Archive for the ‘Fotos’ Category

hawthorn

(Klemantaski)

 A study in concentration, Mike Hawthorn at work and on the way to fourth place at Aintree, Lancia Ferrari 801, British Grand Prix 1957…

But Mike was hardly ‘the main game’ in this race, a pivotal one in GP history.

Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss shared a Vanwall to win at home, thereby scoring the first world championship victory for a British car, the beginning of a period of dominance by British teams, largely undiminished for the last 50 years. Also noteworthy and equally epochal was the appearance of two Cooper T43 Climaxes driven by Roy Salvadori and Jack Brabham.

Behra led from the start but Moss passed him before the end of the first lap, then came Brooks, Hawthorn, Collins, four Brits in the first five.

Moss’s Vanwall started to run roughly so he pitted, taking the wheel of Brooks sister car, who was summoned to the pits, Moss rejoined 9th and started carving his way through the field. By this stage Jean led from Hawthorn, who was unable to challenge the Frenchie, then came Lewis-Evans, Vanwall, and Collins. Moss was soon up to 5th aided by mechanical failures which befell Fangio and Collins.

Poor, Jean, his clutch exploded whilst in the lead, Hawthorn ran over some of the schrapnel the Frenchman dropped, puncturing a Continental. Stuart Lewis-Evans then momentarily lead but was quickly swallowed by Moss, Stuart’s throttle linkage broke but it mattered not, Moss won the race from Musso, Hawthorn, Trintignant/Collins all in Lancia Ferrari’s with Roy Salvadori in the little 2 litre Cooper T43 5th

image

Credit…

Louis Klementaski, GP Encyclopaedia

long beach

(Klemantaski)

Clay Regazzoni oblivious to the ‘Queen Mary’s existence as he races to victory from pole in his Ferrari 312T, US Grand Prix West in March 1976…

I’ve never been to the place but Chris Pook’s idea was a great piece of entrepreneurship.

His first 1975 event, a marvellous demonstration of what is great about F5000 was followed by a championship GeePee in ’76. The other thing that captured my imagination about the place was the Depailler in-car Tyrrell footage. If you weren’t a PD fan, I always was, you had to be so after seeing him flick the 500bhp beastie through the Long Beach boulevards as though it were a 100bhp Lola T342 Formula Ford. The ability that separates the greats from the rest of us. Check it out if you’ve not seen it, look again if you have!;

longbeach clay

Nice portrait of Regga in 1978, Shadow Ford. Looks like a a Bell photo shoot ! (Getty)

Regga, a GP driver with a personality, they seem to breed it out of ‘em these days, anodyne boring liddl’ fuggers they all seem to be. The Swiss Italian had a great weekend in California winning from teammate Niki Lauda’s 312T and Depailler’s Tyrrell 007 DFV, the sound of which (Tyrrell 008 anyway) screaming in protest you can see, hear and feel in the footage above.

Tailpiece: Niki Lauda prepares for the off in the other Fazz 312T, 2nd place for the plucky Austrian reigning champion…

longbeach lauda

Niki Lauda contemplates changes to his Ferrari 312T during Long Beach practice. Mauro Forghieri’s 312T-T4, jewels of cars, circa 525bhp @ 11000 rpm at this stage of the 3 litre flat-12;s long front-running life (Schlegelmilch)

Credits…

Klemantaski Collection, Rainer Schlegelmilch

image

Brian Redman looking pretty relaxed  prior to the start of the Monza 1000 Km on 25 April 1972…

It was a happy weekend (and year) for Ferrari, the Ickx/ Regazzoni 312PB won from the Jost/Schuler Porsche 908/3 with the sister SEFAC Fazz of the two great mates Petersen/Schenken third. Brian’s car was out on lap 32, the car was co-driven by Arturo Merzario.

Redman had a good year though, he won at Spa, a supreme test of high speed finesse, with ‘Little Art’ and at the Zeltweg 1000 Km paired with Ickx. Merzario took another win as well, Targa a big challenge, this time of speed and accuracy on the unforgiving, difficult to learn ‘Little Madonie’, in the singleton Ferrari entry he shared with rally ace Sandro Munari.

image

Ickx, Peterson and Redman lead away, Ferrari 312PB’s, gloomy Monza 1000Km 1972 (unattributed)

The only race of significance they didn’t win, didn’t enter for that matter was the one which mattered most, Le Mans. Ferrari chose not to enter due to the difficulty the team had in making its 3 litre F1 adapted flat-12 last 24 hours, a problem Matra didn’t have with its far less successful in F1, V12! Graham Hill and Henri Pescarolo won Le Mans in a Matra MS670, Matra breaking through for a long awaited French win at Le Mans. The fact that arch rivals Ferrari were absent made the win no less satisfying…

Credits…

Rainer Schlegelmilch

Tailpiece…

image

 

 

ach 1

Achille Varzi in need of a ciggie after a great win in his Bugatti T51, 1933 Monaco Grand Prix…

Varzi started racing on motorcycles, in 1928 he established a partnership racing a stable of Bug T35’s with Tazio Nuvolari, his career, which flourished with Alfa Romeo is a story for another time.

ach 2

The race was held on 23rd April 1933 and is significant as the first GP in which practice times determined grid positions rather than a ballot.

In one of the greatest grands prix ever, Tazio Nuvolari’s Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Monza and Varzi’s works Bugatti duelled throughout the race swapping the lead many times. The result was determined on the last lap when the great Mantuan was disqualified for a push start after his car caught fire, an oil line split and ignited! Baconin Borzacchini was 2nd and Rene Dreyfus 3rd in Monza and T51 respectively.

