Non-Championship Races: Relics of the Past

The 1969 season marked the beginning of a new era in Formula 1, encompassing the economic, technological and sporting factors of the category. Starting with the matters of technological evolution, we can say that it was in the final years of the 60s that cars in F1, F2 and other single-seater categories began to resemble the vehicles we see on today’s circuits. The primitive high-wings and ailerons implemented in 1968 gave way the following year to more definitive installations, which put into practice in a more efficient way the lessons learned about car aerodynamics, together with what we know today as ‘ground effect’.

Furthermore, other important trends could be observed in Formula 1 at the end of the 60s, like the exponential increase in levels of professionalism in the category, which served to strengthen the sporting context, but also alienated those who were now considered ‘personae non gratae’ to the increasingly restricted circle of F1.

Perhaps one of these elements was made up of the non-championship races, which were a reminiscence of the times when the category was taking its first steps. At the height of this trend, which occurred mainly between the end of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s, it was common for there to be around 20 events of this type spread throughout the year.

These events had a dual purpose: on the side of the organizers and promoters, the publicity of a F1 race was excellent, generating a significant return in image and reputation, with a lower cost than the one of an official GP. On the other side of this coin, we have the teams, who were basically forced to participate in these events due to financial pressures.

Coldly analyzing, many (if not all) of the F1 teams of the 60s walked on a tightrope when it came to the financial aspect. Money was a scarce commodity at a time when big sponsorships were still a thing of the future, and almost every source of income came from sporting success on the tracks. Therefore, participating in non-championship races, which often offered prizes almost comparable to those of the official GPs, was an undeniable obligation.

But the introduction of master sponsorships in 1968 was a turning point in this story. From now on, the teams had a more steady and continuous flow of money during the year, not being forced to make calculations based on assumptions of victories in races outside those on the official F1 calendar.

Another reason that led to the disappearance of these races was that many of them were based on the idea “low budget, good prizes”. In other words, safety was just something secondary, as long as a substantial prize was offered to participants. For example, many of these non-championship races took place on public streets or improvised circuits; so, it was inevitable that such events were doomed to disappear, especially at a time when safety has become a watchword in motorsport.

Therefore, the picturesque events that always dotted the early F1 years slowly disappeared, being definitively extinct or migrating to other sub-categories (such as F2 and F3); the few that survived, found their own ways to remain relevant in the increasingly globalized scenario of motorsport.

The most used alternative to maintain or even insert an event of this type in the calendar was to attract entries from different categories. It wasn’t uncommon in non-championship races from 1969 onwards for F1, F2 and F5000 cars to race together, relying on a combination of ballast and limiters to ensure fair competition between the classes.

One of these cases was the III Gran Premio de Madrid. Initially, the race wasn’t supposed to follow this pattern, being idealized as an exclusive event for F1. But, due to disagreements, questions regarding envy and pride, and some minimally suggestive decisions, Madrid would also be the stage for one of these ‘miscellaneous races’ – and in the end, it barely escaped from being a resounding failure!

Why Did The 1969 Madrid GP Happen In The First Place?

The resurgence of motorsport in Spain took place in the second half of the 1960s, with the return of F1 cars to the country after a 13-year hiatus. Initially, it was agreed that Madrid would be the new headquarters of national motorsport, largely due to the modern Jarama circuit, opened in 1967 on the outskirts of the Spanish capital.

But this decision generated a negative impact within the Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE), responsible for promoting the GPs in Spain. The choice of Madrid only served to intensify tensions with its main rival, the city of Barcelona, ​​which now saw itself as just a satellite point in Spanish motorsport.

This scheme was almost inconceivable for Real Automóvil de Catalunã (RACC), because since its inception, in the early 1900s, it was this club that organized the biggest automobile events in the country. One can see that until the construction of Jarama, the main Spanish racing venues (Sitges-Terramar, Pedralbes and Montjuïc Park) were concentrated in Catalunã. Therefore, this change in the balance of power (which involved other political factors) could only create problems.

Due to increasing pressure from the Catalan side, the RACE was forced to review its decision, setting an agreement whereby Madrid and Barcelona would alternate on an annual basis, from 1968 onwards, as venues for Formula 1 races in the country. Even though this seemed to be the best path to take, in the end, this relay turned into an unpopular option, which did not please either side.

So, it is no surprise that, in addition to the F1 trophy, each city continued to maintain its own regional ‘GP’: in the Catalan capital, the Gran Premio de Barcelona (also known as the Juan Jover Trophy) was contested; while in the country’s capital, the Gran Premio de Madrid would take place. Both were originally eligible only for F2 cars, but the alternating scheme in Formula 1 changed this system.

The one who rebelled first was Jarama, who after having hosted the 1968 Gran Prix de España, found itself deprived of its biggest attraction for the 1969 season (since it was Montjuïc Park’s turn to take over the role of hosting the Spanish GP). In no mood and not wanting to wait for the year of 1970 to be able to host the event again, the organizers prepared to promote their own race, without the help of the Real Automóvil Club de España.

Taking advantage of the structure prepared for the Formula 2 race, the O.D.A.C.I.S.A (the group responsible for organizing the races in Jarama) raised the event to Formula 1 standards, optimistically hoping that at least part of the category’s main squads would be interested in the race. And even though some big teams initially showed their intentions to participate in it, such as Lotus and Matra, time went by and none of them presented any concrete offer to appear on Spanish soil. The main problem highlighted by them was the date chosen for the race: 13th April.

On the same day, two other important international meetings would be contested: the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch, a race valid for the World SportsCar Championship, and the Deutschland Trophäe, held at Hockenheim, which was an official points-scoring race for the European F2 championship. Therefore, it is no surprise that drivers and teams chose to participate in these races considered more important, to the detriment of the III Gran Premio de Madrid.

In the end, not even a high prize, like the one promised by the Madrid organizers, could attract names of the size of Hill, Stewart or Courage. Even other drivers from the ‘second shelf’ of world motorsport, such as the New Zealander Graham McRae and the Briton Mike Hailwood, both of whom had agreed to participate in the race, withdrew their entries at the last minute. The excuse given at the time by McRae was that he had problems with his transfer and would not be able to arrive in time for the race in Madrid – meanwhile, the reason for Hailwood’s non-attendance was due to mechanical problems in his Lola T142 – the driver had blown the cars’ Chevrolet V8 engine during the Brands Hatch Easter Meeting (a stage valid for the Guards F5000 Trophy and that took place only one week short of the race in Spain).

Only a handful of drivers had converged on Madrid at the time to participate in the event, with a somewhat peculiar mix of cars. But it was too late to cancel the plans – it was time to race.

The Magnificent 8

By the time the training sessions started in the Spanish capital, only 8 cars had shown up for the contest: 2 Formula 1 cars, 2 F2 and 4 vehicles representing the F5000. The majority of those entries were lesser-known drivers on the world motorsport circuit, but, as always, there were some notable exceptions.

The most recognized name on the entry list may be Peter Gethin, who, in 1969, was still taking his first steps in high-performance motorsport. After a few years in British F3, the driver had moved up to the European F2 championship in 1967. In 1969, Gethin was looking for new opportunities and entered the Formula 5000, the newest European championship for single-seater cars, based on the success of North American Formula A.

As it soon turned out, the Guards Formula 5000 Championship became an absolute success, from both the commercial and sporting point of view, largely due to the quality of the drivers who converged on the series. Amidst names like Trevor Taylor, Mike Hailwood, Frank Gardner and Andrea de Adamich, Gethin quickly stood out, proving his talent against an extremely qualified competition.

For the race in Madrid, the driver would have at his disposal a McLaren M10A (chassis number M10A-1), which was the same car that had given him victories in the F5000 stages at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch, at the beginning of April. The Church Farm Racing, the team that Gethin defended, was nothing more than a semi-works effort of the McLaren itself – therefore, it was to be expected that the car would have some differences compared to its less structured F5000 competitors.

The main one materialized in the engine that thrusted the machine. Even though it appeared to be just another one of the countless V8 Chevrolets that populated the F5000 grids, it had a special touch from Al Bartz, one of the most talented engine tuners of his time. Bartz became known due to his participation in the Traco Engineering Shop, the company that gained an almost mystical tone due to its preparation of Can-Am, Indy, Sports and touring car engines. Therefore, Al Bartz’s association with McLaren was almost an inevitable event, as the New Zealander driver’s company increasingly established itself in the North American racing market.

Another appearance worthy of careful observation was of a certain Max Mosley. This name will always attract the attention of anyone passionate about motorsport, mainly due to its role off the track. We can mention his term as president of the F.I.A. for 16 years, his controversial personal life, or even other notable facts, such as his participation in the founding of March Engineering.

Before his fame on the sidelines, however, Mosley was just a simple semi-professional driver, who throughout 1966-68 had participated in several F2 and F3 races. Being part of the squads of the London Racing Team and Frank Williams Racing Cars, the Briton had the opportunity to compete in races with some of the stars that would shine in the tracks during the 70s.

For 1969, Mosley had the ambition to once again prove himself in the increasingly professional and competitive context of F2. Equipped with a brand-new Lotus 59b-Cosworth, the driver hoped that the car would be more than enough to keep him within the pace of his more skilled opponents on the grid. The race in Jarama would be the machine’s first test, proving or disproving Max’s assumptions.

From a technological point of view, the two main highlights were the only 2 F1 cars to attend the race. The crème de la crème of them was probably Colin Crabbe´s Antique Automobiles Racing Team Cooper/Maserati T86, which was one of the best prepared cars on the grid, due to its competitive history and the team’s personal zeal.

The car that was now being used by the team was originally produced for the Cooper F1 Team in 1967, being retained as a reserve car throughout the 1968 season. After the bankruptcy of the Cooper Car Company at the end of the same year, the vehicle was purchased by Colin Crabbe, replacing the Brabham BT23C which, until then, was the team’s main machine. Therefore, the Antique Automobiles Racing Team would be the last squad to line up one of the legendary Cooper cars on the F1 grid.

If the history of this car wasn’t spectacular enough so far, another factor transformed the Cooper T86 into a special car in its own right. This specific machine was the only race car equipped with a Maserati Tipo 10 engine, a powertrain that still carried the legacy of the V12 engines that powered some of the all-conquering Maserati 250Fs at the end of the 1950s. Much lighter than the preceding generations of Maserati formula engines, it was considered at the time a masterpiece of engineering, as it was almost entirely made of high-quality aeronautical magnesium. However, all the effort put into developing this machine did not pay off on the track, as the engine proved to be extremely susceptible to breakdowns in high-stress situations (such as those present in 100% of the races).

The team’s #1 driver, Vic Elford, would not be available to participate in the race (due to his commitment to Porsche in the BOAC 500); so, it was up to Neil Corner to take on the role of team representative in Spain. The Briton had a discreet career in motorsports, standing out mainly in touring races between the 60s and 70s. The event in Jarama would be his first opportunity in an F1 cockpit.

The other F1 present was Tony Dean’s BRM P261. The car was one of the ex-Bernard White´s B.R.M.s, still equipped with a BRM P101 3.0 V12 engine. The vehicle spent practically the entire year of 1968 stored in the team’s garage, only being used in 3 non-championship races in England and the Italian GP, ​​where the car did not qualify. Wanting to liquidate the team’s remaining assets after the delusional ’68 season, White managed to get rid of everything, including the now outdated P261.

The car found its new home in the personal team of Tony Dean, a driver who would achieve some success participating in several categories from the 60s onwards: Karts, Saloon Cars, WSC, Can-Am, F5000 and occasional participations in non-championship F1 races; all of these would be in the pilot’s curriculum by the end of his racing career, in late 80’s.

In addition to the 4 drivers mentioned, 4 others complemented the grid formation: Bill Stone would race with a Brabham belonging to Jack Smith. The car was an ex-Frank Williams BT18 F3, rebuilt as a BT18/21 to fit in the F2 parameters. What elevated the car’s category was mainly the replacement of the old Ford Holbay engine with an 1800cc Ford Twin Cam.

The remaining three cars were all F5000 representatives: Keith Holland, who was the main threat to Peter Gethin in the Guards Formula 5000 championship so far, entered the race in an Alan Fraser Racing Team Lola T142. This entry was another representative of the “American toughbreeds”, with a Chevrolet V8 prepared by Traco.

Jock Russell and Robs Lamplough came to Spain each with their own Lotus 43. Both were the same cars with which Team Lotus had experimented the unsuccessful BRM H16 engines in the 1966 and 67 Formula 1 seasons. After the project proved to be a resounding failure, Lotus just wanted to get rid of the vehicles, only being able to do so due to the high demand for single-seater chassis that the F5000 generated. To meet the category’s standards and also to be more competitive, the unreliable H16 engines were replaced by 4.7-liter Fords, the same ones used in the Shelby Cobra.

Due to the different weight-to-power ratio between the F1, F2 and F5000 cars, the solution was to add ballast to the more powerful cars, minimally equalizing the competition. Furthermore, it was stipulated that there would be 2 different classifications in the race: the first would only encompass the F1 and F2 cars, while the second would be reserved for the F5000 cars. But this did not in any way prevented the cars from racing together, as the Madrid GP had now been rebranded as a Formula Libre race.

A Sunny Day In Jarama

After two days of qualifying sessions, Peter Gethin and his McLaren were the ones who performed best, securing first place with a time of 1min31s9; it was almost 4 seconds faster than the second-best mark, set by Keith Holland. Sharing the second row were Tony Dean and Max Mosley, with Robs Lampough and Neil Corner in fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Closing the grid was the British Jock Russell, who was the slowest of all the drivers on the track, and Bill Stone, who, due to problems with his Brabham, skipped all sessions and would have to start in last position.

It was stipulated by the organization that the race would last 40 laps; in other words, much less than the 90 that had been contested in the 1968 Spanish GP, which took place in the same exact location. Even so, nothing that bothered the drivers, and even the public, who turned out in large numbers to watch the race on a sunny Sunday.

The eight cars finally lined up for the race in the early afternoon – and as soon as everyone was ready, the vehicles sped down the main straight of the Jarama circuit. The one who took the lead right at the start was Tony Dean who, taking advantage of all the torque of the BRM engine, overtook Gethin and Holland in a matter of meters.

But Dean’s joy was short-lived. At the Nuvolari curve, the driver misinterpreted the car gears, putting the vehicle in neutral. As a result, the BRM locked and the pilot lost control over the machine. Luckily, Dean managed to save his car in the final second, only suffering the scare of the spin. Part of Dean’s mistake can be credited to his inexperience with BRM, as this was also the driver’s first race in an F1 car.

Due to the chaos generated by Dean’s spin in the first corner, the field got mixed up. Leading at the end of the first lap was Keith Holland, with a quick Peter Gethin right behind. The one who was truly unlucky on the first lap was Robert Lamplough, who was forced to retire due to engine problems with his Lotus.

In the following laps, it didn’t take long for Holland and Gethin to begin to distance themselves from the rest of the field, demonstrating that the F5000s would have a clear advantage over the other competitors, even with added ballast. Further back, another interesting battle was developing, formed by Max Mosley, Neil Corner and the recovered Tony Dean.

Dean had no trouble overtaking Corner before the 10th lap, as the driver was struggling to maintain the pace with his Cooper, due to gearbox problems. But the soon to be duel between Mosley and Dean was fiercer. While Dean’s BRM took advantage of the straights of the circuit, where the F1 engine spoke loudest, Mosley made the most of the attributes of his Lotus F2, especially in the low-speed session between the Varzi and Portago curves.

Neither driver had a clear advantage in the confrontation until the 14th lap, when Mosley’s car began to lose speed. Having nothing to do with his opponent’s problems, Tony Dean snatched third place, leaving the crumbling Lotus behind. Mosley managed to get his car to the pits, only to discover that the injector nozzle broke away from the inlet manifold. The Lotus had been mortally wounded and there was nothing that could be done.

Meanwhile, the dispute for first place escalated in magnitude, with Holland and Gethin competing for every inch of ground, even going side by side in some corners of the circuit. Both alternated in the lead regularly, taking advantage of the straights where the 5-liter engines could unleash all their power. Therefore, every minute and a half, it was possible to watch the duo rumble the American V8s on the circuit’s finishing straight.

The race continued at this pace well after halfway through the race, with the battle for the lead being the biggest attraction of the show. With less than 10 laps to go, however, Keith Holland began to lose ground to Gethin, who had now opened up a few seconds in the lead. The Alan Fraser Team driver began to notice that the car was starting to overheat, and made the wise decision to let Gethin continue alone in the lead.

Holland’s caution at that moment ended up paying off in the final moments of the race. As Gethin opened the last lap of the race, the McLaren shook. Initially, it didn’t seem like anything serious, until the pilot started the climb in the central part of the Jarama circuit, when the engine simply died. With just over 2 kilometers to go before the final flag, the connecting-rod of the McLaren broke.

And Holland almost threw this golden opportunity away! The driver, still unaware of the Gethin incident, was giving everything he could, to try to get closer to McLaren in the final laps. Holland overdid in one of the corners and ended up taking a short ride in the run-off area close to where the now immobilized McLaren was. Luckily, Holland had already opened up a big lead over third-placed Dean, giving him enough time to recover from his mistake and head towards the finish line.

Keith Holland came first in the III Gran Premio de Madrid, completing the 40 laps in 1h03min29s8. Even though he did not complete the entire race, Peter Gethin had the second place on the podium as a consolation prize, as he was one lap ahead of third place Tony Dean in the final standings. Completing the top-5 of the race were Jock Russell, in fourth, and Neil Corner, in fifth place.

Epilogue

Even if the race was not a big failure as previously predicted in the final entry-list (the best point to prove it was the terrific battle between Holland and Gethin that lasted almost to the end), the III GP of Madrid had failed to prove its main point: that it was possible to host a major race without the support of federal and international bodies linked to motorsports.

The only exceptions to the case were perhaps the non-championship races that took place in the UK (such as the Race of Champions, the International Trophy and the Gold Cup), which continued to happen well into the 1970s. But the survival of these races was due to factors which did not exist during the Madrid GP: they were events that went beyond their nominal meaning; all were traditional races with a certain degree of international prestige; they were carried out in partnership with automobile clubs; and had the consent of the main F1 teams and drivers.

Therefore, it is not a question of saying that the Madrid GP was a failed experience. As a better definition, we can consider that this race only served as a confirmation that new winds were now blowing over the F1 circus. For the organizers, the learning process was quick: less than a month later, the IV Gran Premio de Madrid was held in Jarama, already announcing the return of the race to its original F2 format, which would continue until the last edition of the trophy, in 1971.

Acknowledgements

• British Magazine Autosport: edition of 18th April 1969 (pp. 14-15)
• British Magazine MotorSport: edition of May 1969 (p. 23)
• British Magazine Motoring News: edition of 17th Apr 1969 (p. 6)
• Website The Fastlane
• Forum GPL/DLR

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Caught napping by the Germans, who had been quicker to see the potential of the new rules, Alfa Romeo and Maserati introduced new and faster cars in 1935 that threatened to be sterner rivals in 1936. And the meteoric Bernd Rosemeyer was displaying uncommon skill at the wheel of his Auto Union. Major changes in the Mercedes-Benz equipment for the formula’s third year were clearly needed.

For 1936 the plan was to build an “SSK” version of the W25, a car that would be lower and shorter, especially at the rear. This would make it inherently lighter so it could be equipped with a new and more powerful engine without exceeding the weight limit. Conceived for this purpose by the Albert Heess engine group was a 60-degree V-12 using the same construction techniques as the M25 eight. Cylinder blocks were welded steel with integral four-valve heads. 

The first of these D-series engines was designated DAB because it had the same dimensions as the latest eight, the M25AB, 82 x 88 mm for 5,577 cc. The design office estimated that it would deliver 516 bhp on 2B fuel, the usual racing blend, and 598 bhp on W.W., pure alcohol.

In late summer of 1935 the first DAB engine was found disappointing, not in its power but in its weight. It scaled 650 pounds, almost 250 more than the various M25 eights. This only confirmed that the steel-cylinder construction, so suitable for the straight eights. After this discovery, dynamometer development of the DAB engine was slowed. In 1936 an early test report showed that it developed 570 bhp at 5,500 rpm, close enough for comfort to the design-office forecast.

In spite of the V-12 engine’s heft it was installed in a new 1936 chassis to find out if the resulting racer could be under the weight limit. Engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut said that it could, but it was not well-enough balanced to be a successful road-racer: “Although the new car was within the 750-kilogram limit, it had too much weight at the front end. It was quite good for setting records on a straight road but quite unsuitable for the Nürburgring, for example.”

