Taking it to the street

One Of the greatest pleasures of classic and performance cars is that ever-present sense of adventure, a frisson of excitement whether it is just a local trip or driving the length of a continent. I adore the gung-ho approach passionate motorists take in confounding the doubters or proving a point with a bit of militant derring-do. And there are three prime examples of that in this issue of Octane.

First up is our cover story, a Porsche so extreme that even its creators labelled it ‘Not for street use, for racing only.’ But, predictably, that was a red rag to a bull. The more determined automobilists don’t like to be told what they can and can’t drive on the road so (just as predictably) a very small number of 911 RSR 3.8s ended up on the street – exactly as the 962s did thanks to Schuppan and Dauer. John Barker (see right) is the brave soul who volunteered to find out just how insane that move was.

Less crazy, perhaps, but equally impressive was John Simister’s trip to Dieppe in original and new Alpine A110s. Of course, taking on that journey in the new car wasn’t exactly climbing Everest in flip-flops, but anyone who has driven one of the originals will tell you that it was definitely designed for the rally stage rather than for grand touring. While a trip like this doesn’t quite merit the full-on folded-into- a-washing-machine-drum comparison, it does push this little gem of a car well beyond its comfort zone and that is always something to be applauded. Such a journey makes you admire even more those heroes who took them to victory in the Monte. And photographer Dean Smith (above right) captured the mood of the trip to perfection.

Finally and, for me, the very epitome of motoring spirit and defiance, was the fact that straight after shooting their feature with Octane, Dave and Holly Martin took the Martin Special, officially America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, for some serious driving in the Swiss Alps.

How did this uncle and niece team get around the issue of tackling hairpin bends in a car built to have huge power and little lock? See above. Then read pages 136 to 144.