Mexican road racing offered more than just the Panamericana, my friends. This is the temporary street course created for the 1968 Tijuana Internaccional races. The program included Formula Ford and Vee races, as well as production based classes – and even featured a LeMans style running start. ¡Me Gusta!
Tijuana Road Racing Course
Hand drawn is almost always best, don’t you think? And when in doubt, add some Speed Racer-esque accent illustrations.
Here’s some video from the same venue a few years later. Fabulous projected 8mm film cans, complete with projector fan noise and voice commentary from the driver.
I recently came across this wonderful Racing Driver meets Scooby Doo edition of the Michel Vaillant series of comic books, “17 Het Spook Van De 24 Uur”. Originally published in French in Belgium – first printed as an unrelated side-story in the Tintin comics, this story follows dashing racing driver and industrialist Michel Vaillant as he competes in the 24 Hours of LeMans. The Scooby bit is the haunting of the track by a mysterious specter. I’d love to tell you more about the story, but inability to read the Dutch language version I located leaves me wanting.
Ferrari P3
Like our last look into the world of racing comics, there are some beautifully rendered racing machines, this time rooted in the real world. Take a peek.
Part of the allure of the Michel Vaillant series is exactly this realism. Vaillant has competed in, and won natch, in the 24 Hours and Indianapolis 500, and competed on the track at Monza, Spa, and others. This notion of a comic hero that lives in a reality rooted in the real world isn’t necessarily new. The Marvel (New York) vs. DC (Metropolis/Gotham) approaches have been an interesting study in the immediacy of comic books and their real world environments.
The rest of the field
In the world of racing, though, Michel Vaillant is unique in this. Many a real-world racing driver has claimed that an early interest in the Vaillant stories was the root of their passion for the sport. It’s easy to see why. The stories, and again I’m just going by the imagery here, are more realistic than the cloak & dagger and romance of the stateside Grand Prix series of comics. The realism must have been the allure for many a young racing fan and would-be driver. It isn’t always pure fantasy and melodrama that pulls people in. Now if I could only find an english language version of these, I’d really be in business.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. People just don’t put the care into track maps that they used to. This isometric illustration of the track at Riverside is impressive. Before we had Google Maps’ satellite view, we had illustrators. When it comes to track maps, I’m not so sure we’re better off.
Old racing ads are just better, aren’t they? I also love that they focus on a variety of racing types, not just NASCAR like contemporary racing advertising does.
Following on the success of Google Images archive of the Life Magazine photographic collection, Life has extended the relationship with Google and has uploaded their entire pre-1970 archive of magazines to the Google Books service. Another trove of auto racing booty awaits!
Let’s start with the October 28, 1966 issue’s piece by Hugh Moffett about the then-upcoming Cinerama popcorn movie, John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix. Yes, it’s another Grand Prix post. It’s an obsession.
While the article is a pretty light and typical ‘upcoming fare from Hollywood’ piece, it does reveal a few details about the project. Among them that the 16 camera crews shooting compiled over 300 hours of footage. That simple tid-bit makes the features included in the Grand Prix Two-Disc Special Edition DVD release feel woefully underdone. There has been a long-standing search underway by Nostalgia Forum commenters for the missing footage, including a rumored shooting session filmed at the Nurburgring that Frankenheimer was compelled not to use owing to a exclusive agreement between Nurburgring management and another film project. This article doesn’t mention the Nurburgring footage, but does give some delightful detail about the Formula 1 greats that participated in the movie, including a wonderful story about the thrill the writer got when Phil Hill popped him into the passenger seat of a race-prepped Ford Cobra for a few flying laps around a wet Brand Hatch.
I can understand the appeal of this advertising method. We have a car. Its an iconic car. Its a car people fell in love with when they were 15 years old. Let’s play on that lineage and unquenched desires of youth by reminding them of the love they had for this car when they were a kid. We show the old car, we show the new car; the thing sells itself. The problem is that it just never works. No one has ever seen one of these ads and craved the new car.
Maybe I’m not being fair. It sort of does work. Unquenched desires swell, purchase thoughts creep into your head. But they’re not desires for the new car; no. You just want the old car more.
When Porsche can’t even pull this off, you know it’s time to abandon this entire marketing tactic. Porsche is releasing the 911 Sport Classic, a limited edition 911 inspired by the Touring RS. They’ve pulled in some of the performance spirit and visual hallmarks of the classic: 408hp, carrera stripes, the ducktail. I’m a sucker for the ducktail, so this should really be driving me crazy. But then they go ahead and photograph it next to an original 70’s RS. Guess which one I want. Guess which one everyone wants. Does this ever work on anyone?
Just when the mania of the Monterey weekend events and auctions die down, we’re getting ready for the Goodwood Revival and the associated auctions.
There are, of course, many amazing racing cars coming available, but this lot from Bonham’s upcoming Collector’s Motor Cars and Automobilia auction really struck a chord with me. The set of two-piece racing Dunlop blues was a gift from Clark to his accountant’s motorfan son. The auction catalog says this race suit was race-worn and will include a photo of Clark wearing them in 1965, but doesn’t specify the race.
The GPDA badge on the chest was a gift given separately, and added to the suit by the young fan. I don’t know the age of the boy that received this marvelous gift, but I like to imagine him draped in the oversized race suit and making engine noises in a pedal car or refrigerator box. I almost like this artifact of motoring history for the story after they were Clark’s as much as their provenance with the champion.
Bonham’s estimates the suit will sell for £2,000 – 4,000. See the lot details page for more detail.
Track maps have sure taken a turn for the worse since this illustration of the Swedish track Karlskoga, Gelleråsen. It’s absolutely fantastic. Dig the illustrated saloon cars racing around the front straight. Perfect.
Compare with the modern official map, and mourn the passing of elegance and style.
This has been getting some play on the motorcycle blogs, but the sheer beauty of this demands that I share it with you. This 1973 (non-video) arcade game is a thing of engineering and aesthetic joy. In the pre-video era, these remarkable coin-op games were not uncommon, and growing up in Michigan meant I could occasionally visit Marvin’s Mechanical Museum, which is a living museum of classic coin-ops. I don’t think ole’ Marvin has one of these, but if he did, I might have to move in.
This arcade game gives the customer, through a set of handlebars, control over a motorcycle which weaves, through traffic on its way to the finish line. Unlike some arcade driving games of the era, this game does not have small vehicles riding across a spinning treadmill to simulate motion. This game can do away with the visible strings holding the participants by using magnets to push the competitor motorcycles over a static play surface. The video does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could. It’s definitely worth a watch.
Needless to say, I’ve got a new obsession for an object to put in the garage. I’m not sure if this one is more or less expensive than a real race bike from the era would be. I’m also not sure which would be more fun.
