ACE CAFE RADIO

    dimanche 28 juin 2015

    Ex-Works Aston Martin leads the way at Bonhams' Goodwood sale


    Some 90 cars will go under the gavel at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed sale this Friday, held in the environs of Lord March’s stately home. We’ve perused the two-part catalogue to bring you our favourites…
    Spearheading the sale are the Aston Martin Works Ulster LM19 and the Porsche RS-61 Spyder, the latter owned by Sir Stirling Moss and, appropriately, warranting its own separate catalogue. Eligible for almost every event on the classic calendar, the Aston presents an extremely rare opportunity to purchase one of four LM19 'Team Cars', considered the ultimate specification Ulster. With Le Mans, Mille Miglia, RAC Tourist Trophy and Grand Prix history, it’s estimated at a hefty £1.6-2.2m. 

    Big hitters

    While the Porsche’s competition background is perhaps not as prestigious, it was prominent and extremely successful in the hands of Bob Holbert across America in the early 1960s. And being the final car in which Moss raced before his retirement in 2011, we can’t imagine auctioneer James Knight will have to work the room too hard to reach the car’s £1.7m lower estimate. 

    Endangered species

    Believe it or not, there are no particularly notable Ferraris to speak of – we're sure this will be rectified come Monterey. Of the selection on offer, we like the black matching-numbers Dino 246GT (£250,000-300,000) and, though a little untidy (and on the wrong wheels), the right-hand-drive 308 GTB Vetroresina (estimated at £60,000-80,000) could be a good buy given the glassfibre cars' current buoyancy in the market.

    Perfect Porsches

    Deemed an entirely ‘perfect’ design by its owner, the ‘father of pop art’ Richard Hamilton, the black-over-black Porsche 911 S 2.7 is about as good as it gets for a non-RS 911, reflected in its £250,000-300,000 estimate. Other Porsches that took our eye include James May’s 911 Carrera 3.2(£28,000-34,000), and a two-owner 930 3.3 Turbo boasting its original paint and interior, plus a scant 13,000km on the clock (£100,000-130,000). 

    Get involved...

    If you were taken with our stunning gallery of the International Bugatti Meeting in Provence last week, the 1929 Type 40 ‘Grand Sport’ (£120,000-150,000) is a potential entry for next year’s rally in Switzerland. Given the extremely positive reception the rare, unmolested Morris Mini Minor (est. £6,000-10,000) received on our social media channels, we simply had to include it here.

    The ultimate soft-top Aston?

    Billed by Bonhams as ‘the ultimate soft-top Aston Martin’ (though we’re not entirely sure we’d agree), the 1988 V8 Vantage Volante shows a scant 14k miles, and has been maintained by Aston Martin Works service since 2011. Resplendent in tasteful Tungsten Silver, it’s estimated at a healthy £200,000-250,000. Elsewhere, there’s an ultra-rare Mercedes CLK GTR Roadster (£1.4-1.8m), a clearly cared-for Audi Quattro Sport (£200,000-250,000), and an ex-Autodelta – though not matching numbers – Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm (£220,000-300,000).

    Proceeds of crime

    Finally, we must mention the four Ferraris (and one Rolls-Royce) consigned by the National Crime Agency to be sold under the Proceeds of Crime Act, most notably the c.2004 Enzo (est. £600,000-800,000). Though elements of its history are confusing (perhaps inevitable given its dubious owner?), it shows just 1,285 miles on the clock and has recently been serviced. Tempted? 
    Photos: Bonhams
    Bonhams' Goodwood Festival of Speed sale takes place this Friday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed near Chichester. You can find the full catalogue listed in the Classic Driver Market. 

    750..........


    What not to miss at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed


    Goodwood-bound for the Festival of Speed this weekend? Here’s what not to miss at Lord March’s garden-party-like-no-other…

    Derek Bell reunited with his Le Mans-winning Mirage

    It’s been 40 years since Derek Bell scored his first of five victories at Le Mans, driving the Gulf Mirage GR8 alongside Jacky Ickx. Given the ‘Flat-out and Fearless’ theme at this year’s Festival, we can’t think of a more apt event to celebrate. Derek will drive the car – which, save for a cracked exhaust and serious vibration from the engine, tackled the gruelling race without fault – on all three days.

    The Mazda 787B

    We were thrilled to hear that Mazda is the featured marque this year. Many don’t realise the Japanese company’s rich motorsport heritage, so it will be great to see treasures that rarely appear in Europe brought over from Japan especially for the Festival. Already confirmed is the rotary-engined 787B, a car almost as famous for its distinctive wail as its Le Mans victory. Make sure you’re trackside when it makes its runs up the hill. Oh, and bring some earplugs.

    Debuts galore

    As is traditional, many manufacturers choose the impossibly narrow, straw-bale-lined Goodwood hillclimb to debut their latest wares (completely illogical, isn’t it?). Among those already announced is the Morgan EV3, a targa-topped Singer, the Aston Martin Vulcan and DB9 GT, the McLaren 570S, and the Ferrari 488GTB. Perhaps most exciting is that both McLaren and Ferrari’s track-only halo hypercars, the P1 GTR and FXX K, will contest the hill. We’re sure someone will have the stopwatches running. 

