A ‘Wheely’ good day out – Wheels Day 2014

Good Friday traditionally means a trip to Wheels Day. Organised by the Surrey Street Rodders this show has been going locally in various venues for 40 years and these days incorporates everything from the original Hot Rods and custom cars to American, Classics, Sports, trucks, buses, bikes and to be honest quite a few dreadful vehicles which shouldn’t be allowed near a show!

Mario has been attending regularly since we have had him and as always is very popular, his cuteness, shape and colour scheme seems to bridge the gap between the various genres and appeal to everybody. This year for the first time the event was held at Dunsfold  Aerodrome, home of ‘Top Gear’. It’s a good location for us as it’s nearer and a lovely cross country drive which brings us in on the southside which seemed much less crowded. We arrived around 10am and drove straight in but the good weather and the 40th anniversary had brought cars out in droves and we spent some time being parked up!

The rest of this post will be a series of pictures of things that caught our eye. Over the years we have witnessed the changing fashions in hot rods and customs, the current style seems to be what I’d call ‘Sheddy’.  Stuff made to look (in most cases) in an unrestored condition with ‘rust’ and bare metal showing. Lots of the cars are ‘slammed’ and ‘chopped’ e.g. the suspension when stationery lowers the car so the sills are barely above the ground and the roof line is lowered so the windows are long and thin. The immaculate and heavily painted, flamed and chromed cars of previous years are quite few and far between these days with a much smoother and simpler single colour look being dominant.

Mario was again used to advertise our forthcoming car show. An immaculate classic –  4.0R Vanden Plas

1950’s Plymouth Station Wagon A really cool Batman ice cream/snack wagon, think it was based on a Mark 3 Escort, love the glass bubble in the top so the vendor can stand upright! Allegro Police Car – bit worried about James’ growing love for 70’s and 80’s ‘shitters’ the thing is they were pretty unloved at the time and hence very few have survived making them rare and quite ‘desirable’ these days!! We will not be adding any to the family though. A ‘sheddy’ slammed Citroen Dyane, big wheels and big engine We bumped into a guy we hadn’t seen for years. Thirty odd years ago we were all in the venture scouts together and Geoff sold James his first ‘classic’ a Ford Cortina Mark II 1500GT complete with a roll back roof and a fur fabric headlining. Geoff was showing off his recently finished project another GT Cortina. Absolutely immaculate the new white paintwork was dazzling. This Mini had a very original bonnet – copies of the Beano. I loved this bus, afraid I know nothing about it other than it had been converted into a motorhome, and it had a fantastic New York Liberty Tours paint job Now this is the car that really took our eye, think it would make a stunning BIG brother for Mario, although I’d never be able to park it! It’s a Hudson Hornet and it was for Sale… if we win the lottery tonight! The second one parked behind is in race spec and has competed at Goodwood. This Mercury was amazing, subtle in two-tone cream and white with great lines, room for all your friends too. Probably the rarest car at the show – A Mazda MX4 twin rotor wankel engine and again totally immaculate. Another Hudson, maybe this colour scheme would fit in better with the ‘family’. The interior was blue and black zebra fur! Simca 1100, the engine is fitted with ‘twin webers’ in a better conditions than it would have been new inside and out. Classic Capri Chevy Bell-Air. Station Wagon’s are increasingly popular On the way home we stopped to take a few new pictures of Mario. Happy Easter Love Mario xx

Goodwood 72nd Members Meeting… you had to be there

Last weekend Goodwood hosted the 72nd members meeting, the 71st was held nearly 48 years ago! This recreated the regularly held members meetings of the 50’s and 60’s. The idea was to use up the last two ‘noisy’ days that Goodwood was granted when the circuit reopened in 1998 (the other three are the Revival Meeting in September) and hold a ‘club’ meeting. As keen supporters of Goodwood and longterm members of the GRRC, we ordered tickets when the event was announced last September and had a lovely surprise, when a beautifully presented pack turned up in the post containing the ‘tickets’, fantastic enamel badges.

Taking a bit of a risk with the weather by organising an event in March, the Gods as usual, looked down favourably on Lord March and Saturday morning dawned with perfect Spring sunshine and over the weekend the temperature rose to nearly 20º – beautiful, as long as you kept out of the slightly chilly wind. We hardly needed the Tweed we had assembled in keeping with the smart country wear dress code!

