Here’s two fantastic visions of the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix. One is a news blurb style recap in color(!), with a focus on Moss and Fangio’s Mercedes team. I quite like the shot of the pack on the far side of the track, weaving through the Monte Carlo streets. It’s a view we don’t often see of the races today with cameras on every corner of the track. Somehow, seeing the cars in the distance like this makes it feel more like you’re there than seeing every straight and turn.
The other, a home movie shot on grainy 8mm. I can tell you which one I like better. Can you believe how close to the track you were able to stand, filming away happily while these shiny rockets screamed past, narrowly avoiding lamp-posts and curbs? The closeness and immediacy of the home movie displayed below really puts you on the sidewalks of Monte Carlo, as if you briefly glanced over at the passing racing cars on your way into Hermés. It is footage like this that keeps Monaco on the calendar today.
Even if huge portions of the romance are gone, Monaco is still magic.
Diving back into the wonderful bounty of Life Magazine images hosted by Google, we find this puzzling shot. The Life caption says this is the winner of the Carrera crossing the finish line—which isn’t true. That’s Jean Behra, crossing the finish line, but he didn’t win. His #7 Gordini T24 was ultimately disqualified from the official standings because he exceeded the maximum allowable time. Even after finishing so far behind the overall winner that his time is irrelevant, I’m impressed that there’s still quite a crowd gathered at the finish line to welcome him home.
I don’t point out this captioning error to diminish Behra’s achievement. Simply finishing the Carrera was an incredible accomplishment. We often hear of the difficulty in learning the 45 mile Targa Florio circuit. We’ve long been regaled with tales of the twisting motorways of the Mille Miglia. The Carrera Panamericana, however, looks like it was something else entirely. It dwarfed all of these epic races with a run distance of 2,176 miles. Two Thousand Miles. So you can see, despite the disqualificiation, Jean Behra should be immensely proud of crossing that finish line at all. Google has more of the Life photos from the Carrera that year, oddly they largely focus on portraits of a competitor’s wife – maybe the photographer had a crush.
1953, of course, was Lancia’s year at the Carrera. Fangio and Bronzoni piloted the winning D24 Pinin Farina to a winning time of 18 hours: 11 minutes. That’s an absolutely astounding 120 mph average for 18 hours!
Most of us will never own a Bugatti Type 35, or a Ferrari GTO, and certainly not the “Old Number 2” Bentley. Each of these models has something in common, examples of each have undergone restoration and had parts replaced. These original parts provide the raw materials for a series of accessories from TMB Art Metal. Thanks to them, we can at least own a small part of these magnificent automobiles.
From Bentley’s famous 1930 Speed Six “Old Number Two”—one of the famous racing cars of all time and part of Bentley’s 1-2 finish in the ’30 LeMans—come these cufflinks. Beautifully sculpted renditions of Old Number 2’s radiator grille and her wheel spinners, these marvelous little cufflinks are actually made of aluminum and bronze melted-down from parts removed from the car during Richard Moss’ 2-year restoration.
Similarly, TMB offers cufflinks made from the melted body panels and other components of a Ferrari GTO, an Aston Martin DB4GT, and a Bugatti 35.
Additionally, this wallet made of leather sourced from the upholstery of a GTO is fantastic. Each one a unique piece of art exhibiting the patina of 40 years of use. Some examples show the diamond pattern found in the under-hood batten, or the smooth pebble texture of the seats; but all have a small representation of the GTO formed from a melted body panel.
I may never be able to sit in a Ferrari GTO, but with this wallet, I can sit on one.
A Lotus Chassis. A Porsche 4-cam. Is it the best of both worlds? George Follmer probably thought so.
George spent a good bit of the early 60’s lapping Southern California tracks in a variety of Porsches before he got the itch to move into sports prototypes. Naturally, a Lotus 23 fits the bill nicely. He set about modding the chassis to accept a Porsche 550 motor, before ultimately swapping it for the newer 904 powerplant. With the help of former Shelby American team-member, Bruce Burness, George knocked together one hell of a combination.
The 1,966 cc motor just eeks under 2-liters, and soon proved to be highly competitive in the class; taking 3rd in her debut race. The real beauty of the car though, was it’s consistency. Several weeks later, after a string of podiums and after their first class-win, the team realized that their point totals put them not only at the top of the class, but in the outright points lead for the the USRRC series. After an additional string of class wins at Bridgehampton, the Glen, and others; one maneater of a race was all that remained to determine if this little scrapper of a 2-liter car would steal the outright championship away from the big-bore boys. The Road America 500 Miles race.
Road America remains a giant of a track by American standards. For a low-powered (comparatively) car, 500 miles of it would be quite a task. But George finished 3rd behind Jim Hall’s mighty Chaparrals, clinching both the class and overall championships. George Follmer, of course, went on to a very successful career through the 70’s; racing everything from Formula 1 and Can-Am, to Nascar and Trans-Am. I’m guessing this little Lotus-Porsche remained a favorite of his despite the impressive array of machinery he would later compete in.
