Engine Punk

We'd only just parked up when we spotted this fire engine red Guzzi The annual pilgrimage to Wiscombe got off to a good start. We hadn't even got out of the carpark when Pete Low and I spotted this bacon slicer Moto Guzzi that had turned up to watch. Funnily enough, Pete and I just been saying that one of the unmissable experiences at Wiscombe was the breakfast bap in the morning after camping under canvas. For greatest effect the egg should be slightly runny and ooze all the way down your forearm. This year I surpassed myself and managed to get egg all down my trousers and on my boots. High performance breakfast baps are indeed something "special" at Wiscombe. Must be the critical mass of all those vintage specials And here is one of those vintage specials - Wasp II (check?) - on opposite lock with cylinder heads akimbo at the recently resurfaced Martini Hairpin The weather was good, too, despite being wet for days on end beforehand. The car park and paddo...

What sort of art can you race? This sort The Salamanda Special is for sale here . Of course, I would like to own it but the price is POA and I'm fresh out of POAs. What this car is, though, (and sorry if I go on about this) is the best example of steam punk as applied to the internal combustion engine that I can think of. It doesn't look Victorian but is sort of Victorian-plus-in-a-good-way. I read somewhere that steam pink was the celebration of the joy of making and this little car has that in shed loads. You can use it or just gaze at it. Designed and built by Oliver Way and his team, it's one of those rare cars where I don't think I'd want to change anything about its looks. It's art but not in the way culture vultures might know it - to their loss of course. It's the detailing that sets the Salamanda special apart. Look at this distressed strip of leather or canvas (or something) that protects the plywood laminate bodywork from drips of fuel T...

If anyone doubts that an internal combustion engine can ever be steam punk then here's the proof. Ladies & gentlemen, brothers & sisters, fiends & frankensteins, I give you the 10-litre Austin Hall-Scott of Edward Way. Engine and chassis were only recently introduced to each other by Oliver Way who was also responsible for Vintage Thing No.18 the Salamanda special, as well as the rejuvenated Mrs Jo Jo . I'm now thinking that when there is another Steam Punk exhibition, one of Oliver Way's creations ought to be included. The trick, of course, is to make it look like everything had been bolted together in one of the garages at Brooklands and used and appreciated every since. The Austin Hall-Scott has just the right amount of patina and epitomises one of the steam punk aims to recreate what a gentleman amateur scientist might have invented (with the help of his butler). If it's a little debauched, then so much the better. A couple of years ago at Wis...

Of all the four wheeled contrivances at Wiscombe earlier this month the Salamanda Special was the one I wanted to take home the most. It was cute enough to wear as a badge. It looked as if it might have been piloted by a glamorous aviatrix, like the Wind Flower from Phillip Reeve's Mortal Engines quartet. The Salamanda Special is a recently built Austin 7 special but it looks like no other. The overall style, craftsmanship and attention to detail are what made it stand out. The more I looked at it in the paddock at Wiscombe Park at this month's recent VSCC meeting, the more I noticed to admire. The rear bodywork is beautifully made out of laminated strips of birch wood ply. A wide leather strip running down from the filler cap prevents fuel spills from staining the woodwork or affecting the varnish. Inside, the aluminium bracing hints at airship construction. The headlamps are authentic Marchal items and contribute to the Salamanda Special's frontal expressio...