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A couple of young fillies making good their Bugatti, at least I think it may be a Bug but it’s no more than a guess…
Another magazine shoot by Heinz von Perckhammer whose photographic speciality was mainly nudes, nice work it is too. Google away.
This series of photos was published in issue 14 of ‘Sieben Tage’ in 1935. There are no caption details about date, place, car or models names sadly, all input in relation thereto gratefully received.
Credits…
Heinz von Perckhammer
Tailpiece…
Amazing Reims background as Nuvolari blasts his Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Tipo B/P3 to French GP victory on 14 July 1932…
What an endurance test, the race 5 hours in duration! Grands Prix have been 200 miles for so long its easy to forget what the ‘titans’ coped with nearly 100 years ago. Maserati didn’t race so it was a straight fight between Bugatti and Alfa Romeo with the Milan brigade winning comprehensively in their new 2.65 litre straight- 8 Vittorio Jano designed machines.
It was Nuvolari from Baconin Borzacchini and Rudy Caracciola in Alfa Corse entered cars, the best placed Bugatti T51 that of Louis Chiron in 4th.
This article is some words around some great shots of Nuvolari from the Getty Images archives, treat it as the first in an occasional ‘at random’ series.
Tazio, Bremgarten, Swiss GP, Bern 21 August 1938 (Klemantaski Collection)
Swiss GP, Bern 21 August 1938…
Tazio during the race held in awfully wet conditions. Seaman’s Mercedes lead from pole from teammates Stuck and Caracciola, he opened up a good lead but lost it after being boxed in by backmarkers allowing Rudy to sneak through.
Muller’s Auto Union raced well, Stuck spun and Tazio had undisclosed mechanical dramas in their mid-engined Type D’s. Mercedes 1-3 result was Caratch from Seaman and Manfred von Brauchitsch, all in W154’s.
Donington GP 1938
’38 Donington GP…
The winds of change were blowing in Europe, the race date was changed due to the Munich crisis by three weeks, the race held on 22 October 1938. Nuvolari’s exciting weekend started in practice when his Auto Union Type D 3 litre V12 ran into a deer! But he lead the race from the start then ceded the lead to Herman Lang, pitting an additional time. The engine of Hansons Alta blew with Hasse spinning and crashing on the oil and Dick Seaman losing a lap. Tazio sneaked past Muller back into 2nd, then Herman slowed with a broken windscreen giving the plucky Mantuan the lead which he held to the end of the race. Lang was 2nd and Seaman 3rd both in 3 litre V12 Mercedes Benz W154
Tazio with some Nazi flunkies, ‘International Automobile and Motor Cycle Show’ 18 February 1939 Berlin. Hard to avoid these pricks racing for a German team at the time i guess (Popperfoto)
International Automobile & Mototcycle Show, 18 February 1939…
The first German automotive show was held in Berlin in 1897 with 8 cars, visitor numbers grew exponentially together with the growth of motoring itself, by 1939 825,000 people attended to see the new VW and other more sporting exhibits.
TN Jaguar XK 120, Intl Trophy Meeting, Silverstone 26 August 1950 (J Wilds)
Silverstone International Trophy Meeting 26 August 1950…
Tazio was entered in a red, standard, ex-demo factory XK120 Jaguar in the production sportscar race during this famous annual meeting.
The MotorSport report of the meeting records ‘It was splendid to see Nuvolari go round at 75.91 mph in a hard-used Jaguar demonstrator, using his gearbox where others trod on their brakes, but on Friday he was said to be ill from methanol fumes – odd, for the production cars were on petrol – and Whitehead drove for him’.
Nuvolari was quite ill by this stage and struggled, he did three slow laps on the first day of practice then Jaguar team manager Lofty England had the task of telling Tazio that he was too slow as a consequence of his fitness.
Doug Nye made this observation of the genius on ‘The Nostalgia Forum’; ‘In his final years Nuvolari was a variably sick man, varying from being in frail shape to being in terrible shape. I have been told by many who met the great man at that Silverstone meeting that he was, indeed, in terrible shape that weekend…and they were all greatly concerned for him…some even wondering if he might not survive the journey home…
Nuvolari had at least as a high a proportion of admirers amongst British racing enthusiasts as he had in his native Italy, and possibly higher, and for many it was like seeing a retired old thoroughbred racehorse, attemping one last gallop on grass, arthritic, blown, sway-backed, and broken down … for many present that weekend it was remembered as a terribly sad sight… particularly for those who recalled the sight of Nuvolari in his pomp at Donington Park, 1938’.
