Author: Harlo

Unseen Film of Riverside 1957 – A Chicane Exclusive!

Post author By Harlo
Post date February 6, 2010
No Comments on Unseen Film of Riverside 1957 – A Chicane Exclusive!

Although it’s been quite some time since our profile of Torrey Pines for our Lost Tracks series, that post has had some interesting action in the past few weeks when I was contacted by a reader with Torrey Pines stories to share. John McClure was a member of the San Diego Jr. Chamber of Commerce and sports car fan and driver. His association with the Chamber put him in a position to combine his passions as part of the team that developed the Torrey Pines Race Course. Thankfully, John also carried a camera around with him for races up and down the West Coast. John has very kindly sent a DVD of his 1950s West Coast racing films to be featured on the Chicane. This is the first installment of this footage from many of the West Coast racetracks.

This film is from the inaugural race at Riverside International Motor Raceway on September 21-22, 1957. There’s a lot of great clips here. Some amazing racing machines, including well known West Coast specials. It’s a 1950s race, of course, which means that there are a few dramatic crashes. The spectators just pile on to the track and right the car. Just another reminder of how very close and immediate the action, and danger, was at those events. Which allows for some wonderfully close camera work. Thanks again, John, for letting us share this footage with vintage racing fans. It is outstanding.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that The Chicane Shop is currently offering a t-shirt commemorating this very race. Check it out here.

Update: Commenters at Ferrari Chat and The Nostalgia Forum have been spotting some details in the footage. Among them, that some of these shots are actually from the November ’57 Palm Springs race (oops!). There’s particular interest in the D-Type/Troutman-Barnes duel of Pete Woods & Chuck Daigh, both of whom retired allowing Richie Ginther to claim his first victory in John Edgar’s Ferrari (Woods’ D-Type was the marvelous example featured at last month’s Scottsdale Auction).
If this footage is stirring up any additional observations, insights, a story, if you spot a favorite driver… please share in the comments.

Tags chuck daigh, John McClure, pete woods, richie ginther, Riverside Raceway, unseen, Vintage Racecars, Vintage Racing

Automotive Art Ferrari Historic Racing Photos

Martin Vincent’s Retromobile Photos

Post author By Harlo
Post date February 5, 2010
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Looks like I’ll have to add Salon Retromobile to my list of future automotive events to attend. I usually prefer my vintage racecar events to include some racing, but these photos from Martin Vincent’s Flickr Stream have me convinced that the fact that this event is held indoors is no barrier to seeing some very high quality machines. This unveiling of an ex-Regazzoni, Andretti, Galli and Merzario Ferrari 312B really puts me over the edge. Beautiful!

See more of Martin’s remarkable shots at his Retromobile Gallery.

More on the Ferrari 312B at Hall & Hall.

Tags Ferrari, Vintage Racecar, Vintage Racecars

Racing Ephemera Track Maps of the Past

Pit Maps of the Past – 1921 LeMans

Post author By Harlo
Post date February 3, 2010
No Comments on Pit Maps of the Past – 1921 LeMans

We’ve long been fans of the hand-illustrated track maps of years gone by, and that of course extends to this Pit Map of the Tribunes from the 1921 ~~24 Heurs du Mans~~. (Update: as a commenter pointed out below, there was no 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1921—nor would there be for another 2 years—this material is all from the ACF Grand Prix, which largely used the same facilities as the eventual 24 hour race – Thanks for the clarification, Dan)

It’s graphically beautiful. In a modern world of graphic design software and precision digital printing presses, I’m always impressed by the incredible graphic design expertise of those who did without them. this hand-set type is beautiful, and the lines precise enough to go up against anything the Creative Suite has to offer.

Found at The Nostalgia Forum, which also turned up these printed artifacts from the ’21 LeMans, a track map and program cover. Always great information over there.

Tags 24 Hours Du Mans, LeMans, vintage auto racing, Vintage Racecars, Vintage Racing

Video

Aston Onboard at LeMans Classic 2008

Post author By Harlo
Post date January 29, 2010
No Comments on Aston Onboard at LeMans Classic 2008

Back with more LeMans Classic footage, JH was good enough to write in about this marvelous Aston-Martin DB2/4 mixing it up with Masers, Allards and Jags at the Classic in ’08. Thankfully the driver had the video recording early for the running “LeMans Start”. Bring it back!

Even better, they let the video run into the night.. Admittedly not as much to see here, but that’s the point isn’t it: Racing when you can barely even see—when everything disappears and all that exists is the racing line and the upcoming curve.

Tags Aston Martin, lemans classic, Vintage Racecars, Vintage Racing

Video

LeMans Classic 2008 Video

Post author By Harlo
Post date January 28, 2010
No Comments on LeMans Classic 2008 Video

Here’s a nice appetizer for this year’s LeMans Classic. Tickets for the 2010 Classic are now on sale, and this footage from the ’08 event has me hoping to go this year. Enjoy.

