Christian Lautenschlager descending the ‘le piege de la mort’ switchback, Mercedes 18/100 HP (4.48 litre straight-four), first in the July 1914 French Grand Prix run over a 752 km road course in a little over 7 hours 8 minutes. Mark suggested I write something on ten of the more interesting cars I have had the […]
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Werrangourt Archive 5: Cars I Have Driven, by Bob King…
Posted: August 13, 2020 in F1, Sports RacersTags: 1914 GP Delage, 1914 GP Mercedes, 1922 GP Sunbeam, Bugatti Type 32, Bugatti Type 39, Bugatti Type 40, Ferrari 212E GTB, Ferrari 375MM, Frazer Nash TT Replica, Sulman Singer
Ballot 2LS Factory Racers…
Posted: January 29, 2022 in F1, Sports RacersTags: 1921 French Grand Prix, 1922 French Grand Prix, 1922 Targa Florio, Ballot 2LS, Giulio Foresti, Jules Goux
I knew little about E. Ballot et Cie two years ago. Then I tripped over a photograph of Ballot 5/8LC #1004 competing at Safety Beach on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula in 1928, my thirst for all things Ballot remains unquenched. The purchase of that factory 4.8-litre straight-eight 1919 Indy 500 racer – #1004 was raced at […]
Werrangourt Archive 13 : Bob Shepherd, Artist Extraordinaire
Posted: December 3, 2021 in Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: Bob Shepherd, Delage 2-litre V12 drawing, Itala V12 drawing, MG R-type drawing, Miller 122 drawing, Talbot Darracq 700 drawing, Voisin Grand Prix drawing
My first exposure to Bob Shepherd’s artistry was in the first issue of the late Barry Lake’s marvellous and way too short-lived Cars and Drivers magazine published in early 1977. John Medley chose a Shepherd drawing of a Miller 122 to support an article he wrote about the ex-Zborowski machine which raced in New Zealand, […]
1924 GP D’Europe – French Grand Prix…
Posted: October 25, 2021 in F1, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: 1924 French Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo P2, Dario Resta, Delage 2LCV, Giuseppe Campari, Louis Wagner, Robert Benoist
Robert Benoist’s Delage 2LCV passes the Dunlop Bridge during his run to third place, Grand Prix D’Europe, Lyon, France on August 3, 1924… 100,000 people watched the 500 mile race, 35 laps of the 14.4 mile road course took winner Giuseppe Campari seven hours, five minutes and 34 seconds to complete in his supercharged 2-litre […]
Werrangourt Archive 11: DFP ‘The Greyhound of France’ by Bob King…
Posted: October 1, 2021 in Obscurities, Sports RacersTags: 1928 Australian Grand Prix, Ab Terdich, Aspendale Park Raceway, Australian Motor Racing History, DFP, John Williams, Les Pound, Marie Jenkins, The Greyhound of France
John Williams, DFP takes the chequered flag for The Sun, from HW Miller’s similar car for The Herald, in a five lap battle of the Melbourne Motor Editors at Aspendale on June 9, 1924 Fragments on a forgotten make Mssr. Dorian, Flandrin and the Parant brothers made light cars of no great distinction in Courbevoie […]
Ferrari and Leclerc: 2022 World Champs. Or not?
Posted: May 1, 2022 in F1, FeaturesTags: 2022 F1 Season, Ferrari 126CK, Ferrari 156, Ferrari 312, Ferrari 312T4, Ferrari 500, Ferrari Dino 246, Ferrari F1-75, Lancia Ferrari D50
Ferrari have been fantastic this year, as they often are in seasons of a new F1 formula. Mark Bisset analyses that notion and calculates the Maranello mob’s likely chances of success… Aren’t the 2022 F1 rules fantastic! The FIA tossed the rule book up in the air – in a highly sophisticated kind of way […]
1923 French Grand Prix, Tours…
Posted: September 8, 2016 in F1, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: 1923 French Grand Prix, Bugatti Type 32, Ernest Friderich, Henry Segrave, Sunbeam
The ’23 French GP was held on the ‘Circuit de Touraine’ Tours on 2 July was won by Henry Segrave in a Sunbeam… The Le Petit Journal illustration depicts the 3rd placed Bugatti T32 ‘Tank’ of Ernest Friderich ahead of Segrave’s winning 2 litre, 4 cylinder Sunbeam. The course was 22.8Km, the total distance of […]
Words from Werrangourt 2: Who invented the alloy car wheel? by Bob King…
Posted: July 31, 2021 in F1, Features, Sports RacersTags: Alec Issigonis, Bugatti, Cooper Cars, Diatto, Diatto 20S, Harry Miller, History of car alloy wheels, Messier Bugatti, Ted Halibrand
Today we are so used to cast or forged alloy wheels on our cars that we don’t think about them, at least not until we hear that infuriating crunch when we brush a curb. Just when the modern alloy wheel first appeared is subject to some speculation. (See The Nostalgia Forum – https://forums.autosport.com, 12 November, […]
Benz Tropfenwagen…
Posted: September 11, 2020 in F1, ObscuritiesTags: 1923 European Grand Prix, Benz Tropfenwagen, Fiat 805, Miller 122
When I think of the pioneers of mid-engined racing cars, it’s always the Auto Unions of the thirties which pop most readily into my mind, but that does the 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen a huge disservice. Dr Edmund Rumpler’s ‘Tropfenwagen’ (teardrop vehicle) was the hit of the 1921 Berlin Motor Show, it was said to resemble […]