Nuvolari died on 11 August 1953 having suffered a stroke which partially paralysed him the year before, a second one killed him.
Credit…
Imagno, J Wilds, Getty Images
Tailpiece: Moss and Nuvolari at the International Trophy meeting, Silverstone 1950. Shot is symbolic of generational change but it’s also clear just how fragile the great man had become…
The trouble with so many shots of Maria Teresa de Filippis is that many were shot by non-racing photographers so are devoid of the detail we want!…
‘Maria Teresa with racing car’ is about as precise as it often gets, it gives we amateur historians a research challenge I guess. Having trawled through the ‘F2 Register’ Formula Junior Archive as best I can (although the listing for this event does not include competitor numbers) this is the ‘Confronto Nord-Sud’ contested at Vallelunga on 1 November 1958. Lucio de Sanctis won the final in his own de Santis Fiat with Maria Teresa 4th in the first heat and 6th in the final. I wrote a short article after de Filippis died last year, click here to read it;
The car behind Maria Teresa is another Stanguellini, unfortunately the mid-engined car has been largely cropped out of the shot, ‘twould be interesting to know what it is if any of you FJ experts can identify the machine.
MTdF in her Stanguellini at Vallelunga in 1958 (Popperfoto)
Formula Junior had 11 events in 1958, 9 of them in Italy, the category’s champion was Count Giovanni Lurani an Italian who saw the need for a relatively inexpensive entry-level single-seater class. The category was for cars with engines of 1100cc and a minimum weight of 440Kg (their was a 1000cc class as well with a lower weight limit) exploded in 1959 with meetings all over Europe, the UK from mid-year and a couple towards the end of the year in the US.
Count Giovanni ‘Johnny’ Lurani, here in the mid-30’s, was an Italian auto engineer, driver and journalist who raced Salmson, Derby, Alfa and Maserati’s after graduating in engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. He won his class in the Mille Miglia thrice and founded Scuderia Ambrosiana in 1937. Post WW2 he worked with the FIA, his credits include the creation of FJ in ’59 and the GT Class in ’49. He also designed record breaking motorcycles and was president of the FIM in a life of achievement (ISC Images)
The category was immensely successful largely due to a progressively more buoyant post-war global economy, improving personal incomes and the arrival of consumer credit which meant young aspirants to Fangio’s world crown could buy a car.
There was plenty of choice of weapon too as builders of chassis and related componentry popped up all over the joint from Australia to Russia. An article on FJ and its incredible growth is an interesting one for another time!
Stanguellini factory in Modena with a swag of FJ’s lines up out front in 1959 (stanguellini.it)
Stanguellini were beautifully placed to build cars for Formula Junior given their rich history of racers based on the Fiat parts bin…
That glib phrase does not do the heritage of this firm justice however, click on this link to the marques website which provides a great summary of their cars and engines since the 1930’s, the photographic archive is also rich, take the time to cruise through it; http://www.stanguellini.it/en/100-years-of-history-stanguellini-car/
The ‘Stang’ is often often said to be a mini-250F but its as much Vanwall or Lotus 16, either way those comparisons don’t do justice to a car which has a beauty all of its own.
Stanguellini Fiat FJ cutaway drawing, all the key elements of the car clear and as described in the text (unattributed)
Vittorio Stanguellini engaged Alberto Massimino who was very clever in his design approach; its not innovative in terms of its ladder frame chassis, or choice of front-engined layout although the first cars appeared in late ’57 or ‘early ’58, the ‘Cooper Revolution’ wasn’t necessarily clear at that exact moment in time. A year later the mid-engined trend was, but the Stang with its circa 80bhp, twin Webered 1098cc pushrod engine was the most competitive thing around in 1958 and 1959.
In part it was due to a clever layout which provided the driver a low driving position, getting the weight down by the use of an offset drive line, the Fiat 4 speed gearbox kinked to the right, the driver to the left. The cars had conventional upper and lower wishbone front suspension and a Fiat live axle nicely located with parallel trailing arms and sprung by coils, co-axial shocks were used front and rear. The ‘look’ was completed by the use of Borrani 12 inch wire-wheels, brakes were finned Fiat 9.8 inch drums front and rear. The wheelbase was 79 inches, front and rear track 48 inches.
