This is interesting. I don’t really know the context here, but apparently there was a parade lap of the Goodwood Circuit last weekend of various period cars and trucks—mostly service vehicles. This is exactly the kind of footage you don’t expect to see, and one of the reasons I find the Goodwood event so compelling. Giving respect to the period, not just the racing cars of the period, is the kind of theatre that makes me keep saying to myself, ‘I’ll have to make it to Goodwood next year’.
Category: Video
Sadly, I won’t be attending this year’s Goodwood Revival this weekend. But I’m resolved that I absolutely must drag myself across the pond eventually. Part of me is trepidatious about actually going to the event, because I’ve built it up in my head so much. On paper, I love everything about this event; every bit of footage I’ve seen of it shows spectators getting very close to the action, at an intimate venue, in period attire, amidst an almost Disney-esque recreation of postwar buildings. Could anything be more marvelous?
See how much fun these things can be when we all decide to put some effort into it. Not just the cars—which are immaculately prepared. Not just the drivers—which are often pulled from the rosters of the greatest drivers in history. Not just the venue—Lord March is a consummate host. Not even just the spectators—who take cosplay to the best possible conclusion. But the entire package seems absolutely magical. I hope this attention to detail spreads to the States.
Quickly.
To whet your appetite, here’s a lovely video from last year’s event.
Speaking of video, there’s a lovely introduction video on the official Goodwood site. If you make it out to the event, drop tips@thechicane.com a line with any photos or links to video you might shoot.
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Vic's Targa
Let’s take a spin around the Targa Florio with “Quick” Vic Elford, shall we?
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Road America '56
I’m all sorts of delinquent in putting up some photos from my trip to Elkhart Lake last weekend for the SVRA Vintage GT Challenge weekend. When you have several hundred photos to sift through, it takes a bit of time.. also, i’m lazy.
In the meantime, Paul found this outstanding early 16mm footage of Road America from 1956. Looks like a lot of Turn 5, some Carousel… good stuff all around.
If you’ve been following our series on this wonderful album of audio recorded during research for John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix, you know what a joy it is to hear Phil Hill lead us through some of the stops of the ’66 season. This time, it’s Monaco.
We start with 30 seconds or so of the the full grid of 16 drivers revving in preparation for the start of the GP. This could have well been the inspiration for the marvelous opening credits/overture sequence at the start of the film. Then we take a spin around the track with Graham Hill. A thrilling drive indeed.
It’s also interesting to hear Phil describe the technical details of the engine and transmissions of Formula 1 cars, followed by audio of drivers really pushing their engines and transmissions hard in several portions: hard on the brakes through Gasometre Hairpin and head up towards the pits, through the tunnel towards the chicane, and as heard by the spectators. As always, fantastic audio.
Follow along with this track map, pulled from the back of the record jacket.
Growing up in the Detroit area, I spent a lot of Saturdays in the stands at Hilltop Turn with a polish sausage watching the races at Waterford Hills Road Racing circuit. In August each year, the track hosts a vintage race in conjunction with the Meadowbrook Coucours dé Elegance down the street in Rochester Hills. And while I’d seen many a vintage car wheeling around the corners at Waterford Hills, I’ve never given much thought to the history of the track itself – that is until a member of their discussion forum, Joe, pointed out that he’d uploaded some old film of the track to youtube.
Details were a bit sparse, just that the old 8mm film can had “1959-1964” written on it. Wonderful stuff.
Head on down to the track for their 50th Anniversary vintage race weekend August 1-3, 2008. If it’s anything like the many race weekends I’ve spent there, it’ll be a wonderful time at a wonderful little track.
Somehow Waterford Hills just keeps hanging on, despite the urban sprawl that has seen McMansions sprouting up around this once rural track. Thankfully they’re continuing to win the fight to shut down more and more small tracks around the country and keep us from featuring Waterford Hills in our “Lost Tracks” series. Got a favorite small-scale track you’d like us to feature, share it in the comments.
This is the great thing about the internet in general, and YouTube in particular. How else would you have seen this incredible home movie shot in Mishawaka, Indiana of the mall parking lot gymkhana? YouTube has it’s share of useless videos, but the service done by Wloring in preserving this absolute gem and sharing it with us makes up for a whole lot of the jack-assery on the site.
According to the uploader, the cars and some of the drivers are (probably) :
- Austin-Healey Sprite (Jeanne Ruble)
- MG-B (Jack Harrell?)
- MG-TD (Ed Steltner?)
- repeats of above.
- Formcar Formula Vee Jim Bell
- Formcar Formula Vee Bert Olson
- Mustang (note white sidewalls!)
- Arnolt Bristol (F. P. “Wedge” Rafferty?)
- Corvair coupe (Ray Hayes?)
- Ferrari? (Bob Tarwacki?)
- Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gull Wing Coupe (Carl Crowel)
- Porsche 356 Coupe (possibly Lloyd Loring)
- MG-A
- Austin-Healey 3000 (6 cyl)
- VW Bug
- Triumph TR-3 (F Production race car)
- Porsche 356 Roadster (Bob Runeman)
And while we’ve learned that YouTube comments can be among the dumbest thing on the internet, the discussion about this particular video actually uncovered new information on the cars and drivers in this event. These are things that make the internet truly astounding — no matter how obscure the information, somebody out there knows something about it.
I’m an unapologetic Porschephile. So in celebration of Porsche taking control of over 50% of Volkswagen, here’s a lovely video I stumbled across on YouTube. By “stumbled on”, I mean “found during my regular several hours a week of combing through YouTube for historic motorsport video”.
This incredible film from 1948 shows the first 356 roadster test drive with Ferdinand Porsche alongside an MG TC.
Magic.