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Commissioned by American racing icon Briggs Cunningham and unveiled at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, Maserati 5000 GT chassis 103.016 represents one of Giovanni Michelotti's finest achievements. Developed with extensive wind-tunnel testing and shaped by a relentless pursuit of performance, it is widely regarded as the most aerodynamic and possibly the fastest of all thirty-four Maserati 5000 GTs ever built. A unique blend of racing pedigree, scientific design and Italian elegance, it remains one of the most significant grand tourers of its era. Words by Edgardo Michelotti Photos and Drawings: Archivio Storico Michelotti www.archiviostoricomichelotti.it Among the thirty-four Maserati 5000 GTs built between 1959 and 1965, one stands apart from all the others. Not because of its rarity alone, but because of the philosophy behind its creation. Commissioned by American racing legend Briggs Cunningham and designed by Giovanni Michelotti, chassis 103.016 remains one of the most remarkable grand touring Maseratis ever conceived. The car was unveiled at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show on the Michelotti stand, a fitting stage for what was arguably the most advanced interpretation of Maserati's ultimate road-going flagship. It is often described as the fastest and most aerodynamic 5000 GT ever built. Whether measured by performance, innovation or exclusivity, few would dispute its place among the most significant Maseratis of the era. The origins of the 5000 GT are now part of automotive folklore. In 1958, after exhausting the possibilities offered by Maserati's regular production models, the Shah of Persia approached the company with an unusual request: a 3500 GT powered by one of Maserati's formidable 450S racing engines. With the 450S programme already discontinued and several spare engines available, Maserati transformed the idea into a limited-production grand tourer of extraordinary performance. The resulting 5000 GT combined the sophistication of a luxury road car with the heart of a racing machine. Only thirty-four examples would be produced, each individually tailored for its owner. The list of customers included some of the most influential figures of the period, among them Gianni Agnelli, the Aga Khan and Briggs Cunningham, whose passion for speed was matched only by his considerable resources. In many ways, Cunningham represented the ideal 5000 GT owner: a gentleman racer who demanded the very best engineering available. For his personal car, Cunningham requested a design that would visually echo the Maserati 450S from which the concept had originated. As often happens in the creative process, the result evolved into something altogether different — and arguably even more compelling. Michelotti retained subtle references to the racing car through the rounded contours of the wheel arches, but the rest was an entirely original and strikingly modern creation. The design was characterised by exceptionally clean surfaces, a remarkably low roofline and generous glass areas supported by ultra-thin pillars. Decorative chrome strakes concealed functional air outlets behind the front wheel arches, while the semi-tapered rear section anticipated styling themes later seen on the Ferrari 330 GTC. Hidden headlamps, concealed behind rotating covers, flanked a low oval grille, preserving the car's aerodynamic efficiency. A muscular side exhaust, discreetly emerging behind the front wheels, hinted at the power concealed beneath the elegant bodywork. What truly distinguished Cunningham's 5000 GT, however, was the scientific approach taken during its development. Michelotti was among the very few designers of the period to employ wind-tunnel testing as an integral part of the design process. The body was refined at the wind tunnel of the University of Turin, resulting in what is widely considered the most aerodynamic 5000 GT ever produced. The exceptionally low nose, clean airflow management and concealed headlamps were all conceived with performance in mind rather than mere styling effect. The mechanical package was equally impressive. Cunningham sought the fastest example possible, and Maserati delivered accordingly. Before accepting the car, he reportedly insisted on testing it personally at Monza to verify that its performance met his exacting standards. Satisfied with the results, he used the car extensively, travelling between the European circuits where his racing team competed throughout the early 1960s. Beyond its exceptional performance, Cunningham particularly appreciated the outstanding visibility offered by Michelotti's design. The slim pillars and expansive glasshouse provided an almost uninterrupted 360-degree field of vision, an attribute he considered essential for high-speed driving. Today, the Cunningham 5000 GT is regarded as one of Giovanni Michelotti's absolute masterpieces. Among all thirty-four examples built, it remains unique in