coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Touring
Superleggera, in 2008. Its five-door estate car
body was a conversion of a fifth-generation
Quattroporte, and was first presented at the
Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.
Perhaps the most unusual car at the event
was also one of the smallest. The 1957
Vignale Abarth 750 Coupe 'Goccia' was a real
pioneer of both aerodynamics and one-box
body shapes. The liquid ‘teardrop’ shape was
designed by Michelotti, constructed by
Vignale and equipped with Fiat 600
mechanicals that were upgraded with an
Abarth 750 kit. The pioneering aerodynamic
shape did lead to overheating issues in
period, coming to light at the 1957 Mille
Miglia. One prototype of this model even had
gullwing doors. Only a couple of examples are
thought to survive, this one being owned by
aero car collector and writer, Delwyn Mallett.
As ever, the marque and model clubs
formed the backbone of Italian Car Day. Huge
numbers turned up, with notably exceptional
turn-outs of Abarth 500s and Fiat Panda
100HPs. Across the board there were cars on
display that have never been seen before.
Many thanks to the clubs which brought our
attendances from the like of the Alfa Romeo
Owners Club (AROC), various Alfa model
impressed with his matt grey Ferrari Portofino,
reporting that the new sophisticated
suspension system was not troubled by the
bumps on the historic concrete portions of
Brooklands’ historic surface. Despite his
ambivalence towards SUVs, Auto ItaliaEditor,
Chris Rees, seemed very happy in the
Lamborghini Urus, which looked far nimbler
than its bulk would suggest.
In this 70th anniversary year of Abarth,
Tony Castle-Miller assembled a remarkably
varied spread of representative examples for
the first demonstration group. These
hardcore classic Abarth enthusiasts were
joined by first-timer Martyn Everett in his
recently-acquired Abarth 1000 Corsa. The car
is a works-built, ex-Tony Berni car with Italian
hillclimb competition history and verified
chassis number authentication.
The second track group was uniquely
‘topped and tailed’ by Alfa Romeo 8Cs
through the ages. Paul Gregory’s immaculate
grey 1930s 8C Touring was partnered with
Mike Hilton’s white modern 8C Spider to
book-end a set of rowdy sporting Fiats,
Maseratis and Lancias. In the Alfa Romeo
group, Andrew Fulcher’s race-prepared 147
from the AROC Championship stood out in its
Filippo Berio Olive Oil livery.registers, Fiat 500 Club, Fiat Forum, X1/9
Club, Fiat Coupe Club UK, Abarth Club,
Abarthisti, Abarth Club GB, Lancia Motor Club
and Club Lancia Sport. Another rapidly
growing and highly active area is social media
groups, often frequented by younger
enthusiasts, whose interest tends to be in
1980s-2000s Italian cars.
Surrey is well known for the volume and
variety of its Ferrari population, as
demonstrated by the local branch of the
Ferrari Owners’ Club. Not to be outdone,
Lamborghini Club UK brought along its 40-
foot hospitality and merchandise trailer to
provide a base for members. And once the
remarkable 52-car convoy from Pangbourne
Lamborghini had rolled in, there were a
record-breaking 80-plus classic and modern
raging bulls on site. Meanwhile the Sports
Maserati forum helped to attract nearly 100
Maseratis to the event.
Always popular are the lunch-time demo
runs on the adjoining Mercedes-Benz World
test track. As ever, groups of hand-picked
cars strutted their stuff in a series of fast-
paced laps. This year, five themed groups
were led by a pair of suitably quick Italian
pace cars, kindly provided by Ferrari and
Lamborghini. Event ring-master, Phil Ward, was