This sublime image by Otis Blank.
See Otis’s W108 feature here.
Follow the three-pointed star..
•February 16, 2012 • 1 CommentAmaury and co. strike again!
•February 15, 2012 • 3 CommentsThese are by Asphalt Heritage club member Matthieu Brotel and they are from the 2011 Maroc Classic Rallye in yup, you guessed it, le Maroc.
As we’ve come to expect, the photographs are terrific.
A little bit about the rally, as told by Amaury and Matthieu:
This is an historical rally going through Morocco that has taken place each year since 1993. The layout is wonderful and different every year, a bit like the Tour Auto. The cars go from Rabat to Marrakech, passing through beautiful cities like Erfoud, Tangier, and Ouarzazate. The 2011 route traveled 2,147 km through the High Atlas and along the Strait of Gibraltar, with 70 cars participating in the rally.
Morocco is “the country of paradoxes,” in that in a very short period of time, the weather can completely change. The cars drove through a snowstorm in very cold winds followed by a sunny road in the middle of a dry and warm desert just minutes later. These old cars need to run strong! But that’s also one of the great charms of the country, as you can swim in the sea and then go on the Oukaïmeden Ski Resort in the same day without having to travel very far.
As always, view the full set over at the Asphalt Heritage website. Thanks to Amaury for sharing the story and the shots!
Evo IX down by the tracks
•February 14, 2012 • 6 CommentsThis superb image by Dennis Noten. Love it.
The car as supporting actor
•February 13, 2012 • 1 CommentThis is what might be referred to as incidental automotive photography (compelling photography – not necessarily of the automotive variety – that happens to include cars we love) as opposed to “glossy magazine-style car photography”. Both have their place, but artistically and substantively, our heart lies with the former.
As you can see below, Nick Maggio is great at this stuff.
Know of anyone else shooting this way? Let us know— we’d love to check it out.
Chris Harris drives the Subaru BRZ Scion FR-S Toyota GT 86 at Jarama
•February 9, 2012 • 4 Comments Think he likes it much?
Our only lament is its looks.. this is not a great-looking car in stock form. Perhaps not even in modified form. So at least for us it falls just short of being the complete package.
Kudos, though, to Toyota for finally doing something interesting again and re-injecting itself into the enthusiast conversation after what seemed like a generation spent – self-imposed, mind you – in the motoring wilderness. It’s been a long time coming from the likes of the Mark II MR2 and Mark IV Supra to now.
“Snow Magic”
•February 8, 2012 • 7 CommentsReader Laurent shared these images of his beloved Citroën SM taken recently in -9°C weather, noting that he took great pains to pilot the car only on new-fallen snow (before his local “Department of Public Works” – or whatever the Luxembourgian equivalent happens to be – managed to blast snow-eviscerating salt onto the roads).
He amusingly referred to the whole episode as “Snow Magic”. Viewing these shots, we concur! Sa Majesté looks great against the wintery backdrop.
Gianpiero Moretti, founder of Momo: 1940-2012
•February 8, 2012 • 3 Comments
This news has been reported elsewhere (first by Axis, probably, ahead of the curve as usual), but we thought it deserved a mention here.
Gianpiero Moretti, who designed a sleek, easy-to-grasp steering wheel that has improved the performance of championship racecar drivers for more than half a century — though he himself had limited success behind the wheel in hundreds of races — died on Jan. 13 in Milan. He was 71…
Mr. Moretti started his automotive accessories company Momo in Verona, Italy, in 1966. That was two years after the champion Formula One driver John Surtees had one of Mr. Moretti’s new steering wheels installed in his Ferrari 158 F1.
Mr. Moretti designed the new steering wheel in his garage. It was smaller in diameter than the ones then in use; the wheel was wrapped in leather rather than made entirely of wood and metal; and it was contoured for better greater control. It was also more stylish and soon became standard in many racing and road cars, including special Ferrari models.
Momo — whose name is an amalgam of “Moretti” and “Monza,” a town north of Milan near a well-known racetrack — expanded to make an array of racing products, including helmets, shift knobs, road wheels, fireproof driving suits, gloves and shoes, all carrying the familiar red-and-yellow label (source).
Thanks for the wonderful steering wheels, sir.
We love seeing this
•February 7, 2012 • 4 CommentsSomething about a classic rear-drive Bug – a heavily lowered one at that – in the snow makes us smile.
Motoring Con Brio 