The sun is intense enough to scorch any patch of exposed flesh. The ribbon of track we're driving along is arid and cracked, and even at 20mph we're generating spectacular white plumes of dust - big enough to alert anyone of our presence long before we heave into view. But that's okay: an M2 Browning heavy machinegun, armed with 50-calibre shells, is within reach, and reconnaissance smudger Max, perched behind, has got my back with a rocket launcher at his side. There's no windscreen, so goggles are mandatory, especially if you're in convoy - which we are right now, small chalk pellets occasionally firing up like flak from the tyres of the vehicle in front. There's one more seemingly impossible ascent to climb before we reach our rendezvous, and it's perilous: only a little wider than our tracks, and topped by a blind crest. Revs rise to a roar, all wheels scrabbling for traction, but we make our vantage point intact, no enemy in sight...
But then, why would there be in a chalkpit in deepest Sussex on one of the hottest days of 2023? It may be a lame facsimile of the missions this rare and special Land-Rover correct designation: Trucks 1/4 Ton 4x4 General Service SAS Rover Mk3-undertook more than half a century ago, but it serves as a fascinating insight all the same. More so because 43 BR 70 (its original War Office registration) is one of two prototypes that begat a production run of eight bespoke Series One Land-Rovers for the Special Air Service (SAS) in the mid-'50s. It's also one of only two such vehicles that survive the other resides at the Dunsfold Collection - both of which have operational histories mired in secrecy to this day.
この記事は Classic & Sports Car の November 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Classic & Sports Car の November 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring