Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Motor Sport Magazine

This month’s cover story is not your usual Motor Sport fare. It is true that we have covered films and documentaries about motor racing in the past but we have tended to focus on those that deal with the retelling of historical events. As a sporting title we are on solid ground when we can refer back to what actually happened (not least via our digital archive of contemporaneous reporting) and have our say on new insights – or exaggerations – that a film may contain. Our cover story in 2019 of the Hollywood movie Ford v Ferrari (or Le Mans ’66 as it was also known) was a good example of this. But the upcoming F1 film starring Brad Pitt is a different beast: it is an entirely fictional…

PHONE NUMBERS July 1960 Jenks is at the Monaco GP and notices that the BRMs have unfinished cockpits: “Drivers were using sponge rubber to make themselves comfortable.” Away from the glitz we test three-wheelers. On seeing a Scootacar, a mechanic wit says, “We don’t service telephone boxes here.” MOTOWN MEDLEY July 1983 The well-travelled Jenks reports from the Detroit GP: “It’s an unqualified success – it looks like ‘Motown’ will stay as the ‘Gotown’.” Later, we ask Stig Blomqvist why he sits so low in cars. “I think about the roof,” he admits. “In the Saab I roll over so often, I want to get away from it!” DO-RE-JIM July 2009 Lunch With… is in Monte Carlo’s Hotel Columbus with Allan McNish; he orders fish and chips in newspaper –…

email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.com Niki Lauda used to say you need to know how to take risks and when to take them. Oscar Piastri’s pass on Lewis Hamilton in Jeddah [Mark Hughes’ Race Report, June] was a pivotal point in the race as he could not afford to spend half a lap or so passing the Ferrari or Max Verstappen would have caught him. It was a risky move but necessary. The kind of move that sets him apart as exceptional and worthy of lifting the drivers’ title this year. TIMOTHY HADLEIGH, COBHAM, SURREY Like many other Australian Formula 1 followers I have been annoyed this year at the British Sky TV (viewed here on Foxtel) commentators blathering endlessly about Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, feeling that a worldwide broadcast…

From the early stages of the filming of the F1 movie it was common knowledge that Brad Pitt’s character Sonny Hayes had supposedly raced in the ’90s before a major accident derailed his career. It was also rumoured that the crash was based on that suffered by Martin Donnelly in practice for the Spanish GP on September 28, 1990, and which saw the Ulsterman suffer severe injuries. The fact that Donnelly was spotted in the fictional Apex GP team’s garage at last year’s British GP appeared to confirm he was in the loop. A trailer released in March indicated that not only did his accident form part of the story, but also just how accurately it had been recreated by director Joe Kosinski. Pitt was shown with a Camel-liveried Lotus…

In the opening seconds of the Miami Grand Prix it looked like Lando Norris was going to wrest the lead from Max Verstappen into Turn 2, as the McLaren driver got the power down out of Turn 1 while the Red Bull was squirming on the kerbs, having run out wide. Turn 2 is a quick left-hander and although Norris was on the outside as they charged towards it side by side, he had more momentum and a less compromised approach angle. But rather than racing through the corner, the latest driving guidelines for 2025 stipulate that the contest effectively ends at the apex. To be entitled to racing room, the overtaking driver on the outside must now have his front axle at least level with that of the inside…

Richard Attwood strides into the pub, dapper as ever just days after his 85th birthday, and greets me with an enormous grin. The pub is significant, not for what, but where it is. When we were arranging our meeting he insisted on knowing the precise route I’d be taking from my home in the Wye Valley to his in the Midlands because he wanted to make sure it was as convenient for me as possible. If you know Richard, this will surprise you not in the very least. There’s so much we could be talking about. There is his unexplained escape from death towards the start of his top-level career, when during the 1965 Belgian Grand Prix he wrapped his Lotus 25 around a telegraph pole at the exit of…

Monterey Car Week. That’s something of a misnomer – because this worldren-owned homage to car culture has grown into a 10-day extravaganza that this year runs from August 8–17. In fact, it’s even longer because, four days before the official start, scores of classics will meet in Kirkland, near Seattle, to take part in the 1500-mile Pebble Beach Motoring Classic which ends on the Monterey Peninsula nine days later – in good time for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The concours (Sunday, August 17) remains the main event of Monterey Car Week despite being just one of dozens of peripheral happenings that have evolved from it – in just the same way that the concours itself was founded in 1950 as an add-on to the Pebble Beach Road Races which…

