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Classic beauties to run the Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano tour

2 June, 2015

The 21st edition of Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano is sure set to be one of the globe’s finest classic motoring events of the year. Held over June 19–21, Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano is a tour open to sports and competition cars built before 1959, covering ground over the spectacular Northern Italy.

The rally commences on June 19, near Bassano del Grappa, winding its way north through the Passo Manghen and Passo Lavazé, finishing the day at Bolzano.

The second day, June 20, faces an even more legendary challenge — including the Passo Mendola, Passo delle Palade, and the Passo dello Stelvio (yes, the mythical Stelvio Pass), before closing the day in Trento.

The grand finale, on June 21, climbs Passo Vezzena, due for Asiago, before heading due south for Bassano, to finish at Marostica.

The spectacular backdrop will be one thing, but such an event is as much about the cars, too. Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano will not disappoint in this respect — almost 90 entrants from across the globe, covering as many as 24 vehicle marques, have been confirmed for entry.

Bentley is one of the better represented marques here, with the line-up including the incredible 1931 Bentley 8 Litre, and the legendary Bentley 4.5 Litre Blower.

The British firepower is to be backed up by eight Jaguars, including this incredible 1955 Jaguar D Type, owned by Ben Cussons, President of the Royal Automobile Club.

Of course, such an event could never be devoid of Italian-racing pedigree, and one of this year’s stars is suitably fitting. The beautiful 1924 Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio is one of only four built, and placed second at the 1924 Targa Florio. Nine decades later, it will be driven by Giulio Masetti.

For a cinematic overview of the unparallelled automotive, and Northern Italian, beauty, watch this short teaser video — it is truly worth it.

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”