and Italian sixties in-fighting. The book does ramble on a bit in the early stages and, unless I’m wrong, there are a few mistakes, for example, at Le Mans in 1962 the car was given race number 16, not 22, while Speed-Masters, not Merchants, was the correct title for the 1973 British Classic Car Championship. Actually, these are very small slips overruled by some great images and an extensive list of race results. Another great value title from Porter Press International, and worth five stars every day of the week.

BREADVAN - A Ferrari to beat the GTO
Written by Richard Heseltine with Keith Bluemel and Nicola von Donhoff
ISBN 978-1-907085-36-9
Available from Porter Press International
Price £45.00