A marvelous clip of a different car than the ex-Grignard example coming up for auction that we saw earlier, complete with wonderful Talbot history from Richard Pilkington. He highlights another aspect of this era that is so appealing. Take this grand prix car, add motorcycle fenders and a pair of headlights and—presto!—sportscar racing eligible car. Imagine throwing a set of fenders on a modern F1 car and entering it in LeMans. Magnifique!
Gulf Blue Porsche 911 RSR. Yes, please.
available in wallpaper sizes at GT Porsche via Motoring Con Brio
Can we already be closing in on Monterey Week? I’ve barely had time to brace myself for the enormous influx of vintage racing giddiness that it brings each year. As a result, I’ll ease into the season by showcasing this repeat visitor to the Monterey auctions—this gorgeous 1949 Talbot-Lago T26 Racing Monoposto.
Gooding & Co counts this magnificent 1950 Paris Grand Prix winner among it’s featured cars for their Pebble Beach Auctions to be held on August 14 and 15. What a true beauty. This transitional immediate post-war period between the pre-war racers and the Grand Prix greats of the mid 50s is such an interesting time period for racing cars. They had much of the same visual aesthetic as the pre-war cars with their elegant boat tails and proportions that hide the enormous scale of the cars. The technology leaps of WWII were just starting to make the transition to civilian use. These immediate post-war cars present a fascinating period of technological transition. The beauty of the pre-war, mixed with the utility of the post-war.
This example, chassis #110006, wears her French blue paint with pride, having carried Frenchman Georges Grignard around 50 laps of the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in 2 hours 05 minutes 38.8seconds to capture victory; 4 laps ahead of Louis Gérard’s Delage. The race must have been grueling indeed, only Grignard, Gérard, and fellow Delage driver Marc Versini finished the race at all. The other 8 racers all dropped out with mechanical problems (including Stirling Moss at the wheel of the #17 HWM-Alta which dropped out with a connecting rod failure). It’s no surprise that #110006 wears the livery today, with Grignard’s racing number 8 and driver identification hand-painted ahead of the cockpit. Grignard even played a part in the restoration of the car many years later when he provided the spare parts he’d kept from his campaigns with the car. I love the notion of Grignard caring for the car so many years after they’d parted.
Even without the marvelous history, this Talbot-Lago would be no less attractive. The aggressive stance that would surely strike a chord with any American hot-rodder; the bodywork and brightwork that any warbird pilot would feel comfortable in; that exaggerated steering wheel that would feel small in a bus driver’s hands – they unite in a singular display of shear racing beauty and menace. I find myself looking again and again at the simple hand-painted graphics on the car (if you can even call them graphics), just their simplicity and touch of personality communicate such romance and history. It’s simply perfect. If you were to meet Gooding’s estimated bid of $650,000-$850,000 and take this Talbot-Lago home, I’m sure you’d provide a warm and inviting home for her for many years.
Unless, of course, you were the buyer of #110006 at Bonham’s Exceptional Motorcars and Automobilia at the Quail Lodge last year. The car was just as stunning as she is today, and was expected to bring an even more handsome sum, with an estimate of $1-1.3Million. Selling without reserve, though, has its risks and I’m sure there was a very disappointed owner with more than a few shed tears when the car sold for a mere $557,000.
So it’s a year later and that very lucky buyer is looking to see if their good fortune has lasted another 12 months, with an estimated $100,000-$300,000 turn on last year’s investment—not a bad return just for keeping a car in good kit for a year. I hope that this Talbot’s next caretaker doesn’t think of her as a mere investment, and that #110006 finds herself back on the track, not locked in a vault waiting for the next sale.
“Speed, she likes. Comfort, she appreciates. She admires men sensible enough to choose the rather exclusive Morgan Plus Four Plus—and occasionally let her drive. 2138 c.c. TR4A engine. 110 m.p.h. Front Disc Brakes. And superb Morgan controllability. Try one for ever—this week.”
Definitely a Morgan Girl. I love that this reads like an installment of What Sort of Man Reads Playboy? but in reverse.
(found in MotorSport, April 1966)
Gaby participated in this year’s LeMans Classic and despite being busy with her own (gorgeous) car that weekend, still had time to flex her fabulous eye for photography. Head over to Meals n’ Wheels for the complete set.
The swan song of the great Italian race bike makers, 1976 was in the middle of the transition to Japanese maker dominance. But let’s raise our glasses for the Guzzis, Agustas, and Gileras.
