Mike Hawthorn dives his big Ferrari 335S into The Esses and past the smaller Ferrari 500TRC of Fernand Tavano and Jacques Peron early in the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours…
Both cars failed to finish, Hawthorn shared the 335S with Luigi Musso, the cars engine cried enough on lap 56 and the 500TRC also had an engine problem withdrawing after the completion of 235 laps.
1957 was a D Type rout- the Ivor Bueb/Ron Flockhart D won from the similar cars of Lawrence/Sanderson, Lucas/Brousselet and Frere/Rouselle, all of which gave Ferrari something to think about! The best placed Ferrari was the 500 Testa Rossa driven by Lucien Bianchi and Georges Harris but it was 39 laps adrift of the winners.
Click on this link for an article about the Ferrari 335S and 1957 Mille Miglia;
Robin Pare, Pete Geoghegan in Ford Mustangs, Bruno Carosi Jag Mk2, Frank Gardner Alfa GTA and Robin Bessant Lotus Cortina on the downhill plunge towards The Viaduct, Longford Improved Production Touring Car race 1967 (oldracephotos.com)
Pete Geoghegan did so many times too! The Sydneysider is here doing his stuff aboard the first of his two Ford Mustangs at Longford during the Tasman round in February 1967…
The Brothers Geoghegan, Leo and Ian or ‘Pete’ were stars of Australian Motor Racing from the late-fifties into the mid-seventies, Leo in single-seaters and Pete in ‘taxis’, touring cars of all pursuations. When he was a youth Pete was quick in a brief career in single seaters and a Lotus 23 Ford but he became a ‘big unit’ so his girth meant he was best suited to cars with a roof.
Geoghegan , Gardner and Carosi off the front row, no sign of Pare – perhaps not the same race grid as above (oldracephotos.com)
A supreme natural, Geoghegan made a car sing with flair and feel blessed to some from above. Every car he drove. His band-width extended from GT’s to Sports Cars, Production Tourers and very highly modified Sports Sedans- sedans of considerable power and performance.
His CV included some of the most iconic cars raced in Australia over the decades above including a Lotus 7 , 22, 23, the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM, Holden ‘Humpy’, Jaguar 3.4, Morris 850, the two Mustangs, Cortinas- both GT and Lotus variants, Falcon GT’s, Falcon GTHO’s, Valiant Charger E49, highly modified Porsche 911’s, his iconic, Ford factory built and later Bowin Cars modified Ford Falcon GTHO ‘Super Falcon’ and the superb John Sheppard built Holden Monaro GTS350 Sports Sedan.
That car was as conceptually clever, beautifully built and presented sedan racer as any ever constructed in Oz. Lets not forget his late career drives in Laurie O’Neill’s Porsche 935, a notoriously tricky device to master. Much earlier on he drove O’Neills Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, every bit as exotic as the 935.
(T Watts)Big Pete finesses the Mustang into The Viaduct (oldracephotos.com)
Geoghegan, five times Australian Touring Car Champion 1965-69 was an immensely popular racer with the fans, his bulk, manner and ‘stutter’ part of his appeal. He was not without his issues mind you. Touring Car racing is a religion in Australia, our sedan racing has been the equal of the best in the world for decades and arguably for the last 20 years our V8 Supercar category has been consistently one of the Top 5 sedan racing contests on the planet.
A touch of the opposites on the exit to Newry (oldracephotos.com)
So, the pantheon of talented touring car aces is large, and membership of the Top 10 a subject of much informed pub chatter, tough. Most knowledgeable touring car observers would have Geoghegan in their Top 10, if not Top 5, along with the likes of Norm Beechey, Peter Brock, Allan Moffat, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards (a Kiwi but we take him as our own) Mark Skaife, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Jamie Whincup and others.
(oldracephotos.com)
Etcetera…
(unattributed)
Geoghegan, Gardner and Robin Pare.
(unattributed)
Pete booting the ‘Stang out of Mountford in typical style.
(unattributed)
Geoghegan and Pare.
(unattributed)
Photo Credits…
Oldracephotos.com- Harrison and David Keep, Tim Watts
Tailpiece: Came, Saw, Conquered and then returned to Sydney…
Team Lotus in the Spa pitlane, Saturday June 12 1965: the 33’s of #17 Jim Clark, Mike Spence and the teams spare chassis…
Sunday was wet, Jimmy ran away with the race from grid #2, Mike was 7th from grid 12. Graham Hill started from pole in his BRM P261 but finished 4th, Jackie Stewart was 2nd in the other BRM and Bruce McLaren 3rd in a Cooper T77 Climax.
