It was July 19, 1974 that I really got to know John Young Stewart, even though I’d already met and worked with him several years before that British Grand Prix Friday practice day riding with him in a chauffeured Daimler out to Brands Hatch, a distance of some 25 miles from London’s Savile Row where we’d first made a stop at Jackie’s tailor. In the limousine with us were a cameraman and his sound recordist. Half turned to face Jackie in back, I sat up front with our driver. We were making a documentary for Trans World International, the film branch of International Management Group, better known as IMG, Stewart’s representative agents, then and still now. I was asking Jackie questions about his life in general, and more specifically of his years in racing and what he was presently doing in his then-recent retirement from Formula One, including this particular day of his providing color commentary for the BBC race weekend telecast. My recollection of that day and of how readily we were waved through traffic by Brands Hatch gate marshals, with Britain’s three-time World Champion aboard, remains vivid to the point of obsessing on the past.

Leap forward nearly 38 years to December 2011. Stewart—now Sir Jackie since knighted by Britain’s Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in November 2001—is again riding in a chauffeured car outside of London, and I’m again about to ask him questions, not from the limo’s front seat this time but by telephone far across the Atlantic and the breadth of America. This is the way my conversation went, in this order, with the first Formula One superstar.

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The bigger, the better – that could be the most appropriate motto for the 2012 Retromobile Salon, which opened its doors for the 37th consecutive year February 1-5, in Paris. Although the main location, the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center remained the same as in the past years, Europe’s biggest classic car exhibition and fair moved to larger halls, the nearly 410 stands with more than 400 vehicles on display occupying 33,000 square meters (355,000 square feet), 6,000 square meters more than in 2011.

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By Louis Galanos | Photos by Louis Galanos and as noted

Well over a year ago the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) embarked on a task that even the great Hercules might have shied away from. That is to search the world over for every car that ever won, what we now call the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and transport them to Daytona Beach, Florida for a 50th anniversary reunion and heritage display.

Tim Pendergast of Jacksonville, Florida was hired by the Speedway to track down these historic automobiles and get permission from the current owners to showcase them in the temporary building the Speedway was constructing on the grounds in front of the Speedway.

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Report and photos by Len Clarke

For auto enthusiasts in Tokyo and its surrounding areas, the end of January means the New Year Meeting, an annual event that brings together an almost unimaginable array of cars and assorted vehicles, both domestic and foreign, for a day of auto-sensory overload. It’s a car lover’s dream.

Organized by the JCCA, the Japan Classic Car Association, this event attracts huge numbers of cars, car clubs and fans. The venue is located in the city’s waterfront district (Odaiba), so there’s no shortage of space – and the promoters have made the most of it.

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With the minutes ticking down on the Rolex clock in Pit Row, there was an epic battle for the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona title taking place on Daytona International Speedway’s road course.

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The Louwman Museum was opened by HRH Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on July 2, 2010. This opening marked the culmination of eight years of very hard work by Mr. Evert Louwman and his management team, led by Museum director Ronald Kooyman. Regulations being what they are, this was the time it took, from the first application to build a museum to the actual opening.

Beginning on the Louwman Collection

Owner of the collection, Mr. E.V.N. Louwman

Mr. Louwman’s father, Piet Louwman, started collecting cars as early as 1931, when a client (Mr. Louwman Sr. was in the business of importing and selling cars in Holland, among which Dodge) traded in his Dodge 1914 model (a car with all mod-cons) for something newer. This car is “the mother lode” of the Museum and takes a place of pride. The car collecting bug had found very fertile ground and Louwman never looked back. Now the Museum itself houses 236 cars of a great variety and is considered to be one of the finest all-round collections in the world.

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By Louis Galanos | Photos as credited

The year 1966 was not a good year for Enzo Ferrari. Ford beat Ferrari with a humiliating 1-2-3 finish at both Daytona and Sebring and for the first time in six years they lost, again to Ford, at the Holy Grail of endurance racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

With the 1966 World Sportscar Championship (WSC) trophy solidly in Ford hands many were predicting that the ten-year dominance of Ferrari cars in endurance racing had come to an end. Many believed the much talked about and much written about three-year-long Ford – Ferrari War was being won by Henry Ford II and his mega buck program would bring Ferrari to its knees.

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Daytona International Speedway in 2012 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the track’s first road race, a three hour event won by Dan Gurney when he coasted across the finish line with a blown engine.

The first two road races were three hour events, the third and fourth were expanded to 2000 kilometer contests, and the now-traditional 24-hour race distance was first run in 1966. It was shortened to six hours in 1972, and cancelled completely in 1974 due to an oil embargo and the resulting fuel shortage. Consequently, this year marks the 44th time the circuit has hosted a 24 Hours race, and I believe I’ve photographed at least half of them.

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January 2012 marks the Golden Anniversary (50th) of sports car endurance racing at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in Daytona Beach, Florida.

