sergio brambillasca

Hi CBuff! What a beautiful drive! The curves of the Storm King Highway and the autumn colors of the trees are absolutely spectacular. Watching your video, I could almost imagine myself behind the wheel of my own Caterham. It's amazing how, even though we live on different continents, we share exactly the same pleasure: a winding road, beautiful scenery, and the freedom of driving a Seven. Thank you for taking us along on this wonderful little journey through New York State! Greetings from Italy, Sergio

From the Heart of Milan to the Hills of Brianza – A Sunday with My Seven This morning I took my 1997 Caterham to the Sunday gathering in Piazza Affari, in the heart of Milan. It is quite a special setting for a car gathering. In front of the Milan Stock Exchange stands L.O.V.E. by Maurizio Cattelan, the famous sculpture that everyone in Milan simply calls “the finger”. Art, architecture, cars and people somehow all come together in the same square. During the morning, something unexpected happened. A journalist came directly over to me and asked if she could interview me. Her first questions were about my work as an artist, and then about the relationship I have with my Caterham. I found this particularly interesting because, from the way she asked her questions, I almost had the impression that she already knew something about my work. We talked about art, the Seven, and the particular relationship that develops with a car you have owned and driven for so many years. Then the interview took a completely unexpected turn: she also asked me what I thought about travelling by private jet. Quite a curious leap from my wonderfully simple Caterham to a very different way of travelling! In the afternoon I left Milan behind and headed towards Montevecchia, in the hills of Brianza. Within a short time, the scenery changes completely. The city gives way to small roads, hills, vineyards and woods, with wide views opening over the Lombardy plain. And perhaps this is another reason why I still love my Seven so much. In the morning it can take me into the heart of Milan, among cars, people and even a work by Cattelan; a few hours later it can take me into the silence of the hills. Two different worlds. One Sunday. And always the same Seven. Sergio

What an incredible change of landscape. Beautiful! Thank you for showing us another side of Arizona.

What a fantastic road — and beautiful photos! The landscape is completely different from ours, but I can see exactly what you mean. Those bends and climbs must be wonderful in a Seven. This is one of the things I love about these cars: the roads may be thousands of miles apart, but behind the wheel we seem to look for the same thing. Thank you for sharing it.

Thank you! This is one of those roads where the Caterham really feels at home. Lots of bends, beautiful scenery and very little traffic. Italy still hides some wonderful roads like this.

Yesterday, taking advantage of the beautiful weather, I took my Seven up towards Valcava and then drove down through Roncola. My old 1997 Seven took me to over 1,000 metres above sea level, along mountain roads, through woods and past views that were well worth stopping for and taking a few photographs. It gave me an idea. Whenever the weather allows, during my Sunday drives I'd like to take you along with me through my photographs and show you a little of the area where I live: Brianza, Lecco, the lakes, the mountains, and some of those small places that don't often appear in tourist guides. And I hope you'll do the same with your Sevens. Show me your roads, your landscapes, and the places that mean something to you. It could become a nice way for us to get to know one another — one Sunday and one road at a time. After all, perhaps that's one of the pleasures of owning a Seven: you don't always need a destination to have a good reason to set off. Sergio

Now I understand! Storm King Highway. I was close, but not quite there. 😄 Looking at your photos, I can see why you drive your Seven there. That road seems made for a car like ours. I’ve never been there, but now you’ve given me another road to add to my list. This is one of the things I like about this forum: you start talking about a car, and suddenly you discover a road on the other side of the world.

CBuff, that road really caught my attention. Looking at the rock face, the stone wall and the water in the background, I tried to figure out where it might be. Is that Bear Mountain Bridge Road along the Hudson, by any chance? I've never been to that part of the world, but from your photos it looks like a fantastic road to drive in a Seven.

