|
|
|
|
|
Once again, the attendance figures for December – the museum’s busiest season – surpassed the previous year’s number. Open throughout the month except for Christmas Day, a total of 11 760 visitors, including many overseas tourists, passed through FMM’s display halls during December 2016, establishing a new record. This followed an annual trend and highlights the museum’s ever-increasing national and international popularity. On the local celebrity front, South Africa’s first Idols winner, Heinz Winckler, was one of the visitors. The best attendance day was the 27th, when 1 025 people walked the display halls. MM
|
|
A number of international punters and local celebrities flew out especially to join in the success of the inaugural L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Festival, which saw South Africa’s top thoroughbreds come together as champions at Kenilworth Racecourse on 6-7 January. South Africa’s horse of the year and defending champion, Legal Eagle, ridden by Anton Marcus, thrilled punters by winning the coveted L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, proudly strutting away with the R1,5 million purse.
The Cape’s premier horse racing and social festival impressed track-side too. On the Saturday, 5 000 attendees went all out and donned their most stylish blue-and-white outfits. Among the international and local celebrities were the English royal family’s Princess Eugenie, sport stars such as Ryk Neethling, Sean Fitzpatrick, Geoff Boycott, Jacques Kallis, Huw Jones and Michael Holding, TV and radio personalities Boity Thulo, Bonnie Mbuli, Siv Ngesi, Lindiwe Suttle and Tracey Lange, the singer Matthew Gold, eminent SA designers Laduma Ngxokolo and David Tlale and former F1 racer and team owner Eddie Jordan.
As last year, adding motorized style to the days’ four- and two-legged proceedings were a selection of elite horseless carriages from the stable of the Franschhoek Motor Museum’s LQP partner, BMW Group. Among the models on show were some famous examples of the group from the FMM collection, namely the 1938 BMW 328, 1953 BMW 502 and 1994 McLaren F1 road car. Luxury Africa tourism company owner and motoring enthusiast Patrick Siebel was just one of the many guests drawn to this display in the public area. In addition, the 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1, the BMW-engined 1953 Bristol 403 and the 2004 BMW 760Li Security Edition (the Nelson Mandela 46664 charity car) were put on view alongside the course together with BMW SA’s recently refurbished 1978 M1supercar and unique-to-SA 1985 333i.
Over the two days there were plenty of course-side activities including a Garden Party with a jazz band entertaining guests. In addition, there were Best Dressed competitions with spectacular prizes from Cartier, SKYY Vodka, Bobbi Brown, Society Bistro, Sports24-Hrs Taxis and L’Ormarins Wines. “The growth and success of the first L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Festival cemented its place as one of the world’s top horse racing events,“ says event co-ordinator, Katherine Gray. “We look forward to taking the festival to even greater heights in 2018“. MM
|
|
FMM JOINS MASERATI AT THE V&A
|
|
The second annual Maserati Cape Town Race Week took place at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront from 15-20 December with L’Ormarins/FMM as new partners. This premier yachting regatta acts as a prelude to the Cape2Rio Yacht Race, the main start of which took place on New Year’s Day, and has become a prestigious event for sailors from South Africa and around the world. Event director Simon Borchert described the occasion as “an amazing opportunity to celebrate the city’s sailing heritage and combine it with Cape Town’s many accolades. It showed the other side of sailing – the fun side – and opened up a sport and pastime that is mysterious to many”.
Spectators and fans were able to visit the Race Pavilion located on Jetty 2, view the regatta boats up close, enjoy a number of pop-up stores as well as the Corsa Classica – Maserati's exhibition of some of its rarest vehicles as well as the unveiling of its new SUV, the Levante. The rare vehicle collection comprised four of FMM’s cars that were on permanent display during the race week – the 1937 6CM, 1948 4CLT, 1954 250F and 1956 150S. Invited guests were driven from the V&A to the museum to view the rest of the collection. As part of the race week package deal, L’Ormarins estate wines were offered and served during what was a major attraction for locals, holidaymakers and overseas tourists alike.
One of the many post-race activities was a VIP charity event with proceeds donated to the The Royal Cape Sailing Academy and The Ripple Effect, an organisation committed to the preservation and conservation of the Western Cape’s coastline.
"There is a clear synergy between the majestic yachts, the daring sport of sailing, and Maserati's tradition of craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology," said Brad Graaff, Maserati’s Operations Manager for European Automotive Imports – South Africa. FMM was proud to have been part of the event, taking the opportunity to showcase some of the magnificent race cars in its collection that epitomise Maserati’s racing pedigree. MM
|
|
And now for something completely different. Following on from Curator Wayne’s museum visits last year, newsletter compiler Mike Monk reports on a visit to the Bond In Motion exhibition during a late-2016 UK holiday.
No less than 26 movies have been made of Ian Fleming’s secret agent character James Bond, all but two made by EON Productions, a company formed in 1961 by producers Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to purchase the filming rights to Fleming’s novels. Seven different characters have portrayed the MI6 agent, all of whom have been involved in dramatic car scenes of one form or another and EON displayed the largest collection of Bond cars ever seen in Britain.The venue was the London Film Museum, located just around the corner from the famous Covent Garden complex (which, incidentally, is the location for the London Transport Museum, which is also well worth a visit).
