After a hearty breakfast and a last minute dip into the onsen, the second day of the Marronier Run was going to be all about admiration. I headed out to the front of the Hotel nice and early so that I could make full use of the beautiful morning light that was just breaking over [...]
The Marronier Run is probably one of the lesser-known classic car events in Japan. It’s a friendly rally organized by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable weekends I’ve had in a very long time. We are always on a mission to step outside of our comfort zones [...]
Events like the Donington Historic Festival are like attending a year’s worth of the best racing events imaginable in one weekend, crossed with a time warp. That means the most exciting racing cars from across the last century, all in one place, all for you. One minute you can be watching priceless Ferrari and Aston [...]
…As do the noses and faces at the luxury end of the market. Geometric lines and stark angles battled with classic curves and swooping shapes in the nose styling and staring eyes of headlight clusters all around the Geneva Motor Show. Trekking around the halls, there was a refreshingly eclectic range of design aesthetics visible [...]
The Le Mans 24 Hours is part of the holy trinity of motor races alongside the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianoplis 500. It’s the race that the drivers want to win – but more importantly, perhaps even more than the other two, it’s the race that the manufactures want to win. That’s why major [...]
What do you remember about the 1980s? What things does that decade make you think of? Were you even born then?! To some people, the decade recalls a new wave of questionable music, terrible fashion crimes, big hair, the rise of MTV and soap operas like Dallas. More seriously there were nuclear meltdowns, ill-thought out [...]
It’s right back at Daikoku PA now for a final look at the other day’s supercar gathering. During the few hours that I was there I literally never stopped walking around, because as cars left, more kept coming in. By around lunch time the lot was so full that a many were forced to park [...]
If you sit on one of LA’s crowded freeways these days, you’ll probably notice a lot of hybrids and other “green” vehicles surrounding you. Los Angeles is one of the biggest markets in the USA for eco-friendly vehicles, and this isn’t lost on exhibitors at the annual LA Auto Show. Each year the show brings a number of new hybrid and EV production cars, as well as futuristic concepts with even bolder aspirations. But let’s not forget that LA is also considered by many to be the birthplace of Hot Rodding, Lowriding, Japanese import customization, and many other more exciting aspects of car culture.
The launch of the new Jaguar F-Type has meant the reintroduction of the classic Jaguar sportscar letter-based naming convention after an almost 50 year break. C- and D-Type Jaguars conquered the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times in seven years during the ’50s; E-Types won their class at Le Mans in the ’60s and [...]
The Classic Motor Show at the Birmingham NEC is a Mecca for retro car fans: hall upon hall of clubs, cars for sale, restoration workshops, auto-jumble and auctions. For me it turned into an unexpected journey of nostalgic bliss, with cars at every turn that triggered memories from across my life: childhood pin-ups, cars that [...]
Overwhelming. That was the first reaction on entering the second showroom at JD Classics in Essex, the UK’s – if not the world’s – premier historic car restoration firm. Surrounded by Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and so on, I had the impression that I was in an international automotive art museum of the highest calibre. Which [...]
A major part of JD Classics’ passion is invested in historic racing: not just supporting customer cars but fielding their own fleet of historic racers and even organising race series themselves. As with their road-going maintenance and restoration services that I took a look at in the previous story, the range of racing cars they [...]
The interior of the building gleams white with almost hospital levels of shine and crispness. Cars glitter under the lights, some looking like they’ve literally just rolled off the production line, others stripped back and in the process of being attended to by the large team of surgeon-mechanics. Everywhere chrome sparkles and immaculate paint reflects. [...]
Attending the Goodwood Revival and Gatebil on consecutive weekends is quite a difficult thing to cope with. From a place which is all about pushing machinery to the limit, both on track and in terms of just what is possible with a car, to the ultimate celebration of everything retro within five days. Both events are [...]
Talk about a breath of fresh air. There is noting more refreshing than taking a break from things that become routine, and believe it or not, at times covering the JDM-only side of Japanese car culture can become quite repetitive. So yesterday, with this in mind, I decided to head up to Tsukuba circuit to [...]
