W hen Walter Edwin 'Walt' Hansgen was bitten by the racing bug, it bit hard. He wasn't that young 32 when he made his debut but he was hugely ambitious, and certainly not there to make up the numbers. Initially, the blue-blazered East Coast racing establishment was wary of this aggressive upstart from New Jersey, his presence right from the off unsettling the cosy, gentlemanly atmosphere prevalent in the early post-war years of sports-car racing in the USA. Walt's first major race in 1951 at the upstate New York road course of Watkins Glen set the tone.
The 6.6-mile loop at the foot of Seneca Lake crossed the New York Central Railroad tracks two-thirds of the way down the suitably named Railroad Straight. At one of the fastest sections of the circuit, the open crossing with exposed rails was a punishing assault on suspension and anything else hanging beneath - because cars could be airborne for several yards. Within a few laps of the grandly named Watkins Glen Grand Prix, Hansgen's silver XK120, in only its second outing, shed an exhaust mounting. Undeterred, he got back to the pits where a team member set to work with baling wire. With the exhaust lashed up, Walt tore back into the 15-lapper in hot pursuit of his class rival, Sherwood Johnson, in a similar black Jaguar.
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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