Mario had been accepted to the Chicane Paddock, where nearly 200 cars were on display, members and guests were invited to vote for the ‘car who made them smile’. The winning car was a 1910 Rolls Royce. Mario came 7th a pretty good result and his friend ‘Luigi’ another Fiat 600d Multipla was 9th, if we could have added their scores together the ‘Multipla’ would have done very well. There was a good selection of cars, a cute pale blue Fiat 500 we parked next to, a great Commer camper van and a Citroen 2cv Dustbin with the rear filled with toy pigs! Our friend Richard brought his Ginetta down from Derbyshire but it’s so tiny he had to bring a second car to carry the picnic in!

Initially it felt very strange to be at Goodwood and not to be working – since 1999 we have been part of the period taxi fleet at the Revival and on Saturday morning it was like being a ‘spare part’, I’m sure Mario was eager to get going driving people around. we saw quite a few of our regular Revival passengers though who were all pleased to see Mario in attendance although sad that he couldn’t give them a lift.

Saturday morning was practice for the 12 races mixed in with demonstrations at ‘speed’ for group C Le Mans Cars, 80’s Turbo F1 and Group B rally cars competing in a timed sprint. In the Afternoon the first of the races were run, with the bulk of the racing taking part on Sunday. The joy of this meeting was the lack of crowding with plenty of room to move around and unrestricted views. The lack of corporate hospitality meant that many more areas were open for viewing including the Pit Balcony and the inside of the Chicane which gave a very different viewpoint on the racing. The track also looked different as 300,000 daffodil bulbs had been planted around the circuit giving a beautiful yellow hue behind the cars.

The first race was part one of the Gerry Marshall Trophy, named in honour of the much-missed saloon car racing legend. Saturday’s race was a 15 minute qualifier for the 1970s and early ’80s tin-tops to decide grid positions for Sunday’s two-driver race, when car owners were sharing with past masters or current professionals. Ford Capris, Rover SD1s, Chevrolet Camaros, Mazda RX-7s, Triumph Dolomites, Vauxhall Firenzas and Alfa Romeo GTVs all competed in period-specific liveries. Our house captain (Torbolton) Emanuelle Pirro was second on the grid but a problem had him starting from the pit lane which led to an extraordinary 15 minutes of action as he worked his way from last to second, another minute and he would have been first. Refreshment stops also had a new look with the Super Shell building (normally reserved for VIPs) having a ‘make over’ to a late 70’s working mans club. The attention to detail was amazing with darts, snooker, comfy chairs and old fashioned tv’s showing the racing. Sausage rolls were sold by the foot and the bar was graced by a photo of Maggie Thatcher! The only thing missing to be authentic was a haze of smoke! For a more natural feel the Daffodil Bar in a marquee was filled with bulbs and flowers in wooden boxes nestling on bales of straw, some bales forming sofas covered in tatty tweed and even a tractor. The centre of festivities was the Great Hall, a Hogwarts take on a grand school hall with long candelabra decked tables and huge house shields hanging from the ceiling. All members had been allocated houses, just like school and as well as the drivers getting points for the racing there were many activities going on where members could win points for their house.  The unique thing about the Members Meeting was that everybody was invited to attend a ‘party’ in the evening. As the final race of the day drew to a close as the sun set, the area behind the Great Hall was opened up. A period funfair set the scene with illuminated parades and circus acts, a hanger had been converted into a nightclub with the brilliant ‘Old Dirty Brasstards’ playing some great tunes. The atmosphere was fantastic and rather surreal with Grannies riding giant shopping trolleys and Nuns playing pianos. Mechanical fire breathing dragons constructed from hubcaps joined fairy light lit drummers, as the enthusiastic crowds partied. Mario’s ‘Human’ was celebrating his 50th birthday a week early – why throw a party yourself when you know Goodwood will do it so well – and we meet up with a large group of friends at the event and had some wine and cake before the festivities got underway, the cake was supposed to depict the ‘Col du Turini’ on a Winter Rally, including a snowplough (an old joke) which the cars had overtaken. The evening finished with a sky filling fireworks display. Sunday morning was again bright although with a little more cloud cover then the previous day. The racing started in ernest. We watched the Sears Trophy for Saloons that raced between 1958 and 1963 from the pit balcony and stayed there to see the Low drag sports prototype demo roar past. These racers were from an era before they introduced chicanes at Le Mans to slow the cars down and although running behind a pace car at Goodwood and so relatively slow, you still had an indication of the speed as they accelerated along the start straight, James said the noise reminded him of being on the old pits at Le Mans in the 80’s .

