Category: Historic Racing Photos

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Historic Racing Photos

Reader Photos: William Goldman's 1960 Ole Smokey Hill Climb

MGA at Ole Smokey Hill Climb. Lowellville, OH. 1960.
Brian Goldman sent in these photos that his father shot at the 1960 Ole Smokey Hill Climb in Lowellville, OH. I’ve been sitting on these for a while, trying my darnedest to color correct the aged photos back to their original vibrant glory. My Photoshop skills were no match for them though and I realized that I really should just let these artifacts live as they are—without introducing the artifice of retouching. I love when I decide these things because it lets me be lazy—it’s a key decision-making factor for me.
What I so love about these community events of the mid-century is the variety of machines that are encouraged to participate: VW Beetle, Corvette, MG, racing specials, and others are separated by only a few runs up the hill. Great stuff. Thanks, Brian!


Previously from the Goldman Archives: Put-In-Bay and the Davis Field Trials.

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Historic Racing Photos

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Historic Racing Photos

High Flying Formula Vee Action

Nick Brittan takes the road less traveled at the 1967 Monaco GP support race

You’ve heard me extoll the virtues of the Formula Vee racing class. I adore it for it’s simplicity: A stock VW Beetle front beam; a 1200 cc Beetle engine; and a stockish tranny. How could that not be a good time? On top of that, the grids for the vintage Vees tends to be a good spot for tight racing with skilled drafts and dramatic overtakes.
Compared to this image from the support race for the 1967 Monaco GP, though, today’s Formula Vee races are positively tame. Apparently the rough and tumble formula vee racers weren’t a great cultural match with the champagne sipping Auto Club Monaco crowd and went on to prove it by opening their event with the bumping and pushing that you might expect of the unwashed.

This shot of Nick Brittan’s rather unconventional overtake near the yacht harbor chicane really probably didn’t do much to improve their reputation in the principality as evidenced by this bit from the Motoring News GP Report:

“The Formula Vee race opened proceedings and proved only that such unstable cars should not be allowed near a race track. The only British driver involved, Nick Brittan, arrived at the chicane on his first lap to find a French-driven car sideways on in front of him; he hit it and rolled, falling back on his wheels, fortunately with no personal damage.”

More history of Formula Vee at Volkswagen Motorsport.

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Historic Racing Photos

A C-Type in Sicily

When I conjure a Jaguar C-Type in my mind it’s always surrounded by verdant rolling hills of Spa or the green pastures of Goodwood. For some reason it never even occurred to me to imagine her in the brown and dusty roads of the Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie.

The Sicilian mountains seem to suit her though, don’t you think? Tommy Wisdom sure thought so when he took a C-Type to finish 17th at the 1953 running of the Targa Florio. You might think that 17th is nothing to brag about, but even finishing the Targa is a proud accomplishment.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos Racing Drivers

Who Needs Umbrella Girls?

de Portago gridding up for the 1957 GP de Cuba

How hard do you think that Alfonso de Portago would laugh if we could tell him that racing teams have models in the pit lane who’s job it is to shield the drivers from the sun? De Portago didn’t need someone to cover his head when it started to rain before the 1957 Cuban GP and he certainly didn’t need it for the sun. A Shell ad wedged in the windscreen of his Ferrari 860 does just fine, thank you very much.

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Ferrari Historic Racing Photos Porsche

ZANTAFIO56’s 1970 LeMans

Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood’s Winning Porsche 917

I don’t know that the 1970 running of the LeMans 24 Hours race is particularly pivotal for the public at large, but that particular running is just so cemented in my mind. I’m sure the documentation of it in the form of McQueen’s LeMans is the key reason. Also significant for Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood’s victory that gave Porsche their first outright win at the race: A feat they’d repeat 15 more times and started Porsche down their road to winningest team in the event’s history.

The Solar Productions 908 with Jonathan Williams and Herbert Linge at the wheels

These images from Flickr user ZANTAFIO56 only serve to further add to the importance and beauty of the race in my mind. He seems to have been all over the track, with some marvelous shots from several corners of La Sarthe and the pits as well. More of Zantafio56’s shots at his flickr set. Fantastic!

The winning drivers’ celebratory lap
Note the crashed ‘LeMans’ cars behind the Chevron

I just realized that this is my third 917-centric post in a week. I’ll take a break from her now. I promise.


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Historic Racing Photos Porsche Racing Ephemera

Top ‘er Off

Looking sharp in the pits

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll never have a 917. But man, I’d sure like one of these Shell Super oil cans—particularly in the condition seen in this marvelous shot in the pits at Spa by Rainer Schlegelmilch.

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Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos

A Nearly Private Grand Prix

Rudolf Caracciola at Coppa Ciano

When I see images like this one of Rudolf Caracciola in his Mercedes-Benz W154 at the 1938 Copa Ciano, I am both energized by it and saddened.

Imagine the cacophony reverberating off the buildings of this narrow alley in Livorno, Italy. Imagine the show that this handful of people are having as they peer out from entryways and lean out of windows along the Montenero Circuit. It’s almost an intimate moment captured between driver and spectator as Rudolf glances up from his racing line and makes eye contact with a racing fan poking his head out of a doorway.

It’s most noticeable in the restrictions on pit access, but these opportunities for racing driver and enthusiast to connect are just as lost during the race as before and after. The farther and farther we push fans from the action—for good reasons, as Daytona recently pointed out—the more isolated the driver is from the fan.

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Chicane News Historic Racing Photos

Women on the Track

Anna Maria Peduzzi with her Stanguellini 1100 Sport. 1956.

For International Women’s Day we’ve been posting a series of photos of our favorite women in motorsport on The Chicane’s Tumblr. Click on over an join in.

Maria Teresa de Filippis in Monaco
Suzy Dietrich in her Porsche 550
Categories
Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos

Pioneers in Racing Air Conditioning

Carlo Felice Trossi at the 1934 Nice GP
Stirling Moss in a Rob Walker Lotus 18 at the 1961 Monaco GP

Why swelter under the hot summer sun when you can have a cool breeze soothing you on a Sunday drive? Carlo Felice Trossi in his Alfa at the 1932 Nice GP and Moss in his Rob Walker Lotus 18 at 1961’s Monaco GP demonstrate.