having been conceived through such a distinctly functional and scientific approach. Rather than relying solely on aesthetics, Michelotti pursued efficiency, aerodynamics and visibility with unusual rigour, creating a grand tourer that perfectly reflected the character of its owner: bold, purposeful and uncompromising. More than sixty years after its debut in Geneva, chassis 103.016 still stands as one of the purest expressions of the union between racing technology, aerodynamic research and Italian coachbuilding artistry. -- About the Author Edgardo Michelotti was born in 1952. After obtaining a diploma as a surveyor, he pursued architectural studies in Turin before joining his father, the celebrated designer Giovanni Michelotti, in 1973. He worked alongside him until Michelotti’s illness and passing in early 1980, later continuing the activities of the studio until 1991, when he gradually moved away from the automotive sector. Over the following fifteen years, Edgardo Michelotti focused primarily on industrial design, while simultaneously cultivating a deep commitment to photography, historical preservation and archival research. Since 2003, he has dedicated himself extensively to the preservation, cataloguing and digitisation of the Giovanni Michelotti archive — an extraordinary body of material documenting more than three decades of automotive design history across the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The archive includes approximately 6,000 original design drawings, over 20,000 photographs, nearly 7,000 kilograms of full-scale body design plans, together with scale models, working tools, correspondence, technical documentation and period publications. Through this long-term preservation effort, Edgardo Michelotti continues to safeguard and promote one of the most significant creative legacies in post-war Italian automotive design.

Not merely simple lines that offer thrills, but shapes that cut through the air, using it to their own advantage. For Leonardo Fioravanti, icon of Italian automotive style, design and function are the foundations for aspiring to beauty Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri Archive Courtesy of Leonardo Fioravanti Archive “Your right ear is a few millimetres lower than your left.” Leonardo Fioravanti, engineer and designer, looks and analyses, with his own very personal measuring device made of bright and very acute eyes and an ever-moving brain, processing and classifying anything that has a shape, assessing it and seeking to improve it. Elegantly sporting a blue blazer, despite his eighty years you can still feel that energy that would prefer to be in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, doing what comes naturally to him: designing. He welcomes us to his home on the hills of Moncalieri, an ancient and aristocratic place split between two marvels. One is the infinite view over the Alps and beyond, and the other the entrance to a paradise that on first sight appears to be a bunker, but is packed with life-sized scale models, shapes, drawings, models that seem destined for the mobility of the future but were instead designed ten, twenty or thirty years ago, their colours, lines and solutions leaving you speechless. It is the story of a life driven by creativity, where functions are defined by ideas that are as simple as they are effective, giving the true measure of genius blended with style. Leonardo Fioravanti’s biography is only apparently linear. It started with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Milan Polytechnic, developing at Pininfarina and the Fiat Group, but is marked by the constant and almost obsessive presence of Ferrari, the brand of which Fioravanti became Deputy General Director, but for which he also designed some of its most iconic models - the Dino, Daytona, BB, F40, Testarossa, 308, to name but a few. “I have always had a soft spot for Ferrari, even before I began to work for Pininfarina,” he admits. [click to watch the video] Can you tell us about the genesis of one of the most representative Ferraris of all time, the 308? “The story of the 308 began in 1969. The idea was to make a different Ferrari: fewer cylinders, a lower price, more compact in size and accessible to a broader public. The new car was to have a V8 Ferrari engine mounted transversely, which could reduce the longitudinal dimensions of the car and reduce its costs. I was put in charge of the design. I had a precise reference model in mind: the P6, a Ferrari that I was particularly fond of because of its aerodynamic approach and minimalism. I began to work on the project, and was already pleased with the first drawing. But in the meantime, Enzo Ferrari had set his mind on something different. The “Commendatore” had always been against the idea of placing the engine centrally, behind the seats in front of the rear axle. He said it was a racing set-up, suited to professional drivers but dangerous for regular drivers. Yet something made him change his mind, and