Credits…

Hulton Archive

Tailpiece: Varzi and Bugatti T51…

ach 3

 

dino trak road

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…

image

Melbourne’s finest trying to keep enthusiastic shoppers under control out front of ‘Georges’, Collins Street in 1965…

The car is, I think, Bib Stillwell’s Brabham BT11A Climax. The occasion some type of promotion between Georges luxury department store and Repco or Bib Stillwell Holden. Stillwells switched from Holden to Ford in 1966 before all you Melburnians correct me, clearly the crowds are fascinated by the presence of a ‘Grand Prix’ car in Melbourne’s busiest and most up-market shopping strip.

For over a century Georges was the place the ‘great and the good shopped’, an incredibly conservative joint, its intriguing to speculate just what the promotion may have been, automotive products are not at all what Georges stocked! String-backed gloves maybe and flat-caps but nothing grubby or grimy at all.

I think its Bibs car. The color scheme is right, his dealership/workshop was in Kew, not far away. He usually raced wearing #6, this car carries #3 but that’s neither here nor there. For Repco, Brabhams were badged ‘Repco Brabham’ at the time and the Coventry Climax FPF engines by that stage were largely built in Richmond under licence from CC so there were good associations to Repco’s brand.

When is it?, not sure exactly. Bib raced his BT11A from the Tasman Series 1965, he took the last of his four Gold Stars in it that year and then retired, so I guess it’s 1965…

Georges, for the curious…

http://www.georgesoncollins.com.au/

Credit…

Nigel Tait, many thanks for another tid-bit from your Repco archives

 

sev marchal

S.E.V Marchal Ad circa mid-sixties…

The famous French manufacturer of automotive electrical componentry started plying its trade in 1923. The rights to the name, depending upon country, passed to the Valeo Group in 2009. I gather looking at a few online forums the product ‘ain’t what it useter be’.

I just always liked the graphics!…

mont

(Jean Tesseyre)

Competitors in the Formula Junior ‘IV Prix de Paris’ at Montlhery on May 3 1959…

I tripped over these shots researching another topic in the Getty Archive, which is generally superb visually but equally poor in terms of caption accuracy or usefulness. The cars were described as F2 rather than the Formula Junior cars they are, mainly DB Junior Panhard or DB Monomill Panhard, not monopostos familiar to me.

image

My usual FJ results resource, ‘The F2 Index’ lists first to fourth as Alain Dagan, Dominique Franck, Pierre Mulsant and Philippe Martel, the first three in DB Junior Panhards, the latter in a DB Monomill Panhard. This fantastic resource doesn’t provide race numbers on this occasion though, making the detective work difficult, so all help as to identifying the drivers and cars amongst you French FJ enthusiasts in this race welcome!

image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meeting also featured an F2 race, Jack Lewis won it from only three other competitors in a Cooper T45 Climax.

The sports and GT race was better supported with Ferrari 250GT’s dominant; Olivier Gendebien won from Claude Bourillot and Wolfgang Seidel’s similar cars.

The FJ race was 20 laps of the 3.36 Km course, the DB’s achieving some success in 1959 in French races but the front engined chassis, French engined cars were well and truly swamped by Ford engined Coopers and Lotus 18’s in 1960, not to say other quicker front-engined Lolas and Stanguellini’s.

(unattributed)

 

After publication of this article, in July 2018, Alain Dagan’s nephew, Claude-Florence Dagan made contact to confirm Alain’s victory, he was a French motor-cycle racer of some note. Claude-Florence also pointed out that in 1959 Alain was a member of the Murit Team which set a 24 Hour Record at Montlhery on a BMW 500- his co-riders Vanessa, Maucherat and Lariviere.

image

 

 

Credits…

Jean Tesseyre

Tailpiece: FJ placegetters  Dagan, Franck and Mulsant collect their trophies…

image

 Finito…

image

(Richard Meek)

The Ballinger/Stewart Arnolt Bristol Bolide at Sebring in March 1956 at dusk, such an evocative shot…

They were 13th outright and 2nd in the 2 litre sports class, the Fangio/Castellotti Ferrari 860 Monza won.

The photo below, of another time and age is the Miller/Maassen/Rast Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, DNF, in 2011. The race was won that year by the Lapierre/Duval/Panis Peugeot 908 5.5 litre turbo-V12 diesel.

image

(Rick Dole)

Credits…

Richard Meek, Rick Dole, Racing One

Tailpiece: The ’69 Sebring field awaits the start with the Amon/Andretti Ferrari 312P on pole, the race won by the Ickx/Oliver Ford GT40…

image

(Racing One)

 

 

image

Steve McQueen drives an Alfa Duetto as part of a series of track-tests at Riverside on 13 June 1966-published in ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine’s 8 August 1966 issue…

Its an interesting read in terms of McQueen’s background in cars and motor racing before insurance issues- the studios for whom he worked wanted to protect their asset ended his racing, and his opinions on the eight cars tested.

The ‘roll of honour’ included the Duetto, E Type, Corvette, Ferrari 275GTS, Aston DB6, Benz 230SL, 911 and Cobra 427, a nice day at the Riverside office for Steve!

He rated the Alfa’s brakes, handling, 5 speed gearbox and engine albeit the little car lacked the power McQueen was used to in his daily rides, a Ferrari and Jag XKSS. ‘It is a very forgiving car, very pretty too, the Pininfarina body is swell’ Steve quipped.

Click on this link to read the article, well worth the effort, in full;

http://www.mcqueenonline.com/sportsillustrated66.htm

Credits…

James Drake, Bettmann

Tailpiece: More serious 1966 work Steve?…

image

McQueen leaving the set of ‘Sand Pebbles’, Hong Kong. Is it a racer he is riding back to the hotel or a Cafe Racer, exhaust system looks pretty racey? (Bettmann)