A spectacular sight was a whole grid of Bugatti’s in the Grover-Williams Trophy. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of one of the most successful racing cars of all time, the Bugatti Type 35, this special one-make race featured a variety of pre-war models including variations on the T35 theme plus models such as the T51, T54 and T59.

The turbo-era F1 cars also did some demo laps. While racing originally ended at Goodwood in 1966, testing continued well into the 1980s, with Formula 1 teams sometimes using the venue to shakedown their machines. Iconic cars such as Senna’s JPS and Lauda’s championship winning McLaren driven by team reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, took to the track. The John Surtees Trophy for sports racing cars that competed between 1960-1966 saw such beasts as GT40’s, McLaren’s and Lolas take to the track with some unusual machines little known in the UK. Easily the fastest field of the day they looked fantastic in the late afternoon sun. The Last race of the meeting was the Salvadori Cup for sportscars 1955-1960, during this period Goodwood used to host rounds of the World Sports Car Championship so the field looked totally at home. Racing over it was time to go to the Great Hall for the prize giving. Fortified with glasses of Bullshot the crowd watched as Lord March and his daughter handed out medals and unique bottles of Goodwood beer topped with Theo Fennell designed silver bottle tops. The presentation really had the feel of school prize giving with heavy red curtains backing the stage and plain wooden chairs. Stirling Moss joined the Lord to present the awards for the ‘Moss Trophy’.

Finally the four house captains came on stage for the announcement that Methuen had won the battle and Mario’s old friend Jochem Mass was presented with the shield.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and while I’m sure we won’t be waiting another 48 years for the 73rd Members Meeting it certainly won’t be the same as the 72nd. The success of this years meeting must mean that future years will be much more heavily subscribed and the chances of having another such glorious weekend weatherise in March must be slim. I’m sure in future years it will be a case of ‘were you at the 72nd’ – if not you really missed out.

 

Fame again… the best little taxi

Just a quick ‘bragging’ post as Mario has made the press again. Practical Classics April 2014 issue has a great article about the taxi fleet at the Revival. A couple of their journalists joined the Vauxhall Heritage team and worked as part of the Goodwood Revival Transport Corp (GRTC) with us at the event last September.

Their article over 6 pages of the issue has lots of pics including ‘Regie’ the 4cv and ‘Kato’ the Subaru 360 and is an interesting view of life in the taxi rank.

But Mario gets his own little headline ‘The Best Cab?’ and a mention of how popular he is and gives the website a plug – maybe this explains the unexpected surge in blog views a couple of weeks ago!

 

All very exciting and makes us hope we get invited back again this year.  In the meantime we have the new 72 Members Meeting at Goodwood to look forward to in a couple of weeks time. Mario has been given a place in the Chicane Paddock so will be on display and people can vote for him as ‘car of the meeting’. It’ll also be a very convenient place to leave the coats!

Little cars also tackle the mountains…

As you know Mario doesn’t go that far from home but his ‘little brother’ Nippy a 1967 Subaru 360 has been a bit more adventurous and in 2008 James drove and Jane navigated him on the Leige Brescia Leige Microcar Rally a unique event for small cars.

The story really starts in 1958 when in response to the Suez Crisis car manufacturers of the day entered their new sub 500cc models to prove that their performance and economy was a match of their ‘big brothers’. The original event was run over  3 days through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia and Italy. The only stop was in Brescia where the remaining entrants turned round and headed for home. Run over a mix of terrain from the newly opened Autostrada to the dirt roads of the high passes, the event was a test of true endurance and only 13 of the original 30+ entrants finished. One of the cars was driven by Pat Moss and others by top competitors of the day.

Half a century later it was decided to run the event again, although in consideration for the age of the vehicles and the comfort of the competitors the event was over 10 days. Closely following the original 2400 mile route but avoiding the motorways the rally went from Liege-Karlsruhe-Munich-Cortina-Ljubijana-Bolzano-Brescia-Bolzano-Munich-Karlsruhe-Liege and finished 50 years to the day of the original. The event was organised by Malcolm McKay of Classic Rally Press.

