Historic motorsport, classic car features Retro-Speed classic car magazine

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CASTLE COMBE HOSTS GOMW 2025 : Ken Davies

Annual track jamboree for GoMW members Words by Ken Davies. Images by Ken Davies and Michael Stokes Each year a must-do date in my diary is the Guild of Motoring Writers Big Day Out at Castle Combe circuit. Initially formed by a group of Fleet Street motoring hacks as a dining club in 1944, such was the enthusiasm of the new membership that its remit quickly became wider ranging and at the ...

PRESCOTT SPEED HILL CLIMB : Editorial Rambling - Peter Baker

A testing time Words and image by Peter Baker With Easter 2025 closing in fast Prescott Speed Hill Climb, following tradition since 1938, opened its doors, inviting those planning to race this season a chance to go testing. And seeing as the weather promised sunshine and blue skies (last year, oh, how it rained!), I booked a place. For a long time I have wanted to put my Alfa Romeo B...

F1 - THE EXHIBITION : Ken Davies

F1 - The Exhibition at the ExceL Centre London Words and images by Ken Davies After making its debut in Madrid, August 2023, followed by Vienna then Toronto, F1 The Exhibition opened at Excel, the international exhibition and convention center in London’s charismatic Royal Victoria Dock, on 23 August 2024, and was extended by popular demand until 2 March 2025. Packed with g...

RALLY MONTE-CARLO HISTORIQUE 2025 : Christa Percival

An Unlikely Navigator I am an American ex-pat who moved to England for love in 2022. As a painter who mostly stares at the sky when I'm travelling, I was dubious when my husband Peter Barker asked me if I’d like to navigate for him on the 2025 Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. He said that all we had to do was not come in last. As I love classic cars and roller coasters, and can read in ...

MASERATI COUPE - Editorial Rambling :Peter Baker

More luck than judgement Words and image by Peter Baker Owning anything Italian tends to create a journey studded with anticipation and adventure, be it a multi-choice coffee maker or motor car. Logic in this hot-blooded country, thank goodness, always gives way to style and emotion. Whether the right coffee blend ever arrives or a car doesn’t, is more down to luck than judgment. Thu...

THE NORDSCHLEIFE - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Respect required – Words and picture by Peter Baker I’ve just driven two laps of the historic 13.6-mile Nordschleife circuit in the rain and, let me tell you, my respect for those Grand Prix drivers who took on the challenge during the Sixties overfloweth. In 1968, Jackie Stewart won the German Grand Prix by a margin of four minutes. And he was nursing a broken wrist at the time In ...

SPA SIX HOURS 2024 - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Alfie takes me to Spa-Francorchamps Words and pictures by Peter Baker Spa. There and back. Then there and back again… It was all going so swimmingly well. Alfie, my 2008 Alfa Romeo Brera S, fresh from a major overhaul, had covered some 400 trouble-free miles when, for no apparent reason, the poor thing just stopped. Luckily, though very dark, and very wet, it was after the eve...

SIT-IN-TEST - LOLA-VW T620 : Roman Klemm

The great Jo Gartner's Lola-VW T620 Words and pictrures by Roman Klem Eric Broadley (Lola Cars Ltd.) was a manufacturer who tried to supply every possible class of racing. And so it happened that, in 1978, his products not only won the famous Indianapolis 500 (Chaparral-Lola T500, Al Unser Senior), but at the same time also started in lower formulas, such as Formula Super-V. Broadley was p...

PAUL RICARD - Editorial Rambling - Peter Baker

Paul Ricard v. vineyards Words and images by Peter Baker Paul Ricard is another circuit now ticked off my must visit list. Situated in the Provence area of Southern France this interestingly different 3.63-mile circuit, opened in 1970 and named in honour of its constructor, is unique in that conventional run-off areas utilise high-grip, bright blue and red-painted abrasive strips, effective...

ITALIANO - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Maser joins the stable Words by Peter Baker It’s been an Italian two or three weeks, car-wise. Firstly, my Alfa Romeo Brera S has been given a good seeing to, and I can report ‘Alfie’ has not only been fully serviced, but granted another 12 months stay of execution by way of a fresh MOT. Big news, though, is the purchase into our household of yet another Italian gem, by na...