he was convinced that the right suspensions and a well-designed aerodynamic bodywork could help a 12-cylinder Ferrari with a central engine, without compromising on safety and making it predictable to handle.” The choice to increase the cylinders from 8 to 12 was also important in size terms… “Sure, but the lines I had given the “little” GT were the perfect inspiration. So, Ferrari stopped the plans for the 308 and asked me to design this new car. And thus came the 365 BB. The BB had a story in its name: all of us who worked on the project — me, Bellei, Sergio Scaglietti — were in love with Brigitte Bardot. When we talked about the new car amongst ourselves, we called it BB, it seemed to be the natural choice because it was charming and thrilled us. When it was presented, it was an instant success. Of course, someone at Maranello turned “our” BB into the Berlinetta Boxer, an incorrect name seeing as the BB wasn’t even a Berlinetta, a name more suited to a car with a front engine, and its engine wasn’t a boxer, which should have had opposing cylinders, but a 180° V flat engine. In any case, after presenting the BB, Ferrari decided to go back to the 308 project.” Not only smaller and more compact, the 308 was also lighter, which improved its agility. And all with an unmistakeable, impeccable style, similar to what happened with the Dino. “Yes, also because I reworked my 1969 design, and I was really pleased with the first three-dimensional 1:1 scale model that was built. I suggested fibreglass for the bodywork, as it weighed less than steel and for a car that needed to be cheaper and lighter it made sense. Ferrari accepted, and the first 308 GTB series was like that. We presented it at the Paris Motor Show on 3 October 1975, and it was an instant success. Commendatore Ferrari was delighted. He could see straight away that it would mean big business. But perhaps he also saw something else: that the car was beautiful in just the right way, the way that stands time.” As usual, he got it right. Half a century after its début, the 308 is still one of the most iconic Ferraris of all time. “In addition to the pride of having thought of and designed it, I also had another unexpected surprise, because as a gesture of his recognition — one that I will never forget — the Commendatore decided to give me one. When the 308 was delivered to Pininfarina, I jumped in and drove off to my home in Turin. At one point I saw a friend, I recognised her, slowed down and stopped and wound the window down. She turned round. She saw this low-down thing, a car you certainly didn't see every day, with me inside. “Is that you? Is this a Ferrari?” “Yes.” “Whose is it?” “Mine.” Silence. “What do you mean, mine?” “Yes, it’s mine, and I designed it too.” She got in and I drove her home. I was driving a Ferrari that I had designed and that was given to me by Enzo Ferrari. I was little over thirty. When I tell this story it still seems to be the story of someone else’s life. But it was mine.” You also designed a four-door Ferrari, the Pinin, but it was never produced. How did that go? “For Pininfarina's fiftieth anniversary we wanted to do something special: a four-door Ferrari, that had always been Commendatore Farina's dream. It was designed, built and called Pinin, in honour of the founder. It was taken to America, where it was very popular, and then to Maranello, with all the honours. I remember that morning: there was me, Piero Ferrari, the general director and others. We walked round the Pinin, taking it in from every angle. Enzo Ferrari was there, silent and attentive as he was when looking at something serious. And then, the decision. No deal. The reason was as simple as it was brutal: Ferrari produced sports cars in relatively small numbers, and that craft skill had consequences on the construction quality. Nothing catastrophic, because they were beautiful cars that went fast, so you could turn a blind eye to some imprecisions. But the four-door market was something entirely different: like the Mercedes, cars built with a manufacturing precision that, at that time, Ferrari could not match without huge investments. Entering that market with defects that were acceptable on a sports car would have been a strategic error.” You were born and studied in Milan. What kind of family do you come from? “My family was originally from Pistoia, so Tuscan to the core, where the first-born was the one who inherited, who decided, who was the one that counted. My grandfather Andrea was the second born, and knowing how things were, he took his things and went off to Genoa, where he became the director of the city schools. Commendatore Andrea Fioravanti — an open-minded man, my father used to say. I remember the huge study he had in his home in Castelletto, one of the higher neighbourhoods in Genoa that looks over the whole city. Children would come for lessons; they were intimidated when they came in but enthusiastic when they left.” You owe a lot to your grandfather… “He understood