A straight-eight would have to be the solution. Jumping to the next letter of the alphabet, a decision was taken in mid-September 1935 to build an E-series engine, altering the letter/number sequence of its designation to make it the ME25.

By the end of November the Heess staff had completed work on this final expansion of the size of the original M25 engine within its 95-mm cylinder-bore spacing. Stroke, crankshaft, connecting rods and bottom end generally remained at the maximum to which they had already been stretched in the M25C while the bore was enlarged by 4 mm. Its dimensions were 86 x 102 mm for 4,740 cc. New cylinder forgings for this larger-bore engine allowed a valve-size increase to 37 mm. 

A new supercharger was designed with an enlargement in rotor diameter from 106 to 125 mm. Blowers of both 240-mm and 255-mm rotor lengths were prepared, the smaller one considered the standard size. They continued to use steel rotors while experiments with light-alloy rotors proceeded. New larger 36 mm intake-manifold sets were also readied for the ME25. The blower boosted through two carburetors and manifolds that were available in different diameters to tune the cars to specific circuits.

Orders were issued for the production of six of these new engines with six spare crankshafts, the parts to be ready on January 20, 1936 and dynamometer testing to begin on February 15^th. Though a late effort with a high element of risk, it was the only course open to the team. A later increase by four brought to ten the total of ME25 engines made. As a backup, all the available M25B and M25C engines were also made race ready for 1936.

M25C power units were used in tests to propel the first of the five new racing cars that were built, called the “Model 1936” or, more familiarly, the “short car”. The author prefers and uses the suitable designation of “W25K”. Two chassis were assembled and two were in component form in early October 1935 when testing began.

Ex-Benz man Max Wagner continued to direct the chassis-design side, directly under chief racing engineer Max Sailer and his still-youthful deputy, Fritz Nallinger. Seconded to Alfred Neubauer’s Sports Department to give liaison and technical assistance was an Untertürkheim veteran: ex-riding-mechanic Jakob Krauss.

The W25K incorporated several major changes. Its wheelbase was shortened by more than 10 inches to 97 inches, front and rear track remaining at 58 and 56 inches. This was made possible by a completely new transaxle design that had been in the works since the winter of 1934-35.

The new transaxle further lowered the car’s propeller shaft by placing the two gearbox shafts in a transverse plane below the final drive gears—a radical departure from the normal longitudinal shaft axis. Stacking these shafts one above the other and laterally beneath the differential cleared—for a lower-seated driver—the space ahead of the rear axle that the transmission formerly occupied.

The drive from the propeller shaft entered the gearbox at the center of its bottom shaft through a pair of bevel gears that could be varied one tooth or so either side of a one-to-one ratio. Four speeds and reverse were spaced along the two transmission shafts, to the left and right of the central bevel, still selected by sliding the gears into engagement with each other.

At the center of the upper shaft a pair of spur gears took the drive to the differential. These gears provided the normal ratio reduction, for example 3.69:1. On the W25K the differential choice was between a fully locked rear end, with no differential action at all, and the ZF self-locking cam-action diff.

First runs in the chassis took place in the late summer of 1935 in a W25-based mule at the ‘Ring and Bern circuit. They showed that the transaxle tended to become too warm. Attention was given both to its cooling, by means of ducting, and to its oil capacity, which initially was slightly more than half that of the 1935 transaxle. Monza trials also showed the need for a redesign giving higher torque capacity throughout the gearbox.

No longer were heavy pivots for swing axles attached to the sides of the differential. The W25K had an entirely new rear suspension. Toward the end of 1935 the W25 was finding it increasingly difficult to apply its steadily greater power to the ground. The shorter wheelbase of the W25K was intended to help by shifting more weight rearward.

The added power also aggravated another attribute of the earlier W25: if the rear end broke away in a corner it was extremely difficult to catch. The swing axles, judged at least partially at fault, were given up in favor of a design that worked well enough before: a solid axle.

It was a solid axle with a difference. To these Daimler and Benz men, with roots deep in the origins of motoring, it was an axle like those used on their Grand Prix models of 1908, like the racing Mercedes of 1913 and the Blitzen Benz. It was a dead axle, joining together wheels which were driven not by chains, this time, but by open shafts, each with two universal joints. It was an independent re-invention of what a later generation would come to call “de Dion” rear suspension after the French producer that used it in production models in the early years of the century.

The axle was fabricated of steel tubing in the shape of a broad-topped Y. The upper arms of the Y reached out, in plan view, to the wheel hubs, while the tail extended rearward to a ball pivot anchored to the rear end of the frame. The latter tapered inward to a point at that junction. This pivot was a critically important location point, taking both braking torque and transmission-drive thrust.

This unique de Dion configuration was adopted, said Rudolf Uhlenhaut later, because “Mr. Wagner wanted a good-looking car.” This was achieved so well that the dead axle was completely concealed. Indeed many observers still believe that Mercedes-Benz adopted the de Dion axle for racing in 1937 rather than 1936. It only became visible, in a new configuration, in 1937.

An additional means of guiding the solid axle was needed to cope with the lateral forces experienced in cornering. This guidance was supplied by a vertical fin fixed to the back of the transaxle casing. Within the crotch of the axle Y, riding up and down the sides of this fin, were two rubber-faced rollers attached to the axle tube.

Under the supervision of Dr. Maruhn, a theoretician who ran a general research department at Untertürkheim, a rig was built to test the rollers for durability. Under moderate load the first one lasted only 12 minutes. During tests of the first car at Monza in December they continued to be troublesome, leading to suggestions for armoring the rubber, enlarging the rollers and isolating the guide fin from the heat of the differential.

During the 1936 season the rollers were abandoned in favor of a steel-sided slot in the back of the transaxle, in which slid a bronze block attached to the crotch of the axle Y by a projecting ball pivot. This would set a style for de Dion lateral guidance that would last well into the 1950s.

Quarter-elliptic leaf springs with friction shock absorbers were retained at the rear of the chassis. The latter was founded on an extensively lightened box-section frame like that of the 1935 model. The front suspension was carried over almost unchanged within its tubular crossmember. Thanks to all the changes, especially the new transmission, the car’s center of gravity was lowered a remarkable 5.9 inches.

Brakes, to which screened cooling-air inlets and outlets were added during 1935, were also transferred to the W25K. For better cooling the rear-brake vents were fitted with a coarser mesh screen. Drums were given finer finning. Each brake was equipped with two grades of Iurid lining corresponding to the different workloads of the two shoes.

Designed by Josef Müller, the new body wrapped around this radically lowered car had an almost circular cross section, a long, slim tail and deep fairings concealing the front suspension and the adventurous new rear suspension. It was one of the handsomest racing cars ever built. When the cars first appeared for a presentation at the Berlin Auto Show in February they had a single oval radiator air entry. After testing this was supplemented by two additional grilles in the front fairings.

The left-hand grille was enlarged early in 1936 to accommodate an oil cooler, fitted to a Mercedes-Benz G.P car for the first time. It was judged so successful that oil coolers were added to the 1935 cars that were being carried over to the new season. Exhaust piping was newly positioned down at ground level, sweeping back on the left below the rear axle.

One reason the 1935 W25s were still on hand, apart from their value as training and backup cars, was that the cockpit of the shortened Model 1936 was so tight that Manfred von Brauchitsch couldn’t drive it comfortably. “In a car calculated down to the gram,” said Alfred Neubauer, “additional reserves for an extra-large driver are naturally impossible.” Offered one of the older cars for the season, Manfred instead contrived to squeeze himself into the new one except in the Eifelrennen, in which he drove a modified 1935 car.

After the first trials, changes were made to the body to give the drivers more protection from the wind. One W25K went to the Zeppelin wind tunnel at Friedrichshafen for an aerodynamic evaluation. Monza tests showed the need for an enlargement of both the main grille opening and the radiator itself.

All these early tests were carried out with M25C engines. In late February the first ME25 went on one of Georg Scheerer’s two dynamometers for a durability test. Its uncorrected output was 430 bhp on the normal fuel blend, equal to 449 bhp at 5,000 rpm with the standard corrections applied.

With a compression ratio of 8.65:1 and the 255-mm-long supercharger the ME25 gave its best-ever power of 473 bhp at 5,800 rpm, recorded during the Summer of 1936. Its typical output as prepared for racing with the 240-mm blower and a compression ratio of 8.17:1 was 453 bhp at 5,800 rpm with maximum torque of 465 lb-ft at 3,000 rpm. This was achieved on a boost pressure of 14.5 psi, exactly 1.0 bar.

Output was excellent from an engine that was even lighter than the M25C at 465 pounds. For the first time a Mercedes-Benz racing engine produced more than one horsepower per pound.

To spectators at Monte Carlo on April 13 for the first Grand Prix of 1936 nothing seemed to have changed except the smooth shape of the silver cars on the front row of the grid. Caracciola tiptoed through a rainy race to win after most of his teammates were sidelined by crashed at the chicane.

Not until they arrived at the fast, hot Tripoli circuit in May did the drivers have a chance to extend fully the W25K with its new ME25 engine. Comparing it with the same engine in the 1935 chassis and body, albeit with slightly different gear ratios, both had the same 175-mph maximum speed.

Caracciola complained of understeer, which was reduced by replacing the locked differential with a ZF unit.  The drivers were generally dissatisfied with both the roadholding and the steering, which still mustered a strong steering-wheel kick-back.

Technically the Tripoli race was as inconclusive as Monaco. One of the 255 mm blowers failed in practice so all the cars were switched to the 240 mm unit for the race. One car, that of new man Louis Chiron—a Monegasque and a close friend of Caracciola—suffered minor troubles that retired it.

The uncomfortable Manfred stopped on the circuit when his tank failed to feed all its fuel, a problem noted in the Monza trials but not rectified. And both Fagioli and Caracciola lost their front brakes after a pipe failure caused by the new mounting of the front-circuit master cylinder on the right-rear engine bearer.

The drivers found their cars very sensitive to the windy conditions on race day. Observing out on the course, Jakob Krauss thought they looked less steady on the turns than the Auto Unions. “Perhaps,” mused Neubauer afterward, “the longer chassis is better for fast courses.” 

A victory was achieved in another race in North Africa, at Tunis, when the leading Auto Unions crashed and burned. It was the last win to fall to Rudy Caracciola and the W25K Mercedes Benz.

At Barcelona Nuvolari’s Alfa beat the new cars in a straight fight. Here the sharp pitching tendency of the shorter chassis was especially bothersome. Pitching was also a problem at the subsequent Eifelrennen that saw all but two of the cars retiring and those finishing well back. Engine trouble struck there and in the subsequent race at Budapest, where all the Mercedes-Benzes failed.

The new engine, pushed hard at last, had shown a critical frailty. Cylinders in the forward block were too weak to handle the high specific output and had begun to fail. First the existing parts were strengthened, then completely new cylinders and blocks were made for the all-important German Grand Prix in late July. Before that race several of the engines were switched from 240 mm to 255 mm superchargers, two of which subsequently broke. Chiron crashed and one car limped home sixth.

After such a run of disasters any sporting team determined to be victorious would call a rapid halt and make some changes. So too it was with Daimler-Benz. The organization that had served it so well since automobile racing began was apparently no longer equal to the pace and intensity of Grand Prix racing in the 1930s.

The liaison between Alfred Neubauer’s Sports Department and the engineers in the central design office had always been direct. This changed with the creation of a new technical body that was specifically concerned with the racing cars. An offshoot of the Experimental Separtment, it was called the Rennabteilung, the Racing Department.

Placed in charge of it was a handsome young man who had been with the company only five years. Born of a German father and British mother, he had joined Daimler-Benz directly from engineering school as a carburetion specialist in the Experimental Department. The young man, whose arrival on the scene can only be described as marking a turning point in the racing history of Daimler-Benz, was Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

Uhlenhaut’s new group was made fully responsible for assembling, preparing and testing the cars, then turning them over to Neubauer’s sporting department for racing. Reporting directly to Fritz Nallinger, who headed the main Experimental Department, he was assigned the services of Jakob Krauss in charge of car construction and Georg Scheerer as head of testing and inspection. 

“Naturally we had a good design office,” Uhlenhaut said, “but the people there were cautious and our opinions often differed. However, if I wanted something I said so and they would generally let me have it.” He and his colleagues said what they wanted in their recommendations and requirements, expressed from mid-1936 onward in a blizzard of reports, memos and analyses generated by the new Rennabteilung.

It was too late to do much about the W25K, which Uhlenhaut tested extensively at the Nürburgring. Race entries at Montenero and Pescara were abandoned to try to get the cars ready for the Swiss G.P. on August 23^rd. There Fagioli broke a connecting rod, Caracciola broke the right side of his rear-axle tube and von Brauchitsch had cooling failure initiated by a piece of newspaper caught in front of the grille. Newcomer Hermann Lang eked out a finish in fourth place.

Caracciola had taken and held the lead—until Rosemeyer motored past him. “The drivers declared themselves as by and large satisfied with the roadholding, with empty as well as with full tanks,” Uhlenhaut recorded. “In this race it was clearly evident that the power of the Auto Union in the middle and upper speed ranges is far superior. To be able to hold the pace to some extent our drivers must constantly strain the engine to the limit and moreover attempt to gain back in the turns what they lose on the straights.

“A further participation in racing with the E motor seems to be useless,” Uhlenhaut concluded. Daimler-Benz management agreed with him. Entries for the Italian Grand Prix, the European season’s final event, were withdrawn. It was a heavy decision for the proud company. But the light shined on the technology of racing by Uhlenhaut’s new group would bring brilliant results in coming years.

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It’s that time of year in the Pacific Northwest when the weather is just right for vintage racing. July 4th weekend, 2022 turned out to have the best of everything. Friday: sunny and hot; Saturday: overcast and cool; Sunday: rain. For a variety of racing conditions, it doesn’t get any better than this.

A Landscape Monet Would Have Painted

A Track for People Who Love Racing in the Rain

For people who like racing in the rain, it doesn’t get any better than a “warm” summer rain. At Pacific Raceways, conditions can be challenging and only for the brave with a good set of rain tires. Some racers love it.

Special Entries:

Three special cars appeared to run exhibition laps over the weekend. Above is the historic Arciero Brothers Dan Gurney-driven Lotus 19, powered by a Coventry Climax Engine and raced successfully by Gurney in 1962. It’s in the livery of Gurney winning the 3 Hours of Daytona.

A Special Porsche 356

Last year, Ernie Nagamatsu brought up Old Yeller II from Southern California. This year he brought the 1958 Brigadier General James Kilpatrick 356 Porsche raced in SCCA “E Production” from 1964 to 1996. It participated in two SCCA National Runoffs.

The odometer added to the car when the General began SCCA racing read over 55,000 documented racing miles over 32 straight years. It is believed to have the most racing miles on any Porsche 356. Dr. Nagamatsu races the car unrestored. It’s a pleasure to see it in this condition. It seemed to run great all weekend.

An AWESOME Race/Season Winning Formula One Car

The Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 004, driven by John Dimmer of Tacoma, Washington. Stewart won his second Formula 1 title in chassis 001 in 1971. He moved to Tyrrell 004, then 005 and finished second in Formula 1 in 1972.

The Tyrrell is powered by a naturally-aspirated 3-liter Ford-Cosworth DVF V8 and a Hewland 5-speed manual. Gridded with a 1966 Brabham BT15, two Formula Mazdas, and other open wheel cars, the Tyrrell is an awesome ride, a very exciting car to see at this facility where Formula 1 cars from the 1970s are rarely vintage raced. It must look positively menacing in a rearview mirror, but only until you are passed. When Dimmer puts the hammer down, it moves.

A Brabham BT 15 

The 1966 Braham BT 15, a repeat racer from last year’s event, marks the stark contrast between classes and technology in open wheel racing. Tire size grew on the Grand Prix cars of the 1970s to require enough rubber to make two sets of tires for an early 1960’s Grand Prix car.

Rough guess—the DVF motor in the Tyrrell makes 2x the power of the motor in the BT15. The DVF was and is an awesome motor. The mixing of the classes and eras of these cars added a lot to a weekend of viewing.

Featured Lotus Cars

Lotus was the featured marque for this event. An appealing mix of Lotus and similar sports racers, very well-prepared and driven, were gridded in a mixed class that looked odd sometimes with C1 Corvettes, Formula V, and even a Midget, but made for interesting race viewing, pitting raw power against chassis sophistication—or not. How about acceleration and top speed vs. fast cornering and braking?

Overall these were three great days of vintage racing with great variety in cars, track features, and weather conditions.

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The Masters Historic European season made its second visit to UK soil, for the 16th running of the Masters Historic Festival – the premier historic racing event on the Kent circuit. Alongside the customary Masters Racing Legends, for 70s and 80s Formula One cars, Masters Sports Car Legends and Masters Pre-66 Touring cars, crowds were treated to the sight of the LMP and GT field which comprised the Masters Endurance Legends.

Superb support

The weekend also saw grids from the Gentlemen Drivers – offering a sublime array of GT cars from the 1960s, the quirky and diverse Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge – where Sierra Cosworths fought with Lolas and TVRs as a plucky Trabant 601RS picked its way around the circuit, and the Equipe Libre – a field stacked with pre-66 race cars, TVR Griffiths battling Lotus Elans and Austin Healeys, in some of the most thrilling and absorbing racing of the whole weekend.

Superb racing with more than a tinge of nostalgia

Two elements appear to be becoming somewhat customary in the 2022 season of historic racing in the UK. It seems that unexpectedly, the sun will appear to shine when these historic racers are turned out, secondly, the racing really feels to have stepped up a notch – with hard fought and noticeably clean and respectful racing throughout the fields, it’s an example of the true entertainment one gets from spectating at motorsport events.

Much is made (and lamented) of the artificial overtakes in some top tier series, and Twitter implodes with any controversial pass made in Formula One, where here we see yet again, the respect and skill of drivers delivering an exhilarating showcase of racecraft – testament to the continued success of historic racing on these shores.

Brands Hatch – The perfect historic race setting?

Brands Hatch too, when the GP loop is employed (as it was for the Masters Festival) is a superb place for all involved, a phenomenal circuit to drive, with countless undulations and elevation changes, a sublime blend of fast and slow paced corners and genuine potential to pass, if your pace is befitting of that. For the spectator, there are few places better, numerous unfenced viewing points, open paddocks and the ability to watch long unbroken sequences of racing from a single spot, put it firmly at the top of the pile for viewing pleasure.

For the photographer too, the elevation changes offer a distinct advantage, when twinned with the verdant woodland that enshrouds the GP loop, it facilitates a rewarding array of shots from an event, and the chance to experiment in a spectacular historic racing setting.

2022 Brands Hatch Masters Historic Festival Photo Gallery

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Organized and sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing, one the nation’s premier historic racing organizations, The Mitty is an annual event that still brings excitement, speed, and some of the world’s best historic race cars together.

The event began back in 1978, started by a handful of local racing enthusiasts looking for a safe venue to run their cars at race speeds. It took hold quickly, and the editor of the Jaguar Marque soon declared the festivities to be named The Great Walter Mitty Challenge, after the famous James Thurber short story. The Mitty was born.

How The Mitty Was Structured for 2022

Sports 2000 is The Mitty‘s featured marquee for the 44th running, with 55 cars in two run groups (S2A & S2B). Lola, Tiga, Swift (to name just a few) make up the grid.

Graced with clear skies and temps in the high 60s, I walked the paddock to see what was around. First stop was Sasco, to visit with David and Robyn Pass Handy. Not only do they supply tires for all the competitors, they also run Vintage Racers for Rescues—a rescue operation that has placed more than 1100 cats and dogs in new homes. These are wonderful people doing wonderful work.

The 44th HSR Mitty on-track schedule was packed with 10 feature races and non-stop sprint races. A tiny Vespa was parked next to a hauler, Porsches abounded, there was a sprinkling of Lolas, and the event also included the Bean Brothers with their awesome Chevrolet GTP Intrepid.

Race car run groups featured nearly every type of sports car from the past 70 years, plus stock cars and open-wheel Formula and Indy cars. I headed up to the Michelin tower to chat with the folks who handled timing and scores, then gathered the cameras and decided where to start: T1, before walking it out to T5.