We started the event as a three car team of Subaru 360’s, us in Nippy, our friends Victor and Craig in Kato and Terry and Steve in a 360 belonging to Subaru which had recently been recommissioned. We trailered the cars to Liege and the actual event set off on July 10th 2008. The event was a navigational exercise with photo checkpoints, we had to take identical photo’s showing our car to prove we had been there and completed the whole route. 

58 cars started the event including Fiat 500, BMW Isetta and 600/700, Berkeley, NSU Prinz, Goggomobile, Vespa, Messerschmitt, Citroen 2cv, Zandapp Janus and Heinkel.

The weather was terrible with teaming rain which was to last for the next 4 days. Our first stop was at Spa where we did some very soggy timed laps of the Kart Circuit. A long drive followed and Jane on her first rally, soon learnt the rally rules – you only stop when you can do everything at once – refuel, eat, drink and pee! 

We crossed the Rhine and arrived at the first stop in Karlsruhe. Unfortunately the third Subaru had been having problems all day, they finally arrived at the hotel on a tow truck after Midnight, James set to work and took the engine out but it was a terminal problem and they had to retire. Team Subaru was down to two cars.

Day two was another test on a local kart circuit, followed by a day of tricky navigation to arrive at the BMW museum in Munich.

From Munich we travelled through the Black Forest and into Austria and over the Brenner pass into Italy. At 1375m this was our first real pass and our first opportunity to see how the ‘little’ cars performed – we were pleasantly surprised. We arrived in Cortina at the splendid Hotel Miramonti Majestic Grand, a great setting for the little cars.

We were now high in the Dolomites and day four included several high passes to reach the Slovenian border, some of them driven in heavy hail storms and as many of the hairpins were still traditionally cobble stones it wasn’t the most comfortable journey. The rally spent the night in Ljubljana, a fantastic city.We were allowed to park the cars up in the famous Preseren Square where they attracted a great deal of attention including TV crews covering our arrival.

The next morning we finally had sunny weather as we crossed back into Italy and a lovely lunch stop at a great family museum. Three more passes including Passo di Pordoi 2239m. Many of the field were late into Bolzano and lots of fettling was required. The Isetta didn’t make it until 5am after having to make major repairs in Ljubljana.

Dissappointingly due to all the storms, the Stelvio pass was closed with a landslide but after a deviation we managed to double back and still climb the Gavia from the Southside and get the Passage Control photo at the summit, at 2621m it’s not much lower than the Stelvio 2757m.

Once back down it was a very pleasant run along the shores of Lago di Iseo and into Brescia. In the town we were welcomed with a civic reception with all the cars in the main square as on the original 1958 event, they even ‘broke the cheese’ where a whole Grande Pandano was opened for us to taste, a great honour.

Day 7 started with a trip around the impressive Mille Miglia museum and then set off back to Bolzano, actually managing to stop for lunch on the way. Getting out of Bolzano the next morning wasn’t easy but we were soon climbing the Passo Pennes at 2215m it was one of the best of the rally.

After another night in Munich we had a lovely drive through the German countryside with several stops at motor museums and the impressive Schloss Lichtenstein, this fairytale castle perches on a steep cliff and is a spectacular sight.

The final day saw us back at Karlsruhe kart circuit where we had much better times in the dry, although by the time we’d got back through Spa in the afternoon it was inevitably raining again. We finished back at Liege for the prize giving. We won our class with Victor and Craig second and Jane won the Ladies prize so a very successful evening with a lot of celebrating.

We all had a great time even though we were a bit tired and grumpy at times. The event although quite straightforward for James was a challenge in such little cars and Jane enjoyed her first event and got into the spirit of classic rallying. We all enjoyed it so much that we did it again a year later but that’s for another blog.

A successful Winter Challenge…

A quick update…

James and Herman have completed the Winter Challenge from Troyes to Monte Carlo and have had a very successful week. They finished 9th overall and collected a 2nd in class award.

The rally left Troyes last Sunday and after an overnight halt at Chartres met up with the english starters at Le Mans and then onto Bourges. The first full day was in warm sunny spring conditions and not at all like a winter rally should be.

Tuesday was a long day of tricky navigation running into the evening, where fog made the route especially difficult as the headed to the overnight stop in Valence. Wednesday morning finally brought proper winter conditions with 8 inches of snow but again as the rally moved South it again became dry. The final day finished on the famous Col du Turini with snow again but the roads were cleared.