Pebble Beach might be the name that everyone associates with what many believe to be the most important classic car gathering on the planet, but there’s another event during Monterey Car Week that, dare we say it, has come to be regarded as almost more prestigious and even more exclusive. A relative upstart compared with the 75-year-old Pebble Beach Concours, the loftily named The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering was only established in 2004 but quickly grew to become the place to be seen for spectators, car owners and manufacturers alike. It was probably destined to be something extra special from the outset, not least because Rolex – which employs an extensive team of people with a knack of sniffing out prestigious events worthy of its name – has been title…

Off to the Le Mans 24 Hours (as a spectator, we mean) and looking for a head-turning car in which to do the journey? A regular Citroen 2CV wouldn’t really do the trick, since there are thousands still plying the roads of France – but a Hoffmann 2CV Cabriolet version is a rare sight, even over there. And this one is an exceptional example. If you’re unfamiliar with the Hoffmann, it was the brainchild of German engineer Wolfgang Hoffmann and his son Felix, who developed an ingenious parts kit which converts the regular, four-door, four-seat 2CV into a full two-seat convertible. Everything from the windscreen forwards remains standard Citroën, but all bodywork ‘aft’ is discarded and replaced by Hoffman’s superb quality cabriolet tub made from glass-fibre bordered by a steel…

FORTHCOMING SALE HIGHLIGHTS ● BARONS, MARCHWOOD, SOUTHAMPTON, JUNE 14 Following its acquisition at the start of the year by Manor Park Classics, Barons has upped the regularity of its sales, which are now held on the second Saturday of each month. The pairing promises to create a significant force in the market, not least since it is offering some of the lowest fees to both buyers and sellers. Viewing for this sale begins on June 7. ● DORE & REES, THRUXTON, HAMPSHIRE, JUNE 21 This year’s Thruxton Retro festival will offer all the usual attractions (which range from a variety of on-track events to motorcycle displays, a big top and live music) plus the new addition of an official auction. Dore & Rees from Frome has landed the task and…

BRITISH MOTOGP GRAND PRIX, SILVERSTONE, MAY 25 Marco Bezzecchi pulled off a shock victory at the British MotoGP round in May after a mechanical problem ended leader Fabio Quartararo’s race with seven laps to go. Championship leader Marc Marquez took third. Official figures showed that spectator numbers dipped below 100,000 for the first time in a decade. The race organisers have announced that from 2026 the GP will move to August – avoiding the end of May clash with other major events such as F1’s Monaco GP, Indianapolis 500 and practice for the Isle of Man TT. Whether that boosts the dwindling crowds remains to be seen.…

Surrounded by forest and the flatlands of rural Sweden, Anderstorp was the home of the Swedish Grand Prix from 1973 to ’78 when ‘Superswede’ Ronnie Peterson was at the height of his career. It was a popular date on the calendar with the drivers but the Swedes no longer have a grand prix. Sadly there was little public or corporate support for the race after both Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson died during the 1978 Formula 1 season. The circuit, originally known as the Scandinavian Raceway, was built on marshland in 1968, the long straight still used as an aircraft runway and the pits positioned half-way round the track. The layout was modified several times, a chicane was added at Norra Kurvan corner for 1974, and in the late 1990s it…

Twenty twenty-five is a renaissance year for TAG Heuer. With parent company LVMH becoming the main sponsor of Formula 1, the driver-orientated watchmaker reprises the role of official timekeeper it held first from 1974-79 and again from 1992-2003. The job puts the brand front and centre before a new generation of race fans who represent its target demographic – and it’s tempting them by releasing a slew of new, carorientated models throughout the season. In pole position is a revamp of a watch that was once one of its most successful and affordable designs: the Formula 1. It’s difficult to imagine being able to call a product Formula 1 now – but when TAG Heuer named it in 1986 (just after it was acquired by McLaren’s then engine supplier Techniques…

It gives me no pleasure to say it, but the only true BMW M car of recent times to which I’ve felt a proper connection is the baby of them all, the M2. As an alternative to a Porsche Cayman for those in need of rear seats it’s the possible choice you can make. It could be lighter – a lot lighter indeed – but it’s quite compact, well-balanced, more than fast enough and once properly wound up, really good fun. A far cry from the new M5 at the other end of the spectrum which is not merely a bit overweight, but astonishingly so, and more than sufficient for this burden to ensure that, however objectively impressive, that key driver interaction without which no M car should wear the…