DIS was opened in 1959 by NASCAR founder, Bill France, Sr., after years of driving in and promoting stock car racing on the beaches of the Daytona area. From the beginning the new speedway was associated with stock car racing and to this day is well known for America’s premier stock car racing event known as the Daytona 500 or “The Great American Race.”

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It is now up to you to choose the best photo of the year. Similar to our Best of 2009 and Best of 2010 contests, we are asking for your assistance in helping us pick the very best vintage car racing picture from 2011. We narrowed down the thousands of photographs to the following 40 images, chosen solely upon the number of times they were viewed by readers throughout 2011.

To get a sense of the work that goes into these wonderful photos, we asked Senior Photographer Dennis Gray for his thoughts on the selected pictures. Gray said, “I fall in love with the how and why and not so much what the final image looks like. None of my photos were really accidents or being in the right place but more planning a shot and waiting until the drivers and cars were there.”

Please vote by leaving a comment with your favorite image. Write-in candidates: if we didn’t include your favorite picture, share a link of what you think was best. We’ll announce the winner in the January 26th edition of our newsletter and in the comment section.

Win Your Favorite Photo: We are again spicing things up this year, as we will randomly choose THREE winners among the comments that will receive a large print of their favorite photo. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form so we can reach you.

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When Gooding and Company opens their 2012 auction season at the Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, Arizona January 20th and 21st, they’ll do so with a bang as the more than 100 cars on offer will be headlined by an alloy-bodied 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider.

“The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy Gullwing and Ferrari LWB California Spider we’re offering are extraordinary automobiles, fantastic examples of two of the most iconic collectible cars of their era, which have become must-have inclusions in many top collections,” says David Gooding, President and founder of Gooding & Company. 

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The RM Auctions Arizona sale promises to kick off the 2012 auction season in style with the sale of nearly 150 classic and significant automobiles.  Held on the grounds of the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa January 19th and 20th, the 13th annual RM Arizona auction features an important selection of Ferraris in addition to a wide array of significant automobiles.

“Following another vibrant year in 2011, we’re thrilled to return to Arizona in January and kick off what is shaping up to be another exciting auction season,” says Rob Myers, Chairman and Founder, RM Auctions. “Ferrari is truly one of the world’s leading automotive marques and remains the perennial leaders of the pack when it comes to achieving great prices at auction. We’re excited to present yet another superb offering at our January sale as we continue to build upon our strong track record at the Biltmore.”

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Based upon page views attributed to each story, our initial photo gallery from the Pebble Beach Concours was the most popular story in 2011, followed by photo galleries from Goodwood Festival of Speed and Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Similar to previous years, nearly all of the top stories included extensive photo galleries that accounted for the majority of the page views.

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In addition to Marcel Hundscheid’s report and photos from Spa Classic 2011, photographer Jurrie Vanhalle offers his pictures from the race weekend. Jurrie did a wonderful job capturing the depth and quality of the Spa Classic field.

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The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Tribute is designed to recreate the ambiance of the 1948-52 Watkins Glen street races by parading cars along the original 6.6 mile road course as used in the Grand Prix races of that era.

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In addition to the on-track action at the 2011 Coronado Speed Festival, photographer Brett Siegel of Siegel Thurston Photography also offers an array of images taken while walking through the paddock at the Naval Air Station North Island.

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The Cartier “Travel With Style” Concours was held March 12, 2011 in New Delhi, India.

Royalty from India and abroad, a philanthropist, Formula One, sports car and aircraft interior designers, a former supermodel who still turns male heads with her daughter, a singer, a French actor, a British newspaper editor, a trio of Americans – two industrialists and a professional sports franchise owner and a construction equipment manufacturer descended upon New Delhi not very long ago, to judge the Cartier Travel with Style Concours 2011 at the city’s Jaipur Polo Grounds as connoisseurs of cars, beauty, taste and design.

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We often run into a “problem” with Tim Scott in the field – too many great images. This was no different at the Kuwait Concours, especially given their strong field of entrants and beautiful waterfront location. Therefore, in addition to our Kuwait Concours d’Elegance 2011 – Report and Photo Gallery, we offer the following gallery that gives a “Behind the Scenes” look at the multi-day Kuwait Concours d’Elegance 2011.

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Each car was judged to the standards of the Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance from guidelines established by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and by the appropriate car clubs consulted by officials for this event. Automobiles were evaluated for authenticity, state of preservation or restoration and elegance. Best of Show at the 2011 Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance went to the 1934 Duesenberg Model J bodied by Murphy of Stephen Finn.

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The Danville Concours d’Elegance 2011 was held September 17-18 on the streets of historic downtown Danville, California. The 7th annual event weekend included a traditional Concours, plus a Tour d’Elegance rally and Dinner d’Elegance celebration at the Blackhawk Museum.

Headline entrants at the 2011 Danville Concours d’Elegance included the 1959 Aston Martin DB 2/4 Mk II; 1929 Duesenburg SJ Lebaron Dual Cowl Phaeton; 1970 Maserati Ghibli Spyder; 1968 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider; 1957 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Roadster; Ferrari 250 GT/L Competition; McLaren M8C Can-Am; among others.

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