Cars

The formula has worked well over the years at Villa d’Este, and earlier this month an even more exclusive event took place at the stunning Lake Como hotel: a meeting of many of the immediately post-War Alfa Romeo coupés carrying the magical name, ‘Villa d’Este’.

First of all, a little history. In the aftermath of WW2, Touring of Milan produced an elegant coupé design on the shortest wheelbase chassis of the 6C 2500. When fitted with an ‘SS’, triple-Weber version of the Alfa Romeo straight-six it was, of course, a ‘6C 2500SS’.

The new Aston Martin, available as a ‘2+0’ as well as a 2+2, has already been shown to selected customers and will be revealed as an in-the-metal production car in early July.

Perhaps ‘in the metal’ is not entirely appropriate, as the latest Vanquish has all-carbonfibre bodywork – a first for the Gaydon company, the million-euro One-77 featuring hand-made aluminium panels on a composite chassis.

Following a principle set by the previous generation Continental GT, the Speed variant sharpens driving dynamics and boosts power over the standard model: this time up to 616bhp and 590lb ft.

That translates to a top speed of 205mph – which not only betters that of the regular W12, but also the Supersports model which crowned the previous generation. The 0-62mph benchmark is also dispatched rather more quickly than the current W12's effort, down from 4.4 to 4.0 seconds.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be: despite being launched at the 1984 Birmingham Motor Show to a rapturous reception from public and media alike, Lotus was in a familiar phase of turmoil.

Its eminent custodian had passed away a couple of years prior, but not before instructing the company’s Chief Engineer Tony Rudd to build a new V8 engine (codenamed Type 909); it was to have as much in common with the slant-four still operational across the Lotus family as possible, while conjuring 320bhp and 300lb ft.

The #1 R18 e-tron quattro, driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer had been on pole position and was followed over the line by its sister hybrid car of Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish. Third was the all-diesel factory Audi of Marco Bonanomi/Oliver Jarvis/Mike Rockenfeller. The remaining Audi finished fifth.

While the very first Cobras were powered by 260ci V8s, the most well-known version of the Anglo-American roadster was a 289 (4.7-litre). This formed the basis for the Ford-bankrolled company to take on – and beat – Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin in international GT racing, achieving an over-2000cc class victory in 1965.

The ‘big-block’ 7-litre V8 went into a heavily revised Cobra later in its life, seeing action on the race tracks and drag strips as well as the highway. The Cobra 427 was raced until the early 1970s, winning hundreds of events.

Many will remember the Rocketman concept from its debut at last year’s Geneva Motor Show; it was BMW’s vision of a new MINI truer to the original’s petite dimensions. Now, as part of BMW’s extensive sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics, it has been given a number of “unmistakably British design features.”

Thurgood reckons that his ‘in and out in a day’ programme policy will appeal to racers (and their other halves) who are tired of spending long periods of time away from home, not to mention the additional costs involved. And if that isn’t enough to encourage both competitors and spectators, the fact that the day is a highly worthwhile fund-raiser should help to convince.

The pair of cars shows the different stages in the development of the Anglo-American, mid-engined racer built specifically to win the Le Mans 24 Hours for Ford in the 1960s.