Following the last newsletter Ray Deaker passed onto the snoop a video link to a mountain run demonstration of “Fangio’s C Type”. Good viewing it is too. These cars were made for fun. Google “sideways in Fangio’s C type on a wet mountain road” to join that fun. But there is more to the story.…

The Fangio’s Toys article unearthed references to a Alfa Romeo 6C marine engine used in Argentine mecanica nacional cars. More research was in order. It turned out that there were two such cars, a 1930’s Grand Prix Alfa Romeo 8C, and an Argentine national formula one. The 8C had been crashed at Buenos Aries in…

The good thing about being a semi-retired chap is that there is time to do stuff for no other purpose than filling in time. Doing this newsletter for instance. But that takes research, and the prime objective of research is to identify avenues for further research. A while back, when putting the Maserati series together,…

Late last year the snoop was musing about dragging his old seven out of the shed, straightening it out and getting it back on the track. Given the substantial rear end damage, that would open up an opportunity to rebuild the back with independent suspension. The factory itself did occasional conversions, and all went very…

I rambled around the formula junior tents at both the Skope and the Enzed meetings. As a long time Lotus fan the opportunity to get close up to all the generations of Lotus Juniors, from the 18 to the 27 was too good an opportunity to miss. Cocking an ear to the public address commentary…

Two conundrums for you. An in period but non factory spec formula junior and a sports car chassis not mentioned on factory records at all but with paperwork supporting a claim to be the genuine article. Are they classic racers? Should we even bother to ask the question? First up is the Lotus 20/22 of…

As I was sitting and reminiscing in the hot seat of Rob Boult’s Edelbrock Special at the last Scope meeting, Rob was approached by a group of drivers from the Grand Prix Specials Team. “We are thinking of a new rule they said. No V8’s”. (Rob had just run away from the field in a…

I have been playing with old flat head V8’s recently. Helping to coax a couple back into life at the Hokitika Industrial Heritage Park. That got me thinking of the V8 Specials that raced when I was young. I have in mind a “members cars” article on one of these, but that idea needs a…

The old war time adage was that walls had ears. This story is about a wall that had cars, or one of them anyway. I caught up with this car at the Scope meeting, told its present owner that I had not seen it since the 1960’s. And what a tale he told in return.…