The event was won by the Dutch Crew of Jan Ebus and Jan Berkhof in their Porsche 356, James and Herman have come up against this very committed crew on several previous Winter Trials.

For a full report on the event see the official rally site  and James’ blog of the event

Here are a few of James’ Photos

Before the start in the medieval centre of Troyes

Herman Mass and the Volvo 122S

James has previous of Overtaking the snow plough!

Traditional French Rally Roads

At last proper winter rally conditions, but still no need to use the snow chains

Herman and James celebrating in Monte Carlo

Have a ‘rally’ good time…

Mario’s human (and chief medic!) James has set off to take part in the 2014 Winter Challenge which starts on Sunday from Troyes, South East of Paris and meanders it’s way through the mountainous areas of France to finish in Monte Carlo next Thursday having hopefully completed some of the most famous Cols in rallying history.

James is navigating for Dutchman Herman Mass in a 1967 Volvo 122S. They have been a successful team for a number of years taking part in various Winter Events. Previous years have seen them on the Winter Trial which takes place in January with routes all over Europe from Eastern Holland, through Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Austria and Italy, meaning they’ve often found themselves in very snowy and icy conditions. 

It’s not looking like they are going to get such harsh winter conditions on this years Winter Challenge route through France and so James’ position as navigator will be much more important, one wrong slot could make all the difference on the road. James has spent the last couple of weeks busily plotting the route onto his maps, it looks like there will be some rather tricky navigational sections, hopefully they will do well – always a bit of a dilemma, I want them to succeed but you should see some of the trophies they bring home!

You can follow their progress on the official site or James will be writing his own blog – ‘Dickingaroundwitholdcars‘ – where possible.

James started off taking part in classic rallies more than 25 years ago initially as a driver, in an Austin A35, Mini, Hillman Minx and a pre-war Riley. Lots of fun and lots of adventures were to be had including breaking down in the Riley and being looked after by a family in a very remote part of France, apparently it was like a scene from ‘Ello, Ello’ when the poor husband came home to find two english ‘airmen’ in flying hats and goggles sitting in his kitchen!

He progressed on to an Austin Westminster Police car with navigator Keith Webster in full period police uniform, which became very well known on the classic circuit or you could say notorious – especially for being given a tour of Aix le Bain police station by the local Chief of Police who thought they were real policeman, amazingly they didn’t get arrested although they had rather naughtily had their picture taken in the cells! Unfortunately after a number of years the well performing Westminster met a rather sticky end, embedded in a gatepost in very icy conditions, luckily James and Keith were both unhurt, other than their pride, although James will never be able to forget the words of advise – ‘Don’t overtake the snow plough!’

After success driving in the early days, once James started his restoration business he started being asked by clients to navigate for them and so he began a second ‘career’ on the maps, which he now prefers to driving. As his interest in vintage cars grew, he started navigating in pre-war open top beasts, generally during the winter, the more inclement the weather the better. Several Le Jogs were undertaken in various pre-war cars plus several more visits to the North on the Flying Scotsman.

Now Mario has no intention of becoming a rally car in winter or summer but we have taken his ‘little brother’ Nippy the Subaru 360 on two microcar rallies across Europe. With James driving and Jane as a rather novice navigator we all had a big adventure but that’ll have to wait for the next blog…

 

 

Up, up and away…

Our last blog post about the Goodwood Aerodrome got us thinking about that futuristic dream of the flying car…

The stuff of movies and science fiction for years, flying cars featured in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jetsons, James Bond and more recently Harry Potter.Then last week some of our friends came back from a weekend at Daytona and they had visited the ‘Warbirds Adventure’ museum  in Kissimmee Florida and one of the exhibits was a Molt Taylor “Aerocar” which is a real flying car and the only certified airplane in history that could also drive legally on the highway. This example was designed by Molt Taylor in 1946 and was once owned by TV host Bob Cummings who flew and drove it on his weekly TV show “The Bob Cummings Show”, and has flown many celebrities including Marilyn Monroe!  The museums example is the last remaining flying Areocar and belongs to the Sweeny family who reguarly fly it. James May was filmed flying the car in his Big Ideas show in 2008.   Watch a video of the family with the Aerocar

@Steve Flynn http://www.sussexhill.net

@Steve Flynn http://www.sussexhill.net

So this got us digging around to discover what we could about the holy grail of the car/plane combination. Many inventors have tried and failed over the years to produce a successful ‘flying car’. The first attempt is believed to have been the Curtiss Autoplane of 1917, which proved incapable of anything resembling true flight. 