me perfectly, better than anyone else in the family. One afternoon we were on the terrace. There was a model car on the table, I can't remember which. My father, an electro-technical engineer, had set up his own company and he would have wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I didn’t have much time for electricity, but I was profoundly inspired by cars, and my grandfather knew that. He looked at me, pointing to the model, and said: “Forget about your father. Do what you want, follow your passion.” I was quite young, but those words stuck to me like glue.” What do you remember of the car world when you were young? “The folly and the excitement. I was twelve years old the first time I stole my father’s car keys. We had two cars: a Fiat 600 and a Fiat 1100 “bauletto”. We lived near Piazza Carlo Erba, a square with a quite large roundabout for that time, surrounded by wide, silent streets. Milan still had a rare quality at night: silence. There wasn’t all the traffic we know today, the roads were clear, and a twelve-year-old boy with his hands on the wheel could drive around quite undisturbed. So that night I took my courage in my hands. I waited for my father to fall asleep, found the keys, left the house, got in the 600 and drove off. The roundabout in Piazza Carlo Erba was free and empty. I drove round and round for an hour, maybe two. I wasn't afraid, I just felt like I was in exactly the right place, doing exactly the right thing. The steering wheel was heavier than I expected, but the pedals reacted in the same way as the three on the piano, which as I played, I imagined were the accelerator, brake and clutch. And the car was an extension of what was inside: a physical machine that translated intentions into trajectories. I went home, parked and put the keys back in their place. My father didn't notice anything, and I went out again the following week and the one after, for months. Firstly in the 600, and later also in the 1100.” That seems more like the début of a driver than a designer… “Partly yes, and the two personalities lived side by side for a long time. I went to Monza with some friends who were older than me: I wasn’t eighteen yet, but they were, and that was enough to get into the ‘autodromo’. I sat in the car with them for a few laps, and then said: “Stop, get out, it’s my turn.” And I drove. Fast, apparently — faster than anything that seemed reasonable for someone of my age with no official experience. The day after my eighteenth birthday I got my driving licence. I signed up to the ANCAI, the Italian National Car Racing Association, and began to move up through the ranks: Fiat 500, then 1100, then Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, then the sedan, then the Lancia, always Italian brands. It wasn't a question of nationalism, but they were the ones I loved, and that I could afford. In the end I won two Italian Gran Turismo championships.” And when did the designer come onto the scene? “The engineer came first. I studied at Milan Polytechnic but I missed out on a year and a half, perhaps two, of the usual five. It was all the fault of the races, it was Monza’s fault. But then I realised that it was time to stop, to stop racing temporarily and devote my efforts to getting my degree. And from that choice came the most important thing in my studies: my dissertation. The idea in my head was about the aerodynamics of sedans, and all my experience — sailing boats with my father, the pictures of cars and planes I drew as a a child, my passion for fast-moving shapes — was coming together to form a precise intuition. The problem of making an aerodynamic sedan lay in making the air flow smoothly along the bodywork; the theory of the time was to extend the tail, so that the air flow continued right to the end, without ever moving away from the surface. But a sedan with a long tail was a hard car to park, to handle, and to sell. There was a contradiction between the ideal aerodynamics and a feasible shape.” And how did your dissertation solve this contradiction? “By cutting the tail. Cutting it off precisely in the point in which the air flow was still very close to the surface: not where it wanted to break away, but before, while it was still governed. I discovered that a stable vortex formed precisely in that cutting point: a mass of air that spun on itself, remaining firmly against the rear end, allowing the external flow to run over it as if it was a curved surface. The air didn’t break away, it rode over the vortex. The aerodynamic result was comparable to that of a longer tail, but with a compact car. The model was built and taken to the Breda wind tunnel, where Milan Polytechnic carried out its experimental tests. It was approved. The dissertation became an official document, published by the university in 1960. It had everything — the calculations, the drawings, the photos of the wind tunnel tests. It was the first thing in my professional career to have a stamp, a date and an institutional