Monday
We’re on a Hypercar mission. Last week we
wrote about the rule-breaking McLaren PI; this week it’s the turn of Woking’s
newest and most direct rival, the weirdly named Ferrari LaFerrari. Next week,
we’ll compare the pair with Porsche’s equally potent and exotic 918 Spyder
Hybrid, which we won’t see in fully finished form until the Frankfurt motor
show in September.
LaFerrari’s
price won’t be an issue to most buyers
The arrival of the LaFerrari pictures was a
big moment here, mainly because Maranello has become expert at keeping the
styling of its new cars under wraps until the last minute. It’s a far cry from
the old days at Italian fast-car factories, when you started seeing odd-looking
shapes covered in bin bags many months ahead of launch, and were encouraged by
the PR men to look the other way. About 10 of us clustered around Mr. Holder’s
screen as the first three LaFerrari images popped up, and after a few seconds I
posed to the throng what I reckoned was the obvious question: which would you
have, Pi or LaFerrari? “I wouldn’t even bother to make the decision,” growled
someone. “I’d have them both.” Which isn’t as frivolous as it sounds; most
owners of super-expensive cars like these are so wealthy that they have a
collection of them. A million for a car is much the same as two mill for a
pair...
2014
Ferrari LaFerrari
Tuesday
Talking supercars, I see pristine copies of
the 80-page McLaren F1 book we produced way back in March 1994 - and issued
free with die mag - are now selling at $115 a throw on eBay. It was fantastic
fun, being able to write that much and publish so many pictures of one amazing
car - and it also proves that motoring publications can make tidy investments
in their own right.
Autocar's 1994 F1 book is an appreciating asset
Wednesday
It’s exactly 40 years since Peter Robinson,
then editor of Sydney based Wheels magazine, offered a 24-year-old former
miner, truck driver and newspaper hack (me) his first job on a car magazine.
Robbo proceeded, in die five years drat followed, to teach me everything that’s
important about this job, and a few years later also helped me find a job in
Europe where the best cars were built (and still are) before moving to Italy
himself for 15 years or so as our European editor. As you can imagine, we have
been firm friends since that fateful day in 1973, and to steal the words of
Winston Churchill, I have lived happily ever after.
Thursday
Two modest heroes of motorsport, Murray
Walker and Sir Stirling Moss, took center stage last night at die RAC Club’s
very enjoyable annual dinner. Walker was die official guest and took us on a
stroll through his life and times: how his commentating career began, how his
famous father fed his love of motorcycling, and all about his always-difficult
relationship with his late BBC co-commentator James Hunt. Murray is one of a
very few people who can talk amusingly about himself all night yet leave you in
no doubt about his modesty and humanity.
Moss hankered after a Maserati/Ferrari hybrid
Moss is from the same mold. Despite the
fact that, as racing’s elder statesman, Moss is continually hunted down by
event organizers anxious to make their productions go with a zing, he and Lady
Susie were at this dinner just for the hell of it, and met all comers with
their usual amiability. I introduced Stirling to a friend who badly wanted to
know which was his favorite of the single seaters he’s raced. As I’ve seen him
do so often, Moss met this question as if he’d never considered it before, and
as if he and the questioner had known one another for years. “Oh, the Maserati
250F was best, old boy, for its chassis balance,” he said. “It was fantastic in
fast comers. Ferrari did the best job of building ’em, but Maserati were best
at suspension design and development. The ideal would probably have been a
250F, built by Ferrari.”
And his favorite sports car? The Merc
300SLR, of course. How could it be anything else?