CBuff, you're right — why choose? Looking at your photos makes me want to get back on a track again! But there's one thing that has changed for me over the years. On a track I remember the lap times, the braking points and the lines. On the road, I tend to remember the places and the people I met along the way. Maybe that's one of the wonderful things about a Seven: the same car can give you two completely different experiences. By the way, where were the first two photos taken? That road looks fantastic.

Reiver, your story about the Carabiniere reminded me of something that happened to my Caterham. I'm attaching a photograph of the art gallery I had in Chioggia, near Venice. If you look at the right-hand side of the photo, you can see where I used to park the Caterham, practically next to the gallery. One day, an English tourist — a rather large lady — decided that the rear fender of my Caterham was the perfect place to sit for a photograph. When I saw her, I just froze. 😂 The problem was that the fender wasn't metal, but fiberglass. When she stood up, the paint had cracked. She was terribly embarrassed and apologized. Of course, she couldn't have known how delicate it was. In the end, I couldn't even get angry with her. We started talking, went into the gallery, and that little disaster ended very differently from how it had begun: we became friends, and she even bought one of my paintings. So my Caterham cost me a fender repair... but it also sold a work of art for me. To this day, I'm still not sure whether I came out ahead or behind. 😄 Sergio

Since we're telling each other a little about ourselves, I thought I'd show you how I enjoy my Caterham these days. I don't really go to the track anymore. On Sunday mornings I sometimes take it to a classic car gathering in Piazza Affari, in the centre of Milan. But in the afternoon I often leave the city behind and head north, looking for the small roads and beautiful places of the upper Brianza. It's an area of hills, small villages, woods and winding roads just north of Milan. Sometimes you turn a corner and suddenly the landscape opens up in front of you. This is what I love about driving a Seven here. You don't need to go fast. You're almost inside the landscape — you feel the air, the smells, even the change in temperature when you enter the woods. Here are a few photographs from some of my Sunday drives. I'm curious: how about you? Do you still look for the track, or do you sometimes just take your Seven out and see where the road takes you?

Reiver, what a wonderful photograph — and an even better story. A Maserati 3500 GTI in Italy in the 1970s... I think you chose a very good way to discover our roads! Your comment about understanding that the lines showed the direction rather than the lane made me laugh. This is exactly what fascinates me about cars: after many years we don't really remember just the machine. We remember the roads, the places, the people and a particular moment of our lives. Do you remember where this photograph was taken? And what happened to the Maserati when you left Italy?

Thank you! Here it is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sergiobrambillasca/oltre-il-confine I’d really like to know what you think when you’ve had a look at it. Sergio

Thank you, Scott! Here it is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sergiobrambillasca/oltre-il-confine And thank you for asking. I’d be very interested to hear what you think of the project once you’ve seen the whole story behind it.

Thank you — this is much more than a comment, it is a wonderful piece of motoring history. What I find fascinating about the story of Chris Rea and Auberge is precisely this: a Seven can be simply a car, but sometimes it becomes part of a person’s language, their memories and even their creative work. For Chris Rea it became part of his music and imagery; for me, in a completely different way, my Seven is gradually becoming part of my work as an artist. Perhaps that is what makes these little cars so extraordinary: they don’t simply take us somewhere. They create stories, encounters and conversations. And judging by what you have just added to this discussion, your wife’s “old grumbler” clearly still has some very good stories to tell! 😉 Thank you for sharing this one with us.

Thanks Croc! The Europa was my first passion… and she’s still with me today. 😄

My old garage. Of course, there always had to be a Caterham in there.

