Obituaries

Design is not a democracy.” Such a bold statement, wonderfully out of tune with modern group-think, could only apply to a car as radical as the Lotus Esprit. These words were only uttered today by Gio

‘I NEVER SET out to be a car designer – I just sort of became one,’ says Frank Stephenson. It’s an odd admission from the man who penned iconic cars such as the McLaren P1, BMW’s first Mini and the Ma

THE CREW-CUT of old was gone, as was the desire to race cars. That was his old life. In middle age, Richie Ginther rocked long hair and a Zapata moustache. It’s the mid-1970s and the former Grand Prix

Detroit muscle and European saloon-car racing were once intertwined. However, AMC was rarely represented on track, which made the arrival of the Spirit AMX all the more unexpected. Team Highball built

We think of the Porsche 911 as being the stalwart of the junior supercar world, but after 28 years and more than 10,000 sales, the Lotus Esprit in all its guises was probably the closest contender. An

1939 Alvis 12/70 Special, 1958 Austin-Healey Sprite, 1972 Porsche 911T Berthold Dörrich WHEN MY BRITISH colleagues approached me as the publisher of Octane’s German edition to contribute to this secti