Hard to believe that anyone would part with this magnificent machine. We’ve featured this car twice before on the Chicane, after seeing her at the 2008 Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, and later some video footage of the car in action at Watkins Glen.
When I first encountered this stunning car in the pits at Road America, I was struck by how very compact it was. I’m always surprised how small these 60’s racers are in the flesh, they seem so larger-than-life in photos and film. They’re long low proportions seem somewhat large when you’re not standing right next to them and realize how very low they are—the hood line is well below my waist.
I simply cannot fathom selling this car. As I mentioned in my previous post about the 910, this was a car designed as a hillclimber and ended up as a successful endurance racer. I like the 917 and 908 as much as anyone, but for me, the fact that this car was so adaptable to any racing style—from short burst sprints up the hillside to 24 hour events—puts this car very near the top of Porsche’s engineering achievements. It’s simply remarkable.
Today the car is on offer from Grand Prix Classics in La Jolla, California. There’s no information posted on the car yet, but the collection of photos of the car is well worth seeing.
What could be better than a spirited drive in the mountains and a picnic lunch with friends? Ask “Quick” Vic Elford, seen here doing just that. Pausing to relax during his own spirited drive in the mountains, indeed.
Of course, the mountains in this case are those surrounding Palermo, Sicily. The lunch is served on the short tail of a Martini International Racing Porsche 908/3. And his fellow diners are the team and competitors of the 1971 Targa Florio. Perhaps this was to celebrate his fastest lap of that year’s race-rounding the 72km course in 33:45.6, an average over 127km/h.
This is the second year of the Targa California and it looks like steady increases in participants. This is good, because there’s nothing more dubious than a “First Annual” event. The Targa California looks like it has a bright future. Starting out from the mountains north of Mailibu and touring along the central California coast with a bunch of other pre-75 cars doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend a few days, does it?
Last time we dove into the John McClure archives, it was to visit the March ’55 running of the Palm Springs Road Races. What a difference a few months makes, since we’re starting off with shots of snow en route to the races, which must have come as a bit of a shock to the Southern Californians heading into the desert. Lovely views of a very packed group of Porsches and a Citroen 2CV (!) in the small-bore race before we settle into the main event.
It looks like John was able to get quite close to the action for this race and there are some great shots of a quite famous field. He may have even been a bit too close for Bill Willett’s tangle with the hay bales in his Arnolt-Bristol after losing steering. Also in this race is the chicken farmer himself in a red Jaguar D-Type (#63); I almost don’t recognize Carroll Shelby without his cowboy hat.
A good percentage of the reel, though, is the excellent battle between Ernie McAfee in the blue Ferrari Monza (#76) and Masten Gregory in the Maserati 300s (#207). They were at it all weekend, trading victories in the various heats on Saturday and Sunday. Masten took the Formula Libre race on Saturday afternoon for 1.5-3liter cars, with McAfee taking the victory in prelims. But in the main event pictured here the honors went to Masten, with Mcafee following only a fraction of a second behind. Great Stuff.
Also keep your eyes peeled for: Bill Murphy’s Kurtis-Buick, Dick Morgensen’s Special, Ken Miles’ Maserati 150S, Rudy Cleye’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, and Chuck Daigh’s Troutman-Barnes Mercury Special.
Race Results from the Dec. 16 issue of MotoRacing. (click for larger)
Remember, The Chicane wants to show your footage to the world too. If you have some old film cans stacked in the closet: get them out, and get in touch at tips@thechicane.com
My friends have all told me that Vintage Formula Vee is the way to go for a first vintage racecar. They’re reasonably inexpensive. They’re relatively easy to maintain. They’re lightweight, so you don’t need a monster tow rig. Most importantly they’re the most affordable to run.
Up until now I believed them.
This is the REAL cheapest entrée into the world of vintage racing: the old school go-kart. I’m not talking about the shifter karts that have been the foundation of our last few Formula 1 World Champions. I’m talking about the heavy steel frame your grandfather welded together in the workshop, with a hot-rodded lawn mower engine (or twin chainsaw engines).
