Fiat ad for the Balilla Berlina circa 1932…
‘The new Balilla, for everyone, women’s elegance’.
The Balilla was a 1 litre, 4 cylinder, 4 seater built at the Lingotto plant and also assembled in Poland, Germany and France from 1932-37. With a 3 speed ‘box, the car did around 50mph. Not normally primotipo material but the ad caught my eye!
Fiats on test at the famous, iconic Lingotto, Turin factory (Getty)
Credit…
Fiat, Getty
Piers Courage and Sally Curzon aboard Piers Charles Lucas Racing, F3 Lotus 41 Ford Cosworth, Brands Hatch 8 May 1966…
Courage had just won the ‘Les Leston Trophy’ from Peter Gethin and Roy Pike in a season which was a breakthrough one for him. Lucas ran the Lotus factory team with Courage racing the 1 litre Cosworth powered Lotus as much in Europe as in the UK.
He won the prestigious Pau GP in April, another Les Leston round at Mallory Park in late May, the Coupe de Auto Club Normand at Rouen in July, another Les Leston round at Brands in late August and the Coupe de Vitesse at Albi in early September.
The European International Challenge, the ‘F3 Grand Final’ was held at Brands on 2 October, Piers was 2nd to Chris Irwin’s Brabham BT18 Cosworth. Behind Piers was Chris Williams, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Brian Hart, Kurt Ahrens and Jacky Ickx. Jonathon Williams was outside the top 10, he was racing an unfamiliar Brabham BT18 rather than the de Sanctis Cosworth with which he did so much damage that year in Europe- he won a lot of races, enough to impress Enzo Ferrari. The depth in F3 never fails to impress.
The pretty lady is Lady Sarah Curzon, daughter of renowned British racer Earl Howe, she and Piers married in 1966, click here for her interesting story, well known to you Brits, but not necessarily to the rest of us;
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3608233/For-the-love-of-a-dangerous-man.html
Credits…
Getty Images- Victor Blackman, f2register
Mrs Montgomerie-Charrington prepares her Cooper for the Ladies 500 Race at Brands Hatch, 14 October 1950 …
‘Monty’ was unplaced in the race won by Miss E Store in a JBS Norton from the Miss O Kevelos driven Kieft Norton and the Mrs J Gerard, Bob’s missus I guess, Cooper Norton. Funny the social practice of the times in terms of citing the matrimonial status of the chicks.
There were five 500 races on the program- Don Parker won the Open Challenge race, and JN Cooper, using his product to good effect was second in the Brands Hatch Championship and third in the Championship of The Meeting event.
Click here for a short article about ‘Monty’ and her husband Robin, the cars usual driver;
http://www.500race.org/web/Men/MontgomerieCharrington.htm
And on Cooper 500’s;
Cooper Mk V JAP: Penguin Hillclimb, Tasmania, Australia 1958…
Credits…
Bill Price for the photo and Stephen Dalton for providing the race results from his vast archive
(Getty Images)
Felipe Massa blasts his Ferrari F138 through the Monaco streets oblivious to chassis’ above as exquisitively proportioned as Maranello’s latest…
’twasn’t a great 2013 race for the Brazilian, he had an accident on lap 28 at Ste Devote mirroring one he had on Saturday morning, locking a brake over a bump and boofing the barrier hard on the outside of the circuit.
Felipe Massa Ferrari F138 on Saturday before his accident, Monaco 2013 (Ercole Colombo)
Nico Rosberg won in a Mercedes F1 W04 emulating father Keke’s 1983 win in a Williams FW08C Ford. Seb Vettel and Mark Webber were 2nd and 3rd in their Red Bull RB9 Renault’s.
Nico Rosberg in the oh so complex 2013 Mercedes F1 W04, Monaco 2013. Carbon fibre chassis, 2.4 litre V8 & KERS energy storage system, 7 speed semi-automatic gearbox et al (unattributed)
30 years earlier in 1983 Keke wins Monaco in the oh so simple Williams FW08C. 3 litre Ford Cosworth V8 powered, 6 speed manual Hewland gearbox #27 is Patrick Tambay’s slightly more complex 1.5 litre V6 twin turbo-charged Ferrari 126C3 (unattributed)
Keke, Monaco ’83 (The Cahier Archive)
Photo Credits…
Getty Images, Ercole Colombo, The Cahier Archive
Don’t listen to him! Trust me girls, we can get 142 bhp @ 7,600 rpm out of this V8 ’60’ Flattie on methanol!…
The chief mechanic trying to reassure her team she can take on Doug Whiteford’s Ford V8 Special ‘Black Bess’ post-war with a combination of Edelbrock manifold, two Stromberg 2-barrel carbs, Offy heads, Jahns pistons to suit the .030 overbore, a Claysmith crank and Isky cam. Not to forget the hand fabricated extractors.