Hi Scott, since you were curious about the journey, I think I should tell you what is really behind it. In June 2027, I hope to leave Italy with my Caterham and travel across part of Eastern Europe. But this will not simply be a road trip. I am a contemporary artist, and the journey itself will become the process through which an artwork will be created. There is also an idea behind the project that I believe could open a new road between automotive culture and art. For fifty years, BMW has created its Art Cars by inviting artists such as Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Jeff Koons to bring their artistic language onto the automobile. OLTRE IL CONFINE opens a new road. I will not paint the Caterham. I will not turn it into a sculpture or physically transform it in any way. The Caterham will remain a Caterham. What enters the artistic process is something else: its philosophy. Caterham is based on simplicity, lightness and the direct relationship between driver, machine and road. My artistic research is based on a parallel relationship between artist, reality and people. These two philosophies will travel together through real places, encounters and thousands of kilometres, becoming part of the genesis of an artwork that does not yet exist. At the end of the journey, the Caterham itself will be part of the final exhibition — unchanged — together with the artwork, photographs, film and everything the journey has generated. BMW opened an extraordinary road between the automobile and art fifty years ago. OLTRE IL CONFINE opens a new one. We have presented this concept to Caterham, and we are now waiting for their response. I have also launched the project on Kickstarter, because I still need to raise the budget necessary to make the journey possible. I have a conceptual image of the final exhibition that probably explains all this better than many words. I'll post it here. If you're curious, I'd be happy to send you the Kickstarter link so you can see the complete project. Sergio

Thank you, Croc. This is becoming much more interesting than I expected when I posted that old photograph. The information about BookaTrack and the racing classes is particularly valuable, especially because the old UK registration record found by theDreamer lists the car as 1600 cc. I can also confirm that when I bought the car it had electronic ignition, a competition clutch, and the rear exhaust. I have the VIN and will retrieve it from the car. I would prefer not to post the complete chassis number publicly, but I can contact Martin Phipps with it and obtain the build sheet. If that eventually allows us to identify the original owner or driver and trace the car through the old race records, that would be extraordinary. Thank you for taking this investigation so seriously. Sergio

Thank you very much. This is fascinating — you've already discovered more about the early history of my Caterham than I knew when I joined the forum. I will find the VIN/chassis number and gather the information I have about the car. Contacting Martin Phipps at Caterham sounds like an excellent next step. What makes this particularly interesting to me is that I've owned the car for more than thirteen years, yet I am only now beginning to reconstruct what its life may have been before it came to Italy. Thank you for taking the time to research this. SergioS

Thank you, Scott. I think the journey has already started in a way — I'm discovering things about my own Caterham that I didn't know before joining this forum! 😄 Next year the car and I will have quite a long road ahead of us across Europe. I'm sure I'll share some of it here as the departure gets closer. Sergio

Thank you — this is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to discover here. I honestly don't know which rear axle it has. I've owned the Caterham for more than thirteen years, but I have never reconstructed all the technical details of its original specification. If it helps, tomorrow I can take some photographs of the rear axle and gearbox area. Perhaps you could help me identify exactly what I have. I'm discovering the history of my own car piece by piece through this forum!

Now I know much more about crocodiles than I did this morning! 😄 And all I wanted was to discover something about the history of my Caterham. This forum is already taking me in unexpected directions!

Thank you, Coccodrillo. I really appreciate you sending the photo to people who were involved with Bookatrack. I bought the car exactly as you see it in the photograph. The Bookatrack sticker was already there, together with the rest of the car's appearance, so I don't know whether it was simply part of a series sponsorship or whether the car had some direct connection with Bookatrack. I have owned the Caterham for more than thirteen years, but I know very little about its life in the UK before it came to me in Italy. That is exactly why I posted the photograph here — I thought someone in this community might recognise the car or help me reconstruct a small part of its history. If either of them remembers anything about it, even a small detail, I would be very interested to hear it. Thank you again for taking the trouble to ask them.

44 AND COUNTING wrote: Hello, Sergio! I live down the road a bit, in Modena. I've had my Westfield Seven for five years. It's also a 1700, right hand drive, factory built in 1985, with 23,000 miles. Hello! What a surprise to find another Seven owner here in Italy! Beautiful Westfield — and another 1700. After five years together, I imagine you know exactly what I mean when I say that these cars become much more than just cars. Modena is not far from Milan at all. Perhaps one day our two Sevens will have the chance to meet. Sergio