Goodwood Paddock Mega-Gallery -- Over 200 photos!

A visit to Goodwood offers such fantastic sights and sounds everywhere you turn, it was hard to stop snapping away once I started!  Armed with my new DSLR and a massive memory card, I went a little crazy at Goodwood.  I have managed to edit down to just over 200 photos from the paddock.  Be sure to view all 3 pages of photos!

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Back at Last! Goodwood Revival galleries galore!

My friends, the demands of running my own company have meant increased business travel, so I apologize for these periods of quiet and I appreciate your patience in checking back to make sure we're still here!  But I am trying to make the posts I put up that much more exciting to compensate for your loyalty.I am back from the Goodwood Revival with some really great photos to share with you. Our first gallery is from the Sussex Trophy race, which was the final race of the event.  The driving level at this event is top notch, and the racing was just thrilling to watch.  Stay tuned for more extensive description of the Goodwood experience, and photos from the other events, the paddock, and the Silver Arrows demonstration. Video too.  Lots to share. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SUSSEX TROPHY GALLERY

Riding Shotgun: BMW M1

When you see an M1 gliding down the street towards you, you may have to rub your eyes, because it isn't a flying saucer.  But the sight is certainly otherwordly. Giugiaro's clean lines are a familiar sight, and the resemblance to the Lotus Esprit S1 and the Delorean are not coincidental.  But somehow the BMW looks more racey than the other Giugiaro wedges, and has some really stunning proportions that blow the other two cars away.  Performance-wise, there is obviously no competition. The M1 wins, hands down.Particularly when seen from the side view, the M1 just looks right. Many wedge cars look too long in front and too short in back, but the overhangs are just the right balance with the M1.  The minimalist campagnolo rims really set the car off in period-perfect fashion. Phil was very eager to take the M1 out and stretch its legs. He confided that of his 4 lovely machines, the M1 is probably his favorite.  He praised its comfort and usability, but also its power and outright speed. Similar in temperament to the much later Acura NSX, the M1 is a docile pet when driven round town, that transforms into a feral beast when uncorked on the open road.Unlike my rides in the Stratos and the A110, which were on local roads, my experience in the M1 was enriched by Phil's decision to take it on a quick sprint up the NJ turnpike for some fuel.  As we rocketed off the onramp, we could see slack-jawed New Jersey motorists craning their necks in their cars as our teutonic space craft flew effortlessly past.  When on the cam, the race-bred straight 6 engine produces a fierce, howling exhaust note that you just want to hear more of.  Phil obliged by dropping the hammer at every opportunity. Every downshift is announced with a deep, single backfire that sounds like a howitzer firing from a distant hilltop.When we brought the car back to the garage, some neighbors were out, and asked what kind of car it was. I think most people would be surprised, as they were, to learn that it is a BMW, and not a Lamborghini or Ferrari.  Obviously the car wears Italian clothing, and other than the wedge-nosed 8 series and europe-only Z1, it is certainly an aesthetic outlier within the BMW family.  Yet it is arguably the most iconic, desirable BMW since the original 328 or the 507. Though the 2002 and the 3.5 CSL may have defined the 70s for BMW, the M1 is in its own league of supercars that no BMW since has really come close to.  It's in the pantheon of true mid-engined exotics, and had its own PROCAR single-make race series to boot!  And although I commend BMW for focusing on the core competency in sport sedans, one only wishes to see them produce a car this special once again.  The recent i8 concept certainly alludes strongly to the M1, but production reality is still far behind the dream.Click HERE for the entire BMW M1 gallery!

Thanks a lot, Phil. A morning most well spent!

