And the C&SC team’s 2018 highlights are…

By Classic & Sports Car Editorial team
Features
 | 26 Dec 2018
The C&SC team’s 2018 highlights

Here at Classic & Sports Car we’re looking forward to a busy 2019 – but that doesn’t mean we’ve already forgotten about the past 12 months. 

No siree: it’s been a very eventful year for the C&SC team, with many fantastic events attended and many incredible cars driven (and lusted after). 

To ensure we didn’t forget everything that had happened, we thought we’d jot down our personal highlights of 2018, together with our ambitions for 2019. Then it occurred to us that you might find them interesting too. So here they are. 

Alastair Clements, editor in chief

Car of the year

I didn’t get to see it in the metal until the Classic Motor Show, but the ex-Soviet Union Mercedes-Benz 300SL was already my favourite thanks to James Page’s fascinating story and Tony Baker’s stunning photography in our December issue – and you can read the full feature here.

Best event

Rétromobile has got a lot bigger since my previous visit, but the Paris event remains the indoor show against which all others are judged.

New Year’s resolution

To be back in the pre-’76 car park at the Goodwood Revival, this time in my own classic.

Martin Buckley, senior contributor

Car of the year

It has to be the De Tomaso Mangusta that I sampled for our triple test in the November issue, because it was so much better than I expected – although I’d still have the Daytona…

Best event

The Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club AGM is always good fun and there are so many things to look at – plus it’s a real education.

New Year’s resolution

To stop relying on the sat-nav and try to take the roads less travelled.

Martin Port, art editor

Car of the year

It’s a late entry, but getting behind the wheel of an EB110 will take some beating – particularly because it was my first experience of driving a Molsheim legend. You’ll see it in our February 2019 issue, on sale 3 January!

Best drive

The chance to join 11 Series One Land-Rovers in the Spanish hills at Les Comes was fantastic; driving Tim Dine’s pre-production example on a re-enactment of the original display run made it extra special.

New Year’s resolution

I’d love to drive the Gunbarrel Highway, Western Australia, in a Series Landie.

Mick Walsh, international editor

Car of the year

The restoration of Bugatti Type 59 chassis 59121 by Tim Dutton’s talented team, taking it back to hero owner Charlie Martin’s patriotic green livery, was a lesson to all to forget the trend for fake patina. It was stunning workmanship but, frustratingly, the beautiful racer is now in America.

Best drive

Finally getting the chance to explore the amazing roads of Corsica was a long-held ambition fulfilled.

New Year’s resolution

To take a road trip in Montana with my boys, and to finish my book on the Type 59.

Greg MacLeman, features editor

Car of the year

The laps around Bicester Heritage’s test track in Julian Grimwade’s hugely successful Frazer Nash Norris Special will stick with me for a long time.

Best event

‘Even’ years always mean the Le Mans Classic, and this year’s trip was one of the best. It was also tinged with sadness, being the first without our great friend David Evans.

New Year’s resolution

With attention having been divided between my two classics this year, I’m determined to do right by my neglected MGB GT in 2019.

Lizzie Pope, associate editor

Car of the year

It could only be the BTCC Volvo 850 Estate, a childhood hero I was lucky enough to meet twice this year – and chatting to superstar driver Rickard Rydell was the icing on the cake.

Best event

The Phoenix Inn’s packed New Year’s Day meet in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, drew a delightfully diverse crowd.

New Year’s resolution

It’s been a few years since I’ve taken the maps on an historic rally, so maybe 2019 is the year I get back into it?

Julian Balme, senior contributor

Car of the year

The Sunbeam Tiger I saw in an American collector’s garage was beautiful – an unmolested, black, low-mileage example in exactly the spec I’d want for a road car.

Best drive

The weather helped, and our fourth Gourmet Roadster Reliability Run in the spring around the north Norfolk coast was a definite highlight.

New Year’s resolution

I’m sounding like a stuck record, but a decent European road trip is on the cards. And to get another car (the Spitfire) back on the road.

Simon Taylor, editor at large

Car of the year

Hubert Fabri’s delectable Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, which Mrs Throttle and I got to take to the pub. The sound in second gear of those camshafts and timing gears was symphonic.

Best Drive

Hagerty’s Drive It Day Tour in my AC Ace 2.6: a low-key jolly with nice cars, lovely people and a back-roads route on a perfect spring day to remind me why we love classic motoring.

New Year’s resolution

Easy: just to do more miles in classics, more often.

Marc McLaren, digital development editor

Car of the year

Watching the Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘Breadvan’ win the Kinrara Trophy as the sun set at the Goodwood Revival was amazing. No, it’s not conventionally beautiful, but such pace…

Best event

Can I choose our own Show? Well, I’m going to, because it was a wonderful weekend with some great cars and a fantastic atmosphere.

New Year’s resolution

I’m determined to make it to Pebble Beach. Okay, so gawping at priceless classics in California for a week will be tough, but I think I can handle it.

James Mann, photographer

Car of the year

The Alfa Sportiva we photographed in France. Dealer Christophe Pund offered us lunch before we started the shoot; when he opened the fridge, all there was in there was fois gras and Chablis… so that’s what we had!

Best event

The 76th Goodwood Members’ Meeting was the most memorable and one of the toughest to work at thanks to the ‘Beast from the East’.

New Year’s resolution

Having parted with my Big Healey after 25 years, I’ve decided to only keep cars for a maximum of five years, because there are so many I want to own and so little time.

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