Here’s a nice appetizer for this year’s LeMans Classic. Tickets for the 2010 Classic are now on sale, and this footage from the ’08 event has me hoping to go this year. Enjoy.
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Tag: Vintage Racecar
Another brilliant argument for the benefits of body-on-frame building. Are you bored with your Austin-7 or compact Ford? Why not just drop a new fiberglass body on that frame and have a sweet little racing special to take to the track or just cruise around town. See how easy it used to be to become the coolest kid on the block?
These were all from a single 1958 issue of MotorSport. The possibilities were endless, and cheap. Guess what you do if you’re bored with your compact Ford today… You deal with it. Or you glue a horrifically ugly wing on it. Yay! a big stupid wing!
I have long held a firm belief that you can only paint your car red if it’s from Italy: Corvettes in red? No. Porsches? Ew. Ferrari? Maserati? Bandini? Now we’re talking. Red just always screams “trying too hard” to me. But for some reason, and I don’t know if it’s the sexy Italian bodylines or just being used to seeing red Ferraris, but once you’ve decided to go all out on an Italian machine, the red just works.
This Cooper-Monaco, though, has me thinking that it must be the slinky curves and not the country of origin that does the trick. Because this little racer has more beautiful curves than it knows what to do with and looks marvelous in red. I love everything about this 1959 Cooper-Monaco. The Cooper team simply took its game-changing Formula 1 car and widened her to accommodate a passenger, wrapped the frame in this marvelous aluminum skin, and called it a day. In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about “race track technology for the road”, but it so often falls flat or, worse yet, was more a function of the marketing department than the engineering team.
That is not to say, of course, that this little beauty was a simple road car (although this was still the era when you drove your racecar to the track, knocked out a quick win, and drove her home). She’s a full-blooded racer with the pedigree to prove it. This example, Chassis CM.5.59, at the hands of Colin Davis, won her debut at the 1959 Grand Prix Messina. Sadly for this example, it was all downhill from there. She claimed a 5th place at the 1960 GP Cuba (again with Colin Davis piloting), and DNFed at the 1960 Targa Florio.
Thankfully, though, this was not the true end for this marvelous little racing car, and today the car offers some excellent perks for the vintage racer. Race engineer Carroll Smith (of Engineer to Win fame) converted the car, in period, to coil-over suspension. Later owner, Porsche IMSA racing champion, Bob Akin, converted the powerplant from her original Maserati 200SI to a Coventry-Climax/Hewland drivetrain.
Today, CM.5.59 is ready to race and available from Connecticut restoration specialists and dealer, Automotive Restorations, Inc, coupled with their vintage racing preparation service, it’s one-stop shopping for one amazing summer racing season. She’s a fantastic little racer and I can certainly think of worse ways to spend $225,000. More details on the dealer’s info sheet.
Thanks to the mighty Hemmings Blog for pointing this beauty out.
More BRM V16, this time with Sir Jackie performing a demonstration lap at Oulton Park at the Gold Cup meeting in 1967..
Nice 8mm footage shot from the Esso Hairpin.. Click Click Click Click Click…
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Karl Ludvigsen’s BRM V16 Lecture
Make yourself comfortable friends. Karl Ludvigsen is about to tell you everything there is to know about the B.R.M. V16.
Everything.
I think all lectures, and Power Point presentations for that matter, should start with 16 screaming cylinders, don’t you?
I can’t get enough of this drool-worthy machine.
100% pure sex.
This remarkable machine was designed more than 40 years ago. But If one of these pulled up to you today on a lonely road and the driver frantically leapt out claiming to have just arrived from the future you would have no choice but to believe him.
An Autodelta 2-liter V8 behind the driver, a Colotti 6-speed gearbox at hand, these pornographic Franco Scaglione-designed curves all around you—how could it not be from the future?
Can you believe that now, 40 years later, that we’re in the automotive design era we’re in? Ok, so we don’t have flying cars, but shouldn’t they at least—like this Alfa—look like they can fly?
More Stradale photos at AutoBlog.
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Lotus XI in Traffic
I can’t remember where I first stumbled across this photo—Bulgogi Brothers, maybe?—but it wasn’t until recently that I had a much fuller appreciation of it. Seeing this little Lotus looking vulnerable in Paris traffic is one thing, but look closer at the surrounding vehicles and you’ll see that this is no vintage shot.
Thank you for your chutzpah, Lotus driver.
Update: This photos is originally from Flickr user Zirwilliam, who has a bunch of great car shots.
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Tamiya: 30+ Years of Scale Racing
I adore the illustration style of this poster from 2006 commemorating 30 years of Tamiya models. Legend holds that Tamiya started with a Porsche 911 bought from the factory. They tore it apart and recreated it at 1:10 scale – and a hobby shop legacy was born.
Their good taste continued for the next 30 years and beyond. Their current catalog offers such fine vintage racing machines as an Alpine A110 (in 1972 Monte Carlo Rally winning livery), an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, and a rally-ready Mini Cooper.
The poster features more of the fantastic racing models that Tamiya has produced over the years. I can spot the John Player Lotus 79, the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler, the Rothmans Paris-Dakar Porsche 959, Minis, Fiat-Abarth 500s, Alfas… It just goes on and on.
To commemorate the anniversary in 2006, Tamiya updated and re-released their first model, the Porsche Turbo RSR Type 934; one of which would look absolutely fantastic on my shelf, don’t you think?