recognition. And it bore the signature of a student who had lost two years playing about in Monza.” What drove you to draw when you were a child? A love of cars or of shapes? “I used to draw everything, but it always came back to means of transport: aeroplanes, boats, trains, cars, anything that moved. I understood it all only later, when I graduated from the Polytechnic with a dissertation on aerodynamics, and I had all the theoretical instruments to be able to look back and give a name to that old obsession of mine. I was attracted to movement because, as I mentioned earlier, movement is air. And air is the discipline that governs the shapes of everything that flows in the world: the wings of a bird, the hull of a boat, the lines of a car’s bodywork. Shape is not a matter of taste, not at first: it is a physical response to a physical force. Everything else comes after that. My father taught me everything without knowing it, when we went out sailing. He explained how the sails work, how they swell, how they are managed, how the air crosses over them differently depending on the angle of the wind. He didn’t use the word aerodynamic — it wasn’t his field — but that was exactly what he described to me. And I listened, without yet realising that I was learning the principle that was to define my whole professional life.” When and where did that spark that led you to Pininfarina come from? “Even before I graduated, one morning, I saw a Giulietta Spider with a hard top drive past my house. I stopped. It was one of those cars that block you without you being able to explain why: a few lines, yet so precise and essential that they seem inevitable. There was a plate on the bodywork: a stylised F, with the Pinin Farina brand, already crowned as the absolute benchmark of Italian car design. An engineer who worked in Turin for my father helped me to get an appointment. I hadn’t finished my degree. But I had the drawings, literally packs of them: years of work, sketches, designs, ideas put to paper with the free hand that everyone knew I had. I took them all.” What was the reaction? “Sergio Pininfarina and Renzo Carli met with me. They looked closely at the drawings. They were impressed. Then Sergio Pininfarina smiled and said, his tone of voice somewhere between serious and playful: “You’re going to become General Director here one day,” and then added the serious part: “But now go back to Milan, study hard, finish your degree at the Polytechnic and then we will talk again.” I went back to Milan. I graduated. And then I returned to Turin. I spent the next twenty-four years at Pininfarina. Not only did I become General Director but even Managing Director. Sergio Pininfarina's joke, said smiling at a kid with a load of drawings under his arm, had become my biography.” With Fioravanti srl, your company set up in 1987 as an architecture firm, designed some very interesting cars, including the Sensiva. “A 1994 design for an electric car with four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, an electric motor for each wheel. Each wheel knew exactly what its friction coefficient was, and that information could be used to modulate the power, optimise the braking, manage the traction with a precision that conventional systems couldn’t get close to. In 2006 I sold the patent to Pirelli. Today they call it the Cyber Tyre. They sell it worldwide, mounted on high-end cars that use the information for active safety and driver assistance systems. Whenever I read about this technology in a magazine, I think of Piazza Carlo Erba, my father who slept unsuspectingly, and a twelve-year-old kid who drove round in a 600 wondering why smooth tyres held the road better.” Thirty years ago, you designed one that still has absolutely modern features today. What does the designer and the electric car enthusiast think today? “The electric motor is the designer’s freedom. I understood that when I was working on the Sensiva, and that’s what I still say today. A combustion engine is a huge, binding system. It’s big, heavy, full of components that have to stay in a precise sequence: clutch, gearbox, differential, radiator, cooling system, antifreeze in the winter. Every component takes up space, sets geometric limits, forcing the designer to build the bodywork around something given. Creative freedom is what remains after all these obligations have been met. An electric motor is small. The batteries can be placed wherever you want — in a central tunnel, like I did with the Sensiva, without disturbing the front or the rear seats. Each of the wheels can have its own motor, eliminating the drive shaft and the differential. The shape of the car can follow the logics of aerodynamics and aesthetics without having to compromise on the mechanics.” If the designer recognises the freedom offered by electrics, what does the engineer think? “I know this is a sensitive topic in Italy. There is a huge tradition of component manufacturers, factories that have supplied parts for combustion