It wasn’t until 1937 that the ungainly looking Waterman Arrowbile proved that flying cars were possible, though this model never progressed beyond the prototype stage.

After the war there was a resurgence of interest and in 1946 Robert Edison Fulton Jr produced his Fulton ‘Airphibian’. It was intended that you flew your plane and then after landing the fuselage could be split in two, the front became a very basic car and the rear part of the tail and wings was left behind at the airport while you drove away.

This design got aeronautical engineer Molt Taylor thinking of a better way to make a flying car and he designed a version which featured a folding wing and tail which could be towed by the vehicle and converted in five minutes. The first official test flight took place in December 1949.

Primitive by automobile standards of the day, the Aerocar featured an air-cooled Lycoming flat-four engine, positioned over the rear wheels. A three-speed manual transmission provided drive to the front wheels, and this road transmission was simply placed into neutral when the Aerocar was in flight mode. The conversion process from automobile to airplane involved  fitting a tail cone and propeller assembly, which was driven by a power take-off located behind the rear license plate.

Aluminum was used in construction of the frame, wings, tail and ailerons, and the fuselage covered in fiberglass to save weight. The steering wheel operated the front wheels on the ground, but was also linked to ailerons and elevator flaps to provide bank and pitch control in flight. On the floor were clutch, brake  and rudder control pedals, the throttle was mounted on the dashboard.

After flying the wings fold back along the tail, the propeller is stowed, and the tail disengaged and rotated into the towing position. The tail portion could be parked, allowing the Aerocar’s cabin to be used independently as a compact car.

Development continued throughout 1950, and it took it’s first long flight from Salem, Oregon, to Longview, Washington) on August 29.

In May 1954 an improved version was submitted to Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) for certification. On December 14, 1956, the Aerocar became the first certified airplane that could also be driven on U.S. highways, a feat that has yet to be duplicated.

N103D became the KISN Air Traffic Watch plane

Taylor continued to build Aerocars throughout the 50’s but costs were an issue and a short lived deal to go into production in 1961 failed as the 500 required buyers couldn’t be found. Taylor spent the rest of his life building improved prototypes but none went into production.

The Aerocar III was built in the late 60’s with an updated and redesigned car section. It was quite sporty and apparently quite stable in the air.

This is the only Aerocar III ever built and is in the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Of the 6 prototypes made, 5 remain. One of them unused since 1977 but supposedly maintained in an airworthy condition. was for sale for $1.25million in 2012. For a vehicle which was only a prototype it got a lot of publicity and recognition and is remembered with affection, recently one appeared in the  Disney movie ‘Planes’, although the 1954 Taylor Aerocar in the movie is depicted as German and called Franz Fliegenhosen!

Another designer Theodore P Hall came up with the prototype ConvairCar featuring a plastic bodied four seater car suspended under a 34.5 foot wing. It flew for the first time in November 1947 but crashed within three weeks due to fuel starvation, after fitting another body it was flying again by the end of January 1948.Flying cars were still being developed into the 70’s with the Mizar built between 1971 and 1973 by Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE) of Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. The company was started by Henry Smolinski, a graduate of Northrop Institute of Technology’s aeronautical engineering school.

Prototype Mizar’s were made by adding the rear portion of a Cessna Skymaster to a Ford Pinto. Two prototypes were built and three more were under construction. One, fitted with a Teledyne Continental Motors 210 horsepower engine, was unveiled to the press on May 8, 1973. It then began a series of taxi tests at Van Nuys, California.

The Mizar was intended to use both the aircraft engine and the car engine for takeoff. This would considerably shorten the takeoff roll. Once in the air, the car engine would be turned off. Upon landing, the four-wheel braking would stop the craft in 525 feet or less. On the ground, telescoping wing supports would be extended and the airframe would be tied down like any other aircraft. The Pinto could be quickly unbolted from the airframe and driven away.