Cars & Drivers at The Mitty in 2022

“A challenging track”, said Mitch Eitel, who turned a 1:33.711 practice lap in his 1975 Chevron B31. Other drivers called it “formidable”, while a few more proudly described it as “a piece of cake”. No records were broken, but everyone still seemed to have fun. A few black flags flew during practice, but by end of day we all had some celebrating to do.

My favorite in the Paddock was a 1968 Chevron B8; it’s only the second one I have seen in the states. A young mechanic with a distinct accent opened this striking dark blue car up for me to look over. Powered by a 2-liter BMW motor, this was one of the most beautiful race cars I’d ever seen. She looked fast and slick.

HSR was recently purchased by IMSA, and it looks like a good union. “When IMSA first approached me about their interest in being involved in the vintage and historic racing scene, I knew this could be the perfect opportunity for both HSR and IMSA,” said HSR President David Hinton. All things considered, it was a well run event—despite a few hiccups, the crowds did not stay away.

Above the paddock, local car clubs gathered at club corrals and a vendor row. Sonny’s BBQ looked to be the crowd favorite. Road Atlanta is a spectator track, with plenty of close-up views of the track, as well as ample camping nearby and other facilities.

Learn more: https://hsrrace.com/themitty2022/

Photo Gallery

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Under clear blue skies with a coastal breeze from nearby Monterey Bay, the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Challenge visited the historic Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca for its fourth round of the 2022 season. Scheduled in Spring for the first time since 2016, it was IMSA’s first race of 2022, run on a purpose-built road course. Team strategies that worked at the Daytona 24, Sebring 12, and recent “street fight” at Long Beach would undoubtedly need to be changed. Could the current points leaders extend their margins, or was it time to shuffle the deck on one of America’s most historic tracks? I investigate the three most popular classes to find out.

The hot-shoes upfront in DPi (Daytona Prototype International) entered the May 1st weekend with the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, driven by Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber just 3 points ahead of the #5 JDC Miller MotorSports Cadillac piloted by Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook.

But hold on a second before you assume an “all Cadi” podium; Acura won this race the last three years and counting. The #10 Konica Minolta Acura (Wayne Talyor Racing), driven by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, is of particular interest, having won last year’s event. Was it time to make it “four in a row” for Acura?

Even before qualifying on Saturday, a glimpse of Sunday was revealed in Friday’s practice when Ricky Taylor unofficially broke the DPi track record with a lap time of 1:14.400 (108.290 mph) in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05. When Saturday’s qualifying ended, he bested that with a 1:13.924, earning him pole position.

Confirming the buzz in the paddock that Acuras seem to have an advantage over the Cadillacs on this diverse 2.238-mile circuit, Oliver Jarvis filled the remaining front-row spot driving the Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian Acura DPi with a time of 1:14.013. Would Cadillac respond on Sunday?

When the green flag dropped on Sunday, the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 piloted by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque maintained the lead for 111 out of 117, leaving no doubt who owned this weekend. Second place was captured by the Acura DPi from Meyer Shank Racing, with Tom Blomqvist earning the overall fastest lap of the race.

If there was a surprise in DPi this weekend, it was when the Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani and Tristan Nunez, which qualified last, eventually worked their way up to grab the last spot on the podium. Congratulations to Acura for making it four in a row.

As for the GTD Pro class (the pinnacle of production car racing), those who watched the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix two weekends ago knew what this weekend would entail; REVENGE. For some background, the PFAFF Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R entered the West Coast swing just 13 points ahead of the second-place Corvette Racing team’s C8R. During the Long Beach spectacle, a wheel nut from the Corvette accidentally flew out of the gun and struck the radiator of the PFAFF Porsche pitted immediately behind it.

The Porsche’s weekend was over, and so was its points lead that the Corvette inherited. And you thought racing was fair? Would Laguna Seca serve as the battlefield for PFAFF Motorsports to seek revenge? Driver Mathieu Jaminet found some clear space late in qualifying and claimed the Motul Pole Award in GTD PRO with a 1:23.142 lap time. With Jordan Taylor qualifying the Corvette 6th in class, all eyes were on the Porsche to reclaim the points lead.

From the drop of the green to the checkered flag some 2 hours and 41 minutes later, it was the PFAFF Motorsports Porsche leading the GTD PRO class. No drama here, just consistent laps and clean driving. The Corvette Racing’s #3 C8R worked its way up to 1st on two separate occasions through its pit stop strategy but eventually settled for 4th place.

The new GTD PRO standings were a swap between first and second; the PFAFF Motorsports Porsche 911GT3R overtook the Corvette Racing’s C8R, while the Vasser / Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat retained its third-place standing.

If you’re the type of motorsports fan who also likes to bet on Roulette, then predicting this weekend’s results in the GTD class was for you. After finishing 6th at Long Beach, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports enjoyed a commanding points lead. Then came Laguna Seca, where their professional driver Mike Skeen was sidelined with COVID-19. 

His teammate driver Stevan McAleer inherited qualifying duties, which resulted in eighth fastest. Alternatively, entering this weekend 8th in the points, driver Russell Ward put the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the pole, leaving fans wondering if this weekend’s race would turn the leaders-board upside down?

Unfortunately for Winward Racing, their superb qualifying performance was wasted when their Mercedes-AMG GT3 hit the inside wall exiting turn six, resulting in a full-course caution. As proof of the level of competition in GTD, no less than six different teams had the honor of leading throughout the race.

With 11 laps remaining, the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911GT3R took the lead and defended it until the checkered flag, vaulting them from 3rd to 1st in the points. Other essential points gains went to the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of CarBahn with Peregrine Racing (14th to 5th in points) and the BMW M4 GT3 from Turner Motorsports (9th to 3rd in points).

IMSA’s next race weekend on the WeatherTech Championship calendar is another road course with plenty of elevation changes and curves. The Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio is where the DPi, LMP2, Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), and GTD classes will duke it out along with the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA Prototype Challenge, and Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich the weekend of May 13-15 in Lexington, Ohio. 

2022 Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Photo Gallery

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Those of us who are motorsports fans and racers—but not rain fans—have lamented the absence of a place on the facility under cover. Seattle is a wet city in the spring. For as long as I can remember, it rained yearly during at least part of this event. I have a rain suit for this very reason.

And yet, throughout its existence since 1960, when you come to the track in April, the only anti-rain amenity it offers are these crappy pit wall umbrellas.

In spring of 2022, they were sun umbrellas. As one race fan said: “Oh, YES! Sunshine at the Spring Sprints!!!”

Cars Competing at SOVREN Spring Sprints 2022

This was a terrific event for Porsche 911 fans. A number of beautifully prepared examples turned out. We had a group of competitive vintage Corvettes and Camaros, and contemporary GT1 and GT2 cars. A big grid of Formula Fords competed. We had a sprinkling of GT40, Alfas, an XK120, Triumphs and BMWs.

Of special interest were the 1966 Brabham Grand Prix car and a mean-looking Honda S2000. I had never seen an S2000 in a vintage race. It was fast and it was cool. We had a lot of variety at this event.

The SOVREN Spring Sprints Get Underway for 2022

The back part of the track is scenic, as always: beautiful in morning sunlight punching through the trees, with little to identify it as a road racecourse. In places where the cars pass through patchy sunlight and shade, it looks like a winding hilly country road—a signature of Pacific Raceways loved by drivers, spectators, and photographers.

Sunday qualifying and racing were a great kickoff to the 2022 racing season in the Pacific Northwest. Now, if the rain only holds back for the main event in July! If not, I have my rain suit.

Sr. Jack would have been pleased to see one of his cars so well turned out and driven 56 years after the company built it. I love the GP cars of this era, before they were covered in advertising, fitted with wings and other aero thingies. They were pure. A body suspended between four tires.

I walked to the trailer to have a look at the black S2000. “Is it one of the 9,000RPM models?”

“Yes.”

“This thing is fast,” I said to the man standing next to it.

He pointed at the sign on the side of the car, and said, “He’s fast.”

“Oh, Parker Johnstone” I said (of NSX Championship fame). Yeah, he’s fast. I think the car is, too. Hide your Toyotas and your Nissans, guys. Parker Johnstone in an S2000 is gonna hurt!

I also saw this interesting Lotus for sale on a trailer. Looked a little rough. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a couple of rattle cans. Too bad about the flat tire, though.

Look at that poor kid peeking through the fence at the pits. Those SOVREN people are mean. Somebody should let him in (not me—I’m busy taking his photo).

SOVREN Spring Sprints 2022 Photo Gallery

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Whilst not strictly the first historic event on British soil in 2022 (the HSCC ran at Brands Hatch the previous weekend), the Member’s Meeting was for many, the first chance to spectate and compete of the year. Once through the gate, crossing over the track to the paddock, the first sight to greet you is a line of Porsche 956s and 962s sitting ominously underneath the bold Goodwood Motor Circuit signage.

Far from a mere ornamental display, these cars were waiting for their chance to attack the track, to the delight of every soul at the circuit, as one of the hotly anticipated demo sessions to accompany the racing.

The Member’s Meeting offers a near unrivalled opportunity for spectators to keenly admire and drool over the superb array of collected machinery in a wonderfully unrestricted and inclusive fashion. It’s often cited by racing fans as one of the most approachable and welcoming events in the calendar.

For many, the chance to see a Ferrari 250 LM being fettled to your right, as the final preparatory touches are being made to an Alfa Romeo 8C on your left, with the piercing snarl of a Jordan Peugeot V10 being warmed in the distance, offers a banquet of sensory experiences that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the world.

Saturday morning gave track time to most of the grids with glorious springtime sunshine beating down on the circuit, offering optimum driving conditions and a sensational contrast of colours against which to view the on-track action. It was a chance for the drivers to assess their performance and test out the limits of both man and machine.

Moving away from the pit area, to the lesser visited back half of the circuit, the crowds noticeably thinned out, offering moments where you could stand alone, serenaded by the symphony of engine notes at full chat as rev limiters got challenged on the fast-flowing Goodwood circuit.

Ignition GP Delivers a Banquet of Formula One Nostalgia

One of the eagerly anticipated highlights of the weekend was the presence of Ignition GP, a collaboration between Supercar Driver and ex-F1 driver Jonathan Kennard.

Assembling a collection of some of the finest Formula One cars from 1989 through to 1997, two demo sessions over the weekend left fans with a not inconsiderable assault on the ears, as a superb variety of cars from this period tore around the circuit, the scream of high-revving V10 engines leaving many to recall this stupendous era of top level Grand Prix racing.

The afternoon saw the commencement of the initial races, as firstly the Hailwood Trophy, combined with the Sheene trophy, saw a superb collection of Formula 750 and 250cc & 350cc Grand Prix motorcycles take to the track for the first of their two races of the weekend.

Levi Day took the first honours of the weekend on a Yamaha TZ350G, with a narrow margin over the chasing pack of Dan Jackson, Richard Wilson, and Andy Hornby, all crossing the line within a second of the leader.

The first of the legendary Gerry Marshall Trophy races was eventually won quite comfortably by the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Jack Tetley and Alex Buncombe, after a mid-race safety car was brought out in the middle of the pitstop window after an unfortunate accident on pit entry between the Rover SD1 and a Ford Escort RS2000.

Porsche 956 & 962s Provide a Taste of the Spirit of Le Mans

As the light of the day faded, one of the most remarkable and undeniably staggering sights of the whole weekend took shape. With barely a cloud in the sky, a dusky orange orb dropped towards the horizon, coinciding with a raft of some of the most dominant sports cars of all time filtering out from the pits to form on the grid.

A short interlude allowed the spectators to amass upon the track, immersing themselves in the atmospheric and evocative presence of these Le Mans-conquering beasts. With a golden glow in the air, Goodwood was then treated to a staggering demonstration with a good number of laps, allowing these cars to evoke the spirit of Le Mans in the West Sussex evening air. Many a spine tingled, and many goosebumps formed as these spectacular cars painted a vision of endurance racing that shall forever be etched in the minds of those lucky enough to witness it.

Arriving at Goodwood on Sunday morning, the early morning light illuminated the shimmer of frost that had formed on any exposed bodywork in the paddock. The cold spring night (I can vouch for this after spending the night in a tent) allowed a crystalline clarity in the air, interrupted only by the palpable sense of anticipation of an enthralling day of historic motorsport.

No less than eleven races graced the Sunday timetable; a smorgasbord of nose-to-tail racing and achingly beautiful cars, from the two cylinders of a Saab 93b, through to the snarling V12 of the impossibly spectacular Ferrari 250 GTO ‘64. As is customary at Goodwood, the racing covers cars from the roaring twenties, right through to the touring saloons of the early eighties.

The AFP Fane Trophy for pre-war chain driven Frazer Nashes was marred by an unfortunate accident that saw the driver airlifted to Southampton Hospital. Other battles raged throughout the day, with the Surtees Trophy for sports racing prototypes offering some of the most dramatic and nail biting racing of the weekend.

A front row grid of Ford GT40s lined up, as the Chevrolet engined Lolas, which set the quickest pace in qualifying, were dropped down the grid, due to their non-compliance with the technical regulations set out for this plateau. This made for a quite incredible race, with the Fords losing ground to the power of the Lolas and McLaren M1As.

Until the fall of the chequered flag, the result was never to be assumed, as the Lola of Oliver Bryant and the McLaren of Rob Hall diced and duelled lap after lap. Bryant made an incredible last lap pass to bring the Lola T70 Spyder home a mere 0.4s ahead of Hall in the McLaren.

As always, Goodwood delivers historic motorsport that oozes style and grace in a seemingly effortless fashion. It’s truly a sensational blend of iconic cars, period grace, and a roster of drivers from the highest racing pedigrees.

It’s a place to create memories, and for those in attendance lucky enough to have witnessed these cars in period, a time to evoke those memories, bringing them back to life with the same hard-fought heroics and superlative style that were witnessed on this circuit many years ago. As always, it’s a pleasure to be able to document the full blooded passion of the continued resurgence of historic racing.

My thanks go to Goodwood for their hospitality and the meticulous organisation that makes these events the lifeblood of classic motorsport.

Photo Gallery

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The Coppa delle Alpi (“Alpine Cup”) began in Brescia, the home of the Mille Miglia. But this race went north, not south. The four-day event covered 1,000 kilometers, crossed alpine passes and international borders, rolling along Italian, Swiss, and Austrian roads (under mostly blue skies) with a field of 53 classic cars and drivers from 13 countries.

Near sundown on the opening day, the cars rolled out of a Piazzale Arnaldo in Brescia. One by one, led by this 1930 Fiat 514 (the oldest auto in the field), they started their competition against the clock.

It’s one thing to cruise the course in a coupe. It’s a whole other matter to cover the kilometers in a roadster, like this 1954 Austin Healey 100.

The field of cars rolled from Brescia to Bormio, near the border with Switzerland, entering the town on cobbled streets more accustomed to tourists than classics.

A 1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint approached the day’s final checkpoint in Bormio.

There’s a lot going on in this photo. Ski runs on the mountain in the background, a 1956 Jaguar XK 140 in the foreground, and crowds of local auto enthusiasts gathering at Piazza Cavour in Bormio.

The biggest challenge of the Coppa delle Alpi was the ascent up the Swiss road to Bernina Pass. At 2,330 meters (7644 feet) above sea level, it was the highest point on the route.

The morning fog was still beginning to lift as this 1957 Porsche 356 rolled past snow-capped peaks near the summit of Bernina Pass.

With temperatures below freezing, only the bold and brave (and bundled-up) dared to cross the top of the pass in cars like this open-top 1953 Jaguar XK 120.

There must be something about Jaguars that gives their crews a bit of extra insulation.

The Swiss roads were incredibly well maintained. The poles mark the side of the pavement and let the snowplow drivers know the limits of the surface.

You could hear this 1962 Saab chugging up from the valley below to the top of the Bernina Pass. Sadly, this car didn’t make it all the way to the end of the 2022 Coppa delle Alpi.

After 70 time trials, 65 checkpoints, and 14 alpine passes, this 1939 Lancia Aprilia was declared the winner of the Coppa delle Alpi. The win assured the driver entry into the 2023 Coppa delle Alpi for the Italian crew of Gianmario Fontanella and Anna Maria Covelli.

Arrivederci da Italia!

Photo Gallery

The post The Coppa delle Alpi: A Mini Mille Miglia in March appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Unlike the traditional “qualify on Saturday, race on Sunday”, SVRA has found a more successful format—resulting in morning qualifying followed by an afternoon race on both Saturday and Sunday. Pam Shatraw, editor of SVRA’s Speed Tour magazine commented: “Getting to run two races per weekend is popular because it gives everyone a little more excitement, including the spectators.”

Reviewing a few highlights of the run groups will give you an idea of the weekend’s rumblings. Groups 6 and 12A combined to bring back memories of the SCCA B Production battles between American V8-powered muscle cars. Saturday’s feature race resulted in Bob Briggs finishing first behind the wheel of his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. The Ford Mustang of J.R. Smith took second, followed by the 1963 Corvette of John Anderson. It doesn’t get much more patriotic than that!

The ”Exclusive” race group was mostly made up of modern Ligier F3 and F4 cars driven by young drivers in the Formula Pro USA racing series. Alex Kirby earned first on Sunday with a blistering 1:37 best lap time. Group 10 for big-bore GT racers saw William Taylor on top of the box in both races, piloting his 1974 Porsche 911 RSR. And talk about a sound! Memories of 1970’s IMSA races came back like it was yesterday.

Groups 8 and 12B combined to form a medium-bore GT run group with vintage race veteran Phil Eglin winning both races in his 1972 Datsun 240Z over the very quick 1967 Alfa Romeo GTV of Chet Taylor. Third place on Saturday went to Porsche mechanic/racer Ray Stephens in his 1970 911, where Sunday’s third was captured by Porsche mechanic/racer Klaus Holthaus in a 914/6.

Groups 1, 3, and 4 were mostly small-bore GT racers, which always yield some good bumper-to-bumper action. It was no surprise Harris Koenig took first in both feature races driving his Renault Sports Racer. Saturday’s race saw long-time Porsche racers Bill Lyon (356 Speedster) and Pat Paternie (912) take second and third respectively.

Driving home from SVRA’s successful season opener, I couldn’t help but wonder: “Did I just witness the last sports car race at yet another one of Southern California’s disappearing race tracks?” Riverside Raceway, Ontario Motor Speedway; you already know what happens when real estate becomes too valuable.

Originally named California Speedway by its builder Roger Penske, it’s now rumored to be demolished by its current owner (NASCAR), with a “short track stadium” to be built in its place. If you watched the “Clash at the Coliseum”, then you know the future of racing in America depends on finding new ways to attract the next generation of race fans.

If you have never attended an SVRA event, it’s time to make plans. The country’s largest vintage racing organization really knows how to run an organized event, and with stops at iconic tracks like Sebring, Road Atlanta, Road America, and Watkins Glen, you’re guaranteed to have a memorable experience.

As Pam explained: “One of the goals our president, Tony Parella, initiated years ago was to ensure vintage racing stays connected to mainstream motorsports. With a constant effort to integrate newer classes of cars and schedule destinations people are excited to visit, we continue to experience growth and progress.” I couldn’t agree more, Pam.

Please see race-monitor.com/Results/Race/115146 for complete timing and scoring. All photos © Rex McAfee (rexmcafee@gmail.com)

The post 2022 SVRA So-Cal Speed Tour appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Fast forward almost seven decades, and Sebring is still home to the most famous 12-hour race in North America. On the professional side, IMSA holds the “Mobile 1 – 12 Hours of Sebring” every March, while vintage racers enjoy the HSR “Classic 12 Hour” every November.

Please enjoy the images courtesy of photographer Chuck Anderson and mark your 2022 calendar for this year’s Sebring Classic 12 on December 3-4

Race organizers Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) have come up with a system that embraces the essence of a real endurance race while keeping conditions safer and more economical for the participants. Instead of all cars racing for 12 hours straight (which is dangerous due to the differences in speeds), HSR’s format incorporates four separate races for each class of cars. At the end of 12 hours, the results are tallied to determine class winners by the furthest distance driven.

2021 was the sixth Sebring Classic 12 and proved to have the closest finish to date with the Group A 1972 Porsche 911 of Alan Benjamin and Brady Refenning edging out the 2nd place 1967 Porsche 911 of Nelson Calle by just 0.714 seconds.

In group D, Price Ford and Cody Ellsworth earned 1st by just 5.152 seconds over Brent Asplumdh, both teams driving Porsche 991.1 cup cars. The 1978 Lola T298 of Jim Farley and Craig Benett took Group B honors with a dominating finish of 5 laps over the second-place finish of Damon Desantis and David Hinton in a 1974 Porsche 911.

