I think Phil is looking for a break in the traffic to enter the race after a LeMans start or reenter from the pit wall, but his expression here seems to say to me, “Hi, I’m Phil Hill; and I’m going to beat you to the finish line.”
Just look at the smoke these things were kicking out! It’s like the smoke screen from a certain DB-5.
Front row of grid at start. J. Stewart #1 in new March – #16 Jack Brabham and #11 J. Oliver in BRMA few weeks ago I posted a series of photos from pits of the 1964 USGP and mused about the prospect of wandering the pits snapping photos. I got an email the next day from Dick Lees who had a collection of just the types of photos I’m always rambling on about: close to the action, or just ambling through the pits. No barriers, no velvet ropes around the cars, no security ushering the photographer away from a garage.
Jackie Oliver BRM P153 DNF: Driveshaft. Note the band members covering up their ears
Graham Hill Lotus 49C 5th due to Gearbox problems.
Black Jack Brabham Ignition Problems Finished 3rdDick was stationed in England in the late ’60s and early ’70s and had an opportunity to attend many races in this glorious era. These are the first batch (he’s promised to dig into his archives—and I plan to hold him to it :)).
Check out the Pink sunglasses. (Glad to see Dick had his eyes on more than just the track!)
Bruce McLaren in McLaren M-14A DNF Accident
Winner Jackie Stewart with first win for the new MARCHThis first batch is from the 1970 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. Thanks to Dick for sending these in! Very much looking forward to seeing the upcoming sets!
François Cevert was so hard to read. Half the time I look at this shot, I think he’s giving an intimidating glare. The other half of the time it looks like we’re sharing an inside joke. It has to be one of them though, right? There’s either a set jaw or a smirk behind that balaclava.
Edit: Thanks to Kev for identifying the photographer of this marvelous shot as Rainer Schlegelmilch.
Sure, you could use an engine stand next time you’re wrenching on your 4-cam Porsche engine… Or you could be a man about it and just drop it out of your 550 Spyder RS60, pop off the valve cover, and throw it over on its side.
I know more than a few vintage Formula Vee drivers that would be beside themselves with joy to take a sweeping right through Casino Square or drop to low gear for the Hairpin.
But until today, I’d never seen photos of FVs taking to this most famous track. From 1966 to 1975, the European Formula V Championship was one of the many feeder series that aspiring Formula 1 drivers had as a platform to prove themselves—including young Keke Rosberg who was the FV champion in 1973.
By the mid 60s, the Vee Formula was already popular in the States, and had slowly been making inroads into Europe. In 1966 the Formula was actively being raced throughout Europe with two holdouts: Italy and France. It wasn’t until the French magazine l’Automobil and racing driver Maurice Trintignant got behind it that the formula finally properly launched in France a year later. Finally, the formula found its way to the promised land: Monaco.
Perhaps it sounds silly to have these little 1300cc VW Beetle powered cars puttering around Monaco. Bear in mind though, that 67’s winning average pace of 99.3 kph isn’t far from Fangio’s pace in the 1950 race and is only 16 kph slower than Moss’ 1960 qualifying average.
Werner Riedl, who would later become the Formula champion in ’68, took the race in an Austro Beach (is this the same as the popular Beach stateside?). The rest of the field was a collection of makers that have since become popular in today’s vintage Formula Vee racing (Beach, Autodynamics) as well as a few that I’m not familiar with (Fuchs, Bora, Zarp).
I know there are some BMW 2002 peeps out there that would pass out on the spot if they saw all of these highly-coveted Alpina performance parts together in one place like this. Heck, I know one who would be giddy to just find a complete set of the wheels with the elongated holes.
Who could blame them? Just look at all of the rare goodies collected here in this shot: performance cranks and pistons and engine blocks and brakes and sway bars and springs and headers and exhaust and…
Whew, I’m starting to get lightheaded myself.
Ok, maybe vintage racecar design wasn’t all better than today’s.
Eesh.