From as far back as I can remember, BMW cars have always been sporting in nature and imbued with quality. For BMW in the 1960s and 1970s, this period was one of growth, new models and greater public awareness for the brand. ‘Sporting’ and ‘quality’ are not always comfortable bedfellows when combined with bold innovation, but this successful marriage was certainly achieved by … [Read more...]
Anecdotes from a motoring journalist
Anecdotes from a motoring journalist – I have been fortunate enough to visit many interesting places, and to see and drive cars that would not ordinarily be possible in other occupations. Not only has this been a great pleasure and a privilege for me, but having been born and grown up in distant South Africa, I have witnessed the world of motoring and motorsport in the … [Read more...]
BMW returns to Le Mans
It was announced last week that BMW’s Board of Management has decided to ‘strategically realign’ its motorsport activities. The pillars on which their motorsport programme will rest, will include: DTM, the FIA WEC, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC), FIA Formula E, customer race programmes in GT3 and GT4 categories, and the Dakar Rally. That is quite a … [Read more...]
Virtual Motorpix’ Top 10 racers
Four weeks ago we enjoyed the 2016 Silverstone Classic and once again, there were in the order of 1000 race cars competing across a wide spectrum of classes and eras. We have attempted to select just ten racers from amongst this awesome field, and called them the ‘VMP Top 10 racers.’ These were selected for reasons that they reminded us of a golden era of motorsport, or for … [Read more...]
SILVERSTONE CLASSIC
This weekend, more than 100,000 classic car and historic motor racing enthusiasts will help the Silverstone Classic to celebrate its 25th birthday, or Silver Jubilee, whichever you prefer. That's quite a milestone, but the event has really become a real highlight on the historic motor sport calendar and so it is fitting that this year is a bumper year. In 2014, a … [Read more...]
WorldSBK 2015 Aragón
Round 3 of the WorldSBK 2015 Championship took place at the MotorLand Aragón circuit in northeastern Spain on 12 April. This event was contested by 24 riders over two heats on the 5.077km circuit. Our man, Dario Dominin, was at the race and sent us back a wide selection of images, of which we have posted just a sample here. During Race 1, the Kawasaki Racing Team … [Read more...]
Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2013
Act Four... As you can imagine from the title, this is my fourth visit to the most prestigious of all European car beauty contests, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2013, and it was just as interesting for me as the first one was. The story – not mine but the Concorso’s – started in 1929, making it the oldest event of its kind and through sponsorship by BMW, this … [Read more...]
The Weird, The Wonderful and the Really Bizarre – Part 1
As a pre-Christmas treat, we dug into our archives and came up with a collection of car images that we have titled ‘The Weird, The Wonderful and the Really Bizarre’. Over the years there have been some truly off the wall creations as well as some really great ones, and over the following months we aim to bring you a few more in this interesting series. Any significant … [Read more...]
Pocket Rockets of Yesteryear
After Word War II smaller passenger cars of unitary construction became increasingly popular, and in the 1950s it was common place to find highly tuned but conventional family cars racing in competition. This had an extraordinarily positive effect on sales as the car-buying public could identify with the cars seen on the track and it was possible to go out and buy street … [Read more...]
European Motorshows off to a Busy Start in 2012
The motor industry and automotive trade are a never boring source of information about technical innovation and market trends. In order to keep up-to-date, Pim attended the press days 6 and 7 March at the Geneva Motor Show, the press and VIP day of 21 March at the TechnoClassica Essen, the biggest classic car event with 2,500 cars on display, most of them for sale, and the … [Read more...]
