Also, while I’m at it, what really does make the Woking workforce tick? I was able to spend some time with the car’s designer, Frank Stephenson, as well as admire Executive Chairman Ron Dennis’s new steel, glass and white-tiled McLaren Production Centre, now in full swing with the most perfect cars now gliding effortlessly off the production line.
It'll be the second year that the festivities take place in the grounds of the Duke of Northumberland's London pad, following its migration from the Hurlingham Club to cope with swelling attendances year-on-year. It will, however, be the first time that the event has taken place so late in the summer, with renovation works to the house nudging the date back to 5-7 September.
In recent years he’s carved an enviable reputation presenting F1 on television and been a ‘natural’ at historic racing, most notably behind the wheel of Nick Mason’s Ferrari 250 GTO. This year he will share a Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 car at Le Mans with his son, Alex.
When were you more nervous on the grid at an F1 race? Behind the wheel, or in front of the TV cameras, starting your now famous grid walkabout?
Saguaro cactus, desert flowers, eucalyptus groves, big sky and remnants of the Old West. Great roads, great cars, and one nice bunch of people. And no rally clocks. What’s not to like? Well… nothing. (We were warned about the occasional infestation of javelinas on the road – if you don’t know what they are, look them up – but no sightings were reported.)
Yes, Ferrari had introduced the 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer a couple of years earlier but, when it came out, Lamborghini’s take on 1970s mid-engined supercars was almost out of this world. Having a NACA duct, boxey periscopo intakes and origami-inspired bodywork, the LP400 pre-dated Star Wars stormtrooper design cues by three years.
The late Seventies were not a time which Lamborghini looks back on with any great affection; the 1973 oil crisis and resulting recession had drained the manufacturer’s finances, while Ferruccio Lamborghini had relinquished his controlling stake in the company to see out his final years on a lakeside estate in Perugia.
As ever, though, the emphasis of the event is about beautiful cars driven on a carefully selected route through stunning French countryside.
This year’s Tour Auto Optic 2ooo, after scrutineering at the Grand Palais in Paris on Monday 16 April, set off early the following day with the next overnight stop being Beaune. Wednesday was Etape 2 (Beaune to Aix-Les-Bains), while Thursday’s travelling finished in Clermont-Ferrand and Friday’s in Nîmes.
Daimler and Vanden Plas might no longer be relevant designations for top-of-the-line Jaguars but, given today’s prosperous markets overseas (the new car’s chosen launch platform of China being a perfect example), halo XJs are as pertinent as ever.
