I’ve grown to love watching the spectacle that is the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This year, I’m really wishing I was over in England soaking up the sights, sounds and smells from Lord March’s driveway…mainly because my friends Paul and Riley Trout are actually over there right now and have texted me at all hours of the night, sending me pictures and clips as they check stuff out. (They’ve promised photos, so here’s hoping they’ll have something for you soon, readers!) There will be plenty Festival of Speed coverage coming down the pike from various outlets, so you’ll see hillclimb footage from the main track, you’ll see giant Kamaz Dakar trucks doing the impossible, and whatever else tickles our fancy. But for now, let’s start with the car I’ve been seeing in my dreams since I first got a glimpse of it. We had heard rumors of De Tomaso, the brand we know best for the Mangusta and Pantera supercars of the 1970s and 1980s, might have something new at the Festival of Speed. Many were hoping that it would be a modern re-imagining of the Pantera, preferrably with Ford V8 power as Alejandro De Tomaso himself made them back in the day. But no…oh, by no means, did they just try to cash in on the past. Instead, they rolled out this machine, the P72.
Photo: Robb Report
It does call back to a car from De Tomaso’s past, the (deep breath needed) Sport 5000/Ghia DeTomaso/70P/P70. And yes, those are all the names for one particular car, a racing attempt that combined the knowledge of Carroll Shelby with De Tomaso’s…um, well, we aren’t quite sure. The story goes that after the De Tomaso Vallelunga’s power output was called into question (what do you want out of a 1.4L Kent four-banger, anyways?) that de Tomaso paired off with Carroll Shelby in 1964 to create something more special. A wound-up Ford 289 was shoved into a Vallelunga chassis that was fitted with different bodywork, but before the project was finished, Shelby backed out in favor of the Ford GT40 project and De Tomaso only had the one car. They tried to race it, and it didn’t go well, to put it mildly.
Sad history, but if that’s what was the inspiration for the car that was unveiled, so be it. Honestly, from my viewpoint I don’t see the P70 anywhere in the lines of this car. But I do see a race car whose shape was certainly worth aping: the Lola T70. From the downward-pointed nose to the open tail with two round lights and not much else to worry about, I see racecar in the shape. Yes, the “rose gold” trim everywhere is overkill (it is a debut car after all) and the interior looks like the guy who used to do Spyker’s interiors is doing just fine, but we see a manual transmission shifter and if this thing doesn’t bring the beef to back up the looks, we’ll be sick to our stomachs.
The company that now owns the De Tomaso name now, Apollo Automobil, is only planning on building 72 examples and we promise you, you don’t want to know the cost. But that isn’t the point here…it looks drop-dead stunning, does a vaunted nameplate quite proud indeed (at least, so far) and it should be mind-warping fast. What are your thoughts?
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