engines to the Italian and European car industry for decades. The transition to electric vehicles affects those factories, those families, those communities. It’s not a technical problem, but a real and serious economic and social problem. But it would be dishonest to use it to say that the electric motor is not the future. It is. In northern Europe over half the cars sold are electric. The problem is not the technology. The problem is how to manage the transition as painlessly as possible, thinking for example how to convert component manufacturers without losing their know-how.” Fioravanti, what is your relationship with cars? “I love cars because they’re made of everything and nothing. It’s a matter of geometry, air, function, chemistry, physics, history, economics and desire. It’s the nights spent as a twelve-year-old in a stolen 600, the championships won, the hours spent in with the models in the wind tunnel, the conversations with Enzo Ferrari, the drawings on paper that become metal that becomes speed. It is my grandfather on the terrace in Castelletto, with the whole of Genoa below, who looks at me and says, “Do what you want, follow your passion”.” I was very young. At the time, I didn't know that that phrase was a project.”

This is the story of a special family that has made the passion for cars the foundations on which to build relationships, emotions and visions, as well as a profession. Today it represents the most prestigious car brands, supporting them and making them a success on the track too. With the “Biscione” always in its heart… Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri “Driven by Heritage” is a project exploring the stories behind Swiss excellence, created in partnership with Astara - the official importer and distributor of Alfa Romeo cars in Switzerland. Memories are expressed in different ways. Sometimes all that is needed is a perfume or even a bad smell, a passing shadow that lights up the heart or sends shivers down your spine, or again, some music, a colour, a tactile sensation. Like the cold metal pipes of the roll bar that Ronnie, the seven-year-old heir of a family devoted to cars, gripped onto as he clung to the prototype sports car his father Loris Kessel had just driven to the podium of the iconic circuit in Monte Carlo. [click to watch the video] But we will take a look at that later, because first of all we have to focus on the young Loris. Born and bred in Ticino, he began to race when he was just eighteen, in the Giulietta Spider his mum had gifted him and that he had souped up, wider axle tracks and bumpers included, for uphill races. This passion was impossible to contain, and took him straight to the Formula 2, and from there into the who’s who of car racing, the Formula 1. He raced in the RAM team Brabham, but things were not easy: technical and other problems delayed its development, despite Loris always giving it his all. His efforts won him twelfth place – his best position – in the 1976 Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder (where his fellow citizen Clay Regazzoni came second behind Lauda, both in a Ferrari), his only satisfaction being that he was in front of the host, Jacky Ickx, and a guy named Fittipaldi, at the starting line. And if instead of a Brabham with a Ford Cosworth engine, even with the young Gordon Murray as race engineer, he had driven a 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo (i.e., the BT45 of the two Carlos, Reutemann and Pace) perhaps things would have gone better. Because Loris always had a certain rapport with the Biscione, which he handed down to his son Ronnie (named after Peterson, a driver he greatly admired). And here we return to the Principality where, in 1994, Enzo Osella, the Turin-based manufacturer of racing dreams, had held up the trophy that bore his name. The formula was quite simple: the cars were all the same, the PA20s designed and built in the factory in Piedmont, powered by a 3-litre V6 Alfa Romeo, racing around the bends of the most famous uphill races and the world's Formula 1 circuits, and were the opening races of some Grands Prix. Like the one in Monte Carlo, where Loris Kessel came third, deciding to give his son a very special gift: a lap of honour, of course at a tourist pace, around the bends of the Principality, sitting in the only place where a passenger, aside from the driver, could sit in an Osella: on the engine hood. So, gripping the roll-bar tightly, the wind in his hair, he paraded around the Monte Carlo circuit, a kind of Formula 1 red carpet, with the stands packed with people applauding ahead of the actual Grand Prix. With all these ingredients it is hard not to fuel a passion that had already grown in the Racing Car workshop yard, in Grancia, a tiny municipality a few miles from Lugano, where the very young Ronnie drove a go-kart while his father sold, repaired and prepared racing cars, almost all of them Alfa Romeos. With a promise: “When you are tall enough to drive one of