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Grand Prix Video

A Spin Around Spa, circa 1958

Who wants to run a lap around Spa-Francorchamps during the 1958 Grand Prix d’Europe?

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For Sale Grand Prix

Available in the UK: Ex-Pedro Rodríguez BRM P133 Formula 1 Car

The restoration masters at Hall & Hall call this ex-Pedro Rodríguez BRM P133 one of the most original 3 liter Formula 1 cars left. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt as Hall & Hall have no shortage of remarkable Formula car restorations under their belts. Which means they’ve seen lots of F1 cars at their worst, and in desperate need of restoration. This car, chassis P133-01, on the other hand, retains a good portion of the car as it was when Pedro crossed the finish line in 2nd place at the 1968 Belgian GP at Spa. Or 2nd at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in March, ’68. Or 3rd at the ’68 Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Or 3rd at the Canadian GP. Or 4th at his home race in Mexico.

And that leaves out entirely the car’s history with Jackie Oliver the following season. There’s no doubt the car has a brilliant history.

Hall & Hall mentions that the current owner bought the car directly from the team to enter in F1 races in 1971. They must mean Robs Lamplough, who entered the car in the ’71 Jochen Rindt trophy at Hockenheim and in Brands Hatch the same year (without much success, I’m afraid).

I’ve always thought that BRM’s 60’s livery as among the most beautiful of all time. The simple orange belt around the nose that is immediately recognizable but subtle. The dealer’s photos show the car both with and without it’s nose and rear wings. Which makes me think it’s still possible to run the car with the setup Pedro preferred in the ’68 season. See the dealer’s detail page for more.

Categories
Classic Sportscar Grand Prix

Art Appreciation: Blitzen Benz

The 1909 Land Speed Record holder is a mighty, fire belching, 200hp, 21.5 liter engined dragon. It requires a driver of unending determination and incalculable courage. It is gigantic. It is angry. It is gorgeous.

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Grand Prix Video

1937 GP Season on Film

In the comments on the ’36 Monaco post, Miguel pointed out this 16 minute two-part film compilation of the 1937 GP season, which definitely deserves its own post. Thanks for finding this beauty, Miguel!

Categories
Grand Prix Racing Ephemera

Grand Prix Guide 1974

I’m often envious of Mister Jalopy’s garage sale reports, but this installment really took me over the edge. Each of these helmet graphics would make a fantastic t-shirt design… hmm….

Update:
There’s a copy of this on eBay with a Buy it Now price of $24.99. Happy bidding!
Somebody bought it—was it one of you?

Categories
Grand Prix Video

Monaco Grand Prix 1936-37

Most of the prewar footage of Grands Prix that I come across are very short; a minute or two. The days of endlessly long recording time were still quite a ways off, particularly for cameras small enough to report trackside. As a result, we have precious little footage of Nuvolari or Caracciola. By these standards this wonderful clip is an epic film at 2 minutes and change.

It’s in clips like that that the legend of Monaco really shines. If this were any other track (except maybe Indianapolis) it would be so marred by change that this footage would be unrecognizable. Thankfully, the shots of the tunnel or Station Hairpin have meaning to us today. These aren’t simply clips of brave men careening through city streets, they’re the pioneers that allowed Jenson and Hamilton to round these same corners today. If not for these early GP giants, Monaco would have long since been replaced.

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Grand Prix Video

Talbot-Lago T26 in Action


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!

Categories
For Sale Grand Prix

Monterey Auction Preview: 1949 Talbot Lago T26 Monoposto

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.

Categories
Classic Cycle Grand Prix Video

A Summer at Clermont-Ferrand

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!

Categories
Grand Prix Video

Chopard’s Monaco Historique 2010 Film

The watchmakers at Chopard sure were able to get some great footage last month thanks their sponsorship of the Monaco Grand Prix Historique. Visit their sponsorship site here. Fantastique!