Table of contents for Issue 22 in Gentlemen Drive

Many people are surprised to hear that there is just one person behind all the work of bringing out a magazine like Gentlemen Drive. Nevertheless, the secret is a simple one: passion. Loving what you do makes it easy, even when it requires great effort and sacrifice. I am sure that Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt would not have been so successful or won so many Olympic medals if they didn’t have that passion. Obviously, I don’t wish to compare my own humble efforts to theirs, but I do see them as inspiration and proof that human capacity is practically unlimited. And the same philosophy appears to be shared by the engineers and designers who developed the cars we take a look at in these pages. A toothsome combination of…

The Chevron B36 was designed to enter the 2-litre class of sports car racing, with the chassis accepting various types of engines. Over the model’s 11-year lifetime, 1976 until 1987, it was fitted with everything from a rotary Mazda engine, to the Cosworth BDG inline-four and even a 3-litre, six-cylinder Talbot, installed in José Thibault’s B36 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1987. While only 21 cars were built, they travelled the world, entering a vast number of races in Japan, the United States, Canada, and Europe. The chassis presented here, number 36-77-05, was built by Chevron in May of 1977 and delivered new to owner and driver Gordon Hamilton Jr, of Kansas. Fitted with the aforementioned highly developed Cosworth BDG 1,975 cc four-cylinder engine, it was entered…

Was nice to see Mr. Goodwood, Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara driving the new supercar from Bugatti, the Chiron. Lord March is the man behind the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival in September. His Estate, where all the action happens has an old racing track together with a WWII air field and the famous hillclimb is the road that passes in front of his Goodwood House. The new Bugatti Chiron was unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and is the much waited replacement of the celebrated Bugatti Veyron. Only 500 Chirons will be made and the whole production…

The Automobile Club de Monaco has been holding the biannual Gran Prix Historique since 1997, this year hosting the 10th edition. Monte Carlo is a very special place for car lovers. I remember my first time there, passing through on the way to a family holiday in Italy. My brothers and I were glued to the windows of our car, spotting the many Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini parked in Casino Square or driving around the streets of the principality. Watching Formula One live is an amazing experience, but competing in the streets of Monaco in a classic car must be magical. Climbing the hill to the Casino, the pitted Mirabeau slope, the Loews hairpin, the roar of engines in the tunnel, the quick Tabac curve, negotiating the Piscine chicane, the…

The T60 was the first Hispano-Suiza not to be designed by Swiss engineer Birkigt. It incorporated a range of innovations, including lateral camshafts and cylinder head valves operated by tappets and rockers. It was also the first with the steering wheel on the left, as previous models had all had the steering wheel on the right. The first version of this model hit the market in 1932, as a more rational saloon compared to the brand’s luxury models. Nevertheless, the model we drive here was the T60 RL, an updated version of the original, characterised by a somewhat more streamlined body. The car was originally bought by a family from Manresa, Barcelona, who barely had time to enjoy their new automobile. When Civil War broke out after a savage military…

Racing drivers all agree that the 24 hours of Le Mans is the motor race par excellence. Winning Le Mans is a ticket to the Olympus of motor sports. So far, Marc Gené is the only Spaniard to have been crowned absolute champion of the mythical race. He did it at the wheel of a Peugeot 908 HDI LMP1. Nevertheless, other outstanding Spanish drivers have won in different categories, including Antonio García, with three victories in the GT category, Fermín Vélez, with two, and Jordi Gené, Carlos Palau and Jesús Pareja with one each, not forgetting some of the pioneers of Spanish motor racing, such as Manso de Zúñiga, who came first in his category in 1925 at the wheel of a Chenard et Walker Tank, or Juan Jover, who…

In 1989 a new SL generation superseded the previous models of the R 107 series. It offered a combination of dynamic sportiness, even greater comfort and particularly harmonious design. At its unveiling at the 1989 Geneva Motor Show, the SL from the new R 129 series immediately became one of the main attractions. The new model generation featured a number of world premieres: motorsport-inspired seats with integrated safety belts, a fully automatic folding soft top and wind deflector for draught-free convertible driving. The car’s exciting lines were not compromised by a visible roll bar, but it was there all the same – ready to be deployed automatically in just 0.3 seconds if required. Weighing just 34 kilograms, the aluminium hardtop contributed to the car’s outstanding drag coefficient (Cd = 0.32).…

Looking back at old pictures, it is impossible not to come to the conclusion that the early F1 was a more affable, more gracious and more authentic experience than the current day editions. Times change, obviously, and when a sport becomes massive business, even more so. And so we love to look back at these heart-warming pictures of 45 years ago. In 1971, two years after the first modern F1 race was held in Montjuich, the world’s premier speed event returned to Barcelona. Amongst its other attractions, it was the first race in which slick tyres were used. These tyres maximise traction by increasing the contact between car and road. The result was excellent and racing slicks became widely used in motor racing. The list of entrants is a roll…

Essentially the new model was a revised and updated version of the 308 GTS, which had survived for eight years without any radical change to the overall shape, albeit with various changes to the 3 litre engine. The 328 model presented a softening of the wedge profile of its predecessor, with a redesigned nose that had a more rounded shape, which was complimented by similar treatment to the tail valance panel. The revised nose and tail sections featured body colour bumpers integral with the valance panels, which reflected the work done concurrently to present the Mondial 3.2 models, with which they also shared a similar radiator grille and front light assembly layout. Thus all the eight cylinder cars in the range shared fairly unified front and rear aspects, providing a…