the cars we take out on the track, I’ll let you try one.” And so soon enough, in 2003, Kessel Jr made his racing début. It was in Hockenheim for the Ferrari Challenge, and Ronnie was in Germany at the wheel of a 360 because, in the meantime, from 1995 Maranello had appointed Loris to represent the brand in Ticino and he, a racing fan, had begun to help his clients race. That day, in Hockenheim, Ronnie was just 16 years old. “A record that I think still stands today,” he tells us, “I was the youngest driver to have taken part in a Ferrari single-make race.” The racing continued hand in hand with studies and work, which increased thanks to the qualities and approachability of the eclectic and exuberant Loris. When Loris fell ill, Ronnie was still young, but he felt the responsibility of carrying on a task that the whole family had devoted all their love, passion and energies to since 1976. With Ronnie, the Kessel Group consolidated its key activities, creating highly specialised units that, with the contribution of around 200 employees, worked in sales, servicing, restorations and maintenance of classic and, of course, sports cars. The latter was a tradition considered to be the jewel in the Group’s crown: every racing weekend, the Kessel Racing team could be found on the track with at least 12 cars racing in 5 championships: European Le Mans Series, Michelin Le Mans Cup, GT World Challenge EU (Endurance and Sprint Cup), Italian GT Endurance, Ferrari Challenge Europe. Without forgetting the Asian Le Mans Series, held in the winter months when racing stopped in Europe. The Kessel premises multiplied in Canton Ticino, with Grancia and Noranco, near Lugano, but also in Zug and Sihlbrugg, where the largest and most complex Ferrari sales and servicing centre in Switzerland had just been inaugurated. In all this, Ronnie Kessel is a key figure for both clients and collectors. His racing experience helped him to understand and often anticipate the drivers’ needs. To avoid entering into direct competition with them, he even pulled out of the GT races, specialising instead in historic car races, including the Alfa Romeo Revival Cup, spending time with friends and fans in a more relaxed environment. “These races are fought to the last bend, and there are still many driving thrills, with a manual gearbox and heel-and-toe shifting.” Ronnie raced in a former-Lucien Bianchi GTAm, but still had his mind set on a future in F1 and DTM. To move in that direction, he bought an Alfa Romeo 179, a single-seater that in 1981 Bruno Giacomelli raced in. “I had the great honour of spending a lovely day with him in Modena, where we both drove the car,” Ronnie Kessel says. “To make sure that I was as efficient as possible, he gave me a few technical tips on the use, including that of cutting of the tip of my driving shoes to avoid getting my feet caught in the chassis when changing gear. I dreamed of driving it in Monte Carlo, where I had done a lap clinging onto my father's Osella.” The Kessel Classic collection also includes four 155 DTMs, one for each of the seasons they raced in, from the 1993 “narrow” body with the large Alfa logo on the side, and the 1994 with the Martini coat, the 1995 orange Jaegermaster and the last 1996 red. “All fantastic cars, I’m sure some special races can be organised.” The car racing culture, along with some infectious enthusiasm, are essential for creating a sense of empathy and trust among the clients, who feel protected and spoiled by someone who shares their passion. “The most engaging part of my work is the community that has built up over the years with some old friends – people who saw the company grow – and new acquaintances made in very different fields: on the track, concours d’elegance, at the dealers, as well as during art fairs or fashion and design events. Being able to work all-round with cars helps you meet people with whom you often have many other interests in common in addition to cars.” This is why Kessel organises some exclusive and thrilling events, destined to become iconic. Such as THE ICE, the concours d’elegance for classic cars held on the iced lake in Saint Moritz, which in just a few editions has become one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the international scene, combining an original mix of cars with the glamour of the town in Grisons. All in all, “tailored” customer care expressed through highly professional sales and servicing, experience, craft skill and culture in restoration, logistics and technical support for racing adventures: bywords for an approach based on excellence. What’s the secret? “One of the most precious lessons I learned from my father and that I strive to put into practice every day is that to be a good leader you have to be authoritative, not authoritarian. It is precisely due to this approach that I can count on the constant support of my team, and this support means that today we are able to turn ideas into concrete results, and always with an eye on the future.”

