Louwman Museum on tour 2023
2023 was a year in which many of our masterpieces were present at special events. During the celebrations of 100 years 24 Heures du Mans, 75 years of Goodwood and 70 years of Genevieve. But also during the Strictly Eight, the Gran Premio Nuvolari, the Douro Valley and the Zoute rallies.
This year it was the 100th year anniversary of the famous 24 hours of Le Mans. To celebrate this anniversary a special exhibition was held in the 24 hours of Le Mans museum. The exhibition contained 59 outright winners of the 100-year-old race, two of which came from our museum. The 1935 Lagonda M45R which won in 1935 driven by John Stuart Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés. And the winner of 1957 the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-type which was driven by Ron Flockhart and Ivor Bueb. Not only were both cars on display in the Le Mans museum, they also took part in the 100 year celebration demo run on the Circuit De La Sarthe, just before the 24 hour race started.
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Gran Premio Nuvolari
In the middle of September the Alfa Romeo 6c 1750 Testa Fissa was taken out of the museum and brought to Italy to enter in the 33rd edition of the Gran Premio Nuvolari. The rally starting from the beautiful city of Mantua, the birth place of Tazio Nuvolari, and going to the city of Rimini and back to Mantua. The rally would cross around 1200km in only three days. In contrast to last year, this time we had much more luck with the weather and therefor the drivers could fully focus on the competition part of the rally. The Testa Fissa driven by Mrs. Louwman did a great job during the regularity stages and even won the 1st place in the ‘Coppa Yvette Jolly, Primo Equipaggio Femminile’ (first prize female team).
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The Douro Valley could as easily be called the enchanted valley, such is the beauty and magic that its landscape offers. The area is not only famous for its vineyards but also the beautiful roads. Our Bugatti T43 took part in 4 day rally in this area. The 94 year old Bugatti with its Grand Prix engine turned out to be the perfect match for the twisty mountain roads. The supercharged straight eight climbed all the mountains with ease and would finish the 1000km rally without any technical issues.
70 Years of Genevieve
This year’s theme of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run was the 70th anniversary of the family movie called Genevieve. The comedy BAFTA-winning film is about two couples entering the London to Brighton run and having a race back home afterwards. The two cars that are driven by the couples are the 1905 Spyker 12-16HP and the 1904 Darracq 12HP called Genevieve. Both cars are part of the Louwman Museum collection. Because of the 70th anniversary both cars were brought to London to take part in the 127th Veteran Car Run. Both cars got the honor to start in front of the 400+ pre 1905 starting grid. It was the first time since the Spyker last entered the run 12 years ago. In the months leading up to the run the Spyker was restored to the colour scheme it once wore 70 years ago on the silver screen. The two famous movie cars attracted a lot of attention along the 60 mile route and finished side by side at Madeira drive in Brighton.
