What do you say chaps? Who’s up for a match of Auto Polo?
Category: Historic Racing Photos
This is an interesting moment for Ferrari in this shot. It captures the transition from the era of craftsmen hand-building the early F-cars to the technological sophistication that we think of when we see images of the current factory floor.
More than that though, I’m just glad that the ‘Dino’ moniker no longer seems to have the disregard that it once had. Which is a good thing, because It has to be one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful silhouettes. I know I’ll catch flak for this, but I think I’d rather have the 246 Dino in my garage than the Daytona Coupe it shared the factory floor with.
Stumbling across this photo in the Auto Clasico Flickr stream was particularly good timing because I saw an example of each of these cars this past weekend at Wheels of Italy; which was fun as always, but had an uncharacteristic lack of classic Italian scooters this year.
Forget Griot’s. Forget Garage Style Magazine. Forget the Garage-Mahals. If you’re undertaking a renovation of your garage, you can have no better goal than this photo of the Aston Martin works team prepping the 1.5 Liter Ulster for the 1935 LeMans. You can almost smell it.
Via The Old Motor.
An amazing set of images shot in 1914 by photographer J.R. Eike of the St. Louis Motordrome board track and publicity shots of some of the racers. These scans are pulled from the original glass plate negatives, which languished for years in the garage of a relative of the photographer and were very nearly discarded before being rescued by collector Tom Kempland.
The photographer’s notes describe the St. Louis boardtrack as a portable Motordrome, but it sure looks like it has some permanence in these shots. I don’t find any record of the track being moved. Usually ‘Motordrome’ refers to a smaller track that was something between the larger boardtracks and the sideshow “walls of death”; although I have seen early reports of mile-long boardtracks referred to as Motordromes as well.
Even without the ‘wall of death’ moniker, this boardtrack had a bit of notoriety amongst racers of the era as well. Boardtracks were known for their steep bankings—some as much as 68°—but unlike the more gently transitioning tracks, St. Louis’s track was referred to as a “pie tin” because of it’s abrupt transition from a gentle 15° banking to the steeper edges.
You can really see the abrupt transition here.I can only imagine the terrifying prospect of making that transition up to the wall of the track. Just performing the feat on it’s own seems like a courageous act. Now imagine doing it in the thick of battle with a dozen other racers operating without brakes in a furious clamor to the front of the pack. There was a fine line indeed between motorsport and bloodsport.
The structure itself was remarkable. Just look at the photo of the steep bowl waiting to be surrounded by eager fans. The lamp posts are interesting as well, not only as an obvious hazard to avoid on the infield, but the number of lights make me wonder if the track hosted night racing. I’ve never read of nighttime board track races, but it seems somehow even more perilous. What a thrill!
More photos at the Thomas Kempland Glass Plates Archive. You can see a short video about Kempland and his discovery of these photos here.
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Transporter Eye Candy
In the comments of an earlier post on newly-discovered Pebble Beach photos, Bill Greene pointed us to some photos that his uncle captured of the 1951 Pebble Beach Road Races. I love when these types of things come out of hiding; not only because we get to see new imagery of the ’51 Pebble Beach Races, but because each time a new piece of media of these old races surfaces it reminds me of how many bits of vintage racing amazement are still waiting to be discovered.
Thanks for scanning and sharing these, Bill! See the rest of them at Bill’s Flickr Stream.
Great find by Auto Classica of these Mercedes-Benz factory shots. Hard to imagine the 3-Pointed Star facility being this low-tech looking. Great stuff.
This single image of Fangio at the wheel of his 250F says more about the soul and spirit of classic motorsport than I can hope to write in a lifetime.
Wow. Talk about a varied list of competitors.
I must admit that I’ve frequently lumped hillclimbs in with autocrosses in terms of holding my attention. On both counts, I do recognize it as “real” racing. I respect the effort required to race not only your competitors, but yourself. I appreciate the concentration and skill it takes to get through that course as quickly as possible.
Somehow, though, it always lacked the thrill of wheel-to-wheel racing for me.
I think I may have to seriously reconsider that. After all, when have you seen a more varied and interesting field than the one represented in just these few photos from the 1974 Carrera en el Cuesta al Montseny?
The Spanish hillclimb, part of the European Mountain Championship, has quite a history. Although I must admit it was this magnificent poster image that caught my eye initially, in looking around a bit for more information on this event in particular and the Montseny Hillclimb in general, I am enthralled by what an event it must have been. Today, relatively few hillclimbs garner any international attention (Hell, even local attention). That is a great shame. I have to think the spectating is no less thrilling than the WRC. And just look at the variety of machinery you’ll encounter. From just this event I see Homologation Specials, Touring Cars, Small-Bore Grand Tourers, and Open Wheel cars. ¡Magnifico!
Eugenio Baturone’s Brabham
In 1974, Jimmy Mieusset won the day in a March 742 with a time of 8’56″97, with Yves Martin’s McLaren F2 following with a time 13 seconds longer.
More photos and race results from the 1974 Montseny Hillclimb at what has to the authoritative source: Magic Montseny
