EDITORIAL

I am very excited. It's in anticipation of this year's Tour Auto, when a simply staggering array of Ferrari 250 GTs — the car that dominated the event year after year in the late 50s, early 60s — will leave Paris on 20 April for a re-run of battles past. Many of these are cars with period racing history and would have been top–running entries in their day.

A flick through any Ferrari history book reveals the great 250 GT in its various winning iterations: from de Portago's LWB car in 1956 to Bianchi's 1963–bodied GTO in 1964. Their condition then was very different from the immaculately prepared, multi–million–dollar machines of today, but that is the way of the collecting market and its treatment of 'obsolete' competition cars.

So, if you can make it to Paris for the scrutineering and start of this year's Tour, it's going to be well worth it. Or, as an alternative, follow the event as it makes its way to Beaulieu–sur–Mer.

And — ever the one to make suggestions — I think either of this week's driving feature cars would provide the perfect transport.

Hood–down, a few hundred kilometres in either a Bentley Azure T or Audi R8 V10 Spyder following a gaggle of crackling SWBs sounds good to me.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

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