Beating the Tamburo!
The opportunity to take more than one friend or member of the family in a Lamborghini has not been possible since the demise of the fabled LM in 1993. Until now that is, with the launch of the new Lamborghini Urus. Whilst the LM was more of a truck (the ‘Rambo-Lambo’ conspicuous by lack of even a mention at the launch at Barangaroo in Sydney), the new Urus is a luxury super suv. At its Oceania premiere I was able to sample the new Lamborghini experience, which combines the DNA and qualities of the current Lamborghini offering. Take the very best bits of the Huracán and the Aventador super sports cars, such as four-wheel steering and carbon ceramic brakes, throw in air suspension and lots of other high-tech stuff including torque vectoring, and Lamborghini has created an SUV capable of 0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds with a top speed of 305 km/h. Despite its increased centre of gravity and the fact that it is much higher and heavier than the other models from Sant’Agata Bolognese, the Urus is capable of stopping from 100 km/h to a stand-still in just 33.7 metres
This is a sports car on steroids that is capable of running on sand, snow, gravel, race-track or tarmac, with breathtaking performance and amazing all round capability. This is in no small part due to its exciting new V8 4.0 litre twin-turbo engine, the first occasion that Lamborghini has utilised turbo power. All controlled from the Tamburo, or Drum at the centre of the ultra-modern interior which comfortably seats four. And the name, well, as has been the tradition at Lamborghini, the name Urus is derived from the world of bulls. The Urus, also known as Aurochs, is a wild ancestor of domestic cattle. The Spanish fighting bull, as bred for the past half-millennia, is still close to the Urus in its appearance.
Taschen presents FERRARI
This veritable work of art, designed by Marc Newson, offers unrestricted access to hundreds of photographs from the Ferrari archives, and those of private collectors, to reveal the full story behind the Cavallino Rampante. With the diaries of Enzo Ferrari and a complete appendix of the company’s victories, this massive tome is elevated by a sculpture evocative of the 12-cylinder engine to top off a production unparalleled in scale. A project conceived together in close collaboration with Ferrari, this enormous art book is a veritable...
read moreClassic Car Auction Yearbook 2017 – 2018
The latest edition of the wonderfully informative and incredibly detailed and accurate Classic Car Auction Yearbook is now available. Written by Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi and published by Historic Selecta, the 2017-2018 Yearbook was recently launched at Auto e Moto d’Epoca in Padova in Italy. As the official distribrutor for Australasia for this remarkable reference book you can now order your copy directly from me. Copies of the 23rd edition will be arriving in Australia very shortly and will be available for direct dispatch to...
read moreSale of the 20th Century
The Beatles, Margaret Thatcher, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, Deep Purple, Aretha Franklin, Kylie Minogue, Herge’s Tin Tin, John Lennon, AC/DC, Jack Nicholson, Alfred Hitchcock, Sean Connery, Walt Disney, James Bond, JK Rowling, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Prince, Elvis, Elizabeth Taylor, Rupert the Bear, Doris Day, Muhammad Ali, Michael Schumacher, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Charles Chaplin. These are just some of the famous names included in the 170 lots from the Tim...
read moreIt’s a Knokke out!
The Zoute Grand Prix held at the chic, affluent Belgian coastal resort of Knokke Le Zoute is one of the motoring world’s best kept secrets. The 9th Edition held on 4 – 7 October however drew an amazing crowd of nearly a quarter of a million spectators to the elegant seaside resort which is normally home to just 30,000 inhabitants. And what was it that these Belgian, Dutch and French spectators had come to experience. Well certainly not a Grand Prix in the normal motoring sense, despite the fact that according to the informed, former F1...
read moreEntre Nous – Bentley Continental GT
“A way of driving that’s really ‘entre nous’ “ (‘The Continental’, with apologies to songwriters Con Conrad and Herbert Magidson) Since its launch in 2003, the Bentley Continental has quite possibly been the ultimate grand tourer of the motoring 21st Century. Taking its inspiration from the iconic definition of luxury grand touring, the 1952 Bentley R-Type Continental which at the time was the fastest four-seater car in the world, the Continental GT has epitomised what one would expect from a modern luxury grand tourer. The third iteration of...
read morePortofino
It was great fun and an honour to be chosen as one of the first people to drive the new Ferrari Portofino in Australia. Top up or top down it is an amazing car which can take you to amazing places in style. From The Pacific Club amid the hustle and bustle of world famous Bondi Beach, and via the twists and turns of the Old Pacific Highway to the quiet laidback luxury getaway of Pretty Beach House in the Bouddi National Park on the New South Wales Central Coast. The scenery along this part of Australia’s coastline is breathtaking, as too...
read moreEuropean Classic from Western Australia
West Australian car collector Alan Tribe enjoyed a breakthrough win this week at the World’s premier class car event: the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2018. His 1939 Lagonda V12 Rapide with a rare James Young Drophead Coupé body won the Concours Class J3 for European Classic from the late 1930s. A class win at Pebble Beach is regarded as one of the greatest accolades in the classic car world, exceeded only by the Best of Show award which recognises the best of the best. Few Australians have exhibited at Pebble Beach, let alone won a class...
read moreHalcyon
Please check out a new project of mine at www.halcyonauctions.com First up is as follows: SALE OF THE 20TH CENTURY October will see the sale of part of one of Australia’s most important private collections of international 20th century popular, cultural and social history. Tim Fredman has been collecting unusual, rare, iconic and often unique items of popular culture all his long life. Over the years he has assembled an incredible depth and breadth of pieces that represent and reflect the tastes, fashions, ideas, thinking and...
read moreBuilding Blocks
Work Transformed: People, place and purpose. Books from architectural practices often tend to be somewhat self-congratulatory. Written by the marketing department rather than the architects themselves, creating a tome of pretty, glossy pictures illustrating the work of said practice with benign, and indeed banal, commentary. ‘Work Transformed’, by the dynamic, award-winning firm, ‘BDG architecture + design’ is a book that transcends the onanistic. Indeed, one of the editors is the company’s CEO, Gill Parker, who provides a compelling argument...
read moreTravel
And for those of you who prefer stories about travel rather than cars, boats or watches, here is another recent example of my work from Signature Luxury & Travel Magazine:- Beyond Mykonos and Santorini: the other islands of the Cyclades James Nicholls shares highlights from two of Greece’s most beautiful but lesser known islands, Milos and Paros. Many of us have been lucky enough to visit those jewels of the Aegean Sea, Mykonos and Santorini. Glorious islands both, but sometimes so overwhelming and just too beautiful, not...
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