The first shot was taken during World War 2 at Ford’s Geelong factory in Victoria, Australia. The ladies of the Womens Emergency League, VAD Transport Services and Red Cross are learning how to maintain a Ford V8.
I am interested to know exactly which variant of the venerable Ford Flathead V8 this is, and the car to which it is fitted!
Henry Ford and his ‘flathead’ V8 creation in 1932 (FoMoCo)
Credit…
State Libraries of Victoria/South Australia, FoMoCo
Tailpiece: Doug Whiteford’s ‘Black Bess’ leads the ‘Woodside Handicap’ at Woodside, South Australia on 10 October 1949…
(SLSA)
Click here for an article about Doug Whiteford’s 1950 Australian Grand Prix winning Ford V8 Spl ‘Black Bess’;
Doug Whiteford: ‘Black Bess’: Woodside, South Australia 1949…
Finito…
Glenda Foreman focusses on the Heuers whilst Pedro Rodriguez runs up-front at Le Mans 1970…
Pedro’s girlfriends powers of concentration were not tested, the Mexican’s John Wyer Porsche 917K was out of the race on lap 22 with engine failure, he and Leo Kinnunen started from grid 5. Another 917K, the Hans Hermann, Richard Attwood car won the race.
Rodriguez/Kinnunen JW Porsche 917K Le Mans 1970 (Schlegelmilch)
Credits…
Rainer Schlegelmilch
Tailpiece: Leo, Pedro, Brian and Jo. Kinnunen, Rodriguez, Redman and Siffert, the 1970 JW Automotive drivers before the off…
It’s a Formula Junior with a cutie at the wheel during the 1960 Geneva Motor Show…
VW Beetle front suspension, independent at the rear, any ideas as to make and model anyone?
Credit…
Getty
Donna Mims prepares for the off in her MGB December 1964, no details of circuit unfortunately…
She was a prominent driver and character in the US and was the first woman to win an SCCA title in 1963 in an Austin Healey Sprite. Click here for a short article on the lady;
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/14/donna-mae-mims-first-female-scca-winner-and-cannonball-run-vet/
Credit…
Bill Ray
Racers in 1966- Anita (sister of F1 driver Trevor) Taylor, Donna Mae Mims and future Indy 500 competitor Janet Guthrie. Mims, Guthrie and Suzy Dietrich drove the #80 Sunbeam Alpine to 32nd in the Daytona 24 Hours (speedqueens)
Finito…
Compound curvature comprises curves made up of two or more circular arcs of successively shorter or longer radii, joined tangentially without reversal of curvature. The foregoing is illustrated with definitive precision by Helmut Newton’s portrait of perfection above.
The Pirelli calendar is a wonderful institution albeit now somewhat diluted by the dull, shit-boring political correctness which pervades our times! It’s nowhere near as risqué as it once was, always tastefully so in my view.
The image is from the 1985 season, originally published in the ’86 calendar and features a young lady whose specifications more than match the 750bhp, twin-turbo, 1.5 litre Renault EF4B V6 powered Ligier JS25. I’m not sure of the driver but the helmet of Andrea De Cesaris is closer to a color match than those of teammates Jacques Laffitte and Philippe Streiff.
In any event the photo is hardly about the car or driver, what compound curvature, arcs of changing radii and perfect purity of line…
Credits…
Pirelli, Helmut Newton, Merriam Webster Dictionary
I always figured this is what Ferrari ownership is all about. Having rather attractive young ladies throwing themselves at you?!…
Clearly this little minx is keen on Pininfarina’s stunning coachwork if not the size of the drivers wallet. What is it my ‘little sabre-toothed tigress’ tells me, ‘even you ugly blokes look good standing on your wallets’.
Australian social documentary photographer Rennie Ellis captured a 1974 Toorak Road, South Yarra, Melbourne ritual that is still played out pretty much the same way 40 years on…
Credits…
Rennie Ellis, Vic Berris
Finito…
primotipo... 