Today, Gooding & Co. offers the ex-George Follmer Lotus 23 through their private sales department. Wearing it’s original Trans Ocean Motors team livery, she’s a remarkably beautiful car. I particularly like the hand painted team logo and engine-turned gold leaf number 16. Gorgeous!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamt of having my own private racetrack. A few dozen acres in the countryside that my friends and I could spend years circling around. Sadly, it is but a pleasant fantasy. I can see now that there’s nothing standing in the way of my dream, I just have to reduce scale.
Slot Car Forum member JMSWMS has assembled a truly remarkable 1:32 scale digital slot car track that evokes the spirit of the Sicilian country roads that make up the Targa Florio. His attention to detail is absolutely incredible, everything from the texture of the cliffs that made the Targa so fantastic/dangerous, to the types of vegetation that dot the Sicilian countryside, to the stone abutments that mark the way; this is an impressive work of art.
Take for example, this representation of the Church at Campofelice. This section through town has long been a popular spot for photographers to show the immediacy of racing cars rocketing through the villages of Sicily. JMSWMS captures the spirit of the landmark perfectly. Of course, liberties have to be taken when recreating the Targa—even at the 1:32 scale that slot cars use, the 45 mile Circuit di Palermo would be nearly 1.5 miles! But this ring around the fountain square and away from the church makes the track feel like the Targa, which is even more important.
Take a moment to dig into this thread at the Slot Forum, in which JMSWMS records his inspiration, research, and build process for a bit of insight into this amazing piece of work. This really has me inspired to create my own scenic slot car track.
Digging through the Life Magazine archives recently uploaded and indexed by Google, there’s a great deal of vintage motorsport to explore. This time, we’ll go to one of my very favorite tracks for some quick shots of the 1960 Road America 500. And what better way to do that than to ride along in a Briggs Cunningham Lister Jaguar.
Here we are driving up the short uphill straight after just passing turn 5. Today we’d be approaching the Toyota bridge just as the hill crests before we get on the brakes for the slightly blind turn 6. It looks like we’re closing on Wayne Burnett’s Ferrari Testa Rossa.
Whew, that was a quick lap. We’re already back to the finish line. It looks positively quaint compared to the main straight of today’s Road America. The building on the right looks absolutely grand. It looks like we’ve caught up with our Briggs Cunningham teammate in the #60 E-Type lightweight and just ahead of him it looks like Wayne has held us off.
No, I don’t know why that Porsche is facing the wrong way either. Let’s thank our host for the trip.
The photo isn’t labeled, but I think that’s Ed Crawford (correct me in the comments if I’m wrong).
In theory, this video has a lot stacked against it. Rheims was never the most popular track on the calendar, and Formula 1 fans objected to the 1.5 liter engine requirement imposed for the 1961 season. Even so, this looks a lot more exciting than the current season of F1.
Actually it means “little boat”; but still, have you ever seen a barchetta that wasn’t absolute beauty on wheels?
Take this 1949(!) Stanguellini Barchetta Sport Colli 1100 currently in the inventory of Digit Motorsport in Arizona. In a method that Carlo Abarth would perfect decades later, the car is based on a Fiat chassis with an 1100 cc Fiat motor—both heavily modified by the Stanguellini crew in Modena. This is a pure Mille Miglia machine, with FIA papers tracing it’s history all the way back to it’s 1948 build date.
While there doesn’t seem to be any specific provenance placing this car at the Mille or Targa Florio, it’s hard to imagine that it never competed in either. 1949 was, after all, very early in sportscar manufacturing. It may only make a whopping 60 horses, but I imagine the thrill is every bit as visceral as driving the latest from Lamborghini or Ferrari.
I fell in love with the barchettas fully and completely at this year’s Continental Grand Prix at Autobahn Country Club at the foot of a Siata 300 Barchetta. I could barely tear myself away from it. Is there any barchetta of any make that isn’t magnificent? The Ferrari 166MM. The Maserati A6. The OSCA MT-4. The Siata I love so dearly. Each deserving of their own posts in a future installment of The Chicane. Hmm.. that’s a good idea.
The early Italian carrozzerias had it right, small engine, small body, beautiful lines.
You’ll have to have been mighty good to find this under your tree in a couple of weeks. Audi has created an incredibly well realized pedal car version of the Auto Union Type C. The Silver Arrows were unparalleled in their innovation, Grand Prix success, and—in the opinion of this blogger—aesthetic virtue. Although the ferocious anticipation over the Auto Union Type D offered, and subsequently pulled, from last years Salon Rétromobile auction has died down. Don’t fret, you can still park an Auto Union of sorts in your garage; and it’s (almost) affordable.
The aluminum body is outfitted with leather upholstery and steering wheel, hydraulic disc brakes, and a 7 speed transmission. The chain drive of course means it won’t be matching the 1936 Type C’s record of 10 Grand Prix wins, but at 1:2 scale, it still makes quite an impression. Having been release last year with a run of only 999 examples, it’s likely that you’ll have a very difficult time finding one—although surely easier than finding an authentic Type C.