Production was scheduled to begin in 1974. However on September 11, 1973, during a test flight at Camarillo, the right wing strut detached from the Pinto and apparently the right wing folded. Designer Smolinski and his associate, Harold Blake, were killed in the resulting fiery crash. Today the flying car is still a dream but one which might become a reality. Dr Paul Moller has been designing flying cars for decades including the Neuera ‘flying saucer’. Moller International have backing in place to develop their Skycar, designed for speeds of over 300mph at an altitude of up to 36,000 feet for four passengers. The company intends to bring Vertical Take Off and Landing to the masses, a true sports aerocar but one that looks more futuristic than anything from the movies! Terrafugia launched their flying car the ‘Transition at the 2012 New York Auto Show. The two-seat street legal aerocar could achieve a maximum air speed of 115mph and 35 miles to the gallon on the road. It is reported that they are well on the way to getting the dual road and air certification required.

The company have also released their next project the TF-X. More practical as it doesn’t need a runway it is designed to take off and land vertically via electrically-powered rotors mounted on the end of it’s fold up wings. It is hoped to be in production by the 2020’s.

So dreams or reality, will Aerocars ever become a part of our transport system? Many have tried but none have ever gone into production mainly due to prohibitive costs and the complicated certification required.

On a final note one aerocar dreamer is photographer Renaud Marion who takes ordinary cars and photoshops them into floating creations, here’s one example from his ‘Air Drive’ series and one we’d certainly like to be real, it’s really cool! Maybe he’d like to create a floating Mario.

 

Chocks away…

Last week we were lucky enough to have a tour of the engineering hanger at the Goodwood Airfield. This trip was organised through Goodwood’s ‘416 Forum’. We met in the evening at the Aero Club where we were welcomed by Rob Wildboer the Goodwood aviation general manager –  a man who lives and breathes aircraft.

Rob’s introduction told us a lot about the fascinating history and general running of the Goodwood aerodrome. Freddie March, Grandfather of the present Lord March, had a great interesting planes and begun to  design and build aeroplanes at Goodwood before the War from his ‘Flying Field’ adjacent to Goodwood House.

The actual aerodrome started during WW2 as RAF Westhampnett as a satellite to nearby RAF Tangmere. It was used during the Battle of Britain when two fighter squadrons were based there. Flying aces such as Douglas Bader and Tony Gaze favoured Goodwood to fly from. The Motor Circuit was created from the perimeter road in 1948 and since then the airfield has developed to provide first class engineering, flying training and aerodrome operations. Rob joined Goodwood as an apprentice in 1986 and his worked his way up to run the whole operation, as such he is a mine of information and has endless interesting and amusing stories about flying at Goodwood.

We then went to the engineering hanger where Goodwood has a thriving business maintaining a large number of private planes. There were a number currently in the hanger and Rob gave us an insight on the sort of work that is done. My favourite was a tow plane from Lasham Gliding School, very basic, I think Rob called it a ‘flying tractor’ it had real character and looked like it had come straight from a ‘Pixar movie’. Listening to Rob’s stories reminded me of one of the early Revivals when Mario was asked to work on the airfield. We had to collect passengers and take them to their planes. This wasn’t as simple as it sounds as we had to have CAA clearance to cross the runways and had to be escorted by an airfield Land Rover in constant contact with the control tower. The aerodrome is always very busy over the event weekends and there are quite a number of small aircraft parked up but I was pretty amazed that people couldn’t remember where they had left their plane and Mario spent quite a lot of time running up and down the rows waiting for the passengers to ‘spot’ their aircraft, just like Sainsbury’s carpark!

Around the same time some of the GRTC Taxi team were lucky enough to be able to watch the Saturday evening air display from the roof of one of the airfield buildings, this was spectacular watching the Spitfires and Mustangs flying in the sunset. This display is the start of the Revival Ball and the aircraft come into land and taxi over to the hanger where the party guests, weather permitting, are outside at the reception. The pilots are dressed in black tie and silk scarfs and look brilliant as the descend from the cockpit to be greeted by a lady in evening dress offering champagne! At one years party (when we were working) one of the pilots had forgotten their cufflinks and so had to fashion a pair with some spare nuts and bolts from a Spitfire, I’m sure it was a missed business opportunity. The air displays are always a big feature of the Revival and as Mario takes members of the press out around the circuit we often get a really good view of whats going on, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is always impressive but a couple of years ago the incredible sight of 10 Spitfires flying in formation was spine tingling.

 

Planes at the Revival aren’t just restricted to the air… at one Revival a plane took part in the   track parade and taxied a lap.

