Visits and Interviews

Reports, interviews and reviews from places we've been to and the people we've met.

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A day with Noble Cars… “Wow”, I thought, hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock with such gusto I nearly knocked it off the nightstand, “What time is it again?” As I squinted across the pillow, I could just make out the numbers, “5:45”. “Boy, I must really be dedicated…or crazy.”

About fifteen minutes later, Oli arrives, having already driven three hours from the far South-West Coast of the UK up to my temporary abode near London. Ahead of us lies a nearly one hundred fifty mile drive to visit what may be one of the most prolific British sports car companies of the current time. Formed only about five years ago, Noble Cars, UK produces two (soon to be three) of the most impressive driver-focused vehicles currently on the road – the M12 GTO3R and the M400. In early 2006, Noble will add the new, more “useable” sports car, the M14. We’re scheduled to meet with Simon Hucknall, Noble’s Press Manager, shortly before 11am for a look into the company behind the cars.

So you want to buy a racecar? As you may have noticed, festivalofspeed.net is an organization devoted to all things motorsport – with special focus on “grassroots” and niche events, organizations and vehicles. In our opinion, perhaps the most “grassroots” motorsport activity an individual can pursue is the owning and operating of their own racecar. While there are countless avenues to pursue with regard to getting involved in “spec” or “club” racing, we have noticed a great void of information related to purchasing and running vintage racing cars. With this in mind, we approached CarsInternational.com, one of the premier resellers of vintage and historically significant race cars in the world. Fortunately, Paul and Jonathan were very happy to speak with us and share a small portion of the wealth of knowledge they’ve accumulated from decades in the business. Read More...

Indy with Andy During lunch one afternoon with my good friend Jeff and his wife, talking about cars and such, I mentioned that my 25th wedding anniversary was coming up. In response, Jeffrey asked me if I wanted to go the Indy 500 with my wife, Jane, as an anniversary gift.

Let me think about this for about a minute: “Honey, how about we go to the Indy 500 for your 25th wedding anniversary?” or “Jane, what kind of clothes do you think people wear to the Indy 500?” or…someone help me here.

Fortunately, Jane said OK. Might have been because Ashley and Danica were going to be there. What does it matter, though, right? Read More...

Questions and answers with Lord March Having attended Goodwood’s Festival of Speed for five consecutive years now, Festivalofspeed.net decided that it was time to find out the “behind the scenes” aspect of organizing such a seamless function. Having witnessed the rock-solid organization of all of the “main event” functions such as the timed runs, exhibition runs, the new forest rally stage, as well as all the support functions of catering, shops, Cartier Style et Luxe, vendor displays and overall paddock orgnazation, one would expect (as we did) literally hundreds of people to be involved in the formative months leading up to the event. Read More...

A visit to Pagani - It’s a beautifully warm, sunny day in Northern Italy as Oli and I gather ourselves together, check out of the hotel and begin our journey to see one of Italy’s premier automobile manufacturers, Pagani Automobili in Modena. Truly, today has been a day we’ve been looking forward to for several weeks, ever since speaking with Roberta Bicocchi and making arrangements for our visit. Experiences like these are truly “once-in-a-lifetime”, and everyone at Pagani went to considerable effort to accommodate our needs and answer our questions during the visit. Read More...
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2005 - When you reach the parking areas for the Festival, the first thing you notice is the wide expanse of pasture allocated for parking. This is your first clue that the event has reached mammoth proportions. At this point, you have the option to hop on one of the “tractor taxis” to the event, or walk the approximate quarter of a mile to the front gates. While most people seem to prefer the mechanized transport, it is somewhat of a surprise how many people elect to walk – especially nutters like yours truly, lugging over 50lbs of camera equipment on his back.
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Special Vehicle Concepts - If we were to play a word association game with names like Jaguar, Suburban, Hummer, Land Rover and Cadillac, terms like “speedy” or “dynamic” probably wouldn’t be the first terms that sprang to your mind.

Indeed, most of these names are associated with “heavy”, “big”, “slow” or “utilitarian”. So, you might ask, why would Oli and Jeremy head down to Costa Mesa to visit a company who works with these cars (and several others) on a daily basis?
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