Cars

In the late sixties, Henry Ford II was still bitter about his company’s failure to acquire Ferrari. The legendary GT40 wins at Le Mans offered him some sense of retribution, but he still yearned to sell an Italian sports car under the Blue Oval. A partnership developed with De Tomaso, which also hailed from Modena and, while not enjoying the same prestige as the Prancing Horse, had the added benefit of owning Italian coachbuilders Ghia and Vignale – assets which Ford soon happily acquired, with Alejandro de Tomaso anticipating them making little future profit for his company.

Audi had already won the 1984 World Rally Championship by the time the 205 T16 (standing for Turbo, 16-valve) arrived on the scene. Using the famous Quattro, the Germans once again took the title back to Ingolstadt, with Lancia having marginally snatched it the season before with the 037.

So, given the short time frame, let’s get straight on with the driving impressions – aided by the short video above. The car is the headlining lot in this year’s auction at Aston Martin Works, one of only four Sanction II DB4GT Zagatos ever made, and an honourable addition to the original 19.

Aside from the increase in engine size suggested by the name (from 5.5 to 5.7 litres), improvements for the 575M model (M is for ‘modificato’) included more power, bigger brakes, improvements in suspension and minor cosmetic changes. In 2006, the 575M Maranello was superceded by the 599 GTB, but the car it replaced remains a hugely desirable machine: a modern supercar, with flowing (but never brash) lines, in the front-engined configuration of a real driver’s Ferrari – a layout that harks back to the glorious ‘Daytona’.

And as you will see in the photographs, that also includes sports cars from 1953, the year when the Grand Prix was for two-seaters.

The format of the weekend is a simple one. On Friday, after setting up in the harbour-side paddock and a drivers' briefing at the Credit Suisse Drivers Club, competitors are allowed free practice all afternoon. The circuit closure, together with the weekend exodus and non-native commuters, has the effect of paralysing traffic for miles around.

The new set of prototypes display what will be close to the final design for the bodywork, albeit clothed in camouflage which serves as a monochromatic tribute to Attwood and Herrmann’s legendary red-and-white 917K. Previous 918 test mules have had much cruder bodywork solutions.

The sportiest road-registered MINI ever made will go on sale later this year, with production limited to just 2,000 cars. Thanks to the MINI JCW GP’s exclusive powertrain, chassis and aerodynamics – all “inspired directly by motor sport” – the twin-scroll turbo engine propelled the new model round the Nordschleife in a time than was almost 19 seconds faster than its predecessor, the MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit.

Only 70 example of this rare model were originally built, in three series. It was in 1946 that Donald Healey created the first 17 cars, the ‘A series’, powered by a 2.4-litre Riley engine with 104HP. The UK price of £2,334 (and a startling $7,500 in the USA) made it twice as expensive as a Cadillac cabriolet. And of course, being a Healey, the model was used competitively as well as on the road.

The former chicken farmer, famous for his striped bib-and-brace overalls, made his name in Ferraris, Maseratis and Listers in American races in the late 1950s, driving for wealthy team owners such as John Edgar.

In 1959, Shelby co-drove with Roy Salvadori to give Aston Martin its only Le Mans win. Their DBR1 headed an Aston one-two at the famous 24-hour race.

“We can’t promise the same idyllic weather as last year,” stated the organisers in this year’s introduction to the Festival, and they were correct. Saturday’s weather was grey and cold but the on-track action was the exact opposite: proceedings were opened by the pre-War sports cars, which saw Bentleys, Astons, Alfas and Fraser Nashes battling it out in the ‘Mad Jack’ race.