    Forest Rally Stage

    We know it’s a long trek up the hill, but if you do one thing this weekend, make sure you head up to the Forest Rally Stage. There’s nothing quite like hiking deep into the woods to find a spot from which to watch rally cars of all ages slithering around a chalky track at full tilt. What’s more, the tree cover acts as a natural roof, meaning the exhaust bark, turbo whooshes and gunshot-like backfires are all emphasised in a cacophonous orgy of noise, colour and dust. You’ll discover exactly what we mean…

    100-year-old FIAT S76 on the hill


    The ultra-technical Goodwood hillclimb will this year be tackled by the unofficial fastest car in the world… from 1911. Featured as part of a new class named ‘Earth-shattering Edwardian leviathans’, the monstrous 28-litre Fiat S76 was the Italian marque’s weapon to defeat the ‘Blitzen’ Benzes’ flying mile and kilometre records. The ‘Beast of Turin’, as it's otherwise known, has been subject to a 10-year restoration and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser this weekend, as it thunders up the hill.

    Seven (of eight) Mercedes 300 SLRs

    Stirling Moss and and Denis Jenkinson’s near-100mph-average Mille Miglia victory in 1955 is now automotive lore, but what of the car in which they achieved it? Considered by Moss to be the finest sports car he ever drove, seven of the eight Mercedes 300 SLRs built will be present at Goodwood this weekend to celebrate 60 years since that momentous win – a coup only Lord March could pull off. And yes, Moss will be reunited with ‘722’, in what is sure to be one of the moments of the weekend. 
    Photos: Goodwood Motor Circuit, Mercedes-Benz, Tim Brown, The Derek Bell Collection, Amy Shore.

    samedi 27 juin 2015

    WTCC ; La joie d’une pole à domicile pour Loeb / Loeb stuns for WTCC pole in France with sizzling sub-record lap


    Sébastien Loeb s’élancera en pole position de la JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France grâce à un tour impeccable réalisé en qualifications au Castellet.
    Flash qualifications : La joie d’une pole à domicile pour Loeb
    Loeb devance ses équipiers chez Citroën Yvan Muller, José María López et Ma Qing Hua. La marque d’une totale domination du constructeur français sur ses terres. Tom Chilton, au volant de sa Chevrolet privée, complète le Top-5 et domine le Trophée Yokohama.


    Sébastien Loeb will start his home round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship on pole position following a red-hot Qualifying for JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France at Circuit Paul Ricard this afternoon, during which the Frenchman showed why he is one of the most crowned champions in motorsport. Loeb also beat last year’s pole time by three-tenths of a second to underline his sensational performance for Citroën.
    Qualifying report: Loeb stuns for WTCC pole in France with sizzling sub-record lap
    In ambient temperatures of 32 degrees centigrade, Loeb, the nine-time world rally champion, stunned his Citroën team-mates and WTCC title chasers Yvan Muller and José María López to snatch his first top spot of the season, with Ma Qing Hua locking out the front two rows of the grid for the French make. Tom Chilton topped the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy in fifth, one place ahead of fellow Chevrolet Cruze pilot Hugo Valente.
    Loeb has never previously started a WTCC race from the DHL-presented pole position, making his achievement particularly satisfying. It also came at the venue where he made his circuit racing debut in 1997.
    He said: “I certainly didn’t expect to be sitting on pole tonight when I woke up this morning. It was really intense, because we saw already from the start of Qualifying that it would be very, very tight – as we already knew it would be from before. You have to take a few risks and this is what I did. I made a little mistake in turn nine but in the end I actually gained some time because of that, as I pushed really hard in the entry. I made the difference in the last sector so maybe it was good to do it like this. It’s always difficult for me since the start of the season to fight with my two team-mates in qualifying because they are always able to put everything together and I am struggling. But today I was able to do it and I’m really happy for that.”
    Citroën drivers have now taken pole for all seven rounds of the season so far but with the performance gap between its different drivers shrinking all the time, as the balance of power shifts from race to race.
    Tom Chilton was fifth in his ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet as the top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender, a result that delighted the Englishman. “At the start of the session I was a little bit nervous,” he said. “I thought there was a good chance we would be outside of the top 10. But then I saw that we were all separated by just tenths of a second – so I realised that we even had a chance of pole.”
    French up-and-coming talent Hugo Valente was sixth in a similar Chevrolet, ahead of two Honda Civic WTCCs driven by former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro from Portugal and Hungarian Norbert Michelisz. LADA’s Jaap van Lagen is ninth while P10 for Moroccan privateer Mehdi Bennani – albeit by 0.015s ahead of Grégoire Demoustier – means that he will start the reverse grid second race from pole for Sébastien Loeb Racing.
    A broken suspension part restricted Rob Huff to Q3 and caused the Briton to spin into a water-filled barrier. Stefano D’Aste and Nicky Catsburg also suffered off-track moments while Tom Coronel just missed out on a spot in Q2, as did Gabriele Tarquini. Honda Racing team Sweden’s Rickard Rydell was P17 ahead of his WTCC centenary race on Sunday afternoon. John Filippi completes the list of runners.
    Qualifying points: Sébastien Loeb (5pts); Yvan Muller: 4pts; José María López: 3; 3; Ma Qing Hua 2; Tom Chilton (1).