Photo Gallery

The post 2021 Sebring Classic 12 & Historics appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

After decades of the track being managed by a local non-profit organization, the racing community was surprised in 2020, when Monterey County awarded the rights to manage WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the entire Recreation Area to a Mr. John V. Narigi.

Who? John is a businessman from the Monterey area hospitality industry. How? John overcame several competing bids submitted by “heavy hitters” from the racing community. Within days, wild rumors of John’s intentions to shut down the track and build a locked gate housing community or a private tennis club were flying over the web. Lawsuits followed.

Two years later, John is still at the helm, and Sports Car Digest thought it would be a good time to catch up with him—as well as with Barry Toepke, his Director of Marketing and Communications. Barry is also the event manager of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, one of the world’s largest vintage racing celebrations, which is held every August at the track.

JN – I’m John Narigi, president and general manager of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Laguna Seca Recreation Area.

BT – Barry Toepke – Director of Heritage Events and Public Relations.

DG – Enhancing the Laguna Seca experience for spectators—I know that’s always been a goal of the track and it kind of fell behind a little bit before you guys came on. What are you doing to enhance the spectators’ experience—coming in, walking around the track, where you park, where you find a restroom, the food?

JN – I took over on January 1, 2020, and then we all know what happened a couple of months later [referring to the COVID-19 pandemic]. That lingered and kept the track closed until June 1, 2020, when we reopened track rentals under very strict health and safety protocols. [After] June 15, 2021, we were allowed to open with spectators but with restrictions on hospitality services, yet we introduced a kids’ zone with three or four different types of activities, which were well received. We now offer go-karts at all race events. And [we’re] reviewing the potential of starting a karting program.

As for food and beverage, we will be upgrading the offerings and service in 2022. If there was one item that really stood out, we didn’t have enough vendors, and some of the vendors had a very tough time delivering what they needed to produce at the standard requested, mainly due to the pandemic.

We are also upgrading the Flag room hospitality area and rebranding it to The Legends Club, offering a superior experience for guests. As it relates to other experiences, we have some great plans regarding the (Rolex) Reunion. We’re looking at how to layout our paddock for all our major races. That would be from the Turn 3 structure through the entire paddock area, to make it more welcoming and not just a place where a race is being set up with the transporters and all the vendors in one place.

Although, there are a lot of people, racing professionals and racing enthusiasts, who love to experience the behind-the-scenes action. They like to see tires being changed and mechanics working on the race cars. Guests enjoy the excitement of an open paddock.

Laguna Seca, as we all know, is an iconic, world-renowned race track. It has a huge draw and an impressive history. As it relates to some of the key projects, I’m very thankful to the County of Monterey, the owners of the park and track. The County has approved two major projects—a complete track resurfacing, which will also take care of curbing around the track. The track has not been resurfaced since 2007.

We’re also going to begin construction on a new start/finish bridge, which will allow for golf carts and ADA access, both of which are critical. Additionally, interior upgrades will occur in our Turn 3 hospitality pavilion.

Another critical project and a necessity for all races is the need for additional permanent restrooms. There’s ARPA money available to assist in the funding through the County of Monterey. The plan is to add two new permanent, large restrooms. They will be in two key areas; one will be built right outside the paddock, which will be easily accessible for those who love our Corkscrew location. The other in the lakebed. We have newer restrooms in the Newman Building that are right in the paddock and can handle significant traffic.

My firm has a very good relationship with the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and staff. They understand that over the years, there hasn’t been a lot of capital investment put back into Laguna Seca—the track nor the park. And as a result, the facility is showing its age. Receiving funding for capital improvements is critical.

Another objective in a year or so would be to develop a bond measure initiative for Monterey County Parks and include all County Parks. The park with camping is open year-round. There is good demand for daily use of the park and a strong upside versus relying mainly on just the major events for use.

Laguna Seca is in a beautiful location 20 minutes from the Monterey Peninsula. We’re in the Sunbelt, so our temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees higher than what you experience on the Monterey Peninsula. And Laguna Seca is in the heart of a world-renowned tourist destination offering restaurants, wineries, lodging, and shopping. Carmel, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, the Salinas Valley as the agricultural capital of the world, and the world-famous Cannery Row in Monterey are easily accessible. We’re in the middle of it all.

Twenty minutes to a half-hour, you can be anywhere, whether you’re here because of a race, or because you want to enjoy Monterey County and/or the coastline of the Monterey Peninsula.

DG – What about an Area Development relationship with various sanctioning bodies? Are you thinking about bringing anybody new in?

JN – We have. Last year, we signed a new three-year deal with INDYCAR. We’re their season finale this year in September. We moved the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship from fall to spring as there was a lot of doubling up with current events. Difficult on the staff and volunteers and challenging at times for ticket sales. So IMSA is now in the spring, following the Trans Am Speed Fest. We are focusing our efforts on ticket sales and promoting all our events.

Moto America will become the premier annual motorcycle event. And then, of course, we have our Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, followed by the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale and Velocity International closing out our 2022 season. So, I guess to answer your question, Dennis, I’m not looking at any other major sanctioning bodies to come in at this time.

BT – But you know, look at how many dates we can provide unlimited sound dates. So, we have to prioritize who and what we’re going to be doing.

DG – It sounds like you’ve got the main events people want to come to see.

JN – The main ones, and we are trying to provide variety. For 2022, we are working extremely hard to make it a banner year for the track.

DG – Is there any interest or any contact with Porsche about Rennsport?

BT – Coming back?

DG – Can you share anything?

JN – Can we? Not really. We are one of a limited few at the top of the list.

DG – The first year Porsche came here for Rennsport, they had Porsche executives driving photographers around to different shooting locations in Porsches. I had a guy from Porsche Performance Parts out of Atlanta. He couldn’t get over the experience of seeing a few hundred Porsches lined up in the lakebed. They really drew nobody the first couple of Rennsport events back east. And they were just blown away. Rennsport and Laguna Seca are just a natural fit.

BT – Yeah, 2018 was spectacular. In terms of attendance and just what Porsche brought to the show. Porsche hasn’t informed us of any decision, but we sure would love to have Rennsport return. And the other big draw—it’s on the Monterey Peninsula.

JN – I think previous management forgot about the Monterey Peninsula, because that’s a draw, even for our track rentals that we sell out every year. As it relates to the noise levels, we are controlled on unlimited sound and 105 DBs because we’re literally adjacent to neighborhoods. So, we must be very cautious on managing the sound levels for all track use. We want to be good neighbors.

DG – What’s the INDYCAR event look like this year? How many days and how many cars? I have not been to Indy here in 10 years.

BT – Maybe come back, then.

DG – I am. SCD is covering it. I’m coming back.

BT – I was not here in 2019 when it was the season finale. I understand it went very well. Last year was a bit slower on Friday and Saturday. But on Sunday, I walked out of the media center and the hillsides were filled. The Corkscrew was filled. It’s like the old days of wow, look, and listen. Sunday was a big day here.

Romain Grosjean was on fire, making repeated passes, working his way up to a podium finish, and the drivers loved it. We expect to be bigger this year, being the season finale. It’s not the back-to-back John alluded to—with IMSA the first weekend and INDYCAR the following weekend. A spectator may have to make a decision, perhaps of “where am I going to spend my money? I’ll go to IMSA or I’ll go to INDYCAR.” So, we’re expecting a very good year with INDYCAR, and they’re very supportive. They’ve got a great team of people, and they want to be here. Hopefully, we can keep them as a season finale each year.

DG – Trans Am is coming back with SVRA. And with them comes Historic Trans-Am too. What kind of event is that?

BT – It’s a mix between a pro series and a vintage race. Obviously, they have the historic Trans-Am, plus other historic groups that they’re running. They run hard, vintage racing, and they award first, second and third place to the victors—which we don’t do for the Rolex Reunion. In the Trans Am series, those guys are going at it hard. Those cars are loud, and the racing is intense.

JN – They drive hard and bring a lot of cars. We are supporting Tony Parella and his team. We have not really, because of COVID, had a real SVRA event, although they’ve been on track now twice, because of the no spectator rule. But Tony’s doing a major car corral; kind of a car show. We will have our food and beverage vendors. But we’re working hard to see what kind of attendance we can draw.

2019 was not a good year for SVRA and Laguna Seca’s partnership. It’s a new era as far as our team is concerned. So, we’re putting a lot of effort into promoting this event. It’s our first professional race of the year. Then IMSA is the weekend right after, so we have two totally different styles of cars back-to-back, which might be interesting as well.

BT – Speaking about the market, we’re looking at the drive market. The Central Valley has a lot of car fanatics and a deep racing history. We’re also exploring the fly markets where there are direct flights into Monterey. For instance, Dallas is a growing market for Monterey visits, so we’re looking at what we can do in that area to promote WeatherTech Raceway events. To grow, we need to open our vision and not preach to the choir. And as John said about the entertainment and family activities, we want to provide an entertaining experience, and hopefully, they’ll get hooked on racing as well.

DG – Yeah. I’m from Turlock over in the Valley. When I was in grammar school, the first couple of years of high school, my family and I would come and we’d be on the hill behind what is now Turn 1. And that whole hill would be Turlock, Modesto, Atwater people. I mean, a few hundred people up there, they would just migrate over for the races, but no more. So, if you can pull those people back, that would be great.

JN – As Barry knows, we need to be in markets where there’s interest in racing. I don’t necessarily think that’s the Monterey Peninsula. Northern California, up in Redding, and those types of areas provide new opportunities. We are redefining where the race fans really are, the people who love to watch and enjoy the excitement of racing.

BT – Interestingly, INDYCAR came out with their TV numbers. The Sacramento/Modesto market was in the top 10 and was massive year-round. So really, that’s a market where we need to be doing promotions, we need to be getting into that market. Not just peripherally; we need to be active. There is a big market.

DG – I used to be the IMSA series photographer. Twenty years ago, maybe. So, it’s changed. What is an IMSA event at Laguna Seca like today, for both cars and competitors?

BT – Manufacturers are coming back in. The Roar Before the 24 is this weekend, and then Daytona. IMSA has a solid package with NBC, so they’re doing a good job. And John Doonan is from the Mazda days and a close friend of ours. It’s a series that is continuing to go up.

The different groups and categories are a little bit confusing, especially to a new person, but IMSA is doing a great job at telling its story and making it relevant to the audience.

JN – Automakers seem to be supportive, and they’re getting additional automakers on board. So, going back to the April dates, it’s going to be our second race of the season. ALMS, the precursor to IMSA, used to run in April with good crowds. We weren’t competing with football or high school sports. So yes, we believe late April is going to be a good move for IMSA.

DG – Le Mans Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. It’s going to run Wednesday through Saturday. Why is it only running through Saturday? What is going to draw people to this event?

BT – We have a very esteemed group of advisory council members. We have been talking to them about how Sunday has been a tough day because a lot of people go to Pebble Beach, or people want to go home. So, we’ve been talking about it for a little over a year now, of what it would look like Wednesday through Saturday for the Rolex Reunion as we all know it.

Then on Sunday, what can we do that’s involving the community? We can’t yet announce confirmed plans, but we have some great ideas that we’re honing in on, opening it up to a variety of activities. So, the people who are not going to go to Pebble Beach have another place to go.

I think we’re going to get a lot of day-trippers, like Cars and Coffee, for instance. The type of thing where people can come out to the peninsula and enjoy the spirit of what’s going on. But they are not ticket purchasers per se, for a vintage race or a Concours or a car show. So, we wanted to try this out.

Our goal is to continue upgrading the Rolex Reunion on every level, every touchpoint, so that when you come in, off Highway 68, or up to South Boundary Road, we want a visual statement that says, “Wow, I’m somewhere special.” The Advisory Council and team here are committed to bringing the best of the best into Monterey.

DG – What’s been the response from iconic European Historic manufacturers, like Jaguar, Mercedes, Bentley, or whoever?

BT – Very good, very positive. In fact, Steve Fields, our sales director, and myself are working with various automakers on plans. Now that we’ve announced Le Mans, people are contacting us. I’ve had a conversation with one driver who asked, “When am I going to get my invitation? I’m a six-time Le Mans Driver.” I’m excited because it’s not only about the cars, it’s about the people who made them famous. And the feedback has been very, very good.

JN – Yes, we have some new sponsors that we’re talking to that are committed. You know, you hear a lot about lifestyle experiences. And we’re going to change up the paddock and how we get the cars on track. Food and beverage will be a big push, especially the hospitality component.

In 2021, we were judged on performance when we had a month and a half to sell tickets after California finally re-opened. We didn’t know if we could even do a Reunion in 2021 with spectators, so our focus was on the participants.

JN – There had been a lot of rumbles with me being the new operator coming in. 2018 and 2019 were tough years for the Reunion and the track. I’m from the hospitality industry. That’s my business. That’s Guest experience and services, and I was in it for 38 years. So we focused on the participants with the Advisory Council highly involved, and people left happy.

We brought in a new sanctioning body, HSR, who made tremendous strides in really bringing it back to what we believe a lot of the participants want. It’s a social gathering. They want to talk to their friends and enjoy the beauty and performance of the unique vintage racing cars.

We also returned to strict authenticity and period correctness with the entrants. That’s what this event is about. We can’t allow the non-compliant cars in; [we] must remain focused on the original intent of the event and our title sponsor, Rolex. And we’re well on our way for 2022, and we’re very excited for what the Reunion will look like. We must make a statement.

But we’re sticking to the niche of historic racing because that’s our focus. When Barry talks about Pebble and Quail, each major event is three players working to produce an overall excellent “car week” for our residents and visitors. Our part is, we have the iconic world-renowned WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and we will execute a professional first-class historic race with gentlemen racing. That’s the focus, while implementing several upgrades to the facility and guest experience.

JN – We will also be celebrating our 65th anniversary.

DG – My first race was in 1959. When I was in grammar school.

JN – You weren’t a racer?

DG – No, I did own a Lotus 11 Le Mans Series Two. David Love brought five or six of us down to run demo laps during one of the Can-Am races to explore interest in maybe having historic cars run here.

DG – With Laguna being unique to the U.S. racing scene, can you give me an idea of what our readers can expect from a Laguna Seca event? What can they expect when they come here?

JN – Most important is the Corkscrew. You need to see the Corkscrew with cars dropping down the track to understand why we say it’s a “unique racing experience.” Very good, competitive racing on a classic road course. Our goal is to give the spectator good, competitive, racing supported by a professional management team, excellent seasoned volunteers, and service clubs. With the guest’s experience being a major priority.

This year, “Bring the Family” is a major objective to build on that next generation of racing fans. The previous management never looked at what other sports were doing to bring the family experience to their spectators. We are introducing a Kids Zone, Go-Karts, and other kid-friendly events for all our major events in 2022. We will also have a variety of quality vendors involved in retail as well as food and beverage offerings.

But it’s still Laguna Seca. It still has that vintage, historic feeling with numerous racing attributes. We need to address restrooms within the park and track and continue to make capital improvements. We need to continue to improve upon our guest experience touchpoints and keep the track and park clean.

The shelf camping and parking between Turns 10 and 11 is a great place to park your RV and watch the race. With the new pedestrian bridge, entering the paddock will be simplified and accessible to all our guests.

We offer a unique track and clean park with open-air, which promotes health [and] safety, and a management team and volunteers that are focused on improving the spectator’s experience. All this in addition to our beautiful location and weather. We believe WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, no matter if a sanctioned event or just a good race, is a chance to come to watch superior competitive racing with memorable hospitality while being entertained with your family and friends.

DG – My final thoughts? There is no 4-year degree for managing a race track, and it’s a position of constant challenge. Sports Car Digest appreciates the time both John and Barry took out of their busy schedules to conduct this interview.

Dennis Gray, SportsCarDigest.com

The post A Conversation with John Narigi and Barry Toepke of Laguna Seca appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

A Dramatic Turn of Events at the F1 Race in Abu Dhabi

FIA capitulations aside—don’t worry, the video below will get into that—you couldn’t have written a better script for how things turned out; something which surely makes the lives of the producers for ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’, as easy as they could’ve hoped for.

The scenario of a championship riding on the outcome of the last race of the season, with both Hamilton and Verstappen tied on points, set up the most exciting finale possible. At least that would’ve been the case for the more neutral fans—of which there has been a large intake due to the popularity of the aforementioned Netflix docuseries.

Despite destiny taking us on a path towards an eventual winner-takes-all final showdown, both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships were ultimately won (and lost) over an entire season. It’s hard to argue that over the course of 22 rounds, that either one of Hamilton and Verstappen wouldn’t have been a deserving champion—there was always only going to be one winner between the two, and to be fair, that’s exactly what happened. So in that regard, there’s nothing to be shocked about with all things said and done.

But we can certainly analyze how and why things unfolded as they did in Abu Dhabi, and in my opinion, Youtuber Driver61 has presented the best interpretation of it all.

Driver61’s Perspective on the F1 Race in Abu Dhabi

In real life, Driver61 goes by the name Scott Mansell. He also happens to be a well-respected race driver and coach who has a background in engineering, helping to tie his racing skills together with a solid technical foundation.

His channel has close to 750,000 subscribers, with his content covering a wide range of motorsport topics which include breakdowns of F1 races, analysis of pro driver techniques, an encyclopedia of race car parts (and how they work), and tutorials on how to be faster at the race track (both in the real world and on a simulator).

Here’s Scott’s spot-on analysis of the key moments at Yas Marina circuit, and his commentary for one of the most epic and controversial Grand Prix races in Formula 1 history.

BONUS ROUND: We’ve also decided to share some of the best memes and tweets related to the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP.

Max Verstappen passes Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season's last race to win his 1st World Championship.

Netflix: pic.twitter.com/SJZLkLEQT2

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 12, 2021

Explaining in football terms how Max Verstappen won the 2021 F1 World Championship: pic.twitter.com/eLXLXKtozF

— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) December 12, 2021

Latifi seeing Hamilton after the race #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/59X7sqHtEj

— Elena (@elekall7) December 12, 2021

pic.twitter.com/KPQrN13zr9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2021

*Lewis Hamilton leading with 10 laps to go*

Professor: And this is where Latifi comes in pic.twitter.com/dopzOGH6Y0

— ‘ (@SherzCapone00) December 12, 2021

The post Driver61 Provides Analysis of Championship-Deciding F1 Race appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Memories of a very wet and chilly 2019 race were still vivid for many in the paddock and they came prepared for anything and everything. Teams constructed pit areas with walls and heaters. Crews came with layers of clothing. Cars were prepared with lessons learned after rain-induced issues.

Mother Nature had other ideas. While she brought sunny blue skies and reasonably warm weather (at least warm for early December in Northern California), she spun the Thunderhill weather roulette wheel and landed on fog.

Ominous Omens At the Start of Thunderhill Enduro 2021

A pair of spins at the outset should have been a sign of drama to come. The pole-sitting #64 Team Crowdstrike/Mosaic Motorsports Duqueine LMP3 prototype spun on the warm-up lap. It gave up its starting position, moving to the rear of the field and giving up the pole to the #10 TVI Racing Radical.

After the green flag waved above the field of 36 split, the white TVI Racing Radical had its own spin at the exit of the first turn on its own fluid and miraculously wasn’t collected by the full field charging just behind.

Seeing the Light at Thunderhill Enduro 2021

The field battled through the afternoon and into dusk, sunset and the darkness. A December race date means a sunset before 5pm, so darkness comes early and the sun waits for over 14 hours to return.

With so much running at night and very little auxiliary lighting around most of the track, crews equip the cars with a wide variety of lighting apparatuses. In addition, colored lighting strips or other identifiers are mandatory for crews to pick out their cars.

The Weather Has Other Plans for Thunderhill Enduro

After the field battled for six hours and darkness fell, thick and heavy fog descended quickly on the track at 6pm. In a matter of minutes, corner stations disappeared and those on pit lane strained to see vague beams of headlights in the mist.

Even Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer could not have charted a course through the soup. Cars stopped on the front straight and were tucked under covers for the night with no work permitted.

The fog receded sufficiently to enable a 5am restart. Crews and drivers, grateful for a few hours of unexpected sleep, welcomed sunshine that pushed through the fog. Anyone staying more than a few miles away from the track was amazed that Mother Nature had lifted the heavy fog that continued to shroud surrounding areas.

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill became the 17 hours of Thunderhill. Race rulebook section 7.11 explicitly allows officials to extend the scheduled end time for up to three hours if the race is interrupted by fog.