GOODWOOD - SPA FRANCORCHAMPS - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Peripatetic Peter Words and images by Peter Baker. Click to view Gallery. My life is in an uncontrollable spiral, but whether that is up or down, I’m not quite sure. Take last weekend for example. Following a hectic day entertaining folk at Goodwood on behalf of Barton Racing it was hot foot to Spa Francorchamps, where the team ‘s TVR Griffith was suffering last minute ...

BRUNO GIACOMELLI INTERVIEW : ROMAN KLEMM

Roman interviews Bruno Giacomelli Words and pictures by Roman Klemm Desenzano del Garda, 9 March 2024 - Festina lente! In the late 1970s, he was the future champion, experts considered him the ‘new Clark’, in the junior classes he went from title to title. At the end of the 1980 season, he and his Alfa Romeo were one of the fastest combinations in Grand Prix. Formula 1 dismis...

JOACHIM ALTHAMMER INTERVIEW : Roman Klemm

Roman interviews Joachim Althammer Words and pictures by Roman Klemm Monaco + Goodwood = Salzburgring! The existence and organisation of historical events usually depends on the enthusiasm of clubs or individuals. The prototype of such an enthusiast is 64-year-old Joachim ‘Achim’ Althammer from Freilassing, Bavaria. In order to organise his Rallye Edelweiss Classic and the Ros...

GINA CAMPBELL AT PRESCOTT - Editorial Rambing : Peter Baker

Friends of Prescott hosts Gina Campbell Words and pictures by Peter Baker What, with one thing and another; a trip to Sebring in Florida, a successful run on Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique in Doris the Daimler and a long weekend with Barton Racing in Spain, already under my belt, it’s fair to say, 2024 is going to be another cracking year. Downside, less competition outings for y...

SIT-IN TEST OF A HARTMANN FORMULA JUNIOR : Roman Klemm

Joachim Althammer’s Hartmann Type 2/0007 Formula Junior Words and pictures by Roman Klemm The idea of motorsport enthusiast Count Lurani regarding the introduction of a simple and thus affordable monoposto class (Formula Junior) was primarily intended to discover new Italian talents. But, at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, this class became widespread throughout Europe. In Germany, i...

HANS CLAUSECKER INTERVIEW : Roman Klemm

Roman interviews Hans Clausecker Words and pictures by Roman Klemm Hans Clausecker, the guy in the Rescue Porsche Eighty-three-year-old Hans Clausecker won't be found in any Formula 1 Grand Prix statistics, yet he has started in several of them - as a R (Rescue)-Porsche driver, running at full throttle behind the enraged field, being equipped with rescue tools, fire extinguishers and a do...

RAMBLING INTO 2024 - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Twenty twenty-four, here we come Words and pictures by Peter Baker Almost before I could catch my breath after Christmas, yours truly was booked on a plane to Sebring in Florida, where Barton Racing (with whom I work) had entered their newly-built Toyota Supra GT4 EVO for the up-and-coming Harry Barton in six, close together races. Good news. We gained five podium places. Click to view the...

REVIEWING MY RACING YEAR : Roman Klemm

Roman’s most lasting 2023 experiences Words and pictures by Roman Klemm. Click top right to view Gallery. Perhaps the most important phenomenon of the 2023 season was the fact that even the FIA adapted to ‘normalisation’ and, after three years of humane and moral darkness, gave up on the ‘Corona reprisals’. Those who wanted to make money had already raked in e...

PERIPATETIC PETER - Editorial Rambling : Peter Baker

Racing ahead Words and pictures by Peter Baker Racing at Silverstone, Portimao and Sebring. A quick recap. For reasons I’ve yet to fathom, yours truly has attached himself to a young, up-and-coming race team, known by one-and-all as Barton Racing, specifically their ambitious stars, Harry and George. Anyway. We did well at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing 10th in the Spa Six Hours Endura...

EGON HOFER INTERVIEW : Roman Klemm

Roman interviews Kommerzialrat Egon Hofer Words and pictures by Roman Klemm. Click top right to view the gallery. “The Ferrari 250GT SWB is like a prima ballerina who leads you around the dance floor.” Herr Kommerzielrat Egon Hofer from Salzburg may not be familiar to every motor sport fan. But he is a welcome and respected guest among fans of historical sports and among the o...



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