This year the Spring Italian Car Day at Brooklands celebrated the 25th anniversary of the UK's first all Italian car display. Once again the event was blessed with splendid spring sunshine that enticed a huge number of enthusiasts to bring their cars to this historic venue. One of the main show stars was the ex-Stirling Moss/Rob Walker Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta, one of only three competition SWBs in which Moss won five out of six races in 1961. This was the fastest and most successful GT car in the world at the time, and also entered for the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1961. Driven by Stirling Moss and Graham Hill, the 250 was strong, but retired due to a fan blade breaking free and slicing through a radiator hose. In 2009 the car was the subject of a two year restoration at the Ferrari Factory Classiche Department to mirror the exact specification when raced so successfully by Moss.

Another car with a fascinating history was Hugh James’ superb 1966 Bizzarrini GT Strada. It was purchased new by the president of Nestle as a 21st birthday present for his son. However, due to worries about the car getting damaged and the improbability in obtaining insurance cover in Switzerland for such a young driver, it was never used. The car was sold to a very distinguished historic car dealer and was later acquired by Briggs Cunningham, residing in his collection for about 16-17 years. Then it was acquired by the president of Warner Brothers with the intention of using it for a feature film. The producer was worried that such a wonderful example could get badly damaged and another Bizzarrini was in fact used, that indeed ended up going over a ravine and smashed into two halves! This car was rebuilt 25 years later by the Manager of the Bizzarrini factory during the 1960s.

Star turn on the DK Engineering stand was a 1953 Ferrari 166, which competed in the Mille Miglia during 1953. DK restored the car around 15 years ago, and while taking part in an event in France, it was stolen from the underground carpark of a hotel in Paris. It resurfaced about three years ago in an Italian scrapyard sans engine, interior and dashboard gauges etc. Someone spotted the car, realised what it was and thus it was rescued and subsequently restored once again by DK Engineering, just in time to compete in the 2010 Mille Miglia.

Amongst the day’s rare cars - and there were so many on show - was Rob Baker’s 1982 De Tomaso Deauville, one of approximately 244 built, with only a handful ever imported to the UK. It is thought that Rob’s car originally went to Saudi Arabia and then on to Australia from where he purchased it. Resplendent in the wonderful colour of Bordeaux Pontevecchio metallic, the car has recently emerged from a major nut and bolt restoration of 6½ years.

Competition cars included the Abarth Osella PA2, built for the 1974 European Sports Car Championship, finished in the green and yellow livery of sponsor Tergal and raced by Jean De Bagration. UK leading light on all things Fiat Abarth, Tony Castle-Miller of Middle Barton Garage, Oxon, also brought along his ultra rare Tornado Fiat 600D, powered by a 1558cc Lotus twin-cam engine. The car was successfully campaigned in period by David Render, and more recently has undergone a major restoration by T-CM. Other interesting Abarths included John Lloyd’s 1963 Simca Abarth 2.0litre Corsa, also successfully campaigned in period by Kunis who won the 1965 Swiss Hillclimb Championship.