Snug cockpit of Norm Falkiners Stanguellini FJ in late 2015, offset transmission to get the driver down nice and low clear . Engine and ‘box Fiat 4 speed (Bisset)
None of these Stanguellini’s raced in Australia ‘in period’ but Melbourne driver Norm Falkiner imported one a decade or so ago. I happened to be testing my Van Dieman RF86 Historic Formula Ford at Calder when its restoration was just completed by Jim Hardman, who still fettles it. These mixed track days are interesting to see how different cars do their stuff (or not!) up close, I can still recall how nice the thing put its power down and how much punch it seemed to have, I could hear the little Fiat engine buzzing to circa 7500rpm each time I ranged up near it. It was less impressive under brakes, but chances are they were still being sorted.
Maria-Teresa’s views on the ‘Stang relative to the GP machines she was piloting at the time would be interesting!
de Filippis in her 250F at Spa in 1958, 11th in the Belgian GP won by Tony Brooks Vanwall VW57 (unattributed)
Robert Lippi won the Italian Championship in 1958 and Michel May won both the ’59 Monaco FJ GP and ‘Auto Italiana International Championship for Drivers’ and Stanguellini the ‘Quattroroute International Championship of Makes’. The ‘Campionato Italiano’ went to Stanguellini driver Raffaele Cammarota.
In 1960 things got tougher. The Brits ran their first championships for the class, Chapman’s mid-engined Lotus 18 was just as quick with an 1100 Ford bolted into the back of it as a 2.5 litre Coventry Climax FPF. It and the Cooper T52 BMC made the pickings tougher for the ‘front-engined brigade the best of which that year was perhaps the Lola Mk2.
The GP Icecar, Cortina 17/18 January 1959. In Italy racing on ice was a novelty, circuit at Monti Pallidi, contestants line up for the first heat. L>R Stanguellini Fiat’s of Crivellari, Zanarotti and De Carli. At right the VW based Mathe VW of Otto Mathe. The final was won by Manfredini’s Wainer Fiat (Stangullini)
In 1960 Colin Davis Osca Fiat won the ‘Campionato A.N.P.E.C/ Auto Italiana d’ Europa’ from Jacques Cales Stanguellini Fiat, Denny Hulme in a Cooper T52 BMC and Lorenzo Bandini, Stang Fiat.
Beautiful period shot; Michel May lines up his #33 Stang Fiat FJ on the front row of the second heat of the Trofeo Vigorelli, Monza on 24 April 1960, which he won. 2nd in the ‘final 2’ . Car #57 alongside is Rob Slotemaker’s Cooper T52 DKW (stanguellini.it)
That FJ was nurturing drivers of great talent is shown by the fields of the 1960 championship which included Henry Taylor, Giancarlo Baghetti, John Love, Gerhard Mitter, ‘Geki’ Russo, Kurt Ahrens, Trevor Taylor, Jo Siffert, Peter Arundell, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Jim Clark, to name a diverse global few!
Clark won the ‘BRDC/Motor Racing’, ‘British FJ Championship’ and ‘John Davey British FJ Championship’ aboard his works Lotus 18 Ford and Peter Arundell the ‘BARC Championship’ in the other works 18.
Jim Clark happy after winning the ‘Kentish 100 Trophy’ at Brands Hatch 27 August 1960, Lotus 18 Ford (Lee)
Stanguellini rose to the mid-engined challenge, building the multi-tubular chassis Delfino FJ. Again Fiat engined, but inclined at 45 degrees, it had a very distinctive high mounted exhaust. By 1962 Cosworth modified Ford engines were well out of the Fiat’s reach, the car had little success, with Stanguellini losing interest in the class.
Colin Davis testing the Stanguellini Delfino Fiat at Modena in winter 1962, distinctive exhaust system clear. ‘Sharknose’ styling modelled on Carlo Chiti’s 1961/2 Ferrari 156 F1 machine (stanguellini.it)
Credits…
Botti, Popperfoto, Lee, Stanguellini.it, F2 Register, ISC Images
Tailpiece: Maria-Teresa helping get her Stanguellini into position at Vallelunga, car behind a 250F. I’ve a feeling the ‘ogling fans in the background are focused on the lines of the lady not her car…
(Popperfoto)
(Schlegelmilch)
Peter Gethin subbing for Denny Hulme in the tragic 21 June 1970 Dutch Grand Prix, McLaren M14A Ford…
1970 was a tragic season for driver deaths, Piers Courage perished in a gruesome fiery accident in his De Tomaso 505 Ford in this race.
