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Gentlemen’s Run – “Good Old Petrol”
GENTLEMEN’S RUN
Good Old Petrol
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Giorgia Rossi
Certain days, those we have marked on the calendar with an “X”, the most special ones, are like photographic albums that remain imprinted in our mind. We waited them anxiously and they probably took away some sleep last night. These are Sundays when we are rid of the mere enthusiast for classic cars – in this case – and we wear those of our favorite hero, that human being who has the ability to caress the heart through the purest form of passion in nature: a smile of happiness. These are the sequences of moments starting when we board on our favorite car, and after performing the regular routine checks, we turn the key, hoping nothing unexpected will happen. At that moment, like the spark gives life to the engine, the same spark flashes our minds, and while the mechanical part drops slightly and turns fluid fluxes, our emotional part is already loaded to a thousand, eager to leave the driveway and finally go into the third edition of “Gentlemen’s Run”.
What does distinguish a gentleman driver from a common driver? The argument deserves an article on its own, in fact a whole separate agenda, but as a vintage cars passionate it can easily be argued that a gentleman driver does not care about those claustrophobic racing performance, tenths of a second more or less for reaching 100 per hour and stuff like that. His method of measuring how much a car is special can’t be calculated with cold numbers, technical data sheets or engineering craziness: it is a matter of skin, something physical and at the same time profoundly emotional – a car is magical when it transmits chills along your back, when there are no comfort areas and you have to fight with a heavy steering wheel, or when you feel one with it, maybe going down by a winding road. These elegant ladies are what made today’s sports cars what they are, but they were for gentlemen drivers, they were driven by people and not just drivers who are ending trapped through traction controls and thousands of electronic diapers and gearboxes with two clutches – here the only clutch was the same you had to worship in order to leave the garage in the morning.
And while the 20 participating cars gathered at the Delicafé in Cavallermaggiore and the crews were able to have a delicious breakfast and thus make the accreditationss, the group started for a longer and articulated tour than usual, surprised even by a road just closed the day before and of which unfortunately no one warned the organization. Not too bad, the most lively driving experiences are those that are full of unforeseen situations and in perfect gentleman style, we have improvised along an alternative route, descending towards Pollenzo and then towards La Morra and then Barolo, for the final stage in that of the splendid Wineries of the Marchesi di Barolo, for the second time the location chosen for the exhibition of the cars and lunch. While crossing the Langhe territories, fascinated and amazed people stopped doing anything and turned with their mouth open, observing a large variety of cars, such as the elegant Lancia Flavia or the Convertible Flaminia, or the eternal Jaguar E-Type, the iconic Porsche 356 Speedster. And then Ferrari was represented by an impressive 365 GT4 and again Matra, a wealthy Fiat deployment including a 124 Coupe, a Spider, X1/9, 125 S, but also a Triumph TR7, Porsche 924 and the immortals Lancia Fulvia. More modern but fundamental for their respective brands a ’74 911 Carrera 2.7, a BMW Z1 and the inevitable Lancia Delta HF Integrale we have already seen blasting on our last year’s event. And how to stay indifferent to the roar that echoed throughout the valley thanks to the ’69 Shelby Mustang GT350, which fits perfectly with our brand new Mustang V8 in test? Simple, you could not.
The driving tour continued in a perfect “run” style, with some crews who chased others, but the common denominator was represented by satisfied, albeit tired, fatigued faces of every single participant. Once at the Cantine Marchesi, there was time to arrange the cars in the inner courtyard, and as enthusiastic passers-by were doing selfies beside their favorite ones, the gentlemen were able to have a guided tour of the cellars, prelude to the usual and exquisite lunch held in the forestry, entirely reserved for our magazine. Needless to say, food, wine and the service have once again been unobtrusive, showing all the people the excellent gastronomic level of the area. At lunchtime, it’s just time to introduce the sponsors of the day and reward the crew coming from farther away – from Bologna on a Porsche 924, those who started the event with a car (Lancia Beta Spider Zagato) and reached the destination with another one (Lancia Delta Integrale – replaced due to a gearbox failure) and finally the splendid Porsche 356 Speedster driven by Alfredo Stola and Maria Paola Ariusso, awarded with a unique piece of ceramic work made by the artist Francesco Guarino to celebrate the event; he personally attended for explaining the processes of ceramic work and the representation of a completely original car, in order to make the most of such a special work.
Thanks to all those who have participated, sharing with us a day of passion and drive, but especially for having made us part of that personal and intimate magic that a vintage car is able to give. The smell of petrol has once again been the protagonist of an unforgettable day and we cannot wait for next year’s edition, where we will introduce several new things to further raise the stem to an event that we ourselves look forward to. Good old petrol, so rude and intrusive, it represents and gives life to unique emotions, which keep alive a piece of automotive history, but above all the finest shades of a piece of life of every self-respecting gentleman driver.
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