Lap 1 and Graham Hill’s BRM P261 leads into Eau Rouge from pole. You can just see the white peak of Clark’s helmet and his Lotus 33’s left rear wheel right up Hills clacker. Stewart’s sister BRM follows then Ginther’s white Honda RA272, Siffert’s Rob Walker Brabham BT11 Climax, Surtees Ferrari 158 on the outside, Gurney’s Brabham BT11 Climax, McLarens Cooper T77 Climax and the rest…(unattributed)
Daunting in the dry positively frightening in the wet. Spa. Clark speeds to victory, he took the ’65 drivers title in his Lotus 33 Climax (unattributed)
Tailpiece: Alone in the Ardennes Forest, Jack Brabham…
Brabham, La Source hairpin, Spa 1965- 4th in his Brabham BT11 Climax (unattributed)
Rene Vincents Peugeot GP car poster of 1919 is one of the illustrators most famous artworks…
Born in 1879, Rene studied at the famous Ercole des Beaux Arts in Rue Bonaparte, Paris initially studying architecture but later switching to graphic art and ceramics courses. He later contributed fashion illustrations to some of the best known magazines of the day and designed a swag of advertisements and posters for Bugatti, Peugeot, Michelin and Shell. Most of his work was in the art deco style for which he was noted.
By 1919 the war was over and the achievements of Peugeot’s epochal double overhead cam cars of 1913 were well in the past, but the influence of which we still feel now. Vincent chose this series of cars to make an amazingly impactful statement about Peugeot’s future. I wrote an article about these seminal racers a while back, click here to read it;
Rene was a keen automobilist and said to be one of the first Parisians to have both a drivers license and a garage to house his car, clearly his graphic design endeavours were lucrative, he died in 1936.
Siffert, Pedro chillin’, Redman and Kinnunen- JW squad 1970 (Schlegelmilch)
The JW Gulf boys relax before the off, the winning duo were Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen…
There was only one Porsche 917 amongst the first nine cars home at the duration of the Monza endurance classic on 25 April but the German flat-12 was first, Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinnunen were happy winners.
Three Ferrari 512S followed them home, the Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella/Chris Amon Spyder 1.5 minutes adrift of the John Wyer Porsche.
It wasn’t a happy season for Ferrari in sportscars. Supremely competitive in F1 with the first of its flat-12 engined cars, the 312B, the 5 litre V12 512S really didn’t receive the development it needed to knock off the Porsches.
The German cars mainly raced at 4.5 litres in capacity that year but it was still more than enough. A win at Sebring in the second round of the Manufacturers Championship was Ferrari’s best result, and the flat-8 3 litre, nimble, light Porsche 908/3 mopped up on the tight, twisty circuits unsuited to the 917. The dudes from Stuttgart had the game well covered.
Seppi in conversation, and for the horologists he is sporting a nice Heuer Autavia chronograph (Schlegelmilch)
The speed of Ferrari’s evolved 512S, the 512M was clear at the Osterreichring 1000 Km in October, so 1971 looked to be a great battle of two amazing 5 litre cars but effectively the Scuderia waved a white surrender flag before the seasons commencement.
They chose to race a new 3 litre flat-12 engined prototype, the 312P in 1971 with an eye to the rule change to cars of that capacity in 1972, rather than the factory race the 512M.
The Ferrari privateers did their best against the Panzers but it was ineffective, the speed of the beautifully prepared and superbly Mark Donohue driven Penske 512M duly noted. The 1971 endurance season could have been the greatest ever had Scuderia Ferrari raced those cars!
Pedro drives, Leo and the boys ride
Back to Monza 1970. The other ‘works’ Porsches were well back- the JW 917K of Jo Siffert and Brian Redman finished 12th, the Porsche Salzburg 917K’s of Vic Elford/Kurt Ahrens DNF with puncture damage after 92 laps and the 1970 Le Mans winning combo of Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood were out with engine failure on lap 63.
Still there was strength in numbers, Pedro and Leo were there at the end, in front…
Credits…
Rainer Schlegelmich
Tailpiece: Tifosi @ Monza, not as many as if a 512S won…
There is no such thing as too many shots of the great Brit in a Maserati 250F, and I have posted a few…
According to the photo caption the meeting is on 7 June 1954 at Goodwood. The meeting’s F1 race was the ‘BARC Trophy’, Reg Parnell won it in a Scuderia Ambrosiana Ferrari 625, but Moss wasn’t entered, so, a bit of a mystery.