Peter was drafted in the McLaren team after Bruce’s death at Goodwood on 2 June. To make matters worse Denny Hulme burned his hands at Indianapolis so McLaren were represented at Zandvoort by Dan Gurney, Gethin with Andrea de Adamich in an Alfa Romeo V8 engined M14A, the other team cars Ford Cosworth DFV powered.
What draws the eye to this shot is the helmet, Gethins and Jackie Olivers designs were so similar to Jim Clark’s at the time.
McLaren’s weekend was poor; Andrea DNQ and both Dan and Peter retired with a mechanical problem and accident respectively. John Surtees M7C was the best placed McLaren in 6th, the race won by Jochen Rindt’s Lotus 72 Ford, the iconic car scoring its first win. Surtees drove the ex-works 1969 car until his own Surtees TS7 made its debut later in the season.
Credit…
Rainer Schlegelmilch
I’ve been to the ‘States but never done a ‘motor racing tour’, when I do so Road America, Elkhart Lake will be one of the ‘musts’…
I first saw the place in books on the CanAm Series as a teenager and was taken by its undulating terrain, challenging layout and wooded setting in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine.
These photos of Sebastien Bourdais in the 2007 Champcar round there seemed worth sharing.
Bourdais reflection in the pits, Road America 2003 (Ingham)
The Le Mans born second generation racer burst from French karting and junior formulae and vaulted from European Formula 3000 success in 2002 to Indycars in 2003. He became the series dominant driver taking the title from 2004-2007 before jumping to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2008 and into 2009.
Bourdais won the Road America ‘Generac Grand Prix’ from pole extracting all the mandated Panoz DP01 2.65 litre single-turbo Cosworth V8 had to offer. His Newman Haas entered car won from Dan Clarke and Graham Rahal.
Bourdais remains a competitive racer in Sportscars and Indycars having won a ‘Chevrolet Dual in Detroit’ race at Belle Isle Park in this years (2016) series.
Credits…
All images Darrell Ingham
Tailpiece:Bourdais Panoz DP01, Road America 2003…
The year is 1946, it isn’t Germany!…
Many thanks to Stephen Dalton for identifying the car and driver who are famous in the pantheon of Australian motor racing indeed. Frank Pratt drove this 328 to victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Point Cook, not too far away from Rob Roy in January 1948. The event featured is the 11th Rob Roy on 24 November 1946, one of Pratt’s first drives in the car.
This much raced 328, chassis #85136, was imported to Oz by Sydney driver/businessman John Snow on one of his trips to Europe. He bought it from a German General in 1937, Snow acquired it on behalf of George Martin, president of the Light Car Club, Melbourne.
Martin raced it in the ’38 AGP at Bathurst won by Peter Whitehead’s ERA R10B, then unfortunately lost his life in the car on the return trip to Melbourne in an accident near Wagga Wagga.
George Martin in the 328 at left 15th, and John Crouch MG TA 5th, 1938 AGP at Bathurst, some of the challenges of the gravel track obvious in this shot (Dave Sullivan)
Repaired, by 1946 the car passed into the hands of Geelong motor cycle racer/dealer Frank Pratt who famously won his first circuit race in it; the 1948 Australian Grand Prix, at Point Cook airforce base west of Melbourne.
As a very successful motor cycle racer he was not new to competition and racecraft. He also had a favourable handicap, the AGP was run to F Libre and handicapped for many years. Pratt scored a lucky win with high speed consistency, the car prepared by racer/engineer Harry Firth.
Dalton adds; ‘..Les Murphy (was) mentioned as a possible driver of the car, because Pratt was injured at a Ballarat Motorcycle meeting. But not car preparation, Harry Firth said he did the brakes, chassis and gearbox on the BMW. Mick Scott did the engine. Harry also mentions preparing the Gaze HRG 1500, but wasn’t allowed to do the Alta’ which Gaze retired after 5 laps.
In a race run in horrid, stifling hot summer conditions which took their toll on both cars and their pilots especially the highly strung single-seaters and racing cars, Frank triumphed.
Pratt on his way to victory on a horrible Melbourne summers day, AGP, Point Cook, January 26 1948, BMW 328 (George Thomas)
Click here for an interesting article about Frank Pratt, little has been written about him. ‘Pratt and Osborne’ still exists as a motor-cycle dealership in Geelong, a port city 75 Km from Melbourne on Port Phillip Bay. http://www.smcc.com.au/docs/Leonard%20Frank%20Pratt.pdf
The BMW was later raced by Peter McKenna all over Australia; at Fishermans Bend, Ballarat Airfield and Albert Park in Victoria and as far afield as Southport’s 1954 Australian Grand Prix. The car passed through various custodians hands in Oz before leaving the country in the 1990’s.