The unique provision covers no other weather conditions—just fog. While the 2021 race was interrupted for eleven hours, section 7.11 was invoked and the race finished at 3pm instead of noon.

Thunderhill Enduro 2021 Gets Back Underway

The car count was lower than recent years, which lightened on-track traffic density. While there were speed differentials across the wide range of prototypes, Mazda Miatas, BMW 3 series, Honda Civics, and others in the field, contact was rare. Teams tracked their competition closely, but all knew they were racing themselves and the clock first.

Team Honda Research West is a regular 25 Hours of Thunderhill attendee. The effort of 40 Honda employees brought a pair of brand-new white and red 2022 Honda Civic Si entries.

The new Si has been eagerly awaited by Honda enthusiasts, and Honda used Thunderhill as a public Research and Development test many times in the past.

The race cars had a shakedown at Thunderhill in October but otherwise had never competed. Fortunately, Team Honda had road-worthy Si in the paddock as well. The blue Si came an engine donor when the #22 race car required a transplant (yes, engine changes are permitted by Thunderhill racing rules).

The #23 had its own challenges, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake and not seeing the checkered flag. While the outing was not likely what Team Honda had in mind, the strong culture of Honda employees that crave the test of motorsports is still worthy of recognition.

The Crowdstrike/Mosaic Motorsports team knew they had a weapon with their Duqueine LMP3 prototype, an experienced and talented crew, and a lot of preparation. They also knew their car had a history of axle reliability issues and prepared for failures.

Sure enough, two axle failures ultimately cost them the victory—the last coming while leading with an hour to go. While a fix only took twenty minutes, the margin at the checkered flag was 6 laps—about a 10 minute gap.

A pair of Civic Type R entries brought a lot of attention. Spoon Sports, a well-known Honda aftermarket tuning shop and motorsports outfit, won their class with a blue and yellow Type R. They took the win with a 12 lap gap over the DIG Motorsports Ford Mustang.

The glorious oddball award for the race has to go to the class-winning Funduro Racing entry. The tube-frame roadster body with a four-cylinder VW engine looks like an outlaw Porsche 356 or VW Beetle.

With lap times just above the 2 minute mark, the roadster was competitive but—more importantly—reliable. It outlasted others, including a Civic Type R that suffered a broken engine mount which caused an oil line failure. The Type R crew made repairs and recovered to earn a second place in class.

Say Goodbye to Thunderhill Enduro (Until Next Year!)

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill prides itself on running a wide variety of equipment around a great natural terrain road course. Stay tuned to see what comes up when Mother Nature spins the roulette wheel on the first weekend of December 2022.

The post A Radical Repeats at a Foggy Thunderhill Enduro appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

SOVREN runs three vintage racing events yearly at Pacific. The last one of 2021 was held on September 25 and 26th, always a risky time of year if you define sunshine as good racing weather.

Most of the racers in this part of the world race in the rain like the title of the novel set here. The 2021 SOVREN Fall Finale did not surprise, but the weather was mostly cloudy.

Expecting the worst, I attended in full rain gear but didn’t need it. We had a little sun, a little drizzle, just enough to dampen the track, track workers, racers, spectators. It wouldn’t be autumn in the Pacific Northwest without it. Rain is a home court advantage.

The grids were an interesting mix of sports and open wheel cars, and different classes of performance. Formula Mazda for example, Formula Ford, and Formula Vran together. An odd mix of performance levels, they were separated by distance ahead of the start on the warmup lap.

C1 Corvettes mixed with British and Italian Sports cars are not unusual, though engine sizes can differ by 100%. Differences in weight reduce or eliminate the performance gap, much like the 1950s and 1960s.

The big engine groups are always exciting. Lee Eberly ran his beautiful E-Type Coupe—his last race, he says. The E-Type was the “The Vintage Drift”cover car, the regional club magazine for the July historic race, and the poster for SOVREN’s biggest event.

You would expect a mismatch between a big block C2 Corvette and a 4.2 Liter E-Type. Not in this case. Lee seemed to have no problem mixing it up with the Corvette drivers. It was fun watching them chase and pass each other.

The fabulous Peyote makes a rare appearance in the Pacific Northwest.

A lovely 911 in Gulf livery speeds down the back part of the track.

The Rocket Motors Mustang rocks through turn 9 onto the front straight, almost too fast to photograph.

Bavarians in the S-Turns Pacific Raceways is known for.

The back part of the track has lots of elevation from the sweeper at the end of the front straight down and up hills with various radius turns separated by a short (but fast) back straight and a straight shot up to turn 8.

It’s beautiful back there and fun to photograph. Must be like racing through the Black Forest. Munich vs. Stuttgart.

Speeding through the woods.

911 Drifts through a turn in the back part of the track.

Thank you to the guys with clear visors. I like seeing their faces in the photographs.

A Lotus on the front straight looks like a speeding cigar.

A lovely Sports Racer.

If the engine quits you can always play a game of checkers.

Close Racing at 2021 SOVREN Fall Finale

Lots of exciting close racing happened at the event as well. Check out the photos below:

Three Abreast Diving into Turn 2.

This photo of a 911 is reminiscent of Steve McQueen’s street car from the movie LeMans. It gives me visions of the opening scenes.

A tiny Formula V looks like driving a motorized thimble. If she passes you, you receive a message on the back.

The driver is in.

An Elva Courier made an appearance.

A 914 Streaks Down the Front Straight.

The famous Martini Livery on a 911.

A beautiful blue 911 streaks through turn 9.

Another Martini. Not the sort of thing you want to say around the track workers.

Another 944. Good to see them out there. A very well balanced, easy to drive race car.

First 200 SX I’ve seen in a vintage race. GT3. Looks like a highly developed race car.

Beautifully prepared #153 911.

A mean looking Black Monte Carlo GT1 car.

A Boss 302 Trans Am car.

Like sitting on the ground.

A White Sports Racers Screams Down the Front Straight.

Dekra in white, red, and blue.

A Diminutive and Well Worn Frog-Eye on the Front Straight.

A Corvette Roars into Turn 9.

A White TR Streaks into Turn 9.

The Familiar Silhouette of an Early Model Mustang.

A Box on Wheels.

A Rare Devin.

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Big and Diverse Field for Small Bore Sports Car Group.

Something you have to have but hope you never need.

The open wheel cars always put on a show of good racing. The Formula V and Fords are omnipresent. The Formula Mazdas are fast. I was surprised to learn how small the engines are. Proof that horsepower isn’t everything.

Mazdas exit turn one and head down the hill.

Whoops, Wrong Turn.

The Mazdas are a beautiful design. Makes me want to jump in for a test 

That’s it for SOVREN’s road race 2021 season. It was a good finale.

2021 SOVREN Fall Finale Photo Gallery

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The Mille Miglia is as much a rolling museum as it is a car race. 375 entered autos, manufactured between 1927 and 1957, covered 1,618 kilometers (1,005 Roman miles) over four days. The sporting and technical checks at Piazza Vittoria in Brescia, the day before the official start on the road, were the first opportunity to see these amazing classic cars in all their glory.

Red was the dominant color in Piazza Vittoria, the day before the official start of the Mille Miglia.

A priceless, nearly perfect 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Vignale beneath the clock tower in Piazza Vittoria.

Italian police are there for security, but they’re also part of the scenery at Piazza Vittoria.

The gods of motor racing provided perfect weather for the departure from Brescia. After more than a year of suffering through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, northern Italy welcomed the return of the Mille Miglia to the traditional schedule in the month of May.

Italy’s iconic aeronautic demonstration team, the Frecce Tricolore, fly the colors of the Italian flag above Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia before the start of the 2021 Mille Miglia.

A 1947 Cisitalia 202 SMM Spyder Nuvolari rolls down the hill from the Castello di Brescia in the opening miles of the 2021 Mille Miglia.

A local policeman holds the crowd as a 1950 Ferrari 275 Sport/340 America passes through Brescia.

Closed roads, classic cars—possibly the best way to spend a day in Italia.

In the fading light of the first day on the road, the cars of the Mille Miglia climbed toward Passo della Cisa, the highest point on the 2021 route.

Four of the oldest autos in the Mille Miglia: a 1929 O.M. 665 SMM Superba 2000, followed by a 1925 Bugatti T35 and two more 1929 O.M. 665 SMM Superba 2000s on the road to Passo della Cisa.

A 1939 MG TB leads a 1951 Fiat Topolino at the Passo della Cisa checkpoint in the 2021 Mille Miglia.

The sign points toward a challenging road ahead for the driver and navigator of this 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Super Sport Zagato.

With a long line of cars ahead, some drivers chose to shut off their engines rather than run the risk of overheating. This 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider America Pininfarina gets a push from the navigator on the way to the checkpoint.

A 1938 BMW 328 cruises through a curve toward Passo della Cisa.

The final day of the 2021 Mille Miglia started in Bologna, with a stop in Verona to soak up the scenery of the Arena, rest the cars, and replenish the crews before the final push to the finish in Brescia.

The crew and the car—a 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 C Sprint Touring—pose in front of the Arena di Verona.

Pro racer Katarina Kyvalova and the Arena di Verona, in the mirror of a 1928 Bentley 4.5 Litre Open Tourer on the final day of the 2021 Mille Miglia.

#82, a 1934 Lancia Augusta owned and driven by Italian car collector and restorer Corrado Lopresto, has a history of racing success. This is the car that won the 1936 Targa Florio.

Crowds line the cobbled road as this 1954 Maserati A6 GCS/53 rolls along in Verona. This car competed in the 1955 Miile Miglia.

Arrivederci, Verona. Car #375, a 1956 Porsche 356 A 1600, rolls out of town toward the finish of the 2021 Mille Miglia.

375 automobiles started the race in Brescia. Four days later, 341 crossed the finish line. At the end, the driver and navigator with the fewest time deviations through the control sections is declared the winner of the Mille Miglia.

The team of Andrea Vesco and Fabio Salvinelli, in this red 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Spider Zagato, were the winners of the 2021 Mille Miglia. It’s the second consecutive victory for Vesco and the ‘29 Alfa, and his fourth win in the last six years. Can he do it again?

The 2022 Mille Miglia begins in Brescia on June 15.

2021 Mille Miglia Gallery

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The iconic Daytona International Speedway hosted the Classic 24 once again in 2021. Porsche was the featured marque, but there was a good mix of cars of all types and ages.

The weather this year for the most part co-operated. There were storms on Thursday but the rest of the week was typical Florida Fall days.

An Overview of the 2021 Daytona Classic 24

The race is run very much like the Le Mans Historics, with a few exceptions. The cars are broken into six groups, which then run for a total of 4 hours each in the 24-hour period (although when factoring in the slow down, the grid of the next group, and so on, these turn out to be 42-minute segments).

A mandatory three- minute pit stop is required during each segment. You are allowed to add fuel, change tires and or drivers as needed.

HSR has a big job in assigning all the various entries into each group. It is inevitable that some fairly disparate cars end up in the same group. The groups in 2021 were as follows:

1. Early FIA cars 1962-1972
2. Early IMSA GTX, GTU, GTO, AAGT 1972-1982
3. Late IMSA GTP, WSC era 1983-1993
4. Early Grand AM, GT era 1994-2003
5. Current Prototype, GT era 2004 -2018
6. Modern Prototype, GT era 2004-2018
7. HSR cars that do not fit in Groups A-F

Groups C and D ran together to facilitate the maximum of six groups. This year, the featured marque was Porsche. I would guess over 50% of the entries were Porsches of some type. There was really the full gambit, from the Porsche 356 all the way up to the Porsche 2018 911 GT3, with all kinds of others represented in between.

One of the Group C entries, the 1997 Porsche 993 GT2 EVO of Tom McGlynn. With Brady Refenning driving, it would finish 8th overall in group C/D.

The technical rules differ somewhat from Le Mans in that FIA papers are not required to enter cars. Many of the cars are replicas of older models. Understandably, some do not want to race originals as many are too valuable.

That said, many participants do race original cars. Some of the cars are not exactly in their original configurations, as they raced in period. But, as someone said—we are here to have fun, not win $100,000 in prize money.

Preparing For the 2021 Daytona Classic 24

The question to ask is, do vintage cars require vintage tools? Kevin Doran bought this torch set from Holbert Racing in 1988, and it is still providing good service today!

In addition to the main event, HSR also runs sprint races, as well as enduro (1 hour) races as a prelim to the 24-hour. Some entrants just run the sprints; most use the sprints as prep and testing for the 24-hour race.

This beautiful Jaguar XJR7 only ran in the HSR preliminary races. A lot commented, this was the best sounding car here!

I would once again work helping my friends at Doran Racing. I had worked many years with them since 1993, up to around 2015 when Kevin stopped racing for a bit. He is now running USAC sprint cars and does the occasional vintage race.

Kevin had entered the 2003 Doran DP (Daytona Prototype), which had won the 24 hours of Daytona in 2004. It would be driven by two of the 2004 drivers—Forest Barber (the car owner) and Terry Borcheller.

Two Ford GT 2005 vintage cars were also on hand. One was brand new, just completed from an original chassis, and the backup was a 2006 version built about 4 years ago that had run at this race for the past several years. Brad Jaeger and Kody Swanson would drive this car.

Kody had just recently clinched his 6th USAC Silver Crown Sprint car championship in a Doran Racing Sprint car. Always trying to improve himself with road racing, he had run in the car at the 2020 and 2019 events. ###

The 2004 Rolex Daytona 24 winner, a Doran JE4 Daytona Prototype, would run in group C and be driven by Forest Barber and Terry Borcheller.

The Doran entered Ford GT being driven by Brad Jaeger and Kody Swanson during the event.

Kevin Doran (left), Dan Binks and Kody Swanson (right) discuss matters in the garage. Swanson is the USAC Silver Crown Sprint car champion for 2021 (for the 6th time). Most of those races were done in a Doran entered sprint car. Dan Binks was the engine builder for the car.

Wednesday practice sessions were marred by the huge accident of JC France in his Corvette DP car. As he passed the start finish line, a tire blew—the car flew upside down and landed heavily on its roof. He was lucky to escape without any serious injury.

However, his helmet apparently wore down dragging on the pavement as the car slid upside down. The car was wrecked and withdrawn. The newer Doran Ford ran briefly but kept spitting off engine belts. The car had run on the dyno without issue, but somehow on the actual track, things were not correct.

After several belt replacements, this car was left in the garage and the older backup model used. David Porter and his Peugeot 908 diesel hardly ran at all, as the car had a hydraulic issue and was basically undrivable without working hydraulics.

Several teams had right side tire issues but managed to make setup changes before anything drastic happened (Daytona, with all of its banking, is notoriously hard on right side tires).

The brand new Doran entered Ford GT, just built with period chassis and parts, ran briefly, but had issues with the engine belts. While it ran fine in testing on the dyno, for some reason, it kept throwing off the belts at Daytona. This car was parked after tearing up three belts, and the team reverted to the older backup (#21).

Thursday practice was shut down for most of the afternoon due to heavy rain, lightning, and tornado warnings. Night practice on Thursday was sparsely attended, as it was still wet on the track. The forecast for the weekend was good, so not many cars went out.

The Doran cars did reasonably well in the HSR sprints and Enduro races. Forest Barber and Terry Borcheller managed to win one, and finish third in one. However, Forest had a coming together with Hubbell in turn one of a sprint race.

Both cars suffered damaged wheels and body work and were out. Probably more troubling, they both received a lecture from race Director Dorsey Shroeder. In an IMSA Weather Tech race, it would have been deemed a “racing incident.” But as someone said, this is a fun event, not an IMSA WeatherTech race!

Brad Jaeger and Kody Swanson in the Ford also did well, finishing all races, and winning the 1-hour BRM enduro outright. Kody Swanson even won one of the qualifying races. However, in HSR, qualifying races are not really races per se—the fastest lap of the “race” is used to set grid positions, not finishing position.

The Doran JE4 DP car got some good results in the preliminary races. A podium finish in this HSR sprint race.

Race Day at the 2021 Daytona Classic 24

The fall Florida weather cooperated, and the race started with Group A at 1pm on Saturday. This seemed to be the calmest of the groups—which was unsurprising, since it included all the older cars.

After four segments, the group was won by John Delane in a 1972 Chevron B21. He beat the Lola T70 of Dave Hinton and Damon DeSantis by one lap.

Group B consisted of a lot of fan favorites—plenty of Porsche RSRs and Porsche 935s. All three of the 935’s failed to finish, only running in the first segment. These were all tribute or replica cars, as probably no one wanted to take the chance of racing a real one.

There were also three 2-liter sports cars in this group, which took the top three positions, led by Josh Buller in a 1976 Chevron B36. Jack Lewis was the highest finishing GT in fourth with his 1974 RSR.

The 935 tribute car of Willis Woerheide only ran in the first segment of the race. It was built as a replica in tribute to John Paul Jr.

The Porsche Carrera RSR of Jack Lewis finished 4th in group B, the 1st GT car in that group.

The C/D group race started as a battle between the 2003 Doran DP of Barber and Borcheller vs the 1992 Jaguar XJR-16 Turbo of Malcom Ross and Corey Fergus.

Nearing the end of segment three, the Doran had a lead of about 50 seconds when a broken gearbox put the car out—possibly caused by collateral damage from an incident earlier in the week during one of the HSR sprint races. This gave the Jaguar a clear lead to go on and win the C/D category after the final segment Sunday morning.

There were two Porsche 962s in this group, the 962-114 of Angus Russell and 962-F01 of Joe Robillard. Somehow, at the exit of turn three on the first lap of the last segment, they managed to crash into each other and both ended up in the fence.

The crash was tough to watch, as these are both cars that raced in period. That segment was under yellow for quite some time, as there was a great deal of clean-up required.

The Jaguar XJR16 of Malcom Ross and Corey Fergus won Group C/D. After some struggles in practice, they had a trouble free run.

The Porsche 962 of Angus Russell ran well, but was put out after an accident with the other 962-F02 in the 4th segment. This is an ex Kremer Leyton House 962C.

The two 962’s in the event inexplicitly crashed into each other on the first lap of the 4th segment on Sunday. Here, safety crews clean up the carnage.

The ex-Wynns 962-F01 in the garage. This car was built by Hotchkiss, and raced in period on a FABCAR chassis (F01). This is an IMSA version car with a single turbo engine.

Group E was by far the largest. This race started ominously, when the Lamborghini Huracan of Greg Griffin crashed heavily and caught fire on the first lap. Not something you expect to see in vintage racing, but there it was.

The race was stopped by a red flag for some time to clean everything up. There were no injuries, thankfully.

The fastest car in the group was the Peugeot 908 of David Porter, but it dropped out in segment two with hydraulic issues. One of the mechanics told me the car is undrivable without hydraulic pressure since that controls the steering, as well as other systems.

This left the 2007 Pescarolo-Judd of Juan Gonzalez and Butch Leitzinger to cruise to the win in this category. I asked Butch at the end if he got the nice BRM watch for the winners. He said, ah no, Juan took that. Ah, the life of the professional driver.

The highlight of this group were the GT cars. Two ex-factory Corvette C7R were on hand. They had even brought in Dan Binks, the ex-factory Corvette technical director to assist. He is now “retired” he says but seems to be working to me. He builds engines for many cars, including the Doran Racing sprint cars.

The Corvette C7R of Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss took second overall and won the GT section. There was a spirited battle from 3rd-7th between our Ford GT and four current day GT3 cars including a Turner entered BMW.

Our guys, Sprint car champion Kody Swanson and Brad Jaeger did an excellent job, both going quicker than they did last year in the same car, and not turning a wheel wrong all week. But they could only get sixth overall in this group, albeit on the same lap with the faster GT3 cars.

The 2005 Ford is not really competitive with current day GT3 cars. But again, as Kevin Doran said, “we are here to have fun, there is no $100,000 check waiting at the end”.

This was the fastest car, the Peugeot 908 turbo diesel of David Porter. It struggled in practice with hydraulic issues. Towards the end of the 2nd segment, the makeshift fix of the hydraulics failed again, and the car had to be retired, as it is impossible to drive without the hydraulic system.

The ex- factory GTLM Corvette C7R of Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss was 2nd overall in group E, and 1st GT car.

Overall winner of Group E was this Pescarolo-Judd driven by Juan Gonzalez and Butch Leitzinger. After the demise of the Peugeot, this car had a trouble free run to victory.