The cars of the latest Bond film, Spectre, are the feature exhibits, but there was a cross section of machinery used in many of the other movies. All of the exhibits were authentic, and at each display point there was a screen showing a clip from the relevant movie capturing the car in action. On view were:
Rolls-Royce Phantom III Goldfinger (1964)
Mercury Cougar XR7 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Ford Mustang Mach Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
AMC Hornet The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
Lotus Esprit S1 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Citroën 2CV For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II A View To A Kill (1985)
Aston Martin V8 Vantage The Living Daylights (1987)
Aston Martin DB5 GoldenEye (1995)
BMW 750iL Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
BMW Z8 The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Aston Martin Vanquish Die Another Day (2002)
Jaguar XKR Die Another Day (2002)
Aston Martin DBS Casino Royale (2006)
Aston Martin DBS Quantum Of Solace (2008)
Aston Martin DB10 Spectre (2015)
Jaguar C-X75 Spectre (2015)
Rolls-Royce Wraith Spectre (2015)
Land Rover Defender Spectre (2015)
Apart from the cars, the display features over 100 individual original items including concept drawings, story boards, scripts, motorcycles, boats, submersibles, flying machines, props, models and miniatures. A really fascinating display. MM
|
|
An alphabetical series of short driving impressions of some of the museum’s car collection. This month we, er, well, like have had to cheat a bit. Why? Because there is nothing old or classic in the collection beginning with a Y...
So, how about a not-yet-eligible-but-one-day-maybe Yaris. Not just any Yaris, though, but FMM’s Senior Front of House Manager Magdaleen Wepener’s 2006 T3 model that she has owned and learnt to love and trust since it was new. Introduced that year to bridge the gap between the Toyota’s Tazz and RunX models, it entered a fiercely-contested market segment with looks that certainly were attractive – clean and cute. It was one of the car’s aspects that won Magdaleen over.
|
|
|
The interior is roomy for its size and features a centrally-mounted digital instrument cluster atop the facia, quite funky at this level at the time. The steering has rake and reach adjustment and the driver’s seat has height adjust, although the seat is mounted high to start with. The bucket not particularly form-hugging but they are comfortable. There are plenty of storage spaces spread around the cabin and the 60:40 split rear seat can slide for/aft independently and offers a variety of accommodation/storage options, making the Yaris a versatile vehicle. According to a CAR magazine road test, practical luggage space ranges from 136 to 920 dm3.
|
|
|
Initially available only with a 1 298 cm3 motor, the Yaris’ VVT-i twin-cam 16-valve inline-4 offers variable valve timing and delivers 63 kW at 6 000 r/min and 121 N.m of torque at 4 400. CAR achieved a 0-100 km/h time of 12,52 seconds and a top speed of 173 km/h, but commented that below 2 000 r/min the motor is sluggish. More interesting, the fuel index was calculated 6,89 litres/100 km giving a 42-litre tank range of 609 km, but Magdaleen’s loosened-up Yaris gets close to 700 km between fill-ups.
|
|
|
Ride and handling are top notch and it is easy to understand Magdaleen’s attachment to her car, which has done 210 000 km from new. During that time it has been driven mainly on dirt roads but regular servicing has helped prevent any serious problems – it still has its original shocks and exhaust system. There are the inevitable car park nicks and scratches adding patina to the car’s appearance, but it is accident free. Tyres have been replaced, otherwise ‘everything keeps going right’ as Toyota’s old advertising jingle used to say... Nice one, Magdaleen! MM
|
|
|
Look for a full write-up of FMM’s 1910 Wolseley 12-16 in the February issue of Classic Car Africa magazine.
|
|
Jan 21-22 Timour Hall Car Show, Plumstead, Cape Town
Jan 27-29 Cape Town Motor Show, Grand West
Jan 28 Passion For Speed, Zwartkops Raceway
Jan 29 Historics Round 1, Zwartkops Raceway
Jan 29 Ford Festival, Charles Morkel Stadium, Strand
Feb 4 Passion For Speed, Killarney Raceway
Feb 4 Regional racing Round 1, Dezzi Raceway, Port Shepstone
Feb 5 Crankhandle Kalk Bay Veteran Run
Feb 11 Regional racing, Midvaal
Feb 11-12 George Old Car Show, George
Feb 19 Crankhandle Club Bob Johnston Post-45 Breakfast Run
Feb 25 Mopar SA Endurance Championship Round 1, Phakisa
Apr 30 Knysna Motor Show, Knysna
May 5-7 Jaguar Simola Hillclimb, Knysna
(Clubs and organisations are invited to send details of upcoming events to mike4m@telkomsa.net for inclusion in Exhaust Blips.)
|
|
WHERE, WHAT TIMES
AND HOW MUCH
The Franschhoek Motor Museum is situated on the L’Ormarins Estate along the R45 in the Franschhoek Valley in the Western Cape, which is approximately a one hour/75 km drive from central Cape Town.
Opening hours are:
April to November
Monday to Friday 10h00 to 17h00 (last admittance 16h00),
Saturday and Sunday 10h00 to 16h00 (last admittance 15h00).
December to March
Monday to Friday 10h00 to 18h00 (last admittance 17h00),
Saturday and Sunday 10h00 to 17h00 (last admittance 16h00).
The museum is open on most public holidays except Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Admission prices are R80 adults, R60 pensioners and motor club members (with membership ID), R40 children (ages 3-12).
Guided tours are available upon request at no charge. An on-site delicatessen serves food and refreshments, while tasting and purchasing of the estate’s wines is also offered. Modern ‘charabanc’ rides through L’Ormarins to adjoining wine farms are also available.
Tel: 021 874 9000 Fax: 021 874 9100 E-mail: fmm.co.za Web: www.fmm.co.za
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
