Redditor SirDunny posted a few (North and South) American track maps in scale a few days ago, but this update to include great racing circuits from around the world proves one thing fairly handily: The Nürburgring is not to be messed with. Only Pike’s Peak and La Sarthe even come close to the grandeur of the ‘Ring.
Imagine now if we lived in a world that could include the Mille Miglia or Targa Florio on this illustration. It only highlights that, as important as the Nürburgring is—and how vital it is that we save it—it is only the last best reminder of what racing courses once were.
SirDunny has made prints available at RedBubble.
More info on the Reddit thread.
via Save the Ring
Car restoration is dirty business, and you feel that grime intimately: There will be chunks of rust stuck between your neck and your collar. There will be endless layers of paint slowly being sanded away. Twisted pieces of steel will be stuck in the soles of your boots from every stupid broken-off bolt you’ll have to drill out. I can understand why restoration shops would rather wait until the car is finished, polished, and with the proper beginnings of a sunset behind her before they get out the camera. What ends up happening, though, is that restorers web sites all tend to look the same: beauty shots of the finished car. There is rarely even a single photo of the car before restoration began.
Germany’s AlpineLAB shows us the kind of beautiful documentation that can happen when a truly passionate restoration workshop has someone on staff that knows a thing or two about curating a web site. Of course, there are miraculously beautiful photos of the finished product worthy of any of the glossies on the newsstand. But the commitment to documenting the restoration and the race history of their Alpine 110 projects is so very refreshing. What I appreciate most, however, is their opening the archives to show us the specific period articles and photography of these cars’ race history. People spend a lot of time establishing a car’s provenance, it’s very appreciated to see those archives opened up for all of us and not just prospective buyers.
The Alpine 110 was an astoundingly capable little machine. I’ve read it described as a car that you wore rather than drove. That kind of machine deserves the treatment that AlpineLAB has given it. I imagine that as more and more restorers enter the community having grown up on the web, the more of this kind of wonderful storytelling we’ll see brought to the world. Clear your afternoon and click over to their site for more of their build stories. These images are but a taste.
Thanks for sending this in, Jürgen!
Categories
More Camoradi at Sebring (and Elsewhere)
The earlier post of John Shea’s photo of the 1960 Sebring Camoradi Porsche 356 piloted by Joe Sheppard made me start digging around for more of the Camoradi effort at Sebring. This is some marvelous stuff narrated by Camoradi cofounder Fred K. Gamble. What a priceless insight into the formative years of America’s “olympic motor racing team”. Feel free to skip to about a minute 15 in to bypass the introductory text.
That’s part one of the video above, continued in part two below. Magnificent.
John Shea sent in this marvelous photo of his friend Joe Sheppard pushing hard in his Team Camoradi Porsche 356 at the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours. Joe went on to finish first in the 1.6 liter class and 9th overall. Not bad considering he also participated in the 4 hours race the day before. I hope Joe got plenty of sleep over the next few days—this must have been quite a long weekend for him.
Thanks for sending this in, John!
Categories
Cobra Ginetta Sandwich
Yipe. This photo by Trevor Legate that he captured at Brands Hatch in October 1967 shows that roll bars aren’t just for rolling. As I understand it, no injuries—not for lack of trying.
via Nigel Smuckatelli’s Flickr.
It looks like you can get a LOT closer to the stars at the Maranello Ferrari Museum than I would have thought. Mattia Merli shot this remarkable collection of F-car details three years ago, so they might have come to their senses in the meantime. Then again, this footage looks like it pre-dates the newer architecturally marvelous facility. I’m not sure I’d be able to resist climbing into the pilot’s seat without at least a symbolic barrier between me and these gorgeous prancing horses.
The Fiesta del Pacifico road races held in July of 1956 mark an interesting moment in California—particular San Diego—racing. Torrey Pines held their last race a mere 6 months before, but San Diego (and far beyond) racers were undeterred and assembled a track on the runways and service roads of Montgomery Field.
This largely unseen footage sent in from John McClure is a treasure. Sure, John’s thumb may have drifted into a few of these shots, but they’re absolutely priceless. From setting up in the pits, to onboard touring laps, to the race action itself, John used the access afforded him as a member of the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce (a co-organizer of the event) to hit every corner of Montgomery field that weekend.
The two main events of the weekend are well represented here, with the 1.5liter plus race and small displacement races getting some quality footage. Bill Murphy had luck on his side in the large bore race in his Kurtis-Buick, winning after Harrison Evans’ Ferrari Monza had a shift fork failure after leading for 21 laps. Murphy didn’t just inherit the win after poor performance, however. He had a great start that gave him the lead until a spin on turn 7 of the first lap. He then fought back from fourth to take the lead from Evans a second time, but spectacularly spun again on the 11th lap. His win was as much a victory in making it to the finish as it was to come in first. Bill Krause wasn’t far behind in a D-Type, while Ken Miles in a Porsche 550 (giant-killer indeed in this much larger displacement company) and Fred Woodward in his Jaguar Special had a fantastic duel for 3rd place—ultimately finishing within a second of each other.
The small bore race was equally thrilling with an heroic roster of CalClub racers: Ken Miles in his 550 again (He had a very busy weekend, didn’t he?); Bill Pollack in the #4 Alfa Giulietta; Lance Reventlow in a Cooper T39—there’s a marvelous shot of him in the silver #16 car about 7:10 into this clip.
Other drivers of note to keep an eye out for in this clip: Bob Bondurant in the #19 Morgan Plus 4; Jim Peterson in the blue #83 Corvette; Bruce Kessler in the white #23 Aston Martin (beautiful); and Dan Gurney’s #113 Porsche 356.
Here’s a glimpse of the race report, from the August 3, 1956 issue of MotoRacing.
Keep those old film cans, coming in—I’d love to share more these kinds of videos with Chicane readers. More from the McClure Archives here.
The use of the American national racing colors and stripes really makes this ad for me.
Via 1950s Unlimited.
Let’s perch on John Higgins shoulder as he pilots a ’59 Porsche 718RSK around Laguna Seca for the 2011 Rennsport Reunion. Man, I’ve got to get to Rennsport one of these years.
It’s always fascinating to dig through eBay (the world’s attic). The seller of this Mille Miglia Trofeo Franco Mazzotti doesn’t specify the year, the winner, or much else about this piece of Mille history, but it sure does make this red arrow fan’s pulse climb a bit. The Brescian silversmith’s marks at least lend it a bit of tantalizing authenticity.
More details (well, not really) on the auction listing page.