Representative of some of the late model GT3 cars in group E. This is the 2016 Porsche 991-GT3R of Thomas Gruber who finished 3rd overall in the Group E race.

Group F was won easily by William Hubbell and Eric Curran in the Coyote-Corvette Daytona Prototype Generation 3 car. They finished two laps up on the nearest competitor. Several of their potential competitors did not even start, having issues or crashes in practice during the week.

The final group, G, was the closest finish. These are cars that do not fit in the first six groups. Two Porsche Cayman GT4s finished 10 seconds apart after four segments led by Scott Kee and Ron Zitza.

Final Thoughts on the 2021 Daytona Classic 24

Although there were quite a few more problems and crashes than you would expect in a vintage race, the HSR staff led by Dave Hinton got us all through it. The speedway safety crews were exemplary (as usual), and the nice Fall Florida weather co-operated—unlike in 2020.

Everyone seems to enjoy this event, and it is a great time at the end of the season to see old friends and old cars. We look forward to 2022.

The winner of the best paint job (wrap) award: the Jim Matthews Porsche Cup car.

The 2021 Daytona Classic 24 Gallery

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Count Franco Mazzotti was an avid racer, the president of the Region Automobile Club of Brescia, and one of the original organizers of the Mille Miglia—the race from Brescia to Rome and back. Mazzotti died in combat in World War II when his Italian Air Force plane was shot down in the channel between Sicily and the Italian mainland.

The first Coppa Franco Mazzotti was organized to honor the Italian icon in 2009. Think of it as a mini-Mille Miglia. The two-day 2021 edition began in Brescia, skirting its three lakes before the finish at Lake Iseo. The cars involved included vintage Bugattis, Bentlys, and more.

Photos from the 2021 Coppa Franco Mazzotti

The departure at the Castello di Brescia took place in order of age. The oldest cars were first off the line, lead by the #1 plate, a 1923 Bentley, and five vintage Bugattis.

A little bit of luck never hurts. This well-worn Pinocchio was affixed to the front windscreen of a 1927 Bugatti.

A 1927 Bugatti T37A passes under the Coppa Franco Mazzotti starting banner, with the Castello di Brescia looming in the background.

The crew of a 1950 Healey Westland in an animated discussion before the start of the Coppa Franco Mazzotti.

A vintage 1955 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT rolls to the start in Brescia.

A Fiat fan catches up on the news of the day, waiting for the cars to depart the Castello di Brescia.

A 1938 Fiat 508 C shines in the sun at the start of the Coppa Franco Mazzotti.

A perfect red 1934 Fiat 508 C Balilla in the opening mile of the 2021 Coppa Franco Mazzotti in Brescia.

This 1963 Triumph TR3 needed service shortly after the start of the Coppa Franco Mazzotti. Anyone who has ever owned a car with Lucas electronics knows the feeling.

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect way to spend the day than behind the wheel of this 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Convertible.

The all-female driving team of Emanuela Cinelli and Loretta Stofler in their 1957 Renault R106.

A local Brescia police officer holds traffic to let a 1958 Mercedes Benz 190 SL pass through an intersection.

Inside the cockpit of a 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider.

A 1956 Studebaker Goldenhawk, one of the few American cars entered in the 2021 Coppa Franco Mazzotti.

Every car in the Coppa Franco Mazzotti has a driver and a navigator. This 1961 Alfa Romeo Spider has a backseat mascot, too.

Rolling into a rest stop in Desenzano, this 1957 Austin Healey 100/6 BN4 leads a 1958 Fiat 1100.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

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The anticipation of seeing the 2021 Concorso entrants at Villa d’Este was only heightened by moving the event from the traditional May dates to October—also increasing the possibility of cold, wet, Italian autumn weather. But aside from a few brief showers, the event was a spectacular success. And to the delight of the Italian tifosi, a Ferrari was honored as Best of Show.

The hallowed grounds of Villa d’Este, with (left to right) a 1920 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a 1925 Graf & Stift SR4 SP, a 1930 Lancia Dilambda Serie I, and a 1935 Fiat 508 CS ‘Balilla’ Aerodinamica.

Italian car collector and restorer Corrado Lopresto wipes the raindrops from the windscreen of his 1948 Isotta Fraschini 8C Monterosa.

Signore Lopresto inspects the interior of his 1948 Isotta Fraschini 8C Monterosa.

Period-perfect outfits, worn by the crew of this 1925 Graf & Stift SR4 SP.

A female fan in feathers, framed in the front windscreen of a 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model.

Three Ferraris, left to right: A 1967 275 GTB/4, a 1961 400 Superamerica, and a 1960 250 GT California SWB on the lawn at Villa d’Este.

This perfect silver 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione “Tour de France” was voted “Best in Show” at the 2021 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

A string quartet seems entirely appropriate along the shore of Lake Como at the Villa d’Este.

A photographer captures the perfect Ghia body of this 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello.

Possibly the most perfect way to spend a day—on the grounds of the Villa d’Este, among the cars of the Concorso d’Eleganza, along the shore of Lake Como, Italy.

The ultimate auto enthusiast selfie, among the outstanding autos of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

Details matter, like the wooden steering wheel and shift knob of this 1949 OSCA MT4 Siluro.

The glorious grounds of the Villa d’Este, a modern Rolls-Royce on display, and a masked waiter in a white jacket. This is Sunday at the Concorso d’Eleganza.

Auto enthusiasts inspect this 1938 Delage D8-120 S, and in the background, a ferry boat glides across the water of Lake Como.

Clouds and fog cover the hills above the eastern shore of Lake Como, while the priceless cars of the Concorso d’Eleganza cover the grounds of Villa d’Este.

The post The 2021 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

A foundational element of this series’ magic is the dozen truly international champions that contested Season 1; (B)Allison, Donohue, Fittipaldi, Foyt, Follmer, Hulme, Johncock, McCluskey, Pearson, (R)Petty, Revson, and (B)Unser.  F1, Can-Am, Trans-Am, Champ Car, Indy500 season championship, and race winners all. 

Imagine today putting together a field of this accomplished caliber for a special series of four races in a purpose spec’d and built a roster of racing 911s from among today’s drivers of similar credentials – it would cost a billion dollars.

IROC was the brainchild of the incomparable Roger Penske, TV and marketing wiz Mike Phelps, and former LA Rams Linebacker and later RIR track president Les Richter. 

ABC’s Wide World of Sports was the exclusive broadcast partner – thus it was critical that the cars look great, and be recognizable on TV. 

The idea of the series was, of course, to match up champions from a wide spectrum of racing series, run them in identical, matched racing cars, in an attempt to divine who and/or what types of racing drivers were really best (by removing the variables of differences in cars, testing and development money, the proficiency of engineers, mechanics, and crew chiefs). 

Penske Racing was primarily responsible for the development and procurement of the cars, and a wide variety was considered – open-wheelers, such as Formula Fords, and Trans-Am style cars (like Mustangs or Camaros). 

It was ultimately decided that the series would be contested on big fast and famous road courses, with three “heat races” at RIR and a winner-take-all-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

Penske owned and operated several Porsche factory-backed teams, and his hired guns (George Follmer and Mark Donohue) convinced him to run Porsche Carrera RSRs for the series. 

Penske took the idea to Stuttgart, and they agreed to develop and sell him a batch of 15 of the special RSRs (12 cars for each race, plus three spares). 

The 2.8-liter RSR was the starting point, and in the name of more low end torque, the twin-plug, MFI flat-six was upped to 3.0-liter and something just over 300 horsepower.

The freshman season (1973/74) was a success, but for the second season, the principles elected to sell off the IROC Porsche fleet in favor of Chevy Camaros, then later Dodges, then Firebirds. 

Over time, even though IROC became somewhat less international, it lasted an impressive 26 seasons.  To me, however, nothing was ever as special as the dozen great men that contested the first IROC season, and those howling, multi-colored, naturally aspirated, air-cooled RSRs. 

As much as the entire IROC story deserves to be told in a standalone book, I deeply believed that the first season’s cars, drivers, tracks, races, and principles’ stories warranted a book of its own. 

I’m proud to say that I spent much of the dreaded 2020 writing it; and that book’s just been published and released. 

I’m honored that one of the series’ greatest drivers, George Follmer, authored the Foreword. 

If it interests you, THE IROC PORSCHES; The International Race of Champions, Porsche’s 911 RSR, and The Men Who Raced Them is available hardbound publisher-direct from Motorbooks, Amazon or you can arrange for an autographed and/or personalized copy from Autobooks books store in Burbank, CA.

The post The International Race of Champions Porsches and the Dozen Great Drivers who Raced Them appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Originating from Scandanavia, Skijoring, historically was a mode of transport where farmers on skis utilized their dogs or horses to get from one place to another. 

Later, the practice became a sport, and the horses and dogs were replaced by cars and motorbikes. In 1937, the race was held on a frozen lake in the Austrian Alps within a specially prepared circuit.

The picturesque shore of Lake Zell hosted the masses of spectators who came together in that cold winter to watch the brave take to the ice – an epic battle of man, machine, and nature.

Fifteen years later, on February 10, 1952, the race-inspired the first Professor Ferdinand Porsche Memorial Race.  

During the day of the event’s revival, nature took hold and created chaos.
There was some heavy snowfall just before the race’s commencement forcing organizers to relocate the event to an alternative location on solid ground. The spectators still came in droves despite the setbacks.  

Before the start of the event, a minute of silence was held to honor the first anniversary of Ferdinand Porsche’s passing (he died in Stuttgart on January 30, 1951, at the age of 75). After paying their respects, the engines roared to life, and all the attention was on the action going in the snow.  

In the early 1950s, one of the most popular pastimes in Austria was racing. Every weekend, it attracted thousands of spectators and fans. 

At the time, mass motorization was in its early stages, and the memorial race was a great way to show that motoring enjoyment need not be put on hold for winter.

Austrian writer Thomas Kamy described the period claiming that “there was a great yearning for motorcycles and cars” from the masses, and it was a dream that will not be fulfilled until much later.  

According to a Salzburger Nachrichten report, the first Professor Ferdinand Porsche Memorial Race, despite the improvised 1,800-meter track, was “a flawless event without any accidents.” Aside from skijoring teams on two wheels and two skis, some bold car drivers joined in on the fun. The fastest had an average speed of 57kph. 

The close relations of Porsche in the region were already present at the time. In 1941, the Porsche family bought the Schüttgut estate located above Lake Zell.

Following the Second World War, the family also opened a new chapter in their history. In Gmünd, roughly 130kms away, in a former sawmill, the first cars that proudly carried the family name were produced.  

In 1953, the memorial race was again held at Lake Zell.  The Salzburger  Nachrichten reported that “48 participants from Austria and Germany competed in 13 exciting races.” In the car contests, the Porsche 356 dominated the field.  

Ferdinand Porsche’s nephew, Herbert Kaes, drove a Porsche 356 to victory in the 1,500-cc sportscar class.

In 1955, Porsche’s racing director, Huschke von Hanstein, won the same class. However, the show was stolen by Otto Mathé, who practically flew around the course at 97kph.  

Mathé’s vehicle was a creative Porsche-based car of his own making which was nicknamed ‘Fetzenflieger’, which roughly translates to “shreds on wings.”

The 47-year-old used only his left arm to compete in the race as a previous motorcycle accident left him with his right limb paralyzed from the elbow down.

Niki Lauda, Formula One World Champion was once stated, 

“I admired the way he drove the race – with just one arm. And I thought the spikes on his famous ice car were great.” 

In 1956, von Hanstein in a Porsche 550 Spyder went up against Mathé in the 1,500cc class and lost. 

The Zell am See races continued up to the 1970s when the event had to be canceled as the ice was too thin. In 1974. A huge accident happened just before the event when a snowplow broke through the ice with the driver drowning. The races were stopped completely, closing a very interesting chapter in motorsport history – at least for a while.  

The races held in honor of Ferdinand Porsche featured all the elements of exciting motorsports – technology, exciting duels, and fearless winners.

Unsurprisingly, in 2019, Vinzenz Greger and Ferdinand Porsche Jr. renewed the tradition, and the Zell am See airfield hosted the GP Ice Race. 

2021: Cold Start by GP

The last two years GP Ice Race events have been incredibly successful with tens of thousands of visitors making the journey to Zell am to witness the brave competing.

This year saw the event needing to adapt once again, this time to meet COVD-19 guidelines. Renamed only for 2021, Cold Start by GP was held without any spectators present.

Next year, a bigger and better GP Ice Race promises to return. The 2022 event is already being planned with the event to be held at the Zell am See airfield runway.

[Source: Porsche AG. Photos courtesy of Porsche AG]

The post Discover the Incredible History of the GP Ice Race appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

My longtime and very close friend, John Fitch, was on the Mercedes team, co-driver with Pierre Levegh, whose car caused such carnage. A few years ago, I co-authored a book with Fitch, Racing With Mercedes. He told me a great deal about the accident and the surrounding circumstances. Also, I talked with some others—Ken Miles and Phil Hill—who were there as well.

The 1955 season started on a down note when, on May 26, World Champion and revered driver Alberto Ascari died at Monza. A week later, Bill Vukovich was killed while leading the Indy 500. Both were highly skilled with vast experience.

Daimler-Benz assembled an all-star team to pursue the World Driving Championship (Formula One) and the World Sports Car Championship. Drivers at Le Mans included Juan Fangio with Stirling Moss, Karl Kling with Andre Simon and Pierre Levegh with John Fitch.

The three Le Mans cars were designated W196S, commonly called 300SLRs. Many experts rated them the best sports cars in the world. With Moss at the wheel, they debuted at the Mille Miglia with an overall win. Fitch, driving a production 300SL, won the Grand Touring Class. The bodies were made from a flammable, but ultra-lightweight magnesium alloy.

French hero Pierre Levegh was not a regular member of the Mercedes team but team manager Alfred Neubauer felt it would be popular, even diplomatic, to include him. Remember, WWII ended only ten years previously. In 1952, driving solo, Levegh had led Le Mans until the 23rd hour when mechanical trouble sidelined him, giving the win to Mercedes.

A week before the race, Levegh and his wife invited Fitch to dine with them at their hotel. John told me, “I was greeted with warm animation and made to feel completely at home. My cursory knowledge of French had to suffice, as Levegh spoke no English. But we managed to communicate surprisingly well. He told me that a victory at Le Mans had long been his most cherished ambition.”

Here’s what happened. More than 250,000 spectators lined the 8.38-mile course, which was essentially the same as it was for the first race in 1923 when the top speeds were around 60 mph. But by 1955, many exceeded 190 mph. In those days, safety requirements were minimal; seat belts were not required, much less harnesses and roll bars.

After two hours, Mike Hawthorn in a D-Type Jaguar was dueling with Fangio for the lead. In an effort to stay ahead, Mike had been ignoring signals to stop for fuel. Levegh was just behind Hawthorn, but a lap in arrears.

Entering the pit straight, Mike had just passed Lance Macklin’s slower Austin-Healey when he decided to pit at the last minute and cut in front of Lance. Macklin braked, swerving to the center of the track. He had failed to notice the rapidly approaching Levegh and second-place Fangio, both going over 150 mph.

Levegh hit the Austin-Healey, became airborne, and landed on top of an embankment with a closely-packed crowd behind it. The 300SLR went into a somersault and disintegrated with parts flying about. Then the fuel caught fire causing the magnesium alloy to burst into flame.

Workers poured on water, not knowing this would intensify the fire. In consequence, the inferno continued to burn for several hours. Officials put the death toll at 84 spectators plus Levegh. Later, however, others claimed the count was actually much higher.

Just before the accident, Madame Levegh invited Fitch to join her for coffee in the Mercedes trailer just behind the pit. When they heard an explosion, John told Madame Levegh, “Wait here, I’ll see what’s happened.” Finding everything in chaos, he helped some injured gendarmes and journalists. Then he returned to the trailer. “I suppose my grim face must have told it all, for I didn’t have to speak. Madame Levegh nodded slowly. ‘I know, Fitch. It was Pierre. He is dead. I know he is dead.’”

Mercedes had a tradition of retiring the team when spectators or drivers were killed. Fitch thought they should, so he told Mercedes chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut about the appalling number of deaths and injuries, recommending that the team withdraw. Uhlenhaut called Mercedes headquarters in Germany, but the decision required a vote of the directors, all of whom couldn’t be immediately contacted. A few hours later, John again urged Uhlenhaut to try again for a decision, which was finally made to withdraw. Two hours after the accident, the two 300SLRs were called into the pits. The Fangio-Moss car was then two laps ahead of second-place Hawthorn, who went on to win.

There was little doubt that Hawthorn was the proximate cause of the accident. Whether or not he was the actual cause became a subject of some controversy. Some of the press claimed that he was culpable. Many years later, I became acquainted with a retired English nurse who it turned out was then Mike’s girlfriend. She told me that at times he would become depressed when remembering. As we all know, Hawthorn went on to win the first World Driving Championship for the United Kingdom in 1958, after which, he retired. The following year he was killed in a traffic accident.

The Mercedes Team went on to win not only the World Driving Championship with Fangio at the wheel, but also the World Sports Car Championship. After Moss won the Mille Miglia, Stirling and John Fitch won the Tourist Trophy, then Moss and Peter Collins clinched the title at the Targa Florio. Afterward, Mercedes dropped out of racing and didn’t return for some 30 years.

The consequences of the 1955 24 hours of Le Mans were and are far-reaching. They have affected all of us involved with the sport and even everyone who uses a car.

The American Automobile Association stopped sanctioning automotive competition. Racing was banned in Switzerland. The next round of the World Championship—the Nurburgring—was canceled, as was the Carrera Panamericana. And a great deal of attention was paid to driver and spectator protection as well as accident prevention. Everyone with a TV has seen—ad nauseum—the disintegration of the Audi R18 TDI of Allan McNish at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. But it didn’t go over the barrier, the fuel cell didn’t rupture, there was no fire, no spectator was injured and the driver walked away! This was because of improvements that have been made subsequent to 1955.

Another positive result was that self-taught engineer John Fitch devoted himself to problems of safety. Among other innovations, he invented the Fitch Inertial Barriers, those ubiquitous barrels found on highways that have saved countless lives.

[Source: Art Evans]

The post 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans – Race Profile appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The brainchild of Roger Penske, Les Richter and Mike Phelps, IROC was planned as a four-race season crossing over the winter months between 1973 and 1974. The series would offer “must-see racing TV” with tape-delayed broadcasts on ABC offering fans much-needed motorsports content when all the major series were in their off-seasons. Targeting tracks in warmer-climates, the first three rounds came at Riverside International Raceway in California on October 27-28. Those races were split between former Penske Racing Porsche 917-10 drivers Donohue and George Follmer, the two drivers that would contend for the title as inaugural IROC Champion until the finale at Daytona on Valentine’s Day the following year.

Race One saw Formula One World Champion and future two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi win the pole position but, by virtue of missing the required drivers’ meeting, the Brazilian and Follmer were each placed at the back of the field. That set the stage as Donohue earned the debut victory leading from green flag to checkered as Follmer would put on a clinic passing some of the best drivers of the time to finish in fourth-place.

Race Two, also held at Riverside, saw Follmer close the gap to Donohue by cutting through the pack to take the win from a ninth-place grid position. Donohue fell out of the race early, the only IROC race the 1972 Indianapolis 500 winner did not win. Race Three was much like the races from earlier in the weekend with Donohue earning the top-step of the podium from the pole position and Follmer chasing his former teammate up to fifth-place from 12th.

The finale was held on the Daytona road course in February with only six-drivers — early IROC rules called for the field to be cut in half entering the final round. The backdrop and the smaller field were the only things that changed from the early rounds in California. Follmer would chase Donohue for the race win and the title until spinning his Porsche. That left the New Jersey-native to take the race win and the inaugural IROC title, accumulating $54,000 in prize money. The championship standings were based on prize money earned in the four races. That led to Formula One star Peter Revson finishing second with $21,200 in earnings, Indy car legend Bobby Unser would take third-place ($19,100) with NASCAR’s second in all-time wins David Pearson banking $14,600 for fourth-place. Despite contending for every win and pushing Donohue to the title, Follmer had amassed only $16,000 good for fifth-place just ahead of soon-to-be four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt.

Working closely with longtime racing partner, Penske Racing, and leaning on the vision of Roger Penske himself, Porsche built fifteen custom 911 Carrera RSR in Weissach, Germany specifically and solely for the first IROC season. That number of cars, each painted a unique color ranging from basic black to pastel blue, offered one machine each for competition for the 12 invited drivers with three spares in case of incident. While using the 1973 Carrera RS, Porsche blended elements of the upcoming 1974 car and other performance features to provide the world’s best drivers with an equally premier race platform.