At the 2013 Revival on what was ‘Battle of Britain Sunday’, Goodwood honoured the ‘Dambusters’ on their 70th anniversary. Earlier in the day Mario had been called to carry a very special passenger Squadron Leader George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, at 91 the last surviving member of the Dambusters raid but although we met him, we were unable to drive to the infield and so alternative arrangements had to be made, a shame as it would have been a great honour for Mario to give him a ride, still, Rod one of the long standing GRTC drivers got the honour of driving him onto the grid for the tribute.

While Mario finds all the aviation at Goodwood exciting he intends to keep his four wheels firmly on the ground!

 

Champagne and cars, two of our favourite things…

 While busy researching the promised Promotional Vehicles blog I was reminded of one of the first and
greatest ‘promotors’ Eugene Mercier. Only 20 years old when he founded his Champagne House in Epernay in 1858, he was very aware that a good product well promoted would sell and make money.

In 1889 he took a giant barrel containing 1600 hectolitres or around 200,000 bottle of champagne to Paris, to the World Exhibition. This 20 ton barrel – maybe the world’s first promotional vehicle – took 8 days, 12 pairs of oxen and 18 horses to make the journey from Epernay to Paris where it was received with great delight and was only overshadowed by the new Eiffel Tower.

Eugene continued with marketing firsts with the first ‘movie’ advert at the 1900 World Exhibition, the first cellar tours and offering Champagne Balloon flights.

In 1950 his Grandson Jacques Mercier in partnership with Renault promoted both their products by organising a ‘Champagne Rally’ through the cellar tunnels in Renault 4cv’s loaded up with bottles of champagne. The front car in the pictures was a convertible with a huge bottle of Mercier on the back seat sticking out of the roof. The event created a great deal of interest and apparently not a single bottle got broken, although I imagine a fair few got consumed!

As well as appreciating classic cars I am also rather partial to a glass of bubbly so quite a few years ago we took ‘Regie’ our 4cv convertible to the Mercier cellars. If you get a chance to visit it is a really interesting tour, part of which is a journey through the cellars by train. Mercier were delighted to see the 4cv there but unfortunately they wouldn’t let us drive Regie through the tunnels, although we did get to sample some Champagne and it remains one of my favourites, especially the ‘Eugene’s special blend’ which is supposed to taste the same as the original production.

Happy New Year

Mario would like to wish all his readers a very Happy New Year and lots of great motoring in 2014. We’ve had a good year with some exciting highlights, especially appearing in the Telegraph and on TV for Goodwood, Mario’s celebrity is spreading and we have made lots of new friends around the world. Our readers obviously thought the same as September the 26th, the day the TV programme was shown was the busiest ever on the blog.

In 2013 Mario’s blog received over 6000 views which is almost double that in 2012, hopefully we will soon get our 10,000 view ever, so please spread the word. We have been  viewed from 88 countries which is pretty awesome, the UK was the most popular followed by the US and Germany but we also got a lot of attention from Russia, Brazil and Argentina plus even a visitor from Mongolia!

We apologise for the lack of blogs over the last few weeks but with preparations for Christmas, not helped by a 19 hour power cut on Christmas Eve and the newest member of the family – Birkin, a four month old kitten, named after Sir ‘Tim’ Birkin the famous ‘Bentley Boys’ racing driver. (our other cat is called Bentley!).

Original 3d car image by Dominik Kosicki www.3dkosicki.com

The 1929 Birkin Bentley pictured on our Christmas card, was the most expensive British car sold at a public auction when it went under the hammer for £5.15m at Goodwood in 2012, to an anonymous bidder from outside the UK. An export ban was placed on the car by the UK government allowing Brooklands Museum time to co-ordinate an attempt to raise the £5.15m to purchase it for the nation.

We were hoping to take Mario to the Classic Car Meet at Elstead tomorrow on New Years Day but the weather forecast is showing more of the appalling wet and windy weather we have been experiencing so it looks like he and us will be staying tucked up warm and safe. It’s a shame as last year it was a great event with a wide selection of vehicles. There are quite a few traditional New Years Day events taking place tomorrow, maybe there will be some brave souls out there who will brave the elements, so they won’t be a total washout. Hopefully we will have some better winter weather in the near future and we will be able to take Mario out soon.

There are already several motoring events on the calendar including the new 72 members meeting at Goodwood and of course the Haslemere Classic Car Show and Tour which we organise on Sunday 25 May. We have been researching several interesting blog topics and now the festivities are almost out of the way we will be busy posting them. Please keep reading and pass the blog on to others who might be interested.

Happy New Year from Mario x