Overdrive

If it hadn’t been for a keen online rival bidder, you would now be reading about how I’d just bought a Renault Avantime and how I was embarking on an ill-judged foray into weird French car ownership.

It all started with Jean Rédélé razzing around in his Renault 4CV. The youngest Renault dealer in France following WW2, Rédélé cut his teeth – metaphorically, but perhaps also those of the transmissio

Before I could see it, I heard it. The venue was Boughton House, a summer weekend car meet in the beautiful, manicured grounds of this Northamptonshire stately home, built originally in the 17th Centu

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

IN total, I did 5,285 miles and spent 192 days with the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio, during which time I realised many new things about it. But my main thought now it’s gone is that it was a great car, y

‘They’re actually the same rear tyres as a Lamborghini Countach’s.’ A fun fact dispensed by this car’s eager owner, Dominic Taylor-Lane, as I’m hunched down behind it. It measures two full metres acro