Swiss-born racer Gianclaudio “Clay” Regazzoni passed away in a tragic accident on Italy’s public roads. The 67-year old ex-Formula One racer won five grand prix events in the 1970s, and despite not being a native Italian, he was quickly adopted as such by Ferrari fans, for whom he campaigned for most of his career.

In 1974, Regazzoni came within three points of winning the World Championship, besting teammate Niki Lauda, but he is perhaps best known for giving Williams their first F1 victory ever in 1979’s race at Silverstone.

It’s really an amazing week. Sports cars, muscle cars, hot rods, customs, and racecars everywhere you look that would qualify for poster duty on just about any enthusiast’s walls. The racecars are especially interesting this week, and the ones at RM were out-of-this-world.

The sports prototype endurance racers of the ’60s and ’70s represent the pinnacle of racecar design in any enthusiasts book, and when you can add a “Coachwork by Pininfarina” label to the mix, it’s usually a surefire personal Top 10 entry. Lot 283 is a car that qualifies on all counts. It’s a 1966 Ferrari Dino 206 SP. Words like voluptuous and sensuous leap to mind when viewing these cars.

For the first time ever, consumers are beginning to feel that fast vehicles are becoming pointless. There are other reasons, too, why consumers might not want to buy a 599. When the 599 was being test driven it was at night and it was raining so hard that you couldn’t see anything.

Unfortunately the 599 was hopeless. Its automatic wipers couldn’t cope, either not working at all or scraping themselves noisily over a bone-dry screen. The headlights had absolutely no power. The heater wouldn’t heat and the air-conditioning wouldn’t chill.