Among the features that would make the cars more race-ready as well as among the elite of collectors cars today were the “whale tail” rear wing — replacing the “duck tail” design — wider fenders and bumpers which allowed for the use of wider Fuchs alloy wheels as well as safety features. A new for 1974 3.0-liter flat-six engine powered the car, offering drivers 315 HP with an estimated 5.5-second, 0-60 mph time and a top speed approaching 180 mph. Other features remained largely road car stock including the five-speed gearbox and interior features straight from the assembly line in Zuffenhausen.

The first season was the only one in which the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR was used. Cost, complexity and a move to a mix of ovals and road courses — and eventually ovals only — would necessitate series’ organizers switch away from the German marque. IROC would run with more NASCAR style stock cars until being shuttered in 2006. In 30 years, Chevrolet Camaros, Dodge Daytonas and Avengers and ultimately Pontiac Trans Ams were all used to pit the world’s greatest drivers against one-another but no IROC car has become more collectible or precious than the original 15 bespoke Porsche 911 Carrera RSRs of that first season. Several drivers with close ties to Porsche were the ‘Champion of Champions’ including Donohue (1973/’74), Foyt (1976, 77), Mario Andretti (1979) and Al Unser Jr. (1986, 1988).

[Source: Porsche NA; photos: Autosports Marketing Assoc., Sports Car Digest]

The post Celebrating 45 Years of the Porsche IROC appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

How can one possibly translate the thrilling 24 Hours of Le Mans on 10 and 11 June 1989 into easily grasped data? For example, with ten numbers between 1 and 5,265.115: Sauber-Mercedes C 9 Silver Arrows crossed the finishing line in 1st, 2nd and 5th places. They were among the 19 sports car prototypes that finished the race after 24 hours – while a total of 55 cars originally took part in the race. The Mercedes-Benz winning team completed exactly 389 laps at an average speed of 219.990 km/h – covering a total of 5,265.115 kilometres.

However, the tension inherent in every 24 Hours of Le Mans race is contained in the stories behind these figures. Two Sauber-Mercedes C 9 started from grid positions 1 and 2, bearing starting numbers 62 and 61 respectively. But the car that actually won the race, starting number 63, only started the race from 11th place: on the first leg, Jochen Mass produced an impressive race and fought his way up into 2nd place before handing over to Manuel Reuter.

In Reuter’s second lap on the Hunaudières straight at 380 km/h, part of a competitor’s exhaust that had broken off penetrated the left side of the car — forcing him to stop at the pits for emergency repairs and lose two laps. Then Reuter took up the chase once again. He recalls: “From then on, the car ran like clockwork.” Well, almost: Stanley Dickens, the third driver in the winning team, managed to rip a second hole in the bodywork after a slightly risky driving manoeuvre on the Tertre Rouge bend, this time on the right. But this was only cosmetic and, throughout the relentless chase during that day, the night and again the next day, no other team was faster than these three: victory at Le Mans!

Team mates Kenny Acheson, Mauro Baldi and Gianfranco Brancatelli finished second for a one-two triumph — although a gearbox problem meant they only had fifth gear for the last hour and a half. Nevertheless, they succeeded in keeping their competitors at bay. And the third C 9, which had started from pole position, finished 5th with Alain Cudini, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Jean-Louis Schlesser — but, in the opinion of motorsport experts, would probably have completed the one-two-three if it hadn’t been involved in an accident in the third hour of the race.

Most Successful Car of the 1989 Season

The Sauber-Mercedes C 9 was the most successful car: it was developed by the Swiss Sauber racing team and the powertrain came from Mercedes-Benz, just as with its predecessor, the C 8. It first competed in 1987 as one of the Group C racing cars and won the seasons final of the Group C Supercup on the Nürburgring with Jean-Louis Schlesser at the wheel. In the 1988 season and then starting under the name of Sauber-Mercedes, the racing car won eight races. For the 1989 season, the C 9 was equipped with the new 4,973 cc V8 biturbo M 119 HL with four-valve technology, which generated up to 680 kW (925 hp) for a short time in qualifying. During the actual race, it was about 530 kW (720 hp).

For the 1989 season, the C 9 had not only been technically enhanced, it was also given a silver paint finish. This was intended as a signal that Mercedes-Benz was once again on the track to achieve victories as a factory team. The C 9 was the superior car of the season and the first winning Silver Arrow since 1955. Jean-Louis Schlesser became driver world champion in 1989 after no less than seven victories in eight races, Jochen Mass was runner-up, and Sauber-Mercedes won the team classification.

Three Men, A Joint Victory

In preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989, the then Mercedes-Benz race director Jochen Neerpasch, himself an experienced Le Mans driver, left nothing to chance. A weighty strategy book was packed with instructions for almost all eventualities. The cars were well prepared — as were the drivers: physical fitness was ensured by targeted training and dietary requirements overseen by the legendary Willi Dungl.

At the end of March, a 24-hour test race took place on the Paul Ricard track with two C 9s. One of them failed. Was this a bad omen for Le Mans? Not at all: what is probably the most demanding endurance race in the world is always unpredictable. It is renowned for producing totally unexpected winners — and causing despair at the bottom of the list as favourites come in last or suffer complete car failure.

Mercedes-Benz had carefully put together its three teams of drivers. Manuel Reuter was the youngest in the winning team aged only 27. He also drove for the car brand from Stuttgart in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 1989. “The move up to the C 9 was a huge change,” he remembers, “and I had great respect for that car.”

Stanley Dickens, the 38-year-old Swede, also treated the car with healthy reverence, although he had already gained experience in high-performance cars and in endurance races. “The car was incredibly fast and driving it was a pleasure after I had got accustomed to the driving style,” he reminisces. “Maintaining maximum possible speed down the Mulsanne straight and in the small bend at the end was a real challenge. Once I managed 394 km/h. There were no chicanes at Le Mans in 1989.”

Forty-three-year-old Jochen Mass was the experienced veteran of this race and completely at home in the C 9. To his advantage, he had taken part in Le Mans eight times before, which meant he had excellent knowledge of the race and the track, but had not claimed a victory up to that point. Mass shared his experience with the other two drivers during training: “At Le Mans, we braked very gently into the bends and drove through them smoothly so as not to put too much strain on the car. When you drive close to 5,300 kilometres almost without stopping, that is a key success factor.”

Everything came out fine in the end. Jochen Mass drove the final leg “with an eye on the official clock only at the start and finish, but at this stage you feel the minute hand isn’t moving at all”, quoted “auto motor und sport” motoring magazine in its race report in issue 13/1989. Mass remained a tactician right to the end, as it continued: “I drove the last laps slower and wasted time to cross the finishing line immediately after 4 p.m. so as not to have to do another lap.”

The three-man team won the race with 389 laps. The three drivers thoroughly enjoyed the champagne shower. “That victory was a real highlight for me,” says Jochen Mass today. For Dickens, this was the greatest victory of his career, and Reuter’s trophy still has a place of honour today — and right next to it is the exhaust part projectile that the mechanics presented to him after the race: as a reminder that the 24 Hours of Le Mans 30 years ago could well have ended differently.

Second place was taken by the second C 9 after 384 laps. This Silver Arrows double victory in 1989 is reminiscent of the triumph by Mercedes-Benz in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952, which Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess won ahead of their team-mates Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermayr in Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racing sports cars (W 194). But there was one major difference, there was another C 9 car among the top ten: despite an accident, the third C 9 finished in 5th place after 378 laps. The celebration after the award ceremony was too large for the originally scheduled room — and was spontaneously relocated to the large hospitality tent.

In 1990, the Sauber-Mercedes C 11 became the successor to the C 9. This sports car was the first Sauber car to feature a carbon fibre chassis, which gave the vehicle outstanding strength. In 1990, Mercedes-Benz again won both the drivers’ title (Schlesser and Baldi) and the World Championship constructors’ title. Altogether the new Silver Arrows clocked up 16 victories in a total of 18 races in 1989 and 1990. For the 1991 season, no turbocharged engines were permitted in Group C any more, and Mercedes-Benz developed a new 3.5 litre V12 engine M 291 (478 kW/650 hp) for the C 291. This was to be the last Mercedes-Benz Group C car. With it, in October 1991 the team Michael Schumacher / Karl Wendlinger surprisingly won the season’s final race of the sports car world championship in Autopolis, Japan.

[Source: Daimler AG]

The post Silver Arrows Victory at 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Not long after their victory in 1959, Aston Martin’s DBR1s were retired from active service. The same is true of the Le Mans-winning V8 Vantage GTE this year. Aston Martin’s GTE-Am class teams will field brand new Vantage GTEs for the 2019-2020 WEC season, which concludes at next year’s twice-around-the-clock event. After much success, the V8 Vantage GTE will make its final swansong with two entries in this year’s event.

Ten Facts from Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours Victory

1) The winning #5 Aston Martin DBR1 of Roy Salvadori (GB) and Carroll Shelby (USA) covered 2701 miles at an average speed of 112.5mph, shattering all records for a 3.0-litre class car in 1959.

2) Three Aston Martin DBR1s were entered for the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans: #4 Stirling Moss (GB) and Jack Fairman (GB), #5 Roy Salvadori (GB) and Carroll Shelby (USA), #6 Maurice Trintignant (F) and Paul Frére (BEL). The 1959 event was the first time that either Salvadori or Shelby had ever finished the race.

3) Moss and Fairman battled for the lead with the Jean Behra and Dan Gurney Ferrari 250 TR/59 for much of the first half of the race, but both cars would retire with technical issues. Salvadori was later quoted as saying: “Moss was very unlucky. He was very gentle on his car and did not push it unduly. They could easily have won.”

4) Salvadori estimated that Aston Martin team manager Reg Parnell collected a cheque from the organisers for approximately £10,000 in French francs for finishing first and second in the race, as well as third in The Index of Performance (a balancing measure that scored cars from all classes).

5) Parnell encouraged all three crews to run to a pre-set delta lap time, and not to pay attention to the faster opposition. Moss’s car was the fastest and Salvadori believed that the Briton’s pace is what broke the Ferrari challenge: “Moss put on quite a lot more pressure than they were prepared to accept, and he made them go much faster than they would like to have gone.” The Salvadori/Shelby delta was 4m20 per lap with a pit-stop strategy of 34 laps per stint.

6) The #5 Aston Martin DBR1 that completed the 24 hours of Le Mans in 323 laps was in such good condition at the finish that it was reckoned it could have completed another 24 hours. “The oil pressure was 80 pounds at the start and never varied… The car was 100% for the entire race,” said Salvadori.

7) Salvadori and Shelby drove to Le Mans in an Aston Martin DB MK III. Fairman meanwhile took a Lagonda Shooting Brake packed with spares for the race.

8) Such was the heat generated in the DBR1, through its aluminium bodyshell and the position of the clutch pedal above the exhaust pipes, that both Salvadori and Trintignant suffered badly scolded feet. Shelby meanwhile endured a sickness bug that he carried from the sixth hour of the race to the finish.

9) Shelby and Salvadori engaged in a heated contest of ‘Gin Rummy’ card games throughout the Le Mans week. By the end of it Salvadori was £28 up on his team-mate, though it’s not known whether the American ever paid up.

10) In the build-up to the race the weather had been hot and all the team had taken to swimming in the river adjacent to the Hotel de France in the Le Chartre-sur-le-Loir. Moss didn’t partake until the Wednesday morning, when disaster struck and he lost his front teeth diving in. He was forced to get his secretary to fly out his spare pair of false teeth on the first flight out of Paris.

In 2012, Aston Martin produced a video tribute to the Shelby, Salvadori and Cutting using original footage from the 1959 Le Mans race. The silent film, two minutes in duration, depicts the drivers arriving at the track, racing the DRB1 around the Circuit de la Sarthe and, finally, taking the chequered flag to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright.

Aston Martin Remembers 1959 Le Mans Victory – Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36JAG-N3xVA

[Source: Aston Martin]

The post Ten Facts from Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans Win appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Over the past 60-plus years the legendary Sebring 12 Hour Grand Prix of Endurance has been surrounded by numerous myths, fairy tales, legends and folklore.

One such story involves the legend of “Big Mo” the monster alligator that crossed the track during the 1978 race causing racing legend, Peter Gregg, to lose control of his Brumos Porsche 935 wrecking the car. Another myth involves the story of the 6-wheel Alfa Romeo T33/6/12 that was stolen from a garage on the Sebring race course by local teens in April of 1970. They removed the engine and shoehorned it into a hot rod and used it to tear up the roads of Highlands County until the sheriff’s department tracked them down and arrested them.

The Sebring Raceway has devoted some time and effort on its website to reporting valid historic stories and dispelling others. One of those stories the Raceway tried to dispel is the supposed discovery of some World War 2 era live ammunition and explosives found when the raceway tore down the old pit garages in June of 1999. These materials were supposedly left over when the Army Air Force B-17 training base, known as Hendricks Field, was shut down at the close of the war.

However, history shows us that some interesting items were found in several of those old barracks, work buildings and storage buildings over the years as buildings were torn down and areas renovated and improved.

One such find occurred in 1958 during the construction of a vehicle crossover bridge to accommodate the ever-increasing crowds attending what was becoming America’s premier endurance race. The approach road to the new bridge started in the spectator paddock and traveled to the new bridge which went over the race track and ended in the west end of the pits. For years the completed bridge was known as the Martini & Rossi Bridge.

During the bridge construction project several old military buildings were either moved or dismantled to make way for the approach road. In one building they found a storage room containing all sorts of military flotsam and jetsam including an old military foot locker with the name of the owner stenciled on it. The name on the locker was that of an Army officer, Major James Sfarnas.

The construction foreman, a military vet, felt compelled to try to find officer Sfarnas and he enlisted the help of a history teacher at Sebring High School who was also a veteran. At the suggestion of the teacher they began the search by checking the old air base military newsletters, magazines and yearbooks that had been donated to the city library when the base closed. They were able to find out that the owner of the foot locker came from a prominent Greek family in nearby Lake Wales, Florida.

A few phone calls later and the teacher was able to locate some Sfarnas family members in the Lake Wales area and eventually it led to James Sfarnas who was now an officer in the Florida Highway Patrol. After talking to him the teacher was able to make arrangements for him to visit the teacher’s history class to
talk to the students about his time in the service as well as take possession of the locker.

The talk at Sebring High School went as planned but the students were aware of why officer Sfarnas was there and asked if the foot locker could be opened in their presence. Officer Sfarnas agreed but the teacher had to get a lock cutter from a custodian to remove the badly rusted padlock on the foot locker.

Once opened they found the typical military clothing and boots which were in remarkably good condition. There was also a German Luger pistol that was obtained as a war souvenir when officer Sfarnas was stationed in Europe. Also, several girlie magazines were found much to the embarrassment of the officer and the teacher quickly took them out of the hands of the smiling 11th grade boys and put them in his desk. No idea if they were ever returned to the owner.

In the bottom of the locker, wrapped in old German newspapers, was a Germany Army stick grenade known as a “potato masher.” This scared the wits out of the teacher, but the students thought it was interesting enough to play around with and toss back and forth. Officer Sfarnas assured the teacher that it had been deactivated and was harmless. The teacher was skeptical but kept his mouth shut in the presence of the students.

The strangest thing found in the foot locker was a bundle of old German currency from the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). The officer said the teacher could have the worthless currency to use in the world history class he also taught. It would make a great teaching tool for when the class covered the hyper-inflation that affected Germany after World War I and the resultant economic catastrophe that may have led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.

Now fast forward to the Fall of 1980 and the history teacher had recently passed away due to a heart attack. His 25-year-old son was in Sebring, from his home in St. Petersburg, to deal with his father’s estate and clean up his house in preparation for putting it on the market.

He discovered what was left of the bundle of the old German currency in a box in the garage and what was left were quite a few of the notes but most were in small Mark denominations and also in very good condition. He fondly remembered how he and his friends had played with what they called “funny money” when he was young, and it saddened him.

He initially thought that collectors might be interested in the old money but during a visit to the Sebring city library, to do some research concerning the value of the German money, he came across a publication by the Society of Paper Money Collectors. While the publication was several years old It indicated that the old currency had little value to collectors in America due to large amounts of it still available from sources in Germany. However, Nazi era currency, with swastikas and other Nazi symbols on it, seemed more desirable.

When he attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando in the 1970’s he worked part-time at Disney World to help pay for his expenses and was well aware of that tourists from Europe initially had trouble with exchanging their English Pounds, French Francs and German Marks at local banks in the Orlando area and currency exchange businesses had spouted up to fill the need of the European tourists. The banks were doing catch up to address the needs of the tourists but were far behind the commercial currency exchanges even in 1980.

Just out of curiosity he wondered if any of Orlando banks might not be as knowledgeable or experienced as the commercial money exchanges and might accept the old German currency. So, he took a day off to drive up to Orlando where he went to a Barnett Bank branch near the theme parks and asked about the exchange rate. They asked him how he obtained the money and he told them he had just returned from an engineering internship in Germany working at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart. The bank official didn’t question him further but had to call the Barnett Bank in Jacksonville, FL, which dealt with currency exchanges for all Barnett banks in Florida. The people in Jacksonville indicated that he could get one dollar for every 1.82 German Marks which was the current exchange rate that day but it could change. All he had to do was sign a form, which he did, and they didn’t even ask for identification. He asked if he could keep the form and return later with more money. The bank official said, “No problem.” As he was leaving the bank the bank official said that there would be a small fee for the conversion to dollars and promised it was better than the commercial businesses.

Before leaving Orlando he stopped by Florida National Bank, Citizens Bank of Florida and one other to spin the same tale and get any forms needed for the money exchange.

At this point he had not made up his mind to go forward with his con but on the way back to Sebring the idea of putting one over on the banks was becoming too great to resist each mile he traveled. At the end of the week he returned to Orlando on a busy Friday afternoon and hit no less than 9 banks or their branches and all, except one, exchanged the German currency for dollars. At the end of that Friday he drove back to his father’s home in Sebring with $17,472 dollars in U.S. currency minus the exchange fees. This was far more than he made as a city employee in St. Petersburg. He hoped that the German currency would not reach the main banks for several days due to the weekend and would not be processed and discovered for a day or two after that. He did his best to disguise himself at each bank with different hats, shirts, eye glasses, etc. However, deep in the back of his mind he thought he would be caught at any moment and never felt so scared or thrilled in his life. One advantage he had going for him was that banks back then didn’t have the number and quality of surveillance cameras they do today.

For most of a full week he worked in his father’s house in Sebring cleaning and painting with the television on all the time and with the purloined dollars hidden in the attic of the house. At any moment he expected a news bulletin on the TV about what he did and a description of him broadcast to the general public. Each evening, when he went out to dinner, he would buy a copy of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper and read it from cover to cover.

Well, nothing ever happened. Six weeks later he was back in Sebring for the closing on his father’s house. The closing was in a lawyer’s office in downtown Sebring and across the street was a branch of a bank he used in his hometown. He took the check for the sale of the house across the street to deposit it in his account and noticed in the teller’s cage a color Xerox notice showing a picture of his German currency with the words, “Do Not Accept.”

With the bank deposit receipt for the sale of his dad’s house in hand he casually walked to his car in the bank parking lot while looking around at many of the old downtown buildings he was so familiar with in his youth.

It dawned on him that this might be the last time he would come to Sebring now that his father was gone and his actions regarding the old German currency might also deter him from returning. Plus, the old currency was now truly worthless now that the banks were alerted. He took one last look, got into his car and began the long drive to St. Petersburg.

Just a few months ago the Sebring Raceway tore down the old Green Park vehicle bridge and have replaced it with a wider and better built one. No word yet if they found anything of note during the demolition and please no Jimmy Hoffa jokes here.

[Source: Louis Galanos]

The post The Story of Sebring Funny Money appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

By Petra Perkins with Louis Galanos

Memory: A blazing fireball was racing into the stands — headed straight at me — so I fled in a panic.

High-pitched engines shriek by, one after another, in endless, killing, head-splitting noise. It’s March 1964, Sebring, Florida and after a long hot day of watching cars in the pits or going round the track I just want to escape, run back to the parking lot, hide out in the station wagon I came in. This is torture; I cannot get excited watching the cars race, so boring to me, a fifteen-year-old girl. Here are scads of race fans, maybe thousands, swigging bottles of beer or Coca-Cola, standing three-deep at fences lining the track.

