Continental notes, February 2004

Jenks on GTs, 1962

Last month it was more than worthwhile to visit England to gather some Continental knowledge. An ‘open house’ day of dicing was being organised at Silverstone by Total Oil, with a long line of Continental cars in the paddock.

Looked after by Alfa Romeo man Guidotti was a splendid array of the Milan products. I tried the Sprint Speciale and the 2.6-litre spider, which really came into its own at Silverstone. The gearbox is first class, the ratios near perfect. For those who like gear-changing, the Alfa Romeo five-speed is one of the joys in life.

The 3500GT Maserati is more a ‘roadster’, but a very fast one —145mph is not unlikely. The steering is accurate but the tail breaks away all too easily; I don’t think I would enjoy driving from Naples to Sicily in the standard product.

I dream of the day when Motor Sport sells a million copies, for then the Proprietor might buy me a Ferrari 250GT for my travels round Europe. Then life will be complete — except that Ferrari will have built a better car by then. If the short-chassis 3-litre V12 Ferrari is not the last word in GT cars, I would like to know what is. There are not many cars I would give my right arm to own, but this is one — you would not need to drive the thing, you could just stand and drool over it in the garage.

With foreign products ringing in my ears I got on my foreign motorcycle and headed for home, happy in the knowledge that there is not much wrong with the Continent.

Yours, DSJ