Beautiful. Elegant. Purposeful. I’ve caught myself fantasizing about this particular variation on the Maser A6GCS since it got so much camera time in the BBC2 program, The Real Italian Job: James Martin’s Mille Miglia. While the program is a fairly poor trip through the contemporary Mille Miglia Rally, and the chef’s Maser gave out far too early to really see the beautiful sights of the Mille, there is a shining highpoint that made the program well worth watching: the absolutely captivating A6GCS. Although the dealer doesn’t mention it, this car appears to be the very example featured in the program—notice the Mille Miglia rally number featured on the car here, James Martin’s car bore the same number.
Maserati created a variety of different sportscars under the A6 model designation, from rather luxurious coupes to open-top enclosed-fender sportscars. This stripped-down, (mostly) open wheel variant though is, for me, the title holder. She’s absolutely marvelous, looking something like a machine that somehow successfully combines the Formula Car, Sportscar, and Hot Rod. There’s nothing here that doesn’t need to be, there are no dramatic design flourishes—it is the very essence of form following function.
This example, chassis #2006, is currently among the stock of London dealer Cars International Kensington. One of only 3 of this variant made, she was supplied new to Baron Nicola Musmeci in May, 1948. The Baron wasted no time preparing the car for the Targa Florio the following March, where it placed 4th. He repeated the trip around Sicily the following year, bringing this little machine home in 5th place. The car also raced as a Formula 2 car with the passenger seat blocked out and the road equipment stripped out, and even entered the Mille Miglia in 1951.
Musmeci apparently didn’t tire from the car after the string of successes because the car didn’t change hands until 1972. Sadly the next owner largely mothballed it after a body restoration, and we haven’t seen it on the track until Cars International, after acquiring the car (presumably for Martin) in 2007, entered her in the 2008 Mille Miglia. It has since been restored again, this time with a complete engine rebuild as well. Count ’em. That’s 3 owners since 1948. The James Martin program went into some detail about James buying this car, but was Cars International the “owner”? When Cars International says they “acquired” the car, they did so on Martin’s behalf? This is all assuming I’m right and that this is indeed the James Martin car, which seems more than likely.
I’ve been obsessing about this car for quite some time now, even pouring over this Gilco chassis construction diagram. Why should I let my non-existant welding skills get in the way of building my dream? After all, I’m going to assume it’s HIGHLY unlikely that one of these will come available in my price range any time soon. More photos and information on the dealer’s info page.
I would be cheering my fool head off for the Peugeot effort at the 24 Heurs du Mans if they still wore these uniforms and masks. Bad. Ass.
This is Eddie Richenbacker and Fred McCarty at the 1914 Corona road race showing off Eddie’s new gizmo for allowing the driver and riding mechanic to communicate while driving. That’s just a speaking tube connecting the two masks.
There, there; it’s not so scary once you know what it’s for, right? No. It’s still menacing as Hell.
The team dropped out of the race after 37 laps, clearing the way for Eddie Pullen in his #4 Mercer to take home victory—and the $6,000 purse. More photos of the Corona Road Races at the Corona Public Library’s Flickr.
Finally. Some proof to back up what many of us have been saying for quite some time. Whether you think the cause is team orders, the air disruption caused by excessive rear wing, the abandoning of mechanical grip in favor of aerodynamic downforce, or any of the dozens of other reasons behind the diminishing state of Formula 1, the answer seems clear. Look at the brilliant chart of overtaking in Formula 1 since 1983 that Brogan presented on Clip the Apex (and I suspect the data would be even more damning if we went further back).
I think we can agree that this is where the interesting bits of racing are, the passing, the maneuvering, the battles. Not in the pits, mind you, but on the track. These are the moments of a race that elevate a race from a pleasant Sunday afternoon’s viewing to legend. The data doesn’t lie, overtaking in Formula 1 has been in absolute free-fall for the past 25 years, and looks likely to continue with the double diffuser.
Head over to Clip the Apex for more analysis and more details on the data used to create the chart. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way I do: both vindicated and bummed out.