I don’t expect a lot from racing graphics in the modern era. Nascar’s rolling billboards and F1’s abandonment of the national racing colors is something I’ve long since come to terms with. I suppose it makes sense in an era when the needs have changed so radically. When, 30 years ago, a spectator sat in the balcony above the racing surface, or low resolution printing technology reproduced the photos in the racing news, you needed a bold color with a large number on the side to tell which car was which. The live spectator is a virtual irrelevance in the contemporary racing world, and the cars can be seen in near-perfect detail by the HD cameras throwing their images around the world. Now you can have imagery with fine details, so you can see the faux lighting effects on the M&Ms logo on the hood, or the crisp lines of the mobile phone logo on a front wing. That’s simply the reality of how the sport is presented today.
This though, really puzzles me. Ferrari has released images of it’s new 458 Challenge racing car. This is the car that will compete alongside the F430 in the Ferrari Challenge one-make racing series that continues to grow each year. The press release for the new machine boasts of it’s enormous Brembo brakes, the stiffer aluminum bushings on the suspension that allow for a 30mm lower stance than the street version, and the implementation of the F1 traction control platform. All heady technology that will no doubt drive the more well-heeled tifosi into the dealer’s doors. The Ferrari Challenge continues to grow each year, this year launching an Asia-Pacific division of the series.
But would you just look at that thing? The shape of the body is slippery and mean looking, and is quite lovely. The graphics though, look like your 6 year old nephew had some leftover decals from a model kit. Uninteresting choice of type for the numbers; the mix of various checker-meets-carbon-fiber patterns; the weird swoopy stripes.
The Scuderia sheild on the fender, the shell logo on the hip, these are traditional and proper logo placements, but even if you can look past the enormity of the Pirelli logos on three (probably four) sides of the car, and the odd placement of logos in front of the rear wheel. There’s nothing about the graphics of this car that I like. The checkers along the doorsill are particularly bad, not complementing but fighting the lines of the car. It’s heartbreakingly bad. Italy usually knows its design, and its such a shame that simplicity loses out to douchey patterny stripy nonsense yet again.
You could have done worse things with your summer of 1966 than perch yourself around the bends of Charade. There’s footage from the May MotoGP meeting, and a July 1966 saloon and sportscar race that set the stage for the filming of Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix. Which makes this film not only a great series of clips from the storied track, but a prop in the camera operator’s position among the 3,000 extras that served as the crowd for the faux French GP. Lucky for us, our cameraman was close to the action too, there’s clear shots of Françoise Hardy in the pits, as well as Frankenheimer himself (I think that’s him in the camel sportcoat). Marvelous!
Mandy Alvarez wrote in with some photos he took as a boy in Cuba, and with stories to boot!
“On the 1954 Buick century #20: That was a brand new car owned by Vaillant Motors the Buick distributor for the complete island. Mr. Vaillant was a good friend of my father Raul Alvarez del Corral, and sold him the car right after the race. The car had simple modifications: Lowering springs, open exhaust and they removed the wheel coves. It had the “nail head” 322 cubic inch V8 engine.
It ran in one of three or four annual road rally races held every year, something very similar to La Carrera Panamericana. This one was from Sagua La Grande to La Habana (Havana) a 310 kilometers race. The Buick was victorious in the stock car category covering the distance in 2hs 13 min 14 sec averaging 136.907 kph. The field consisted of 37 cars ranging from Oldsmobile, Dodge, Lincoln,Chrysler, Hudson Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford,Mercury one Panhard and the Buick. The driver was Jose Salazar Cubillas.”
This is the grid from a support race for the 1957 Gran Premio de Cuba. Mandy says,
“This picture was taking in Havana, Cuba on the Saturday before the 1957 Cuban GP (won by Fangio). This is the start of one the four national races held. #70 a 1957 Buick Special won this particular event. The driver Albelardo Carreras.”
Mandy’s lifelong passion for motorsports started early, and he went on to race himself in SCCA, IMSA, and FIA sanctioned events, including an appearance at the Daytona 24 Hours race. Below are several other photos from the 1957 and 1958 Cuban GPs, and other Cuban races taken before he left the island in the wake of the revolution.
Thanks for sending these in, Mandy!
We’d love to share more reader photos with Chicane readers. Drop us a line at tips@thechicane.com.
Damn that wall looks close.