My name is Alvin Tanenbaum Jr. and this is my blog. Ultima Passione or Ultimate Passion. A word about myself and why I am writing this blog: I'm Japanese on my mother's side and American on my father's side, his father was an immigrant from Lithuania early in 20th century. Beyond that I'm a NewYorker having been born there and living most of my 40 years there in Manhattan. That fact, though I'm proud of it has caused delays my career and it's partly detrimental to most things having to do with cars. But that's okay. It's still where I'm from and gave me a certain view of all things.
Ultima Passione is my passion: racing, cars, history, and travel, all wrapped up into one blog to inform, teach, give ideas and inspire people from all parts of the world.
I have always loved cars. My mother's father, from Hiroshima, Japan (who used to drive the Red Mercedes of the Emperor) taught me how to drive when I was about 11 years old on the tiny winding roads of the village of Mikawa. From then on I was hooked. I had already started reading about cars and watching racing. I should mention I have owned over 60 cars in my life, and driven over 100 cars. Watched every indy 500 since 1979, over 300 Champcar races, over 375 Formula 1 races; starting when only the Grand Prix of Monoco was available to watch here in America back in the late 1970s to when in the mid 80s ESPN started showing Formula 1, to now watching all the races on speed to the present day. Also over 400 sportscar races when they started being showed widely. One of my dreams was and still is to compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans.
I have also collected every Road and Track, Car and Driver, Motor Trend and Automobile magazines since 1984.
I have driven at Bridgehampton, Lime Rock, Mt. Tremblant, Poconos, raced at Summit Point, visited Laguna Seca, watched vintage racing at Lime Rock and Sears Point. It all culminated in my trip to Europe in 2000 when I bought a 30 year old Alfa Romeo Giullieta and drove it on the streets of Monoco and to Imola, and later the Stelvio Pass, something I wanted to do ever since I could remember. I read everything I can on the history over racing in the world and started cultivating a love of racing especially grand prix racing in the 30s, 50s, and 60s.
In my opinion the best driver all the time is Tazio Nuvolari, my hero. Alfa Romeo then Ferarri are the favorite manufacturers the best small car is the Alfa Gtv. Best old car is Bently type 6. The most fun car is the 1987 porsche 911 Carrera. I raced a Renault sports racer and that is my favorite activity, racing open top sports racers on challenging natural road circuits. Traveling is a close second and uncovering old stories of historic cars and racers just behind that. I want to combine all these things and more into this blog, so people get ideas for trips of their own and share experiences and the passion with fellow passionistas.
Why do I use the italian form for the name of this blog? Because Italy is my favorite country. It always has been before I even visited there. To me it's just the most romantic place, got the most interesting history, style, language, food, and people of anywhere in the world. I hope to move there someday soon. Certainly you could make a case for Germany, England, and France and even America, but to me, overall, Italy is it. So Ultima Passione it is, and Italy will have the first stories about it, but don't worry, I will be covering the other great Automotive countries in their turn too. Because the different countries, with all their variety of histories and styles,and the cars they have produced, along with their drivers, and the great historic places to visit is something I want to convey to my viewers and readers.
From the achingly lovely but fragile and troubled electrics of the British cars, to the storming engineering stoutness of the Germans, to the unique and often odd French, to the screaming curvacious and stylish Divas of the Italians.
Ultima Passione will have different sections: Auto Passion, Moto Passion, GP Passion, Circuit Passion, Pilote Passion, Travel Passion and Auto Archaeology.
Eventually my goal is to visit the site of every important race, every Factory, and every significant driver's birthplace, and site of their often untimely demise. We'll talk of Racetracks that are no longer there, to the best of today to the ones planned for the future.
One of my lofty goals is to drive every one of Tazio Nuvolari's racecars on all the tracks and streets, he ever raced on.
Obviously all of this is quite a grand undertaking, and so I am committing the rest of my life to it, but it is probably a bit too much for one man, so I am asking for your help as well. Share your experiences, your travels and insights and questions with us and we will all learn and share and grow together as a passionate community.
Let's help the younger generations have an understanding of the past glories and tragedies and that bring us to our current day.
I didn't get to race until I was 26, and didn't drive the Stelvio Pass until I was 30. I had read about the Stelvio Pass,-the highest point on the planet you can drive up to and the site of some sports car races in the fifties-at least 20 years earlier in some obscure magazine article or book. Let's get people to the track sooner. Let's inform them about affordable classic cars they can restore and collect. Let's save tracks in danger of being shut down.
Another goal high on my list: Let's get Alfa Romeo back to racing at significant venues such as Le Mans, Monza, and Spa. If Bentley and Audi could do it after long absences and troubled financial times, so can Alfa and Jaguar and Maserati and Ginetta and Lancia as well. Let's dream big and achieve big. It's a long journey, and it begins with the movement of one tire, one inch, then one revolution at a time. As with other great movements, the beginning is often the hardest, and it has been in this case, after all, I came up with this vision years ago, and it is only now seeing the light of the internet. But with perseverance, a certain momentum can be achieved and things go easier after that.
Finally, before I am dead and buried, let there be one more thing: the rebirth of open road races like the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and Carrera Panamericana. Laws will have to be rewritten in some cases, but this is not impossible, with passion, patience and perseverance, nothing is. Let's get the fascinating historic cars out of museums and back on the roads and tracks for people to see and hear and delight in. Let's erect proper monuments for our fallen motor racing heroes.
It's a great challenge to be sure, but the Passionista have never backed down from a daunting challenge. From that first race held in southern France, to the 200 plus mph racers of today, we welcome challenges. Let's take up the cause and lead on into the future, with a knowing nod to our past. Let's revive the spirit of adventure in racing, and save it from becoming a commercial parade, with fixable outcomes.
Now you've read my goals. My hope is that some or all of this will reach a future Enzo Ferrari out there, stuck in a city without a car to dream and make plans to escape, to travel and to explore the possibilities. To never give up, and create happily to the end.
It's a great big world out there, and it is becoming more accessible by the day. There are so many places one simply must experience for oneself. You may not be easily able to race there, but you can almost always still drive there, and with an old enough car you can still drive quickly and even drift around the corners without getting into too much trouble with the local law enforcement types.
I may not be an expert, and there are so many out there doing great work, writing books and organizing events. But they seem to be a bit exclusive. Let's be a bit more inclusive, and offer our joy to the masses.
You used to be able to walk up to the side of the road, and watch the best cars in the world go by. Sure you had to risk your life to do it, but that was understood, and people thought it worth a certain level of risk. Now you have to spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars to go to a major event, and with a few exceptions, you can't get anywhere near the cars themselves, or close to the circuit. That's just not right.
People like to argue about who the best drivers of today are. Taking into account their competition and the cars they drive, they argue endlessly. Let's organize a real champion's race, where the best open wheel drivers are invited to drive identical GP2 cars or something similar, where only basic set up could be adjusted, so we could see their real talents on display. Let's make them race a venue they all were not familiar with, and see what happens. A race through the streets of NYC, or perhaps the old Nurburgring circuit. Let's keep it open to the public, who could sit in the woods and cheer their favorites like the old days.