The BMW in the Nuriootpa paddock, Australian GP meeting 1950, Peter McKenna (SLSA)
Credits…
‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’ John Blanden’, George Thomas, Stephen Dalton, Dave Sullivan, State Library of South Australia
(Klemantaski)
I chose these two shots of the thousands of the great Argentinian as they demonstrate his delicate touch and judgement at very high speeds…
The first is driving the Alfa 159 for his beloved ‘Alfa Corse’ at Reims on 1 July 1951, his first championship winning season. He is clipping the inside grass on the back section of this French Grand Prix road course in the Champagne Region.
The second is at Bremgarten driving the Mercedes Benz W154 bang on line during the Swiss Grand Prix on 22 August 1954, also a title winning season of course.
Marvel at the finesse, it’s as clear in these neutral or slight understeer shots as the many high speed oversteer shots many of which are at Reims at well over 125mph…
(Klemantaski)
1954 French, Reims GP: Victory in #18 Mercedes Benz W154 upon its debut (Klemantaski)
Fangio, French GP, Reims 1954 (Klemantaski)
Credits…
Klemantaski Collection, Maurice Jarnoux
Tailpiece: Mobbed in Milano, 1 September 1958…
(Maurice Jarnoux)
(GP Library)
The 1952 German Grand Prix was won by Alberto Ascari’s Ferrari 500, a fairly predictable result in 1952/3…
The dominant F2 GP 1952/3 combo of Ascari and Ferrari 500, on his way to a Nurburgring 1952 victory. Teammates Farina and Fischer were 2nd/3rd in similar Fazz 500’s (GP Library)
A huge field of cars contested the sportscar supporting event, after a spirited dice pre-War Mercedes GP ace Hans Hermann #21 won from post-War Mercedes GP driver Karl Kling #24 both driving the Benz W194 300 SL heading into the North Curve (below).
The 300SL Coupe won the LeMans 24 Hours that June, Lang shared the drive with Fritz Riess, the win important in a series of steps which took the company back into GP racing in 1954. And in putting into production a road-going variant of the 300SL!
Click here for my article on the 300SL; https://primotipo.com/2014/05/15/i-like-the-smell-of-leather/
(unattributed)
Start of the sportscar race, i’ll take any help you have with car/driver combinations; #21 Hermann, #24 Kling excepted! (GP Library)
Top Down; Victory ceremony with Hermann and Klings cars in shot. No idea in 300SL!. #23 Theo Helfrich in 300SL, the ‘slight’ frame of Benz famous team-manager Neubauer readily evident (GP Library)
Credit…
GP Library
Tailpiece: 300SL Coupe Beauty…
Famously it was Max Hoffman, the New York based importer of VW at the time who insisted the 300SL W194 racer be ‘productionised’, selling like hotcakes given its beauty and technical specifications, the Americans taking circa 80% of the 1400 cars built. This car has Klings #24, clearly he raced the Sporty rather than the Coupe. Nurburgring 1952 (GP Library)
The front suspension of one of the McLaren MP4/7A Honda V12’s is fettled during Hungarian GP practice, Budapest on 16 August 1992…
The front suspension comprises upper and lower wishbones and pushrods, one of which is being adjusted, actuating coil springs and Showa dampers. Carbon fibre chassis of course. The 3.5 litre V12 car was designed by a team led by Neil Oatley. Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger raced the cars to 5 wins, including Senna’s race victory in Hungary (below), but struggled to match the pace of Nigel Mansell’s Williams FW14B Renault that year.
(Honda)
Credit…
Rainer Schlegelmilch, Honda
Tailpiece: Senna and team during German GP practice, Hockenheim, 25 July 1992…
Interesting drawing of one of the dominant Mercedes W125 during the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix held on 8 August…
Manfred von Brauchitsch won from Rudy Carraciola and Christian Kautz, Goffredo Zehender was fifth, the only interloper to the Mercedes party was Hans Stuck’ Auto Union Type C which was fourth.
von Brauchitsch #10 and Caracciola below in their epic race for the GP lead, these 560bhp 5.66 litre cars GRAND in every sense of the word…
(unattributed)
Click here for an article on the Mercedes W125…
Mercedes Benz W125: 1937’s Dominant GP car and Rudy Uhlenhaut…
Credit…
Imagno, unattributed
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