It is now nighttime and late in the race. The stadium lights are blinding; loud-speaker voices are deafening in the area across from the pits. The announcer is yelling like his pants are on fire, describing who’s in the lead, who’s overtaking, who’s just skidded into the hay bales. Collective groans and alternate cheers. Mostly men, everywhere – in the stands or milling around, in racecar pits, food huts, jumping onto the track, signaling with flags. Drivers fly toward the corners, jamming their brakes, popping their engines, making me cover my ears. How I don’t want to be here; I don’t understand why this is considered “fun”. My Aunt Ruth brought me here because I’m visiting from Colorado and she needs an event to entertain both me and her son, George. She says, “Girl, nothing’s more exciting than a car race!”

I’d rather spend the evening in the Sebring library, Aunt Ruth. Loud noise is anathema to me. Cars are okay but … these look and sound like angry neon bees – taxicab yellows, bright reds and blues, ripe lime greens – zooming by us, screeching at the corner, revving up for the straight (that’s what my cousin George says, and, “Don’t you know anything?”)

Racetrack dust spirals in the high-beam glare of headlights. It is now so dark I can’t even see the whole track, as we’re near an end which, I decide, makes it even more boring. I don’t know anything; I just don’t get it. I feel as if I should be a boy to enjoy this.

Perhaps noticing I’m a bit droopy, Aunt Ruth escalates a contrived excitement level by whooping and hollering at her ‘favorite driver’: “GO! GO, A.J.!” as he charges by in a blue car. She’s bought me and George some popcorn and a couple of root beer floats. The treats raise my spirits. I try to get into the spirit of this “endurance race” by doing more than just enduring it. I place my allegiance and winner hopes on one of the cherriest red cars because they’re the neatest. I pick out a number. I watch #82 go around, around, around. 82, 82, 82…

I wince from an especially jarring noise right in front of me, a series of ear-shattering thuds and blasts. I don’t see the source in the dark, but I hear it. It rocks my subconscious but doesn’t register because I’m clueless. I may even be thinking this is supposed to happen, so little do I know about car races.

It’s early spring in Florida but we’re sweating like it’s a July night of fireworks. It takes my hot teenaged exhaust-filled brain several seconds to process the fact of actual fire, coming directly in front of me. Orange flames are leaping from the other side of the track, getting bigger and moving fast and so close to the bleachers you could feel the radiant heat.

But the passage of time and I seem to stand still, making a memory. Then, I’m awake, running in a surge of spectators clamoring to get out of the bleachers and to safety. I’m feel I am being chased by a spinning fireball. The underlying buzzing bee noise continues, as cars speed past, swerving around fellow drivers who have crashed. Someone is burning. On top of that is screaming. Everyone scatters; I am lost from Aunt Ruth and cousin George in the frenzy.

Miraculously, we find each other in our parking lot amidst flashing lights, wailing sirens of ambulances and fire trucks that rush into the area. We decide to leave immediately and beat the outgoing traffic. I’m relieved to be out of there and make a mental note that I will never again – never again, as long as I live – go to a car race.

Thirty years later. It’s 1994 and I am at a car race. I’m living in Seattle and have been married three years to Larry Perkins. I overhear him talking about an experience he’d had as a race car driver, in his Ferrari 250 GTO. Although he has occasionally told me stories about his racing days in the sixties, they are formless to me and surreal. I don’t connect him with that era, that role, or with race cars at all. I know him as my sailboat mate, my lover, my bicycling partner, a rocket scientist, an exciting raconteur, a visual artist. A man who erupts into frequent fits of laughter. An intense highway driver who tailgates and passes others triumphantly. I don’t know anything about any risk-taking race car driver, or even what a Ferrari is, much less a 250 GTO.

Trying hard to relate, I surprise myself. And him.

Me: I went to a race once, in Florida. When I was about 14 or 15. There was a fire.
He: Where was the race?
Me: Sebring, I think. My aunt took me there.

I describe the fire and how everyone had stampeded.

He: (in astonishment) It was 1964. I ran that race. With Bill Eve, my co-driver.
Me: In a red car? (All I knew, from old photos, was that one of his race cars was red.)
He: Yep … it was real scary.
Me: What number was your car?
He: #82.

Larry gives me background on that spectacular blaze – one that got lots of attention then, and sometimes still does. Near the end of the 12-hour race, on the main straight across the track from Aunt Ruth and me, a big snarling Shelby Cobra ran point-blank into a “delicate little Alfa Romeo.” A roar of engines, a quick brakes-tire-chirp and … WHUMP … right into the Alfa’s gas tank, lighting up the whole night sky.

The Cobra (Dan Gurney’s and Bob Johnson’s) flipped end-over-end up the track, landing on its top and bending the car something awful. Bob, the driver, miraculously walked away with just a broken nose. “He could have died,” Larry says. The Alfa Romeo TZ was a mess, having exploded into flames, starting to burn furiously with the driver inside. Quick action by a rival team member from the nearby pits pulled him out and saved his life.

It was officially a “racing accident,” but Larry thinks it was an avoidable one. The Alfa driver had car trouble and was barely putt-putting along, slowing to (illegally) turn directly into his pit. There was no way Bob, coming up at 140 mph in the dark, could see that Alfa sitting in his path.

My family and I had all been in the dark, too, and hadn’t seen these details. There wasn’t much lighting at the track. The drivers could only see what their headlights picked out. But that fire really lit up the landscape.

And fire safety wasn’t that good either. Racers wore cotton suits and Italian drivers often sported nice short-sleeved polo shirts. Everyone involved in the disaster recovered, and the rescuer, a guy named Jocko Maggiacomo who also had burns, was later given a heroism award. The Alfa driver – Consalvo Senesi – opted never to race again, living to the ripe old age of 87.

So where was Larry, in all this? Well, his car – a Ferrari 250 GTO – had paused in the pits with an electrical problem. When the crash came, all hell broke loose with wild-eyed people yelling … jumping over the pit wall … running toward the fire … (unlike us, running away from it). Larry and his crew started shoving people aside and spraying them with a hose. Just a few yards from the fire, there was plenty of flammable stuff scattered around – gasoline, grease, oil, brake fluid, rags, rubber – with the risk of a big flash-over. Larry described the whole thing as a “very hairy scary berzerka.”

The race ended an hour or so later, and everyone packed up to go home. The crash and fire had ruined the day for many, but not for Larry’s team – they had just finished their first “real Sebring” and the result were: Car #82, Ferrari 250 GTO (s/n 3223 GT), L. Perkins/W. Eve, 27th Overall, 3rd in Class. The silver cup from that incredible long-ago event sits proudly on a shelf in his office.

This flashback memory of Sebring in 1964 gave me goose bumps. It turns out, astonishingly, that the first time I saw Larry and his red car, I was a pimply high-school student and he was 31, a hotshot race driver who was pedal-to-the-metal all the way, just like he is now. He had one of the most dominant race cars available in the ‘60s. Today, owing to the unique dynamics of vintage car collecting, it has become a supremely valuable example. There were only 36 250 GTO models built by Ferrari and one recently sold for around $70 million. The one that Larry drove at Sebring in 1964 was the first one built and has a long, long racing history. No doubt it could command a higher price at auction.

Before Larry and me – before I had the remotest notion of “car love” – this man and machine had merged in a synergy I could not begin to fathom. When the jolting memory of 1964 popped up three decades later, I still knew and cared little about racing. I had no concept of The Car, its popularity, its mystique or why it was revered. Why were thousands of photos taken of this thing? How can millions of words be written about a single car?

I knew even less about race car drivers who had their own mystique. They appeared to be the sexiest, most charismatic of competitive high-risk takers, with unflinching boldness and confidence. It would take years to comprehend that I had married one. Minutes upon meeting this rather supernatural man, he’d hypnotized me – just like a shiny red Ferrari hypnotizes and then drives some to distraction.

In 1963 Larry had searched the world for the perfect race car and found it in New York. In ’66, after “driving the living s#!t out of it,” he sold it and – he assumed – dismissed it from his life. But in 1994 it turned up again in Monterey under a new owner. Then it disappeared again for a long stretch, across the Pacific. At last, in 2011, the Ferrari 250 GTO drove into Larry’s radar again; he was able to touch it, like a sort of magic talisman. During that stretch the two of us had been going like mad on one journey after another, racing here and there with abandon, free-wheeling toward no hard destinations.

We sometimes detoured, bolted into barriers, fell by waysides, had breakdowns, ran out of gas, but usually chose to “take the scenic route” – all of which proves my motto: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Surely, Larry’s motto was: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you should at least find a fast car to take you there.”

Just when we’d started to slow down to the speed limit, The Car showed up. Again. On its way to Pebble Beach. And that is when I became a “car girl.”

[Source: Petra Perkins with Louis Galanos; photos: As Credited]

The post A Good (Car) Guy is Hard to Find – A Girl’s Memoir appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The 57th running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona was called after 23 hours, 50 minutes due to rain after extreme weather caused on track flooding resulting in caution flags beginning at dawn Sunday. This included two red flags for the first time in event history.

Fernando Alonso, the two-time FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Champion, captured his first overall win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R along with teammates Jordan Taylor, Renger van Der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi. Alonso took over the lead just prior to the last caution when Felipe Nasr went wide in Turn 1 in the Whelen racing entry. Just minutes later the caution went out followed by the red flag that ended the event.

The No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE took the GTLM win driven by Augusto Farfus, Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng and Colton Herta. The GTD class victory was brought home by the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and the four man team of Christian Engelhart, Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti and Rik Breukers winning their class for the second year in a row.

Sebastian Saavedra captured the LMP2 class win in the No.18 DragonSpeed ORECA LMP2, co-driven by Roberto Gonzalez, Pedro Maldonado and Ryan Cullen.

Mechanical and weather problems plagued some of the race’s most well-known teams and drivers. Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette C7.R aquaplaned on standing water into a barrier in the early morning weather, while Indy Car legend Alex Zanardi’s No. 24 BMW suffered from a series of steering column issues that lost valuable time before his co-driver Jesse Krohn experienced a tire failure that effectively removed the BMW from contention.

Oliver Jarvis officially set the IMSA lap record around Daytona International Speedway and qualified for the pole with a lap of 1:33.685s in the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest DPi, but the car suffered a mechanical failure and had to retire.

The Heinricher Racing Caterpillar Inc. Acura NSX GT3 Evo featured the first all-female team to enter the Rolex 24 since 1993, but finished P13 after being damaged Sunday morning in an on-track incident.

The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 was officially started by Grand Marshal Scott Pruett. The five-time overall winner of the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA reflected on the race. “It’s been a dream come true to be Grand Marshal, I’m really humbled and it’s been a fantastic experience. The racing was incredible tight from the start – it was nose to tail – with a lot of action in all the classes.”

“It is unfortunate that we finished under the red flag, but the conditions were so tough and the right call was made. When you drive in these conditions it is intense and precision is key because as we’ve seen if you put a foot wrong, it will catch you out,” continued Pruett.

Similar to 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Sports Car Digest also documented the racing action at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 with photographer Mark Coughlin offering the following selection from the road course at Daytona.

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 – Photo Gallery (photos: Mark Coughlin, Rolex, Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Porsche, Lexus, Lamborghini)

The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The post Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 – Report and Photos appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi of Filipe Albuquerque, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi won the 56th edition of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, completing a record-breaking 808 laps of the famous Speedway in Florida. The No. 67 Ford GT Chip Ganassi Racing took victory in GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 triumphed in GT Daytona (GTD). This year’s contest embodied the intense and demanding nature of modern-day endurance racing, with drivers pushing their cars to the limit lap after lap. The competitive line-up, endless traffic and a record-breaking laps made the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2018 even tougher mentally and physically than previous races — justifying the race’s status as the ultimate test of endurance.

Motorsport champions competed for every inch of tarmac around the 3.56 mile Daytona International Speedway, attracting one of the largest in-field crowds in recent years to this twice-around-the-clock epic. It was an adrenaline-filled start, during which the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing and No. 7 Acura Team Penske Prototype (P) cars shared the lead. When darkness fell, a surprise downpour of rain brought a flurry of pit stops as the majority of cars changed to wet weather tyres. The ability of the drivers and teams to adapt to the testing conditions further emphasized the depth and quality of this world-class field.

As the track dried and the race reached the halfway mark, only 20 seconds separated the top four cars. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the No. 6 Acura Team Penske suffered a mechanical failure and the No. 7 had contact with the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi, forcing both Acuras into the garage, putting them more than 15 laps off the lead and ending their hopes of victory. From here, it was a controlled drive to the end for the No. 5 car, finishing 1:10.544 ahead of the No. 31 to be crowned champion.

The GTLM category witnessed a historic 200th win and a one-two finish for Chip Ganassi Racing, making it an unforgettable weekend for team owner and the 2018 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Grand Marshal, Chip Ganassi. The triumphant car, driven by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon, took the lead with three hours remaining from sister car, No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing. The dominant Ford duo eventually finished two laps ahead of third placed No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Racing C7.R.

The GTD class saw a number of lead changes but finally the No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 pulled out a healthy advantage to reach the 24-hour mark fastest. Piloted by Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, Franck Perera and Rolf Ineichen, this was the first success ever for Lamborghini in the 24 Hours of Daytona, only three years after the first race on the tri-oval of Dayton in 2016. The Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 No. 86 of Alvaro Parente, Katherine Legge, A.J. Allmendinger and Trent Hindman finished in second place, followed on the podium by the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Andrea Caldarelli, Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Brice Miller.

Crossing the finish line first at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2018 immortalizes the team and drivers’ performance, while underlining their commitment to motor sport. Following the race, this extraordinary quest for excellence is honoured with a specially engraved Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona.

After the prize-giving presentation in Victory Lane, winning driver Filipe Albuquerque said: “It was overwhelming to receive the trophy and a Rolex Daytona after such a challenging drive – that final lap felt like one of the longest of my life! The race was unbelievable, with constant traffic demanding the utmost concentration. It truly was one of the most competitive and relentless 24 hours both inside and outside the car, which makes this win all the more special.”

Scott Pruett finished ninth in the GTD class in his symbolic 24th and final 24 Hours of Daytona. With five overall victories, the American driver is tied with Hurley Haywood for the most wins at the Rolex 24 and, following the race, Scott Pruett reflected on his sports car success: “I have had an incredible journey to this point and it is very fitting to end my career at Daytona, which has become my second home. I am incredibly proud to have won five Rolex 24s and to have been rewarded each time with a Rolex – my Daytona watches will always bring back many fond memories. I still maintain, ‘it’s all about the watch’ but it’s also about the teams, cars and fans whose dedication and passion for motor sport is unparalleled. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your continued support.”

Legendary racer Dan Gurney, who passed away on January 14 at the age of 86, was honored throughout the Rolex 24. Cars and drivers throughout the field paid tribute with commemorative car and helmet decals, while the No. 30 Lola T70 race car that Gurney drove to victory in the 1966 Can-Am race at Bridgehampton in New York led the field around on its pre-race parade lap. Among Gurney’s many other achievements as a driver, team owner and constructor was his Toyota-powered Eagle Mk III Prototype, in which PJ Jones set the all-time Rolex 24 of Daytona qualifying record that still stands today.

Similar to 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, Sports Car Digest also documented the racing action at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2018 with photographers Mark Coughlin and Kevin Davis offering the following selection from the road course at Daytona.

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2018 – Photo Gallery (photos: Mark Coughlin; Kevin Davis)

The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The post Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 2018 – Report and Photos appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

For the 123 model series, the rally was proof both of the cars’ sporting endurance and performance and their comfort and reliability. This was a point emphasised by the Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG at the time, Dr Joachim Zahn, at the victory celebration in Stuttgart in 1977. The 123 series was launched in 1976 and remained in production until the beginning of 1986. It was available as a saloon (W 123), a coupé (C 123) and an estate (S 123), and also as a chassis base for special bodies.

From Opera House to Opera House

The start of the marathon 40 years ago was the overture to an event of operatic proportions: 69 cars set off from Covent Garden Opera House in London on 14 August 1977 to compete in the toughest rally in the world, with the teams needing to cover well over 30,000 kilometres across three continents in 30 days and nights. Three sea crossings were also on the agenda. The finish line of the 1977 Singapore Airlines London–Sydney Rally was situated at another famous music venue on the opposite side of the world: the Sydney Opera House in all its architectural splendour.

This rally revisited the concept of the first London to Sydney Marathon, which was held in 1968 and also won by Andrew Cowan, but the second incarnation of the rally, organised by the British entrepreneur Wylton Dickson, was significantly longer and even more demanding than the first. It was publicised in 1976 as “the longest car rally in history”.

A total of six teams took part in the rally in Mercedes-Benz 280 E saloons. They were not officially registered as works teams but were given substantial support from the manufacturers under the direction of engineer Erich Waxenberger.

Car number 27: Herbert Kleint, Günter Klapproth, Harry Vormbruck (Herbert Kleint, private entry)
Car number 33: Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin, Michael Joan Broad (Rank Organisation team)
Car number 37: Joachim Warmbold, Jean Todt, Hans Willemsen (Joachim Warmbold, private entry)
Car number 49: Anthony Fowkes, Peter O’Gorman (Johnson Rally Wax team)
Car number 59: Alfred Kling, Klaus Kaiser, Jörg Leininger (Alfred Kling, private entry)
Car number 80: Wolfgang Mauch, José Dolhem (Wolfgang Mauch, private entry)

Meticulous Preparation

In 1977, Mercedes-Benz’ major successes with near-standard works rally cars lay some time in the past. Nevertheless, Erich Waxenberger followed the recipe for those bygone successes characterised by the winning tail-fin saloons and standard production SL models. Eight different Mercedes-Benz test departments were involved in readying the 280 E for rally use (including bodyshell, brakes, engines and overall vehicle) as well as central customer services.

The saloons were fitted with new wheels (15-inch), plus sport shock absorbers and so-called tropical springs — both of which were available as optional equipment items. These measures combined to raise the cars’ ground clearance by 35 millimetres. Then, after test drives on the British Army training grounds in Bagshot, it was also decided to reinforce the upper and lower sections of the semi-trailing arms.

In place of the standard gearbox, the rally cars were fitted with the four-speed manual gearbox from the V8 engine used in the S-Class (W116) of the time. An addition was the robust sand plate mounted at the front in place of conventional bumpers. In order to facilitate servicing and the supply of replacement parts, both British teams drove left-hand-drive vehicles.

Even the quality of the fuel supplied along the route was factored into the planning: as the octane rating of the available fuel was liable to be as low as 82 RON, the vehicles’ ignition was specially adapted. The drivers also carried a canister of octane improver with them, with an auxiliary fuel tank in the vehicle allowing high-octane fuel to be mixed into the local petrol.

Tony Fowkes described his personal equipment in an interview with the weekly magazine India Today in September 1977: along with spare parts for the car, other essential items included malaria drugs, insect repellent, water purification tablets and toilet paper — as well as fruit and Kendal Mint Cake.

Service Network

The rolling support points implemented by Mercedes-Benz covered the entire route of the London to Sydney rally: the Stuttgart-based brand set up bases in Milan, Trieste, Veria, Lamia, Athens, Istanbul, Ankara, Kayserie, Mus, Van, Tabris, Teheran, Yazd, Tabas, Fariman, Kandahar, Kabul, Lahore, Delhi, Ajmer, Baroda, Bombay, Belgaum, Bangalore, Madras, Penang, Singapore, Perth, Alice Springs, Adelaide and Melbourne. Additional back-up was provided by support vehicles accompanying the rally. Mercedes-Benz provided a 280 E as a service vehicle from Persia to India, driven by Erich Waxenberger and Joachim Tilgner. In Australia, where the rally had to cover long desert stages, Mercedes-Benz brought in a Unimog.

At the victory party, Daimler AG Chairman Zahn highlighted the partnership and collaboration the drivers had enjoyed from the global Mercedes-Benz network during the rally and beyond. He underlined the point that the experiences gained from the rally could provide valuable information to feed into series production development at Mercedes-Benz. For the Stuttgart brand the London–Sydney success story marked the beginning of a new era of rally involvement, the highlights of which included successes with various SLC Coupés of the C 107 model series in South America and Africa from 1978 to 1980.

The original winning car from 1977 is on permanent display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. It is part of “Legend Room 7: Silver Arrows – Races and Records”.

[Source: Daimler AG]

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