Categories
Vintage Racing Advertising

Maserati’s Sheer Sensual Pleasure

“The sheer sensual pleasure of handling it simply cannot be put into words.
This was John Bolster’s reaction, after his Autosport road test on the Maserati Merak. We agree. Its handling qualities have to be tried to be believed.
Merak comfort is easier to explain. Unlike some mid-engined cars, the Merak is designed with comfort in mind. The quietness of the ride is exceptional. Instrumentation is easy to read: one glance tells all.
The 2965cc V6 Merak is a classic investment. See your dealer for a Merak, Bora, Khamsin or Citroen SM test drive. Or write: Maserati, Dept H1, Mill St, Slough SL25DE”

Good to know that Maserati trusted their 1970s advertising copywriting to a 14 year old boy.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos Racing Ephemera

The Right Shoe for the Job

Motor racing is no excuse to not wear your most dashing pair of loafers. Just ask 1960 LeMans winner Paul Frere.

Categories
Classic Sportscar Historic Racing Photos Video

Happier Days for Team Scarab

We’ve been focusing too much on the Scarab crash and it’s bumming us out. We need an antidote, stat!

Right on cue, Steve Cournoyer wrote in: “All this Scarab business had me remembering a few photos taken by my father at Thompson Speedway round about 1958”. This shot captured by Steve’s father, Alfred Cournoyer helps set everything right with the world today.

Here’s another from a very happy day for the team. Chuck Daigh (#5) and Lance Reventlow (#16) finished 1, 2 at this outing for the Scarabs at Meadowdale Raceway in Illinois, September 1958. Via the Life archives.

There, I know I’m starting to feel better.

Categories
Classic Sportscar Event

Scarab Crash Photo Sequence

Well, the video may be gone for now, but thankfully, H.A.M.B. member Toner283 found these fantastic Dean Burnside-Machado photos. He was in the perfect spot at the perfect time.

Notice how ‘Ol Yaller spins a full 360° through the center of this catastrophe without a touch and keeps on going. That must have been a heart-stopper.

Update:
Dean Burnside-Machado posted in the comments that these were pulled from a larger collection of 25 photos on his facebook page here. Thanks Dean!

Categories
Ferrari Racing Ephemera

Enzo Ferrari Bio-Comic

Flickr user Malcolm Mitchell has uploaded a translated version of the 1997 French language comic book commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ferrari’s first race. The comic book, illustrated by Patrick Leseur and written by Dominique Pascal, follows Enzo’s journey from disinterested schoolboy to racing pioneer to businessman and icon.

Although the storytelling can be a bit dry as we enter the years where each panel is just a new road car’s debut, there’s still a lot of information here about the Commendatore.

Malcolm has the entire comic translated to english (by Desmond Tumulty) and available for viewing, so click on over.

Categories
Ferrari Historic Racing Photos

Shotgun at the Mille

Klemantaski’s view of the 1957 Mille Miglia

There are benefits to having renowned photographer Louis Klemantaski as your navigator when you’re competing in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Peter Collins’ Ferrari 335 Sport didn’t quite make it back to Brescia after suffering a driveshaft failure 5 hours in, but at least he had this astounding photograph to show for his efforts.
Seems like a pretty fair trade to me.

Update:
In the comments, Richard found another of Louis’ shots from the Mille that’s definitely worth sharing. Thanks, Richard!

Categories
Event

A Photo Tour of the 2010 Oldtimer Grand Prix at the NĂĽrbugring


After seeing a second set of brilliant photography from Europe in the past couple of weeks (along with Laurent Nivalle’s fantastic LeMans Classic shots we featured last week), I’m convinced that—for all their faults—the big European tracks offer some simply spectacular angles for shooting the action on track and in the pits. Markus’ shots from the Oldtimers Grand Prix at the NĂĽrburgring are equally marvelous. By comparison, the photos I’ve seen from this weekend’s activities at Laguna Seca only highlight how great these elevated viewing platforms of European tracks are for capturing angles of the cars that we rarely see when wandering the pits at tracks stateside. None of the shots I’ve seen from Monterey have offered the environmental drama of these shots from the Ring—please prove me wrong, send me your favorite Monterey sets!

See Markus’ complete set at the excellent Formfreu.de

Categories
Event Porsche

Moss’s new Porsche RS61 Crashes out of Monterey Reunion


Oh No! Sir Stirling is ok, but in reasonably poor spirits after his car was involved in a crash during this year’s Monterey races. StirlingMoss.com reports that “On Stirling’s out lap the car stepped out a wheel onto the grass putting it off the circuit, albeit without coming into contact with the barriers. A second car, also on its warm-up lap, left the circuit and hit the RS 61. Happily Stirling was unhurt, the car however suffered considerable damage, rendering it undriveable for the rest of the Monterey weekend.”
What a shame that this debut outing for Moss in the RS61 he purchased earlier in the year will also be the season’s last. Indications are that the car is repairable.

Update:
From other reports on the incident, it appears that the other car mentioned was John Morton’s ’58 Scarab. Morton was taken to hospital, but climbed from the car on his own and waved to the crowd before climbing into the ambulance. From the looks of this photo, it doesn’t look too good for the Scarab itself. Hopefully it too will be repairable.
As Sean points out in the comments, the Moss and Morton crashes were entirely separate incidents. It seems obvious now that the Scarab and Porsche would be in different races but I guess this is what I get for trying to follow along on the weekend’s events from 2 time zones away. I’m sorry for mixing that up.

More updates on the incident as I hear more.

Categories
Video

Vintage Kart Test Drive

It’s like the best game of Mario Kart you ever played as we take an on-board spin around Brazil’s Kartodromo de Atibaia in two important vintage kart models, the 1960 WASP Bug Kart, and a 1971 Kart Mini MAXI-RM. These little buzzing 2-strokes sound like all sorts of fun. Now where’s my blue shell?

Categories
Porsche

This Has Always Bothered Me


What you see above is an excerpt from the January, 1964 issue of Road & Track’s road test of the then brand new Porsche 904. I’m a huge fan of the 904. So was Road & Track. They give the car’s brakes and handling high marks. But mostly they praise the affordability of the car for the amateur racer.

Wait. What?

Which is why I’ve highlighted the pricing information above. $7425 sounds like a very small number indeed. Of course you’re thinking, “but that’s 1964 dollars. Factor in the inflation and you’ll see that it’s the princely sum we’ve come to expect for a world-class competition car”. Thanks to our friends at The Inflation Calculator, I can tell you that $7425 in 1964 is the equivalent of $50,810.87 today.

Now $50 Grand is no small amount of money, but where can I buy a current racing car that can compete at the international level for $50 Grand? Or $100 Grand? Or $200 Grand—What does a Porsche Cup Car cost these days? The 904 wasn’t just a competitive car, either—It was dominant; taking the World Sportcar Championship in the 2-liter class. Where can I buy a class winning contemporary racing car for $50 Grand? I’m struggling to think of a contemporary club racing car that can be bought for $50,000 – spec Miata not withstanding.

Road & Track had this to say about the 904’s costs. “The price is certainly right, $7245 at the factory, as this means the private owner in the U.S. can obtain a first class racing car and basic spares for something under $9000, dirt cheap for a first-class competition car.” I agree, dirt cheap indeed.