Tags LeMans, Vintage Racecar, Vintage Racing

Chicane News For Sale Gear Racing Ephemera

Announcing Chicane Trackwear and The Chicane Shop

Post author By Harlo
Post date January 27, 2010
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This is a big day for The Chicane. We finally get to let you in on something that we’ve been dying to share on the blog for some time.

After months of work, we’re finally ready to debut the first pieces of a line of vintage racing inspired clothing. Chicane Trackwear will ultimately include a variety of garments and accessories inspired by our love of vintage racing: everything from our favorite racing models, marques, teams, races, and eras of auto racing history.

The first items are two t-shirts from two very different parts of our vintage racing heritage. The Riverside International Raceway t-shirt is inspired by the early races held at the track in 1957. There are a lot of tracks that we’d like to feature on t-shirt graphics. But for our first, we though it was important to celebrate one of America’s great Lost Tracks. It would be obvious to have a Green Hell shirt, or a Circuito Palermo (and I suspect we’ll have one of each eventually), but celebrating America’s sportscar racing heritage has always been an important part of The Chicane, and there’s not many tracks more missed than Riverside.

The Yamura Motors t-shirt is our way of showing appreciation for the fictional Formula 1 team at the heart of John Frankenheimer’s legendary film, Grand Prix. In a few frames of the movie, you can see the Yamura pit crews gathering around Pete Aron’s machine wearing coveralls with a graphic very like this one. Most people might not understand it; but when someone does it’s magic.

Available exclusively from the newly launched—and soon to expand—Chicane Shop.

Racing Ephemera Vintage Racing Advertising

Vintage Racing Ads: Rebodies for Specials

Post author By Harlo
Post date January 27, 2010
No Comments on Vintage Racing Ads: Rebodies for Specials

Another brilliant argument for the benefits of body-on-frame building. Are you bored with your Austin-7 or compact Ford? Why not just drop a new fiberglass body on that frame and have a sweet little racing special to take to the track or just cruise around town. See how easy it used to be to become the coolest kid on the block?

These were all from a single 1958 issue of MotorSport. The possibilities were endless, and cheap. Guess what you do if you’re bored with your compact Ford today… You deal with it. Or you glue a horrifically ugly wing on it. Yay! a big stupid wing!

Tags austin 7, Vintage Racecar, Vintage Racing

Classic Sportscar For Sale

Available in CT: Cooper-Monaco T49

Post author By Harlo
Post date January 24, 2010
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I have long held a firm belief that you can only paint your car red if it’s from Italy: Corvettes in red? No. Porsches? Ew. Ferrari? Maserati? Bandini? Now we’re talking. Red just always screams “trying too hard” to me. But for some reason, and I don’t know if it’s the sexy Italian bodylines or just being used to seeing red Ferraris, but once you’ve decided to go all out on an Italian machine, the red just works.

This Cooper-Monaco, though, has me thinking that it must be the slinky curves and not the country of origin that does the trick. Because this little racer has more beautiful curves than it knows what to do with and looks marvelous in red. I love everything about this 1959 Cooper-Monaco. The Cooper team simply took its game-changing Formula 1 car and widened her to accommodate a passenger, wrapped the frame in this marvelous aluminum skin, and called it a day. In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about “race track technology for the road”, but it so often falls flat or, worse yet, was more a function of the marketing department than the engineering team.

That is not to say, of course, that this little beauty was a simple road car (although this was still the era when you drove your racecar to the track, knocked out a quick win, and drove her home). She’s a full-blooded racer with the pedigree to prove it. This example, Chassis CM.5.59, at the hands of Colin Davis, won her debut at the 1959 Grand Prix Messina. Sadly for this example, it was all downhill from there. She claimed a 5th place at the 1960 GP Cuba (again with Colin Davis piloting), and DNFed at the 1960 Targa Florio.

Thankfully, though, this was not the true end for this marvelous little racing car, and today the car offers some excellent perks for the vintage racer. Race engineer Carroll Smith (of Engineer to Win fame) converted the car, in period, to coil-over suspension. Later owner, Porsche IMSA racing champion, Bob Akin, converted the powerplant from her original Maserati 200SI to a Coventry-Climax/Hewland drivetrain.

Today, CM.5.59 is ready to race and available from Connecticut restoration specialists and dealer, Automotive Restorations, Inc, coupled with their vintage racing preparation service, it’s one-stop shopping for one amazing summer racing season. She’s a fantastic little racer and I can certainly think of worse ways to spend $225,000. More details on the dealer’s info sheet.

Thanks to the mighty Hemmings Blog for pointing this beauty out.