STAR CARS ON DISPLAY
As a festival devoted to motoring literature you might expect to have a few of the star subjects on display . Ticking that box in a most diverse way is a trio of iconic machines developed to challenge the very best on road and track. BRM's amazing P15 Mk1 V16, the Ferrari Breadvan and the Jaguar E-type 9600 HP will all be there in the Pit Garages.
Our Event Partner Girardo & Co. will have a superb Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive and a Ferrari 250 P /275 P on display and our other Event Partner, Alpine, will be bringing along a superb selection of their cars too.
In addition to this, we will also have on display a 1988 Camel Trophy Land Rover Defender on display, which won the 1989 Camel Trophy Amazon event.
GIRARDO & CO.
FERRARI 550 MARANELLO PRODRIVE
We are so pleased to have Max Girardo and his colleagues involved. Like several of the really top end specialists, Girardo appreciates and collects motoring books. More than that, they recently published, in conjunction with DK Engineering, a book written by Keith entitled ‘Ferrari 550 Maranello by Prodrive - The Last V12 Ferrari to Win at Le Mans’.
Conceived by Frédéric Dor’s Care Racing Development outfit and designed, developed and constructed by Prodrive, the Ferrari 550 GT1s, as they were commonly known, entered 343 races across the globe between 2001 and 2008, scoring 60 pole positions, 69 victories and 151 podium finishes.
Girardo will have on display one of the 12 cars built by Prodrive. This example, chassis number CRD05, was the winner of the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series GTS title, GTS class winner of Petit Le Mans in 2003, finished second in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2003, is a three-time entrant in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has scored seven victories, 20 podiums finishes and three pole positions, was second in the 2005 FFSA French GT Championship, finished a staggering 96 percent of the 69 races it entered between 2003 and 2008, is the fifth of only 10 Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrives raced in period on behalf of Care Racing Development and is presented in its Petit Le Mans-winning specification and livery.
FERRARI 250 P/275 P
The 250 P was Ferrari's first V12 rear-engined sports racer and this car won Le Mans in 1963. For 1964 the 3-litre engine was bored out to 3.3-litres, renamed the 275 P and again took victory at Le Mans. Keith Bluemel is currently writing a book on this very important car for Porter Press, to be published in 2024.
ALPINE
Alpine A110
Alpine A110R
Alpine A110S '73 in the Ivory Coast Rally colours
Alpine A110 San Remo ’73 limited edition
In 1955, Jean Rédélé, a driven entrepreneur, founded Alpine on the three pillars of agility, elegance and a competitive spirit.
Designed by drivers for people who want to master the tarmac, Alpine was crafted by legendary victories, and a limitless commitment to motorsport.
Since 2016, our A110 has helped us climb through the ranks of motorsport. Tomorrow, we want to reinvent motorsport with innovative technologies drawn from Formula 1, endurance racing and rallying for passionate drivers.
BRM P15 V16
In the battle for motor racing’s top crown and associated national bragging rights, BRM’s opening salvo was the P15 Mk1 V16. Fiendishly complex and notoriously unreliable, it proved to be a magnificent failure. But when it worked, it unleashed a war cry so fiercely beautiful it simply would not be forgotten. The P15 is a glorious monument to a time when patriotism drove automotive innovation through motorsport.
Photos courtesy of BRM, copyright Wonderhatch.
Video copyright BRM - British Racing Motors.
FERRARI BREADVAN
Born from a desire for revenge, the highly distinctive ‘Breadvan’ was commissioned by Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata as a ‘Ferrari to beat the GTO’. The man charged with developing the car was none other than exiled Ferrari 250 GTO-mastermind Giotto Bizzarrini. Starting out as a Ferrari 250 GT Short Wheelbase Competizione, chassis number 2819 GT, eventually became the fast, infamous, somewhat fragile but instantly recognisable ‘Breadvan’. Style definitely took a back seat to aerodynamics and its frontline competition career was a short one, but, thanks to an ever-growing fanbase, its legend lives on.
Image copyright John Colley.
CAMEL TROPHY LAND ROVER DEFENDER
UK Team car and winning vehicle from the 1989 Camel Trophy Amazon event. Painted classic Camel Trophy Sandglow, the vehicle was kitted out by Land Rover’s Special Installations Department after being built at the Land Rover factory, Solihull. Extra equipment includes Warn 8274 winch, Safety Devices roll cage, Brownchurch roof rack and bull bar. Transmission and engine remains standard Land Rover.
JAGUAR SS 100
BWK 77, 'OLD NUMBER 8'
Launched in 1935, the rakish SS Jaguar 100 was a landmark model for the company that had been founded by William Lyons as Swallow Sidecars and which would evolve into Jaguar. As the first true performance car to wear the Jaguar name, it soon attracted the attention of drivers who recognised its competition potential – and chassis number 18008 would become the most famous SS100 of all.
Images copyright John Colley
Better known by its registration number BWK 77, or simply as ‘Old Number 8’, it was sold new to Sammy Newsome before being bought back by the SS Cars factory. It went on to become the works development car before making headlines when the husband-and-wife team of Tommy and Elsie Wisdom achieved a penalty-free run on the 1936 International Alpine Trial.
After being modified into lightweight 3.5-litre form, BWK 77 raced at prestigious venues such as Brooklands and Shelsley Walsh, eventually being sold into private ownership after World War Two. Its competition history did not end there, however. Subsequent owners have continued to use this revered SS100 in the manner to which it had become accustomed and this, the 11th book in the Exceptional Cars series from Porter Press International, brings its remarkable story right up to date.
JAGUAR XK 120 FIXED HEAD COUPÉ
Stirling Moss was a Jaguar works driver from 1951 to 1954. Early in 1951, he acquired an XK 120 Fixed Head Coupé to use for driving from race meeting to race meeting, mainly on the Continent, which explains why it is a left hand drive example. He had it painted in two-tone cream and light green, and also did a few serious rallies in the car including the Lyons-Charbonnieres Rally with Gregor Grant, the founding Editor of Autosport as his navigator.
Quoting from the Stirling Moss Scrapbook 1929-54, Sir Stirling told Philip Porter, “The 120 Fixed Head Coupé was a nice, good-looking car. I had a tow bar because I was towing around a caravan. I had a really nice caravan because I thought it would save me stopping to stay in hotels and also save some money.
“The caravan was inclined to wander and so that I could go more quickly I got something called a ‘Dolly Trolley’. That virtually made it into a four wheeler, which I thought would help. I can tell you the ‘Dolly Trolley’ was not a success. Where it fixed on, something broke. I had just been over a mountain and was going down the other side, looked in my mirror and the caravan was veering around at speed. So I put my foot down, and it turned over – I was carrying six dozen eggs from our farm at home. The whole lot went everywhere inside the caravan – it was really messy! And that was the end of the caravan.
JAGUAR E-TYPE: 848 CRY
This, the twelfth RHD E-type roadster, was originally registered 2 BBC in 1961, but, following a successful season on the race track, was re-registered 848 CRY. It was with this number that it appeared in the film The Italian Job and, although in need of a full restoration, was purchased by Philip Porter in 1977.
JAGUAR E-TYPE: 9600 HP
9600 HP is the only remaining prototype and is the oldest surviving Jaguar E-type. In 1961, it served as a press car and was driven flat-out across France to be in Geneva in time for the E-type’s official launch. Subsequently owned by the likes of racing driver Jack Fairman, 9600 HP was acquired by Philip Porter in 1977 and kept in a barn until 1999, when a deal was done that would lead to its emotional return to the road…