Riding Shotgun: Lancia Stratos

After bringing the A110 back to the garage, we fired up the Stratos next. Turned out in its factory shade of very electric blue, the Stratos is really a time warp to when Italy was the epicenter of badass homologation racecars for the road and when the name Lancia really stood for something.  The Gandini-penned body is short and stubby. The car isn't exactly beautiful, and drew less approval on the road than the Alpine did--people were more puzzled than amazed as its compact, wedgy silhouette slipped past them in a cloud of noise.  But what it lacks in elegance, the Stratos makes up for with boldness, charisma and character.  The whole machine is so unique, so utterly special that it's really like no other car in the world, even among other Italian exotics of the period. The exterior is spacelike and full of fascinating, ingenious design details. The interior, in contrast, is delightfully low rent, with all the dashboard gauges from the FIAT parts bin.  The door panel inserts are flimsy plastic, and instead of map pockets, each door has a fiberglass shelf designed to place a helmet on it between stages.  This helmet shelf is a magnificently idiosyncratic detail, though it does feel like it will snap off in your hand.  The Plexiglas windows don't roll up and down. They slide in a groove, and adjusting them is something that is better left alone. I think the Ferrari F40 is the only other car I have sat in that even approaches this level of spartan simplicity. The famous curved windshield gives decent forward visibility, but there is next to no rear visibility, and the blind spots are massive. Clearly this car is meant to go forwards very fast, and who gives a shit about what else is on the road.Due to the lousy and confined roads of the neighborhood, we had little opportunity to see what the Stratos can do. But I was surprised at how the Ferrari Dino engine mounted transversely behind our heads sounded so ordinary in lower revs. On the cam, the car really came alive and made all sorts of wonderful sounds.  Sadly, thanks to stoplights and construction, these moments were fleeting.  Going over speedbumps, Phil pointed out that the car, being a race-bred machine, has no rubber bushings. All the suspension linkages are metal on metal, and you can feel that in the jarring report every time you cross a bump.  I can only imagine the sounds and feelings you'd get blasting through a gravel rally stage in this car!Unlike the stylish Alpine, the interior of the Stratos isn't exactly a place you want to linger.  The heat began to stifle after just a few minutes in the sun, and the offset footwells should have the number of a good orthopedist stitched into the carpeting.  It's a totally incomparable experience riding in a Stratos, but it's not the kind of car you can imagine falling in love with on a long road trip. And better bring a guy friend, because no wife or girlfriend is going to sit shotgun in this beast for more than 10 minutes.

And in the end it's that no-nonsense race-bred feel that makes the Stratos so compelling, yet ultimately so unliveable. It's a car with no compromises, no pretense, and no apologies.  Pity that no one will ever make anything like it ever again, and that today Lancia has fallen so far from this singular, shining achievement.  Check out the full glorious Stratos gallery HERE, and stay tuned for the BMW M1...

Riding Shotgun: Alpine Renault A110

I recently had the good fortune to make friends with a fellow named Phil.  He's not the typical NYC exotic car owner, who cruises around in a chrome Aventador. No, Phil is a man of discerning taste and disarming friendliness who was kind enough to chauffeur me around in his various toys one recent morning.  I took a lot of photos, so I thought I'd post them car by car.Phil's boyish enthusiasm for his cars is contagious, so by the time we arrived at his garage, a nondescript building on the West Bank of the Hudson River, we were giddily debating which car to drive first. It had to be the A110. I have watched a lot of footage of these cars in action, and seen one a long time ago when i was in High School.  But to behold the diminutive French rally car in person once again was like finally meeting an old pen pal.  I knew everything about it, but had no idea what to say...We carefully pulled out of the garage. Sadly the streets of Jersey City are not terribly interesting nor welcoming to midcentury fiberglass sports cars, so we had to zip from stoplight to stoplight, making a terrific amount of noise but not getting anywhere too fast.  The car has a magnificent and raucous exhaust note that I found intoxicating, and considering the engine's small displacement, the car was quite eager to get up and go.  The chrome-ringed Veglia Borletti instruments and diamond quilted upholstery are pretty much the epitome of 1960s sporting feel. And above your head you can reach up and touch the thin fiberglass shell, with its delicate foam headliner.  I don't think there is a cooler interior out there, honestly. We drew plenty of looks as we motored through the barrio, with plenty of smiles and thumbs up. Yet no one could be quite sure of what they were seeing!Sadly, we didn't have enough time to really see what the car can do in terms of handling, but even based on my limited time in the car, there is no doubt that on a twisty forest road upstate, the A110 would be pure magic.

Click HERE for the rest of the images!

Stay tuned for the next installment: the Lancia Stratos