Porsche already does a good job of getting their historic racing cars out to the track and in front of fans—but I’ve never heard of an event like this one and I hope to be there for the next one. Sadly, no video editor alive can resist putting a music bed behind this.
Just listen to that 4-cam rev.
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1959 Santa Barbara and Riverside Road Races
I was at a concert last night and invariably as the artist takes the stage, people’s phones come out and they start filming. My first thought is, “You’re never going to watch this poorly recorded video with poorly captured audio. Put your phone away and dance!”
But then I think of things like this 8mm film of the 1959 runnings of the spring and summer sessions of the Santa Barbara Road Races and Riverside… I’m sure at the time, people standing around this person thought they’d never watch the films. Other spectators were thinking that instead of enjoying the day of racing, our filmer here was lost in the camera’s eyepiece. And for what? Grainy film with no audio… Fifty hears later, however, I think of this document as absolute treasure and the person that recorded it as a hero.
Maybe I should lay off the people holding their phones over their heads filming all the time.
Given the 11 year run of the Elan, we can really see in these disperate images from a variety of periods in the early 60s and 70s how much the culture changed within the Lotus facilites, from white shop coats to rock-and-rollers.
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You Will Love it More!
Do you like to drive?
With a Nardi steering wheel you will love it more!
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Porsche 917 Doors For the Wall
This place recognizes Porsche 917 body panels for what they are—works of art. These would make a lovely addition to the garage wall.. or better yet above the dining room table.
The decision isn’t so much whether to get one, but which iconic 917 livery to choose. Gulf? Hippy? Pink Pig? Martini? Perhaps I should just let each become a centerpiece of a different room. More information at CD Automobilia.
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The Demolition of AVUS's Nordkurve
I’m sure someone thought there was a good reason for this.
Great stuff here from the 1956 running of the Santa Barbara Road Races, Torrey Pines
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Let's Build Monza.
Anyone have some land to donate to the cause of properly replicating Monza with the banking? After all, this doesn’t look so hard. If the Chinese can exactly replicate European cities and villages, then I see no reason why we can’t build the real Monza.
Then again, after watching a road crew near my house spend the last 7 months building a single freeway overpass, I suppose I’m not an expert on these things.
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Robert Ristuccia's Lime Rock Historics
With an amazing array of classic Mercedes Benz GP Cars brought up by the Revs Institute it was already going to be a fantastic weekend. Having Jochen Mass on hand to pilot the W-154 doesn’t hurt either.
Nestled in the Berkshires, Lime Rock has beautiful views from practically any vantage point on the track. Which is good because in addition to an all-around magnificent field, Lime Rock seems to draw an absolutely astounding Pre-War group. It seems that New England has as many Bugattis and pre-war American racing specials on the track as most tracks have 911s or MGs. They draw what is probably the country’s best Pre-War group—and they do it year after year… and that’s just one of the remarkable groups of racers that flock to the weekend to close out every summer.
Friend of the Chicane Robert Ristuccia was in the stands and walking to pits and captured a glorious series of shots of the action.
More of Robert’s vibrant photos of the event (and a bunch of other vintage weekends) at his site: Part 1 and Part 2.
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Happy (Porsche) 9/17.
On September 17th we celebrate Porsche’s iconic endurance racer, the fantastically beautiful and exquisitely capable 917.