Perhaps it’s the ‘Goodwood Trophy’ on 25 September 1954, he won that event in 250F #2508 and carried his #7 personal preference race number.
Slightly surreal shot of Ayrton Senna in his Lotus 97T Renault during pre-season testing at Spa in early 1985, the line clearly marked through light snow…
Not a good idea to get off line! These slippery test conditions were of great use come 15 September when the race itself was run in wet conditions, the Brazilian demonstrated his mastery and deft touch by winning the race from Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, Williams FW10 Honda and McLaren MP42B TAG Porsche respectively.
Tom Hawkes, Cooper T23 Holden Repco, AGP Bathurst 1958 (unattributed)
Tom Hawkes racing his way up Mount Panorma towards a giant killing 3rd place during the 1958 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst…
He finished behind Lex Davison’s winning Ferrari 500/625 and Ern Seeliger’s 4.6 litre fuel injected Chev V8 engined Maybach. Hawkes’ Cooper T23 is the ex-Brabham car chassis # CB/1/53 i wrote about not so long ago. Click here to read the article;
Tom replaced the cars Bristol engine and fitted a Repco Hi-Power, Phil Irving designed head breathing much life into the standard 6 cylinder, OHV, inline Holden 6 cylinder ‘Grey Motor’. The engine raced at 2.3 litres in capacity.
The interesting thing is exactly where on Mount Panorama the shot is taken. The right hander at the top of Mountain Straight perhaps, ‘Quarry Corner’? All suggestions taken. Its a quintessential Australian country scene, in the absence of a crowd it could be anywhere!
Photo Credit…
Unsure, intrigued to know who took the wonderful shot
Emerson Fittipaldi lost in thoughts of set-up changes during Jarama practice, McLaren M23 Ford 27 April 1974…
This is a ‘signature’ Rainer Schlegelmilch shot, Emerson had an ok weekend, 3rd behind the Ferrari 312B3’s of Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni, valuable points in his successful quest to win his second drivers title.
The winning Tony Rolt/Duncan Hamilton Jaguar C Type ahead of the Phil Walters/ John Fitch Cunningham C5R Chrysler and Alberto Ascari/Gigi Villoresi Ferrari 375MM at Le Mans 13/14 June 1953…
Early in the race it was clear the Jaguar C Types, Ferrari’s 340/375MM and Alfa Romeo 6C/3000CM were the cars in the hunt for outright victory, the Lancia D20’s and Talbot T26GS were outclassed.
Moss, the initial hare from the start in a works C Type had a misfire in his 3441cc DOHC straight-six, which set in after 20 laps putting him back to 21st and out of contention. Worse for Hawthorn and Farina was disqualification of their 4.1 litre V12 340MM Ferrari after brake fluid was added before the requisite 28 laps were completed. Fangio’s Alfa was out with engine dramas in his 3.5 litre, DOHC straight-six, the car shared with his countryman, Onofre Marimon, at about 6pm
As darkness fell the Ferrari/Jag battle intensified between the Ascari/Villoresi 375MM and Rolt/Hamilton C Type with the Alfas not too far back. Rolt and Hamilton led, the best placed Fazz was hampered by a sticking clutch and a thirst for water.
At dawn the same two cars led, with Moss up to 3rd in the car he shared with Peter Walker, as the mist cleared they still led. By 9am the lead Ferrari had dropped back to 5th, retiring at 11am. The works Paolo Marzotto/Giannino Marzotto Ferrari 340MM challenged the lead Jags and Cunningham finishing 5th behind the winning car driven to the finish by Duncan Hamilton with Moss/Walker 4 laps back with the Phil Walters John Fitch Cunningham C5-R Chrysler 5.4 litre V8 a lap further adrift in 3rd. The third works Jag C Type of Peter Whitehead and Ian Stewart was another 2 laps back having driven a pace to finish throughout.
Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton chew the fat, Silverstone 6 May 1955, the car is Rolt’s works D Type ‘XKC 403’…
Love this carefully posed shot, perhaps used to promote the meeting the following day. Its practice for the 7 May ‘Silverstone International’ sportscar race, a 190Km event won by Reg Parnell from Roy Salvadori, both aboard works Aston DB3S’, then came Rolt, Hamilton and Mike Hawthorn in works D Types. Mike started from pole and set the fastest lap.
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