First F1 conquered the small screen with Drive to Survive. Now it is aiming to do the same with the silver screen with a star studded movie release. In production for well over two years the new film, set for release in the UK on July 25, is already being talked about as the summer’s big blockbuster. With a budget rumoured to be around $300m and Brad Pitt in the lead role, there is speculation that it may eclipse even Ford v Ferrari, the surprise motor sport hit of six years ago and the film that brought Le Mans to the mainstream masses. Details of the film’s plot are being kept under strictest secrecy. However, the bones of it are as follows: ageing racer Sonny Hayes (Pitt) was the best…

Four classical Smiths dials are positioned in my line of sight. Large ones for revs and miles-per-hour to the sides, smaller ones for oil and coolant temps in the centre. The seat may be bolted to the floor but fortuitously it could be no better positioned to allow for heel and toe work down at the pedals, while the minimalist dished steering wheel is positioned at a perfect ‘bent-elbow’ angle and distance. Frank Gardner would have recognised this view, out over a gold bonnet that gently slopes away. In fact, the whole car would have felt like coming home, inside and out, bar the rigid embrace of the ultralight, modern bucket seat, the sturdy rollcage and the associated safety equipment; after all, when Gardner drove his Alan Mann Racing Ford…

May 13, 1950: Drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio, Reg Parnell and Nino Farina gather at the start of Farm Straight at Silverstone before the Grand Prix of Europe. May 13, 2025: A group of journalists gather in a refurbished WWII aircraft hangar at the same racing circuit to remember the 75th anniversary of a moment that heralded a new era for motor racing. We all know by now that the 1950 GP of Europe was also the first race of the new World Championship of Drivers – an innovation that marked a step change in the development of top-tier racing. The location of last month’s gathering was the Silverstone Museum, which was launching a new exhibition timed to open exactly 75 years since that inaugural race and aimed at bringing F1…

AUGUST 8, 11-13 CARS, COCKTAILS AND CALAMARI Taking place between 9am and 10am on Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Old Monterey, this display of especially decorated cars is designed to provide photo-opp fodder and includes a photography and essay contest with prizes of ‘Wharf dollars’ to spend on car-themed cocktails and other items. AUGUST 10-13 POSTER POP-UP Head to Crossroads Boulevard, Carmel between 1.30pm and 6pm to see (and also buy) an impressively large display of guaranteed original posters publicising car marques and motoring events from the years 1895-1970. AUGUST 11 CENTRAL COAST POKER RALLY An unusual charity rally for select classic and exotic cars, this will start at 8.30am at The Dunes in Marina with a public car show before drivers head-off on a route featuring five ‘pitstops’ to collect…

Bonhams QUAIL LODGE & GOLF CLUB, CARMEL, AUGUST 15. BONHAMS.COM Bonhams has been a fixture of the Quail, A Motorsports Gathering since it first held a sale there in 2011. The one-day Quail, celebrated for its garden-party atmosphere, makes for a genteel backdrop to the auction which, this year, will be replete with classic Americana from the 1950s. Fans of unrestored cars will covet a remarkable survivor in the form of a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, above. With a new price of around £4600 (£140,000 today), it was one of the world’s most expensive cars and was bedecked with extras including electric ‘memory’ seats, a perfume atomiser and polarised sun visors. With just 304 built, few remain – and probably none in such a remarkable state of preservation as this,…

ROAD ATLANTA, APRIL 25-27 A trip to Georgia in the US for Historic Sportscar Racing’s IMSA Prototype Challenge in Gary Ball’s Ligier LMP3. An electrical problem scuppered our race, but what a weekend. Road Atlanta is mega, especially in a high-downforce car. My wife Nikki and I then took some holiday and went up to Chattanooga, staying on the famous Choo Choo train. DONINGTON PARK, MAY 2-4 We flew back and headed straight for the Donington Historic Festival, where John Spiers and I were nearly brilliant – but not quite enough! In Pre-63 GTs, we took pole and fastest lap in John’s Cobra and I nearly caught Gregor Fisken at the finish. Gregor was sharing with Dario Franchitti and it was lovely to be on track with him. We also…

