Now I feel a bit better about my use of starter fluid. It must not be the crutch I thought it was if it’s good enough for a Silver Arrow at this year’s Goodwood Revival.
Majestic sound.
Category: Grand Prix
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Fit Race-Proved
Ferodo First
British Grand Prix
1st Lotus-Climax J. Clark
2nd Lola-Climax J. Surtees
3rd Cooper-Climax B. McLaren
Touring Car Race
1st Jaguar 3.8 J. Sears
Fit race-proved Ferodo Anti-Fade Brake Linings. Disc Brake Pads.
Ferodo Limited · Chapel-en-le-Frith · A Member of the Turner & Newell Group
Whenever I see these types of candid photos of racing drivers, my contemporary jadedness comes through and I initially dismiss it as a manufactured photo opp for the papers. But then I think back to everything I’ve read about the camaraderie of the Formula 1 community in the 50s and 60s and I become a believer again.
Seeing Jim Clark and Graham Hill in this off-track incident here just seems wonderful… and genuine. Can you imagine Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button grabbing their ladyfriends for a bit of impromptu bumper-car action?
Me neither.
Just like racing log books, this shop coat should be passed on to the new owner each time a Bugatti 35 is sold. Beautiful.
Via Forum Auto.
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Alfetta or Wee-Alfetta?
Browsing through the archives on Silodrome I spotted this amazing photo of a naked 1951 Alfa Romeo Tipo 159 Alfetta and was enthralled with the beauty of this machine’s lines under the bodywork. All that riveted aluminum… How could I not fall in love?
Then something made me think that I’m actually looking at the Exoto model of the Alfetta. Something about the photo style planted in my mind the idea that this isn’t the real deal. Have I just had some mistaken Inception-style conviction of an illusion?
I guess this speaks to the quality of scale models available today that I can’t tell the difference.
Backing the Winner
When the name of Jack Brabham appears in the international press as the victor on world circuits, few people realise that it’s the automotive parts and equipment that help him to victory. Backing the Repco-Brabham racing car is an unremitting programme of scientific research and quality control. Shown here is Jack Brabham himself with a Repco engineer watching the recording of dynamometer tests on an engine at the Repco Engine Laboratory.
Repco
Winner of Award for Outstanding Export Achievement
Jack Brabham looks to Repco – Where the standard is perfection
This marvelous trove of images from the 1960 Italian Grand Prix not only capture the atmosphere of Monza’s pits, but are a fantastic family heirloom from the photographer.
(Update: Tony Adriaensens points out in the comments that the photographer’s name, which was somehow missing from the Ten Tenths thread is Archie Smith and that CorsaResearch will be publishing a book of his photographs—Thanks Tony!)
On the Ten Tenths forums, Cub says: “My father is the photographer. He was and remains an enthusiast for all motor sports. My mother worked in a photography shop and had access to early colour film and bought him a Voigtlander 120 format camera. They embarked on many, many adventures to various locations across Europe at a time when few people choose to drive around the continent for holidays. All of his slides are glass mounted but with rapidly deteriorating and very sticky taped edges.”
And with that, he leads us through the fantastic images his father captured 50 years ago. That he’s scanning these images to preserve them is wonderful, but sharing them with us and the readers on the Ten Tenths forum is truly a public service to vintage racing fans—particularly when so many photographers are increasingly reluctant to share their photos online. Head on over to the thread for more.
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Moroccan GP, 1958
What do you think it would take to get Formula 1 back to Casablanca?
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Maserati Presenta Silverstone 1948
Disappointingly short, I know.
How about if I throw in these images from the same race of Geoffrey Ansell and his ERA B-Type getting way too well acquainted with the hay bales on the 23rd lap?
With all the (deserved) talk of the dangers of early motor racing, it always surprises me to see images like this (and this) where, despite the terrors captured in the photograph, the driver was uninjured. Geoffrey walked away from this one nonetheless, thumbing his nose at the odds.
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Stirling’s Cooper
I started out looking for a photograph of the Cooper team in 1958 & 59. Not just the drivers, mind you, but the entire team.
It seems like the kind of thing that must exist but I haven’t managed to dig one up. You see, I was playing in my mind the notion of Ferrari’s dreaded garagistas that were making his life difficult and I had this mental image of a dozen or so chaps in a garage piecing the Championship winning Cooper together. I wanted some visual representation of that; of this handful of hot-rodders coming together to compete on the international stage; and figured that there must be a group photo of the team. I still haven’t found one.
But you know how Googling goes… One link leads to another which leads to another and I ended up on this video of Sir Stirling Moss taking us through the paces in a ’59 Cooper Climax at Donnington. That’s worth passing along, right?