Cars

It's the little things...

Pininfarina has made so many notable cars in its history that it’s often given its own dedicated class at concours shows – but, for the first time, the coachbuilder’s classics enjoyed their very own event, as part of the Parco Valentino Salone & Gran Premio in Turin earlier this month. A total of 50 prominent automobiles gathered in the courtyard of the Valentino Castle, after completing a tour through the city centre, much to the delight of the patriotic locals.

Golden era

In the late 1960s, the original Ghibli was more expensive to buy than the celebrated Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. And yet, as evidence of both its beauty and superb driveability (not to mention 170mph potential from its 4.7-litre V8 engine, in coupé form), it outsold the hugely admired Ferrari. The exquisitely designed grand tourer (said by many to be Maserati’s ultimate road car) was the work of stylist Giorgetto Giugiaro, while he was working for Ghia. It made its first public appearance at the 1966 Turin motor show, going on sale the following year.

This isn’t the first vehicle belonging to a Top Gear presenter we’ve seen for sale in the wake of the Clarkson fracas-gate – Richard Hammond had a similar idea, selling his ‘Big Foot’ Land Rover Defender a while back. 

Juxtaposition

It’s rare to have more than a trio of vintage Bugattis at a classic car meeting, so try to imagine 95 together for an entire week. At the International Bugatti Meeting last week, 17 different models were represented, driven by teams from 16 different countries. 

Why dream?

There’s hardly a sports-racing team that doesn’t dream of taking home the coveted overall victory at Le Mans, such is the race’s fame and prestige. As such, I decided that I wanted to experience every minute of this year’s edition, to find out exactly where the fascination comes from. Naturally, I sought help along the way, by talking to Le Mans veterans, team bosses and motorsport fans in general. And to defy fatigue? An hourly intake of caffeine, from flag to flag.