Thirst for the Porsche 917 cannot be quenched, it seems. The latest offering on what many consider the greatest sports racing car of them all is this: Porsche 917: The Film, available as a standalone DVD or with accompanying 11x11in hardback book. The slim 60-page hardback is slightly smaller in dimension than a vinyl LP sleeve, with German text and translated English written by Wilfried Müller. There aren’t many words. Most are quotes taken from the leading lights featured in the film. The 78 images are a selection of breathtaking period photographs drawn in part from the McKlein archive, printed large in high resolution and on fine paper. It’s an attractive thing. In his preface, film-maker Helmut Deimel explains the genesis of the 82-minute documentary. He admits rallying had already…

No one has ever managed to win Le Mans single-handedly, but in the early ’50s one man nearly did. Pierre Levegh, who 70 years ago this month was killed at the La Sarthe disaster along with 83 spectators, was a Frenchman hellbent on securing home glory in endurance racing’s greatest challenge. Gordon Cruickshank’s June 1997 feature details how in 1952 Levegh did his own Le Mans without ever removing himself from his Talbot-Lago, only to fall in the closing stages. The Parisian’s love of his homeland pushed him to win a race the Brits and Italians had made their own. Levegh dearly wanted to taste victory in a French car, and in 1951 he and co-driver René Marchand finished fourth in a Talbot-Lago T26 GS. The pair would enter again…

Motor sport fans are, of course, ‘up-to-speed’ when it comes to recognising a racing stinker and although we have much faith in Joseph Kosinski’s talents as a director – his Top Gun: Maverick had the ability to, well, take your breath away – it may be tough to keep an audience on the edge of its cinema seats when it comes to tyre management. Drama in Formula 1 is a given – that’s why the film is being made – but serious crashes still occur, which is why it can’t be seen to ride rough over protocols. Criticism has been made of teaser clips that have shown cars flipping, and then there was Brad Pitt’s character replying to a question about safety with a Hollywood-assured, “Who said anything about safe?” Will…

When you consider that Jody Scheckter’s driving style earned him the nickname ‘Sideways Scheckter’ in his early days, that he continued to drive racing cars that way right up to and throughout his Formula 1 career, that he won 10 F1 grands prix out of 112 starts, and that he became F1 world champion in a Ferrari – the seventh of only nine drivers to have done that in the Scuderia’s 76-year F1 roll of honour – it is surprising to me that he tends to feature so low on most ‘best ever F1 driver’ rankings. Perhaps it is because, unlike some of his now more-lauded contemporaries – Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson for example – he survived his F1 career with nary a scratch. Or maybe it is because,…

McKeel Hagerty is CEO of Hagerty, the “automotive enthusiast brand” that, as well as being the world’s largest provider of classic car insurance (two million clients and counting) also operates in the worlds of media, auto shows and auctions, the latter through its 2022 acquisition of Broad Arrow. Here, Hagerty tells us about his motoring journey and his love of Monterey Car Week. Motor Sport: Do you remember when cars first sparked an emotion for you? MH: Cars and mechanical things were in the ether in our household. My father, Frank, was in the insurance business [he founded Hagerty in 1984 as a specialist wooden boat insurer] and when he wasn’t working, he was either tinkering with boats and cars, making engines run or re-wiring the house – he could…

● Notice anything funny about the headlights of this 1966 AUSTIN COOPER S, inset right? Well, the French did. After the works Minis finished 1-2-3 in the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally, stewards disqualified them for a headlight dipping violation. Those fiends! This car was third, driven by PADDY HOPKIRK and became the most-used works Mini of all. It’s on sale at PENDINE in Bicester for £155,000. ● In the UK there are 52% male drivers to 48% female and yet, according to a new study by CITROËN, 48% of women believe the car-buying experience is tailored for men, with 44% having felt patronised by showroom staff. “We want to make sure everyone is comfortable when visiting a Citroën retailer,” remarked Greg Taylor, managing director of Citroën UK. ● David Hemmings…

The deliciously analogue F40 – Ferrari’s 40th anniversary supercar – was a tough act to follow, but at least the Prancing Horse had a decade in which to develop something even better (in theory) to mark its half century. Enter the F50. Although ostensibly built for the road, the Pininfarina-designed car bristled with racing technology and cutting-edge materials, with its carbon-fibre, Kevlar and Nomex honeycomb bodywork being draped around an all-new 4.7-litre V12 engine developed from the marque’s early 1990s 3.5-litre F1 V12. With more than 500bhp on tap and a relatively light 1230kg to propel, the F50 was capable of posting a then-remarkable 0-60mph time of just 3.6sec and howling on to display a top speed of more than 200mph on its high-tech LCD dashboard. Although it cost a…