The thrilling realm of classic car events and motorsport in a curated calendar of the most prestigious and revered gatherings, a gateway to the pinnacle of racing heritage by SpeedHolics. Stay in the Fast Lane events CALENDAR Our Ultimate Guide to Classic Motorsport A curated selection of the most prestigious and revered gatherings. Write to add your event Share this page on Facebook Tier-1 extraordinary CLASSIC CAR EVENTs IN THE CALENDAR 92 VERNASCA SILVER FLAG Italy Vernasca (Piacenza) C.P.A.E. Club Piacentino Automotoveicoli d’Epoca Up 19 - 21 Jun 2026 Mail ZANDVOORT HISTORIC GRAND PRIX Netherlands Zandvoort Dutch GP Race B.V Up 19 - 21 Jun 2026 Mail MILLE MIGLIA Italy Brescia 1000 Miglia Srl Up Jun 2026 Mail Date to be announced LE MANS CLASSIC France Le Mans Peter Auto Up 2 - 5 Jul 2026 Mail SUMMER MARATHON Italy North Italy PROMOline Srl Up 5 - 7 Jul 2026 Mail ENNSTAL-CLASSIC Austria Gröbming Ennstal-Classic GmbH Up 8 - 10 Jul Mail GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED United Kingdom Chichester The Goodwood Estate Company Limited Up 9 - 12 Jul 2026 Mail COPPA D'ORO DELLE DOLOMITI Italy Cortina d'Ampezzo ACI Sport S.p.A. Up 16 - 19 Jul 2026 Mail ALFA REVIVAL CUP - VALLELUNGA Italy Vallelunga CANOSSA EVENTS Up 18 - 19 Jul 2026 Mail ENNSTAL-CLASSIC Austria Gröbming Ennstal-Classic Up 22 - 25 Jul 2026 Mail CLASSIC SUPERCAR SHOW United Kingdom Sherborne Castle Sherborne Classic & Supercars Ltd Up 26 Jul 2026 Mail POLTU QUATU CLASSIC CONCORSO D'ELEGANZA Italy Poltu Quatu - Sardinia Auto Classic S.r.l. Up Jul 2026 Mail Date to be announced CESANA SESTRIERE Italy Sestriere Automobil Club Torino Up FIA - Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Jul 2026 Mail Date to be announced HISTORIC GRAND PRIX ZOLDER Belgium Circuit Zolder vzw Terlamen Up 1 - 2 Aug 2026 Mail BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK USA-Utah Bonneville Salt Flats Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) Up 1 - 7 Aug 2026 Mail NURBURGRING OLD TIMER GRAND PRIX Germany Nurburgring AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix GmbH und Co OHG Up 7 - 9 Aug 2026 Mail MONTEREY CAR WEEK USA-California Monterey Monterey County Convention Up 7 - 16 Aug 2026 Mail PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE USA-California Pebble Beach Pebble Beach Company Up 16 Aug 2026 Mail 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 ... 5

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