Octane

Octane is a premium monthly magazine celebrating over 100 years of automotive design, from classic Bentleys to the latest BMW. We have been at the heart of the motoring industry for seventeen years, so we know our stuff when it comes to classic cars. Written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, the magazine captures the exclusivity and excitement of the classic car world so you can experience it all wherever you are.

It’s all relative, of course

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NEXT MONTH • ISSUE 281, ON SALE 23 SEPTEMBER

Octane

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Ignition • EVENTS + NEWS + OPINION

Dates for your diary

BOOK NOW! • Secure your place; make travel plans

Museum moves on • New home sought for National Motor Museum as time is called on its lease at Beaulieu

Time to nominate! • International Historic Motoring Awards open

Hydrogen record smashed

OBITUARIES

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The Collector Jay Leno • Why shouldn’t Ferrari branch out into something new?

The Legend Derek Bell • A British driver with a reputation made in Italy

The Aesthete Stephen Bayley • To the Aegean for a lesson in the psychology of the 21st Century car

The Driver Robert Coucher • Why the XJ-S is Jaguar’s under-rated GT – and racer

Doubting Thomas

A rare pleasure • Take a choice example of the feted Ferrari 275 GTB, make it the subject of the most thorough restoration, and then enjoy it. Glen Waddington gets under the skin of this very special car

WHICH ONE, AND WHAT’S IT WORTH? • John Mayhead studies the 275-series range of market values

OUT OF AFRICA • This unlikely pairing of Lotus XV and Ferrari 275 GTB/4 earned their stripes racing in Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s. James Page finds out more

CONTINUITY CLAWS • A carbon body and a supercharged V12 bring this very special Jaguar XJ-S into the modern era. Ollie Marriage drives the TWR Supercat

WILD CATS • The TWR Supercat is far from the first attempt to carry on with the XJ-S where Jaguar left off

EXCELLENCE CAME AS STANDARD • The perfectionism of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost earned it the title ‘best car in the world’. These three prove how that evolved during a lengthy career

THE OCTANE INTERVIEW Jon Shirley • The former Microsoft president is a two-time Pebble Beach Concours winner, yet loves cars that are fun to drive as much as those that grace the greens

No Smokey without Firebird • Burt Reynolds co-starred with the iconic Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit. This car pays homage to the lack of survivors

ELEPHANT HUNTING DONE RIGHT • Sam Glover buys a pre-war Sunbeam in South Africa, gets it working and takes it on a 1300-mile safari odyssey

TASTES CATHOLIC • Last spring’s events at the Vatican saw one door close as another opened…

DOUBTERS BE DAMNED • It seemed like Maserati was a spent force in the mid-1990s. The sensational Ghibli Cup would suggest otherwise, as Richard Heseltine discovers

Playing the long game • 1989 BMW 320i Convertible

OCTANE’S FLEET • These are the cars run by Octane’s staff and contributors

The end is (nearly) nigh • 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS

The great and the good • 2000 Honda Integra Type R

The right stuff? • 1991 VW Golf GTI Mk2

OTHER NEWS

A tale of two Fiats • 1961 Fiat OSCA 1500S

The good life • 2026 Bizzarrini 5300 Aperta Lusso

One for the road • 2026 Maserati GT2 Stradale

Lella Lombardi • Taken tragically young and still the only woman to score ‘points’ in a championship F1 race

Chris Tolman • The founder of...